Funny How Time Slips Away

"Your family kept you cut off?" She nodded again and finished the last of her wine. Their well-tipped bartender immediately filled it full again right away.

"At first they liked Dave quite a lot, and paid for most of the divorce expenses, but when his other legal problems started, they cut us off right at the knees. He had borrowed a lot of money from them, too — money that I didn't know about until after he was in prison. He was also openly unfaithful to me several times during that period of time and they were angry that I continued to forgive him. He's been mostly faithful to me since his release, but there have been occasional lapses where he's disappointed me. Nevertheless, we try to work through it. I've tried to repay at least some of the debt, but my letters home are always returned unopened. Go ahead and say it ... mom and dad always were uptight assholes and they didn't start to likeyouuntil long after you were gone."

Jeff laughed and agreed. "Old man Hudson wanted Dave's balls mounted on a wall, but he had another big heart attack not long afterward and pretty much had to retire completely. He moved to Florida to fish full time and left his daughter Carla with the reins of the empire."

"Crazy Carla? The outrageous one that was living in Greenwich Village in New York going to art school and majoring in radical feminism?"

"That's the one. Long black hair, very gothic looking with body piercings everyplace she could find to put one. She used to be a hardcore confirmed lesbian who hated men and anything remotely capitalist. Responsibility has been good for her though. She had been studying fashion design there and found that she had a real knack for it. Since she took over she completely revamped our entire product line and made our women's fashion collection the hit of Milan nearly every season for the last few years."

"The big Milan shoe fashion shows?"

"The biggest. The Fashion and Style channels regularly show our latest collections on display worn by the world's top models. Our shoes are worn now by nearly every major fashion house in Paris for their own shows too. I guess you don't read Vogue very often anymore, but they tend to think rather highly of us and consider us one of the big boys now. This live show today from London featured the new Gloria Regina lingerie line, during which every model wore our shoes from slippers and sandals to fuck-me-pumps. We were all watching the show on the big screen here and counting the number of happy buyers in the audience. We don't have to sell crap to Wally or K-Mart anymore, we're in Macy's and Neiman-Marcus and hundreds of other boutique shops all over the world now!"

"Oh." She said and focused her attention on her fresh glass of wine for awhile.

"So things have been alright for you then? You're still Director of Operations and running things?" She asked.

"I'm still running things. Carla is the owner and our head designer, but she lets me handle all of the business side of things. She's still not much of a people person. I did get a bit of a title change a few years ago when I married Carla. Technically, I'm a co-owner now, but I prefer to just be called 'Boss'."

"You married Crazy Carla?" Maureen sputtered, nearly spilling her drink. "I thought you said she was a lesbian?"

"She was ... and still sort of is. Let's just say she's a bit more bisexual now. We had to work very closely together for a couple of years to pull the company out of the trash heap it was in. Since we were spending sixteen-hour days together, every single day of the week for a while, we eventually started to grow on each other and decided to make the association more permanent. She's learned to tolerate old western swing music and I've learned to tolerate her love of the avante-garde. It works ... sometimes she'll even go dancing with me, or one of her girlfriends will go with me instead. It gets a little harder to get out now with the children. When she's home she loves to play mom ... she's been a great mother for all of the children."

"You and Carla have children?"

"We've had two kids and she wouldn't mind one more before we're done." He pulled out his wallet, extracted an accordion-folded photo holder and pulled out the first two pictures. "Here is Jack; he's eight, and his six-year-old sister Charlotte. They are our oldest and the only ones that live at home with us."

"Other ones? Where do they live? I'm confused." Jeff smiled and began to lay out some more photographs.

"Many of Carla's girlfriends are also confirmed lesbians, but that doesn't mean that they don't want children of their own, or mind being with a man occasionally to get them. Carla's very good about sharing her friends and helping them with their private needs. Jeffery is five and his mother is one of Carla's oldest friends from New York. Amanda is also just about to turn five and her mother is a famous fashion model I'm sure you would recognize. I've also helped her with another younger daughter, Carrie, who is two. I think she wants a third child also, since she's coming to stay with us for a long visit sometime this late this summer." Jeff laid out three additional photos, but Maureen was already in complete shock.

"You've had eight children by five different women? And your wife approves?"

"We have a very unconventional relationship, but we're happy. She loves kids. The more the merrier. It's not like they all live with us, but I do get to see them occasionally, whenever they visit. Besides, I knew going into this marriage that my wife would be unfaithful to me with other women — repeatedly and often. So we each have our own freedom and I can have lovers of my own. I think it's nice that she's honest about it and often shares her friends; it makes for a more trusting relationship. It's certainly better than finding out your wife was having an affair by coming home to an empty house."

"I've always felt bad about that. We should have cleared the air and made a better break. I had meant to write and apologize, but time just slipped away and it never got done." Her drink was empty once again and Jeff signaled for another for both of them. They drank in silence for awhile, but then his Blackberry signaled an incoming message. He looked at it and laughed.

"Look what my darling bride is bringing home for me tomorrow!" He laughed and showed Maureen the message and the attached image, which was a very graphic photo taken by a cell phone camera of two naked and very beautiful women together in bed.

"This is her new supermodel girlfriend that she just met at a runway show in London last week, and she has already gotten her into bed. They met up at Milan again and now she's going to bring her home with her tomorrow for a week or two of some threesome fun here. I just love how my wife takes care of me!"

Maureen downed what was left of her drink in one gulp and looked at the empty glass for some time before starting to make her excuses to leave.

"Jeff, it was good to see you again and I'm glad to see that you're doing well, but it's time for me to leave and meet up with Dave. I see that you've found happiness in your life since I left. I do wish you well, but we won't likely return up here again."

They briefly hugged and Jeff pulled out all of the cash that was left in his wallet, a few hundred dollar bills and pressed them firmly into Maureen's hand, not taking "No!" for an answer.

"Take this and treat yourselves to a nice dinner tonight, or later after you get home go buy something nice for yourself. He might be trying to reform, but the old schemer and cheater is still there inside him. Dave was a rat in an expensive suit and he'll still be a rat in a cheap one. Draw a line in the sand and make him toe it. The next time he cheats on you, show him the door. You're a better woman than that now and you don't deserve this. Kick him to the curb and be strong. Worst case, you can cry to your sort-of rich ex-husband. Call me and I'll help: a plane ticket, a job and a clean start ... on me. Not a loan, but a gift from an old college friend ... we were friends once, long before we screwed it up by getting married. Be well, Maureen."

After a final embrace she left the bar, still clutching the gift of $300 in her tight fist. She had wanted to throw it back into his face, but he hadn't offered it out of malice or perverse humor ... and she reallyneededthe money. Dave was drinking again and the meager cash savings she had hidden in the old cookie jar at home for a rainy day had suddenly disappeared a few weeks ago. The bills were starting to pile up once again. Maybe the 'bad' old Dave was back once again ... and she wasn't sure that she could live withthatall over again.

Seeing her ex again had badly confused her. She had wronged him and hurt him bad but he had picked himself off of the ground and he had prospered. If she had only trusted him and had been patient to wait, she could have had that life of wealth and privilege she had always wanted. And children ... those children that she had nearly now waited too long to bear, waiting for times to get better. The photos showed that Jeff did make awfully beautiful babies apparently, and those could have beenherchildren instead.

Instead, for reasons that she couldn't explain or fathom to this very day, she had jumped ship for the first better looking opportunity, but soon found herself in a far worse situation than she had been in before. Nearly from the very start, Maureen had been tempted to run back to Jeff and beg for forgiveness, but her pride and arrogant ego had prevented her. What a foolish young woman she had been in those days!

Maureen skipped the scheduled shopping tour of the town with the other wives. She sat quietly by herself in the hotel restaurant, drinking coffee and considering the hash she had made of her life. Besides, she had very little money of her own to spend on frivolities these days, and window shopping held little appeal to her at the moment.

Watching the hotel lobby from inside the restaurant, it didn't come as a great shock to see her husband Dave slip out of one of his sales seminars early with a busty blonde fellow saleswoman. Together they took the elevator up to her room, where they remained from two-thirty until nearly five, just before Maureen had been due to return from the scheduled shopping expedition that she had skipped.

Maureen had listened to the cheating couple indulge in sex and she remained patiently waiting outside their door until it opened, and she and her soon-to-be-next ex-husband then settled their accounts for good.

The last fifteen years of her life had indeed been an utter waste. Jeff was right, she decided, it was indeed funny how time just slips away.

It wasn't a great surprise when Jeff got the phone call at the plant from his ex-wife about two weeks later. He hadn't believed that the sly leopard Dave could ever change his spots, and figured he still had the talent for hurting everyone around him. That his ex had remained loyal and faithful over these many years to that cheating bastard spoke well of her; and he was more than willing to bury any old hatchets and assist her with making a fresh, clean start.

True to his word, he wired her money for her moving expenses and a plane ticket and he found her a nice little apartment within walking distance of the plant. Money really had little meaning for him anymore; they made it way faster than they could spend it now. He could offer her a choice of jobs, but he rather hopefully that she would accept the position as his new administrative assistant. His long-time secretary, and also a long-time playmate of both him and his wife's, was about due to give birth. She wanted to be a stay at home mother for at least the next few years afterwards and even hinted that she'd like another child from Jeff as soon as it was possible.

This thought brought a smile to Jeff's face. Maureen had always wanted children herself, but the economics had never permitted it when they were married together. Nor had she had children with Dave. Now, working for him every day it might yet soon be her turn to end ass upwards and bent panty-less across his desk. Better late than never! The thought of soon having the opportunity to knock up his ex-wife also made him laugh with the irony until his ribs were sore.

Life is funny. It just seemed like yesterday that his wife had left him and now she was back in his life once again — willing and eager to payanyprice for his help over ten years later.

Isn't it surprising how time just slips away when you're having fun!