"What," I said snapping my head around to look at my wife Carol. "What did you just say?" I asked not believing what I thought I had just heard.
"Dan, I know you're going to be mad, but I'm not happy right now, and I'm thinking of us getting a trial separation; so I can get my head together and figure what I want," Carol told me as I stood on the deck cooking steaks on the grill. "My friend Karin has a spare room and she said I could stay with her for the time being."
"When were you going to tell me Carol, or were you just going to leave me a note on my pillow tonight," I said a little louder than he probably should have.
"Don't raise your voice Dan, I don't want Andy to hear what we're talking about," Andy being our six year old son. "I knew you'd react this way, that's why I didn't want to bring it up until tonight."
"So in other words, you've already made up your mind to leave; are you going to tell Andy or are you going to leave it to me after you're gone," I said in a sarcastic tone.
"I'll tell him myself tonight, before bed," she replied. "This isn't permanent you know."
"Ya right, your moving in with that tramp Karin; I guess I should have seen it coming," I told her getting more angry by the minute. "I'll draft up the paperwork tomorrow, you can sign it, and I'll get it filed with the court by Wednesday Carol."
"What paperwork?" was her reply.
"Well, if your going to leave, I want it to be a legal separation, that way when you don't come back, it will automatically turn into a divorce decree; this way we won't have to go through all the hassle twice," I told her.
"I don't want a divorce Dan, only a little time to myself, to sort out a few things, that's all honey," Carol replied.
"Bullshit Carol," I spat back at her. "I've asked you to talk to me for the last four months, but you've been too busy with Karin and your new friends to make the time. Now you want to move in with your new buddy Karin so you can do, what you have probably wanted to do for the last six months," I now yelled. "But you're not going to do it with my blessings, and I'm certainly not going to stand by and become a cuckold by you, or anyone else," I said slamming the top down on the grill.
This was not going the way Carol had anticipated. She knew Dan was going to be angry, but she thought she could convince him, that this would be a growing experience for the both of them; but now, it had blown up in her face.
"Dan please," was all Carol could get out before he stormed off in a huff, leaving her to tend the grill. Taking the steaks of the grill, and putting them on the counter she went looking for him. She found Dan upstairs, in their bedroom. He was in the process of literally throwing all her clothes and everything else of hers into the spare bedroom.
"Take your shit and move the hell out, I don't care anymore," I screamed at her. "I'll send the paperwork to your office, sign it, and get it back Keith," the lawyer Dan had been using for the past six years. "Don't worry, I'll take Andy out to dinner so he doesn't have to watch his mother abandon him," I said grabbing my coat and son before heading out to my car.
"Karin, this is Carol," she started. "Dan didn't take it well, not well at all, and is threatening me with divorce," Carol said starting to get more than a little teary eyed.
"I told you he wasn't going to be happy, but he'll come around soon, so don't worry," Karin told her over the phone. "Hell in a couple of weeks, he'll be begging you to come back, and then you will have him right where you want him."
"I hope your right Karin, because right now, he's ready to chuck me out the door and start divorce paperwork," she said hesitantly. "I need some time away, but I don't want to end my marriage either," Carol told her.
"I'll be right over and help you with your stuff," Karin told her. "The sooner you are on your own, and away from him, the sooner you can figure out what you really want."
With that said, Karin drove over and helped Carol packed up the majority of her stuff and was out of the house before Dan and Andy got back.
I had seen this coming for quite a while. Carol and I were both accountants, and had met eight years ago while we were both auditing a company that had gone chapter seven. Each one of us were representing a different bank, which had a monitory stake in the failed company. We worked together and ended up having lunch and dinner, with each other almost every night. It took us a full week to complete the audit, and by then we found that we really liked each other.
Carol was about 5'6", brown hair and about 175 pounds. She had a beautiful face but was a little chunky. Dan was about 5'8" tall, about 195 and at twenty-two already had a spare tire around his middle, from eating out every day; these two geeks were made for each other.
We were married four months later, and Carol found herself pregnant eight months after that. Carol had a tough pregnancy and was bed ridden the last five months, and such gained a ton of weight. By the time she gave birth to Andy, she'd ballooned to almost 250 pounds.
I however, never said a word; I loved her no matter what her weight was. We were a happy family, until Carol heard two of her coworkers talking about her.
"She's such a good looking women," one girl said to the other. "Too bad she's as big as a house. I wonder if she has her clothes custom made at Omar the tent makers dress shop," she said laughing out loud. They may have thought it was funny, but Carol didn't.
Carol was crying in the bathroom when Karin walked in. "You all right Carol?" she asked.
"Everyone thinks I'm a fat pig," she said crying. "If they only knew how hard it was for me to lose weight, they wouldn't be so mean," she sobbed.
"Girl look, all you need is to be put on a good diet and enroll at a gym," Karin told her. "You are a beautiful girl, hiding underneath all that flab; that's all. You just need to make your mind up, and do it;" and that's what Carol did.
I did the books for a local gym and got us a great membership deal, so we joined the following week. The gym had an in house nursery, so we were able to bring Andy with us after work when we both went.