Funny You Should Ask

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She looked dismayed. "I can't accept a gift from you, Jack," she said.

"Just have a look," I begged.

When she opened the box she found a thin gold necklace that held a small ornament made of two different metals elaborately interwoven. "It's amazing," she said. "What is it?"

"It's a Celtic knot. The two strands are interlaced to form an endless loop. I bought it because it makes me think about how you've become intertwined with my life. Everything reminds me of you, and I can't do anything without thinking about you."

She caught her breath. "That's beautiful, Jack. But I can't . . ."

I interrupted her. "It's a common enough design that wearing it won't mean anything to anyone else, but you'll know what it means to me," I told her. "Please wear it for me." I took it from her and proceeded to drape it around her neck and engage the clasp.

She stood up and walked over to the mirror to look at it. "It really is beautiful," she murmured. Then she turned and kissed me. "Thank you, Jack."

Suddenly her eyes focused on my bedside clock and she gasped. "Damn, I lost all track of time! I've got to get home; tomorrow is going to be a big day." She quickly got dressed and headed for the door, stopping to kiss me and thank me again "for the necklace and for this night."

Once she was gone I felt that odd combination of delight at the deepening of our relationship and disappointment at her departure. There was no denying it any longer: I had fallen badly for her.

The next day I went to work with a happy heart, eager for the chance to see her again. I arrived early, but even after the normal start time she still hadn't made an appearance. Once it became obvious that she wasn't just running a few minutes late, paranoia gripped me. Was she upset by what had happened last night? Had she decided that she didn't want to see me again? Had she quit her job?

It didn't make me feel any better when Hank wandered in and quickly resumed his infuriating boasting. I listened to him distractedly until he said, "Hey, guess what? Carla asked me to meet her here this morning. Sorry, Jack, it looks like the best man won again!"

Before I could think about what he had said and what it meant, Carla herself stepped through the doorway. Behind her was a man in a rumpled suit plus a uniformed Chicago policeman. The man in the suit strode up to Hank and me and asked, "Which one of you is Hank Malone?"

Hank stared at him in surprise. "I'm Hank Malone -- who the hell are you?"

The man opened the flap of his suit jacket to reveal a badge clipped to the inside pocket. "I'm Detective Richard O'Brien of the Chicago Police Department. You are under arrest on charges of fraud and insider trading. You have the right to an attorney. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

As the uniformed policeman stepped forward to handcuff him, Hank began to shout. "This is bullshit! I haven't done anything -- you can't arrest me!" His words had no effect on either of the two officers, who proceeded to lead the protesting broker toward the door. The detective turned to Carla and said, "Thanks for everything. We'll be in touch."

I could hear Hank's howls all the way down the hall.

I turned to Carla in shock. "What just happened?" I asked.

"Please sit down, Jack, and let me explain. I told you I wasn't the woman you thought. I'm an investigator for a security firm that specializes in white-collar crime. Your company contacted us to help them determine the source of some suspicious trading they'd uncovered. They agreed to send in an undercover investigator, and that's how I came to 'work' here."

She gave me an apologetic look. "You're not going to like this part, Jack. We had two suspects, you and Hank, so they asked me to spend as much time as possible with both of you to try to determine which one was dirty."

I felt all the happiness drain out of me. "So all that time we spent together, the things we said, last night -- all of that was just pretend?"

"No!" she said emphatically. "At first I wasn't sure about you, but after a week it became obvious that you were clean. " She looked down at the floor. "I should have switched all my attention to Hank at that point, but I found I really liked you and I didn't want to stop spending time with you. Besides, it was obvious how you felt about me, and I don't think there's a woman alive who doesn't enjoy being wanted. You were sweet and funny and sexy, and I didn't want to lose that."

She hung her head. "Anyway, the bottom line is that I lied to you. I let you think I was one thing when I was actually something totally different. I wouldn't blame you if you hated me."

They say hope dashed to earth will rise again; I knew I could feel it rising in me. "But you do have feelings for me?" I asked. "You felt the same way I was feeling?"

She nodded her head.

"Then none of that matters!" I shouted. "I don't care if you're a cop or a commodities trader or something else --I just want to be with you. Now that you've wrapped up your investigation, you don't have to pretend any more. There's nothing to keep us apart any longer."

With that I went over and kissed her soundly, and she kissed me and clung to me with the same passion. But after we'd released each other, she still couldn't look at me.

"There's something else," she said in a voice that was almost a whisper. "I'm married. I have a husband and a home in the suburbs."

I staggered backward, the wind knocked out of me.

Now she had an intense expression on her face. "I do have feelings for you, Jack, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that last night was wonderful. But I still love my husband, and I can't just walk out on him. I've got to go back and work on our marriage, try to rekindle the feelings I had for him. I just have to, Jack."

She stood up. "I'm so sorry, Jack, for everything. The best thing you can do is forget about me and find somebody you can love -- and more importantly -- trust. I'm not that woman. At least I tried to warn you."

She started for the door, but then turned back with a look of shame on her face. "My name isn't even Carla," she said, and then walked out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jack drained his beer and then put the stein down on the table. "And that's why I said I have the world's worst luck in love."

I was stunned. "So when did all this happen?"

He shook his head in despair. "This morning. She walked out of my life this very morning."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As I drove, I couldn't stop thinking about Jack's story. When I got home I didn't feel like eating, so I got a beer out of the refrigerator and sat there waiting for Bella. She'd been working a lot of long hours lately, so it wasn't unusual for me to beat her home.

Finally, I heard her car pull into the garage. When she came through the door and saw me, she smiled and said, "Oh, hi, honey. What a day I've had! But I've got some good news for you: we finally finished that big project I've been working on for so long. I won't be tied up so much anymore."

I didn't say anything.

"In fact," she went on, "that's something I want to talk about with you. I'm thinking that I might want to quit my job. I've really been feeling burned out lately, and I know I've been neglecting you. We need to spend more time together, take that vacation we've been postponing. Maybe we could even talk about starting a family like you've wanted. All that's starting to sound very appealing to me.

When I didn't respond Bella got an apologetic look on her face. "See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. I've been babbling on about my work and my concerns, and I haven't even asked you about your day. That's the kind of thing that I want to work on, to really pay attention to you the way I did when we first got married."

I guess my silence was unsettling to her, and she nervously began to finger the little Celtic knot that hung around her neck.

"So did you get to meet up with your old college roommate today? Anything interesting happening in his life?" she asked.

I stood up and folded my arms. In a voice filled with bitterness and despair, I said, "Funny you should ask."

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AnonymousAnonymousabout 2 months ago

Just read some of the comments, so funny.

She came back and from the words of her lover, it was all over. She chose her husband. So fragile male ego could get all twisted on 'oh no, my possession has sullied itself', or he could grow a pair and be a man and understand that she chose him. In life that's really all that matters.

Sadly little boys and their toys mentality rarely grow out of the dynamic of caring about superficial irrelevancies and can never see the wood for the trees.

AnonymousAnonymousabout 2 months ago

How asinine.

Not very good investigators if they didn't manage to catch that the field agents husband was a college buddy of one of the suspects.

The MC had no place on the trading floor, he was definitely prey rather than predictor and behaved like no other such trader, ever.

The internal systems should have been able to check on trades etc., and it would have been obvious, no need for an investigator to go undercover like that if it were an internal investigation. However, the company themselves wouldn't gaf if it wasn't blatantly obvious, definitely wouldn't bring in the law and cause damage to their own reputation when a good talking too and letting go would work so much better.

It's the SEC and other regulators that would care, but they'd go in mob handed, take files and use forensic analysis to work it out.

Really, stupid and unlikely story... and I'm at a real loss to understand how she got into a position to actually know which one of them was guilty. Seems like it was all just a ploy designed to construct a scenario where a college buddy ends up unknowingly banging his mates wife.

Oh, and they were such good buddies that he hadn't even been invited to the wedding, had never even met the wife, even though they lived within easy driving dustance. Not even close enough of a friendship for the friend to whip out his phone/a photo to show his 'mate' his wife. Really? What sort of clown would then crybaby his secrets to such a distant acquaintance??? Maybe that's why he's so unlucky in love, because he's a complete loser.

sbrooks103xsbrooks103x3 months ago

I haven't re-read this yet, was going through the comments, was surprised to see an older comment by me endorsing at least the possibility of RAAC, as I don't believe in RAACs, which by their very nature are undeserved.

AnonymousAnonymous3 months ago

Good story. The only thing that could have made it better is if the wife also knew she was caught up like everyone else including the readers. The last line should have been: "Funny you should ask, Carla."

AnonymousAnonymous3 months ago

Good story. But to all those who think the husband should just let it pass: Why do you think this was the first time? This has been her job for some time. Sure she is burned out. But what if this has occurred before? Also regardless of the one night stand, she had an emotional affair as well. That is if anything more devastating. She developed real feelings for Jack in a short time, while still going back to her husband. That is an affair. Maybe they make it. We don't know enough of what each is thinking. Author left it intentionally open. Good twist but not enough aftermath to know what will happen. As the reader we can each draw our own conclusions. For me personally, if it is one time sex that is tough but forgivable. She is undercover in a stressful situation. But the emotional part and her wearing the Celtic knot openly to remember Jack and their time together, that is a big problem. Not sure how counseling will readily fix trust issues and her lies by omission. He rjob is obviously bad for her and their marriage. Dunno.

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