Turn Back Time

"She yelled room service and just stepped into the room. He still had all of his clothes on and he was sitting at the window sill staring out at the car. She hinted around that if he was interested in ANYTHING she might be available." Dulce stopped talking and smiled a little smile to let me know that she'd noticed my interest.

"Not that it matters to you but he told her, "Thanks," but he wasn't interested. He also told her that it had been about eight years since he'd even thought about doing that. Claudine still wants to marry him. I think she thinks that he needs Viagra or something. But when she told me it set off my alarm bells ringing."

"Everything sets off your alarm bells ringing," I said.

"I have to admit," she said. "When I first saw him, I thought he might be perfect for you. He's about your age. He's good looking. He's polite and he keeps a very neat room. Then I found out the rest so it's your turn to tell me about it."

"Tell you about what?" I asked.

"Blanche," she said. "You have the same last name that he has. You come from the same town he lives in. And all of the girls told me that you nearly passed out when you looked up and saw him when he saved you from nearly being smacked by that puta's customer."

"He's your ex-husband and you still love him don't you?" she asked. "He's the reason why for the past eight years your pussy has been sewed up so tightly that nothing put soap, water and tampons can get into it."

As she looked at me, I did what I swore I'd never do again. I swore I was done crying about the things I'd lost. I swore my holiest oath that I would put the past behind me and never cry about Denton Dewitt again. And as the tears rolled unimpeded down my cheeks, I broke that promise yet again.

Instantly Dulce was on me, cradling me in her tiny arms and rubbing my back. She didn't say a word. She knew just what to do. She just held my hand and touched me until I got myself back together. Dulce is the epitome of a best friend. She's the kind of person who can just sit there with you for an hour and neither of you ever says a word but you leave the experience thinking that it was the best conversation you've ever had.

"Come on, honey," she said. "You can tell me about it at lunch. I'm buying." That was a shock. This was obviously important to her. Dulce and her husband Robert had four kids. They both worked but they still squeezed every penny so hard that Lincoln shit.

As we left via the back door, we had to walk past it. It felt creepy, kind of like when you have to go to class with your boyfriend's new love. You can't help but look her over and try to figure out what she has that makes him love her so much when he doesn't love you anymore.

Dulce caught me looking at it and gave me that look. "What?" I asked.

"It's not him," she said. "It's just his frigging car. It's not like it's a baby and he got custody of it."

Seeing my reaction it was her turn to ask. "What?" she asked.

"Den loves Mustangs," I told her. "He didn't have this one when we parted, so it's kind of like checking out his new love."

"Two things," she said quickly. "Number one, it's a tiny ass car with a great big motor that makes a lot of noise. The gas mileage is shitty. These cars are designed for two purposes. The first is to go fast and show off for other guys. The second one is to get pussy. You apparently don't want other guys since no one has been in your saddle since this guy dumped you. And I don't think you're interested in pussy since you have one of your own that I might add is going unused. The second thing is that he's probably sitting his ass on the window sill staring at the car right now."

I remembered what she'd said about Claudine so I started to walk away.

"Wait," she said, all of a sudden. "Does he really love this car?"

"He really loves all Mustangs and everything to do with them," I said. Without warning she pushed me and I lost balance and ended up leaning against the car. She grabbed me around my waist and began moving me back and forth.

"Come on," she said. "Shake it girl." Then she turned me around and had me do the same thing.

"What the fuck was that all about?" I asked.

"Exactly," she smirked. "Just in case."

I was totally puzzled. "Dogs do it," she said. "And just in case there's some kind of mystical connection between him and that car. At any rate by rubbing your ass and your hoo hah all over his car you're marking your territory. And if he really loves this car...and your pussy is all over it..." her voice dropped off.

"I still don't get it," I said.

"Transference," she said. "It's like they learn in psychology 101. If you're really pissed about something and someone reminds you of whatever you're pissed about, you tend to transfer the anger to that person even when they haven't done shit to you. If he really loves this car and your pussy is all over it, maybe..." We both burst out laughing as we headed to her car.

Dulce's car was a nightmare. I was very sure it wasn't street legal. The car had no airbags, the brakes squealed like the hinges on the gates to hell and the backseat wasn't bolted in. Just to keep the cops from stopping us the car had seat belts but they just wrapped around the seat giving the illusion that you were buckled in. Only one headlight was functional. The brake lights were on all of the time even when the brakes weren't on and its top speed was a jaw dropping 41 miles per hour. Of course, it took a minute and a half to get up to that speed and the car shook like a dog after a bath once you got past 35.

We'd actually tried to go on the freeway in it once. With the screaming and groaning of the car's frame and all of the shaking, I expected Scotty from Star Trek to jump out of the back seat and start screaming, "She can't take any more sir. The warp drives are about to implode and the dilithium crystals will be damaged. Then we'll really be fucked."

Luckily, the Pizza Hut that Dulce loved was only three blocks away and the speed limit was thirty all the way there. I still kept an eye on the speedometer because Dulce had a lead foot and it would be like her to try and push her luck going for thirty five just so she could say she'd done it.

"Okay," she said, after we were seated and before they brought us our pizza. "Spill it. Unleash this sad tale of lost love." She didn't realize it but that was what it really was. "How did he fuck up and what will it take to make you take him back? You also need to be mindful of the fact that your life's work is cleaning up other people's shit for barely over minimum wage, while the man of your dreams is driving a customized forty thousand dollar car. So think about forgiveness." I nodded.

"There's also the fact that you'll be forty next year and your biological clock is ticking so God damned loudly that I can hear it," she said. I nodded again. "A couple of times last week you looked so horny, I started to mount you myself. And the girls are complaining about you in the locker room."

"Why are they complaining about me?" I asked.

"Well, I didn't want to say anything," she began "Remember how steamy it used to be in the locker room?" I nodded my head. We'd considered buying a dehumidifier for the ladies locker room to prevent mildew and mold.

"They say that your pussy is so dry it just sucks all of the moisture out of the air down there, so it's fine now," she smirked. "So no one complains about the locker room anymore."

"Can I just tell the story?" I asked. She smiled and nodded.

"Before I came here, I was married," I began. "I was a legal secretary. I'd been the secretary for a lawyer in a big law firm and when he retired his son took over his position. His son was only a few years older than I was so I thought it was a great thing. My husband, Denton, worked as a staff engineer for one of the plants near our neighborhood. Back then, young engineers didn't make very much money for their first few years out of college so we actually made similar salaries."

"I loved Denton like there was no tomorrow and I was sure that he felt the same way about me. To him, the sun shone out of my ass. Hm...maybe that was why he was always licking around down there. And these," I said lifting my breasts. "These were the things he most loved to suck on first thing in the morning. I tried to get him to try coffee; although I was glad he liked them better."

"Anyway things were going great, we had the whole plan. We'd both work for a few years until Denton started to make some serious money. We figured that by the time I was thirty two, I'd be able to quit working and start making babies. We both wanted a house full of kids. "

"Things got kind of interesting at work. My new boss, Mr. Bryant junior, was nothing like his father. The father was very polite and very stuffy. He was as sweet as the day is long. The younger version was less formal. When he won a case it was like we all won something. Before I knew it we'd started going out for drinks to celebrate when we won cases. Then we were just going out for drinks sometimes period and before I knew it, one of those times I'd gotten a little bit too drunk and ended up in bed with him."

"Denton was always at the plant late anyway and Mr. Bryant got into my head telling me that Denton would never find out and I needed a little bit of relaxation occasionally. He also started giving me bonuses whenever we slept together. It continued for a few months until I got a pregnancy scare. I was so afraid that I was going to lose my husband that I didn't know what to do. It turned out that I had a cyst in my reproductive tract and it required surgery."

"Denton was there with me the whole time and I felt so guilty. Somehow though he found out how I'd discovered the problem with the whole pregnancy scare thing and it just all came out. We had words. I guess he wanted me to..."I had to stop for a while because I was crying by then.

"Denton walked out of the hospital and I didn't see him again until I went home a few days later. I'd stayed in the hospital a few days longer than necessary to give him time to cool off. Mr. Bryant had told me how to handle him. He told me to go in from a position of strength. He told me that Denton loved me. He told me that Denton needed me as much or more than I needed him."

"He told me that if I showed any sign of weakness, I'd lose Denton. I was a fool. Denton wasn't trying to fight with me. And he did love me. After it was all over I spoke to several of our friends. They were convinced that all Denton had ever wanted was to talk to me and maybe an apology and for me to promise that I'd quit working for Bryant."

"Maybe it was what Mr. Bryant had said or maybe it was just my guilt but I did the dumbest thing I'd ever done in my life. I argued with Denton. I said some awful things to him. I accused him of spending his time at the plant with another woman. I told him that I'd sought out someone else because he wasn't getting the job done lately. Before I was even done talking he walked out the door. As he was leaving I swore to him that I didn't care if he left or not. But I lost everything then and there."

"I sank down on the floor of our living room and started crying my eyes out. When I went to work the next day my Bryant told me I looked like shit and I should take the day off. I told him that I'd done what he asked and it hadn't worked. He told me that I was better off not married any way. Women like me should be free to play the field. He tried to fuck me right there on his desk. I couldn't believe it, my heart was broken and he was basically calling me a whore and trying to fuck me."

"I told him that I'd take his advice and go home. He got angry at me and told me that despite my marital problems I needed to be ready to work the next day. He made it seem like my job was at risk. I was beginning to see what a fool I'd been by then. I tried talking to some of my friends and all of them agreed that I'd been a fool. One of my co-workers even told me that I wasn't the first married woman that Bryant had an affair with and I probably wouldn't be the last."

"Then I started doing that thing that women do that men hate us so much for. I started to scheme. We always assume that we're much smarter than men when in reality women are just more devious. A man will come at you straight up when there's an issue between you. Women always tend to come at problems sideways or sneak up and lower the boom."

"I went to the doctor and told him I was having pain in the region around where I'd had the surgery. He put me back in the hospital for a battery of tests. Since I was still on Denton's health care insurance, I was sure that they'd notify him and he'd come to visit me. I had to do something because he was refusing to take my calls both at work and on his cell phone."

"Well my plan worked or at least I thought it had. The very first day that I was in the hospital, I got a phone call. Not from Den himself, but from his secretary. She told me that he was out of town on business but that he'd found out about me being in the hospital. He was rushing straight home and would be in to see me tomorrow. I was sure that he still loved me. He'd dropped his business trip to come and see me. If that wasn't love I didn't know what it was."

"Denton showed up bright and early the next morning with a bouquet of flowers and a big smile. He rushed over to the side of my bed and as we saw each other we couldn't help smiling. I was smiling because my plan had worked. I thought he was smiling because he was glad that I was okay and he was ready to take me back. He told me that there was someone else there to see me so he'd go wash his hands while I spoke to her."

As he walked out of the room I didn't even notice that he'd put his coat back on at first. All I was wondering was who the woman was. She came into the room and looked around to see if anyone else was there. She was young. She looked like a college student. She had that fucking attitude that all of the college girls have today. You know kind of like, "I'm so pretty my shit doesn't stink." She looked bored to me. She came over to the bed and she was chewing gum. She cracked it a couple of times before she spoke. "Are you Blanche Dewitt?" she asked. I nodded my head. She handed me a stack of papers, cracked her gum one more time and said, "Get well soon. You've been served. Have a nice day."

"I work in a fucking legal office so I knew what had just happened. I couldn't believe that Denton had been that fucking devious. He had played me like a cheap fiddle. I looked over the papers and saw that he was still playing nice though. He was asking for an uncontested divorce instead of treating me the way I deserved. He was offering a fifty/fifty split which was more than fair. Especially since on paper I'd made more than he had the previous year. Our base salaries were approximately the same but with my bonuses from sleeping with my boss I was ahead."

"I called the lawyer that he'd hired. I asked him if there was any way to avoid the divorce. I was willing to go to counseling or anything else. I just wanted to save my marriage at any cost. The lawyer laughed at me. He explained to me that Denton had hired him weeks prior to this and he'd been there when all Denton wanted from me was an apology. I'd lied and schemed and tried to bullshit my way through the whole process and it was obvious to him that I cared more about fucking my boss than I did my marriage."

"He told me that Denton would have to be a fool to take me back and he hung up on me. My phone rang again almost immediately. There was a hysterical crying man on the line. At first I smirked, because I thought it was Denton. It wasn't; Denton had not only trumped my plan, he had raised the stakes significantly. The crying man on the phone was Bryant. Denton had named him in our divorce case. He'd been served papers at the same time I had this morning while he was having breakfast with his wife."

"Bryant's wife had gone ape shit. She'd thrown him out of their house and was divorcing him as well. She'd also temporarily cut off any contact between him and their children. But that wasn't all. Denton had written a letter about the circumstances of our divorce and sent copies of it not only to Bryant's father but to all of the senior partners of our law firm. He was suing the firm as well since our affair as he called it had taken place during and in connection with the firm's business."

"The lawyer Denton had hired was looking into releasing the details of the story to the press. They'd also sent a copy of the letter to the local bar association. They'd already started an investigation and Bryant might lose his license. There was also a chance that the firm might be investigated. Denton had really stirred up a shit storm. When Bryant stopped crying he got angry at me. He told me that it was all my fault. There was no way he should lose his wife, his family, his marriage, his license, his position with the firm, his career and his father's and children's respect just because he fucked some common whore who was begging for it."

"I laughed my ass off until he hung up the phone still crying. I started crying myself because I realized then that Denton had gone nuclear. He'd still been very gentle with me but with everyone else concerned he'd gone for broke. Too late, I never realized that Bryant thought of me as just something to be used for his pleasure and thrown away when he was tired of me. I was just another perk of the job to him, no better than a slave. And I'd thrown away the one man who had always treasured me beyond everything else just so that asshole could use me."

"I started crying all over again. The phone rang in the middle of my tears. It was the firm of course. They got one of the senior partners to explain to me that they were settling out of court quickly with Denton to avoid any bad publicity that would embarrass the firm or their clients. Since Bryant hadn't coerced me or threatened me in any way to get me to sleep with him, they considered me just as liable as he was. So basically I was fired. There was no need for me to rush back to work to pack my personal items, they taken the liberty of having someone pack up my desk and transport my things to my house where they'd been left on the front porch. My final paycheck and the balance of my vacation and sick pay had already been direct deposited into my account."

"The next call was the one I dreaded the most; my parents calling to ask me if it was true. Denton had gone by to tell them how sorry he was that he wouldn't be seeing much of them anymore. He hadn't told them why, he'd left that up to me. I didn't even tell them the truth. My dad supported me through the entire thing. I'll never forget the look of pain in his eyes when we went to court for the actual divorce proceedings. Denton didn't show up since it wasn't necessary. I'd gone hoping he'd be there and that we could talk and cancel the divorce.

My dad went to support me emotionally. He flipped out and called Denton all kinds of cowards and bastards for abandoning me and giving up on our marriage without even the benefit of talking to me about it. That was when the lawyers explained to him how I'd been the one who cheated on Denton and he wasn't there because he was still so hurt by it that he rarely ever left his house."

"My dad turned to me with a smile on his face because until he looked in my eyes, he'd been sure that they were making it all up. When he did look at me, it was as if a large part of his world and sanity just collapsed. He never said a word to me for the rest of the proceedings or the drive home. He didn't call me or come by for weeks afterwards either. In fact, the next time I saw him was at Thanksgiving. My mom had called to invite me over a few days earlier. I really think they only invited me because it would have been awkward not to. I could tell because they were always cheerful when speaking to my sister and brother in law, but there were long awkward silences when I spoke or anyone spoke to me."