All: Thank you for reading my work. For various reasons, it has been a long time since my last post. Many thanks to Seventhsun8258 and Dave H. for encouraging me to write again. This story is for them. ..Jen
It shouldn't have happened
A betrayal of not only my husband but also myself
You can never assume that you know what you would do in a certain situation. Even with all the life experiences you possess would you think you would put yourself into such a precarious position. Maybe it is my moral compass, but I scoffed at other women that got themselves in similar situations. And I would never believe that my life would have taken this direction.
I'm Barbara, (Barb), at 33 a seven-year happily married woman, mother of two with an active marital sex life, and a stable job. What could be more satisfying than that? After two children, and being in a stable home life, I haven't let myself go but I don't worry about my looks. I do eat healthily, and run a couple of times a week. I'm 5 feet 5 inches and stay consistently around 125 pounds. I am a real blond, but no dummy as I hold an MBA from Michigan. Go Wolverines!!! I married the year I received my undergraduate degree. Our first child, Lindsay, was born two weeks after my MBA graduation.
After graduation, and six months off for bonding with my daughter, I really didn't want to go into the corporate management world. I happened into a job as a procurement director at a local manufacturing and distribution company. Not that I really needed to work. Bill, my husband, is a corporate attorney and provides well for our family. I guess that it is a sense of responsibility that drove me to get a job. After five years of college, I felt there was only so much social and civic work that I could do. I needed to do something with my life, and be a role model for my daughter, now daughters.
My work is not that demanding giving me ample time to be productive as well as being a mom. One aspect of my job is to meet with various salesmen who are pushing their wares to my company to purchase. Basically, keeping expenses low by finding products or services at a lesser cost is my job, and I'm good at it.
Mark is one of those salesmen. He'd been calling on our company every two weeks for about six months. Although his company has good products, I just can't get them to a price point to justify using their company.
It was Friday and I was looking forward to a lazy weekend with my family. I really was looking forward to my regular Saturday morning run. It was somewhat a family tradition that on Saturdays Bill would get the girls up, make them breakfast, and they would have some activities and have bonding time. That gave me some time for my run and me.
On that Friday, I needed to grab a quick lunch as I had an afternoon meeting. As I was getting out of my car at a local deli, so was Mark. As we stood in line, Mark said: "Let me buy lunch, my company will pay for it, but you are under no obligation to eat with me." I responded that I had to be back in the office in 45 minutes for a conference call, but I didn't object to having lunch with him.
The conversation was totally non-business, which I wouldn't have expected. It was about what was planned for the weekend. I told him about my family life and weekend plans, and of course, my Saturday run. I found out he was divorced, and also a runner. Mark said his house backs up to a neighborhood park, and if I wanted some company and competition on my run, meet him at the park shelter around 9 am on Saturday.
The conference call had consumed my mind all afternoon. It wasn't until I was driving home that I thought about Mark's offer. Bill had no interest in running, so I always ran alone. My first thought was I shouldn't mix personal with business. But then I thought I wouldn't mind the company, and the challenge of having someone to run against.
At fifteen to nine on Saturday morning I parked in front of the shelter in Mark's neighborhood. I was doing my stretching when I heard Mark.
"I was wondering if you would show up", Mark said as he walked up. "Are you ready to get outpaced?"
Well, that flipped my competitive switch, "I would be if there was someone that could outpace me", I replied.
It was a light workout as we started our jog, but got more competitive the further away from the shelter. I don't know if I didn't fully stretch or what, but as we kicked it into another gear I felt a sudden pain in my back left thigh. I was glad that I was running with Mark because in two more steps the cramp became debilitating. I fell forward and grabbed Mark from behind. Luckily he realized I was in trouble and cradled my fall. If he hadn't had been there I could've been seriously been injured.