Nighttime Confessions Too

I learned a big lesson that week. I could have focused entirely upon my anger and blamed Meg for what had happened. I could have spent the week berating her for her stupidity in sleeping with Phil. I could have given into the temptation to focus on the immediate problem and avoid looking at the big picture. But, I didn't. I chose to look beyond the immediate problem to find the source. I chose to fix what was wrong with our marriage. I remained angry with Meg, but I tried to channel that anger into something that would help both of us in the long run.

By the end of the week, I was sharing a sleeping bag with Meg again. I wasn't ready to have sex with her yet, but it did feel good to hold her in my arms again. Truth be known, I enjoyed cuddling with Meg as much as she enjoyed it. I knew that eventually my anger would fade and I would be ready to take our relationship back, but first I had to get the image of Meg and Phil out of my mind.

By the time we paddled back to the car on Saturday, I had reached a conclusion. For my own ego, I needed to meet Phil. I had to face down the man who had slept with my wife.

Meg wasn't too happy with the idea. She had seen the progress we had made and was afraid that seeing Phil would just set me off again. She also was worried about what I might do. She was concerned that I would confront Phil or let his wife Stacy know about what had happened. She felt miserable about the possibility that she would be involved in the destruction of Phil's marriage.

I told her that I needed her to trust me. I wasn't interested in destroying Phil's marriage. I didn't want to go macho and threaten him to stay away from Meg. I didn't even plan to tell Stacy about Phil's extra curricular activities. But I did want to teach him a lesson and I needed to make sure that he knew that Meg was mine and mine alone.

Facing down Phil was the first step in making a decision about the invitation to join the Competition Committee. We had spent a lot of time last night talking about whether Meg should accept the invitation. Meg wanted to reject it, she didn't want the threat in our marriage and she felt uncomfortable about the invitation. She felt it had been offered to her under false pretenses. She hadn't earned it.

I wasn't so sure. While I did worry about the time she would have to spend away from home, I knew that if our marriage were to survive we needed to learn to trust each other again. I couldn't keep her at home forever. Besides, I was proud of her. Even if she didn't think she deserved to be on the committee, I did. I wanted her to have the forum for her ideas. I just wanted to make sure that her work on the committee didn't affect our marriage. I wanted to make sure that she wouldn't face peer pressure to get back together with Judy, Phil and the gang.

My plan was relatively simple. I wanted to keep Phil off balance. I wanted to meet with him without his being sure what I knew. I would confront him on his own turf because I wanted his wife present. I hoped that I might be able to give him a tasted of his own medicine. When I explained to Meg what I wanted to accomplish, she reluctantly agreed to help me. Although Meg didn't like it, she was willing to trust me.

We packed the car and drove towards Phil's hometown. That night we stopped at a motel and Meg called Phil's house. She explained that we were on our way back from a trip and wanted to meet with him. We had questions about the committee. She told me later that he sounded surprised to hear from her. I think he had expected her to reject the invitation. Reluctantly, he agreed to meet with us the next day after lunch.

He was even more reluctant when Meg told him that I had specifically asked if Stacy could be there too. She said he got alarmed at that, but that he couldn't press her for details because I made sure he could hear me in the background. All she told him was that I wanted to talk to her as well. I hope it worried him. I wouldn't mind if he had a sleepless night wondering if the shit was about to hit the fan.

When we pulled up to Phil's house, he came out to greet us. Phil reminded me of countless jocks that I have known throughout the years. He had the look and the attitude of a big man around campus. He was about 4 or 5 inches taller than I was and looked to be in fairly good shape.

When I got out of the car, he looked me over and dismissed me as a physical threat. I'm used to it. I'm short and thin. More than one jock has underestimated me through the years and often their attitude towards me caused them to underestimate me in all areas. I was counting on Phil to do the same. I would take any advantage I could get.

His smile was forced and uncomfortable. He wasn't used to facing the husbands of his playmates. I wanted to make him sweat as long as I could. So, I shook his hand and looked him in the eye. I stared at him for a moment without letting go of his hand. "So you're Phil. Meg has told me all about the conference. I wanted to meet the man who spent so much time with my wife." My comments were made in a neutral tone. I wanted him wondering just how much Meg had told me.

Phil studied my face for a moment trying to figure out what I knew. I kept my best poker face and he glanced away nervously and escorted us to the patio. We were just sitting down when Stacy came out with a tray of drinks.

If Phil was your typical jock, Stacy was the girl next door. She had a friendly open face and a personality that made you want to like her immediately. She was the type of woman that would be attractive to the guy who preferred Mary Ann to Ginger or Betty over Veronica. In short, she was cute, not beautiful.

I think Phil was surprised when Meg and I started out by asking him legitimate questions about the Committee. We did have concerns and we saw no reason not to get the answers. After a while, he started to relax. He was convinced that Meg hadn't told me what had happened. I caught him giving Meg a couple of speculative glances. He was wondering if Meg had changed her mind about the extra curricular activities.

I decided it was time to shift the focus. "Thanks for answering our questions, Phil. When we were discussing whether Meg should accept the invitation, we realized that we needed more information and you have helped a lot. But, there is one aspect of the committee that I am very concerned about and I hope that both you and Stacy can help us out."

Stacy looked puzzled. "I'm not sure how I can help. I don't know anything about how the committee works."

"It's not the committee I'm worried about Stacy," I replied. "It's the rest of it. I'm concerned about the amount of time that Meg will be away from home. That was why I wanted to talk to you. I don't want our marriage to be affected by our jobs. I wanted to talk to another spouse about what it is like.

"Meg told me the committee meets four times a year and she would have to be away for a about three weeks a year. I don't want to pry, but has this caused any problems for you and Phil? How have you been able to handle the separation?"

Although Phil looked uncomfortable, Stacy smiled. "It hasn't been a problem. Of course I miss him, but I know its something that he needs to do for his job."

"But don't you ever get jealous? I got jealous of Meg by the third day she was at the conference. She was done by 2:30 every day and off doing something. Every night she was out at parties having a good time. I got jealous of all the time she was spending dancing and socializing with the guys at the conference. How do you deal with all the partying that goes on?"

Paul shot me a dirty look. I hadn't accused him of anything, but I was bringing the conversation into dangerous territory. I was raising questions that he didn't want asked. But there was no way that he could stop it without it looking suspicious.

Stacy looked troubled. "What do you mean? What parties?"

I smiled to myself. I had suspected that Phil had not been overly forthcoming with the details of what he was doing while he was away. I couldn't see how he could have and remained happily married. From what Meg had told me, the social club had been going strong for years. That was something I could tell her about. For now, I would keep quiet about the sex, but it was time that she learned about the fun Phil had while he was away.

I told Stacy what Meg had done at the conference. I told her about all of the afternoon activities. I told her about the dinners, the parties and the receptions. I didn't lay it on thick or accuse anyone of doing anything improper. But, I didn't hide the fact that Meg and Phil had spent a lot of time together outside the meetings. Stacy already knew that Phil was part of a social group from the Committee that did a lot together. She just wasn't aware that half of the group were women.

Stacy didn't look too happy. She was shooting angry looks at both Meg and Phil. Meg looked uncomfortable, but didn't look away from Stacy's gaze. Phil was just sitting there with a stunned look on his face. Some of his chickens had come home to roost and he knew that he had a lot of explaining to do.

"That's why I was jealous, Stacy. She was out having a great time and I was stuck at work. From what Meg told me, the Committee meetings are the same. The meetings get done mid afternoon and they all get together to socialize for the rest of the time. Even though I trust Meg, it doesn't mean that I like it when she is out with some guy I don't know." I shot Phil a pointed glance and smiled before turning back to Stacy. "You didn't know about this?"

Phil was halfway to his feet and started to babble some type of explanation, but Stacy got up and stormed from the room without a backward glance. A few seconds later, I heard a door slam in the rear of the house. Phil looked over at me with an angry look on his face.

"What the fuck was that about? Are you trying to screw up my marriage?" He snarled.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." I replied mildly. "All I did was tell her what went on. Something you should have done a long time ago. You're the one that was with my wife."

Phil tried to bluff his way through; "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit." I responded forcefully. "Meg told me about the conference Phil. She told me everything. I know you were flirting with her and how you got paired up at the parties on Monday and Tuesday." I lowered my voice and continued. "She told me about Wednesday night too Phil. She told me about what went on in the hospitality suite. I know you fucked her Phil."

The color drained from Phil ‘s face and he looked over to Meg for confirmation. She didn't look too pleased either. The fact that he had failed to tell Stacy anything bothered her. She was beginning to rethink her opinion of Mr. Phil Grant. Phil started to deny the accusation, but then slumped back down in his chair defeated. "What do you want?" he asked wearily. "Just don't tell Stacy, she'll kill me if she finds out."

"What do I want?" I responded sarcastically. "Can you put my marriage back the way it was? Maybe you can tell me why I should care about your marriage when you obviously didn't care about mine."

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt your marriage." Phil replied desperately. "It didn't mean anything. We were just having fun. I wasn't looking to have an affair with her or anything."

"No, you just wanted to fuck her. You don't think that didn't affect my marriage? Tell you what, if it doesn't mean anything, I'll take Stacy back home with me for the week and just have some fun with her. I'm sure you won't mind, after all, it will just be sex right?"

Phil's eyes blazed at this suggestion and I gave a bitter laugh. "What's the matter Phil, it doesn't seem so innocent when you are the who will sit at home does it? If it didn't mean anything, you wouldn't mind if Stacy did it too. Don't give me any bullshit about it not meaning something. If you're going to fuck around with someone else's wife it means something

"What the fuck is wrong with you anyway." I demanded. "Why are you fucking around when you have a wife like Stacy at home. Don't you know she is going to find out sooner or later? If you keep on fucking around on her she is going to get hurt. If you love her like you said, you'll think about what you are doing and stop it."

Meg had been watching the interplay with interest and decided to chime in. "I can't believe that I almost listened to you. I was ready to trust you when you told me that it wouldn't affect my marriage. I didn't know that your marriage was built on not telling Stacy anything. I hope she tears you a new one.

"I only want one thing from you Phil. Stay away from me."

Phil slumped his head and nodded his acceptance. "Are you going to tell Stacy?" He pleaded.

Meg and I looked at each other for a minute and I finally shook my head. "No, I'll keep your secret for now. Stacy seems like a nice girl and I don't want her to get hurt. But if you ever come near Meg in the future or try to get back at her, telling Stacy is just a small part of what I will do to you. Let's get out of here Meg."

As we left the house, Phil sat there with this head in his hands. I didn't want to ruin his marriage. I just wanted him to learn the consequences of fucking around with my wife. The rest was up to him. I didn't plan on giving him anymore thought. I had my own marriage to save.

Meg and I did make it, although it took time to get our marriage back to where it had been. Trust is a hard thing to earn and easy to loose. It took time before I was able to trust Meg in social situation when I wasn't there. I didn't worry about her looking for trouble; I worried about her getting blindsided again.

But, in time, she showed me that she had learned her lesson. I learned it too. We knew the consequences of screwing up. They were scary enough that neither of us wanted to tempt fate by giving in.

Meg did join the Competition Committee. Together we decided that it was too good of a career opportunity for her to pass up. But, we addressed the social aspects and minimized her time away from the family and me. Meg discovered that it was usually possible to condense the committee meeting trips. The winter meeting became an annual family trip to the capital. We also realized that the kids and I could vacation near the resort where the annual conference was held.

As for Phil, Judy and the rest, their social group didn't last too much longer. The members started to drop out rapidly. Judy and Wayne were the first two to leave. It turned out that they had gotten together on a more permanent basis and were planning on getting married. All of a sudden the idea of maintaining a friends with benefits relationship with Phil, Dee Dee and the rest didn't seem so innocent anymore.

Phil had a change of heart as well. Meg and I scared him when we showed up at his house. He followed our lead and started to bring Stacy and his family to the conferences and meetings. I would see them around occasionally, but for some reason he never wanted to come over to say hi.

With half of the group gone, things weren't as much fun for Dee Dee, Sam, Art and Rachel. It was also more difficult to hide what was going on. I heard rumors of a confrontation between Rachel's husband and Art a few years later, but the matter was hushed up. Rachel did resign from the committee rather abruptly however.

Meg and I are finding more time to spend together. Sarah's a junior now and is starting to think about college. With Brad already in college, we think we are ready to deal with the empty nest. We are looking forward to the chance to spend more time together.