2023/08/23 - Dan + Bonnie (+Marcel)

At work, Dan was distracted and uneasy. Meanwhile, Bonnie skipped along gaily through her morning. Around 1.30, Bonnie had a visitor.

It was Marcel! He was sorry to drop in unannounced. She didn't care and was flattered that he remembered where she worked! He invited her to dinner that night, and was sorry for the last-minute notice. She accepted ecstatically! She spent the rest of the afternoon humming happily. Around 3.00 it occurred to her to send her husband a text, tersely informing him that she had last-minute supper plans and that he would be on his own.

Marcel met Bonnie at her office after work. She leant into him and took in that intoxicating scent she recalled from the evening before. He took her to Chez Prétentieuse, the area's most elegant, some might say ostentatious, French restaurant. He had selected a secluded table in a private candlelit alcove, with a bay window which looked out over a beautiful garden and fountain. He had wanted no misconception on Bonnie's part that this was a collegial dinner. Every detail of the setting pointed clearly to romance.

Marcel wooed Bonnie and she was completely smitten. Marcel had transported her to a magical fairyland with tales about the ways of life in Paris. He told her of all the romantic places he'd like to take her. He told her of the ways of "amour" in France, that it was normal for married people to take on lovers, because the French were so much more advanced than Americans when it came to affairs of the heart.

By now, the implication was clear: she could have a loving husband and a dashing French lover at the same time. Everything French just sounded so much better, especially coming from the lips of this dreamy man. By the evening's end, she was in his arms kissing him as she stood at her car. She made a commitment to tell her husband about the new reality, about a date for the next night which included a promise of an overnight stay. Tonight she would fill her husband in on the details, hiding nothing. After all, if French women could have open affairs, so could she.

She arrived home that night at 11.30 and breezed right in the door. Ignoring his obvious annoyance with her late return, she told him where she'd been and with whom, and launched right into a joyful announcement that she would be carrying on an affair with her new great love, Marcel Philandre. Without missing a beat, Dan said "Not while you're married to me, you won't."

She was perplexed that he wasn't as excited about this new life as she was. He sniffed her neck and he barked "Get in the shower. You reek of cigarettes and cologne. Do it now." When she came out of the shower, she found all her clothes and other belongings piled on the bed in the spare bedroom. Dan's door was locked and he would not talk to her.

The next day Bonnie left for work carrying an overnight bag, and told Dan he was on his own for supper, not to wait up, and that she would be spending the night with Marcel. She told him she'd see him sometime tomorrow. He caustically remarked that she'd be on her own for supper whenever it was she decided to return. She didn't understand. She thought he'd be happy for her. Why couldn't he share in her joy?

Dan thought back to "That" afternoon, just before the social, mere hours before they met Marcel. It was the last time they made love, the last time they lay next to each other in the same bed. It was the last time she was truly his. Her euphoria made her oblivious to his pain. She acted like loving two men was the most natural thing in the world. After all, it's what those sophisticated French women did.

Bonnie spent every other night at home. In the spare bedroom. Dan continued to stay with her in the desperate hope that she'd come to her senses. The breech between them had been so sudden. So he prayed that she'd just as suddenly see the error of her ways. He still spoke with her, sparingly, but there was no joy or tenderness. She blithely tried to carry on loving two men, but Marcel was the only one who would allow her in his bed.

Getting no sex at home meant that she compensated by spending even more time in Marcel's bed without giving it much thought. The first time that she spent two nights at Marcel's without coming home at all during the day, things came to a head.

Dan yelled at her for the first time in their relationship. He berated her not so much for the affair as for lacking the common decency to let him know where she was and where she'd be. "Bonnie, I was going to give you one more day before I had to decide. I was either going to call your office and make trouble for you by asking if they knew where my wife was, or I was going to call the cops to tell them you had disappeared for 48 hours."

Bonnie replied flippantly, "Oh Danny, I'll always come back to you, just like I'll always come back to Marcel." Then she finished proudly with "I do love both my men, you know."

At that moment things got especially frosty between Dan and Bonnie, although since it was a matter of degree from the previous level of coolness, the change went right over Bonnie's head, preoccupied as she was.

***********************************************

Now it was December. It had been three months since he'd last had sex with the woman he was supposedly sharing with Marcel. A point that was not lost on Dan, the day that Bonnie waltzed in the door and joyfully squealed "Danny my love! We're having a baby!"

Dan strode up to her and she put out her arms to hug him in celebration of the wonderful news. He stopped dead just short of her reach and asked "Who is this 'we' that's having a baby?"

Confused, she explained "Why, you and me, silly!"

"Oh? And how far along are you, Bonnie?"

"The school doctor has me at between 6 and 8 weeks", she replied.

"OK, let's do some simple arithmetic, shall we Bonnie? A maximum of 8 weeks.... that's 2 months. Let's look at the calendar on the bulletin board, shall we? See here? The night of the after-school social where we met Marcel. That afternoon was the last time you and I had sex. That was three months ago. Make sure you don't put my name on the birth certificate."

"But Danny, baby, that's not the way it's supposed to go. Marcel is my paramour, as they say in Paris! You are my husband. You and I will raise the baby together! We always wanted to start a family. We agreed that we'd have babies once we got settled!"

"Bonnie, our life right now is anything but settled. I'm done talking to you." Bonnie thought Dan meant he was done talking to her for now about that subject. But Dan was done talking to her. About anything. Forever. From that day he avoided her and ignored her. This time it was not a chilling by a matter of degree. It was so total that this time she noticed.

Bonnie couldn't bear the silence and spent weeks on end with Marcel. Meanwhile Dan made plans. Marcel was not quite as excited about the baby as Bonnie was. Over those weeks, she felt Marcel slipping away. She was now 5 months pregnant. Oh my God, it was February already, and she felt it was time to see Dan again. It had been weeks and weeks. Perhaps he'd had time to process. They would talk. They would reconnect. She needed her second man back again.

Bollocks! She listened to herself. Calling her first love her "second man." Well, hadn't Marcel become the Love of Her Life once the fuse was lit? Right then, the plan was to have two loves. Like they do in France. Hmm, when she first met Marcel, everything French was better. Now she started questioning just how impressed she actually was by all that.

She let herself into her and Dan's flat and stopped dead. It felt weird. She looked around. Some of her stuff was still there, that is the stuff she hadn't brought to Marcel's. All of "their" stuff was still there, hers and Dan's. But all his stuff was gone. It slowly registered that Dan no longer lived there. She knocked on some neighbouring doors, and they told her they hadn't seen him for close to month. She sat there dazed. A month! This was not the plan. What the fuck!

She gathered her wits and rang his phone. Not in service. She rang his office. He no longer worked at that branch. He had transferred to Germany to manage a new NCP facility. The company was branching out overseas, and The Powers That Be had deemed Dan to be the obvious choice to head up the project. It was a major kick up the ladder, with a mad pay increase.

Germany! She wept briefly at the loss. He had been her first love. And she was supposed to be having two. But now she had got a clearer picture of reality. This was Marcel's baby she was carrying. Dan was never going to be able to raise another man's child. Conceived in infidelity. Marcel was now her only man. And the father of her child. She would now be with the Love of Her Life.

Then why was she still rattled about Dan? Bonnie spent one more night in Dan's bed. Alone. After months relegated to the spare bedroom, she needed this. Maybe it was closure. She sniffed his pillow. She took in his odour. It felt strange to smell a pillow untouched by the stench of cigarettes. She wept, then fell asleep.

The next day, she was back at work, getting herself into a familiar rhythm, reestablishing some equilibrium in her life. After work she returned to her and Marcel's place. Yes it was her place now, too. She walked into the kitchen and there was Marcel and what looked to be one of his 20-year-old French Lit students, female, conversing half in English, half in French, both smoking his European cigarettes, two glasses of Bordeaux and a half-empty bottle. Sitting closely. Laughing familiarly. Eight years younger than her and not pregnant.

"Ma chère, let me introduce my new friend, Lori. She might be a student of mine next semester." "Well, mon cher," she intoned sarcastically, "I'm sorry to break up your little party, but the baby is weighing me down, and my bladder in particular, so it's bathroom and then bed."

Marcel saw his guest out to her car. Bonnie watched through the window as Marcel gave Lori a kiss on the lips and a squeeze on the bum. Hmm, this sharing thing works both ways, she now understood. It didn't make her happy. In fact it annoyed her and even scared her. Then she thought for the first time just how Dan must have felt. That rattled her. Just a bit. Oh well, Dan was gone, and there was nothing she could do. Dan was her past and Marcel and their child were her future.

As Marcel slid into bed with her, Bonnie whispered, "My love, I have wonderful news. You no longer need to share me with my husband. Dan has left me and moved away. My marriage is over and now we can be together with our baby!" Marcel said all the right things about being overjoyed.

The next morning they rode into work together, and Bonnie and Marcel made arrangements to stop for supper at a restaurant on the way home after work. All day she anticipated that he would be there to pick her up at 5. Without Dan lurking in the back of her mind, this would finally be her first dinner with what was now her family. Bonnie, her man Marcel, and their unborn child. She eagerly awaited his arrival.

At 5, when he did not appear, she began to get concerned. But he arrived 10 minutes later and she was at peace. "Sorry, ma belle amie, traffic is terrible you know". Bonnie enjoyed her meal. She was eating for two! Things were falling into place. She was out with Her Man, then they were heading back to Their Home. It was a reassuring feeling of domesticity that meant so much to an expectant mother.

At supper, he mentioned that he did have a work-related weekend trip out of town coming up, and that he would need to leave Friday, late in the morning, and would be back late Sunday afternoon. Before they left the restaurant Marcel made a reservation for Sunday evening so they could enjoy a nice meal upon his return. She liked the restaurant and it gave her something to look forward to, in addition to his return.

Thursday evening after work, she helped him pack a light bag to get him through his weekend. She did have a moment of unease when she thought about that bitch Lori. Was this trip a ruse for them to sneak away for a couple of nights? Well, she'd feel him out at the restaurant Sunday evening when he got back. She'd have a frank discussion if needs be, whether this girl was going to figure into their relationship.

The following morning she left for work at 7.45. He would be leaving for the airport around 9.30. She'd pick up a heat-and-eat meal on the way back to their apartment after work. She got out of work a bit early, at 4.30, and sent Marcel a text: "mon cher hope you had a good flight call me 2nite at bed time and give me a little dirty talk and I'll give myself a rubdown and cum 4U."

She stopped at the Grape Leaf natural food store and picked up something for herself and her baby. Their baby! That whore Lori didn't have what she did. Marcel's child! Take that, slut! She walked into their flat and got things going with the microwave. Made a pot of herbal tea. She kept the phone nearby.

Took a quick pee. Sat in front of their small TV and watched the news. She kept the phone nearby.

Finished her tea, switched off the teeve, grabbed a towel and took a quick shower. She kept the phone nearby.

She towelled herself off and went to the bedroom to fish out a clean nightgown. She turned on the light and surveyed the scene, dumbstruck.

All of Marcel's drawers were open and empty. His closet was empty. Going back in the bathroom for a closer look, all his stuff was gone. She had helped him pack so she knew just what he took and she knew what they decided he didn't need for a quick weekend. But all the things he'd left unpacked the night before were now gone. She looked under the bed from where, 24 hours earlier, they had pulled the small suitcase and a backpack. The unused larger suitcases were now gone, too. Her stomach dropped out from under her as she pondered the implications.

She grabbed the phone and looked for a text from Marcel. There was none. She dialed his number. It went to voicemail. She tried to keep the panic from her voice and said "Uh, hey babe, mon cher, it's me, just heading for bed now, I see you took a few extra things with you, no worries, just give me a call, I wanted to say goodnight, um, I love you, er, je t'aime, give me a buzz, when you get a chance, no matter the hour, ok, love you."

All Saturday and Sunday, there were no texts and no returned phone calls. She left messages every few hours, each one sounding a bit more concerned than the last. She knew a couple of his friends that she would like to have called to see what clues she could muster, but she didn't know their last names and Marcel hadn't left a contact list or address book when he cleared out.

Late Sunday afternoon came and went with no sign of him. They were supposed to go out to eat when he got back that evening. Yes. The restaurant! She rang their number and asked if the reservation was still on the books for Marcel Philandre. Yes it was, they replied and they confirmed the time. She looked at the clock and knew that they would not be there in a half hour. She explained that her boyfriend was flying in from out of state and that his flight had been delayed so she was sorry to have to cancel.

At 10 o'clock Sunday night, she cried herself to sleep.

She went to work Monday morning but could get little done. She blamed the pregnancy and her female higher-ups gave her some slack. On her lunch break she made her way to the Languages building and went to Marcel's office. This was a work-related trip he'd gone on. Perhaps it had been extended by the department head.

When Bonnie asked the receptionist what time Professor Philandre was expected back, she was told that his assignment had ended early and that he'd been called back to France on a family emergency. Bonnie asked if he would be returning for the summer session or the fall semester and was told that he would not be returning to Lambley College, that there had been some problems reported, involving inappropriate conduct with some of the female students, and his contract was not renewed.

In a panic, she tried his phone one more time, only to discover that it was no longer in service. Bonnie then turned back to the secretary and asked about the status of his apartment and she referred Bonnie to the faculty housing office. There, Bonnie learnt that the lease was to expire at the month's end. That was three weeks.

She stared at the wall and blinked.

She had lost her husband Danny and the home she shared with him. She had lost her paramour Marcel and the home she shared with HIM. She was about to be homeless and was 7 months pregnant. She wondered what all these smart, sophisticated French women did when they found themselves like this.

Then it struck her that she herself had been somewhat less than sophisticated, to be in such a position. She had not been so smart. Her mind ran through the list of everything she had lost over the last few days, and suddenly her mind was crystal clear. She knew of all the things she'd lost, what the most important one was. She wailed "Oh Danny!" and collapsed to the floor.

After she was taken to the campus infirmary, she was brought to the local hospital. As a pregnant lady, she was treated with an abundance of caution. She was still employed by the college, so her Lambley medical plan covered this, thank heavens.

She returned to Marcel's flat and knew that three weeks would fly by, and if she had any medical complications owing to her pregnancy, or any other unforeseen delays for that matter, that time would not be on her side. She bit the bullet and rang her parents. She told them absolutely everything. She now felt so foolish, especially as she listened to the words she told them.

It was as if she was hearing everything for the first time: Marcel's bullshit, Dan's admonitions, her own justifications. How could she have been so stupid. The Love of Her Life indeed! She now saw that Danny had been the love of her life and she gambled it all away on a sexual fantasy. Her father was disgusted as he listened in and called her a whore a couple of times. Her mother was less bitter, yet bitterly disappointed. But as Bonnie wailed and cried out for Danny, as if he were listening in on the phone call, they both became anxious about her mental well-being.

When Bonnie saved the best for last and confessed that she was with child, and 7 months along at that, her parents became especially concerned about her physical welfare, and that of their first grandchild.

They rented a U-Haul, drove down to North Carolina and loaded what they could lift. Bonnie gave one week's notice at the college, apologized that she couldn't give them two, but claimed that she had complications with the pregnancy that required an early exit. She had enough money to pre-pay the premiums on her existing health plan that the college would no longer be paying. She paid out enough to cover her through her pregnancy and a few months beyond. After a couple more nights sharing the bed with her mom, and dad on the couch, she finished her last day of work, and they left Marcel's for the last time.

It had begun as such an exciting place. She would have sex with her new love there and she felt so free. Now she got away from the place as quickly as her tummy would let her waddle.

On their way to the highway, she had her father pull up in front of the place she'd shared with Dan when they'd first arrived. It was paradise for the first two months they'd lived there, before she met Marcel. Then it became the place that kept her from her beloved Frenchman. It became the place to which she'd reluctantly return every few days, to listen to lectures from her husband about how foolishly she was behaving and how she was destroying her marriage.