"I started working with your wife two months ago. We work in the same section. Almost immediately, I started hearing about her and a man in our section. It was another week or so before I started seeing things for myself. His name is Stan Morrison and they go to lunch together almost every day. They have made no secret of their friendship and talk openly. Today most of the office overheard them talking about going out tomorrow night. They've decided to go to the Hilton because it has a nice restaurant and tomorrow night there will be live music. They plan on having dinner and then dance to the live music before going up to their room and spending the night. He even called to reserve the room. Even as we speak your wife is out shopping for clothes for their date."
"Tomorrow night? And spending the night together? Just how do they expect to accomplish that?"
"She is going to tell you the truth. She is convinced that you love her enough to allow her to experience another man since you are the only one she has ever had. I overheard that bit of information last week. She honestly feels that it will not affect your marriage in any way. I guess that's why they feel safe talking openly. She doesn't think you will have a problem with it."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I was married for 9 years and my wife had an affair. The legal system fucked me more completely than her lover ever fucked her. She and her boyfriend are now living in the house that I pay for and my children are calling him daddy. I'm living in a dump of an apartment and eating beans and rice five nights a week. I see this as a chance to possibly help someone else avoid my situation."
We talked for a while longer and he left to go back to work. I was left to contemplate my marriage and my future. My conclusion was that if he was telling the truth, my marriage was over. It was frightening that I could so easily consider the possible demise of my marriage based solely on a relatively short conversation with a total stranger, but I thought back to my youth and remembered the pain my mother had gone through. My father was both an alcoholic and a philanderer. He had several affairs and was open about them. He even teased my mother about them.
I asked her why she put up with it. "I love him." Was her response.
Once, when I was about 11 years old, he took me with him to his then current girl friends' house. The two of them were somewhere in the house and I was in her living room with her dog. I got tired of sitting there petting the dog so I left and walked the mile or so home.
When I got home, I told my mother where I had been. We only had one car so she and I walked back to where the car was. She made no effort to confront them and I don't know if he even realized I had left. We took the car and went home. I didn't see him for about a week and my mother wouldn't let him in the house. Two days after she did finally let him back in, he whipped me with his belt for dropping a kitchen plate and breaking it; but after thinking about it, I thought the real reason was me telling on him.
Given my experiences as a child and seeing the pain my mother suffered, I could see no circumstance under which I would or could condone Jodie having an affair. Her even thinking about having one was too much for me. Call me a jerk, insensitive, cocky, arrogant, goody two shoes or anything else you can think of, but I had no intention of going through what my mother did.
She eventually found the strength to leave my father and we were much better for it. That was years ago. He still lives in town, but we rarely see each other and that's fine with me. She remarried and is very happy and.
As I've already mentioned, Jodie and I live in a house owned by her and my step-father.
So what do I do now? Confront Jodie or ignore the information I had just received? Wait and see what happens?
As a salesman you can't always wait for someone to walk in the front door ready to buy. You have to be pro-active. Give your card out. Make phone calls. Talk to people. Anticipate, be tenacious and resilient and know your product. Well, that 'know your product' thing might be a problem in this case. If what Michael Hamilton told me is true, I don't know Jodie at all. And she, apparently, doesn't know me. I had made no secret of my feelings about adultery and she was well aware of my family history.
So I decided to be pro-active. But exactly how does one start being pro-active in a situation which may not even exist? Start by covering all your bases. Anticipate a 'worst case' scenario. Then choose a course of action and determine what is the best thing that can happen to you as a result of your decision and what is the worst thing that can happen. If you are not prepared to accept the worst possible outcome, choose a different course of action and keep choosing until you determine what you can accept.
I made my decision and determined that my first task was to find a private investigator. There were several in the phone book. I randomly selected one, called and was told to come right over. Thirty minutes later I was in his office. Two hours after that he had lots of my dollars and we had a plan. It was now time to go home. I had no idea how I was going to act around her tonight.
She was home when I got there. When I walked in, she came up to me for our usual kiss and hug. I had given a lot of thought about how I should act. I could either act normally, in which case she would assume that everything was okay and her plans could continue; if indeed she actually had any plans. Or I could, in some way, hint to her about what I had heard. If I did, she could deny everything and postpone it until things blew over. If she was considering doing it now what would prevent her from re-considering or even actually doing it sometime in the future? I had no intention of living with that possibility.
The other side of the coin of course was that if she knew I suspected her, it might cause her to abandon their plan.
I decided to act normally.
Dinner was almost ready. She was just waiting for me to grill the pork chops. I did and we ate. Acting normally was more difficult than I thought it would be. For me. She, however, was either a very good actress or, as Michael Hamilton had indicated, was so sure of herself that she had no concerns at all and was free to be natural.
Around 11, I went upstairs to get ready for bed. Jodie was already asleep. I took my shower and went to bed but I didn't sleep.
At six the next morning she got up, got dressed, and went downstairs. A few minutes later, I got up, dressed and went downstairs. She was gone. I can count on one hand the number of times one of us left the house without a kiss goodbye. This was one of them.
It was Friday and normally a good day for selling RV's, but I called my boss and told him I was going to take the morning off. I called the attorney the dealership used and asked if he knew of a good divorce attorney. He referred me to his wife.
"But let me warn you. She hates husbands who screw around on their wives so if you did, she probably won't take your case." He called her and sent me over immediately.
I told her about my conversation with Michael Hamilton. Her first question was why did I think it necessary to consult a lawyer and hire an investigator solely on the unsubstantiated story of a total stranger? I then told her about my parents and my personal intolerance for adultery or anything approaching it.
She recommended that I wait and confirm his story. She also commented that if Jodie was as confident as Hamilton had indicated that our marriage would not be hurt, she really had nothing to lose by having a little fling. I informed her that there was no way I would tolerate a fling, little or otherwise, and if Jodie went through with her plans tonight I wanted to be able to have her served no later than Monday. If Hamilton was either lying or mistaken I might have to be prepared to eat a lot of crow but if he was telling the truth I would be ready.
Although hesitant, she assured me that the paperwork would be ready and all that would be needed was the location she was to be served if it came to that.
By one in the afternoon I was back at my desk trying to sell an RV to a retired couple who had been married almost 50 years. At first, I had reservations about selling a 45' motor coach to such an elderly couple but after talking to them and watching the way they interacted my reservations disappeared. He acted younger than I did and moved with more agility. In fact, I was envious; both of his seeming youth and vigor and of their relationship. I had been working with them for a couple of weeks and it seemed they were now ready to buy. They had picked out the one they wanted and we had driven it up and down the highway. Their name was Jacobson, and Mr. Jacobson had driven it and seemed comfortable and in control behind the wheel.
I had trouble concentrating on what I was doing, but I was enjoying their back and forth banter as they discussed the pros and cons of motorhome ownership. They were exactly what I wanted Jodie and me to be after a long, happy marriage. In the end, I decided to give them a new and added incentive. I decided to call it my 'Trey' discount. I had never done it before but I really liked them so I threw in part of my commission as an additional discount. They bought the RV and left with smiles on their faces.
It was time to go home. I checked with my investigator and was assured that everything was ready. At 5:30, I pulled into the garage. Jodie's car was in its usual spot. I went inside and didn't smell anything to indicate that dinner was being cooked. I was as calm, cool and collected as I thought possible. I put the package my investigator had given me on the mantle and resisted the urge to find her so I sat in my recliner and waited to see what would happen.
I didn't have to wait long. At 5:45 she came downstairs dressed to kill in what apparently was the clothes Michael Hamilton told me she had been shopping for the day before. She was gorgeous and had her overnight case with her.
