Broken Promises

Turning to me he said, "Mr. Burton, my only request of you is that you just sit down with Julia for a short time and let her talk to you. You told the counselor that your heart was broken and I understand that but know also that her heart is broken too. Just give her a few minutes of your time. Your honor none if this needs to leave this room if you grant the divorce."

When we returned to the courtroom she granted the divorce and agreed that the property settlement as presented was ordered. We each kept our investment accounts our 401k's and fifty percent of our savings. It was agreed that the operating expense account was sufficient to pay all of the bills up through the finalization of the divorce and beyond and would remain in Julia's custody. It was agreed that she would receive the condo and could live there as long as she chose to totally free but should she sell it the net proceeds would be split 50/50.

The judge reversed her ruling of 30 days in jail and only assessed a fine of $500.00 again which I gladly paid. I realized that she had to save face in some fashion or there would be unusual scrutiny of the case and nobody wanted that.

As promised I sat down with Julia in a private interview room next to the courtroom. She apologized again and told me she had no idea why she did what she did. She told me that she was going to continue to see her counselor until she understood why. She told me that she would always love me and begged me to forgive her.

"I do forgive you Julia, and I do not hate you. I just don't love you anymore."

I hugged her and walked out of the room. I could hear her crying as I walked down the hallway.

I spent the next six weeks working on the new security program and was on the verge of implementing it on Adam & Ben's system. About a week before I was to go to Cleveland I got a call from Julia.

She said, "Johnny, I have decided to sell the condo and I have an offer for $560,000. I didn't want to sell it to someone else before I gave you the opportunity to buy it if you want it. If you want it you can pay me the $280,000 and I will reject the other offer. What do you think?"

"First of all," I said, "I do not want the condo. You can go ahead and sell it and have my share of the proceeds sent to my attorney payable to me. He will take care of any of the paperwork that needs to be handled for the sale and get the funds into my account. But secondly, "Why are you selling the condo?"

She responded, "I am selling it because I am leaving town. I have a new job and won't be living here anymore."

She went on to tell me that she had found out about her father and the judge and that she knew I hadn't want anyone hurt but it still did hurt her when she found out. She said she "Just needed a fresh start."

I wished her all the luck in her new job and said my goodbyes.

Two weeks later I walked into Adam & Greg's company with my security software package prepared for the testing phase and implementation of the live system. When Adam came to greet me he gave me a big hug and said that they were very excited about the new system and anxious to get started.

"John," he said, "Let me introduce you to our IT Administrator."

And there stood Julia.

I glanced to Adam and said, "What is this all about?

He smiled and said, "Julia is our new IT Administrator. I am sure you know how talented she is and I am sure you will have no problem working with her to implement the new security package."

I was a bit nonplused but I told him, "I will need a computer workstation to work on a few things for the remainder of the day. I will work some with Julia today but mostly I will be getting the package ready for installing and implementation. The computer should have internet accessibility."

I managed to settle myself down and I have to tell you that the day was rather pleasant. I had always looked at Julia as witty, intelligent, humorous, beautiful and fun to be with. None of those attributes had changed. Like I said it was pleasant. I also had always considered Julia to be my best friend as well as my wife and lover so we got along wonderfully.

Throughout the day it was quite obvious that Julia was doing everything in her power to be close to me, to interact with me and yes to subtly touch me. It was having an effect. Like I said I always considered Julia my best friend and truthfully I missed her.

At 5:30 p.m. we said our goodbyes with "I will see you tomorrow," and left. Sitting in my hotel room I did a lot of thinking and decided to make a bold move. I logged onto my laptop and hacked into the company computer system. (Yes you know us programmers almost always put a back door into our systems just in case we ever want to access it.) Anyway, I hacked into the personnel records and got Julia's address. I went to the wine store and bought a bottle of Julia's favorite wine and drove to her apartment.

The doorman asked whom I wanted to see and asked if she was

expecting me. I informed him, "I am here to see Julia Burton and no, she is not expecting me."

He called Julia's apartment and got no response. I figured that maybe she had gone out to dinner and wasn't back yet so I asked if it would be alright for me to wait for a while. He told me that it would be okay for me to wait and directed me to a small lounge area off to the side of the lobby.

It wasn't too long before I saw Julia walk through the door with a man in tow. As they reached the elevator the man gave her a hug and a kiss and patted her on the ass. Just then the doorman came to his senses and walked over to them and said something to Julia and pointed over in my direction.

I started walking in their direction and I heard Julia say, "Oh God No. Oh please no, no, no."

"Well, here we are again. It seems I am always interrupting your dates Julia," I said. "I apologize, I had no right to show up here uninvited but obviously I am glad I did." I handed the bottle of wine to the man and said, "You two have an enjoyable evening."

As I walked out the door Julia was rushing after me begging, "Johnny, please don't go, please don't leave me again." But, I did.

I went back to my hotel and sent Julia an email at the company. "Julia, when I walked into Adam's offices I was surprised to see you there. I guess it didn't take me too long to realize that you had probably quit your job, sold the condo, moved to Cleveland and went to work for Ben and Adam so you would have the opportunity to be close to me.

"I might be an arrogant person but I assumed you wanted a chance to get close to me hoping that we might reconnect and get back together."

I added, "I imagine Gregg had a lot to do with that telling you what I was working on and where I would be. That doesn't surprise me really but it doesn't make me too happy to have him messing with my life. Anyway, I was actually quite happy to see you. Truth be told I have missed you, we were after all great friends. I enjoyed being with you today. It felt really good. I didn't want it to end so I decided to bring over a bottle of wine so we could talk some more away from the office."

I had to take a break to refocus my thoughts. Then I continued, "Imagine my surprise at seeing you with another man. It kind of confuses me I guess. You go to all the trouble to be close to me again but in the short time you have been in Cleveland you already have an intimate relationship with another man?

"There are only two things I can think of that would explain that action. You aren't really interested in renewing our relationship or you still have it in your head that you could be with me and date other men.

"Well either way I am out of the equation. I honestly had been second guessing myself for divorcing you but your actions give me peace of mind in knowing I didn't make a mistake.

"What makes me angry at myself is the knowledge that I almost was a fool again, believing that you cared about me. You don't. You care only about yourself. I hope one day you find what will satisfy you, what will make you happy. The only remaining thing I want to say is 'Don't pursue me in any way again.' As far as you are concerned I shouldn't exist. Have a good life Julia."

Then I sent her a second email relative to the software installation. "Julia, attached to this email is a file containing complete instructions on how to activate the security software. There is a two word password needed to access the file and the security system. I am going to let you figure out what those two words are but if you think back to the last time we saw each other at Spiaggia it should be pretty easy. If you can't remember the two words maybe Adam can help you out because he heard them too."

Of course the passwords were BROKEN PROMISES. Those two words would always be needed to access the security system. I know I was being a bit juvenile but so what. She would be reminded of how she treated our marriage every time she accessed the system.

"I have installed the package on the server and using the instructions you only need to activate it and set second level access codes and passwords for the various users. It is all in the instructions. If you have any issues in the future call Gregg and he will put you in touch with the staff that worked with me on the program because I will not be working there any longer. Good luck."

Sometimes the men who have divorced a cheating wife find a younger, more beautiful, sexier, smarter and more intelligent woman than the one they divorced. She likes sex better and will love him forever and never cheat on him. That was Julia before she did cheat on our marriage and then it wasn't.

I didn't find that woman. In fact when I resigned from Grace Systems Solutions I went into a state of depression. Yes, I did continue to receive huge amounts of money from royalties for the security package licenses Gregg continued to market. It was beyond my expectations but the money didn't matter to me anymore.

I was in territory that I had never been in before. I think my self esteem was at the bottom. I had lost confidence in myself I guess. A first for me since I had always been self assured.

I knew I had a problem so ultimately I applied SAIL and I started seeing a counselor and after a few sessions I came around. I continued to see the counselor (and no it wasn't Dr. Graham) for a while longer but I was pretty sure I was back on the right track.

With all the money I was now making I approached my sister Barb and we agreed to move into a new condo together. She had a damaged spirit from Douglas "Dog Shit" Simon's treatment of her and I had a damaged spirit from Julia. I bought us a nice two bedroom condo with a beautiful living room, dining room and first class kitchen setup. It had a sizeable office space which worked out perfectly for me.

Every once in a while Barb would slip into bed with me when she was feeling down. I would hold her and eventually we would both go to sleep. Sometimes it was me that was in a melancholy mood and I would slip into her bed and again we would hold each other and fall asleep.

Yes there were mornings when I would wake up with my hand cupping one of her breasts. Yes there were mornings when my morning woody was nestled between her butt cheeks and yes there were mornings when her hand was wrapped around my cock BUT that was it. There were no mutual masturbation sessions or sex of any kind. We didn't freak out over any such contact but we had no intention of becoming lovers.

Barb had her friends and I had mine. She was off of men but had lady friends (no not lesbians). Occasionally I would bring a woman home and she would spend the night but not too often. A guy does need that release once in a while you know and I don't mean the self inflicted release either. Barb needed it too but I think all of hers were self inflicted because I could hear her moaning in her room once in a while.

Well one night I had gone to bed early because I was all alone. Barb had gone out for the evening with some of her friends and I was kind of lonesome. I slept quite deeply I guess because I had an intense dream and awoke feeling about as low as you can get. I slipped out of my bed and quietly padded across the floor and into Barb's bedroom. I gently crawled into her bed and snuggled up to her. I heard a small moan as I held her but she didn't wake up. I slipped back into a peaceful sleep.

In the morning when I woke up I had my arm around her with my hand cupping her breast. "Hmm," I thought to myself, "This breast is much larger than I remember." I reluctantly pulled my hand off the breast and my arm from around her and rolled away from her before I pushed myself up and took a closer look at the woman I was in bed with. It wasn't Barb.

My movements woke her up and she let out a small yelp when she saw me laying there looking at her. "Who are you and why are you in bed with me?"

Just then Barb walked into the room and started laughing. "Jessica, this is my brother John. John, Jessica a friend of mine."

I reached out my hand and yes it was the offending one and said, "Pleased to meet you Jessica. Any friend of Barb's is a friend of mine."

She smiled at me and said, "Obviously any friend of Barb's is a friend of yours." She reached out and took my hand, "Even though there is no telling where that hand has been. Pleased to meet you too John. I feel like I know you so well already."

It was a little tentative for a second and then we all laughed. Barb explained that she and Jessica had been a bit tipsy last night and Jessica thought it best to spend the night rather than go home. Barb had gotten up to use the restroom and when she came back she saw me in bed with Jessica and decided to just go sleep in my bed and see what happened in the morning. What happened was me. We all had a good laugh over breakfast and Jessica headed home.

A couple of weeks later I was in my office working later at night when Barb and Jessica popped in to say hi. They were a little tight again but not too bad. Jessica looked at me with a big grin on her face and said, "John, should I just sleep with you tonight or wait and see if you crawl in with me in the middle of the night." They both laughed their asses off at me as I turned a few shades of red.

Not to be outdone though even though I was slightly embarrassed I countered, "Actually I rather enjoyed the 'feelings' I got last time so sure you might as well sleep with me right away. I am almost done here for the night so why don't you just go and make yourself comfortable and I will be there shortly."

They both looked shocked but turned and went off giggling the whole way. My wit sometimes amazes me.

When I got to my bedroom there was Jessica laying in my bed on the side I normally sleep. I figured she just did it to get the better of me so I thought I would throw it right back at her and said, "If you are sleeping with me it will have to be on the other side of the bed, this is my side."

She scooted right over and said, "Hurry up and get ready for bed and get in here. I am tired and I would really like to get to sleep." The girl just wouldn't give it up.

Well I looked at her and everything I saw and remember feeling was appealing. She was slightly plump in a very pleasing way. Her features were quite pleasant though not beautiful but certainly fresh and sweet looking. I already knew she had soft luscious breasts and her butt fit right around my cock quite nicely so I thought "What the hell."

I got ready for bed and crawled right in beside her and when I rolled over toward her my arm snaked around her, my hand cupped the same shapely breast and I said, "Goodnight honey."

She turned toward me and asked, "Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight dear?" And I did.

The next morning I had my rock hard woody neatly tucked between her butt cheeks and my hand on her breast. As I tried to remove both she said, "Don't, I rather like them there." I acknowledged her with an "Ok" and proceeded to play with her nipple until it was engorged with her moaning her encouragement.

In some mysterious way we both turned toward the other and proceeded to get naked. Sometime later Barb peeked her head into the room and said, "Oh shit, excuse me." As she turned and gently closed the door I heard her mumble, "I guess I should have figured that would happen sooner or later."

We spent the rest of the morning in bed, got up to take a shower (yes together) and ate some lunch with Barb. I said, "Jessica, there are some things we discussed earlier that I would like to clarify, care to join me?"

She took my hand and led me to the bedroom. The afternoon was spent completely discussing and napping. Barb had said, "Oh my god, I am going shopping," and she didn't return until dinnertime.

From that day forward Jess and I were a hot item. We took our time to get to know each other. To learn what was important and what worked for the two of us. Some months later we married and I am happy as can be. We didn't wait too long to start our family and as of this writing we have three wonderful children. Two are girls and they are as sweet as their mom. Our son is the youngest but will not be dominated by his older sisters. He is gentle and kind but at the same time won't take any shit from either of them. I think they will all grow to be fine human beings.

I wrote a couple of more highly successful programs which Gregg has no problem marketing. We have made a whole lot of money and aren't afraid to spend some of it enjoying our children and our alone time too. We have done a bunch of traveling and seen many wonderful things. I am trying to talk Jess into another child but I think I will lose that battle.

What became of Julia? According to Gregg she found someone and married him. He said she asks about me frequently but he tells he to just live the life she has now.

I know many people will say she didn't really cheat on me but I disagree. Had she not gotten caught she would have slept with "Dog Shit" and intent to cheat is the same in my book as sleeping with him. Did I want to burn her down? No. But, because of her actions I didn't love her anymore. End of story. I hope she has found someone who makes her as happy as I am with Jessica.

You've read it a dozen times or more. "The best revenge is a life well lived." I am getting boatloads of revenge because my life is over the top well lived.

The End