Better Than Me?

After a dozen years of marriage, all the trappings of day to day life, the person that you live with is usually well known to you.

There are few secrets, if any, unless perhaps it is unspoken fantasies of the mind.

Every inch of Kat's body was well familiar to me, mine to her. Lord knows we spent enough time exploring, investigating each other.

We have been in the bathroom together, of course we have. Not just brushing our teeth, either.

Her reactions to anything that happened around us were familiar also. The clothing she preferred, even the food she prepared, all had the certain normalcy that one does not notice.

What does get noticed is anything that is out of the norm, those tend to stick out.

My work was fine, sure, more money would be nice but we didn't want for anything much. There was a fairly new ImpalaSS sitting in the garage, a nice little crossover SUV that Kat preferred.

Kat would be best described as a good looking woman, not beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, rather simply attractive.

Medium long sandy hair that she colored to a natural blond look, 5'5" tall and athletic. The mild sway in her back is sexy, her belly is flat as a pancake and she works to keep it that way.

Why Kat picked me, I do not have a clue. One day late in our senior year in high school I saw her coming down the hallway, she smiled at me.

The girls in our school really didn't smile at me much, in fact they didn't act like they even noticed me.

Then later in the library she sat across from me at the table I was sitting at, and smiled again.

Finally we were talking, she asked me if I would walk with her after school on the way home, so I did.

We became friends, I asked her to the prom and she accepted, in fact she acted delighted.

Some relationships come after a pursuit, with all of the wooing and everything that goes along with that.

Kay and I more or less just drifted together.

The Summer after graduation Kat and I were down at the park, one of those warm days. We had a blanket, a picnic basket, just a nice day out.

She leaned in close to me to whisper.

"I went on birth control pills two weeks ago." She told me with a shy giggle.

Then she told me her folks were gone on a trip and her house was empty. In her bedroom, there was no trace of shyness, in fact, she was eager.

I am sure my complete lack of experience showed, and when we were finally both naked on top of her soft bed she asked me to take it slow because she was concerned that it might hurt.

But it didn't, not that I could tell.

+++

I am barely 4 inches taller, also slender but just a guy. No big oversized muscles, no rugged good looks, I can mix into any crowd and vanish.

Still, my position as a working warehouse manager keeps me in shape, heavy cartons are constantly coming in and out so the work is pretty physical.

We had things, all the bills got paid and we even had enough left over to go out sometimes and splurge. A nice fancy dinner, then some dancing with a few drinks was the natural culmination of one of our evenings out.

A few times it's a movie, we sit and hold hands during those. Kat likes the romantic comedies so I take her to see the new ones, once we went to one that was way beyond just titillation and had some rather explicit sex scenes.

That one I really remember, her lips pursed and she was chewing on her lower lip in short order. After the movie we made it to the car out in the parking lot and her hand was down the front of my slacks before I could get the key in the switch.

We didn't get caught but it was damned close.

Usually though, it is a nice dinner, then some dancing to live music.

Those nights normally ended with Kat and I spending time enjoying each other at home, those private times were something we both looked forward to.

It was one of those evenings that I first noticed some slightly different reactions in my Catherine.

Kat as I always called her, loved to dance. I could cut a rug pretty good myself but her energy level for that always far exceeded mine and I didn't mind if she danced with someone else.

That was her choice, although I did expect men to be courteous and ask me first.

The ones that waited until I was off to the restroom or up at the bar getting drinks just pissed me off, Kat discovered that about me very early on.

I might not be an oversized jock type but I tend to make up for it by being fast and on the strong side.

Just one time she got up and danced with some guy who did that. He was an aggressive type and resisted when I stepped out onto the dance floor to reclaim my wife.

We had only been married for a few months at the time. I remember when Kat turned her head in surprise and realized I was upset, she instantly stepped back from the man.

A couple of very big bouncers broke up the fight before it ever got settled. I had simply walked up to them and touched Kat on the shoulder, she turned and saw me, stepped back from the man with a confused look.

"Hey, asshole, get lost." The guy told me. giving me a mean look.

He apparently did not realize Kat was my wife and thought I was horning in on his action, either that or he figured he could just move in.

He reached out to shove me which was a mistake.

My first punch was slightly upward since he was taller than me, but it landed and we were instantly into a scuffle.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't know." She told me as we were rather pointedly ushered outside and I explained it to her.

I do not like sneaky bastards that wait until a woman's date or husband is out of sight.

To me, asking politely is a common courtesy.

Perhaps I am silly about that, some people did tell me I was. But a man does not slip up and hit on another man's wife the moment he is out of sight.

Not in my world.

Kat never did that again. Instead she would either turn them down with a "No thank you." Or glance at me for a nod if whoever asked did first ask me for permission.

So coming out of the bathroom and finding Rich Trippen sitting at our table talking to Kat was a mild surprise.

I knew Rich from grade school when he was a bully, then high school. In grade school he delighted in taking me down and pinning me, bouncing me off my locker door just for fun, crap like that.

I hated him back then, but he was enough larger than I was that any of my efforts to fight back just made things worse.

He always acted better than any of us in high school, you know the type. The first guy with a car, always fancier than anyone else's. The guy with the prettiest girls in school, the guy on the football team at quarterback, the one who was on the basketball team that everyone passed the ball to.

Class president?

Of course.

On our track team, Rich was the best high jumper, best broad jumper. The shot put, javelin? Yep, Rich won everything.

What he could not do was stay ahead of me in the half mile or the mile run, I did the half in 2.00 minutes flat and a shade better if pushed, the mile in 4.40.

In the dash it was not even close although there were a few others I couldn't quite beat in that event, and in the quarter mile run I was usually 40 feet ahead of him. I was normally that far ahead coming out of the first turn, then things were fairly equal.

My legs were shorter but much faster, Rich was large and muscular and he had all that mass to get into motion.

Rich was an easy 210 pounds to my 165. In high school I actually ate everything I could get down, trying to become bigger but nothing happened.

Rich looked down on me in school, I took that to heart and did my best to avoid him. It was a mutual dislike for certain.

The truth is he looked down on everyone, he had wealthy parents and the rest of us didn't.

I guess the word is I didn't like him even now as an adult, the better than you attitude put me off.

"Hello, Rich. What's up?" I asked as I got to our table. He was sitting in my seat, I reached out and put my hand on the back of it.

A simple motion, just one that is intended to reclaim territory.

"Oh, hey, Dan. I was just chatting with your lovely wife here, I was thinking perhaps she might save a dance for me later?"

He did that not quite look at me thing he was so good at.

A little bit like it was an irritant that I was there?

Kat flushed mildly at his comment, her hand came up and brushed her hair back.

I noticed that.

"That's up to her and you are in my chair." I told him.

"Oh. Sorry." He sat there for several long seconds before getting up, then he leaned down to Kat.

"Later, Catherine. Save me a couple of slow ones, OK?" He gave her a big smile.

Kat nodded, I noticed that, too.

I didn't belt him but the thought crossed my mind.

"What did that guy want?" I asked her after he had wandered off.

"Nothing, he was just being nice and saying hi."

"Uh huh." I nodded. My mind flashed back to Rich holding me pinned down back in seventh grade, all the kids gathered around laughing.

Was Kat one of them back then? I didn't know.

"What's the matter, honey?" Kat asked me, picking up on the far away look in my eyes.

"Nothing." I told her.

It was perhaps a half hour later Rich was back, he walked up to Kat and asked her to dance, holding out his hand like he expected her to get up.

I didn't think she would, but she did. Perhaps since she knew him from high school also, she figured it was all right?

That mildly irritated me.

I sat and nursed my drink, watching them. He kept saying something, she kept laughing. He wasn't holding her overly close or anything like that, there was just something in their manner.

Familiar? Perhaps that is the word?

When the song ended, he didn't bring her back.

They danced a second faster number, then another slow one.

I now was feeling the flush of anger, just in time Rich brought her back because a fourth one was likely going to be enough to set me off.

He thanked her, again not looking at me at all.

"I don't like that guy very much." I told her.

"I don't know why, Rich is nice and polite. Plus he is funny, too."

"I would rather you didn't dance with him."

Kat looked at me oddly.

"What am I supposed to do, be rude to him?" She acted mildly irritated at that.

That put a dampner on our night out.

Rich didn't ask her to dance again that evening, which was probably a good thing. We went home, Kat drifted off to bed right away and was asleep when I went in there.

Different than most evenings after we went out, but perhaps she was tired.

I more or less forgot about it.

+++

About a week later I was mowing our lawn when old man Henry from next door came out.

"Was that your Corvette?" He asked me.

"Corvette? What Corvette?" I asked.

"Oh, I saw it in your driveway yesterday afternoon, I thought maybe you had bought one."

"No, those are a bit out of my league." I looked at him confused, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Pretty brand new red one." Henry muttered, then wandered off.

I asked Kat as soon as I finished the yard and put the mower away.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Rich Trippen came by to show you his new car, he just got it I guess. I told him you were at work."

"Rich Trippen? Here? To show ME his new car?" I asked.

"Yes, that's what he said. I served him some coffee and then he left."

I just looked at her.

"He was only here maybe 15 minutes."

She added that last part quickly, too quickly in my mind.

Kat's face suddenly had an innocent look.

I noticed that, too.

I think my reaction showed in my face because later Kat came into the living room.

"You know, honey? Rich told me he has always been jealous of you, you were the best in track and he said you were the only one he could never beat."

"That guy is not jealous of me at all, and he won everything else. More likely he wants to get into your pants!" I blurted out.

"Oh, honey. He isn't that way."

"Yes. He is! I have known him from high school, he was always after all of the prettiest girls."

"Well, that leaves me out I guess."

"Bull shit, you are very pretty." I told her.

"You are supposed to say that, you are my husband. But I doubt Rich is interested in me that way."

"Uh huh." I probably sounded crabby, Kat went back into the kitchen.

Rich Crippen, coming by our house to show ME his newest toy? Not bloody likely, of that I was sure but I bit my tongue.

And Kat's comments did not ring quite true.

The next thing I noticed was the caller ID, we have one of those hooked to the phone. I have a habit of checking the numbers, usually there are one or two calls. Kat's Mom often calls, a saleman, lord knows.

Just one of my habits to check.

After a full week with no calls at all I realized that Kat must be hitting the delete button.

That meant she was keeping something from me. Of that I was sure, because I asked her point blank if she was deleting the calls.

Kat admitted it but claimed all it was, was her Mother.

"Why bother?" I asked her.

"I don't know, I just did." But she suddenly acted nervous.

That was something else I noticed.

That was when I did something I am not real proud of.

+++

I snooped, and in all the time Kat and I were together I never had. Not even to look in her purse, it was just the way things were.

Kat would never dream of looking inside my wallet, I would never dream of snooping in her purse. If I needed something out of her purse like a credit card, I would ask and she did the same.

That was unspoken, a tiny thing but a matter of total trust between us.

In our basement was a phone jack but no phone on it, we had never bothered. I stopped at a local electronics store and bought a recorder.

Kat also had a cell phone, nothing I could do about that but the only time she ever took it off the charger was when she went shopping.

It only took me a few minutes to hook it up, now every single call that came into the house would be recorded.

I knew better than to head down to the basement when Kat was home, I almost never went down there either.

She would very likely notice that.

But Saturdays she went shopping.

Snooping on your mate is not a nice thing to do, you are supposed to just ask and get an honest answer.

But I could see the signs of something and I was not sure what.

It was the following Saturday before I was alone, as soon as she headed for the store I went down into our basement.

Listening to her Mother drone on and on about everything under the Sun was boring, the next call was from someone urging us to vote on something.

The offer of a free alarm system just for putting an advertising sign in our yard sounded like a scam to me.

Next it was her Mother again, another 15 solid minutes of that.

Sometimes I think that woman never stops to breathe.

My ears perked up when I heard a man's voice, one I knew very well who it was.

"Hi Catherine." That was Rich Crippen, plain as day.

"I told you not to call me here. If Dan finds out he will be furious. I had to delete your other calls and Dan noticed that." Were the first words out of her mouth.

"Catherine, I just wanted to hear your voice is all. Ever since that time back in high school I have been hung up on you, you know that."

"That's all over, I am married for God's sake!"

"That guy isn't good enough for you, I can give you things he can never even dream of." Rich told her.

"You could have had me back then but you had to go running around all the time, what did you expect?"

"All I know is dancing with you brought it all back, and when I was over there the other day..it was all I could do to not just take you right there on the carpet!"

"You know very well we can't do that." Then Kat giggled. I would have expected her to be outraged at a comment like that.

"Why not? I know you would like it and I won't tell your old man if you don't." Rich laughed like that was a neat joke.

"Look, I have to go. We just can't, you know that, Rich."

"I suppose, but I will never give up. You should be with me."

"Rich, I am married now and perfectly happy. I will never be with you again."

"Once was not enough, Catherine." He told her.

"Goodbye, Rich." Kat hung up.

I sat there for several long minutes. The word "again" was almost a shock.

It was clear to me that my wife Kat had some things in her past I had no knowledge of.

Like I mentioned, after years of marriage a man thinks he knows his mate very well, but that is not always true.

Rich Crippen? The guy had always been a bit of a louse, now here he was sniffing around another man's wife?

MY wife, in fact?

And the comment of "Once was not enough?"

Now that pissed me off.

+++

I didn't bring up what I now knew, perhaps I should have. What I did do was continue to snoop, when there was an opportunity I went down and hit the play button on the cheap recorder.

Over the next several days, there was nothing. Just the usual from her Mother, and the typical crap calls.

Then Saturday after Kat had left for her usual shopping trip there was Rich's voice once again.

"Hi, Kat. Hey, how about meeting me for lunch today?" He asked.

"That's not a good idea." She told him.

"Why not? Sally will be there, David also. We can catch up on things."

"Sally? My God, I haven't seen Sally since 8th grade." Kat said.

"Come on, join us. It will be fun." He told her.

"OK, but just for lunch." Rich told her where, they hung up.

Who in the hell were Sally and David?

I looked at my watch, went out and jumped in the Impala.

The cafe he mentioned had large front windows, I pulled in and parked around back. I saw a bright red Corvette parked right in front, Kat's silver SUV right behind it.

Walking across the street, I could see easily into the place.

There sat my Kat, right next to Rich. Two people I didn't know were in the booth right across from them, they were laughing and carrying on an animated conversation.

I watched for about 30 minutes, then the waitress arrived with the check and Rich reached out for it. I had to step behind a large tree as they came out, the woman I took to be Sally hugged Kat, then the other man did also.

It did hit me then, I remembered Sally from back in grade school but never paid any attention to her.

As they walked away down the street Rich leaned in to Kat and said something, she shook her head.

There was a moment of conversation, then Kat turned and walked down the street towards her car.

Rich got in the Corvette and left with a roar, he seemed unhappy.

I followed Kat at a distance, she pulled into the Safeway parking lot and went inside, so I drove back home.

It had been nothing, really. Just a lunch and with some apparently old friends.

And Rich Crippen.

I half expected Kat to say something when she got home, with a half dozen large paper sacks.

She didn't, and I was seething inside.

I needed to say something, have it out with her but then she would know I had been snooping, following her. I must have run a full dozen scenarios through in my head but nothing seemed right.

Instead, I kept it bottled up inside.

+++

"What's that thing in the basement?" Kat asked me one afternoon when I got home from work.

"What's what thing?" I asked, knowing very well what she was talking about but stalling for time.

Obviously Kat had gone down into the basement for something.

"It's a recorder, isn't it? You have been spying on me?"

"Yes, it is. I wanted to know what you and your fucking boyfriend have been talking about!" I snapped, raising my voice.

"I don't have a fucking boyfriend! I can't believe you would do something like that!" Kat raised her voice right back.

"You were dating that jerk? I suppose you were sleeping with him, too?"