Rob and Lori

I hit the city limits at six in the morning and slowly drove through town looking for the changes that must have occurred during my two year absence. I noticed that Charlie Farrow's gas station was gone and a McDonalds sat in its place. Alice's Diner was now Suzie Q's Café and Apex Appliances had boarded over windows and a For Lease sign. There was a touch of irony in that the Super 8 Motel was the only motel I could find that had a vacancy and the way things were going for me I almost bet myself as I walked up to the counter that I would end up in room 116. But fate didn't hate me that much and I got 142 around in the back.

I unloaded what I would need for a couple of days and moved it into the room and then I drove over to Patty Ann's Café and had breakfast. The only person there that I knew was Sally Jeffers. Sally had been working the breakfast shift at Patty's when I first ate there fifteen years ago. I'd no sooner sat down and she was there with the coffee and creamers and as she set them down she asked:

"The usual?"

I smiled and nodded and she said, "Two over hard, bacon, hash browns and sourdough toast coming up" and she walked away to turn in my order.

I was on my second cup of coffee when Andy Burgess came in. He saw me and waved and then sat down at one of the large round tables that seated six. A few minutes later three guys and a woman came in and joined him. I didn't know any of the guys, but the woman looked familiar. I couldn't place her and I caught her looking at me a couple of times, but then my breakfast arrived and I dug in.

As I was leaving Andy waved me over.

"Are you back or just visiting?"

"I'm back."

"If you can find time swing by Clancy's tonight. A bunch of have a pool tournament going and there will be lot of your old friends there."

"I'll see if I can make it."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the woman watching me as I left and I wondered why I couldn't place her.

I drove over to the storage place on Douglas and rented a unit large enough to park the U-Haul in and then I headed on over to my sister Ellen's. Her husband Paul had already left for work by the time I got there. I sat at her kitchen table and sipped coffee as she brought me up to date on the condition of my parents. Dad was still in the hospital and it would be months before he would be able to do anything and Ellen expected mom to be a basket case until dad was up and moving around.

And then of course she touched on the subject that I would have just as soon have stayed away from.

"You going to call Lori?"

"No."

"She calls mom or me once a week to see if we have heard from you and she keeps asking for an address or phone number."

"That's why I never give one. It is the reason that emails and Tracfones are the only way I've ever given anyone to contact me. The last time I gave my number to mom Lori called me at the number not twenty minutes later. The phone I have now is never turned on unless it is to call you or the folks. I do not want any contact with Lori at all and I will do my level best to never have to look at her again."

"How are you going to manage that now that you are back?"

"I've no idea, but I will work at it."

"You never did tell me what drove the two of you apart."

"She wanted to play with another guy and she wanted me to sit still for it. I told her to have fun and I left."

"That doesn't sound like Lori. If that is what she wanted she has had plenty of time to do it since you left and she hasn't."

"And you know this how?"

"She stays home and doesn't date."

"Frankly I find that hard to believe in light of what I know."

"Just what do you know?"

"I know she dated Randy Combs right up until I left. She brought him home with her the night before I left and told me that he was going to share her bed that night and that we could sit down and talk about it in the morning. Twenty minutes after she to ld me that I was out of the house and I haven't spoken to her since."

"If that's the case why haven't you divorced her?"

"Too lazy and too cheap. Let her pay for the divorce. I don't plan on getting married again so there is no crying need for me to get single again."

"Well it doesn't appear that she is too interested in getting a divorce. She took your power of attorney and tore it up when I gave it to her. Said she wasn't going to sell the house because the two of you would need a place to live when you came back."

"Not a prayer Ellen; not a chance in hell! But enough about unpleasant subjects. How are things at the store?"

"There is a lot of building going on and business is good. The lumberyard is doing especially well. Harley and I have been holding it together, but only just barely. Harley's forte isn't management and frankly neither is mine. I'm a bookkeeper Rob and Harley is a good yard foreman, but neither of us is cut out to run a business. That's why we need you."

"Something needs to be settled up front about that. If I am going to run the business I'm going to do it my way and dad is going to have to understand that. His way is not my way and I'm not going to have him interfering in what I'm doing. I only took a leave of absence from XYZ. I'm on Federal Emergency Medical Leave and if things don't go the way I need them too I'm on my way back to where I just came from."

"You will have to talk to mom about that. You do know that Dricoll Building Supply is a corporation, right?"

"No, I didn't know that."

"You and I hold twenty percent of the shares and mom and dad control the other sixty percent. Mom has twenty percent and dad holds the remaining forty. Get mom on your side and between the three of us we have sixty percent and control."

"You really think that mom will go against dad?"

"I'd bet on it. She thinks the store will kill him if he doesn't take it easy. She would rather have him pissed at her for siding with you than see him work himself into another heart attack. So, what's the plan?"

"I'll find an apartment this morning, go see mom and dad and then be at the store when it opens in the morning."

"You will be here for dinner tonight, okay?"

"What time?"

"Around six-thirty?"

"I'll be there."

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I knew the apartment that I wanted and luckily they had a vacancy. It helped that I knew the manager and I didn't have to waste time on credit checks and the like. I did the paperwork and then headed on over to the hospital to see my parents.

Dad was fretting because he wanted to get up and go home, but they wouldn't let him. Mom came in while I was there and we talked for a while until a nurse came in and chased us away while she did whatever it was that she had to do. Mom and I went to the hospital cafeteria and as soon as we sat down I went right at what I saw as the problem. I reminded her that the reason I had left the store and moved away was because of dad and the way he ran the store. I told her flat out that if I was going to uproot my life and come back to run the store that it was going to be done my way and not dad's and that if I took over running the store I would not put up with dad's interfering in what I was doing. I told her what Ellen had told me about the stock and asked her point blank if she would stand with me if it became necessary. She didn't answer me right away and I could see the conflict in her eyes. Going against dad would be totally alien to her. Finally she said what Ellen said she would say.

"I'd rather have him mad at me and not talking to me than having to bury him. I hope it never comes down to it, but yes, you will have my support."

I left the hospital, went and picked up the U-Haul, drove it to the apartment and started moving things in. I had too much stuff to fit into the apartment so I took the balance to the storage unit and unloaded it. After dropping the trailer off at a U-Haul lot I drove over to Ellen's to have dinner with her and her family. I caught up on things with Paul and my nephews and around eight-thirty I said my 'goodbyes' and headed over to Clancy's Tavern.

I walked in and headed toward the back where they pool tables were. I saw Andy and one of the guys who was at breakfast with him and I also saw a good half dozen guys that I had gone to school with. There was a lot of hand shaking and back slapping and then they got to shooting pool. A waitress came up to me and handed me a Coor's Light which caught me off guard since neither I nor any of the others had placed an order since I got there and how did she know that Coor's Light is what I drank? I dug in my pocket for my money and the waitress said:

"It's been taken care of."

"By who?"

"The lady at the end of the bar."

I turned and looked and saw Lori sitting there with the woman who had been at Patty Ann's with Andy that morning. I suddenly knew why she had looked familiar. I'd met her at Lori's company Christmas party, I looked back at the waitress and said:

"That ain't no lady and you can believe that. I'll take the Coors as long as I pay for it."

"Suit yourself honey; I just work here."

She took my money and left and I turned back to the group and shot the bull with them as they shot pool. It took an effort on my part not to glance back toward the bar, but I managed it so I had no idea how Lori took my refusal to let her buy me a drink.

When things started to break up Andy asked me to join him at a table and when we walked back to the bar I noticed that Lori was gone and I breathed an inward sigh of relief. Andy and I talked for a while and then he said he had to leave. I still had half a beer to finish so I stayed. Andy had been gone about two minutes when the waitress came over and sat down across from me. She smiled and offered me her hand and said:

"Care to satisfy a girl's curiosity?"

"Don't know. What's the name of the girl?"

She smiled, offered me her hand and said, "Hi. I'm Sarah."

"Hello Sarah, I'm Rob. So what are you curious about?"

"What happened earlier. Lori is in here two or three nights a week with the girls she works with and she gets hit on a dozen times a night and she always shoots them down. Then you come in and for the first time in the year and a half I've worked here she takes a shot at a guy and you turned her down. Not just turned her down, but rudely turned her down. Can't help but be curious about it."

"All it is, curious girl, is that once upon a time the two of us had a relationship and it went sour."

"A relationship? I thought she was married."

"She is. Unfortunately, it is to me."

"You said is, not was."

"As far as I know she has never gotten a divorce."

"So as far as you know you are still married?"

"As far as I know.

"Rats!"

"What does that mean?"

"You're kind of cute and the "curious" ploy was an attempt to get something going, but that's out the window if you are married."

"Sorry."

"So am I sweetie; so am I."

I finished my beer and got up to go. As I walked out to the parking lot I thought about what Sarah had said. Lori shooting down guys that hit on her. That sure didn't match up to the woman who told me she was going to fuck her lover on our bed and that we could talk about it in the morning.

I got in the car, but before I could back out of the parking space a car drove up behind me and stopped. I knew instantly that it was Lori. I couldn't pull forward because the building was in front of me so I was stuck. I thought about just putting the car in reverse and ramming the car behind me but that wouldn't let me get away; all it would do is damage two cars.

In the mirror I saw Lori get out of the car and walk up to the passenger side door. She tried the handle and found that the door was locked. She tapped on the window and tried the door again -- still locked. After saying, "Open the door Rob" three times she finally got the message and walked around the car to my side.

"Damn it Rob; stop this foolishness. We have to talk."

I rolled the window down and said, "No we don't Lori. What you said and did the last night we were together covered it all."

"No it didn't Rob. I need to know why you cheated on me and I need to know why you didn't care enough about me that you could just walk away without trying to keep our marriage going."

"You can't possibly be that stupid Lori. Forget about your lies to me about you and Randy and the opera and motel rooms and concentrate on what you did that last night. You pushed your lover in my face and told me you were going to fuck him all night in my bed. Did you really think I would sit still for that? No fucking way Lori! You should have remembered the way things went before we were married and you pulled your bone-headed stunts. Did I ever -- even once -- just sit there and wait. Fuck no I didn't and you should have remembered that. I didn't put up with your shit then so why did you think I would sit still for you telling me that you were going to fuck Randy all night? Although in the light of what I knew by then it probably wouldn't have been the first time. Now move your car."

"I'm not moving my car until you tell me why you cheated on me."

"I told you Lori, I never cheated on you."

"Bullshit Rob, I have witnesses. Betty Thomas saw you getting on a hotel elevator with a big titted blond and Randy saw you take a redhead into a room at the Days Inn."

"Did Betty follow us up to a room? Is it against the law to get on an elevator with someone else? As for Randy, how stupid would you have to believe anything bad he said about me. You are the one who told me how he was hanging around and hoping you would dump me for him. I'll even bet that he didn't say anything to you about me going into a motel room with another woman until after you told him that you thought I was cheating on you."

I saw from her face that I had scored on that one. "Well Randy finally got his wish, but he was probably already fucking you by then any way. Now move your car before I start turning it into junk."

"Not until you tell me about your cheating."

"What part of "I never cheated on you" don't you understand?"

"Betty saw..."

"Fuck what Betty saw. Did you do any checking on your own or was Betty seeing me walk onto an elevator all you based your idea that I was cheating on? Did you call to see if I was registered? What hotel was it? Was it the Emerson?"

Again I saw from her face that I had scored. "What do you already know about the Emerson Lori? Isn't that where XYZ holds it's seminars for out of state employees? Isn't that where XYZ keeps hospitality suites for those seminars? What day was it Lori? Did you check to see if XYZ had something going on there that day? The hospitality suites are on the fourth floor so wouldn't it be reasonable that I would take the elevator to get there? And what about the woman. Are big titted blonds not allowed to check in to the Emerson? If the Emerson did allow a big titted woman to take a room there would they forbid her to get on an elevator if anyone else got on it? Or how about this? The big titted blond worked for XYZ and was there to attend the seminar or maybe she was the wife of someone who was attending. Maybe she was an out of town tourist who just happened to be going up to her room. Did you look into any of that Lori?

"I'll tell you what I think happened. You were cheating on me all along with that asshole Randy and given the axiom that cheaters always think other people cheat you jumped on what Betty told you as proof that you were right and then you let Randy lie to you because it backed up what Betty said. The part I'll never understand is why you thought I would sit still for you bringing that fucking dickhead into my house and telling me you were going to fuck him. You had to be totally brain dead to do something like that. Now please move your car before I do something that I'll probably regret."

She stood there looking at me for a couple of seconds and then said, "All right, I'll move, but only on the condition that you come to the house tomorrow and sit down and talk with me. It is obvious that you think I've been doing things that I haven't and we need to talk about that. Can you do that?"

If you promise that you will leave me alone when we are done."

"I'll promise if that is what you decide you want after we talk."

She got in her car and drove off.

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The next day at the store it was as if I'd never left. There had been absolutely no changes. I spent the day getting reacquainting myself with the people and going over the books with Ellen. As we reviewed the books I discussed some of the changes I wanted to make and she thought most of them were good ideas and some them long overdue.

I spent some time with Harley in the lumberyard and got a feel for what the heavy construction was requiring us to stock and then, Harley being Harley, he had to stick his nose in.

"You going to see Lori?"

"I suppose I'll have to see her if I stick around."

"I don't know what happened between you two, but whatever it was it didn't set too well with Lori."

"Why would you say that?"

"You left and she became a hermit. Doesn't go out much and when she does it is always with girlfriends or the girls she works with."

"Well Harley, all I can say is that it was her choice. I don't much care what she does or doesn't do."

"That bad huh?"

"Yes indeed Harley, that bad."

Ellen left at four to be home when her kids got home from school and I stayed until closing. As I drove to the house to see Lori I wondered why she was so insistent that she talk to me. She had to know me well enough to know that after what she had done we were through. I rang the doorbell and when she opened the door she said:

"This is a surprise. I really didn't think you would come."

"I've never lied to you Lori. I said I would be here so I'm here."

"Where should we do this? The kitchen table or the living room?"

"Wherever Lori, I've had my say, this is all on you."

"The living room then since it is more comfortable."

I followed her into the living room and saw that she had two glasses of wine sitting on the coffee table in front of the sofa. No way I was going to sit next to her on the couch so I sat in the easy chair just across from the couch. I saw a small flash of annoyance cross her face at my not following her game plan. As soon as I was sitting I said:

"Okay Lori, lets get it over with."

She lifted one of the wine glasses to her lips, took a sip, a deep breath and then said:

"I was hurt when you cheated on me Rob" and as soon as she said that I stood up to leave.

"Okay, okay, when I thought you were cheating on me."

I sat back down and she continued. "I was hurt and I was down in the dumps and Randy commented on the fact that I didn't seem like myself. I told him what Betty had told me and he said, "No surprise there" and then he told me about seeing you go in to a motel with a redhead. Hearing that destroyed me Rob. The next coupe of times I saw Randy he asked me what I was going to do and I kept telling him that I didn't know. Then he suggested that I get even with you. I told him that I couldn't do that. I told him that sneaking around like you were doing just wasn't something I could do. He convinced me that I wasn't going to feel right until I confronted you and then he suggested that instead of sneaking around that I confront you and then rub your nose in it. That suited me better than going to a motel or hotel with some man and then coming to you and saying:

"You did it so I did it too and now that we are even we can sit down and talk."

"The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. I loved you and I didn't want our marriage to end, but I could not sit still while you cheated on me. So I decided that I would do it to you, but not sneak around to do it. I would make us even and then we would sit down and work things out. I would let you know in no uncertain terms that I would not put up with you running around on me. And of course Randy volunteered to be the man I'd do it with. Looking back on it now I think his idea all along was for what happened to happen. You would leave and he would have what he thought was a clear field.