What would happen if both partners did something wrong but neither would admit it? What if both stuck to their lies? This one is just for fun.
Thank you angel love for the time you put in editing this story for me and your suggestions.
Sean
Just after 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, I walked down the hall to Jerry's office and stuck my head in his door.
"Is he in?" I asked Polly, his secretary.
She smiled and said, "Yeah Sean, go on in. He's alone and finally off the phone."
"Thanks Polly. I just need a minute."
I went past her desk and pushed open the door into Jerry's office. Almost a duplicate of mine, it was a very large, open room with a desk, a conference table and a long, leather couch. The coffee table was huge and was currently covered with open files and boxes of records. He was working on a case involving embezzlement by a worker who had been with the company long enough to know the ropes and had been doing it for some ten years. Jerry represented the employee and knew he had a tough road to make a jury sympathetic to his client.
"Hey, Jerry. Just a quick heads up. I think I must have a bad cold and my head is killing me: every bone in my body aches. I'm calling it a day. There shouldn't be any problems since I've got everything up to date. Janie can handle anything that does comes up."
He glanced up with a frown and said, "Hope you feel better Sean, but I won't know it, that's for sure. This damn case is gonna kill me so you'll probably find me face down when you return."
With that, he waved me out and went back to his files. I closed the door and left to return to my own office. I cleared my desk and left all open items with Janie, my secretary and told her to let me go home and die in peace. She was not to call unless either she or Polly was arrested for murdering Jerry. She just smiled and urged me to get out of the office.
Jerry and I had opened our own private practice in defense law after working for one of the biggest law firms in the city of Mobile, Alabama. Both of us felt we were getting nowhere fast at the firm and we had talked about this for some time. Ten months ago we took the plunge and started Ridder and Ballard, Attorneys, Inc. I was Sean Ballard. We took a lease on a large, old two-story shingle sided estate home down town and we borrowed enough money to renovate it and put our own touches to it. We had enough space upstairs for three more attorneys and we each had a downstairs office large enough to work in.
Besides Jerry and me, we had two receptionists/clerks and we already had more clients than we could handle. Our startup debts were paid, and we were finally making a profit, so we had interviewed several young attorneys and had decided to hire two of them, letting our practice grow. He and I were to be the senior partners and the others would work for us until they brought in enough new business to buy into the practice. Now that we were functioning at a profit, we could establish a value to the business and the new guys or gals could buy shares. Life was good.
I was married to a beautiful girl that I had loved forever. Her name was Soledad but I sometimes called her Sunny. You know, Sol-edad or Sol, for Sun, hence Sunny? I hadn't taken a day off in over a year and Sunny had been begging me for some time to take a vacation. I'd put her off waiting until we were on more solid ground with the practice but it seemed like a good time now to talk about time off with Jerry. Most of my cases weren't urgent and I could take some time. A trip away without JJ sounded good and I thought we could both use the together time. While I loved my son, he was a handful and Sunny and I seldom had much time together. I got into my car and began the drive home. I felt like hell but I wanted the peace and quiet of my nice soft bed to die in or at least to make me feel like I was going to live.
We lived in the South Baldwin/Gulf Shore area and our home was much too big for us but we felt it was a good investment. We had a mortgage of more than $300,000 but I was making enough now to just cover it and Soledad loved it. She had become a major player in the local Women's club and she seemed to thrive on it. Her activities and contacts were good for business so I encouraged her interest.
I was less encouraging in her choice of friends but she was happy so I took it as well as I could. Her two best friends were a woman named Judy Cabot, about our age and divorced from her second husband, and Carol Jennings, whom I learned had been dumped by her husband of seven years for infidelity. Both had pre-nups that left them very well off so Carol was not the least upset about it and laughed in my face when I said that I was sorry for her breakup. When I mentioned to Soledad that she was the only married woman in that group, she just smiled and patted me on the knee telling me not to worry.
I arrived home about 7:30, a good two or three hours ahead of my usual time, and pulled into the garage. Sunny's car wasn't there but Lucy's was. Lucy was our regular babysitter and often sat for JJ. As I walked in, I asked her where my wife was and she said that she didn't know for sure but that she had left a number and said she would be home by 9:00. I looked at the number but didn't recognize it. Then, I suddenly remembered that she had her Thursday meeting with the Women's club and this must be the hotel downtown where they were meeting. She would usually be home by 8:30 or 9:00 when she had these meetings.
As bad as I was feeling, I let Lucy go after paying her for the whole evening with a tip and confirming that JJ, our one year old son, was sound asleep. He would be out until morning and I could just go to bed after a hot shower and a hot toddy. I wasn't sure which I wanted first so I fixed the toddy and took it to the bedroom with me. I took my shower, dried off, went to make a final check on JJ, finished the toddy and climbed into bed. I was sound asleep and didn't hear Soledad when she came upstairs to the bedroom.
Soledad
I wasn't sure why I did it but when Jason asked me to dinner, I accepted. The Thursday meeting had been very productive and it had broken up just about 15 minutes ago but I stayed behind to speak with Jason further. We chatted about nothing in particular and then out of the blue, he had asked me to have dinner with him. He said we could just grab a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant since he didn't have a car. He said he didn't need one since he had a room there for tonight and tomorrow the hotel shuttle would take him to the airport.
I tried to convince myself that this was a bad idea, but I was bored and Sean was going to be late again as usual and the only thing I would be doing otherwise was spending another lonely evening by myself. JJ was with Lucy, our babysitter, and he would be in bed by the time I got home. I had to admit that Jason was very nice to look at and he was single and in town by himself. So, what was the harm in two lonely people spending a harmless evening having dinner and hopefully some good conversation?
At dinner, I was pleasantly surprised. Jason was a great dinner partner, witty, smart and easy to talk to. He was a great listener and I found myself telling him things I wouldn't consider telling anyone else, even my best friends. I told him about Sean and Jerry and their new partnership and the time he was spending trying to make a go of it. I admitted that we had discussed it and I had been part of the decision, knowing the time with Sean that I would have to give up. He listened and sympathized but said that he couldn't see giving up all that time with someone as beautiful as me. I was naturally flattered and a little taken with his compliments.
We shared a bottle of red wine with our meal and had another with conversation after. I had a pleasant buzz that allowed me to relax and enjoy. During coffee, he moved over to sit next to me as we talked, commenting that the restaurant had become crowded and very noisy. I didn't comment as he moved closer to me. I pretended not to notice as our knees touched. Once, as he moved to pour coffee for himself he had to lean past me to pick up the decanter, and his hand brushed my breast. I felt a flash of pleasure, followed by a flush of embarrassment. He seemed not to notice, but I did. The wine had apparently made me a little rash.
As we sat and talked, he suggested we move to the bar and have an after dinner drink. At first, I declined but finally agreed as he continued to encourage me. I followed as he took my hand and led me out of the restaurant and into the bar. Since it was early in the evening, the bar was not crowded and he selected a booth toward the back. It was dimly lit, even that early as I slid into the seat. I expected him to sit across from me but he surprised me by sitting next to me.
I moved to the far end of the seat but he just moved closer. As we settled in, I felt the warmth of his thigh next to mine and his hand still holding mine just under the table. As I was about to say something to him, a waitress came up to take our order. He ordered something for us both and the waitress left. He smiled at me and leaned over to kiss my hair. I shivered but didn't pull away. He still held my hand.