Modern Day Marriage

A short time later, Melissa was staring across a lunch table at Travis. They'd gone to Red Lobster for lunch. It was Melissa's favorite restaurant. She knew that Travis preferred Texas Roadhouse, but it was shrimp fest time. Melissa got the endless shrimp buffet and Travis, running true to form, got a steak.

"Honey, you're not going to enjoy that steak," laughed Melissa. "Why order steak at a seafood place? We'll go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Tell me about your visit to the lawyer."

"To be honest, it was eye opening," said Travis. "I went in expecting to tell him how she cheated on me and hear about how I'd get to keep the bulk of our assets. He very quickly made me realize that it doesn't matter who did what. Justice and the law are not only two completely separate entities, but they don't live in the same neighborhood and they don't like each other very much."

"Betty could hang out a sign on my front porch that says, "Will fuck for food," and spend most of the day bent over with her dress around her waist entertaining sailors. In the eyes of the law, she'd still be entitled to half of our assets. If she was fucking the sailors for free, even after giving her half of everything we own, I'd have to pay her alimony."

"That isn't fair," said Melissa.

"This isn't about fairness," said Travis. "This is about the law."

About twenty minutes before the end of the workday, Melissa took some papers into Travis' office for his signature.

"We're leaving soon," she said. "We need to go by your sleazy fleabag motel and get your stuff."

"Why?" asked Travis. Melissa's eyes flashed at him again and he remembered her anger from earlier in the day.

"I already told you I found a better place for you to stay," said Melissa. "We'll move your stuff, get you settled in and then you can take me to dinner."

Travis nodded his head in agreement. He noticed that Melissa's anger was gone and her smile lit up the room when he agreed with her.

Travis wanted to do something. Anything would be better than going back to his motel room again. His iPhone had already rung twice that afternoon. Both times it had been Betty. Both times he'd let the calls go to voicemail and then deleted the messages without listening to them completely. In both cases she'd started out saying something like she didn't know what was wrong with him. She obviously still had no idea that he knew what she'd been doing.

Melissa followed Travis back to his motel. She kept looking around at everything and shaking her head. She looked through all of his stuff even his underwear drawer. When he'd loaded all his stuff back into his suitcases and them, back in the trunk of his car and his backseat, they left.

Travis had noticed that Melissa had been taking notes the whole time. He wondered what she'd been taking notes on. This time he followed her to the newer, better motel she'd found for him. They stopped in front of a large, well lit, beautifully designed building.

Melissa got out of her car and grabbed one of Travis' suitcases. Travis thought that she must know the manager of the building. It looked like she'd found him an apartment. They took the elevator up to the fifth floor and Melissa pulled out her keys and opened the door.

Travis looked around and found himself inside a beautifully furnished apartment. "Who lives here?" he asked.

"We do," said Melissa. Travis opened his mouth to start telling Melissa that he couldn't possibly stay with her, and saw her eyes flash again.

"But..." he began.

"We'll talk at dinner," said Melissa. "Until then put your stuff in my spare bedroom. It's the one on the right."

Travis put his suitcases down in the room that Melissa had showed him. He knew that he shouldn't even think about it. It would probably be better for him to just go home until he could find another place.

Ten minutes later they were in Travis' Mustang flying down the freeway. They'd agreed not to talk about work, Betty or anything serious until after dinner. Until then they were just two friends out to have a nice dinner. Their problems would still be there after they'd eaten.

An hour or so later Melissa looked across the table and smiled at Travis. "I'm pissed at you," she said.

"What for this time?" he asked.

"This was the best steak I've ever had," she snapped. "Why are you always taking me to Red Lobster?'

"I thought Red Lobster was your favorite," said Travis.

"It WAS," smiled Melissa. "Okay, Hon, we can start the serious talk now."

"Melissa, I appreciate the offer, but I can't stay with you," said Travis. "And you should probably know that this afternoon I had a chance to think the whole thing over and I'm not divorcing Betty."

Melissa looked hurt. "You're staying with her after what she did to you?" asked Betty softly.

"Hell no," snapped Travis. "I just don't see any reason to give that bitch half of what I worked so hard for. For twenty years, I've given her everything she asked for. I've been there for her through thick and thin and this is what I got in return. Think about all of the chances I had to cheat on her. But I never did. So if the law isn't on my side, then I'm just going to leave her. She can have the house, but good luck trying to pay for it. Besides, I'm probably not going to ever get married again so I don't need a divorce. Fuck her."

"Travis, what does that have to do with you staying with me?" asked Melissa.

"Melissa, you're a beautiful young woman. You don't need some crusty, bitter, middle aged guy cramping your style. Plus, what will people think about you living with a man?" he asked.

"Travis, you asshole, did you think I was doing this out of the goodness of my heart?" asked Melissa. "I have my reasons for wanting you to stay with me. Trust me, I'm getting something out of it. You're not going anywhere until I say that you can. You need to be protected."

Melissa looked into Travis' eyes and didn't blink. Travis stared back at her and for a long moment neither would back down and then...Travis blinked. "Glad we got that settled," said Melissa.

Over the next few weeks, Betty called Travis every day. He never spoke to her. He spoke to his kids when they called and he even spoke to his parents and his in-laws when they called, but he didn't explain any of his reasons for not going home. Finally Betty began making up her own reasons. She was sure that Travis had found another woman. How the hell could he cheat on her after twenty years of marriage?

She got a lawyer and filed for divorce. She didn't really want a divorce and told her lawyer as much. Her plan was to make Travis come back to her by threatening the divorce. At the worst case scenario he'd have to come to a meeting so they could talk. The meeting was scheduled for November 29th. Five days after Thanksgiving.

Betty had also tried calling Gary. He also refused to take her calls. That had surprised her. Even when she hinted that she might be interested in a repeat performance, he hung up on her. It really didn't matter to Betty. He hadn't been very experienced in bed anyway. She'd only intended for him to be a one night stand. She just hadn't had a chance to find someone else.

Finally, she got a break. Her mother called her and reminded her about Thanksgiving dinner. They usually alternated whose home they'd spend Thanksgiving at. One year it was with Travis' parents. The next year it was with Betty's parents and the other years it was at Travis and Betty's house.

This year it was Betty's parent's turn. Travis and Betty's daughter Becky wasn't coming. She was spending the holiday with her boyfriend's family. So it would be Betty and Travis, plus her parents, their son Steven and his girlfriend and Betty's sister Debbie and her husband.

An intimate family get together would be the perfect chance for her to talk to Travis and work out their issues. She missed him so much she could hardly stand it. The good thing was that Betty's mother told her that she'd spoken to Travis and he was going to come. Of course, she'd told Travis that Betty wasn't going to be there, but it was a well-intentioned lie. Betty's mom figured that if she got them back together all would be forgiven in the end. So Betty had her shot. She had to make sure that she was looking her best for the dinner.

Normally, Betty looked at Thanksgiving as just another holiday, but this one would be special. She intended to go all out to get her husband back. Then she'd actually have something to be thankful for. Strangely enough, Travis moving out had affected her in ways that she'd never have suspected. When Travis was home, she'd had her little flings to add spice to her sex life. She did them mostly to add excitement and spice to her life. There hadn't been anything wrong with her and Travis' sex life; she just wanted more of it and more variety.

But since Travis left her, she hadn't gone out once. Now that she had all of the time in the world for her dalliances, she simply had no interest in them. The main focus of her life was trying to get the man that she'd loved for over twenty back at any cost.

She couldn't go to his job because the security guards wouldn't let her in. She'd thought about getting an appointment with someone in the building, but what did she need at a corporate sales company. She thought about getting that guy Gary to make an appointment for her. Then she could just wait for that bitch Melissa to leave the office or catch Travis on his way in or out.

But every time she tried to get Gary on the phone, he just hung up on her. It was strange that before they had sex, Gary spoke to her on the phone all the time. Once they'd done it, he didn't want to have shit to do with her. She'd met a few guys like that in college but she'd been sure that men had evolved past that by now. The problem was that she expected every man to treat her like Travis had. She wondered why he was letting his problems, whatever they were, separate them.

She still didn't know why he'd left. She'd gone over it in her mind several times. Travis had been suffering from some kind of stress disorder related to work. He'd come home and gotten angry at her for something really stupid but she didn't know what it was. Then Travis had simply pulled up stakes and left her. The only information she had on him over the past three weeks had come from her children and now from her mother.

Her daughter did seem upset that Travis seemed to have a woman wherever he was staying. The thought that he'd cheat on her hurt Betty badly, but she still wanted him back. Travis somehow seemed to associate his stress with her. It was as if he thought that Betty was responsible for all of the stress in his life.

If Travis did have a woman with him, Betty would forgive him since he probably wasn't in his right mind. But he'd have to cut the relationship off immediately. There was no room in their marriage for cheating. In the back of her mind, Betty thought about what she'd been doing. But her little flings were different. There was no emotional connection between her and any of them. She only saw each guy once. It was only sex. The only man she actually loved was Travis.

What Travis was doing, on the other hand, was wrong. It seemed that he was only seeing one woman and her daughter Becky made it seem like the woman was living with Travis. Becky had told her mother that she'd called her father back late one evening and a woman had picked up his cell phone. Her voice sounded familiar but Becky didn't know who she was. The woman had told Becky that her father was in the shower and that she'd have him call her back ASAP.

Anyway, whatever was going on with Travis would be sorted out in just a few days at the Thanksgiving dinner. Betty was surprised how much she was looking forward to getting this taken care of. Maybe he'd even come back home with her that night. Betty hadn't had sex with anyone other than her vibrator since Gary. She didn't miss sex. She missed making love with her husband. Thanksgiving couldn't come soon enough.

* * * * * *

"Mel, shouldn't you uhm, put some clothes on?" said Travis. Melissa was perched on the arm of Travis' chair wearing only a very tight T-shirt and a very tiny pair of panties. Travis was having trouble not staring at her and he was sure she could see his hard on.

"Well that's a first," laughed Melissa. "Honestly, Travis, I don't think I've ever had a man tell me that before. Besides, there's only the two of us here. I had clothes on all day long at work. Now that we're home I want to relax. If you weren't here, I probably wouldn't be wearing this much."

Travis looked at Melissa. He couldn't help looking at her. Melissa was slim and short. She was also beautiful. While her breasts were large, they weren't huge. In fact, they were probably smaller than Betty's and Betty had only average sized breasts. The difference was that Melissa was so small that it made them seem huge. You could actually see her breasts, just the edges of them, from behind her because her torso was so slim.

Her waist was so tiny that Travis could get both of his hands around it and have his fingers touch. Her hips flared out from that tiny waist and her butt curved away from her spine dangerously. She had long coltish legs and she always wore heels. Travis looked away from Melissa before his eyes got him into trouble.

In the three weeks since he'd moved in with Melissa, things had moved very quickly. He'd begun looking for an apartment of his own several times, but always stopped. The first time, he'd picked up one of those apartment hunters brochures. He'd left it on the kitchen table so he'd remember to go through it when he got home.

When he got home, the brochure was gone. He'd bought another one and it disappeared too. He found a couple of websites and saved them in his favorites. He'd even bookmarked a couple of apartments to look at. When he went back to look at them again, they'd been removed from his favorites. He'd begun to suspect that Melissa had something to do with it.

Before he could confront her about it, he'd been contacted by a lawyer who represented Betty. The lawyer was trying to convince him to accept counseling or be faced with divorcing Betty. His lawyer had spoken to Betty and her lawyer and was convinced that it was a ploy to get him to meet with Betty.

Travis' lawyer explained to him that if he let Betty file, there were some advantages he could gain. Their first meeting was scheduled for a few days after Thanksgiving.

In the meantime Travis and Melissa were together nearly twenty-four hours a day. They ate together, they worked together and they relaxed together. The only thing they weren't doing at that point was sleeping together.

They went out several times a week to restaurants or shows, but most nights they just sat and talked on their balcony or watched TV together.

"Mel, we kind of need to talk," said Travis. "And what you're wearing makes it hard for me to say what I have to say."

Melissa jumped up and put on a robe. "Okay, Travis Sir, is this better, Sir?" she asked giving him a mock salute.

Even the robe couldn't disguise Melissa's body but it was a start. She sat down across from him on the couch and her robe gapped open revealing an expanse of tanned legs that made Travis' pants get tighter in the crotch.

"Melissa, you've done so much for me that I can probably never repay you," began Travis. "But I'm beginning to think that I'm taking advantage of you. I'm kind of forcing you to put your life on hold. You're twenty four years old. You should be out dating and getting a taste of life. Not being stuck in your apartment with me, working out your daddy issues."

For the briefest second, Travis saw that incandescent anger flash across Melissa's features, then she smiled at him and her legs gapped open a trifle more.

"Travis, if you think that you're taking advantage of me, then you can pay half of the rent. If you weren't here I'd have to pay it anyway. Plus there's the fact that you've spent more in the past three weeks taking me out to dinner than I spend in groceries. Your being here makes me feel protected and not so lonely. Despite what you think, you being here didn't put my life on hold. In fact, I feel like my life has finally begun. I know how old I am. When you were my age you already had a kid didn't you?" Travis nodded.

"So that means that maybe it is time for me to get serious about things too and I have. Travis, I am dating someone. He's someone you see all the time. You just don't know that we're dating. And I'm enjoying my life immeasurably. You just don't see it yet. I don't see myself as being stuck here with you at all. I enjoy the time we spend together more than anything. And Travis, daddy issues are for girls who either never knew their fathers, or didn't have the relationship they'd have liked with their fathers. My daddy was a wonderful man. He loved me and I loved him too. He died of cancer my second year in college. My relationship with you has nothing to do with him or any father fixation. If a girl felt the way about her father that I feel about you, they'd have to rewrite the incest laws across the country. Do you have anything else to whine about?" Travis gulped and then nodded.

"Well, spit it out," she purred. "We're wasting our TV time."

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving dinner?" asked Travis.

"Usually, I either go and spend it with my sister and her family, or I go out with friends," said Melissa. "I was hoping that maybe we could just spend Thanksgiving cooking and relaxing together. I really like doing that."

"Uhm, Christmas, or maybe next year, if we're not married," said Travis. Then realizing what he'd just said, he tried to correct it. "I mean if neither one of us isn't married to anyone. Not, uhm, us being married to each other."

Melissa just smiled. She decided to let him off the hook this time so she could see what he wanted to do.

"Okay Travis, what did you have in mind?" she asked. Travis explained the whole dinner with Betty's parents scenario and who he thought would be there. In the back of her mind, Melissa was certain that though Travis had been told that Betty wouldn't be there, she would be.

"Okay, I'll go," she smiled. "But remember two things. One, I'm only doing this for you. And two, you owe me one." Travis nodded his head and smiled.

"Are we all done with the serious talk du jour?" asked Melissa. Travis nodded his head vigorously. He'd never in his life won an argument with Betty, and he could see that he'd probably never win one with Melissa either. He considered it a victory that she'd let him have the few points he'd won in this one. Did he actually win any?

"Good then I can get comfortable again," she said. Melissa shrugged off the robe and put her long legs across Travis' lap. Then she reached for the remote and flicked the TV on. "I assume we're watching your Top Gear show first, right?" she asked. She was referring to Travis' favorite TV show.

She was really happy with the way that things were turning out. Maybe now he'd stop trying to move out of her apartment. At least until they were ready to move into a bigger place together. He'd also said we a couple of times which was a major victory.

"Travis, honey, do you want a beer?" she asked. As he nodded, she unhooked her legs from his and went to the kitchen. She didn't miss the tent in his pants as she left. It would only be a matter of time she thought.

She brought Travis a cold Dos Equis Amber and a Pepsi for herself. Then she settled down on the couch with him. This time she scooted even closer to him. She draped her upper thighs and butt over him so she was almost sitting in his lap and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders.

As they watched the three older English hosts of the show go through their crazy antics while testing all of the outrageous cars they reviewed on the show, Melissa whispered into Travis' ear and nailed him.