What Goes Around

My thanks to Randi for her deft editorial skills in helping this story look better. (by the way, there's a difference between editing for style and proofreading.) I'd also like to thank my beta readers for their valuable input. And thanks for Literotica for being here to allow us to publish our stories, poems, etc.

Kevin and Sandra Harris had been married for 12 years. They both had good jobs with decent salaries, pensions and health coverage. They had one child, a daughter called Melody-Ann, who was 14.

Although Melody was Sandra's daughter by her first husband Doug, Kevin loved her as much as if he'd been her physical father, as well as being her dad. Due to complications with the birth, Sandra couldn't carry any more children to term, but that was okay with both of them as they felt that Melody completed their family.

Sandra had introduced Kevin to her best friend, Tina. Sandra and Tina had met when they were four when, by coincidence, their families had moved into adjacent houses on the same street. They had become fast friends at once and had never been out of the other's life in the intervening years.

They attended the same schools, the same college. Did they date the same guys or even the same type of guys? No, because from an early age, Tina knew she was into girls just as much as Sandra preferred boys. Sometimes when they were in their teens, they double dated with friends who they knew were reasonably broadminded.

They both got jobs at the same company, and when Sandra's marriage to Doug foundered on the rocks of Doug's infidelity, Tina was there for her, sometimes taking Melody and looking after her so Sandra could deal with housework and attend meetings with her divorce lawyer.

Doug gave Sandra full custody of their little tot. It was almost as if he didn't give a damn about their child, Sandra mused to Tina. "Maybe he doesn't?" Tina said with a shrug.

After the divorce, Doug swiftly remarried and vanished from the lives of Sandra and Melody almost as if he had never been there. It transpired that his affair partner was a fellow expat Irishwoman, so when they took a return flight to their mutual homeland, Sandra knew that would be the last she would hear of Doug.

She was correct in her assumption. It was like his daughter didn't matter to him. This saddened Sandra, but fortunately, Melody was so young that the loss of her so-called father had no obvious effect on her.

When Melody was four, Tina unexpectedly met the new love of her life, Kevin Harris. Kevin was an area manager for a company that serviced some of the complex, high-tech equipment that Sanda's employer used, and after dating for six months, they got married in a small ceremony. It was cute. Melody was Sandra's flower girl, and Kevin's ring girl. Tina was the bridesmaid and a colleague from work was Dave's best man.

Because Sandra's father had died even before she had married Disappearing Doug, she had nobody to give her away. Rather than look around for a male figure for the job, she pressed Tina in to perform a dual role, bridesmaid and also that of, to borrow a Latin expression culled from Google Translate, Sandra's 'Sponsa Comitatus.'

The wedding was a low-key affair, but was everything the couple and Melody could have wished for.

The following 12 years were a period of absolute bliss for Kevin, Sandra and Melody. Tina was a regular part of their lives, and Tina and Kevin became good friends. They all often shared vacations and celebrations, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Tina had left their mutual employer and launched a boutique marketing company that worked with many top influencers and icons of the fashion industry. Sandra still worked at their old employer and Kevin had gained promotion so that he was a senior manager who had long ago given up visiting clients, except under special circumstances.

In the 12th year of their marriage (Duodecennial and Silk for those who are interested in such things) when everything changed, or died, as far as Kevin was concerned.

He arrived home from work, and as it was a Tuesday, which was one of the days Sandra was responsible for cooking their evening meal. There was no smell of cooking. In the living room, he found Sandra and Tina sitting on the sofa.

"Oh, hi, Tina!" He looked at Sandra. "Honey, where's Melody?"

"She's spending the night at a friend's house," Sandra said. "You know Susan? The girl she's going to summer camp with? They're going over some of the stuff they'll need to take to the camp."

"Oh, okay. I don't smell any food cooking, so does this mean we'll be taking Tina out for dinner?"

Sandra shook her head. "No. I didn't feel like cooking or eating. Nor, I suspect, will you.

"Kevin, you've been a lovely friend, a great lover, a wonderful husband and father to Melody throughout all these years and this is a very, very difficult thing for me to say, but I am going to divorce you. Before you say anything, it's nothing you've done; it's not your fault. It's just that I have fallen in love with Tina, Tina has fallen in love with me and we are going to get married."

Kevin was utterly blindsided. He slumped into an armchair that was opposite to them. "But... why? I didn't think you were gay, Sandra?" He noticed that they were holding hands, which hurt him deeply.

"It's not that I'm gay, as such, Kevin. It's just that Tina and I have fallen in love and we want to express our love by getting married."

"For what it's worth to you, Kevin," Tina said, "I'm sorry, as I know this will be a terrible shock to you and really painful, but it's not possible to gainsay the love that Sandra and I feel for each other."

He totally ignored what Sandra had said to him only moments before. "Sandra, please tell me what I did wrong, how I fucked up so badly to make you need the love of another person?"

Sandra looked to be on the point of tears. "Like I said, Kevin, it's nothing you did or said. It's not your fault in any way. It's just that I've fallen in love with Tina."

"Could we try counseling?" Kevin was struggling to come to terms with what was happening.

Tina responded "See, Sandra? I was right. Kevin's natural reaction is to seek counseling, because he's a good guy.

"Kevin, honey, that's not going to work, because there's not a fault in your marriage with Sandra, it's just that it's coming to a natural conclusion, a natural ending. Obviously, it's sad when something like this happens, but it's not your fault, or Sandra's fault or my fault, if it comes to that. Just circumstances that will bring about great changes in our lives."

Tina paused before continuing. "But I think therapy might be a good idea for you to help you deal with the undoubted trauma you'll be going through."

"Tina, I thought you were a friend of mine? When did that change?"

"Oh, Kevin! It hasn't changed! I'm still your friend. Though you have reason to doubt that, now, I know. For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry about what you must be going through, right now."

"Does Melody know?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, she knows. We didn't think it would be right to keep it from her," Sandra replied.

"But you thought it okay to keep it from me?" asked Kevin, bitterly. Both women flinched, but said nothing as they understood his situation all too well.

"So, what happens next?" asked Kevin.

"We have the divorce papers already written up by our lawyer. We want to make it as fair and as easy as we can for you, Kevin. But obviously, we want you to get it checked out by your own lawyer to make sure you are happy with the proposed outcome."

"Will I be allowed to continue seeing Melody?"

"Of course you will, Kevin!" said Sandra forcefully. "I'd never try to keep you two apart. In fact, clause seven deals with joint custody, so you can have Melody stay with you."

"Thank you, I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see Melody."

"I'd not do that to you, Kevin. I know how much you love her; how much she loves you."

He nodded before speaking. "Thank you for that. When do you want me to move out?"

"Whilst we both think it would be best if you moved out as soon as you could, we obviously want to make sure that you don't end up living in your car or any bullshit like that, so we'll give you as long as you need to get a place."

Kevin gathered several changes of clothing in a suitcase and took his laptop, iPad and phone.

As he stood in the hallway of what had up until that moment been their house, he broke down and began to cry. Sandra rushed toward him and hugged him firmly to herself. She tried to comfort him as best she could. "Don't cry, Kevin. Please don't cry! It'll all work out for the best, eventually. You'll see."

Tina reached over to him, squeezed his shoulder and said, "You probably don't believe me, Kevin, but I'm truly, really sorry about how things have worked out. You'll be OK, given time. You're still a handsome young man, even a crazy dyke like me can see that! You'll find someone else. I know you will."

Kevin shook his head. "I don't... I doubt that, Tina."

After Kevin had gone, Sandra and Tina collapsed on the sofa, cuddling and crying. "It'll be for the best, Sandra. Look, I know things will be difficult for all of us, but especially for Kevin. But we couldn't have continued as we were. Eventually, he'd have caught us and that would have been so much worse."

Sandra nodded. "You're right. I just hope he's going to be okay."

"Me too," Tina said. "I was serious when I suggested he get counseling."

Tina's positive attitude was somewhat of a front. She knew it was a possibility that Kevin might 'hurt himself' (a very comforting euphemism) and she didn't want anything like that to happen to Kevin, who she really liked, despite what the situation might look like to any outsiders. However, that wasn't how Kevin was built, thankfully.

Kevin spent several nights in a Marriott Hotel, the one on North Pearl Street, before renting a month-to-month apartment in a building on the same street.

He hired a lawyer to review the divorce papers that Sandra and Tina had drafted. His lawyer, Gloria Linwood, who specialized in family law and divorce was impressed by it.

"Well, Kevin, it's clear that they want to provide you with an easy, 'fair' divorce. The cynic in me says that they are doing this for the same reason a realtor sets the price of a property at a lower value than they could otherwise have done, as they are pricing to sell.

"Looks like your wife and her lover are making it appear beneficial to you so you will not be tempted to get a shark like me to launch a vicious attack on them." The momentary grin she gave made him shiver a little bit. He was glad that she was on his side.

She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "I think that with clause seven outlining 50/50 custody of your stepdaughter, plus visitation, and the fact that they aren't looking for alimony or your pension, you'd be an idiot not to accept it."

Kevin shrugged. What else could he do?

A month later they were all meeting in the offices of Sandra's lawyer. They'd organized the splitting of shares and a joint account, the sale of their mutually owned house and several other issues fairly common to most divorces, when they came to clause seven which dealt with custody and visitations.

The arbitrator who was overseeing the meeting and who felt relieved that things were going so well, said, "okay, folks. You've both agreed to the 50/50 custody split with what we call "liberal visitations" for both sides, so if there's nothing else?"

Suddenly, Melody spoke up. "Don't I get any say in the custody discussion?"

"Why... yes, of course you do. What are your views, please, Melody?" the arbitrator said.

Melody looked suddenly very serious. "I don't want joint custody. Look, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but we are going to be living in Tina's house. It's over four floors, plus there's a massive basement room and I'll be able to entertain all my friends there. Also, Tina, Mom and I spent a whole week in New York recently, we partied every night and I even met RuPaul! Such a great person!"

"No offense, Kevin, but you have a tiny, two-bedroom apartment in the city center, compared to the house we're going to be living in. It'd just you and me playing on your Xbox. And your apartment is a poky little shithole. Besides which, it's not like you are my real father, is it?"

The silence that fell on the room was toxic. Sandra gave a gasp of horror, Tina looked shocked, but smug, and Kevin looked as if he wanted to throw Melody out of the window.

Kevin's lawyer Gloria asked for the use of an office so that she could consult with her client in private. Once in the room she said: "I'm so sorry that happened. What do you want to do now, Kevin?"

Kevin clasped and unclasped his hands before speaking. "I never realized that Melody-Ann had such a low opinion of me. I thought she always considered me to be her father. I always thought of her as my own daughter. Always treated her as my own daughter, staying up with her when she was sick, attending school events for her. Well, it just shows how wrong you can be."

"Do you want me to re-negotiate a custody agreement to replace clause seven?"

Kevin shook his head. "Clause seven covers custody and visitation, correct?"

"Yes, that's right. In fact, that's its sole purpose."

"Void clause seven, please, Gloria."

"What do you mean, "void" it, Kevin?"

"Just reprint the agreement but under Clause Seven, Custody and visitation, just replace the text with something like "void, not required." Because I don't want Melody-Ann to have to cheapen herself by even visiting me in my pokey, shithole apartment, let alone staying in it."

She nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. Though I'll use legal terminology to make it look right. You sure this is what you want, Kevin?"

He nodded. Although Kevin was not on the Autistic Spectrum, he was probably on

a

spectrum of some kind, because Kevin's mind was very much on or off, yes or no, black and white. So, when Melody-Ann said what she said, Kevin decided that she was no longer to have a place in his life. His thought process was "If she no longer wants to be in my life, why force her to?"

After Gloria had rewritten clause seven in a suitably anodyne way, her paralegal had the new divorce papers printed up in the law firm's print room. Kevin signed it, Sandra signed her copy and it was taken to be filed in the courthouse after being duly witnessed. Gloria had sort of expected someone on Sandra's legal team to notice that joint custody or even visitation for Kevin was no longer part of the divorce agreement, but to her surprise, they hadn't. "Not my circus, not my monkeys" she had thought.

A couple of weeks later, Sandra and Tina were talking at Tina's semi-mansion (amazing what levels of income you could generate with being a fashion and style influencer) about the divorce. "Tina, I could have slapped Melody when she said that in the lawyer's office. Obviously, she'll change her mind and will want to spend some time with her dad."

"And what the fuck was that about Kevin not been her real Dad?" Tina replied. "Do you think that she's been in touch with Doug?"

Sandra shook her head. "I doubt it, but I think the damage has already been done. Poor Kevin! The look on his face. That was not good. I haven't heard from Kevin since the divorce paperwork was filed. I think I'll have to pull up my big girl panties and reach out to him and sort out some sort of visitation for Kevin and Melody."

Tina shrugged. "It's probably just me, but if I had a daughter treat me like Melody treated Kevin, I'm not sure I'd want any 'visitation' from her."

Sandra called Kevin's phone, but was surprised when the number showed up as being discontinued. "I can't get Kevin on his phone number. I'll go visit with him, see when he wants to have a visitation with Melody."

"Well, good luck with that," Tina said. "but remember what I said." Tina had a sense of foreboding which she didn't feel able to express to Sandra. Later, she realized that it would have made on difference, anyway.

When Sandra arrived at the apartment building, she was stunned and somewhat sickened to see that the space for the name on his apartment, C3, was empty. She checked with the concierge, who confirmed that Mr. Harris had paid a penalty fee to vacate his lease two weeks early, and had left no forwarding address.

She had a feeling of apprehension as she drove across the city to Kevin's workplace. Her sense of dread had been correct. Kevin's director told her that Kevin had left the company and had taken a position at a sister branch in Anchorage, Alaska.

Sandra gasped and stuttered out, "Alaska? Why the hell would he go there?"

"To put distance between himself and you. He didn't feel he had anything left for him in Dallas, with what you, your friend and your daughter had done to him. Kevin was my best manager and a dear friend. I really resent the fact that you fucked him over like you did. Now just get the fuck out of here, I have to prepare to recruit for his replacement." She was a very angry woman, and Sandra thought best just to get home.

When Sandra told Tina what had happened, Tina was ambivalent. She actually did regard Kevin as a dear friend, so his pain actually moved her. But on the other hand, having her wife-to-be's ex-husband hanging around would not have been a good thing from Tina's point of view.

As for Melody, she was a teenager and neither Sandra or Tina could figure out what the fuck was going on in her head.

An idea had been worming its way through Tina's mind; there was something about the divorce paperwork that was bugging her. She shared it with her own lawyer, who quickly spotted what she described as the "poisoned bonbon" in the paperwork.

"Clause seven, which deals with custody and visitation is a very cleverly drafted, "Fuck you, bitches," she told Tina. It's obviously been designed by an expert. Fuck, shit and fuck again! I just spotted who his lawyer is. Gloria Linwood? Sandra's lucky that she must have been under orders to get an easy divorce settlement and to go soft and gentle on Sandra. Gloria is an expert on the scorched earth divorce settlement.

"I don't know if the story is true, but I heard a dude who was being divorced by his wife for infidelity used various ways of hiding his assets. Even to the point of having all of his teeth replaced with solid gold teeth. Gloria had a court order repossessing his teeth, as they were considered joint assets. They were melted down and he was left sucking soup through a straw for a couple months until he could get some cheap plastic dentures."

Tina thanked her friend and marveled at how lucky Sandra had been.

Whilst this was all going down, Kevin found himself again staying in a Marriott Hotel, this time the Downtown Anchorage Marriott.

Over the years of business traveling, he had developed an affinity for Marriott Hotels. Ironically, although the hotel chain was owned by a family of Mormons (a Bible plus a Book of Mormon in every hotel room testified to that) every Marriott Hotel had an impressive selection of draft and bottled craft ales and good food.

After an experience with a Hilton Hotel in San Francisco when it transpired that the Hilton Hotel Union Square was actually about four miles from Union Square and right in the middle of The Tenderloin, a very dangerous area, and somehow refused to honor the Hilton Honors points, he made a point of avoiding Hilton Hotels whenever possible.

When he had arrived at the Anchorage offices of the business consultancy firm he would be based at, the culture shock was tremendous. When he'd told his former colleagues that he was taking the role of manager at the Anchorage branch, they'd questioned him as to why, because they'd heard rumors that the Anchorage division was used as a punishment beating for managers who had screwed up, but not badly enough to be terminated.