Two Wrongs Ch. 02

The potatoes came out a nice golden brown, the steak was tender. He sat down and ate, thinking of nothing at all. He was getting so that he could deliberately make his mind go blank, that seemed to help.

The first hearing went about like he expected, Kathy demanded access to the house but it was denied because Carl was living there and also had full title. The judge decided that since Kathy had a job, there was no hurry. It could all wait until they got all the details of who had paid what.

The deciding factor there came when Jeff presented the police report on Kathy sending them to the house. The report stated that Carl had been very calm while Kathy had been "upset and hysterical". Then when Carl's lawyer told the judge that Carl was trying to keep the peace against a "potentially violent" wife, Kathy had jumped to her feet.

"You lying son of a bitch!" She screamed, as her own lawyer tried to get her to sit down.

Jeff had a smile on his face as he returned to the table.

He did have to pack up and give her some of her clothes, a few pieces of jewelry that didn't amount to much. He felt an even stronger flash of anger when he packed her underwear drawer, he wondered just how many pieces of that Jerry had seen. Then he found a sack with some brand new lingerie with the sales reciept. All of it was skimpy. That really irritated him, the last bill from the clothing store was on the desk at home.

"Shake this one out at the final hearing." The bored looking judge had said. Carl wasn't looking forward to that.

It turned out to be just luck that Kathy had stayed over at Jerry and Patty's house instead of going home. If she had, things might have been different but she was so sure of convincing Carl to forgive and forget she just hadn't done that.

Of course it was still possible that Jerry and Kathy were still going at it, there was just no way to be sure.

The shock of discovering that Kathy was cheating had caused his initial reaction, which was to just lock himself inside his house, away from her. Get away from the source of the pain, it was all he could think to do. Then Jerry had sent his wife Patty over to seduce Carl, like this would somehow makes things even?

Even seeing her naked, beautiful, to Carl that was meaningless. His reaction then was to run, get completely away from it all and he had.

The next discovery was Kathy's sudden shifts from being sorry, begging, to flashes of rage at him like it was somehow his fault? He had noticed that before, but now the swings were more extreme.

Before he had always just given in, it seemed to make her happy.

He realized finally that there had been years of manipulation, Kathy getting her way with everything, beginning with them buying a home far too expensive. It had forced Carl to work until exhaustion day after day just to barely make ends meet.

He thought then of her many long nights working late, the evenings she spent at the gym. How many of those had been trysts he would never know about?

Now she was living at her lover's house with him and her lover's wife? That all just seemed to be crazy to Carl.

But one thing did change. Carl was past being upset, sick.

Carl was mad.

Still, some things required proof, Carl really had no proof, not anything convincing anyway. If all he had seen himself was the photo he had taken, he very likely would have believed it to be innocent too.

Close friends, a simple kiss. It would be easy to claim that was all that was. Carl had even seen Jerry and Kathy hug and kiss at some of the parties when they arrived. He had done the same with Patrice, it was nothing.

He sighed, nothing to be done about it.

The next day he was on his way out to a job on the outskirts of town, just a bedroom addition. The foundation was done, Carl was going to frame it out, he knew he would be done early and that meant some free time.

He drove by the little motel where he had caught Kathy with Jerry. He had just passed the driveway when the idea registered on him. He slammed on the brakes and made a U-turn, getting the blast of a horn from the driver behind him. The other driver gave him the finger, Carl just smiled, waved his hand and drove back.

He pulled in and went into the office. There was nobody there. He tapped the little bell, still no one.

Outside, Carl walked down the short alley he had gone down before. The young man he had seen that night was standing there smoking.

It was rather obvious what he was smoking, Carl caught the odd odor.

"Hello, I need to talk to you." He said.

The young man jumped, startled, looked his way.

"Hey man, I got a license for this shit, my back..." He looked frightened, almost ready to run.

"Take it easy, it's not that."

"You ain't no cop, right?"

"No, I am not a cop." The kid visibly relaxed.

"I was here several weeks back, you were back here. I saw..my wife? In there?" Carl waved at the motel room.

"Oh, yea, the cute babe? She was in there hosing some guy, why didn't you go in and fuck with him? Man, what a prick. Didya kick her ass out?"

"I just..I need to know if you remember..if you would recognize her..them?"

"I don't know, man." He looked nervous again.

"We are getting a divorce, I just need the evidence for the case."

"Dude, I ain't gonna go nowhere near no court."

"How about if I pay you?"

"Like how much?" His eyes showed interest again.

Carl reached into his pocket, found two hundred dollar bills.

"Will this do it?"

"Fuck yea, man! Wow, for that much you can have the fucking tape!"

Carl blinked at him.

"Tape?"

"Yea, I got a video. Hell, she was out here maybe ten times and she was kinda a fox so I...Hey, you ain't gonna get pissed at me, are ya?"

Carl handed him the money.

"I would like that tape." He told him.

"K..be right back." The kid went inside, came back a few minutes later, handed him a disc.

"Here ya go man, thanks!" He was looking at the money like he had never seen that much before.

"How did you get this?" He asked the kid.

"Computer. I set up a webcam, the thing is no bigger than a dot. People come out here all the time to get it on, it's a kick in the ass. Hey, don't tell nobody, OK?"

"You might want to remove those from the rooms." Carl told him. The kid flushed and nodded.

At home, Carl loaded the disc in his computer. Kathy was undressing, the sign on the wall was an obvious motel logo. There was a bed in the background. Kathy walked out of sight, wearing just her panties. For several minutes that was all there was, then she and Jerry came back into the scene. Jerry was naked, his erection was jutting outwards. Carl felt some sick satisfaction when he realized that Jerry was smaller than he was. When Jerry reached out and pulled Kathy's panties down, then dropped to his knees, pressing his face to her crotch, he could not watch any more.

He pulled out the disc and turned off the computer.

The next day he dropped the disc off at his lawyer's office and left. He didn't want to watch it all, he could figure what was going to be on it.

That afternoon he checked his messages. There was a dozen from Kathy and one from the lawyer. He punched the button for the lawyer. Jeff must have been waiting for his call, he answered instantly.

"Did you watch that video?" Was the first words out of his lawyer's mouth.

"Just the first part, it made me sick."

"This changes everything, there are two different men on there."

"Two?" He said, surprised.

"Yes, at two different times. This appears to be done over several weeks and made into a single video. In one piece of it there are two women and that Jerry guy."

"Two women? And another man? Who is the guy?" Carl knew that very likely the other woman was Patrice. Now he knew why she was staying over there.

"I don't know, tall and muscular, looks like a bodybuilder or something."

"Shaved head?"

"Yea."

"Tattoos?"

"Yes."

"Sounds like the guy they have on staff at her gym." Once again Carl felt bile rush into his throat, he barely managed to control it.

"The other woman is a pretty one with reddish looking hair?"

"Patty, probably. Jerry's wife."

"Carl, I know you said you wanted any settlement to be as peaceful as possible, but do I still have to be nice..after this?"

"No."

"OK. Good." Jeff laughed and hung up.

Kathy looked nice when she walked into the room and sat down. She was dressed like she did for her work, she sat upright on her chair, her hands folded lady like in her lap. The older man she had hired for her lawyer was all business, he laid out the list of demands, stressing the "abandonment". He demanded that Kathy be awarded the house since she had more than a decade of "investment" in it. Then more crap about being "forced" to move in with friends. There was a full 15 minutes of that.

Carl and Jeff sat there calmly and listened. Carl noticed that his own lawyer never changed expression.

Once they were done, Jeff nodded to the woman he had taking notes, she got up and walked over to a monitor, pushed the button. They hadn't said a word to that point.

The screen flashed on, it showed Kathy clearly as Jerry reached out and pulled down her underwear, burying his face in her. Carl looked over at Kathy, her face went stone white, her hand came up to her mouth. Everyone sat there and stared.

"That is obtained illegally!" Her attorney exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"No, it is lawfully purchased on the open market, my client has not been involved in any way in the manufacture." Jeff grinned.

"Turn it off!" Kathy shrieked. The screen showed her face clearly as Jerry pressed her back on the bed, her legs splayed widely as he mounted her and began to thrust.

"There is more, lots more." Jeff grinned as his secretary shut the video player off.

The meeting was over.

Carl gave Kathy the small amount left in the bank account, after using a good chunk of the cash to pay his own lawyer. There wasn't a hell of a lot left. He probably didn't really have to do even that the way things were working out, but the anger had long since left him by then. There had been that long decade together, Carl found it easier to remember the better times.

She also got the little Prius, although she had to make the payments, plus all of her personal items. There was a lot of clothing, and Kathy had her own IRA plan through her work.

He knew she would be all right, and even in the situation they were in, that mattered to him.

Her attorney did ask for separate maintenance, Jeff just told him that if he tried for that they would play the entire tape in open court.

"You wouldn't!" Kathy blurted out to Carl, tears flowing down her cheek.

"Oh yes, we will!" Jeff said. Carl just sat there, saying nothing. He looked over at the woman he had once loved, her face was screwed up in hate, but tears were in her eyes.

Before, tears from her would cause Carl discomfort, he would try to do something about it. Now he felt nothing at all.

Carl got the house, which he listed as soon as things were final. Somehow he just didn't want to live there. The price he got was far less than the half million he knew it once would have sold for, but things were off in the business world. Carl didn't care, it was enough.

He never saw Kathy after that, she moved away. There was one long letter ending in "I'm sorry." with a postmark from Los Angeles. Carl read it and realized he still didn't feel a thing. He didn't bother to answer.

He ran into Jerry once at the lumber yard, Jerry spotted him and turned white, then scurried away. Jerry was an even larger man than Carl, but Carl realized the Jerry was afraid of him. That made him feel good.

He heard later that Jerry and Patrice had broken up, their divorce was ongoing and ugly.

Carl had his lawyer make a copy of the video, and mailed it to Patrice. He drew a happy face for a return address on the outside of the envelope. He was fairly sure of the results of that. Much later he spoke with Jeff, and it came up that Patrice had ended up with about everything.

That was a little bit of a surprise since Carl was reasonably sure that Patrice was as guilty as her husband was, until Jeff grinned at him.

"Careful editing." He said.

Jerry it seemed was having a tough time finding work, and his alimony checks were on the high side. Shortly after their divorce, he simply vanished.

The truth was that Carl didn't care, although he just could not resist getting in that last little dig by sending Patrice the video. That was as mean as he knew how to be. The other man that was on the video, Carl never saw that part and wasn't sure who it even was, although he suspected. It even crossed his mind to go down to the gym and have a little chat with the guy, but he never did.

There just was no point.

His boss Harris told him one day a few months later that he wanted to retire, so Carl bought his construction company. The price was good but fairly high, it meant he would work some long hours to make it but he had no problem with doing that.

The company logo that he had always liked so much was how his. He kept the same name, since it was well respected in the industry.

Life offers up twists and turns, Carl was now in business and fairly successful at it. He filled his days making bids on jobs and getting his fair share of those. Then he went out and worked side by side with his crew.

He moved into a small apartment that was part of what was now his office while waiting for the house to sell, there was just no way he could continue to live there. Every time he saw his own bed, the thought of Kathy being in it with someone else popped into his mind. He did not know for sure if she ever had, but the thought was there.

That part just would not heal, so he moved.

It took a full year for the house to finally sell, the surprise was when it sold to his own attorney, Jeff. There was some good natured laughing when they shook hands and Carl told Jeff that at least he was now getting some of his money back. Jeff's wife was a chubby and bubbly woman that ran around looking at everything, all excited.

It felt good to see someone look at and enjoy his creation, Carl had done all of the remodeling himself. She did ask Carl where the mattress from the main bedroom was.

"Burned it." Carl told her. Jeff grinned at him, understanding. That had been Carl's last act of closure. He had made it a ritual, first he watered his lawn, then he took the mattress and blankets, and dragged them outside onto the lawn. A dab of gasoline and it burned rather nicely. Soon a policeman showed up again wanting to know what in the hell he was doing, as he sat there in a lawn chair and sipped a beer.

"Getting rid of some bad memories." Carl told him.

The man was the same one that had showed up months before because of Kathy's complaint. It appeared that he was understanding.

Cops tend to know about everything that is going on in their area.

"Don't burn the whole neighborhood down, OK?" He told Carl. Carl had a fire extinquisher sitting right alongside his chair. Then the cop just shook his head and left, the fire was about out by then anyway.

Carl cleaned up the burned spot the next day and replanted the grass, it came in about the same color. That was his final act.

It was now time to move on with his life.

The young woman that had acted as his agent for the house sale was named Melissa, she was a widow with two small children. Her husband had been in the military, lost a few years before in an attack overseas. She was attractive and outgoing, her personality fit her profession. Just three years younger than Carl, he always enjoyed being around her, and in the long year of trying to sell his house he saw her many times.

He did notice that she seemed to brighten up every time he was in her office but Carl really wasn't interested in women right then.

Carl learned all of that about her life because the day the house sale closed he had asked her to coffee, just on impulse. She had smiled and said she would love to, and that first coffee date lasted several hours.

That developed into several more dates, nothing serious, they mostly simply visited and talked about everything. It was walks, time sitting in an old wooden swing chair she had on her porch, talking.

It was nice having a female friend, someone to visit with, be with, without complications. Often they spent an evening watching as her children played on the floor, sometimes Carl sat on the floor and played their games with them.

He found he liked being around kids, he always knew he would.

Melissa also found him a very nice little three bedroom house, it was far smaller than the one he had before, but perfect. He busied himself changing things, improving the little home to suit himself.

One day she dropped by to visit, and found Carl planning to repaint the dining area. She told him that she thought a pale green would look nice, after checking out the beige he was planning on. They went down to the local supply store, and Carl let her select the paint.

Then she grabbed a roller, and joined in. They had it done in no time, and she was right. It did look nice. She even had him purchase some strips of finish wood, they put those up between each joint of the wall board, it made the room look cozy.

Carl saw that Melissa had somehow gotten paint on her nose, he laughed at that. She reached out with the roller and painted the tip of his nose too. Carl wiped at his nose and grabbed her, grinning. She fell into his arms and they kissed. It wasn't something he thought of, it didn't even cross his mind, it just happened.

"Well. I was beginning to wonder about you." She said with a smile. Now she had paint on her cheek.

Carl took Melissa out to dinner as a way of saying thank you, insisting that she bring both of her children. Other than coffee and lunch once in awhile, it was their very first real date.

"You want me to bring the kids along..on a date?" She asked him, a surprised expression on her face.

"Sure, I like the kids, and they have to eat, too!" He grinned at her. He had been around her a lot, the kids were getting used to him, so why not?

That was a fun time, both Miranda and Bobby were actually pretty well behaved for being just 5 and 7 years old. Bobby was the youngest. Afterward they took the kids to a game room and watched them as they created mayhem for a hour or so. As they were walking back to the car, he took Bobby's hand, Melissa reached out for Miranda, then slipped her hand into Carl's.

"Daddy, can we have some ice cream?" Little 5 year old Bobby looked up at him.

"Sure, honey." He answered, giving Melissa a sidelong glance. She just smiled and gave his hand a little squeeze as he blushed slightly.

Later that evening, they sat out on her porch sipping some wine, she asked him if he would like her to call her sister to come and get the kids for the night.

"Why?" He asked stupidly.

Melissa just grinned at him.

"Oh." He grinned back.

Carl waited patiently in her bed as she puttered around in the bathroom. Melissa was in there for a very long time.

It was worth the wait when she stepped out into the darkened room, the dim light from the bathroom behind her outlining her slender body. She shyly flipped the light switch behind her, crossed the room and slid into the bed with him, turning for a kiss. There was only a dim night light plugged into the wall.

There was a long period of exploring and touching, both of them curious about each other.

Carl had never known lovemaking like this, it was quiet and easy, somehow it was more like two souls joining than sex. Instead of any eagerness it was a blending halfway for each of them, everything was just right. He felt her take a deep breath and stiffen as he pressed so he paused.