It had been a bitch of a trip. A two day "stop only for gas, restroom, and fast food" drive home from what was to have been two weeks of renewal. It was late. We got home and there was little in the way of edible food in the house. Up early for work, stopped at the local doughnut shop for a couple of my favorites and a coffee on my way.
The whole office was surprised by my very early return. No time for a good lunch so had a package of cheese crackers and a soda at my desk. Met with my boss and got my ass chewed for someone else's mistake.
Home in time to watch my wife, Laurie, drive down the street followed by a rental truck. Her destination unknown; at least to me.
I took a power protein bar out of the cooler we took on the ill-fated trip. The food we put in it when we left sat there unused, the ice and ice packs were melted, and everything was warm. The protein bar was soaked with water from the melted ice and was inedible.
In the livingroom, most of the stuff she had before we married was gone. I went to the bedroom. Her childhood dresser and chest of drawers was also gone. None of her stuff was there and her closet was empty. In the kitchen, three dirty coffee cups sat on the island. Her family's china and crystal were gone.
None of that came as a surprise.
The purpose of the trip was to try to work out a few problems our two-year marriage had developed. To be honest, we only had one big one, but it was the biggest. To cheat or not to cheat, that was the question. My vote was to NOT cheat.
One of the songs the DJ played at our reception was something about getting married in a fever and that pretty well described us. We knew each other only six months before getting married.
Do you have any idea how many people told us both it was a huge mistake to get married so soon? The short answer is virtually everybody I knew, or was related to. It was the same with her, but we wouldn't listen because we were in love and we knew better than all of them combined.
God, what fucking idiots we were.
The fever that the reception song referred to ended pretty soon after the minister pronounced us man and wife. The remnants of the wedding cake weren't even stale when the problems began.
They started with her new boss's son. A college football player who was raised to believe that he was entitled to anything he wanted.
His father bought the car dealership where my wife worked. There are six new car dealerships in our small town and after Martin Justin, Jr. bought the one Laurie worked at, he owned three of them. Laurie had worked there for four years and had been instrumental in getting my cousin, Jeffery, hired to detail the cars. Everyone who knew Jeff liked and trusted him.
He is not the brightest or quickest guy in the world and cleaning cars was a job he liked, and he did it well. He is also a pretty decent mechanic, but never had the confidence to work at it full time. He was one of my groomsmen at my wedding and in addition to being my cousin, I considered him a good friend.
After Justin bought the dealership, his son didn't come around at first because he was in school, but when it was over for the summer he started hanging around and the office where mostly females worked became his favorite hangout spot. It didn't take long for Laurie's desk to become the center of his universe when he was at the dealership.
At first, he was a nuisance according to Laurie. Then she said nothing about him and I assumed he either stopped or went on to someone else to pester.
Jeff was more silent than usual one evening while he and I were sitting on the porch of Laurie's and my rented house.
He liked beer, but had a very low tolerance for alcohol, so I always had near beer for him. If he ever knew the difference, he never said anything.
Don't get the wrong idea. He is no dummy. He just can't "catch on" to things very fast, but man, when he learns something... anything... he never forgets it, and he is intensely loyal to his friends, and especially me.
So, we were sitting on the porch. He hadn't said much and barely touched his drink. I would often find him staring at me.
"Okay, Jeff. What's up?"
"Roger likes Laurie." Roger was Justin's son.
I chuckled. "Everybody likes Laurie."
"Laurie likes Roger."
"No, she doesn't."
"Tim, I'm not that slow. He spends a lot of time talking to her. Today he left for lunch at the same time she did and they came back at the same time."
Laurie never went out for lunch. She always ate in the break room and watched game shows on TV.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded slowly.
That was the first indicator that there was trouble in paradise. We didn't talk about it anymore that evening.
When she got home, I asked her if everything at work was okay and if she was having any problems.
"Everything is fine. Why do you ask?"
"No reason. Roger was being a pest before and you haven't mentioned him in a while."
"Oh, he's still a pest, but I can handle him."
The second, third and fourth indicators came in rapid succession and all came from Jeff. Inappropriate touching, like his hand on her ass, or her hand on his leg when they were sitting close together; shit like that, but nothing that directly pointed to cheating.
I didn't like what I was hearing, but I hadn't said anything to Laurie about it, either. I just told Jeff to keep an eye on them and tell me what he saw. Those times when he saw something inappropriate, he called me.
I was usually pretty aggressive and confrontational, but I bided my time for a couple of reasons. First, I really didn't want to think about her doing something untoward like cheating; but I also didn't want to hear all the "I told you so's" I'd get from everyone I knew, if she did cheat.
One afternoon he called to tell me Laurie and Jeff were in Jeff's father's office... kissing. Kissing crossed the line. I talked to her about it that evening. At first, she denied everything, but finally admitted she and Roger had "played around and kissed a little, but nothing serious happened".
"Is something 'serious' going to happen?" I asked.
"Of course not," was her response.
I let it be known in no uncertain terms that I would tolerate no further 'playing around and kissing,' and that adultery would definitely result in a divorce. "We can get divorced just as quickly as we got married, and I won't hesitate getting a divorce if you ever sleep with anyone else!"
Although I never told her how I knew about her and Roger, Jeff was fired the next day. It wasn't difficult to figure that one out. Laurie and I never discussed his firing, but I did comment on how chickenshit it was to fire a handicapped person. I also mentioned that Jeff and I were going file a complaint against Justin with the ADA people.
Nobody ever considered Jeff to be handicapped, just slow, and the mention of filing a complaint was just me blowing off. He and I had not discussed any such thing.
The next day, Jeff was hired back to work in one of the other two dealerships Martin Justin, Jr., owned, but the employees where he originally worked protested so much that he was brought back to his original job. It was an interesting exercise in human relations. Virtually everyone at the dealership leaped to Jeff's defense.
After our chat and my declaration that divorce could be gotten quickly, Laurie and I had several discussions about appropriate behavior for married people. First and foremost among those behavior's was the fact that you never let yourself get in a situation that was not 'spouse approved'. For example, while lunch alone with a member of the opposite sex, not a family member, may be totally innocent, it's appearance could possibly start rumors; especially in a small town. Once rumors start, there is no controlling them and a good reputation can 'go south' in a hurry.
After that particular conversation, we did some soul searching and decided to take some time off and try to get some of the magic back; some of "the fever" the song at our reception referred to.
We planned the trip, got the time off, packed and drove off. We took two full days to get there. The first few hours of the trip were pleasant enough, but then.....
We hadn't been on the road four hours and her phone rang. She looked at it, but didn't answer. She did turn off the ringer, however. Less than an hour later, she got another call. She was holding it in her hand and it vibrated. She felt the initial vibration and she jumped, nervously. She looked but didn't answer, but just a few minutes later asked if we could stop to use the restroom.
We pulled into a big truck stop. I pulled up to a pump and she jumped out and went inside. I usually dislike thoughtless drivers who fill their tanks then let their vehicle sit at the pump while they go inside and shop or use the facilities. That generally means other drivers have to wait to fill up. It flows much smoother if, after you fill your tank, you park your vehicle before going inside, but what the hell; that's just me complaining.
I was the thoughtless person that time. As she hurried inside, I followed. She never looked back and was on her phone as soon as she was inside the door.
"I told you I'd call when I had a chance". There was a pause. "Damn it Roger, I mean it. I'll call you when I get back." Another pause. "Roger...don't." She looked at her phone, then looked around her. I ducked below a long shelf of snacks and waited a few seconds before lifting my head to see if she was still there. Her back was to me as I heard her speak. "You son of a bitch. Don't ever hang up on me again." Apparently, the son of a bitch did hang up on her again because she just looked at her, apparently dead, phone again.
She didn't bother looking around that time. She just tried to call him but he never answered. She was looking down at her phone when I walked up and stood in front of her.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, it's fine." She looked at me. "I have to use the restroom," she said as she rushed away.
I returned to the car and filled its' tank. She came out carrying a soda. I looked at her. "That's okay. I'll get my own," I said as I started inside. She stared as if she had no idea that it would have been nice to have at least asked me if I wanted something from the store.
As I left the store with my own soda, I looked and she was on the phone again. She ended just as I opened the door to get in. I said nothing as I started the car and drove off.
We spent that night in a motel. We had Pizza delivered to our room and were in bed before 10.
We drove most of the next day with very little conversation. We checked into our hotel, ate dinner in the hotel dining room and went to bed.
I was still awake staring at the darkness just after eleven when I saw her phone light up. No noise, just the light. She jumped up and ran to the bathroom with it. I rose slowly and stood outside the closed bathroom door trying to hear, but couldn't. "Please don't" were the only two words I understood.
The conversation went on for a couple of minutes as I stood trying to make out what she was saying, but could not. I was still standing there when she opened the door. She screamed! I had frightened the crap out of her.
"Wha... what are you doing there?" She asked after she realized who it was.
"I was just wondering what you were doing in there?" I indicated the bathroom.
"Nothing. Just using the bathroom."
"Did you need your phone for that?"
"Uh, yes. I used it's light so I wouldn't hit anything getting here."
She tried to go around me. "You forgot to flush."
"Oh. Yeah." She went back and flushed.
"Who were you talking to?"
