Twenty Effen Years

Twenty Effen Years

My story has two parts: my first 60 years, or more precisely years 22 through 60, and the last four and half years. My story really begins with the second part. My wife had just come home from work. I was, of course, home alone. All our kids were married and at the time I was unemployed. I did get a few dollars from the government every month, but I was thankfully pleased that Andrea was very gainfully employed. She was very well respected in her company, having worked there for 26 years. Her two bosses, Ellen and Mathew, or Matt as he was known to all, loved her work and really appreciated her talents.

One thing about Matt and Ellen, they were married to each other, however, when Andrea started working for them, they were both married to their first spouses. Matt was this very charismatic CEO who had tremendous vision, and Ellen was a straight-shooting no-nonsenses head of all operations, who was extremely bright and had a very even-keel personality. Andrea was always very opinionated and very outspoken. Andrea worked directly for Ellen, but she also had a lot of direct contact with Matt. Andrea was always smart enough to know that when she needed Matt's approval for something, she would always convince Ellen, first. She knew that pillow talk was her greatest accomplice. The company had around 300 employees; everyone in the company feared and respected Matt, and it was known that Matt feared Andrea.

Matt was also a really good friend to me. When we had difficulties with one of our children, it was Matt who suggested that he and I go out alone and he offered his very sound advice. Matt, having five of his own kids with his first wife, had lots of experience with children challenges. At private parties or functions of other members of their company, if Matt & Ellen and Andrea & I, were invited, Matt and I would hang out together. We had deep discussions. Usually we disagreed on political issues (he was way too conservative for me), but always respecting each other's opinion.

That evening when Andrea came home from work, she had this look like her mom had passed.

"What is it, Honey?"

"I have some unpleasant news to share with you."

I waited.

"Ellen has discovered that Matt has sort of had an ongoing affair," she continued.

"Oh wow. That's too bad. I thought he really loved her. I hope it won't affect the business. Do you know the woman?"

"Yes."

"Care to share?"

She was quiet and then I saw the tears streaming down her face. I thought I understood, but couldn't really. A tear or two started to generate in my eyes. I was quiet. I waited to hear the unbearable. I just stared at her.

It must have been a lifetime before she stopped looking at me, dropped her head and said, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened."

My heart stopped. My wife had an adulterous relationship with her boss. I had no clue.

"How long?" I asked.

She just put his hands over her face and cried. In normal situations when my wife got emotional, I would hold her and hug her. This was not normal, at least not normal for me. I was reviewing the last few months in my head. There was a change, but then it all changed back.

As I mentioned at the time, my wife and I were married nearly 38 years. If I was to describe our sex life on a scale of one to ten, I'd say we were a one or maybe a two. Yes, it was that bad. Oh, the first year or two were fun as we were learning about sex. We were both virgins, or at least I know I was. Today, I am not sure what to believe about her. Then the kids started to show up. When we did get away for a quick weekend, it was still pretty good, although those weekend getaways happened only once or twice a year.

When our youngest was around ten (she was 30 at the time of Andrea's admission), I discovered many changes in my wife. First, sex was just a little foreplay before penetration. She just stopped kissing me. Blow jobs happened maybe once a year. She always let me give her oral. About ten years after that, she stopped that, too. It was just stick it in, are you finished, good night. Then about a year ago. they were doing construction on her office building and Matt had the entire company working from home. This was pre-covid days. After six months or so, all of sudden, our sex life picked up. I'd say we got to a five or a six. It was that good of a change.

She started to kiss me, once in a while she let me finger her and maybe I got about a blow job a month. It also didn't hurt that we were watching this miniseries on TV (not sure if it was Netflix, Amazon, Starz or cable), and the lead male character was really hot, showing his muscles and naked butt often. The soft core was also helping me. Three months prior to her the announcement, she went back to the office and our sex life resumed to a one, with me begging or getting some sympathy sex. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised but when she finally answered my question of how long. When she did tell me, I felt my heart rate hit 150 and my blood pressure go through the roof.

"Off and on around 20 years."

"What does that mean, off and on?"

"Is this really necessary?"

"Are you fucking joking? Yes it's necessary."

"You don't have to curse. Off and on means we only did it like three or four times a year."

"So you fucked him 80 times?"

"No, in the first year, it was only once and then maybe nothing until the third year, and then it was only twice."

I was just getting started.

"Did you ever do it in our house, in our bed?" (When I was employed, I travelled a lot for work)

"Yes, a few times. Usually we did it at work, late in the evening, when everyone had left for the day, including Ellen."

"You have 24 hours a day guards and cameras."

"Matt knows where the cameras are in his office, he always locked the door."

"Is it over?"

She looked at me, and for the first time asked for forgiveness. She was sobbing.

"Yes, please, please forgive me. I don't know what I was thinking or doing."

"Andrea, you can say that after once or twice or maybe even a two to three-month fling. Not after TWENTY FUCKING YEARS!"

That was the first time I screamed. I'm not sure if it was at her, or me for being so blind and naive, or just at the situation.

She was silent. I had one more question for this discussion.

"What is Ellen going to do?"

"He said that she'll forgive him."

I don't know what a female cuck is called. I'd just like to say that she was an abused wife. I didn't know what I was going to do. No, I did know what I was going to do, I just needed to keep a level head and not show my cards.

"And how are you going to face her? She is your direct boss. You work with her every day. How can you look at her, when she knows you've been fucking her husband for the past TWENTY FUCKING YEARS?"

She didn't answer. I made a mental note to contact Ellen.

"I can't look at your face now; I'm going out to eat. I'll sleep in one of the kids' rooms tonight."

"What are you going to do?"

She didn't get an answer, I just slammed the door in her face and left.

*****

The next morning, I avoided Andrea. She was dressed and knocked on the door of the room where I was sleeping.

"Tom, can we talk?"

I ignored her.

"Tom, please we need to talk about this."

I still ignored her.

She tried to open the door. I had it locked.

"Tom, are you all right? Please, oh my god, please don't hurt yourself. I could never live with myself."

I finally responded. "Don't flatter yourself you piece of shit."

I heard her bawling as she walked away.

Later that morning I sent a text to Ellen asking to meet for lunch. I also contacted my attorney and a realtor.

Ellen agreed to meet with me for lunch. It was an out of the way diner.

"I heard you are going to forgive the bastard", I started.

"Yes, I'm so pissed at both of them; how can they do this to me? Oh, and you, too."

"What did Matt say?"

"He said it was mostly his fault. You know how persuasive and charming he can be. They work really well together and the first time, they had just finished a project and he hugged her, she looked at him funny because he was erect when he hugged her. He just started kissing her and she didn't stop him. It was in his office. He said they just did it to blow off some stream once in a while. They only did it every three or four months."

"That's no excuse.

"If I may ask, how was your sex life?"

"It was good. Matt is very good."

She saw the look on my face. "I'm sorry Tom, you really didn't deserve this." She hugged me. Ellen was about my age, maybe a year or two older than me. Matt was five years older than her.

"Why are you staying with him?

"I'm not sure. Aside from this, he is actually a really good husband. Besides, he had me sign every prenup possible, before we married."

"What are you doing to do about Andrea? How can you look at her?"

"That's actually going to be harder. I don't know. I told Matt that if she steps out of line once, it's her or me, and as valuable as your wife is to the business, I think, no, I know, and so does Matt, that I am a bit more valuable. If I leave the business I will have enough of a pension, plus I am still married to Matt, who does extremely well, and I think and I'm betting that Matt knows the business will have a hard time surviving without me. It will survive but there will be a tremendous cost. If Andrea goes, we'll be fine. She'll be tough to replace, but everyone is replaceable.

"Tom, what are you going to do?"

"I'm sorry, Ellen. I don't know yet." I actually knew what I wanted but wasn't willing to share.

"Tom, you know, Matt says that we can have revenge sex. You are a really attractive man, and we've known each other for many years. I'd be willing. I can literally get back at both of them if you'll sleep with me."

"Wow, Ellen, that is a first for me and very enticing. You are a very beautiful woman and I'm flattered. I would love to get back at both of them and help you out, but I don't think that you'll really feel much better after what they did. It will just help them with some of their guilt, so thank you Mr. Matthew Gray for giving me permission to screw his wife, but you can just tell him one message from me: 'Fuck you'."

I did give Ellen a big hug and kiss on the cheek as we parted ways. I am usually a gentleman, but I said to her, "Please tell the asshole that lunch is on him."

She smiled as I walked off.

My meeting with my attorney was uneventful. I told him I needed a divorce attorney. We had our house, lots of investments and saving accounts, a few dollars in checking and our retirement packages. I also said I thought we should each keep our own retirement packages. The house was worth more than all our cash, so I suggested that Andrea owe me the difference and she could get the house. If she needed some cash then it would be also owed to me.

The house was worth about 1.3 million and we didn't have a mortgage. We had around 700K in cash, so we would wind up with about 1 million each. Since she was getting the house and I was going to leave her with around 100K in cash, she would end up with 1.4 million of 2.0 million. She would owe me 400K, which would be payable in ten years or whenever she sold the house. I could forgo the interest and her paying my alimony, since she was the current only breadwinner. If she gave us a hard time then, we'd add that.

My retirement package was worth more than hers, but I called that her penalty for messing up our lives. I met with a realtor and asked for a nice 1-bedroom in the city near the beach. We lived in the suburbs. We still had this big house which was empty most of the time except when the kids came to visit. Now, with their growing families, that happened less frequent and we occasionally went to the kids. If I wanted to see my grandchildren, I would have to go to them.

I went home, packed a bag for a few days and checked into a hotel.

Andrea tied to call me a few times that evening. I, of course, ignored her calls. Leanne, my eldest daughter called me.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"What did your mother tell you?"

"She said you got into a fight and you left."

"Honey, she was partly truthful, which is typical. I did leave. You can ask her why I left."

"She said it was a fight."

"I didn't do anything."

"Can you forgive her?"

"Probably not."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I probably can't forgive her."

"So you just move out? Are you separated, are your divorcing?"

"Those are all possibilities. Listen Lea (I called her that sometimes), this is all new to me. I need a few days and then I will be wiser. I love you, send my best to Aidan and the kids."

Five minutes later, it was my baby, Jasmine.

"Hi Jas, what's up."

"Hi, I just got off a group call with Lea and Mommy. What did she do?"

"What did she tell you?"

"She said she hurt you really badly and you aren't willing to forgive her."

"Yup, pretty close to the truth."

"Is it irreparable?"

"I'm not sure, just told Lea I needed a few days. As soon as I know, I will have a group call with your brothers, Okay."

"Okay, dad, love you."

"Love you, too, my best to Ronnie and the kids."

That's how I ended my evening.

Next morning, I got two calls; one was from the realtor and the other was for a job interview. This was a call back. The interview was scheduled for the next morning and realtor had three places to show me.

I called my attorney and he had filled in the family law attorney in their office. Her name was Joan. He said papers would be ready the next day. "Where do you want her served?" he asked.

"In her office"

"What about alienation, do you want to sue her boss and company?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay, then we'll need another day.

"No problem. She did him for 20 years. I can wait another day."

I was suing Matt for a cool million: 50K a year. I figured that was fair.

I met the realtor and I choose one of the three apartments that he showed me. It was the smallest, in the nicest building. It had a decent size living room and a very small kitchen. The bedroom and master bathroom were average size. The was another bathroom which just had a toilet and sink, no shower. I only needed the one. I figured I'd rent for the year before deciding what I wanted to do with my life and where I wanted to live. This was all new to me. Three days before, I was happily married and then my world came apart.

I went home, or rather to Andrea's home, while she was at work, did some laundry and took more clothes for a few more days. The apartment had some appliances, but no furniture. I was wondering if I could take something from my house. Then I said what the fuck, I'd buy new stuff. I had some money.

The next day my lawyer informed me that they would be served on Monday. I was hoping for Friday to spoil their weekend. It could wait. I was taking possession of the apartment on that Monday, so I had two days to buy a bed for myself, dining table and chairs, a couch and maybe a bookshelf. I didn't need a TV; I had my laptop. I started to call internet providers. Things were moving.

I spoke to all my kids before the weekend. It was basically superficial stuff, nothing about Andrea. She tried to contact me a few times. I ignored her. Then my brother called me. The family all lived on the east coast. We lived on the west coast. I didn't go into details, Just told him that we were separated and that she hurt me. He suggested counselling. I said that she needed it. I was fine.

Monday at 10:00, the shit hit the fan. Of course, Andrea called. Then Matt. I ignored all of those. Then Ellen called me. I took the call.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in my office, why?"

"Please leave the building and call me back from your mobile."

Five minutes later, she did.

"I'm not surprised you did what you did. You really can't forgive her?"

"Sorry, I don't mean to insult you, but I have too much self-respect. There's a limit but twenty effen years. No fucking way."

"Matt says that you won't get a penny for your alienation suit."

"My lawyer thinks differently, and he took that case on just a percentage of what he wins. I don't care. It's between my attorney and Matt and his attorney."

"Andrea was hysterical. I sent her home. The whole office knows."

"Knows what?"

"Only that you sued for divorce. No one knows the reason why. I assume all your fiends will call you soon. Natalie probably called her husband."

"Yes, she did. I see he tried to call me. Ellen, I will not tell anyone. Not my friends, not my siblings, not my children. That is for Andrea to tell. If people ask me why, I will just tell them to ask Andrea. She knows."

"Good luck, Tom. If you need a friend, I am here."

"Thanks, Ellen. Good luck to you, too."

I sent out a group text to my kids. I told them that I would be calling all four of them at 11:00.

I had them all on the phone and I simply explained that I loved them all dearly. I loved them, their spouses and their children. I used to have a wife who I can trust and love as well. I lost that. I would not discuss the reasons for my filing for divorce with them. Their mother knows the reason. If she wished to share, I would respect her. If she didn't wish to share, I would also respect that.

I next send out an email to my parents and siblings with the same message. I asked that they give me 24 hours before they started calling.

I didn't think I needed to let my wife's siblings know. Maybe I should have. Her brother-in-law, Robert, whom I was very close to, called first. I basically said that she hurt me beyond repair and that if she wanted to share what she did, I had no problem. I asked him if Mom (our mother-in-law) knew, and he said they were keeping it a secret from her. I asked him to fill in everyone for me, there was no need to call me. He said his wife, Susan, wasn't going to call me. She was really pissed at me for divorcing her baby sister. I reminded him that there are always two sides to every story, and I hoped that I had enough credibility with him that I wouldn't just divorce her. He wanted to know if I had a girlfriend. I said, "Andrea knows the reasons for the divorce. Whether she is honest with you, I can't predict. You should ask her."

A few days later he called me back to apologize and said that Andrea was taking all the responsibility. She just wished there was a way for me to forgive her and not throw out 38 wonderful years. I said 18. He didn't understand me.

I needed to get my stuff from the house. I had my attorney call Andrea and ask if she had an attorney. I wanted to pack up my belongings. She said that her attorney would be in touch, but that she would be fighting the divorce. He said, that's fine, more money for him, but she should be aware that I would raise my requests.

A few days later, my attorney called me and said that Matt's attorney was representing Andrea. The fun began. The details were the usual boring shit. We were divorced within six months.

*****

I did keep in touch with some of my friends. The first time we got together they all asked me what she did.

"What did she say?"

David (Natalie's husband) said that she hurt me really badly, but she refused to say why."

"Guys, I'm sorry. It's for her to tell, not me."

"She is a mess," Randy said. "We had her over a few times. She just cries and tears up. No smart-ass wise cracks."

"Well she made her own bed," I responded. They didn't realize how close to the truth I was with my response.

"How about going out, anything?"

"I have a nice relationship with Michelle, Frank's ex. We are good friends."

"With benefits?" Randy asked.

"A gentlemen never tells" I think they saw right through me. Oh well. Maybe I wasn't such a gentleman.