Jason's Survival

Th

is is version 2 of this story. Lots of you took the time to point out the errors I made so I've tried to fix it up as best I can with the time I have. Many made suggestions for improvements; I hope it meets with your approval.

Okay, this bit is important for some of you to consider before reading - this story is

not

a continuation of my other story with the 'Jason' title - they are separate and unrelated

- I

do

recycle names.

The story is told from multiple perspectives. Some readers have problems reading a story told in such a fashion. I don't apologize for that. The stars between paragraphs indicate a change in the scene. I try to indicate time shifts, usually (but not always) in chronological order or as time progresses. I do my own editing so any mistakes are mine and if you wish to point them out to me, that's fine.

Many comments I received were in the tone of 'what about this', or 'what about that.' If you want more narrative on some particular aspect of the story then I invite you to write your own. You may refer to mine but NOT copy it. Make your own shit up.

Finally - Nobody is allowed to use any of this work for commercial purposes.

**********

Jason

It was about six o'clock Friday night and my wife, Karen, had just come down the stairs from our bedroom. She was dressed up; she looked like she was ready for a night out. I had just gotten home and taken my jacket off a short time earlier and was looking to see where everyone was.

"I didn't know we were going out tonight."

She looked at her purse as she said, "We're not, I am."

"Huh...what are you talking about?"

[1]

"Just what I said." She continued to rummage around in her purse and not look at me.

"Hold on, what are you talking about? Where are the girls?"

"The kids are at my Mum's and there is some leftovers in the refrigerator for your supper."

I realized at that point that I had no idea what was going on. "Karen, what the fuck is going on? Why are you all dressed up and where the fuck are you going?"

"I told you, I'm going out."

"Where are you going?"

"It doesn't matter where I'm going; I'm going out, that's all you need to know." Karen rolled her eyes slightly.

I heard a car horn in my driveway, Karen turned to look and then made her way to the front door. She had a wrap sitting with her purse and grabbed it and put it around her bare shoulders. She grabbed her purse and opened the front door. She gave me a quick glance, opened the door and just like that shut it behind her and was gone.

I went to the front door to find out what the fuck was going on but she was getting in a Mercedes convertible with a man behind the wheel. She leaned over, gave him a kiss and he quickly put the car in reverse and got out of there before I could do anything about it. Really, I was in 'shock' and didn't know what the hell to do.

I stood on the step for what seemed like a long time trying to understand what just happened. In the pit of my stomach and in my brain, I knew that things in my marriage just turned to shit. Clearly my wife was headed out of our marriage and on her way to a new life with the fellow in the fancy car.

I went inside, closed the door and went to the refrigerator to get a beer. I had some thinking to do; a lot of thinking to do. After taking a large drink of the beer in the bottle, I knew that I had to start planning for a life without Karen. But I needed to talk to Karen's mother; my kids were with her. maybe she knows what the fuck is going on.

**********

After I sat for few minutes trying to think, but with a million things flashing through my head at the same time, I called Karen's mother and father, Susan and George. George answered.

"Hi Jason, how are you? Karen said that you were out tonight so that's why she wanted us to take the kids. Where are you guys going tonight?"

"Ah...Hi George, thanks for looking after the kids. Ah...Karen is out but not with me. She went out with someone that I'm gonna guess is a friend that she has that I don't know about."

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Are either you or Susan privy to what Karen is doing tonight? She only told me that she was going out, She didn't say where and with whom, but some guy in a Mercedes convertible picked her up."

"A what, a convertible. I don't know anyone with that kind of car. Let me ask Susan."

George put the phone down and I could hear something going on in the background but couldn't make out any actual words. George picked up the phone, "Susan thought that Karen was out with you tonight. I don't know what to tell you Jason."

"Thanks George. Ah...I'll come by about 10 tomorrow morning and get the kids."

We hung up and I went to the refrigerator and got another beer.

********

Karen

Marcus has been pressuring me to go with him to a party with a group of his friends. He told me that he told them that I was his girlfriend. I was very nervous about meeting his friends. He said that they were all from his college days. When I did meet them it became clear that he'd told some of the men about me but their girlfriends didn't know that I was married. That was awkward.

We went to a very expensive restaurant and the food was great and there was a lot to drink. I ended up at Marcus's place and spent the night with him. I knew that it was wrong and I knew that I'd put my marriage in danger and I knew that Jason would be severely pissed at me, but I thought I might be able to make it up to him. I just didn't know how. But what I do is my business. Who I do it with also my business. What I do is my business. As long as no one gets hurt it's not a big deal. This is the 21

st

century, not the middle ages.

**********

Jason

It was a long night and I didn't get any sleep. Karen didn't come home. I was up early, stood in the shower for a long time and then left at about 9 O'clock to get some breakfast at a diner and then go get the kids. When I picked them up I thanked George and Susan for minding them and then we drove home.

They were both curious as hell to know what was going on but, since I didn't have any answers, I offered nothing.

When we got home, Karen was there in the kitchen, making some coffee. She was in jeans and a T-shirt and looked like she had just showered. The kids said hello to her and scampered off to their rooms. Karen busied herself with making coffee and looked to be cooking something. I turned and left and went to the bedroom. I noticed that her clothing was in the hamper. I went down to the closet and got my gym bag. I packed a couple of changes of clothing and a suit for work on Monday. My travel toiletry bag was packed and stuffed in the gym bag along with my iPad and charger. I headed downstairs.

I went to the garage and put my stuff in the back of my old Subaru Outback. Karen saw me walk by with my bags on the way to the garage. "What are you doing?"

"Why do you care?"

She had a pissed off expression on her face and actually stood there with her hands on her hips. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What does it look like."

"Are you going somewhere?"

"I suppose I am."

"Where?"

"Why do you care?"

"We have things to do today. The kids have their practices and games later and we need to take them."

"You can take them. Maybe your new boyfriend can help. I'm sure the kids might like riding in his convertible."

There was actually a small look of guilt on Karen's face. In her quiet voice she said, "I guess we need to talk."

"You think!" I stood there for a few seconds, "but you're a bit late. You said it all last night when you ran off with your new boyfriend. So, since I've been replaced, there's no need for me to hang around." Then I added for good measure, "I will NOT be humiliated in my own fucking home!"

I turned and walked away. Karen tried to follow me to my car, but I got in and drove off.

**********

So, I went to my friend Ralph's house. Ralph has been my buddy since grade school and we grew up together on the same street. He moved to the other side of the city and eventually got married and then got divorced. She left for a guy that she was having a thing with on the side, so Ralph now lived in a three bedroom house in a residential neighbourhood with a Labrador retriever named Travis. He had a new girlfriend but she only spent part-time at Ralph's place since she was a flight attendant and was away half the time.

Ralph offered to let me stay with him for a few days while I figured out what the fuck was going on with Karen and why she suddenly needed to have a boyfriend. Maybe she wanted a divorce, maybe she didn't. Maybe she just wanted to fuck around for a while. Maybe it was love, maybe it was lust. Whatever it was, it was pissing me off and I wasn't going to put up with it.

*********

Monday morning I went to the office and after I got a giant cup of coffee into me I made a few calls to lawyers that I found from internet searches and from talking to Ralph. I ended up making an appointment to see the same lawyer that Ralph used in his divorce. Her name is Georgette Clark and she has a reputation as a killer. She pretty much always finds ways to get what her clients want in the divorce business. Divorce is very messy, especially so when there are children involved.

My meeting was about an hour long, and I can tell you, very informative; almost too fucking informative. Suffice to say, that at the end of the day, I would be one to lose in any divorce. My kids would lose as well. They would likely be forced to shuttle back and forth between two homes, splitting their time between parents. As well, I would be forking out a lot of money to maintain the better part of those two homes. Karen made good money but when it all gets divided to pay for those two homes, I would be the one having to pay for my own place to live and a significant part for the cost of my former home.

Ms. Clark offered up that in this state the courts don't take infidelity into consideration when it comes to splitting up the marital assets. What the court cares about is making sure the kids get looked after and the file closed. Right.

Ms. Clark offered me a piece of advice that I initially found hard to accept: do nothing. Yup, you heard it right; do fuck-all. Go home and pretend that Karen doesn't have a boyfriend and pretend that everything is fine. Look the other way when she spends time with her boyfriend and use protection if I plan to have sex with Karen.

Ms. Clark made the point that all of that church wedding-vow nonsense was just window-dressing for the benefit of the families of the happy couple. All of it was just lovey-dovey sentimental emotional clap-trap designed to make families feel better about forking out mega-bucks for an overdone party. The reality was that a marriage was just another legal contract, recognized by the government of the state, and to put an end that contract there was a tortuous process that was needed and involved a lot of money, time and resources.

Sadly, living together without the benefit of that formal marriage contract, was considered being in a common-law marriage, and resulted in the same rules applying at the end of the relationship especially where there were children as a product of that relationship.

So, fucked if you do, fucked if you don't. It's all about the money. Great.

I went back to my office, closed the door and sat, totally fucking depressed, thinking about the options available to me. The reality was that I didn't have much in the way of options. The reality was that if I wanted to see and keep my children, I had to swallow my pride and go home.

So, that's what I did. Besides, Ralph's girlfriend was back and while she was cute and friendly, she was making hints that it was time for me to move on. I took the hint, thanked Ralph and his girlfriend for their hospitality and packed up my things.

**********

I pulled in the driveway and got my stuff out of the car. I'd only been gone three nights but it seemed longer. Karen and the kids were home. When I went inside, she was in the kitchen and talking on her cellphone. Her head swivelled around when I came in and I could tell that she was surprised to see me. I glanced over at her as I walked past on my way to the bedroom.

I unpacked my things and gathered up my dirty clothing and went to the laundry room. The washing machine had a load of things in it so I unloaded that into the dryer and loaded my things into the machine and turned it on. I looked up to see Karen standing in door.

She couldn't wait to talk and said, "So about time you came home."

"Yup, no point in being miserable at Ralph's place. I smell food, are you making anything for supper?"

"Spaghetti with meatballs."

"Excellent. I'm hungry. Ralph's idea of food is pizza delivery."

I washed up and went to see what the kids were doing. I got a quick hug from both of them and then they started talking. Kids can talk a lot and about everything and nothing at all and at the same time. I loved it.

We sat down as a family for supper and then, after I did the clean-up, we took the kids to Janey's soccer practice. The drive there and back was quiet, except for Beth and Janey. Karen and I said very little to each other. I knew that the talk between the two of us would come soon enough.

After the girls were in bed, I went to the refrigerator and got myself a beer, one of my favourite IPAs. I poured it into my favourite glass, sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out my cellphone. I put it face down on the table and took a large drink of the beer. My eyes were not focussing on anything and there were a hundred things competing for time and space in my brain. Chief among them was the notion that my marriage was on it's deathbed. Since Karen had decided she would find happiness with some other man, it was clear to me that I wasn't the one that she wanted to be married to. She might try and say otherwise, but, as we all know, actions speak much louder than words. But, I had a few words that I needed to say. I took another large drink of my beer.

"Karen!"

"Yes, dear."

"We need to talk."

"What would you like to talk about?"

"You, and me.". There was silence from her. "I need you to come and sit down. I have a few questions that I would appreciate some answers to."

Karen looked at me as she pulled out a chair. I said, "You might want to get yourself a drink, this might take a while, or not, depending on what your answers are to my questions."

I was still looking at my beer glass sitting in front of me as I said that. I hadn't made eye contact with her since sitting down. She went to the refrigerator and got a glass of wine. She pulled out a chair and sat. She took a drink.

I took in a very deep breath and exhaled and started.

"So, where are you and I; now that you have a boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend..."

"...what do you call that tall black guy in the convertible that picked you up Friday night?"

Karen took another large drink, "Well, he's just a friend..."

I kind of smirked as I said, "Did you fuck him?"

She looked at her wine glass for help to answer that. "He is just 'a friend'."

"He appears to be a friend-with-benefits. Sex benefits."

"I just...I..."

I looked at Karen and lowered my voice a bit, "Are you leaving us?"

Her head snapped up at that question. "What...no, no, no...no...fuck no!"

"On Friday night, you left to go have sex with another man. That tells me that you think this marriage is pretty much done. That came through loud and clear to me!" I paused, "How long have you been having sex with him?"

Karen just looked at her glass. I had expectations that Karen would tell me what the fuck was going on in her head and we could get it all out there and begin the process of divvying up our family and lives and see about the future. But she had other ideas.

"Dear, our marriage isn't done. We're not doing anything to change things..."

I put up my hand to interrupt. "Now I'm confused. What is it you are doing? Who is the man you went out with on Friday?"

Karen actually rolled her eyes at me a bit, "That's Marcus."

"And...?"

"He's a friend."

"Clearly!"

"This is just a short term thing. It's something that won't have any impact on us or our family. You'll see."

"You seem very certain of that. If you want to have sex with other men, why didn't you tell me and then we could get the divorce sorted out and you can go and do whatever you want and with whomever you want?"

"I don't want a divorce...!"

"You seem very certain that I'll just agree to it."

"This is just a fling that I want to have and then we can move on with our life together and it will just be you and me, again, like it's been since we got married."

"So, you want an open marriage? Is that it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you want us to stay married but we can have relationships with other people."

"Yes...wait...'we' can have relationships with others?"

"Well, yeah."

Her face got a very different expression just now. "You want to have relationships with other people, other women?"

"Well, why not. If you can do it, why can't I do it as well?"

Her mouth opened a bit and she took on a very fish-like expression. "You want to have...other women?"

"Fuck, yes Karen. If you're gonna be out there dating other men, and having sex with them, I am not gonna just sit here at home and be bored waiting for you to come back from fucking your boyfriend. I might as well be enjoying life too."

"But, who's going to look after the children?"

"Well, I suppose we can work that out so that the nights you're out with your boyfriend I'll be here with the kids and the nights that I'm out, you'll be here with them. We'll need to sort out the schedule beforehand but I suppose it is quite workable."

Karen sat back in her chair and actually looked a bit pale. I had to get the upper hand on this shit-show and I figured that taking this approach might show her what she was risking; if she was paying attention.

It costs very little to pay attention.

**********

Six months later

But she didn't pay attention.

Karen figured that she had largely won the war and so to the victor goes the spoils; or some shit like that. I figured that the war was just starting and I had mapped out a battle plan of my own. Well, sort of a battle plan.

We worked it out so that we each had one night a week to go out with other people. Initially I though that I would be sitting home with the kids all the time while Karen was dating, but after a couple of weeks and a time or two visiting Ralph and his girlfriend, I started to see a definite improvement in my social life outside of my marriage.

I stepped up my fitness program and traded some of my outdated wardrobe for a more modern look. Dropping twenty pounds, running five mornings a week and hitting the gym helped a lot. My new contact lenses meant I ditched the black-rim glasses and a set of those invisible braces straightened my teeth a bit. I had braces as a kid but over the years things had started to move around a bit in my mouth so they helped to make my smile look much better.

My self confidence improved with my fitness and appearance and I realized that my value to women wasn't completely tied to Karen. If she was willing to give up part of me, then I didn't feel bad about part of me getting to know others. I suppose that's a bit of revenge; a 'fuck you' manoeuvre.

Ralph's girlfriend introduced me to a couple of her work girl-friends and I went out on a few dates with them. Miriam was divorced and looking for a social life. Mary-Jo just got out of a dead relationship with a guy and wanted to have a bit of fun. So I enjoyed time with both of them. Neither were serious and just wanted to have a social life and all I wanted was to get out and forget about my wife spending her time fucking her boyfriend.