Here is a little short story about love, sex, and survival.
What If Tomorrow Never Comes?
As I was driving back home that afternoon, my mind was trying to sort out all of the details of what had happened. The news of two situations that suddenly sprang up in my life were weighing heavily on me. Sitting on the seat next to me were two large envelopes containing the details of the two things I suddenly had to deal with. I was devastated by every thing that had happened. If it is true that bad things come in threes, then I may be in for even more bad times ahead.
Before I describe what happened, let me give you a little background. My name is Scott. I am a 50 year old retired petroleum engineer. Yes, I am retired. I made a lot of money early, and invested wisely. Two years ago I inherited a small ranch, and a considerable amount of money from my Dad. My mother had passed away a couple of years before that.
After my Dad died, we decided to move to the ranch. I retired and became a full time rancher, a life I truly loved.
My wife Jerri is 49 years old. We will have been married 25 years this summer. It has been a wonderful 25 years, almost like a fairy tale. We have had very few arguments, and share the same taste in wine, food, and music. We have a daughter who has graduated college, and works in Washington DC for a US Senator.
Jerri does have one obsession, her job. She loves her job, and has spent the last fifteen years proving herself, and working her way up the ladder. She is out to prove that a woman can do just as good, or better than a man in management. She refuses to retire with me because she loves it so much.
She works for a grocery store chain that is quite successful. She has her degree in business management, and has risen up into corporate management.
Jerri is strikingly beautiful. Not only a great figure, but a pretty face, and her long blond hair makes her look like a hollywood starlet. We have always made sure we had time for each other. Our sex life has always been outstanding. Never routine, and rarely rushed. I please her, and she pleases me. Even after 25 years, I wouldn't change a thing with my wife.
I guess I should go back to a week ago when I had my semi annual check up by my dermatologist. I spend a lot of time in the sun, therefore I started worrying about skin cancer. I wear caps, and use sunscreen now, but I didn't in my younger years. I have had a couple of cancerous places removed, so I have my check ups to make sure of early detection. The two I had removed were done in the early stages, so they were not a problem.
Last week I had a place removed, and of course the doctor did a biopsy. My appointment today was to take out the stitches, and let me know the biopsy report. She acted like always, in that it was no big deal, and would probably come back ok.
On my way to her office, I got a call from Mary Johnson. Her husband is Larry Johnson, the Executive Vice President of the company my wife works for. I have met them both on occasion at some of the company gatherings. Mary's dad owns the company, and I think Larry is the Executive VP simply because of his wife being the owner's daughter.
She said she needed to meet with me. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why she needed to meet with me, and she wouldn't say on the phone. She just said it was urgent we get together today. So I agreed to meet her at a coffee shop after my Doctor's appointment.
I was sitting in one of the exam rooms when my Doctor finally walked in. She examined the area, then removed the stitches. She normally talks a lot, but this time she wasn't saying much.
After she finished, she handed me a large envelope. This had never happened before.
Then she said, "Scott, this envelope contains the lab report, and some instructions. I am afraid that your cancer was malignant, and it has spread into your body. The other test we ran on you also confirm it has spread. This has become a serious issue that will require drastic treatment. You will need to start chemotherapy right away."
The first thing that came into my head was that I was going to die. I was fifty years old, and soon I would be dead.
"Am I going to die, Doctor?"
"Scott, we are going to do everything we can for you, but it has spread, and there are no guarantees. I think you have a good chance of beating this. You are strong, and in good health otherwise. The chemo is going to be very hard on you, and your wife."
What was Jerri going to think? This was going to be hard on her. She also had her job to think off. I know there was an opening for a high level management position, and she had her heart set on getting that promotion. It was all she had been talking about.
She had interviewed with Larry Johnson a few days ago, and had seemed really out of sorts the past few days. I had to do everything I could to make sure my treatments didn't interfere with her job.
I left the office really feeling down. I was going to have to tell Jerri, but I didn't want to. I also had to face the fact that I might die because of this. I had to get everything in order.
I almost forgot about meeting with Mary. I made it to the coffee shop about ten minutes late. She was there waiting on me. We got a coffee, and sat down outside.
Mary spoke, "Scott, I am going to get right to the point of my calling you. You know my husband Larry is your wife's boss. I have suspected Larry of cheating on me for quite some time. I hired a PI firm to get me evidence. A few days ago your wife was in his office supposedly to interview for an upper management job. They had sex in his office."
I wasn't sure I heard the last part right. I asked her to repeat it, and sure enough she had said that my wife fucked her boss Larry. I was almost a hundred percent sure my wife had never cheated on me in the 25 years of our marriage. I found this hard to believe.
Mary tossed me a large envelope. I opened it up, and pulled out the pictures. There was also a CD which I assumed contained the video.
Mary went on, "I had the PI set up video in my husbands office. Larry basically told your wife that if she would have sex with him, she would get the job. She refused at first, but he threatened that if she didn't, she would never rise above where she was. It was simply her ambition that clouded her judgement."
"Isn't that illegal what he did? I asked.
"Yes, and he is going down. He did the same thing with a couple of other ladies in the office, plus he has a couple of married ladies he is screwing at a motel. He will soon be out of a job, a wife, a house, and money. My father will also be prosecuting him for sexual harassment in the workplace. His fairy tale world is about to end."
"So what do you think I should do, Mary?"
"It's up to you Scott, but don't let this ruin your marriage. Jerri is a good lady, and a good asset to our company. What she doesn't know is that my father wanted her for that job all along. Larry didn't have any say in who got hired. My father was going to tell her today the job was hers."
It was hard, but I did look at the pictures. One thing I did notice is that there was no look of pleasure on my wife's face. In fact, she looked disgusted. I was ready to kill Larry Johnson, but I figure he is about to have all the shit he can handle. I want him to to suffer as much as possible, but if I ever meet up with him, I will beat the shit out of him.
As I drove home, I tried to figure out what I should do. How do I tell Jerri about my day?
Hey honey, I'm dying of cancer, and I know you fucked Larry Johnson in his office so you would get promoted.
I loved her too much to file for divorce over this. We would have to talk about it, and maybe work through it. I know now why she had been acting funny the past few days. She was feeling guilty. I think she wanted to confess, but was too ashamed.
I got home around 2:00 and saw Jerri's car in the driveway. She is never, and I mean never home from work this early. It's usually around 5:30 or 6:00 before she comes home.
I walked into the house with my two envelopes, and the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was trying to figure out how I was going to start, when I heard Jerri in the kitchen.
"Scott honey, I need you to come in the kitchen and sit down."
Her voice was shaking as she spoke. She didn't even ask about my visit to the doctor. She was sitting at the kitchen table, and had a chair waiting for me next to her.
She looked very serious, and very nervous. I sat down without saying a word. I wasn't real sure what she was about to say, but I had a good idea.
"Scott, I have something I need to tell you, and your not going to like it. I did something pretty bad, and it's eating away at me. Please let me finish before you say a anything."
I nodded for her continue. I guess she was going to confess. I was not expecting this. I thought I would have to confront her.
"Sometimes my ambition concerning my career gets in the way of my good judgement. You know I have been talking non stop about the upper level management job open at work. I wanted it so bad I could hardly stand it."
Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks, but I let her go on. She needed to get it out.
"A few days ago, my boss Larry called me in to interview for the job. He said his recommendation to Mr. Burns, the owner, would be who he chooses. He told me that he had always been attracted to my beauty, and really envied you Scott. He said he would like to be you for one night, and get to sleep with me. I started getting very uncomfortable. I didn't like where I thought this was heading."
She paused a minute to collect herself.
"After complimenting me more on how beautiful, and sexy I was, he basically said that if I would have sex with him there in his office, the job was mine. He said if I tried to report him, he would say I came into his office and offered myself to him for the job."
Now what she did was wrong, and she should have been smarter, but I felt sorry for the situation that asshole put her in. She went on.
"Of course I refused, and told him no, but he continued to work on me. He explained that it was just sex, and that you would never know. He said no one would ever know, and it would only be this one time. There would be no blackmail, and this would be the end of it. I would get the job, and he would get his fantasy."
"So what did you do?" I asked.
She lowered her head as she continued to cry.
