The door slammed as Sophie swept in and dropped her overnight bag on the kitchen floor with a bang. Yep, my fiery, redheaded wife was still furious with me. I watched as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down opposite me at the kitchen table. It was a beautiful late Alabama spring morning, but the atmosphere seeping across the table was frigid.
After too many drinks at a convention last week, I went to bed with a sweet, married colleague whom I have known for years. We both knew it was a terrible mistake, but when sex is in the offing, good sense and judgement fly out the window.
Well, the goody-two-shoes gossip line sent news of my carnal indiscretion back to my wife before I even got home. Now I am in deep kimchi.
Two nights ago, Sophie went to the beach to think things through and was just now returning. Her best friend, Megan, accompanied her to serve as a sounding board and to provide a shoulder to cry on. Megan teaches mathematics at the college with Sophie and is single. Megan is a petite blonde with sassy blue eyes. Sophie is a taller, shapely redhead with striking green eyes. When the two are together, every male eye is on them.
Sophie snapped, "Tom, I am still so angry with you I could spit. I do not have the words to tell you how mad and hurt I am."
I returned her gaze and nodded saying, "I know." I thought it wisest to simply be contrite and just listen.
"Megan thought I should have a revenge affair. Judging by all the male attention Megan and I were getting at the hotel bar, that would have been easy."
I replied earnestly, "Honey, if that is what it takes to make things right - no, not right, maybe just even or acceptable between us, I will make no objection. I deserve what I get."
Jeanie looked at me contemptuously and spat, "Yes, you do. But having some extracurricular sex at the beach is just not enough. It is not enough punishment for you, and it does not even begin to assuage my fury at you. You have no idea how much pain your cheating causes me. Why, oh why, did you do something so stupid to us?"
Sophie's a feisty Southern gal who earned a PhD in chemistry at Georgia Tech, and now teaches at our local hometown college. Her enthusiasm, keen mind, and outgoing personality make Sophie popular with students and faculty alike. Those same characteristics and deep roots in our hometown make her popular with everyone else. I had committed the ultimate betrayal of an innocent and well-liked woman.
When I got home from the convention, I was sure I was about to be divorced and ridden out of town on a rail. However, a very skilled and compassionate woman marriage counselor showed us we actually had a lot going for us in our marriage. She convinced us to take a deep breath and go slow before we burnt any bridges.
I really want to stay married to Sophie. I was four years ahead of her in school so we didn't really know each other very well back then. I went on to Auburn followed by six years in the Army with a tour in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and then to Georgia Tech for a Masters complements of the GI Bill when I got out.
And there was Sophie grinding her way to a PhD. She had blossomed from an awkward adolescent when I saw her last into a beautiful, poised adult woman. I fell head over heels for her on our first date and have stayed there ever since.
However, my wife is now consumed with righteous rage at me and my betrayal. My affair threw an emotional hand grenade into our marriage. Once adultery creeps into a marriage, can the wronged spouse ever really trust the cheating spouse again, and how does the couple reestablish the matrimonial balance that existed before the adultery? I just don't know.
On Monday, I left for Dobrich, Bulgaria to install and troubleshoot a wheat handling system for a rail yard. I own a small, very lucrative engineering company specializing in industrial electronic bulk handling systems for aggregates, mineral ores, and agricultural products. The Bulgarian job proved difficult, and the one week trip stretched to three.
The area was picturesque with ancient ruins from the Thracians, Greeks, and Romans. In times past, I would have had Sophie join me for a holiday. But now, it is probably best to just be gone and let Sophie cool down some. There is something to that old saw that hell hath no fury like a redheaded woman. I was also hoping the old saying about time healing all wounds would have some validity in my case too.
While I was in Bulgaria, I dutifully sent Sophie an email every day telling her what I was doing, groveling over my indiscretion, asking for forgiveness, and assuring her of my love.
Sophie's reply to my initial email was:
"Dear Tom - I am glad you arrived safely and are settled in. Good luck on your project.
I have been rethinking my strategy on how to deal with your affair. Your cheating on me is no secret around town. I do not want the role of poor, pitiful wife as my public persona. I am not going to go mope in the dark crying over your stupidity. - Sophie"
That didn't sound promising. Thereafter Sophie's replies were terse or none at all.
My return flight had delays that stranded me overnight in New York. Jet-lagged and weary, I finally arrived home mid-afternoon Saturday.
As I came in the front door, Sophie called cheerfully, "Tom, Megan and I are in the kitchen fixing drinks. Come join us."
Maybe the time apart worked after all. I entered the kitchen where I found Sophie and Megan. They were both in shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, but even in casual attire, they were a truly striking pair of young women. Sophie handed me a Martini. The girls each had one, and they had a pitcher full to replenish the glasses when needed.
I arched my eyebrows at Sophie. "Martinis at three in the afternoon?"
She smiled, "Oh, we have something for you. Thought you might need a little Dutch courage."
"Ok," I said sipping my Martini. It did taste good after a long trip, but now what?
"Come on," Sophie said. "It's in the living room."
As we entered the living room, Sophie put a hand to my chest. "Wait here."
The girls walked across the room. Both were glancing at each other and giggling conspiratorially like ten year olds. Stepping swiftly to the couch they lifted a sheet from a painting that was hanging on the wall over the couch and dropped the sheet to the floor with a lilting "Ta Da" said in unison.
The large painting showed a dazzling nude view of Sophie, leaving none of her charming attributes to doubt. She is staring boldly at the viewer with an impish smile and sparkling green eyes while half reclining upon pillows on disheveled bed sheets. Sophie is turned slightly to the right toward the viewer with her left leg cocked. Her left hand is resting lightly on her thigh with her wedding and engagement rings clearly visible. A ray of sunlight crosses the hand with Sophie's rings to subtly draw the viewer's attention to them. The right holds a partially filled champagne flute. The painter did a superb job of capturing texture, color, light, and shadow to render an almost photographic realism to the painting. Sophie's sexual arousal is obvious in her tousled air, the blush on her cheeks and chest, and the sheen of perspiration that glistens on her body. Sophie's lips turn a deep purple when she is aroused, and this too is captured accurately. Sophie exudes that unmistakable post-coital languor and glow of a well-laid woman.
