Only in a Dream

Please read Only in a Dream Chapters 1 and 2, before reading this chapter.

Once again, for those of you that actually read the whole long version, this will look familiar. I broke it down into chapters and the conclusion to the long version will be chapters seven and eight.

As I said before, in the first couple of chapters, I try to paint a picture of who Brad is and how he met Kathy. I just wanted readers to get to know Brad on a personal level. In chapter 4, we get to the main theme.

This is Ch. 3 of the dividing up of the original 'Only in a Dream '.

Brad's thoughts and memories continue after hearing about his nephew's girlfriend's cheating. Still sitting out on his deck under the metal roof, the rain is now coming down hard. People cheating seems to surround his thoughts, as he thinks about some of his former neighbors and the loss of a dear friend.

He thinks about his father briefly, and about how life has fared for some of these people that he has been reminiscing about. He remembers the first time he and Kathy made love and the experiences that he and Kathy had with other people before they came together.

If you've stuck with the story (or read the original epic), thank you. I will turn on the comments after the final chapter.

*

As the rain continued to come down, Brad looked down hill and a little ways to the left and looked at the house that sat there. It was now abandoned and in need of extensive repairs. The most recent family to live there, had refinanced it several times during the mortgage loan crisis of 2007/2008. When their interest rate went up, they could no longer afford the payments and just walked away from the house.

Before moving, they somehow managed to acquire twenty five cats, then after the move, they left the felines inside of the house with no food or water, and no litter box. Apparently they had done this, to 'get back' at the bank for raising their interest rate. When the Realtor opened the door a month later. . . Well the mess was horrible.

The bank that now held the mortgage was located several hundred miles away and the home fell into a state of disrepair. The house was located right next to the woods and a window was somehow broken out, then wild animals managed to get in, the house was now a real mess.

As Brad thought about the people that had lived in the house, he couldn't help but recall the incidents that had happened that fit the theme of what he was trying to stop thinking about since he'd been out here on the deck.

********

He remembered the man (husband and father) that had lived there. Brad had talked with him a couple of times, he brought to mind good ol' Todd. He was twenty nine years old, about six feet tall, nice looking, and very cocksure. He really had an attitude and also reminded Brad of a teenage boy strutting his stuff around.

A young newly married couple had moved into the house next door to him and his wife. They were both nineteen and to anyone who didn't know better, the husband didn't look a day older than about fourteen. He was small in stature and had little or no facial hair whatsoever. The wife, on the other hand, was an absolute babe. About five foot seven, one hundred and ten pounds and 36 C breasts, she probably looked older at the age of fourteen, than her husband did now.

The young couple had just moved into town. Their entire lives had been spent living in a rural setting at least twenty miles from anything other than towns with populations of no more than a couple hundred people. So, they were both very naive. Even tho this small town was only about twenty thousand people, it was the big city to them.

The husband worked at a local factory on the seven p.m. to seven a.m. shift. The young wife made a habit of taking their large dog out for walks around the neighborhood during the evening after he left for work.

Mr. attitude next door took notice and started walking his dog at the same time. It just so happened that his wife was a nurse at a hospital thirty miles away, and also worked the same hours as the young girl's husband.

Before long, they were walking together, and the young wife, having never been around a confident, cocksure man like him before, fell for it hook, line, and sinker. The two fell into a sexual affair rather quickly. They would be out walking their dogs and the young girl would be practically hanging all over him as they walked, so it had become quite obvious what was taking place. Then he started spending the night with her.

Several times, as he was leaving for work at midnight, Brad had seen the man sneaking across the yard to the young couple's home. Kathy would let their dogs out early in the morning and had watched the man sneak out of the girl's back door and run home, before their spouses came in from work.

Kathy told Brad about the one morning that they must have overslept, because young girl's husband was going in the front door, just as the neighbor was sneaking out of the back. They only missed each other by about ten seconds.

It appeared that the man would wait until his children were asleep, then sneak next door, leaving his kids alone all night. Then, would sneak back home in the morning, getting the children up and off to school. Then he would leave for work.

The young husband finally figured it out and they moved. Brad and Kathy never knew if Mr attitude's wife ever figured it out or not.

********

"That shit is going on all over," thought Brad.

Brad remembered when both of those houses were built. The abandoned one was built not long after they had moved here. The man who built the home and his wife lived there for a while after it was completed. But, his wife liked the location of another house he was building better, and when it was complete, they had moved into it.

The home where the young couple had lived was built about eight years ago, a nice, but kind of quirky guy lived there now with his eighteen year old son. He was a widower, his wife had died of cancer a few years before.

Brad remembered his friend, Greg Rogers, who had lived in the older house before the people that abandoned it. Then he remembered how Greg's family had all assumed that Kathy and he were having an affair.

People just couldn't seem to believe that a woman as beautiful as Kathy could be married to Brad and not be playing around with other men on the side.

It seemed like, no matter which way Brad tried to turn, or what he looked at, it involved cheating, or rumors of cheating.

********

Just as he had with Matt, Brad had also gone to high school with Greg. He was a functioning alcoholic. Except for constantly repeating himself, it was actually hard to tell that he was intoxicated. But hell, he had also been a drunk in high school.

His family owned a thriving business in town and were wealthy, they took care of his expenses with his trust fund that had been in the bank since he was born. Greg (actually his father) had purchased the house from the builder after he and his wife moved.

A couple of years after he moved in, Greg married Jenifer, she was twelve years younger than him. Just about everybody that knew her, also knew what she was after when she married him. In layman's terms, she was a gold digging cunt. She tried for a couple of years to get pregnant, when she finally did, Jenifer bragged that the family fortune would soon be be hers.

After the birth of their daughter, Jenifer ran off with one of the guys she was fucking around with, Greg now was her baby sitter while she bar hopped and seemed to have a new man every other week.

Greg's first wife had left him for his best friend, then she moved on and married someone else. So this was strike two for Greg.

Brad was helping Greg cut some brush down on his property, when Greg's mother stopped by to visit. She noticed that Greg wasn't real good at keeping his house clean. She asked Brad if his wife would be interested in being paid fifty dollars to clean Greg's house once a week. Kathy said she would do it, fifty dollars for about an hour or two's work was not bad.

Kathy started going over once a week and her and Greg would talk while she cleaned. Brad would sometimes go over and visit with Greg and drink a few beers with him while Kathy cleaned. Greg was drawn to her the same as Matt had been, and started calling to talk to her almost every evening. As with most alcoholics, he would repeat himself over and over, he mostly complained about his ex wives, but he would tell Kathy how he respected Brad, but if there was anything that ever happened to come between Brad and her, he wanted a chance with her. Kathy felt sorry for him, but thought that he had kind of brought this on himself by drinking so much.

Brad was never worried too much, because he knew Greg was a drunk. Unlike Matt, who was obviously pursuing Kathy, Greg was harmless. It wasn't in his nature to try and get with a married woman, but it was easy to see that he'd fallen in love with Kathy.

********

Brad's mood became a little morose now, he almost wished he hadn't thought about Greg. He had died from liver cancer, six years earlier and he hadn't told anyone he was sick, not even his second wife, so it was a shock.

That also meant that Jenifer had to start raising her own child too. It put a serious damper on her partying.

********

Kathy had been cleaning Greg's house for five years when, one day she went over to clean and there was no answer at the door. His car was there, so, she went back home and called his mother. She told her that she was supposed to be there at one o'clock to clean, but he wasn't answering.

Greg's mom told her that she would be there in about ten minutes. The tone of her voice worried Kathy, something in it just didn't sound right. She waited until she saw his mom's car pull up and her and Brad walked back over to Greg's.

As Kathy greeted Greg's mother, she told Kathy to wait outside, as she unlocked the door and went inside. Kathy was a little confused by his mom's demeanor, the cold look she had on her face and the way she had told her to wait outside. She knew something was very wrong.

A moment later, Greg's mom emerged with her cell phone in her hand and hugged Kathy. She handed Kathy a gold bracelet.

"He loved you and he wanted you to have this."

"Wwwhat?" said Kathy.

"He's gone now, his suffering is over," his mother said quietly.

Kathy then came to the realization that Greg had died.

And she remembered when she had listened to his usual rant about his exes the night before, he had begged her to come and see him, he needed to talk to her, it was important. Kathy hadn't gone, she was busy working on someone's suit that they needed rather quickly, and she didn't go. She felt so guilty about not going over to see Greg.

"He knew he was going to die. . . And he needed to tell me something," she thought.

His mother told Kathy that Greg had been diagnosed with liver cancer about six years before, and was really surprised that he'd lived as long as he had. No on else knew, only Greg, his mother, and father.

Kathy's emotions were all over the place, as were Brad's. He was a dear friend, they would miss him.

At his funeral, there were whispers about Greg and Kathy, so it was obvious to Brad and Kathy both, that he'd told his mother that he was in love with her. She had already told Kathy as much. He'd never told his mom outright that they were having an affair, but after telling her that he was in love with Kathy, they all just assumed.

The family also gave a bunch of his other personal items to her. Brad and Kathy both had a hunch that they knew what Greg was going to tell her. He'd dropped hints about how he felt about her, but since he knew his time was up, he had to tell her that he loved her face to face.

********

Brad wondered if Kathy was about done with supper, as he was getting pretty hungry.

!!!!!KA BOOM!!!!!. . . Another clap of thunder roared after lightning struck close by again.

"HOLY SHIT!!" Brad said, "That scared the living shit out of me!"

It took a few minutes for Brad's heartbeat to slow down after that. He thought about Greg and how he missed seeing him out walking around the neighborhood.

He sat and reflected over how things had turned out now, all these years later for some of these people he'd been thinking about.

********

On a happy note, Brad and Jack were still best friends.

A while after they met, when they were both just sixteen, Brad's aunt and uncle had come from out of state to visit his grandma and grandpa for a few days. Their daughter Keisha (Brad's cousin), who was two years younger than Brad and Jack, had come with them. She was very pretty, and Jack was infatuated immediately.

Jack was very disappointed when they had to leave for home. Over the next couple of years, they came back to visit a few more times and Jack always seemed to be close at hand.

After Brad took up with Kathy, he and Jack were still good friends, but they didn't spend as much time together, because Brad was spending all of his time with Kathy. Then Brad was in the accident and was in and out of the hospital for all those months. Jack had also been best man at Brad and Kathy's wedding.

Jack dated a couple of girls, but none were serious. He still had a crush on Keisha. After she graduated high school, Keisha enrolled at the local college and came to live with grandma. Brad played matchmaker, telling Jack about Keisha coming to stay at grandma's. Brad still felt a little guilty, tho he would never change anything, that he had ended up with the girl Jack had wanted first.

Long story short, Jack and Keisha got together, were married within a year and have four children together. They're still married.

Kathy's sister, Tina was now on her third marriage. She had / has cheated on every one of her husbands, and has lost count of how many guys she has actually been with. Tina had always been very competitive with Kathy, almost like she had to prove that she was better. She slept with every one of Kathy's ex boyfriends, including her ex husband. She also slept with. . . Wait for it. . . Todd.

How does that old Z Z Top song go?

"I know a girl that lives on the hill, she won't do it, but her sister will."

Now in her late forties, Tina had spent some time in prison for embezzlement and the years have taken a toll on her looks, however, she still believed she is a goddess and could attract any man she wanted. Supposedly separated from her husband (he still lived with her) and back on the public dole, and only eighteen months out of the slammer, she lives with all of the amenities that anyone could ask for. And is screwing the Government over once again.

And Todd. . . Almost have to feel sorry for him. Poor sap. . . Now on his fifth marriage. With each marriage, the girls kept getting younger and he had already started fucking each of the new ones, before he divorced the previous one. His current wife is younger than his oldest son, the baby that his first wife supposedly 'trapped him' with. He has children with all, but the second wife, she was able to see through his BS pretty quickly and bailed before she became pregnant. He also has a child with an ex girlfriend (who was married to someone else at the time) from high school. Then, there are two more with two other young women in a town twenty five miles to the south. All together, there are eleven children with seven different women.

Todd did get a taste of his own medicine tho. His fourth wife, who he stayed with the longest, had a little affair of her own with a man from her workplace and Todd was none too pleased.

It all appears to be an odd situation tho. It seems that his current wife and all of his ex wives, including the three women he had children with out of wedlock, are all good friends. They all get together frequently. Almost like a club. . . The women of Todd. Needless to say, Christmas is probably a real circus at his house.

Brad wondered how Todd supported his current wife, having to pay all of that child support.

Also, Todd never divorced any of his wives. . . They all divorced him after they found out about his dalliances.

********

By now, Brad had all but given up on planning his model railroad. He closed the book and sat it down on the small plant stand that sat beside him.

Again a more somber tone took over his thoughts, as he sat and pondered what he was going to do now.

********

Brad had never liked the idea of people cheating on each other. He had felt this way ever since he had been very young. He wasn't really sure why it affected him like it did. Because of his upbringing, Brad had always considered sex as an expression of love between two people, not a sport. How could someone possibly claim to love one person, then go out and have sex with someone else. It was for this reason, that Brad had held back when he first met Kathy.

An entire month passed before Brad and Kathy had sex for the first time. He wasn't going to repeat mistakes he'd made in the past. Brad was absolutely sure that he was in love with Kathy by then.

He would see a cheating situation on TV or in a movie and it would sometimes bother him for days afterward. Maybe it was what he saw his mother go through and the way she suffered over the loss of his father. The loss of a spouse because of a death was horrible enough, he knew this firsthand. But, knowing the person that had promised to love you was showing that love to someone else. . . It was something he just couldn't fathom. Brad feared being cheated on more than death itself.

He remembered what his aunt, his dad's older sister told him. She said, that just a few days before his death, his father had sat and cried, because he was so worried about how his wife and young son would get along without him. He needed to be there to take care of them,

"Would they be alright?"

Brad knew that his father would have never left willingly, if he could have prevented his own death, he would have done so, not for himself, but for his wife and young child.

Brad had also witnessed the love his grandparents shared. After grandpa's death, grandma lived for twenty five more years, to the age of ninety eight, but she was never interested in, or even so much as looked any other man. That's the kind of love Brad wanted and felt he had found it with Kathy.

As Brad sat there, his eyes became a little misty, his youngest son was now twenty five and he looked just like his namesake. . . Brad's father. Comparing photos, he even stood and held himself just like he did.

Eric Clapton's song,

"In My Father's Eyes "

came to mind as he thought about how much he loved his family and how much he loved Kathy.

Brad's mind wandered to the different experiences that he and Kathy had gone through before they found each other all those years ago.

********

Before Kathy, Brad had been with two other girls. He had a seven month relationship with Natalie Walden, a girl he met the summer he was eighteen. They met after talking to one another on the CB radio one night. She was the first girl that seemed to really like him. Or so he thought.

Brad worked as an auto mechanic during the day and Natalie worked evenings as a waitress in a small town about ten miles from where Brad lived. He would only go and see her on the weekends, when they were both off. Although there were a lot of red flags, Brad, being inexperienced and full of raging hormones, ignored them. After getting to know her, and losing his virginity to her, he thought he loved her. She claimed to have had sex with only one other guy before him, but in hindsight, Brad thought she was most likely lying.

They had already broken up, when Natalie found that she was pregnant. Because of the way he'd been raised, taught to do the right thing. The thought of the baby being without a father was something he didn't want his child to ever have to experience, Brad offered to marry Natalie.