I left off the first part of my story with Sara and me, Mark, sitting on the couch in my parents living room hugging. She had just finished explaining the deal she made with her husband, Mike. Mike gave me ownership of the house I had been renting. The one he bought so he could evict Sara and me. He also had my local schoolboard defund my position as a middle school math teacher so I would be out of a job. As part of the arrangement he made with Sara, Mike will have the schoolboard fund a position for me at any middle school or high school I choose in my school district. He also gave me a check for double what I would have made teaching this school year. He agreed to return Sara's access to their joint banking accounts and credit cards. Sara is to receive $500K each year for the next 15 years. Sara agreed not to proceed with a divorce for those 15 years. I guess after 15 years, they'll renegotiate or divorce. And Sara retains full custody of her baby son, Tom. That was last September. It's now February.
We were hugging because we had our lives back, not because Sara and I were romantically involved. Sara told me that she wanted her and Tom to stay with me in the house I now own. That was fine with me. Then Sara asked me if it bothered me that she has to remain married to Mike. I thought that's an odd question to ask me. I was solidly in her friend zone. I didn't have to answer the question because we were interrupted by Tom crying.
After Mike evicted us from my rental, my contract to teach wasn't renewed and Sara was cut off from any money, we moved in with my parents. We put my furniture in storage. I'm working at a home improvement store from 10am to 6pm Wednesday through Sunday. The following Monday, I rented a moving van and asked a couple of my friends to help Sara and me move my furniture from storage back into the house. We were mostly unpacked and settling in by Monday evening. Sara told me she wanted to talk. I figured she was going to tell me that we would remain only roommates. We were just friends and would always be just friends. She was probably also going to tell me that, since she now considers herself single, she was going to start dating. We sat on opposite ends of the couch. Tom was with my mother at my parent's so there would be no interruptions. It was the first time we have been really alone together in almost a month. And the first time alone together after Sara declared that she's no longer married. Except legally.
Sara began, "We have to talk about how to split expenses. I think we should split everything 50-50. I'll pay for everything and at the end of each month, I'll tell you what the total for the month was and you can pay me back your half. I'll pay you rent. Just tell me how much. But the money I spend on Tom, his food, clothes, toys, whatever, will be solely paid by me. I won't let you help with that. How does that sound?"
I thought, "Right, you're going to give me a real number to pay you back each month." I said, "How about I pay for everything and tell you the amount to pay me back at the end of each month?"
Sara replied, "You won't be honest. You'll give me some BS number that's a fraction of what I really owe you."
I said, "And that's exactly what you'll do too. Here's what I suggest. I'll deposit my pay in a joint account you and I open together. You match the amount of my income. That will be your rent. All our expenses, food, upkeep, utilities, etc., come out of the joint account. Since my entire income will be in that account, we'll use it for gym fees, entertainment, clothes, gas, that sort of stuff too. That's all we'll live on. Mike gave me double what I would have earned teaching this year. I'm going to put that in a savings account. If we need it, we'll use it. Otherwise, I'd like to hold onto it.
"I don't want you as my sugar mommy. We'll live within our means and our means will be double whatever income I have. And that's all. I don't want to go out to dinner every night or get expensive gifts from you or have you buy things for the house. We'll only spend my income plus your match of my income. That's all the money we'll have to use.
Sara laughed and said, "You mean I have to stop looking for a villa in the South of France, cancel our round the world cruise and tell the salesman that I won't be buying you that Ferrari after all? What a downer you are." She moved closer to me on the couch and continued, "I'm fine with all of that. Except for Tom. I am his sugar mommy and plan to continue to be. I pay for everything for Tom. That's the way it has to be. It's not open for discussion."
I said, "OK. We'll open a joint account tomorrow. Let's do a budget and see if we can afford to buy food." I opened my laptop on the coffee table and pulled up a blank spreadsheet. Sara moved closer to view the screen, her thigh touching my thigh and her head resting on my shoulder. I don't know what it is about Sara but if she touches me or if she's wearing sexy gym clothes, I get aroused. Sometimes all I have to do is smell her, a mixture of talcum powder and shampoo, to pop up. When we were living together before Mike evicted us, I would help her with Tom's middle of the night feedings and diaper changes. She sleeps in an oversized Chicago Bulls jersey, number 32, which comes down to her middle thigh. The first time I saw her in that, I was in boxer shorts. I had to rush back to my room to put on pants. Baggy sweatpants. It was that noticeable. And embarrassing. It's like I'm 13 again when I'm around her. Sara must have noticed at some point but has never said anything. Every time I saw her in her jersey, I wondered if she was wearing panties under it. I couldn't tell one way or the other but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to know. Like I said, around her, I'm 13 again.
I pulled the laptop onto my lap, mostly to hide the problem that arose because our thighs were touching, and started on a budget. The house has no mortgage. Mike paid the property taxes for this year and will pay utilities through next August. Sara said she forgot to tell me that Mike has also paid for home owner's insurance through next August. "Good," I said, "in August I'll start getting my teaching salary again which is more than I'm making now at the home improvement store. We'll be able to take over these homeowner expenses better when they start to kick in." We figured out what we thought our expenses would be each month. We'll be OK if we stick to the budget. No fancy restaurant every night but maybe an inexpensive one every couple of weeks.
Sara sat back and stretched then started to get up. I said, "I have one more thing we need to discuss. Our personal lives." Sara looked at me curiously and indicated that she was listening. I continued, "You told me that you consider yourself no longer married. OK. I guess you'll want to start dating. I think we should establish a rule that we don't bring our dates home. I don't want to bump into some strange dude in the hallway in the middle of the night. If you want to stay overnight with your date, just let me know and my mother or I will take care of Tom. If you want to spend the night someplace else, you won't have to worry about him. Just don't bring guys here. Sorry, but I'm going to have to insist on that."
Sara moved up on the couch so she was facing me, only our knees touching and said, "I am single. Mike and I agreed to live separate lives. But what guys are you talking about? Who do you think I'm going to bring home? I'm not going to date anyone. I want to be here with you. That's all I want. There's no one else I'm looking for or want to be with." She looked concerned and asked, "What about you? Are you going to start dating? Is that why you brought this up. To let me know you're going to be spending nights away with your dates? Is that what you want? I told you what I want. I want to be here with you. What do you want?" Sara's looked at me with concern and maybe a little anger also.
Good question. I figured it was time to ruin everything so I said, "Look. You and I get along great. We're good friends. We tease each other and I flirt with you. You don't do much flirting back and I get it that you just want us to be friends. Nothing more. I like you and Tom being here with me and I don't want to push you away. When you moved here last July, you said you weren't looking for romance. I've respected that and I'll continue to. I assume you want to stay here with me because it's safer for you to date here where you're less recognizable. You won't have the press attention you might get at home. And my mother and I are available for babysitting.
