Been a long time. As usual, I've self edited this work, and English not being my first language, some stuff is probably going to look weird, so I hope you can excuse me for that.
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I am not a fan of confrontation. Some things can't be unsaid, and a few words can permanently alter a relationship. It doesn't mean confrontations should always be avoided, but you need to be careful with the battles you pick to fight. If you know you can't change the mind of a friend, a sibling or a lover over something relatively minor, is the satisfaction of telling them off to their face worth the risk of losing them forever? Problem is, inaction can also lead to worse outcomes than any confrontation, such as in the current situation.
As I finished getting ready, I reviewed what I knew. I consider myself an observant person, and I had seen the way Hailey and Jake interacted at last week's neighbourhood pool party. She seemed to find any excuse to hang around him, and he was happy to have her around. The way they subtly touched one another, the way they exchanged glances from across the yard when they were sure no one was looking, the way they stopped interacting when they thought someone was. It broke my heart to see someone I loved so much behave like this, but I didn't think that their affair had turned physical yet. My hope was that an early intervention could still stop it before it turned into a train-wreck.
My name is Greg Johnson, and I've recently retired from a corporate life. I must say, I live in a rather nice neighbourhood. Set around twenty minutes away by car from the city, it is close enough to enjoy the amenities of urban life when I need to, while being spared from the noise and crowds that come with it. My house sat in a quiet pretty street with friendly people, the kind of place you feel safe letting kids play in the street.
Hailey and Mark lived two doors away from me, and I had taken a liking to them. They were in their early thirties and reminded me of my own kids, so I had offered them some professional and personal advice in the past. Although I shared a couple dinners with both of them, I was closer with Mark. He helped me with some small home renovation projects (the back is no longer what it was, even on the good days) and I had given him advice on how to get a better deal when they purchased their car. We both cheered for the same team, and he frequently came over to watch games together, as Hailey wasn't a sports fan and didn't want their living room to be full of noise and cheers.
Mark worked at an audit firm and left pretty early every morning, but Hailey worked as a night manager on a family restaurant, so she wouldn't go to work for a few hours still. It was currently late in the morning, and Hailey had not left their place, so I decided to take the chance to speak with her alone. Grabbing some leftover tools I had been meaning to give back to Mark, I went over to their house, and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, Hailey opened the door, wearing a nice if slightly revealing dress.
"Hi Greg! Do you need something? If you are looking for Mark, I'm afraid he is at work."
"Hello, Hailey. No, I don't need to speak with Mark at the moment. I still have some of the tools he lent me, and I've been meaning to give them back. Where should I put them?"
"Oh, he is very particular with where his tools go, so I'm not sure. If you don't mind, leave them on the desk in the garage and he can sort them by himself later." Hailey said, letting me in their home. She guided me to door to their garage, opened it, and pointed out at the desk. I carefully placed the bag I used to carry the tools on it, and took them out, placing them there and neatly arranging them.
Hailey smiled at me. "Thanks for stopping by, Greg, I'll let Mark now. Do you want a cup of coffee? I just made some for myself, so it's fresh."
"Thanks, Hailey, that would be very nice. Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you for a while."
"You have?" she asked as she led me to their kitchen, and poured me a cup of dark coffee. "What did you want to talk me about?"
"Have I ever told you why there is no Mrs. Johnson?" I said as I sat in one of the chairs, warming my hands with the cup.
"No, I don't really know. I assumed you were either divorced or a widower, since you have children, but I didn't want to pry." Her face showed her confusion over my choice of topic.
"If I understand correctly, Mark and you are going to try to expand your family in couple years?" I smiled at her, taking a long sip from the hot cup.
"Well," she hesitated, "yeah. That is the idea, achieve a couple of key promotions, build a nice nest egg and be able to afford kids without impacting our professional careers negatively."
"My ex-wife, Emily, and I were once much the same. I was young and rising fast in the consulting business. She was a teacher, and between the both of us we made quite a bit. Well, most of it was me, but we shared finances. It was important for both of us that she kept working, at least until we had kids, but once we did, she never came back. We had three kids in ten years, and by the time our youngest could go to school I was making so much money that there wasn't a point in her going back to work."
I stopped to consider my next words while she looked nervously at me. It was obvious she had no idea why was I telling her any of this, but she was too polite to ask me directly. I took advantage of that. We old people can get away with rambling in ways younger folk never could, as everyone tries to be more considerate to us.
"That is when the troubles started. I was putting very long hours at work, and when I got home, I didn't have the energy to deal with a bunch of kids. Arriving from a 12 hour long workday, the last thing you want is to help your son with his homework or do the bath and bed routine with the toddlers. Of course, that was only my side. By the time I came home daily, Emily had been left with three energetic kids for hours, and needed a break. In her mind I was not doing my duties as a father, while in mine it wasn't my responsibility, as I was the moneymaker, not the homemaker. Our relationship suffered as we started to resent each other."
"Couldn't you just take another job that let you be home more, even if it paid less? If Emily went back to work you probably would still make about the same combined, and both of you could have shared child care duties in a better way." Hailey offered as I paused for a bit.
"Yes, you are right. In hindsight, that is exactly what we should have done. We might even be married today if we had done that. Unfortunately that is not what we did. It's easy to see from the outside now, but at the time I was chasing the partner carrot. I had the skills for it, but so did others, and the way to distinguish myself was to work as hard as them but for longer. In short, I kept sacrificing my family for a chance at a partnership. As I went up the ladder, I also started to take new responsibilities, and that included some out of town week trips when visiting some clients."
I sighed and looked outside the window. The sun was shining up high on a clear day but few people were outside, on account of being a working day.
"That is why my marriage ended. At the time I was very stressed. I was undertaking huge projects at work that routinely needed 80 hour weeks to be done, and when I came home I only found three little hurricanes that demanded all of my attention, and an exhausted wife that wanted a break. I know it's no excuse, but I had plenty of chances to stray while away, and I took them. I didn't see it as cheating back then, not really. I was only doing it while away, our sex life was dead anyways, and I didn't intend to leave her. Through it all, I still loved my Emily, even twenty years later I still do. That didn't keep me from betraying and hurting her, even if it wasn't my intention."
"How did she find out?" Hailey asked, her interest perking up with the gossip.
"I wasn't as discreet as I thought. She must have gotten suspicious of me, hired an investigator and found me out. Remember, shared finances, so she had access to the money as well. Some of my colleagues were asked, and since I wasn't the most popular guy at the office, and rumors are hard to avoid, she learned it was not a one-time thing. I was served divorce papers within the week, and in less than a year I was single again. I tried everything I could to stop the divorce. I offered a post-nup, going to couples therapy, quitting my job, but she wanted to hear none of it. The past few years we let our relationship deteriorate enough that there was no coming back from this betrayal. I went from dreading going home to my kids to dreading going home because they weren't there." After all these years I could speak detachedly about those days, but a shadow of pain still lingered, and probably showed in my face.
