PTA

Again, I just wanted it over so I could move on.

"Are you coming to bed?" she asked, a short time later.

"Maybe later," I said.

"Luke, what's going on?" she asked. "For the past 2 days, you've been avoiding me. I want to know why. Did I do something to upset you?"

"Dana, for the past 2 months, you've been distant and acting weird towards both Sasha and me. Do you want to tell us why? What about the mood swings, you've been going through? We never know which Dana is coming home. Maybe we're just trying to give you some space to get your head out of your ass." I hadn't intended to start this but it was all coming out.

I got up and grabbed my car keys before I said something I'd regret.

"Where are you going?" she asked. It looked like she was about to cry.

"I'm going out for a drive, to calm down before this gets even more out of control," I said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked. "Maybe we could talk."

"Nope, there's no point in waking Sasha, because we aren't getting along," I said. "Or were you planning on leaving our daughter in the house alone, while we were out? Maybe it's just that you forgot about her because I'm usually the one who takes care of her?"

Dana started crying. She reached for me and I pulled away from her. "Luke, I love you, and I love Sasha too. You know that."

"You have a funny assed way of showing it," I growled as I closed the door.

Driving my Mustang at night has its own magic. The faces of people on the street as I passed them were fun to look at. They heard the car's engine a bit before they saw the car. They tended to watch me long after I'd gone by them.

As I drove, I wondered what was going through Dana's mind. She had a husband and a daughter who worshipped the ground she walked on. Why would she risk that just to fuck some other guy? Our sex life all the way until 2 days ago was pretty vigorous, even after 14 years. I was also not huge but above average in the size department. I just couldn't figure it out. Was she bored with what we did? Maybe I was just being a guy. Maybe this was about more than just sex.

I guess guys always tended to think that when someone cheated, it was about sex. Maybe I was doing or not doing something in a completely different area. But it had to be more than just sex, or me, because she was treating Sasha differently too?"

I drove around and wasted gas for about an hour before heading home. When I got there all of the lights were out, so I assumed that Dana was asleep.

I took a quick shower and slipped into bed. My intention was to stay as far away from her as I could. At least until I found out whether or not she was actually cheating on me. I had been productive during my drive. I had come up with at least 5 or 6 reasons for her flakey behavior. She could have had a secret gambling addiction. One of the women who'd been friends with my mom went through that. She was sneaking out of the house and driving to a casino at least once or twice a week for a couple of years before her husband found out.

He never would have found out if she hadn't gotten way over her head and had to bet their mortgage payments. Once she missed that third payment and the mortgage company called him at work all hell broke loose. But in the end they got her some help and stayed together.

Another possibility was that Dana was hooked on some kind of drugs. I guess it only showed how fucked up I was, that I'd prefer to have her gambling or on drugs than fucking someone else.

Almost as soon as my head hit the pillow she slid over near me. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've been stressed out at work lately. I guess I didn't realize it until you said something. Is there anything I can do to make you forgive me?"

"Treat Sasha better," I snapped.

"Well for right now I was thinking about something more personal," she said, rubbing her hands up and down my stomach. As her fingers neared my pubic region I grabbed her hand and moved it.

"What's wrong?" she asked. I could tell she was kind of shocked. In 14 years I had never, not been in the mood.

"I need to get to sleep," I said. "I have a big day tomorrow, so I'll need all of my energy." Then I rolled over and moved even further away from her.

"But..." she began.

"Goodnight Dana," I said.

The next morning, for some reason, I felt great. I looked through the files in our home office and made copies of all if the tax documents that Ann Wilson had asked for. Within hours, Barracuda would have all of the information she needed to go forward with my divorce. All we needed now was the proof. I really hoped that Little Joe had something for me.

I've heard a couple of things over the years from married couples and divorced ones that I guessed I'd always thought might be true. One was the old chestnut about how you couldn't turn off love like a light switch, unless you had never really loved the person. I really believe that's false now. I think it depends on the situation and the people involved.

In my case until 3 days prior, I had loved Dana with all of my heart and soul. She's the mother of my daughter and I really thought and hoped that we'd grow old together. But the realization that she'd betrayed me had simply changed my feelings for her. If she had cheated on me we could still grow old, but it wouldn't be together.

The second old wives tale was that the husband never knew when the wife cheated. The guys are always painted as being clueless. Unless the poor sap came home early and found the proverbial strange car in the driveway, he never found out. Even then sometimes the wife came up with a clever lie, and convinced the guy that nothing was going on. Basically the only way the husband ever finds out is to catch them in the act.

None of those scenarios described me at all. I needed to get Dana out of my life, but that wouldn't be totally possible for a while. She was Sasha's mother. For at least the next 8 years we'd have custody issues. Then we'd both probably have to go to graduations and her wedding. Then there'd be the births of children. Hopefully after a few years I'd find someone else and get over her cheating ass. Maybe my skin would stop crawling when I saw her too.

At lunchtime I faxed copies of the documents over to Ann's office. So she could start on the papers. My afternoon seemed to drag after that. I kept thinking back to how much I loved Dana when we'd first gotten together. I had to get myself together. My mood swings were as bad as hers. I kept alternating between hating her guts, and wishing she wasn't doing this so we could stay together. I thought about marriage counseling. I thought about maybe trying to forgive her and get past this. The thought lasted for about a picosecond.

There was simply no way I could forgive her, if it was true. I also considered the fact that I was guilty too. I mean I had, from time to time fantasized about other women. I'd even been running a little mental crush on Dana's new teacher all week. But there was a difference between thinking about someone in favorable terms, and actually fucking someone outside of your marriage. Most guys are always going to look at hot women, and think about it. But when you actually do something about it, a line has been crossed.

Dana called me at work, and I didn't take her call. She tried my cell, but I didn't answer it either. She left me a message telling me how much she loved me, and how we needed to talk. I deleted it after listening to it.

I picked Sasha up from school at the normal time. She was excited about something, but I didn't remember what was supposed to happen that day.

"Dad, are we going to eat first or are we going straight to the park?" asked Sasha.

"Who said we were going to the park today?" I asked.

"Oh, no," she said. "You forgot didn't you? You're supposed to be helping out with the track club today."

We drove home and I changed into a track suit. I figured that was what the volunteers and coaches would wear. I was ready to leave when Sasha told me to grab my iPad. I brought it out and handed it to her.

"Thanks Dad," she said. "That way I have something to do while I'm watching you watch people run."

When we got to the park I took a look around to see where all of the kids were. The park was bowl shaped. The parking lot was at the top and you had to walk downhill to get to the trails and the other activities the park offered.

Just past the unused tennis courts I saw a group of familiar faces, and some parents too. I saw a couple of kids that Sasha hung out with from time to time and their mothers or fathers.

I went over and joined the group. A few minutes later I looked back up the hill and saw a Jeep pull into the parking spot next to my Mustang. Gianna got out of it and was talking to Sasha. As she walked down the hill, I noticed that she had on a track suit too.

I think every one of the fathers there, gulped together when she came over and introduced herself. One guy, who had only seconds ago been talking about how he'd be glad when the teacher got there so he could leave, sat down to watch. Inwardly I was laughing my ass off. She obviously had the same effect on them that she'd had on me. Wait until they heard that voice and her accent.

Gianna called all of the kids together and introduced me as her assistant or co-coach. She explained that this was only a cross country club, not an official team yet. We would get together to run twice a week for now. But she told them that she expected them to run on their own as well. If things worked out well for us, in the fall there would be tryouts for a cross country team, and we'd have meets against other elementary schools.

She told the parents that they could either stay or come back in an hour to pick their kids up. Most of them were leaving until she got ready to run. When she pulled off her track pants and stood there in her shorts, every man there decided to stay.

We got all of the kids together and after a brief warm-up went on a slow group run through the trails.

I took up a position, trailing behind the group, in case someone got hurt or couldn't keep up the very slow pace we ran at. After a while it became clear that all of the kids were capable of running faster than we were running that day. Even the uhm...chunky kids were ahead of me. Gianna slowly drifted back to me on our second lap of the trail.

"Hey there," she said smiling. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head.

"That bad?" she asked. "I've been thinking about it, and I guess I wanted to apologize to you."

"What do you need to apologize for?" I asked.

"Well, I ran our conversation back through my mind a couple of times. I guess I was kind of insensitive," she said.

"How were you supposed to know that I was stupid enough to believe my wife was in the PTA, and never check on the meeting dates?" I asked.

"That's not being stupid," she said. "That's called trusting. It's a good thing. It's the sign of a good person."

"If I'm a good person, why do I feel so bad?" I asked her.

"Oh, it hurts really badly in the beginning," she said. "But then after a while...it gets worse!"

I smiled at her expression, and tone. Some of the kids had even noticed the sour note in her voice.

"It sounds like you've been there," I said. "But I find that so hard to believe."

"Why, because I'm cute," she laughed. Her laugh was totally fucked up. It started out like a giggle and then ended on a snort. "My ex was so jealous of every man that even looked at me sideways, that I couldn't go anywhere, or do anything. I'd have loved to have someone that gave me the simple gift you give your wife, trust. It really means a lot. If you don't trust someone, then how can you ever really believe that you love them?"

"On the other hand, even though he didn't trust me as far as he could throw my car, he was the one who was sleeping around." My mouth dropped open. "He was an explorer. So after he had conquered me, he needed to find new conquests to keep from getting bored. He fought the divorce tooth and nail. But finally it was over and I moved on. That was three years ago and I'm just getting to the point where I can stand to be around men."

"I'll try my best not to act like a man then," I said. "Damn men, I hate them all."

"I don't hate men," she smiled. "I just went through a lot of bitterness and self pitying. Where I come from, if you can't keep your man happy, you're just not much of a woman."

"Uhm...you're very much of a woman," I sputtered. The whole time we'd been running together, it had been hard for me to keep my eyes off of her ass, in those tight shorts. Her legs also seemed to be incredibly long and sensual. Her breasts while not nearly as big as Dana's were simply perfect for her body.

"Noticed that, did ya?" she smiled. Her smile told me a lot. First that she was definitely interested in me on some level. It also let me know that she knew the effect that she had on men, and wasn't above flaunting it and flirting a little bit.

After the second lap we took the kids back to the clearing we'd started the run from. We had them do a few stretching exercises, told them how great they'd done and sent them home with their parents. Several of the parents came over to ask questions. Most of the men wanted to know how I got to be her assistant and if there were any other openings.

As we walked back up to the parking lot after the last kid was gone. Sasha came bounding out of the car. "Dad, can we go to Pizza Hut?" she asked.

"I guess so," I smiled.

"Good," she said. "It's Ms Marshall's favorite restaurant."

"So Ms. Marshall, since it's your favorite restaurant?" I hinted.

"Well, Mr. McCain, I'd love to join you. But why don't we make it forty-five minutes from now. That way the two of us can shower and change. You have to be comfortable to eat pizza," she laughed.

"Okay, see you then," said Sasha. "Come on Dad, you need a shower."

Forty five minutes later Sasha and I got out of the Mustang in front of the town's only Pizza Hut. We went inside and got a table. We were looking over the menus when Gianna showed up and every guy in the place turned to look at her. She smiled at me, and I could feel it from across the room. I could also feel the scrutiny of all of the guys there. It made me wonder what it would be like to be in a relationship with someone like that. How would you deal with all of the guys constantly hitting on her?

I did the gentleman thing and pulled her chair out from the table for her. We had a great time, and we all ate a lot of Pizza. Sasha spent some time playing Video games so Gianna and I had some time to talk. It was kind of a magical night.

Gianna asked me how my marital situation was going, and I filled her in. She shook her head and told me that it would get a lot worse before it got better.

"Wait until you're in your lawyer's office arguing over a coffee table that neither one of you really wants," she said. "You just get to the point where you don't want to give that person a single thing more than they've already taken from you."

"Sorry, this must be a terrible first date for you," she smiled.

"This is a date?" I said. I wasn't sure that I was ready for dating yet. What if I found out that Dana wasn't cheating on me. What if it was just gambling? That would make me the cheater wouldn't it?"

I knew that I should say something to her about it, but damn it, I didn't. I just let the night go however it did.

Sasha got so tired from playing her video games and hanging out with the kids at Pizza Hut that I had to carry her into the house and put her to bed. We'd stayed out a lot longer than I'd planned. It was mostly because Gianna was so easy to talk to. She was like a wind-up toy. You just wound her up and watched her go, she would tell you anything you wanted to know about anything.

I got into bed and tried not to wake Dana up, but she rolled over and hugged me as soon as I got to bed. "Where'd you guys go?" she asked.

"Pizza Hut," I replied.

"I wondered why your iPad wasn't on the desk. Sasha played with her friends and ate pizza, while you were surfing the net for car parts, right. You're a good Dad, sweetie. And you're a wonderful husband. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting," she said. "I love you Luke. Can we please start the make-up sex now?"

Even in the low moonlight shining in through the windows I could see Dana's huge breasts. She'd come to bed naked determined to give me some bastard's sloppy seconds. There was no way I was going to fuck her until I knew whether or not she was cheating on me.

"Tonight's not good," I said, leaving her even more shocked than she'd been the night before. "I think I'm coming down with a cold, I don't want to give it to you." I wished that I could have read Dana's mind as she sat there glaring at me. Didn't she think that I knew what was going on, or did she think I was still stupid?

The next morning I quickly left again after waking Sasha up and asking her not to tell her mother about the night before.

"She hardly talks to me anyway Dad, why should this morning be any different," said Sasha.

I was sitting at my desk a couple of hours later, lost in thought as usual when I got a package delivered by messenger. I signed for it and opened it. Inside the envelope were 2 diskettes and a sheaf of papers. I put one disk into my computer and played it. There were four files on the disk. I played the one with the previous Wednesday's date on it. It showed Dana going into a cheap motel with a really tall guy. I could barely make out who he was. Then inside the room I saw them closer. It was Chuck Connors, a guy she worked with. I watched long enough to see that they weren't playing cards; then I turned the disk off.

I guess some guys would have wanted to watch the whole thing. Even sicker guys would probably want to watch it multiple times and maybe even jack off to it. I just felt like throwing up. Gianna was right of course, as bad as it was wondering and thinking that she'd been cheating on me. It was far worse seeing it. Especially when seeing some of the things that she let him do to her, that she had never allowed me to think about. I made a copy of the DVD to send to Ann. Then I copied the phone conversations disk and sent a copy of both disks and the papers, which detailed who Chuck Connors was, when they'd gotten together, and other information.

I called Ponderosa Investigations and thanked them for a job well done. I also discontinued their services because they were no longer needed and they were expensive.

Ann called me a couple of hours later. She told me that everything was ready. The papers had already been prepared she'd only needed Chuck's name so I could sue him too. In our state you couldn't sue for alienation of affection or anything like that. I was suing him for mental anguish, because of the stress that he'd helped to put on my daughter and me, from his affair with Dana.

Ann told me that there was a very real possibility that we wouldn't collect a dime from Chuck. The reason we were suing him was to let his wife and family know about what he'd done, and basically fuck up his life. When we sued the company they worked for they'd both probably get fired. And with the suit against him in the public record, anyone who considered hiring him in the future who ran a background check could run across it. It was a nice touch. Ann was obviously worth every nickel she was charging me.

She also explained to me that unlike on TV we weren't going to roll out all of our ammunition together. That would be stupid. We went for the divorce first. After the settlement agreement had been signed and approved by the judge. Then we sued Chuck and the company. That way at the time the judge approved everything Dana would have her income, so the settlement would be relatively fair. Then after the judge approved it, we hit Chuck and the company. Since Dana would have lost her job after the settlement had been approved it wouldn't be our fault that she was broke and homeless.