Why Give Her Anything?

I'm Jim, 27. My wife, Jen, is also 27. We met through a friend when we were both 22. Jen and I dated for two years. She moved in together when we were 24 and we married a year later. We have no children but we've talked about having two.

Jen got her realtor's license after we graduated college and got a job at a local agency. Her company sells homes but also rents properties they manage. I work as the assistant manager at one of the local superstores of a large national retail chain. We are open twenty-four hours a day and a manager or an assistant manager is in the store twenty-four hours. My current work hours are 4pm to midnight Wednesday through Sunday. I'm making good money and am hoping for a store manager position soon.

Jen and my schedules coincide somewhat. Most real estate work, showing houses, is on Saturdays and Sundays or in the evenings. Jen goes into the office during the day to field calls from new buyers and sellers and to meet clients but takes off Mondays and Tuesdays, the days I'm off. When she shows houses in the evenings, I'm at work. Each month, Jen is one of the top salespeople at her company. So she does nicely too.

We bought a house in the spring of 2024. Mortgage rates were high then so we decided to purchase a house when we had the cash to buy it outright. We saved up. Rather, I saved up. Jen uses her income to buy nice clothes, to "dress for success," and, about the time we bought the house, she leased a brand new Mercedes sedan. To impress clients, she said. So the money for the house came almost entirely from me. Jen found us a house in a great location at a good price. It's a nice but modest first home. Once we start a family we'll need something bigger. I didn't mind contributing pretty much all the money for the house purchase. I don't need new cars and expensive clothing. I believe the money each spouse earns belongs to both spouses. But I didn't think she needed a new Mercedes when we were already depleting our savings to buy the house. So I refused to co-sign the lease for the Mercedes. Despite my misgivings, Jen leased the Mercedes herself.

Jen always calls me when she gets home from work. That's usually not later than 8pm if she's showing houses. If the buyer is ready to offer a contract, they go back to her office to write it up and send it to the seller, if it's Jen's client, or the seller's realtor. If she goes back to the office, she gets home later but usually not after 9pm.

One Wednesday late last year, Jen called me a little after 8pm to tell me she's home. I normally ask about her day when she calls and she tells me about her clients, what houses she's shown and what contracts she's written. She said, "The couple I've been showing houses to finally put a contract on a house. They offered over list price. The sellers should be pleased. It will be a nice commission if the contract is accepted. The buyers really want this place so however the owners respond to this offer, it should eventually go through."

"Do you have anything else on the fire?"

"The contract I just did is the last of the serious buyers I have. There are other people I'm showing houses to but they're mostly 'looky lews'. After I drop you at the airport, I'm going in to answer the phones. Maybe I'll get someone who's serious about buying something. Or a new seller. We have to get up early tomorrow and I'm exhausted. I thought I'd go to sleep early. I'll be asleep when you get home tonight. When do we have to leave for the airport?"

I was flying to the quarterly management meeting at corporate headquarters the next day, Thursday. The store manager usually goes to these but my manager asked me to go in his stead. He's retiring soon and is grooming me for the manager's slot. He wants the bigwigs to get to know me. I told Jen, "My flight's at 9am. I need to leave for the airport no later than 7."

"What time Saturday night are you back?"

"My flight is at 7:10pm. I should arrive just after 9:30. Are you still able to pick me up at the airport?"

"I'll be in the airport's car waiting area so call when you're off the plane and I'll come get you." We got off.

At a little after 9pm that Wednesday, I bought a bottle of cold soda from the refrigerated case near the cashiers. I opened it when I got back to my office and put it on my desk. I reached for an employee's time sheet and spilled the soda all over my pants. I can't walk around like I just pissed myself so I decided to run home to change. One of the nice things about the house we purchased is that it's ten minutes from my job. I parked in the driveway not wanting the garage door to wake Jen. I assumed Jen would be asleep so I opened and closed the front door quietly and tip-toed up the stairs to our bedroom. I'd grab clothes and change downstairs without waking Jen.

When I got to the bedroom, Jen wasn't in bed. The bed was still made. I looked in the guest bedroom, around the house and in the backyard. Her Mercedes wasn't in the garage. Jen was nowhere. Maybe she needed something at the store. Or there was some emergency. I called her cell. She picked up after three rings and I asked, trying to keep my voice calm, "What are you up to?"

Jen sounded like she was out of breath but answered, "I was asleep. I told you I was going to bed early. Why are you calling? Is something wrong?" She was irritated. But she sure wasn't in our bed asleep.

"Sorry, I wanted to hear your voice and say goodnight. It's early so I thought you'd still be up. Go back to sleep."

"That's so sweet, Honey. But we're getting up early and I told you I was going right to bed. There's nothing wrong?"

"No, everything's fine. I'll let you get back to sleep. I'll try not to wake you when I get home. Pleasant dreams." We each said, "Love you," and got off.

So if Jen was sleeping it was somewhere else. For safety reasons, we each have tracking apps on our phone. The tracking app said she was at a house about twenty miles away. I entered the address in Google. It's a furnished rental property that Jen's company is trying to rent.

I changed clothes and took the soiled clothes back to work. I didn't want Jen to know I returned home to change. Why would Jen tell me she's in bed at home when she's at some rental property across town? I could think about nothing else and I was useless for the remainder of my shift. Jen was asleep in our bed when I got home from work. I didn't sleep that night, still trying to figure out why Jen would say she's at home when she's not. There was only one obvious explanation. I hoped I was wrong.

The next morning, we got to the airport well before my flight. I finally decided last night to hire a P.I. I had to find out what's going on. Maybe it's all innocent. My store works with a security company that has a local office. They monitor cameras inside and outside the store looking for thieves. If they see something, they call security in our store. I called my local contact, Bill, at the security company. Bill asked, "What's up. Do you have an increase in shrinkage. We aren't seeing anything unusual." Shrinkage is the industry term for theft.

"No, I'm calling for personal reasons. Can you recommend a good P.I."

I know he guessed why I needed one but had the decency not to ask, "When we're asked to investigate employee theft, we use a company that's real good at surveillance." He gave me the name and phone number for the company, "Ask for Abby, she's the owner. I'll call her now while you're on the phone and tell her to expect your call. Make sure she's there and knows you're calling." He put me on hold but came back on a short time later, "OK, she's waiting for your call."

I thanked him and looked at my watch. They probably wouldn't call my flight for another thirty minutes. I called the number he gave me, gave my name and asked for Abby. They transferred me to her.

"This is Abby." I gave my name again and she said, "Bill said you'd call. What can I help you with?"

I explained, "I get off work at midnight but I went home last night around 9:30 to pick up something. Earlier when we talked, my wife Jen told me that she was going right to bed. But she wasn't there when I got home. I called her and she told me she was home asleep. The tracking app we have on our phones said she was across town in a property her company is trying to rent. Something's not right. I need to know what's going on."

"Did you ask her about it?"

"No, I didn't confront her. She lied to me about where she was. If I'd asked her about it, I was afraid I'd just get more lies. She told me she was going to sleep to make sure I wouldn't call her later. Since I did call her, she may think I'm checking up on her. She probably had a story ready in case I told her I knew she wasn't home. Regardless, I don't think she'd have told me the truth. That's why I'm calling you."

Abby explained what's involved and what it will cost to follow Jen around. A lot of money but I agreed to the charges. "Give me her full name, home address, work address, the address of this rental property and a description of the car she drives. Email me Jen's picture, a good picture of her face and body. We can get started this weekend."

"Well, here's the thing. I'm at the airport now leaving for a work conference. I'll be back Saturday night. If Jen is up to something, she's likely to do it while I'm away. She's supposed to be at work now. Can you start today?"

"I need a retainer to get started. But we can get on her this afternoon. If she is seeing someone, how much do you want to know about him or her?"

"I want to know everything. Do you take credit cards?"

"Absolutely." I gave Abby a credit card solely in my name, a left-over card from before we married, not one of our joint cards. I didn't want Jen to see the charge.

I got a phone call from Abby late the following morning, Friday, while I was in a seminar at the conference. I left the room to take Abby's call. Abby said, "Your suspicions are correct. Last night, Jen had a male visitor at your home. He spent the night. I have pictures of him coming and going."

My heart sank. I was devastated, "Do you know who he is?"

"We traced him through his license plate. It's Jen's boss, Mark."

"I've met him. Can you send me the pictures you took?

Abby did while we were still on the phone. It was Mark. I've met him at Jen's work parties. He's in his mid-thirty's, in decent shape and is always dressed expensively and impeccably. The pictures of my wife with Mark were hard to look at. They showed Mark coming up the stairs of my front porch, my wife opening the front door and them passionately kissing. He carried Jen inside. The kissing was bad enough but the pictures of him leaving early the next morning were even worse. They were kissing lovingly at the front door saying goodbye. Lots of pictures of them kissing. Then pictures of Mark opening Jen's robe and slipping his hand inside. With the robe open it was clear Jen had nothing on underneath.

"It's Mark. I've met him and Jen has talked about him but I don't know much about him. Have you been able to look into him?"

"Married, two children. I'm going to send you his cell phone and his wife's. In case you need them. He has a broker's license and manages the office Jen works out of. But his father-in-law, whom everyone calls Mr. B for some reason, owns the real estate agency. Mark's an employee just like your wife. We really haven't started to dig into him. Do you want us to find out more about him? We can get his financials, maybe even find out how his marriage is going and how serious this is with Jen. Also, do you want us to keep following Jen?"

"What's the story with the house where Jen was when she was supposed to be home in bed?"

"It's a fully furnished rental property that's currently empty. A good place for hookups. No one would bother them there. But since you're out of town, they didn't need to use it. Your house was available last night. And tonight, I guess. Do you want us to stop now or continue on Jen?"

"I have enough on Jen so you can stop surveillance on her. I need to talk to a lawyer and if the lawyer wants more, we'll start it back up. But I want to know everything about Mark, down to his shoe size."

"We'll have his shoe size and everything else about him by next week. I'll call you as soon as I have anything." We got off.

I went back into the seminar but it was just someplace to sit and think. "So my loving wife is playing around. There's no coming back from that. I'll need a divorce lawyer. First thing Monday. I guess I should look up divorce procedures in my state." Then I thought, "Bob is here at the conference. He was an assistant manager along with me in the store I'm working at. The story I heard is that his wife cheated on him and he divorced her. About a year ago now, I think. He wanted a new start so he transferred to another store in another town. He's here at the conference instead of his manager probably for the same reason my manager sent me. He should be able to tell me about divorce in my state. I'll find him at lunch and pick his brain."

The seminar seemed to go on forever, I didn't hear a word of it, but lunch time finally arrived. I found Bob in the lunchroom they catered for conference attendees, "I need to talk to you about something. But it's very sensitive so I'd like to do it in private. Just the two of us. Can we move to a smaller table? Is that OK?"

"Sure" We moved to a table in a corner that seated two, "What's up Jim?"

"I need you to tell me about your divorce. Not your particulars but what's involved in our state?"

"I'm sorry to hear that but OK. It's a no-fault state. Nothing you did or your wife did enter into the divorce. It's just a division of property. Plus alimony and child support."

"So you can't use infidelity to divorce here?"

"No. But you can threaten to expose the infidelity to embarrass your spouse or her boyfriend. A sort of incentive to get your spouse to sign a more favorable agreement. Favorable to you. Basically, you split everything 50-50 and then decide on alimony, child custody and child support if that's applicable. Then you submit your agreement to a judge who grants the divorce."

"What if you can't agree?"

"Then you go before a judge who settles any disagreements. But you never want to go before a judge. You want to submit an agreement that the judge just looks over and signs off on. Judges favor wives. Stay away from judges. You don't want a judge to decide anything."

"How is alimony decided?"

"From what I remember there's a formula in our state that judges are supposed to follow. I can tell you what we did. My ex was working but I made significantly more than her. My attorney calculated something like forty percent of my income minus fifty percent of her income as the alimony. My attorney said that's what a judge expects to see in an agreement. If you have to see a judge because you can't agree, that's what the judge is supposed to do. But the judge can do whatever the judge wants. Also, alimony is supposed to last the number of years you've been married. Unless it's over ten years I think. But you've been married only a couple of years, right?"

"Three next June."

"Unless one of you can buy out the other, your house is sold and you two split whatever equity that's there. Same with everything else you own. Savings, stocks, bonds, cars, whatever. What's going on with you two? I always thought you were the perfect couple."

"So did I but Jen is cheating on me with her boss. I'm going to divorce her but I don't want to give her half of my stuff."

He laughed and said, "Good luck with that." I asked for the contact info for the lawyer he used. He texted it to me. We talked a little about what the attorney is going to cost me. That ended our discussion about divorce. We spent the rest of lunch staring down at our plates while we ate.

The rest of the day I spent in meetings I had to attend but thinking about my upcoming divorce, "I don't want Jen to get half the house. The money to purchase the house came from me. I sold stocks I invested in before we were married to buy that house. I emptied the savings account I started as a pre-teen and added to all my life to buy that house. Jen was spending her money on clothes and a fancy car. She spent her income on her. I spent my income on us. There are no leans on the house so half the net sale price would go to her. I made about twice what she made last year. I'm going to have to pay her alimony? She's going to be rewarded for cheating on me? That's just not right. I'll see a lawyer next week but I've heard enough stories to know that what Bob told me at lunch was true. A lawyer will tell me the same. It's going to cost me a lot of money to get rid of Jen."

I skipped dinner and took a walk instead. "How to get rid of her without giving her half of my property? My life with Jen is over but just divorcing her is not enough. Maybe some guys can just leave, divorce and walk away. Not me. I'm furious at her betrayal. She needs to suffer. So does her lover."

I didn't sleep that night. I couldn't think of how to prevent Jen from profiting from her adultery or come up with the perfect payback for them. Nothing I thought of seemed to be enough of a punishment or a way to keep Jen from taking what's mine.

It came to me in the middle of the night. If I could get it to work, it was perfect. I looked on the internet to see if I can set up a prepaid burner phone but hide my identity from those I text. I can. I went out and bought a burner at a twenty-four hour store. I paid cash. I set up the phone. It came with enough data for the texting I'll need to do.

Then I sat down, took the pad of note paper in the hotel room and figured out what the divorce would cost me. Half the house, throw in the furniture, what's left in our bank account, what I thought my P.I. and attorney fees would come to. Then alimony for three years using the formula Bob said is used in our state. It would probably cost me upwards of $175,000. Add in my pain and suffering, I figure Jen and Mark will owe me about $200,000 from the divorce. A nice round number. It was the middle of the night but I texted Abby that I wanted as much information about Mark's finances as she can find out. She'll see it when she wakes up. I got in bed and immediately fell asleep.

I thought I'd wait for Abby's report on Mark before I started. I wanted to know what Mark was worth and hopefully Abby would be able to tell me. I flew home Saturday and Jen got me at the airport. One of the problems with my plan is that I had to act as if I knew nothing of Jen's adultery. I had to act normal, hide my anger, continue to be the loving, clueless husband. Any hint that I knew about their adultery would derail my plans.

That would require a lot of effort. I'd have to share a bed with her and interact with her as if everything was the same as always. Maybe for weeks or months. How long depended on how much money Mark had.

Paying Abby with a credit card could be a problem. During the divorce, her attorney will have our financials but if I agree to everything, they won't have any reason to look through my credit card charges. For my plan to work, they can't know I hired a P.I. and found out about Jen's adultery way earlier than when I confront her and initiate the divorce. I decided to wait to even get an attorney until this was over.

Abby called me at home Monday afternoon while Jen was out at the hairdressers. I answered, "That was fast."

Abby answered, "Realtors work weekends and so do we. So we could start right away. Mark is married to a woman named Marie. Marie has a substantial trust fund from her grandparents. Their house and cars were purchased using money from her trust fund. Her father, Mr. B, is also wealthy and is semi-retired. He and Marie's mother spend much of their time in Florida. Mr. B owns the agency. As long as he gets his share, he's content to let Mark run the company.