Our Reunion by OlympusMons90
It's just after lunchtime on Saturday afternoon as I get into my truck before driving off the construction site, I'm looking forward to seeing my two kids again for the rest of the weekend.
My name is Chuck Roberts and I'm a 35yo Construction Foreman, here in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the moment, I'm in charge of a site in Hunter Hills, which is good as it's not that far from the house that I used to own. I say used to own, but I'm actually still paying it off, along with child support and alimony payments to my now ex-wife.
My former wife of almost ten years left me two years ago now, with the divorce settled soon after that. We have two kids together, Tommy who's eight now, and my baby girl Tricia at just six. My now ex-wife is Marie, a 32yo Hotel Receptionist at the nearby Four Seasons. Before we were separated, she was mainly a stay-at-home mom, until she wanted to get back into the workforce about three years ago now, when Tricia was old enough for daycare.
And that's where it all went wrong, as her new Hotel Manager, one Micheal Charles, took a liking to her and they were soon having an affair together. Of course, I was oblivious to all this, my long work hours and stress with trying to deliver a troublesome project in Raleigh along with the extra travel time, meant that I was always home late, tired and more than a little stressed out.
When she first blindsided me with wanting to breakup, I struggled to understand what the hell was going on. Everything I was doing, the long hours and all the stress that came with it were for her and our family. We had a wonderful home that was already two-thirds paid for, she had a new Honda car I bought her, we occasionally went on holidays together and Marie and the kids wanted for nothing.
Why would she want to do this? Well, that's when she finally admitted to me that she'd met someone else. That she isn't in love with me anymore and that it was best for us to go our separate ways. She did promise me that I could see the kids every weekend however, and that she would never keep them from me.
Of course, that also meant that I would be the one leaving the family home, as she was given primary custody of both children by the courts right away. So, now I'm strung up with paying for a rental to live in, while still paying the mortgage on the home I no longer live in or own. Add to that child support for both kids, and considerable alimony for Marie.
The final insult would be to have her new boyfriend move into the house to replace me, but she was smart enough not to do that as it would have meant forfeiting my alimony payments. But my son soon let me know that he was staying over at least three or four nights a week. So, I was not only heartbroken, but now financially under a lot of stress with nothing to show for it.
Looking back, I first met Marie when I was just twenty and she was eighteen. She was gorgeous in my eyes, with lovely long brown hair, big brown eyes, and with dimples on her cheeks when she smiled. Her skin was tan from being outside a lot, she just loved volleyball but didn't have the right body type to be that good at it. Where most of her teammates were tall and lean, Marie was a little shorter and had fantastic curves. Watching her big tits bouncing up and down when she played was almost magical.
We were both each other's first sexually, along with being each other's first proper relationship. And while I was starting out as a carpenter, Marie was working as a retail assistant for a clothing store downtown. We first moved in together when I was twenty-two, it was a little rental apartment that was pretty crappy. But we were happy, I was happy.
By the time I turned twenty-five, we had just got married and I'd been busy saving for a house we could call our own. I did plenty of overtime and got promotions at work to being the site lead carpenter that allowed us to get a home loan for our dream house, and we were soon on our way.
By the time Tommy was born when I was twenty-seven, I was already a site foreman, one step down from the job I now hold. Two years later and little Tricia came along as well, and life couldn't get any better. But when Tricia was about three, that's when Marie started to hint at going back to work. She said she needed the interaction with other adults once more, that the extra money could help us too.
I didn't think that we needed the extra money, I was already now the Construction Foreman for the company I worked for, overseeing major projects around North Carolina. But with that also meant the extra workload, extra travelling, and more time away from home. I wanted Marie to be at home, so that the kids didn't grow up at daycare or with babysitters. Especially not with her younger sister Rachel, who also now had two kids of her own.
Rachel was hardly the role model, she's a former stripper and call girl when she was in her early twenties, and as she looked a lot like her older sister Marie, she always got a hell of a lot of guy's attention too. Both of her kids were to two separate fathers, both deadbeats. Hardly the type of woman I want helping to raise my own kids, even if they did enjoy spending time with their cousins.
As I pulled into the driveway of my old home, I could see Tommy sticking his head out the front door as I got out of my truck.
"Mom! Dad's here." I could hear him yelling back into the house.
As I walked up and gave my boy a hug, I then followed him inside the home that used to be mine.
"Tricia, put that stuff away, your father is here to pick you up. Hurry up and go brush your hair." I could hear my ex-wife Marie tell my daughter.
I took a seat in the living room while Tommy ran back into his bedroom. Shortly after he came back out with his backpack over his shoulders, followed by Marie who's wearing a yellow summer dress and carrying our daughter's backpack with her. Even after everything she's put me through, I have to admit that she still takes my breath away whenever I lay eyes on her. She's still the most beautiful woman I've ever known, hell, she's the only woman I've ever known, in the biblical sense that is.
"Hi Chuck, Tricia will be out in a minute, she's just brushing her hair." Marie informs me.
"That's fine." I respond.
"How's work, busy as always?" Marie asks, trying to make small talk.
"Yeah, very." I answer.
"And how's Clifton doing?"
"Yeah, fine. Clifton is Clifton." I respond, referring to my best friend and co-worker.
"And have you been seeing anyone lately?" Marie asks further, a topic I don't wish to be discussing with her of all people.
"Is Tricia going to be long? I've got things planned for the kids this afternoon and we need to get going soon." I reply, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I haven't gone on a single date since she left me.
No dates, no hook-ups, no dinners, no nothing. And that's just fine with me.
"Tricia, hurry up, your father's waiting on you." Marie yells out to our daughter.
"I'm coming." I can hear Tricia reply before I see her running into the living room, running over to me to give me a big hug.
"Hi Daddy."
"Hi sweety, you all set to go?"
"Yep." My daughter replies as I get up to take her backpack from Marie, before saying goodbye and leaving my old home, the one I'm still paying off.
I always pick my kids up after lunchtime on Saturdays, as I usually have some sitework to check on in the mornings. They stay with me until Monday mornings now, and I drop them off at school on my way to work. This afternoon I'm taking them to the nearby Wet N Wild, making sure that Marie packed their swimsuits.
After the kids have been swimming, I buy them both ice cream as we sit back on our large beach towel.
"Dad, can I ask you something?" Tommy asks me.
"Yeah, of course."
"If mom breaks up with Micheal, will you come home then?"
I looked across at my son, this is not a question I was prepared for, especially not from him.
"Um, why would you ask me that?"
"Because mom and Michael keep arguing lately whenever he comes over. I don't think mom likes him much anymore."
"Ah, well. But to answer your question, no, I won't be coming home."
"Even if mom isn't with Michael anymore?"
"Even then."
"But why?" Tommy asked further.
"Look, Tommy. I know you would love for me to come home, but when adult's breakup, they don't get back together. You'll understand better when you get older."
"But my friend Ray, his parents got back together."
"Okay, but most parents don't. Your friend Ray, his parents are the exception."
"Do you still love mommy?" Tricia chimed in; I feel like they're ganging up on me now.
"Kids, listen. What happened between me and your mom has nothing to do with how much we both love you. But sometimes when things are broken, they can't be fixed. Okay? Now, do you want to swim some more, or have you had enough already?" I asked, which got the response I was after as they both were quick to want to go back into the water.
The rest of the weekend went fine before dropping them off at school on Monday morning. The week was busier than usual, with a few hiccups for me to resolve. By Friday, I was in need of a beer or two when Clifton asked me to go with him tonight to a bar downtown.
I don't drink much; I never really have. I never saw the allure of getting shit-faced and throwing up everywhere or getting into fights when I was younger, and I saved a lot of money in the process. Besides, I already had Marie, I didn't need to go out trying to find a girl every weekend like most of the guys I knew.
Clifton is a 31yo lanky black guy, who also happens to be my lead carpenter as well as my best friend. He's also divorced with a kid, but unlike me, he hasn't given up on the idea of meeting a new woman. Maybe I'm just not there yet.
As we get into the bar, it's pretty busy with a good age range of people spread throughout. We take up our seats at a table near the back corner, Clifton likes to be out of the way so he can keep an eye on the women coming and going. I'm usually oblivious to whatever or whoever is going on around me, I just don't care that much.
As I go up to the bar to buy our second round, I do look around at everyone for once, and I notice sitting on the other side of the bar at a table with another woman is Michael, the very guy Marie left me for. And he looks like he's getting friendly with this other woman too, sitting closely with his hand on her thigh. Maybe this is why Marie and Micheal have been arguing lately. He's looking to move on.
After getting served, I glanced over again to see him now leaning in, whispering in her ear. I'm wondering if this woman is married too. Maybe Michael likes to steal other men's wives. Who knows, who cares, as I make my way back to our table.
"Hey Clifton, you'll never believe this. See that guy over in the other corner, sitting at the table with the woman in the blue top?"
"Yeah, the dude looks like he's about to get lucky."
"Well, he's the guy that Marie left me for."
"You're fucking with me, right?"
"Nope."
"Do you wanna fuck with him now then?"
"Nah, I would've two years ago when it happened, but I don't give a fuck about them now."
