The Jury

My name is Thomas Dixon; I am 46 years old. I have maintained a youthful appearance by regularly working out and swimming. I am 6 foot 1 and weigh 185 pounds. None of it is fat. I am married to Janice. We have been married for ten years. Jan is a good bit younger than I am at 35. She has a very youthful appearance too.

Jan is 5' 7" and is 126 pounds of slim toned sexy looking female. Her C cup bras are well filled. She is an elementary school teacher. We have no children as yet.

I work for a major trucking company as a maintenance manager. I am in charge of our six maintenance shops scattered through the South East. I inspect one shop each week.

Being a pilot makes it possible to for me to do this and usually spend only a couple of nights a month away from home. This is usually governed by the weather. The company plane is set up for instrument flight and I am instrument rated, however I don't take any foolish chances. Some of our shops are not located near major airports and the fields I use often have no towers or instrument navigation systems.

Jan and I have a loving relationship. I enjoy sex and I think she does too although the frequency seems to have fallen off lately. I have had a feeling recently that she is hiding some thing from me. I can't put my finger on what it is. There are certain days she just seems different and I don't know why. I think it is when I go on a trip. I know she hates being alone at night and I do my best to be there for her.

We have a fairly active social life. We have a group of a little over a dozen friends we regularly party with. We seldom get together with the whole group but we do have a few group functions every year.

I usually make my inspection trips on Wednesdays but will go on almost any day so they don't know when to expect me.

Last Saturday I was giving her Toyota a wash job and vacuumed the interior when I was done. I decided to clean out the trunk and had just opened it and noticed a garment bag that appeared to be full of clothing when she ran up and slammed it back down. She said, "Let's go get a hamburger for lunch and then go to the garden shop and get some ideas for the area around the pool."

I said ok, "let me put the Shop-Vac away and change clothes and we can go." She went in the house and I found her in the bedroom putting on her face. She doesn't need or use much make-up. I changed clothes and followed her down to the carport. She got in my truck. We visited our local favorite burger joint. It was not a national chain and we loved their hand made patties. She sat next to me in a booth instead of across from me. She leaned her leg against mine. I looked at her; she smiled and hugged my arm. "I just want to be close to my sweet hubby."

I grinned at her and told her, "I love it! I want to get way closer when we get home. Do you want to go straight home?"

She giggled and said, "Down, Boy! Just hold on 'til we get home after the Garden Shop. OK?"

I pouted but agreed.

When we finally got home and I unloaded the plants we had bought in the back yard by the pool. She helped with a couple plants then said she had to go to the bathroom. She was back in a few minutes. I moved the truck to the carport and went looking for Jan.

She was on the bed nude grinning at me. I wasted little time getting naked as fast as I could. She watched as I peeled off my T-shirt and slipped down my shorts, the jockey shorts with them.

She smiled and reached for my cock as I neared the bed. She pulled my cock to her face and kissed the head gently. She licked and ran her tongue around the head then sucked him into her mouth right to the bottom. I moaned and reached down and caressed her smooth mound. I slipped a finger between her inner lips and felt she was really wet. I turned and looked at her. Her eyes were closed so I pulled gently away from her and moved quickly down between her legs. I pressed my face between her legs and sunk my nose, mouth and tongue into her wet snatch as far as I could. I lapped at the fluids seeping from her pussy. She moaned and pulled my face harder into her sloppy wet cunt. I pulled back and got a much needed breath. I softly inserted my tongue as deep into her vagina as I could and licked every little ridge, lump, bump, and valley I could find. She was shaking and crying out some thing I couldn't understand. I did hear my name repeated time after time. I was tenderly caressing her clit with my tongue keeping it slippery with my saliva and her sweet tasting thick juices. I sucked hard on her clit as it I were trying to give her a hicky there. I maintained the hard suck on her clit until she screamed, "Yes, Yes I love that, oh yes I do. God it is so good I can't stand it any more."

When I touched her clit with the smooth underside of my tongue she really screamed loud. "Please that is all I can stand! It is too damned good. God but it is good. Just hold your mouth where it is, let me savor the feeling for a while. Baby I love you so much. Thank you, oh! Thank you so much." She reached down and pulled me up over her. "In me, I want you inside me right now. Yes! Just like that. No! Don't move yet, just stay still. Now slowly, Yes just like you are doing. Oh! Wonderful! You fill me so full. I just love it like this. God, you are good. Oh! I feel your pulse in your cock. Let me feel your balls. Oh! They are pulled up around the base of your cock. Cum inside me sweetie, fill me with your cum. I feel it spurting up inside me. I love it."

I grasped her, rolled over and pulled her up over me; her legs outside mine, my cock still buried deep inside her.

Saturday evening while she dressed for a dinner date we had with friends. I slipped out and checked the trunk of her car. Nothing was there. No sign of the garment bag I had seen in there that morning. Our dinner date was excellent and we enjoyed being with two old friends.

Monday morning I told Jan I might be late that evening I was going to visit our shop in Roswell Georgia, just north of Atlanta. The day was uneventful except that I had a head wind going south. I wasn't making very good time. I called home around five and got no answer I tried her cell phone and no answer there either. We didn't live far from her school so she should have been home. I tried both phones again and again. No answer!

Finally she answered her cell phone. She said she had been out by the pool and had been swimming too. I told her I was getting ready to land at our home field and would be home soon.

She was slaving away fixing dinner so I decided to take a swim. After I changed I went out to the pool. There was a very dead cat floating around in the pool. It was pretty well swollen up. I fished it out with the skimmer net and buried it out behind the fence. My neighbor Frank saw me and I asked if he were missing a cat. He said no. I gave the pool an extra shot of chlorine. I rinsed off under the outside shower and dried off. I entered the house through the bathroom door. I put on some old shorts and a T-shirt.

I walked in the kitchen and slipped up behind her and kissed her on the back of her neck. She jumped and turned and kissed me on the lips. She smelled very good. I asked if it were a new perfume. She said one of the other teachers let her try some. She wanted o know if I liked it. I said I did. She said she might buy some. I asked when she put it on. She said she had tried it on the lunch break. I didn't ask how it had lasted through swimming and a shower.

I told her the pool had smelled a bit funny to me so I had given it a shock with chlorine. I told her not to swim until I tested it the next afternoon. I had helped her with the dishes and left the garbage by the garage door to take out later. I watched TV after that for a while. I thought I had better take the bag out to the garbage and take the big can out because tomorrow was garbage day. The bag wasn't by the door so I figured she had taken it out already. I went out the patio door to get the big can. As I neared the corner of the house I heard Jan softly talking. I heard her say, "We are going to have to cool it for a few days, I almost got caught this afternoon." There was a pause and I heard her say. "Fine, I'll meet you at the regular time. Nighty night!"

I felt as if I had been kicked in the balls. I couldn't believe what I had heard! I hurried back in the house and sat in front of the TV again. She walked in from the kitchen and said she was going to get ready for bed and that she had put the garbage out."

I looked up at her. "What?"

"You heard me, I put the garbage out. I get tired of bitching at you all the time to do it so I did it myself."

"Hey, I rarely forget to put it out and you never bitch about it, at least not where I can hear it."

"I know sweetie, you are very good about that, I was just teasing you. Are you coming to bed soon?"

"Yeah! I'll be up soon. I needed to think for a while. There could be some other explanation for what I had overheard. I did know I did love my wife with all my heart I couldn't begin to imagine life without her. I couldn't confront her without more than the suspicion I had. I called her at five the next afternoon and she answered right away. I said I was on my way and did she need anything from the store. She said no. It was the same every day that week. Nothing unusual happened the next couple weeks. My trips those weeks were short hops and I was home early.

The following Wednesday the weather was real bad at my destination so I canceled out. I had nothing scheduled at the office so I decided to take Jan out to lunch. I stopped by the school and her room was empty. I thought she might be in the teachers lounge so I stuck my head in and didn't see her. Gloria, one of her friends said, "Hi! Tom you must have forgotten this is Wednesday, Jan is off this afternoon."

"Damn I keep forgetting, how long has it been?'

"All year." She laughed. "You better take your Alzheimer's pill."

"Please don't tell Jan, she'll never let me live it down."

"OK, I won't tell, but you owe me one!" I laughed and walked off. My head was reeling. She had been off on Wednesday afternoons all year." I went home. I checked her computer. I knew her password she thought was secure. I checked her habits and found nothing suspicious. She was emailing no one but family. The only site she visited was a Ballroom Dancing Club. She had visited it several times. She never left a message on their message board and never received any messages either.

I changed my clothes. I noticed he closet door was ajar. I flipped on the light. I hadn't been in her closet in years so I didn't know what to look for. I did see a number of dresses in the back that I had never seen her wear that I could remember. I thought I would remember any of these dresses. A lot were very short and had deep plunging necklines. She had some long sexy dresses too. There had to be a dozen pairs of high heel shoes I had never seen her wear. I walked to our bed and sat with my head in my hands. What the Hell was going on?

I went and sat in the living room. I picked up the phone and called my brother in Virginia. We talked for a while before he asked me what the problem was. I told him everything. He said, "Tom I love Janice, you know that. Damn I can't believe what you just told me. It is just not like her to cheat on you. I know she loves you dearly. She could never do anything to hurt you. Certainly not that! There has to be something we are missing. I would be careful about accusing her of anything. Don't put her in a position where you leave her no way out. Don't paint yourself into a corned either." I told him I would keep him informed.

I was still sitting there when Jan rushed in the house. She looked at me, I couldn't believe you were home; I thought you were in Mobile.

"No Jan, I am here the weather was bad. Aren't you going to give me a kiss?"

"Ah! Er! No, I need to shower first. I am all sweaty from chasing a boy around the room when he got out of control. I'll be back in a second." She blew me a kiss.

When she came back she asked how my day went. I asked her to sit down that I thought we needed to talk about some things that were bothering me.

"Tom, I always have time to talk to you, always."

"Well I feel as if we are drifting apart. Things are not like they used to be."

"I know, I felt that for a while too. Our sex had become sort of routine. Do you know what I mean, Oh! I still love it. You are a wonderful lover. I don't exactly know how to explain it."

"I had the same feeling, I was hoping we could have more days like that Saturday last month."

"Yes, me too! That was wonderful."

"Jan, look at me. Do you want another lover?"

"WHAT?"

"I know you heard me. Have you ever thought about having sex with another man?"

"Of course I have thought about it. It was always just a fantasy, it could never happen; I wouldn't let it happen, I don't want it to happen. Why do you ask?"

"I thought perhaps you might have lost interest in me that way. I don't know, I know a lot of young handsome guys hit on you. I thought you might have found some of them attractive."

"WHAT? Are you accusing me of cheating on you?"

"No, not really, I just feel you are hiding something from me."

Tears were flowing from her eyes. She was having a hard time controlling herself. "I thought you knew how much I love you. No man but you has ever touched me sexually. No woman either. I have never had any desire for another man. I can't believe you think that of me." She stood up and ran weeping from the room. I heard our room door slam. Now what?

We tried to talk the next morning with no better results. I suggested we have a truce for the weekend and not discuss anything to do with our relationship. She agreed and we went out to dinner and had a lovely evening. When we got home I locked up and went to our bedroom only to find the door locked.

I went to the den and fired up the computer. I wrote Janice a note. It said,

Jan,

I feel that by locking the bedroom door you have voided our agreement for truce for the weekend. Since you and I are unable to discuss out relationship in a civil manner I feel it is pointless to attempt to continue trying. If you feel you have something positive and constructive to tell me please contact me. I will wait a reasonable length of time before contacting Joel Templeton to draw up divorce papers. Believe me when I say that a divorce is the last thing in the world I want. I have never changed in the way I feel about you. I have loved you more and more each day since the day we first met. I have reason to believe you cannot say the same thing. I really wish you could. I am available on my cell phone.

Love,

Tom

I printed it out, shoved it under the bedroom door, and picked up a few personal things and left the house. I went over by the interstate to Hawthorne Suites and rented a suite for two weeks. I was having a hard time with this. I really hated being away from her. I was feeling very sorry for myself. I waited all day Sunday for her call. It never came. Well, I guessed I was getting her answer; she didn't want to talk. Finally I picked up the phone to call my brother Jack and found the battery in the phone was dead. Shit! My charger was at home on my desk. I made a few quick calls on the room phone and found no place open where I could buy a charger. I decided to call home and tell Jan my phone was not working.

She answered after the first ring. I told her about my cell phone. She said she had been trying to reach me all day. She swore she still loved only me. She said wanted me to come home, she missed me very much. I asked if she thought we could talk yet. She said she didn't know. She said, "Tom I want this to be over and done with. I just want you back home where you belong. I can't believe how much I miss you. I never realized how much I really and truly need you until you walked out of my life. I just can't do this with out you."

"Will you answer a few questions I have if I come home?"

"I have always been ready to answer any reasonable questions."

"Fine, who have you been seeing while I am gone?"

"WHAT? What are you accusing me of now?" Slam! She hung up on me.

I sat and thought the situation over. I thought she really still loved me. I didn't know if she had another lover. We were getting further apart. This is not what I wanted. I needed help. I called my brother Jack again. I told him the present situation.

Jack said, "Listen I was thinking the other day about a story I read on the net a few years ago. I don't recall the exact details. It was about a couple that had a misunderstanding where each thought the other was guilty of being unreasonable. They called a group of about a dozen of their best friends together and asked for their help in solving the problem before there was a divorce or someone said or did something that couldn't be repaired like trying to get even or something. I could try and help you guys with that if you want me to?"

"How did it work out?"

"It surprised both of the parties. They found out a lot about themselves, including that they were both wrong, and that they were still very much in love. If you would like I can call Jan and see if she would go along with something like that."

"Hell yes, I am ready to try anything."

"OK, I guess you will both have to agree to be bound by whatever solution the group arrives at."

"I don't see that as a problem. If they are our friends they should want what is best for each of us. If I am found to be in the wrong I will do what ever it takes to fix it."

"Fine, I'll talk to Jan and get back with you. Meanwhile you make a list of about 14 people you would want in the group. Jan will supply a similar group. We will combine the groups and see where we are. OK?"

"That sounds fair if we have the option of refusing to have someone we don't like or trust in the group."

"How about if each of you has two refusals. OK?"

"That would be fair."

"I'll call you back, Tom."

It was several hours before he called back. She had agreed to everything and suggested sending invitations to each member of the group we agreed upon. There must be a minimum of ten people on the combined list so each of us could pick as many as you wanted.

"Tom, that girl loves you with all her heart, or she is the worlds greatest actress. I just pray both of you come to your senses. Jan suggested we set a date two Saturdays away from now. We need to put that on the invitation. Is that good with you? I am going to ask each of you to write an invitation to the meeting to be sent to each person. Both of you will invite people. You can try and slant the invitation any way you like. I told Jan the same thing and I also suggested you stress how important this meeting is to your lives and your marriage. You are placing your future in the hands of your friends. Please e-mail a copy of your list to Jan and she will send one to you."

I sat at the desk in the living room of my suite and made out a list. My list included Jan's mother and father and mine too. I included my brother Jack and his wife Joy. Our next-door neighbors, Frank and Sal Burk were on my list. I added Jan's sister Nan and her husband Teddy. My old college roomy Zack Bronson and his wife were on my list too. My last four picks were Bernie Swartz and his wife Janelle along with Tyrell Jackson and wife Priscilla.

Bernie is a psychiatrist and his wife is a lawyer. Tyrell is a judge and his wife is a nurse. I couldn't think of a single one I would think Jan would want off the list. She was very fond of every one of them. There were several on the list I thought were not too fond of me but I knew both of them would seek out the truth. That is what I wanted.

I received Jan's list and compared it with mine. There were only two names that were not on mine. I had no objections to either of them.