Wife's Promotion

An old saying says, "If you don't get the girl you love, love the girl you get." Exactly what I did for fourteen years ago. I was engaged to my dream girl Lottie and looking forward to marry her when she told me that the travel agency where she worked had offered her 6 months job as their guide in Natal, Brazil. Before we met she had been a their guide for one year at Madeira and it was just because her skills in the Portuguese language she had got the offer, which she accepted. I understood that she would never want to be an average wife in a Scandinavian county capital after her stay there and therefore we both, after some serious talk, found out that the best for us was to split up. I thanked her for the time we had spent together and wished her good luck for the future. She found her good luck very soon, because after only a month there she had met and fell in love with a Brazilian airline pilot and when her six months contract was over they married.

Soon after she had left I met Ann-Catherine who did her best to comfort me? In fact she did it so well that she got pregnant, swore that I was only possible father, told me that abortion was out of question and begged me to marry her. A-C was a typical "girl next door" and as my love for her increases every day, we married. Six months after the wedding we got a nice boy and after further eighteen months we even had a girl. I worked at a construction company where my boss suggested me to go for evening classes, which I did. Thanks to my connections via the construction company we could afford to build a nice house in a popular area. When the girl was three years old we succeed to get the children to the nearby daycare and A-C got a job at an insurance company.

Now at the age of thirty-nine and thanks to my evening classed I had been promoted to boss for a construction team and did rather good money. The kids were fourteen and twelve and did well in the school. A-C was thirty-seven and still very good-looking. She had recently been promoted to department head manager at the insurance company. Other people regarded us as a happy family, which we, without any doubt, had been during fourteen years.

Then shit hit the fan after her promotion to department head manager some weeks ago. It was an important event for her but the quite opposite for me. I was not even invited to the promotion party. I knew that spouses were always invited to those promotion parties and had been curious about why I wasn't but had accepted her explanation that nowadays it was only a small internal matter and no other spouses should be there. The party had not been the boring dinner she told me, far from that because she came home at six o'clock in the morning very tipsy with her hair and make up in total mess. Obviously even well fucked.

Of course, she denied all accusations of cheating but the party meant a big change in our marriage, unfortunately not for the better at least not for our children or me. She began have less time for the family and treat me as some kind of janitor who's duty was to take good care of our house and our cars. Of course, she got a nice increase in her salary but her private expenses increased even more so I couldn't mention any advantages at all for the family. Even our sex life decreased from average three times a week to nothing at all. The first three weeks I accepted her explanation that she had so much to do that she got too tired to do something in the bed. Then I felt disgusted by the thought that she obviously still had an affair with some of the top cocks at her work and therefore treated me as some leftover crap. When she, after three weeks, understood that no marriage can survive a non-existing sex life and began her limited attempts to do something for cure that it was my turn to "be too tired" at bedtime.

At my job we had just finished an important project and I had got office job for a while for clearing up papers from the last job and planning for the next very big and important project. During a lunch at one downtown restaurant I met one of A-C's best friends from her work who told me that it was pity that I was sick and couldn't attend to the pleasant party for A-C's promotion but for her good luck one of the other head manager's wife was away on holiday with her parents, so he had been her escort during the evening. When I asked her if other spouses had been there she told me that as far as she knew I and the managers wife were the only absent spouses.

I replied, "Sick? I wasn't even invited to the damn party. What in the hell really happened there?" She understood that she had told me too much and refused to say anything further.

Two weeks later I went to action. Our insurance for the house and belongings for the family which we, of course had at A-C's work, was in my name and had to be renewed. I phoned two other companies and accepted the best deal. Then I phoned A-C's company and cancelled my insurance. When the girl at their customer service put in all my data in her computer she sounded surprised and asked me, "Excuse me, but isn't your wife working as head manager in this building?"

"Yes she is, and it is therefore want to skip all connections with your company."

"May I ask you why?"

This question was exactly what I wanted to hear because the right answer would start a gossip around the company. Such gossip works usually as the old saying says, "It begins with a feather and grows to a hen."

Therefore I told her, "Because your company is treating me as crap. You must know that I wasn't invited to my wife's promotion party. And guess what your top assholes did to her during the night. And now I've got and better deal for my insurance with one of your competitors. Thank you my dear Miss and have a nice day."

To my great surprise somebody who called himself for "Nick" and introduced himself as "Manager for Favored Customers" called me at the job within an hour and told me that somebody must made a terrible mistake and of course he should do everything to compensate me for their mistake and asked me what I wanted?

Canceling such rather small insurance can hardly be regarded as losing a "Favored Customer" so I understood that the gossip was around and this jerk must been involved. No reason to raise hell for not been invited to their party, it's up to them who they want to invite, but I was sure that A-C had been fucked by one or several of their top men during the night and therefore I decided to have some fun with this "Nick" and replied, "What mistake?"

"Some stupid secretary forgot to mail your invitation to the promotion party"

"Ann-Catherine must be totally mad if she didn't understood that something was wrong if her husband was the only spouse who wasn't invited to her promotion party. Who can trust a company with a such idiot in a top position?"

"Not kind to call your wife an idiot, I'm sure she will explain everything when you get home tonight. Please tell me what you want in compensation?"

"Compensation for what? For you assholes tricked and fucked my wife as a company whore? Such a pretty hooker is worth a fair price, isn't she? No hard feelings my friend, a new Mercedes 300 and my humiliation is forgotten, at least for that matter."

He burst in laugh, "A good joke, indeed. I'll give you 25% on your house and home insurance for the next year. A fair deal, isn't it?"

"Asshole, I'll get you fired. Everybody at your damn company seems to be totally mad." I said and hang on.

A-C was waiting for me when I came home. She was red as a tomato in her face and began shouting as soon I've got inside the front door, "What the hell do you mean by calling my job and acting as a lunatic?"

"Lunatic? I did fair business and saved good amount for the family for the next year."

"Why in the hell did you humiliate me at my job?"

For the first time in our marriage I got angry with her and shouted, "Why in the hell did you humiliate me at your damn party fucking around as a cheap company whore? I know that I was the only absent spouse and it was you and your 'pimps' who didn't want me to be there so you could pay for your promotion with your pussy. If whoring with some company top assholes is a part of your new job, be sure that the price will be your marriage. I hope you'll find it worth that."

I had never before shouted to her and treated her in this way so she got a shock and run to the bedroom where she began to cry loudly. The first serious arguing in our marriage had got a "time out" but was not over.

I found her cell phone in the battery charger in the kitchen and knew that she didn't come out from the bedroom for a while. I investigated the phone and found some text messages. Most of them from a "Nick" who obviously was the same asshole who had rang me earlier. He was in love with her and a copy of her last reply showed that he was making good progress in his efforts. He called their "magic-night" for the best night in his life and had even sent her several poems of "Mumbo-Jumbo" quality. Neighter of them mentioned fucking in plain words. I even noted Nick's phone numbers so I could get further info about him.

Now I wanted to know more so I searched for her purse, found it and took her calendar in which I found a lot of interest. The dates when she been out on her "girl-nights" with her new co-workers was marked as "N at El Grotto" and she had spent three Friday afternoons at "Scandic Motel". I noted that her future planning was "Scandic Motel" the next Friday and the romantic Spanish restaurant "El Grotto" Wednesday evening the week after. Only one thing for me to do, begin the final countdown of my marriage but how?

I wrote a message to the kids and left the house for some food at my favorite pub. To my great surprise Lottie, my "ex dream girl" from Brazil was there with her brother. They invited me to sit down at their table and we had a pleasant chat for several hours. With free airline tickets Lottie was home visiting her parents almost every year, sometimes alone, sometimes with her family. I had met her now and then, usually when shopping together with A-C and only talked a few minutes with her. Lottie had brought her son to a month's language training in England and had extended her trip with a few days at her parents home. She was now divorced from her airline captain who couldn't resist the temptation of handsome flight attendants which had been too often and too much for Lottie to take. I told her that even A-C and I had got serious problems, which we hardly were able to solve. We decided too see each other's again when she came back to catch her son in England next month. When I got back home. A-C was sleeping or at least pretended to be so I didn't wake her up or talked to her. The next morning she was still sleeping when I went to work.

My boss noted that something was wrong with me had me to tell him the whole story about my marriage which was expected to crash within a few weeks. He promised to use his connections and fix me a nice apartment and promised to suggest the board to let me be responsible for the insurance quotations for the next huge project.

I had investigated the bastard who had sent text to A-C's cell phone. It was a Nicholas Thomson, 44 years old, married with two daughters 21 and 18 both still living at home, working as department head manager at the same insurance company as A-C.

On the Friday afternoon I went to the Scandic Motel in a company car, didn't see A-C's car there so I phoned to her job where they told that she had just left for the day. She arrived in ten minutes together with a man in his forties. They went into the cafeteria, bought coffee and a sandwich. I did the same and sat down at their table. A-C almost lost her face in total surprise and I told her, "Nice to see you my love, I had some private matters to discuss so I just rang your job and they told me that you had left for the day, what a surprise to see you here."

She didn't reply so I turned to him and said", Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Anders, Ann-Catherine's husband, may I ask who are you?"

"Nick Thomson"

"Oh, that funny guy who rang me at my job. I'm still surprised about to how low value you estimated Ann-Catherine's services and lost honor."

I turned to A-C and asked her, "Are you coming home with me? Or are you staying here with him? I you prefer to stay with him, you can stay here for ever."

She came with me and as we sat in my car she shouted, "What the hell did you tell him about my services? What damn services? "

"When he rang me at my job, he offered to compensate me for what they did to you during the party night. Your friend Nick suggested me an amount of about ten percent of what an average looking hooker had charged them for equal services. Of course, I didn't accept." She refused to say a word to me after that. Not a word to reply when I suggested counseling for saving our marriage.

Not a word from A-C until the next Wednesday when she told me that she was going to a "girl's-night" with her co-workers if I had no objection and if I had, she was going anyway.

I had no objections and wished her to have pleasant evening.

She left in a taxi and ten minutes later I left for "El Grotto" in my own car. The restaurant had only a few guests so I had no problems to get in there. I found A-C and Nick in a discrete booth and went out a gain and rang his wife, who told me he was playing chess with a retired ex boss from his job. When I told her he had an affair with my wife and I just found them at El Grotto she promised to catch him. Then I went into their booth and told A-C, "Girls night out, indeed. You've got a terrible ugly girlfriend my dear Ann-Catherine. Do you really have a lesbian affair with such a monster?"

Nick understood that his odds to win a fight against me was less than zero, so he kept quite.

Neither of them said anything so I continued, "As the 'girl's-night' seems to been cancelled, it's better to go home at once, or shall we eat first? By the way Nick, high time to put up your chess game and the old boss because your wife is on her way here. I'm sure even she wants to know what really happened at the promotion party."

A-C got up and shouted, "At home, asshole." During the drive home I told her that a total confession, counseling and hard work on the matter could probably still save our marriage. She didn't answer me, only shouted several times; "You must got the damn party on your mind."

One week later the board accepted my boss' suggestion. I got a well qualified and very handsome, unfortunately already taken, female assistant. Our job was to get the best possible quotations from several insurance companies and make them compatible so the board would be able to make the right decision based on equal terms without any hidden traps. A big job with such huge amounts involved. We succeed to create the expected interest from the chosen insurance companies. Lena and I worked well together and we got everything under our control. To my great pleasure we were invited to a lunch with the top executives and the chairman of the board at A-C's company.

The company where A-C worked was the only local based of those so far involved. It was even the smallest of them, so this time I was a very important customer. It was their Managing Director who rang me and invited us.

My boss got some ideas about the lunch and gave Lena and me useful suggestions about what we were allowed to say and do there. Much more than any of us had expected, indeed. He even gave us orders how to be dressed. The company paid me an Armani suit and Lena an Armani business dress.

The lunch was held at the best restaurant in town and the insurance company was well represented with all their top executives, department head managers, A-C included and their chairman of the board. I noted how surprised A-C was to see my Armani suit and she got a strange expression in her face when she tried to sit next to me and I told her, Sorry but I want Lena to sit there because she and I may need some talk". I saw that she got humiliated and even several of the others had noted that I treated her as air. The lunch began with a few words from their chairman who wished their honorable guests welcome to the meal.

Then I rose up and said, "It is a pleasure to introduce my partner Mrs. Lena Hagen. My name is Anders Ericsson and some of you may be surprised to know that I'm married to Ann-Catherine who is here. I'm glad to hear that Mrs. Hagen and even I are welcome to your company. I ought to have met all of you before, at least at my wife's promotion party, but of some reason I wasn't regarded to be good enough to join her great event. Of course, no hard feelings about that, it's up to you to choose who you want to invite to such events, but if I wasn't regarded to bee good enough to share a meal with my wife at your company's table then, I'm am not that today, so one of us Ann-Catherine or I have to leave this table now, the choice is yours."

The silence was so total that, that if a pin had fallen on the soft carpet it had been heard. Both the Manager and Chairman looked at A-C, who began to cry, but nothing happened until Lena raised up and made her ready to go, then A-C rushed away from the table.

I had remained standing the whole time and continued, "As I told you, no hard feelings about the party and everything is not only my wife's fault. Obviously the poor bitch has been so eager to get her promotion that she agreed to pay for it with her body and therefore accepted her plotters' demands to keep me away. I wish I'd get to know which damn disgusting assholes used her as a cheap company whore during the party night? I already know the name of one of the plotters, which later on humiliated me further by offering me compensation from your company, less than ten percent of what a cheap hooker had charged for such a night. Obviously he regards my wife, probably now my ex wife and me as pure crap. For getting this stupid to say what he thought was a fair value of my wife's lost honor I suggested him low bait, a Mercedes. But in his opinion Ann-Catherine is only worth ten percent of a hooker. Of course, I don't want anything from your company and we, Lena and I have promised our managers not to have any personal vendetta against you and to give your company fair treatment in the insurance matter. However I must say that it is impossible for me to eat without puking up everything if your Mr. Nick Thomson is sitting at the same table. So once again, he or we?"

This time there was no silence, the Chairman shouted, "Thomson, get out!"

Nothing more happened during the meal and Lena and spent the rest of the day with those of their people who was responsible for our quotation. Their Manager and the Chairman joined us for a coffee break and told me that my problems were under investigation and so far Nick Thomson and one of the Vice Managing Directors who had been responsible for her promotion were fired and the investigation went on. A-C had left the job direct from the lunch. The Manager told me that they did not understand why she did what she did because she was in turn to be promoted the right way. Now they had to fire her because it was impossible for the company to have a department head manager with such a reputation.

Back at our own office my boss was satisfied when he listened to the tape recorder Lena used to have in her handbag during meetings outside the office. I got his full support for my speech during the lunch.

When I came home rather late, I found that A-C was gone with two suitcases and a large quantity of her clothes. At the kitchen table I found a note to the kids in which she told them to call her parents for further information. Not a word to me.

A-C and I filed for divorce, sold the house and shared everything 50/50. I got the nice apartment I was waiting for and for the kids sake I even fixed an apartment to her near to mine. We are now on speaking terms again and have met a few times at a café for talking about our children's activities. They live at her apartment but use to spend a lot of time at my place. A-C is even a "soccer mom" for our daughter's soccer team. We even use to meet when the team plays and have began to have some small talk. She has got a new job at an office but the payment is far less than what she got at the insurance company, even less than what she got before her promotion. Neither A-C nor I have found a new "the right one" yet. I can't deny that I miss her sometimes and I think we both regret what we did to each other's, but done is done and can never be undone. However, even that the now infamous lunch cost me my marriage Lena and I succeed to negotiate the best insurance terms our company ever had before which gave us a fairly increased salaries.