All Comments on 'Lucky Man Pt. 02'

they are especially kind to Pigeons. TK U MLJ LV NV

DeYaKen,

Another excellent story. I do enjoy them. To the poster above I guess the story could have been entitled "So days you are the statue and some days you are the pigeon." :)

Thank you.

As usual, a wonderful read! Just a bit too close to home for me though, right down to the Ph.D in Bio-medical engineering (and an M.Sc. from a Uni. located firmly within the boarders of your friendly neighbors up North - those who fly their own blue and white colors), closed-loop controlled prosthetics, ASIC design, and an unhealthy fetish involving discussions with a long dead under-appreciated American engineer, etc. Unfortunately, I stayed married to Caroline and frequent TAM... FIVE from me regardless! Thank you much and CHEERS (the 21 year old Macallan seems appropriate tonight, a rarely enjoyed luxury).

Great story telling.Thanks for sharing.

You have the gift and use it so well. The story is believable and so true to life about 'trust' intertwined within the two relationships. Perfect ending with his coming full circle with a woman forging to the forefront with his support.

Better than the first part, but still deplorable he would bed his adulterous wife.

"During those times I have allowed myself to be entertained by members of the opposite sex. There was never anyone special; certainly no one I would consider taking to my bed.' " - Hard to believe coming from her. 5 Years is a long time for an egotistical woman to wait for a man's affection. This plot point is seen in several of these stories. A woman cheats, she gets caught, she regrets it and waits years for her husband to return to have sex with her. This seems highly unlikely to me. If you have ever met people who cheat, they are selfish people. They rationalize their behavior, they do not ever own up to it. There is always a reason why it is not really their fault. They will tell you they cheated, and then they will tell you why it was really their spouses fault. The faults that they mention they compare to betrayals of some sort. In some cases, these faults were truly forms of betrayal. One had a spouse that embezzled money from the marriage. Another favored the children to the exclusion of her husband. Another, was shared too many of his secrets with her best friend. There is always an excuse. Sometimes, on the surface they almost seemed justified.

John seems driven by self-pity, as a basic personality attribute. There is an undercurrent of masochism in the way this story is structured.

I mean, that fantasies often have a compensatory function, a so-called cathartic experience. The reasons for this are usually unstated, simply assumed in a fantasy. But that's precisely what I miss. What is it that makes this sort of story, with undercurrents of masochism and self-pity, appealing for some? The 'happy ending' really does not address that deeper issue.

In that sense, the story is incomplete .. a dreamt for happy end to an unexpressed problem.

As soon as the doc allowed himself to be seduced by the cheater I knew he would come to the right conclusion. It figures she never seduced him before so all she did was from other liaisons she had with others. I almost thought he would have left but that would have been stupid. He figured her out and the dream sequence was just his subconscious coming out with the truth. I'm glad he had a happy ending with his assistant, now his wife. Hopefully the ex-wife is in pain, knowing she blew it. Now she's alone, possibly working the street corners.

Well, maybe?

Five Stars

Other than that, I echo all compliments in prior and future comments.Full marks. *****

Glad he realized what her seduction and new talents were all about and permanently dumped her!!

For a little moment I expected that he would fall in his wife sweet talking...But he finally found what could never be restored: Trust!!! Trust is so easy to be lost and almost impossible to be restored...4* for the whole story...Thank you

...but somehow I missed a paragraph or two closing the relationship between John and Caroline. She just vanished after that one night they had, leaving quite a few questions as far as their marriage is concerned. My impression is, that you rushed toward the end, concentrating on finishing that chapter. I gave you 4*; without this "rush" it would have been 5*

Thank you for writing it.

Dont know if it's the mood I am in but it's a fiver for me. Still think he mighta thrown the marriage out a bit to readily, but oh, well maybe not. I would've liked some more proof of her duplicitous nature before termination of the marriage.

However, I am a sucker for a happy ending, and this had that.

Dont get the bashing in the comments about wimp this and that. He didnt reconcile, her punishment is severe in that she wanted him back very much and didnt get it. I do think there are a ton of British authors who do tend to the wimp/cucky side of story telling, and I have to say this story is not that at all. At what point was he a wiimpo? He left immediately when he discovered the infidelity, shoo'd her away at the hospital, and she was effectively banished from his life for five years before they even spoke in depth of the situation.

I could kinda tell that he and the young assistant were going to get together. But I thought the cheating wife get short shrift.

Personally, I find the BTB crowd to be really lame. People make mistakes. I know I've made some. I'm not the perfect man, who is never tempted and who has never given in to temptation. Over a lifetime, things happen. His wife slept with a colleague. Get over it! It's like all of a sudden he realized that his wife wasn't there for him. What took so long to figure that out? and why wouldn't he have said something sooner?

He never let her explain initially; hell, he never really knew what happened until five years later. I am annoyed that someone, some man, could simply run away without having it out with his life's partner. That's what makes him a wimp: not being man enough to fight for his marriage and with the cad who seduced his wife.

As far as her new found sexual prowess, isn't it simply a case of looking for a reason not to want her? So, he picks the reason that she's better in bed?! Just be honest and say that you don't want her because she's hurt you. Don't be all coy about it. And, for god's sake, TELL HER!!

Anyway, I really abhor the victim mentality of this character. He's the perfect guy: smart, a stud in bed, charming, supportive...except, really, when it counts with the person he pledged to be so till death they do part. Very man-centric story with a paragon of virtue that simply doesn't ring true for me, especially with the fairy tale ending of him with the young chippy. Farcical.

TAM?

Very well told & written; there were a few wobbles along the way, but overall an excellent story. It often amuses me, how many American commentators talk about all the Brit writers having wimps as their main male character, of course no red blooded, pistol totting Yankee cowboy hat wearing author would ever do that, oohhh no. What a lot of BS, I think all their pistol twirling scrambles their brains, so, unless there's murder, extreme violence or serious payback then the hero must be a wimp.

I enjoy stories by writers from both sides of the Atlantic & find that generally most authors have both good & poor tales & wimps aren't the specialty of just 1 country.

Keep up the good work, a very enjoyable story. 5 *****

I liked it!5*

What's this story about? If it is intended as a straight description of what John does, then the story accomplishes its goal.

But if it is intended as an effort to logicalkly work through a personal dilemma - and the wordy confrontation between John and Caroline 5 years after the fact suggests that this is the author's intention - then the story fails.

John is presented as being locked into a particular moral imperative. Worse, he is portrayed as suffering from a martyr complex, that he has sacrificed hiumself in the service of this moral imperative. This is not a good way to live one's life. This may be John's choice and it may be a story about the consequences of this choice, but it is still not a good choice. John's struggle with the implicit contradiction is evidence for this. He challenges Caroline on why she did not/could not live up to his moral imperative. She can't explain. She cries, defeated under the onslaught. John is left perplexed. She challenges him on why he felt unappreciated, making sacrifices to no satisfactory end. Unfortunately, the story is written from his perspective. Since she is guilty by definition, there is nobody to cahllenge his martyr complex. He has run away, never confronted caroline or, more important, never confronted himself.

Ther personal dilemma is left unsolved, in spite of his own (and author's by proxy) efforts.

The happy ending is a fudge, not at all facing the core moral issues and the choices John made.

He should have talked to the husbands and wives also victimized by Roger. He might have learned something.

"The problem is I also make myself sick."

This is a sentence from the first paragraph of Ch. 1. Too bad he hasn't quite figured out precisely why he makes himself sick.

1st. Ch. was good. But this ch. was bad, formulaic and made the 1st ch. a justification to marry a girl young enough to be his daughter.

Women paint a picture; men present a case.

Either way deception is cheap.

And this ch., definirely, is.

Good read, nice ending!

Hey, nice grade;)

It is "just sex". And commitments are just serving suggestions. A pretty cynical world and life view but the very foundation for all of Literotica.com.

Well written and I enjoyed the recurring "interaction" with the Faraday statue. Even with the tungsten wedding rings the tale seems unfinished to me. But maybe that's how life is on the Isle of the Mighty.

He decided well to change his cheating wife to a better woman. The most important he did not do any reconciliation. I think a lot of readers do not know the polite behavior to the soon to be or ex wife who is the mother of the common kids does not mean wimp behavioral at all, but wise behavioral for sake of the kids!

The present tense made the story difficult, but overall the plot and resolution outweighed that negative.

The use of tungsten was a stroke of genius. Gold soft, where tungsten was hard. That was good.

The statute and them taking was hilarious, and the ending where the man came up and John said which one was nice.

Need more like this!!!!

Ok, he put off the divorce for five years AND almost fell for the cheating bitch's seduction. And he didn't go back and bust up the ex and guy she cheated on him with. But along the way he reordered his life to accomplish HIS desires, and if he had allowed himself the luxury of revenge, he might not have become the man who Lauren fell in love with.

Good tale containing sufficent twists and turns to make the story different from the rest. Always interesting when subtle behaviors like body language are used as the tell tale device as opposed to the in your face "I walked in on some guy balks deep in my wife". Well thought out characters, even to the point where reconciliation would've been ok bring that wife truly slipped up and was genuinely remorseful, but our boy running off the the younger hottest is satisfying too. However, should two engineers ever procreate?? NOT!

DYK, thanks again for another story.

What was surprising was that a logical guy like him never divorced over the five years, nor did he have any final conversation to get closure. He had to wait until the wife forced the issue - and he finally came to the realization he could not trust her.

I like how you used the dream to show that.

Thanks again.

has filtered down to other authors. TK U MLJ LV NV

Great story! Thanks!

My only critique is that we don't see the confrontation with Caroline,where he tells her it is over and why.While we understand why he decides he cannot trust her, he still would need closure,he would want to tell her why he can't trust her,that it is obvious she had learned to enjoy sex but totally lied to him about what she was doing.Maybe teal he men just drop away,but it would have made the story more real.

What more is left to be said that they didn't already just talk about?

quite an interesting story. seems like he was able to put 2 & 2 together pretty fast at the first meeting but from there on seems like he was in limbo land. then when he met his wife again he was like just going along for the ride. but in the end he finally realized what he would get if he went back to his wife. so glad that he found someone that realizes him for what he is

I wish I could give it 10 stars. Thank you for a delightful read!

Is that she is his assistant. Getting casual sex from someone who works for him is a minefield, so the only way he'd ever let anything develop with her would be in a real relationship, and that's where the age issue comes in.

He was an extraordinary person. He sacrificed for the family. She got caught up in being important and lost her way. When confronted she lies. She is more concerned how she appears to people. In her committee's eyes and her children eyes is where she felt the guilt. Suppose a woman when learns that her husband feels neglected, does she ally his concerns and promises to do better, or does she selfishly enjoy the attention and power?

John deserved a better person in a wife and finally got her. I did feel sorry for Caroline in the end becaused they were mismatched and he took to long to cut her loose. Five stars *****

John surely did drag his feet as to dumping Caroline. Finally! Good story and writing, DYK. Enjoyed it and pleased there was a proper ending to it. Cheers!

I do see why it took him 5 years to get it together. He felt he had emasculated himself by taking the teaching position so his kids could stay in school in the same place, then he felt he had to get behind his wife's career choice and help her find her footing, so to speak. Then he mostly does her job for her until she does find her stride and what happens, she fucks around on him. In the open. Then of course there's the accident and the aftermath of all of that, more emasculation for him and his wife is lying and talking down to him while he is in the hospital trying to get a handle on things. So, after all of that and being paralyzed, it's bound to take a long time to move forward. He had a lot of anger and disappointment to work through and we all do that at our own pace, so I don't think 5 years is a long time. And truthfully, he probably could have done something sooner, just didn't get around to it. As for sleeping with her again, he had to see if just touching her was going to suck him in again. Besides, I don't think there is actually a set schedule for that sort of thing, more ad lib I think.

The lady protested too much and did not see how transparent her act was.

Good story. Good ending. The anonymous comments seem to have diminished. Thanks. 5

....perhaps it's because I identify with John. Like Caroline, my estranged wife has always had an agenda. After I discovered her perfidy, I stayed on to raise my children as best I could manage from close up. But it has been a largely loveless marriage. I could never trust her to tell me the unvarnished truth....but I COULD always count on her spinning a tale, working me like a carnival sucker in an attempt to gain some advantage, some "win". I'm certain she thinks I'm just being cruel, but she is so transparent....it would be wrong to give in to her machinations....she'd falsely think she'd gotten one past me.

As it stands now, the children are all grown and gone. We share a house that is not my home. We have slept in different rooms since about a week after the last one left. We have not been intimate in nearly 20 years.

My travel for work has afforded me opportunity to meet and establish relationships in various places where I visit often and stay long, due to the nature of the assignments.

I neither know nor care what wifey does for gratification.

As soon as I return stateside from this current assignment, I'm leaving the stuff to her and transferring to a new location near the office I work at in that area. I'll have her served the week I start work in that office. I've long since separated finances and made arrangements and put money and valuables into safe and remote keeping.

And I'll move Tatsiana and our daughter, Yuliana in with me. Yup, I verified....once bitten, twice shy...

As soon as my divorce-simple is granted, we will marry and try to live a life filed with love and laughter....after so many empty years, I'm tired of living as an empty husk for everyone else's sake and well being. Now I will live for my happiness...and the happiness of those that want my happiness.

Thank you for this story.

I won't chide you about your misuse of 'to' and 'too', 'throws' and 'throes'...as while glaring, they are not significant enough to ruin the story.....only clouded it a bit.

But thank you.

I wish anonymous comments would leave their name as there is no shame or guilt in having an opinion.

I really did enjoy this story as it has the emotional, thought provoking elements to consider.

I would have liked an ending were the wife was not a slut for 5 year's and she genuinely wanted to get back with her husband.

I wonder if the wife would have risk sleeping with a man who knows her husband. As there is always a future risk that the husband may find out and leave her. So in the story plot it seemed to risky of an liaison to have with the young graduate !

Perhaps the wife could have moved in with husband and Lauren and they live as a happy 3sum !

As Lauren would still be able to have children and the wife can be live in lover and nanny !

i give it five stars as the ending was spot on. He made the right decision. It's just the way he got there that has me a bit confused. She really could have read Cosmo or watched a porno while using her vibrator. She did have five years to think about what she would do to him. Also, she could have learned these new tricks with the Dewey character while she was having her affair. It doesn't have to mean she lied to him and has been having sex all this time.

I guess whether she had been having sex during their separation is not the point. You could even say that her lying or not is also not the point. The point is that in that dream he realized he could never trust her. I get that. But that goes without saying in any case of adultery. It seems his biggest problem should be how she initially reacted in the beginning. That reveals someone who is unstable and a bit stupid. Doesn't matter how sorry she is, or how genuine she is in her desire to be committed, she will always be a nut.

i got my storylines crossed with another one I just read. She might have been stupid for falling for the Dewey guy, but she never acted crazy.

In his dream he realised a profound truth.

He could never trust her again.

Almost same situation as SS06 wrote, but a little different situation. SS06 wrote the ex wife and the ex husband meet after the divorce and in DYK story the husband meets his wife before the divorce and after this last meeting he divorces his wife......

DYK did not write fable satyre, he wrote straight simple (good) story.

The story form is independent from the quality.........a good satire can be same good as a straight simple story.

Duna

what makes this story great is that the husband 's decision is not based on ego or pride or any of the usual shit ass comments that are in LW stories.

The RISK/ reward was not worth it. Purely a rational decision

Great story. I do feel sorry for the ex-wife, though. People can make mistakes and can feel real regret and can reform themselves. It wasn't just her infidelity, but the fact that he felt his sacrifice for the family and for her was taken advantage of that ultimately led to his inability to forgive.

I did wonder about the wife's advanced sexuality in their encounter. I didn't know whether he would take that as things she learned from her lover 5 years ago that she had denied him then but was using to get him back now, or, what he thought, as evidence that she had a more active sex life in the intervening years than she was willing to tell him, but in the end, that was part of her undoing.

Shallow stupid selfish wife fucks boss. Husband leaves wife and marries younger smarter hotter woman of superior morality and character. Have a nice day. I think this has been done before, with more logic, real drama, and succinctness.

So how was she able to switch from a loving faithful caring wife of 20 years, into a selfish shallow stupid slut in a few months after meeting Dewey, with him not noticing? Well, not until he sees Dewey place his hand on her. But why does he see so much in that subtle short move, but saw nothing suspicious in her long work hours, trips away over the weekends, and loss of interest in her husband and family? Why is he so resolute about not allowing Caroline to help with his paralysis, but so conflicted and unsure if he should divorce her? How could Caroline not know about his paralysis unless he moved away to a foreign country, withholding his condition from his sons, relatives, and friends? Why was he so lonely, yet held on to a failed marriage, eschewing the attention of other women, for 5 years? Why was he so surprised she was now a great fuck, Dewey wasn't taking her on overnight trips just to take dictation. What did he learn from one improbably nightmare that was more certain than investigating Caroline's life since the separation, asking his sons and friends about how Caroline has been living? And what if she was fucking around for the past 5 years, like he has been doing for the past 5 years? Except for the piece of paper they haven't been husband and wife since he walked, or wheeled, away from their marriage. Did he communicate to her any expectation of her celibacy during his romps in the hay?

But the main question is, what's he going to do when he's in his 60's and finds the new wife pursuing her career with the same long hours and trips away from home? Cause this simpering timid disconnected wimp will eventually push Lauren toward a stronger assertive personality, just like he did Caroline.

I thought the wuss got exactly what he deserved. Anyone male who would let Dewey get away unscarred and uncrippled does not deserve the devotion of a real woman. But then again, this is the British culture. It's just a bit o' fucking. Nothing to get all childish and pissy about. Violence solves nothing; acquiescence and time resolves everything. Ask Chamberlain.

@Anon We are on (erotic) story collection so we prefer to read about such (successful) ex husbands who find better younger women than the cheater ex wives.

Unfortunataly a lot of authors publish sad lonely ex husband stories so this story is a fresh aero.

BTW The greatest revenge to a cheating wife if the ex husband find a better woman and happier than she!

Duna

Really enjoyed the story and the dream sequence was an eye opener. was wondering how long it would take for him to realize she was to uninhibited.

... Well done, it was better than the first part and that is saying something. I liked how you took an old plot line and made it fresh, believable and heartwarming with the natural dialog and the dream sequence and the "conversing" with Michael. Just one bit of advice: Laura didn't need to be beautiful just pleasant, loyal and honest. That is all Professor Fletcher wanted, someone he could trust. Please keep writing. Panther fan.

Still think it's badly written for being told in the present tense. Annoying.

...Can someone give us a thumbs up/thumbs down button for the comments? There are a few anonymous comments I'd like to vote off the site... :)

5 stars, btw

Lauren's presentation is a hit, her project takes off, she spends more time out with the money people, one of whom catches her eye, and down she goes! And poor old John gets deja vu all over again.

The dream was just as foreboding as the Bridge.

A believable plot-line and well written

well written.

I so much wanted this tale to be 3x as long.

5* easy

You found a new twist to the accident trope. And you pulled it off in spades. We'll written and engaging, accomplishing more in two chapters than many can do in five. Your best yet, bravo.

My only constructive criticism: work on your paragraph structure in dialogue. There were a few times one speaker went more than one paragraph, and there was no open-quote at the end of the first to indicate the same speaker was continuing. Many even could have been done in one paragraph, and it stilted the conversation a bit.

Regardless, please keep writing.

Maybe she is seriously sorry... and maybe she really does love him...and maybe she really WON'T do anything like this ever again...

But she successfully had an affair and concealed it from him for the full length of it... only a poorly-timed action on the part of the sleezeball gave her away... how much longer would she have kept on if she hadn't been seem by him being stroked. ..?

And she stayed and dealt with the second award presentation... wasn't worried enough from when she gasped until everything was done...? Didn't spend every second watching where her husband had been sitting to see what his reactions were...? Didn't wonder where he was after that gasp...?

And paid so little attention to her hubby's life she never realized he HATED his job...? For ten years...? Shows a lot of interest on bet part, huh...? Makes her seem just a tad self-centered...

So... maybe she's changed... but clearly he didn't feel it was worth the potential pain to find out otherwise. She got to decide to put them into this situation, he got to decide to get out of it.

Enjoyed the story...

He should have dumped the cheating bitch five years ago!

Maybe he could have hooked up with Lauren sooner!

If you mean at the hotel I disagree, I rather enjoy the idea of her going home thinking she’s won him back only to get dumped. If you mean you would have liked to see when she was told, I guess that would have been neat, but just the thought of it warms my heart!

Let's see two chapters at 5 each. That is 5 x 2 = 10 for the story.

would have liked some more closure with the cheating wife though. 4*

Your summation of Johns distrust of Caroline, was masterly done !!

Precise and exact - shame it took him 5 years for it to clarify in his brain - but that's what happens when such a trauma hits you - takes time to bring it forwards and deal with it.

Well done DYK.

again I enjoyed the story. I am sorry that some felt it was a difficult read, I didn't get that. Anyhow, thanks Ken for sharing your story with us. Well done.

Knew I read it, forgot when... turns out not that long ago...

Still glad I read it again...

While it was bad enough that she was having an affair, the lying to him had the most pervasive effect... If you could forgive an affair, you could create a life for the two of you that would make it IMPOSSIBLE for her to repeat it... for instance a deserted island or locking her in your basement... =]

But it's basically impossible to guarantee that she never lied to you again... even if the lies might be minor, each one you catch her in makes you wonder how many you've missed...

And if she says "I love you"... does she...? Lies can do more to erode a life than almost anything else...

So, once the children are grown does it really matter if you stay married or not? If the relationship is not worth monogamy why bother being married? The responsibility to the kids has been discharged, the nest is empty, and if you don't care enough about your spouse not to go out for an illicit orgasm and an ego massage - why bother? Appearances! That is all that is left. They want to keep the benefits of appearing to be strong, healthy, successful and stable people. In fact, they and their house are in disorder. Sometimes this is due to both spouses. Sometimes it is due to just one spouse who is abusing the marriage. Either way. the marriage is shot, there is by definition - no love. All that is left is sentiment. Like sediment, it is what is left in the bottom of an empty vessel when all the good stuff is gone. Time for another bottle!

This is the third or fourth English-author story in a row that I have read where the husband finds out the wife has fucked another guy and he then squirms and squiggles off into the tall grass for years on end only to have circumstance bring them both back into orbit. The most prominent among them was that tiresome, tedious, and tortuous Back To Bristol bullshit. All sorts of well-honed writing talent is expended on showing how cowardly a man can be when his wife gets a fuck behind his back.

It must be a horrible thing for sure, having your sweet, warm, loving woman be the dumping ground for another man's bodily whims. But how is anyone served by the husband feinting in coils? I find that type of formula a rather crappy substitute for the actual tension necessary to a plot line.

In the Bristol nonsense the guy actually whimpers behind the apartment door, collapsing in sobs and wringing his hands. If he had only manned-up and walked out and said anything with some common sense to his cheating wife the entire thing would have come unraveled for the better. But no, he deserts his family for four years. His kids are raised by the predator. Bloody hell. It is simply too late to recover any respect from a right thinking reader after that.

Someone commenter above was bitching about us pistol toting cowboy husbands with a thirst for violence and vengeance here in the States. Just ask yourself the question: If the CEO/MD husband in Bristol - maybe you can imagine that they were in Kansas City - had gone outside and grabbed his wife, shaken her up a bit, maybe even slapped her or grabbed her ass and kissed her, do you honestly think she would have gone off and married that fucking conniving predator? I am talking about problems of credibility in the plot - Believability. A sort of Occam's Plot Razor should be applied here: Slap The Bitch or spend fours years torturing and ruining your family. What's it gonna be?

Anyway, thank goodness that the children in Lucky Man are grown so they don't have to suffer the pain, the lifelong trust issues, and the general deformation of character that complete abandonment brings. I suppose that is a point or two for our author.

This DeYaKen story is nowhere near as pretentious as Back To Bristol. But where the wording in Bristol is highly descriptive and upbeat, in Lucky Man there is something in the wan tone of the writing that hovers like a seething malaise. Thoughts, events, dreams, conversations - they all inch onward toward an enervated and mollusc-like future. Not even Lauren, the hot 'n perky quipper, can lift the spell.

This protagonist has definitely overcome enormous obstacles. He is not an altogether bad guy. He has sacrificed for his wife and accomplished enormous things for his family. It can surely be said that he triumphs in the end. One does not exactly experience the triumph, though. It must be inferred from circumstances. Yes, he gets to dive headlong into life with Lauren, her quick mind, and her sweet, spicy charms. All things being equal, that would count as a triumph.

But all things are not equal. He is pushing sixty years of age and she isn't quite thirty. What type of conjugating will they be doing in 12 or 15 years? Ol' Gramp's meatpole will be more like Yorkshire pudding than their Tungsten wedding rings. Sounds funny, right? Maybe he will have engineered a penile prosthetic that he himself will debut. But seriously, the question definitely deserves an answer. The abstract English response would be that Love will triumph, bla bla bla.

It is the abstractions that cloud the minds of these English husband-characters that prevent them from giving the necessary answers or taking decisive action.

Dealing with the leaden pain of betrayal is not an excuse for an utterly complete abandonment of one's life conditions. He needed to man-up and talk to his wife after he was reasonably well along in his therapy. But he didn't. He let things fester on and on and on. That is the frustrating element in these English stories of betrayal. The husband takes action in varying degrees, but in a desultory and slipshod manner. He is essentially passive in regards to the actual issues at hand because he cannot rise above his mental and emotional issues.

In any case, although the husband's radar for his wife's supposedly more recent sexual flinging is a rather speciously put forth element, it can be said that Caroline really did cook her own goose. Her affair was no indiscretion but instead a carefully executed fuck-a-thon. She needed to go. But he never seeks the satisfaction of bringing things out in the open. It is maddening. Instead, when they finally do meet, he snipes and digs at her constantly.

It is this passive-aggressive feminized behavior of the husbands that despoil their own victories for me. I want to cheer them on. I might even want to thrown him a match to Burn The Bitch. I want to see him through, but he has become so mentally deranged that you simply have to cut your losses.

He will divorce his cheating wife, but I will divorce him.

Wonderfully written. The little touches (dream, tungsten ring, statue) made this a well worth read.

A well-written story. Some of your comments have found a home with me especially the idea of a government inspector of 'classes' and their function, also using Tungsten wedding rings because of their strength.

Thank you for your writings as I feel a higher level of empathy with the characters when written with an English slant.

Once again, the 'hero' gains a sexy women half his age. The chances of this happening are what? Men his age can't help being flabby. Whilst there are exceptions, only much younger women who are money grabbers or attention seekers are likely to live with this. Still it is fiction.

Just inane drivel ! How old IS this writer ??

But too dry for my tastes.

Good read but I love more grit and details.

It happens all the time in the hallowed halls of academia. Senior professors "mentoring" graduate students and untenured tenure-track faculty. There, it is not money, but access to labs and publication outlets. Codes of Conduct are carefully constructed to define a student as someone enrolled in your class. Mentoring is not considered "supervision" for legal purposes.

this is chapter 2 dumbass. If it's so bad and boring why the fuck are you still here. Guess it reminded you of your dead whore wife.

he had better accept the gospel of the statement, go out and purchase a lottery ticket, TK U MLJ LV NV

The amount of unreasoning envy you display, LostRiderMan, is huge.

The depth of characters, the continuity of the story arc, the value of the morals at play show this story is among the best at Lit.

That you are trolling around for the purpose of attacking anything but extreme BTB is pathetic.

The bulk of comments filling the comments section these days seem to be from the Lostrider moron. He reads through entire libraries of authors he professes to hate, leaving comment after stupid comment of insane rage.

A racist woman hater, filling the comments with vulgarity and bile. Too bad he can't be banned. I would like to see a vast author conspiracy to simply delete every comment he makes. Thank you, Mr. Tullamore, for calling him out.

It seems incomprehensible that he would keep on the ring, it didn't seem like he considered himself married anymore, though he should have gone through with a divorce rather than just let things languish.

It all feels inkongruent with him trying to be a new man and regain his self respect, and for it to take 5 years and a nightmare seems a tad ridiculous.

Though good on him to finally pull his head out of his ass and get with Lauren.

I can understand some of his attitudes. But his not being able to talk to his wife for 5 years and then not divorcing her seemed odd. What has he been doing about the bills and about his taxes? In the end, his decision to finally divorce his wife was okay, but then when he married the much younger Doctor, any reasonable behavior went out the door. Is he going to raise a new set of children at his age? He'll be in a rocking chair when she's still a young woman. He reasoned against a relationship with her earlier in the story. Then he changes his mind 180 degrees and marries her? That just felt wrong.

Well written and familiar with the premise. You told it well.

good or bad is a rating based on events, TK U MLJ LV NV

I'm sorry it took him five years to wake up. Especially disappointing was the reprise with his wife. I give Lauren credit for taking the initiative, it's too bad she was placed in that position.

. . . I feel fortunate to have stumbled on your page. I like your style. I felt that you handled this particular story with great gentleness, and that touched me. I look forward to reading more of you. Thank you very much.

Wonderful pair of stories, 5* all the way through.

A well-written story featuring the over-familiar theme of a husband who would rather run than talk. Can't fault the writing, but the ending seemed a little cliched (sudden realisation that your younger, beautiful colleague is the one for you) and I just couldn't empathise with John (the betrayed husband) who seemed to me to be a bit of a stubborn, self-righteous hypocrite. He'd fucked around during their 5 year separation but if she'd even looked at another man during that time he considered her to be somehow unclean. Seriously? No real faults in the story line - but all a bit too simplistic for me.

LA

For a moment there, thought it might end as an RAAC. Very well written and a great way to bring about a realization which should have been obvious to him. She had certainly honed her skills! Great ending. 5*s.

Everything said in the previous comment. A great reconciliation story that takes a sharp left turn for the cliched younger and prettier choice, and happily ever after.

Nice twist, had me wondering if reconciliation was going to happen, great thatthat he didn’t take the cheating wife back!

Another great story by DYK. 5 stars.

As usual, we see all the "normal" clichés, personal biases, and grievances, posed in the form of negative comments:

"The husband is a coward because he ran away instead of talking."

Ran away? He was in a hospital bed, paralyzed from the waist down. LOL. What this comment really means, is that he didn't sit and discuss her "tiny" mistake, ad nauseam, until finally giving her the result she wanted. Besides, she's sorry, so... yeah, there's that too.

(We always know those who comment about the husband being a coward and "running away", are either feminazis, starry-eyed readers of romance novels, or embittered ex-wives who still think they should never have been divorced. None of those people have view-points grounded in reason.)

"He didn't physically and/or mentally destroy her and her lover. Wimp!"

There are many ways to punish cheaters, more effective ways in fact, than by bashing them with clubs. Take away the things the cheaters value most highly and it will hurt them forever, not just while they recuperate in the hospital. Of course, as a last resort, old-school IS the way to go. Rare cases. Last resort.

"She admitted she was wrong, but he didn't forgive her or fight for their marriage."

Have you ever known someone who takes responsibility for a mistake and then insists on giving a lengthy explanation as to how it happened? Nine times out of ten, the sole purpose of that explanation is to lay the blame everywhere but on themselves. She sees herself as a martyr by taking the blame, not as the sinner who fell. Disingenuous, at best.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are two completely different subjects. You can forgive someone and still not trust them enough to continue living with them. This is just one of the risks you take when you decide to cheat on your spouse; you never know for sure how they'll respond.

Fight for their marriage? Seriously? Their marriage was over; battle wasn't even an option because she secretly and autonomously killed it by surrendering to the enemy. Marriage, by definition and intent, is a joining of two into one - she unilaterally split that union and brought in a third party.

She's the one who needed to fight for their marriage; he wasn't even made aware the marriage was under attack. Now there's nothing left for which to fight. Besides; who would fight to be married to a cheating woman?

Thanks for the story, DYK.

Way to.pull it back from the brink of a RAAC. Turned into a.Good story.

One of the best stotires in LW. one of my fav ones for sure. Well done.

Like positive endings.5

I can understand him talking to a statue.

After all it's a statue of a man.

But a toaster.........? :)

Meself, I talk to the TV.

But only when it's turned on ;).

This was a great story.

Strong plot and well written.

Never a dull moment.

Top ratings from me, on both parts.

Another excellent piece of writing.

I would think the same thing he did; did she learn all the new things from five years ago? I doubt it. But a last meet would have been nice to witness.

As annoying as it is well written. There's definitely something English in this character's response to the situation.

Starting with Back To Bullshit(Bristol) it became obvious to this reader. It's an English thing.

Why, after all of her deceit and the humilialtion she heaped on him can she shake her ass a little and he starts acting like a puppy dog. It's truly sickening. It's been five f@$#king years and now he is swooning like tinkerbell and going on dates with the sick bitch.

"I've got to get my feelings sorted out"...uh, no, you have to take your butt plug out and chop a couple cords of wood.

And all of the cutesy quipping and parrying and waffling - please please stffu and divorce the whore. Just plain sick. He's demented, no matter the ending.

Hey Englishmen, for godssakes take off the pink panties. It's conspicuous to say the least.

Thanks for not putting them back together. I wondered at the new skills as well. Thanks for the read

Unfortunately all they do is dance around the hard issues, afraid to get their hands dirty. They seem unable to tackle the difficult issues, doesn't look too promising for the future. But well written, just not a good beginning for a RaaC.