Unexpectedly I got an early morning call. It was only 5 30 a.m. It was from my best friend Brian. He was extremely upset and in a trembling voice he said "I can't take it anymore. I have to get away. I've phoned in sick and I've told my wife that our marriage is over."
I had a date With Liz, my girlfriend, that night but I knew where my duty lay. It wasn't with Liz but with Brian. So I told my best friend a white lie.
I said "I haven't anything special happening after work. I must go into work soon as I have to chair an interdepartmental meeting. Feel free to come over after 6."
I would need to text Liz to tell her that Brian had a domestic emergency and I
needed to be with him. I would be disappointed about standing her up. This often happens because of work. It remains an intractable problem in my own relationship. I knew that this would lead to further strains and stresses.
I was concerned about Brian saying "I can't take it anymore." Was he perhaps suicidal? I said "Don't do anything silly. I strongly suggest that you get in touch with the Samaritans to get support."
Brian said "I have emailed them already. I would prefer that you come over to our, sorry I mean my, place. You need to see certain things."
I phoned Brian a few times from work. He seemed cheerier than at 5 30 a.m. This made it easier for me to concentrate on agreeing SMART targets for my department with my equally ranked managers. For those lucky enough not to be involved in management bollocks SMART means Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-bound.
After the inter departmental meeting I will then had further meetings with my department heads to agree SMART objectives with them. They then agreed SMART objectives with their own staff. I, the managers and the staff will then be appraised on the SMART targets. I and the managers are also appraised on how well we help staff achieve their SMART targets.
But enough of the management bollocks.
After work I drove straight to Brian's house. He was in a right old state. He was usually smartly dressed and clean shaven. He hadn't bothered to shave and he has a crumpled shirt on.
He had a large whisky in his hand. I declined his offer of having one.
I said "I am so sorry about your situation. If there's anything I can do just ask. I suspect there are 101 things that need to be done. And don't forget that 'a problem shared is a problem halved'."
Brian said "Carol had been playing away with Andrew for 2 years before I knew about it."
I asked "Is that Andrew the Accounts senior manager?"
Brian nodded and said "Two years ago Carol deliberately left her phone for me to see. It showed texts between her and Andrew. It proved they were more than friends. They were very explicit.
Carol cried and told me that she wanted to confess so many times. Letting me see the love texts was not easy. But she wanted to be open and honest with me.
She told me that she didn't mean to stray. It just happened when she and he were at a conference. She was merrily drunk. Carol gets really horny when tipsy. Anyway Carol and others went up to Andrew's room for more drinks.
The others left and Andrew kissed her.
The next thing she knew was that they were in bed and both naked. Andrew talked her into getting physical. Not that getting her to have sex is difficult when she is what Shakespeare called 'in her cups'. Andrew became a friend with benefits who she saw occasionally.
She didn't want to see him but couldn't resist her horny nature. She felt guilty about straying."
I thought it was unlikely that she couldn't stop seeing Andrew. He is older than I am and going grey. But, as the saying goes, 'still waters run deep'. But now wasn't the time for me to interrupt. But I did.
I asked "Did you think she was genuinely repenting?"
Brian replied "Yes. Carol promised me never to see Andrew again. She said that I was a better lover than he was. She begged me to stay married. She suggested that we go to therapy for her sex addiction. We started therapy. We had better sex than before the revelation. As a matter of fact our sex life was the best it had ever been."
Brian paused to sip his drink. He smiled as he recounted this part of the story.
He continued "But that was all a ruse. Carol had another phone and used it to talk and text Andrew from it. Had I seen it I would have known that they met regularly for sex. At one stage Sara thought she was pregnant. She hoped it would be Andrew's baby.
Her period was late and it was just a false alarm.
She revealed none of this at the marital therapy sessions. But she let slip that she had a second phone. The therapist got her to read out some of the texts. I was in tears as Carol read out that Andrew had given her the best orgasms of her life.
She told me, in front of the therapist, that she would not give up her lover. She gave me an ultimatum. I could accept living in a 3some or leave. If I agreed to being the junior partner in the 3some I would have to wait for my wife to return from her lovemaking with Andrew."
I was incredulous. I said "And you agreed to being the junior partner? You agreed to let Carol have sex with Andrew? Were you out of your mind?"
He said "I agreed in the hope that this was just a fling. Also I had the support of the therapist who thought that I was being very adult about a difficult situation."
Sarcastically I said "Having a long term lover hardly comes into the 'having a fling' category."
Brian said "I could live being the junior partner. After all, Carol and I still had great sex. And more of it. She never refused me nooky, even if sometimes it was sloppy seconds.
At first I developed ways of killing time when Carol was with Andrew. But this became harder to bear as Carol stayed with him later and later."
I couldn't resist asking how he distracted himself.