Anniversary Ch. 02

Her hands flew to her mouth, "fuck, oh shit." She looked confused, "Jesus Christ, I hadn't thought about that, he asked me to do it. Said it made him feel uncomfortable with another man's wife so he asked me to take it off so he wouldn't be reminded that I was married. Oh shit, bollocks sorry sweetheart, I hadn't thought about that. I probably pushed it to the back of my mind. I don't know, I'll have to think about it. I was probably ashamed, that's why I didn't think about it." She paused, "When I realised I was late and you said not one minute after seven I rushed, and I must have forgotten to put it back on. Oh fuck no wonder you were upset, bollocks. I don't think there's any way I can put this mess right." She had a long drink of wine. She was using the time to think. "I think I'm going to need some help to put this right."  

I expected her to ask me to help, if she had, I don't know what I would have said. But she didn't, but she did notice my beer glass was empty and she fetched me another. We sat there for a little while her crying eased.  

I needed to break the silence, what I said probably wasn't the best thing. "You didn't wish me happy anniversary yesterday evening,"   

"No, because that's going to be the problem every year, and, it would've seemed like a guilty, a mercy or I'm sorry fuck, but I just wanted to love my husband. Because I think you're going to divorce me. You can't go through life with me at every anniversary it's going to be in raising its ugly head that I was going to let another man fuck me on our 10th anniversary. You might have forgiven me but you'll never forget that and that's the reason you're going to divorce me." She was crying again. And she was absolutely correct, she knew me so well.  

"Every year on our anniversary you'll get angry with me, you will try to bottle it up, and then you'll get angry with yourself for getting angry at me. You will end up hating yourself and I can't do that to you." 

She stood up, wiped away her tears, took a deep breath, looked at me in the face and said, "If you do divorce me, I will not fight it. But the day the absolute is granted; I am coming for you. I'm going to win you back, you're a good man, not bad looking either, so I may have competition, but I know you, I know what you like, I believe you still love me and that will give me an edge. But I'm coming for you Mister!" She held out a hand, "but for now we're still married so please come to bed before you see a solicitor."  

I saw the solicitor Monday morning and started the proceedings; you can even do it online these days. It would take a week to get the paperwork issued, and after a 20 week cooling off period, we would be divorced. Everything was set in motion. Shit, but it had to be done.  

Karen phoned me and asked if we could meet, she wanted to talk about the splitting of assets, she told me she had what some might consider a strange request or two. She was quite open that some of it might have to be kept out of the eyes and ears of the courts. She asked me to pop round to her place.  

I knocked on David and Miriam's front door, they both opened it together as if they were expecting me. David said. "She's in our caravan round the side of the house, we think she wants a bit of privacy."  

I knocked on the door of the caravan, she opened it and it let me in, I'd never been in it before, it was quite big and plush, certainly very comfortable. I waved my arm around and said "Why?"  

"I'm nearly 40 years old. I can't go back to living with Mum and Dad. I have a plan and I'm going to need some privacy. Anyway, if my plan comes together, it wouldn't be right to do what I'm planning in Mum and Dad's house. Tea or a beer?"  

"I'm driving, let's start with tea."  

After she poured two cups of tea, she sat opposite me and looked me squarely in the eyes and she said. "I have been thinking about this and I have some suggestions to make it fit in with my plan, but I can't tell you what the whole plan is yet, because, basically I haven't worked it out completely myself yet, but my aim is to get you back, that's what this is all about. Please interrupt as we go through, if you save it until the end you'll forget. And I wouldn't want that.   

"I want to continue to pay my half of the mortgage; so, when I come back to you, we've both paid equal amounts. If I don't come back to you, if you find another woman at some stage, I will stop paying. Whilst that will be OK in the cooling off period. I don't think the courts would like it if we planned to do it afterwards, but we'll be divorced then if I want to give you money that's my problem, not theirs. But I'd rather they didn't know.  

"My car, I will take on the payments for it. But could I ask you for a hand on getting it serviced; you've always sorted that out in the past.  

"I would like to split all the savings in half, less what I spent on the phone and spa.  

"I would like visitation rights to see Bozo and Peachy, at least once a week, preferably twice. If you're there, that would be nice. If you can't make it, got a date or something I will understand.  

"Finally, I intend to take my maiden name back. You've been very quiet, no questions?"  

"No none at all, not at the moment, if I do, I'll get back to you. You seem to have sorted everything out. I think you've given it more thought than I have. The girls would love to see you, keep your keys, just send me a text when you're going to be there."  

"OK as long as you're happy with that. Oh, Mum and Dad would like to invite you to dinner next week, they want to thank you for last weekend."  

"Will you be there?"  

"Do you want me there?"  

I wasn't sure how to let her down gently, it was too soon, "I think I'll decline for now, let's see how the dust settles. Sometime in the future definitely. I'd love to know what your dad thought about the future of car electrics."  

"Okay, I'm sure they'll understand, I'll let them know. I've written a few lines about the car, the savings and me seeing the girls, so if anybody asks, we've agreed to it, are you happy with that, and if you're happy we can both sign?" She pushed a piece of paper across to me, I read it thoroughly, it said exactly what she said, she proffered me a pen and I signed it. It seemed so innocuous; I didn't see the trap.   

By the following Monday, I had a decree nisi and the 20 week cooling off period started. She popped around a couple of times to see the girls and get the rest of her clothing. I had no idea where she was going to fit it all in that caravan. As agreed, she sent me a text every time.  

I buried myself in my work and started going into the office more often. This gave Karen some time with the girls when I wasn't there. I know she was there more than twice a week. That was Ok.  

One evening I was sitting at my computer, working; actually, apart from playing with the cats, which I did a lot, there wasn't a great deal else to do, I wasn't a great television watcher. The front door opened and Karen walked in wearing her Macintosh. I thought, "Strange, it isn't raining." Then I remembered the last time she wore that to visit. She told me she'd come to pay the mortgage and visit the cats. With that she dropped the Macintosh and was naked apart from a pair of stockings underneath. She bent down, grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs to the bedroom. She looked at me and said, "Visitation rights, the court and solicitors can't know anything about this." We made love, when we finished, she played with the cats for a while and then went home. That's why she wanted to pay the mortgage and visit the cats. She wasn't going to let me, or herself, go without sex.  

Things carried on in the same vein for the next three months. She would visit the girls with her Mackintosh on once a week or so. I did go to dinner with Miriam and David after a couple of months, they told me how much they enjoyed the weekend. They gave me the credit card back unused. The only time Karen was mentioned was when David was out of the room Miriam leaned into me and said. "She misses you and she is not seeing anyone else." I just smiled at her but said nothing.  

Then an incident happened which caused a stir in our relationship. The company that I am a tech author for picked up a new contract to translate a manual from German into English and then apply engineering translation. As I was 'unattached' and had no other commitments I was asked to take the vendor rep out for dinner in our small but quaint town. I'd met Wendy quite a few times during the negotiations and the company wanted me to run the project and they thought it would be a good idea if I got to know the customer. I had nothing else to do of an evening except feed Bozo and Peachy so I said I would.  

I arranged to collect her from her hotel and take her to one of our better restaurants, I almost didn't recognise her, gone were the dowdy work suit and hair in a bun, she was now in a smart dress, a little make-up and her hair down. She wasn't sexy, just smart.  

The Matre'd showed us to our table and was rapidly followed by our waitress. Shit, it was Karen, what was she doing working here? She looked crestfallen for a few seconds but rapidly regained her composure. Wendy didn't seem to notice anything. However, I noticed a certain coldness as Karen was taking our order. As Karen left after bringing our drinks, I excused myself and followed her. When we were out of sight of Wendy I plucked at her sleeve. I started straight off. "She's a customer; before you say anything. And we are still married, it would still be cheating." She looked at me and I could see she was a little angry, "And what are you doing working here?"  

"I don't have to explain myself to you." She replied with a harsh tinge to her voice.  

"No, you're right you don't. But I have to explain myself to you, we are still married and that woman is a customer of mine, and incidentally, of this restaurant." With that I turned and walked away.  

Later Karen came to take our food order, I think she'd calmed down. She'd undone two of the buttons on her blouse, it looked to me like she brushed her hair until it shone, she knows how I like her hair. She stood in front of us and looked at Wendy. "Madam, I'm sorry, I may have come across a bit brusque earlier and I apologise. What would you like to order? I can recommend the Sea Bass if you like fish, the Aberdeen Angus steaks are particularly fine, and the chef is quite rightly very proud of his sauces, they enhance the flavour of the meat, not detract from it." Wendy ordered fillet steak with a mushroom sauce. She looked at me and said, "Your usual Sir?" The little tinker, it's like she was staking her claim to me. I smiled at her and said, "Yes please but I'll have the mushroom sauce instead of the Stilton." Just to mess with her head a little. She smiled at me and nodded.  

Wendy looked at me and said. "What was that all about?"  

"Sorry, it's personal."  

Then she cheated, "If we're going to work together, we're going to have to let a little bit into each other's lives, so I can see where you're coming from. If you have to take your cats to the vet, or I have to take one of the kids to the doctor. So, you could understand me a bit better. That's why I suggested coming out for this meal. So come on what gives?"  

"OK, but this is the abridged version because it involves other people. That is my soon to be ex-wife; she knows we have to divorce, but she's vowed to win me back. I'm not going to tell you why we're divorcing."  

"Ah, and she thinks I'm a threat, trust me I'm not, I'm a happily married woman. I'll make sure she sees my wedding ring when she comes back." She tilted her head slightly, and had a small slight smile on her face, "however, you're a good looking man, you seem very personable and if I was single, it might be a different matter."  

The rest of the meal passed off without incident, Wendy flashed her wedding ring, albeit subtly or so I thought and when Karen came up to the table she started talking about business. I like this lady; I'm looking forward to working with her.  

As we were leaving the restaurant my phone buzzed with a Karen signal, I was receiving a text, I waited till Wendy had been dropped off. Karen asked if she could have visitation rights tomorrow at 4:30 before she started work. I told her she could.  

Karen turned up just after four o'clock, the way she was dressed there was going to be no hanky panky. I needed a drink, so I brewed a pot of tea. She sat at the kitchen table and was soon joined by a black bundle of fur.  

"I'm sorry I was rude to you and your guest yesterday; it made me realise that I might have a competition on my hands. And winning you back may not be as easy as I thought. It was a nice touch her showing me her wedding ring and you can't talk about work the whole evening, but as I said it was a nice touch." She took a sip of her tea; I recognised the thinking time ploy. It was one I often used. Or she could just be thirsty. "I don't get paid overtime in my day job, so I've taken up waitressing in our favourite restaurant because we tip well, I assumed other people would. And they do. Oliver didn't pay the full £1200 I've got about 350 to make up and that shouldn't come out of my salary. And I have additional expenses.  

Another sip of tea, "I'm seeing a psychiatrist and that costs money." She looked down into her lap, I think she was embarrassed.  

"So, he didn't pay you the full amount of money, did you tell his wife about what he did?"  

"No, I was thinking of the children."  

"So, you've still got both phones, I thought you were selling the second one you bought?" I was tempted to add to keep in contact with him, but I didn't.  

She got both phones out and placed them on the table they had different covers on now one was her original purple and one was red. Holding up the purple phone she said "I've swapped the sims over, this is my original phone and it only has your number in it, oh and Mum and Dad's." She picked up the red one, "This is the second one and it has all my old numbers in, and yours, so every time I use it, I am reminded what a gullible fool I was and not to make the same mistake again."  

I thought she was being harsh on herself, and I told her so, she told me of something she had to do to toughen herself up, so she wasn't silly again. She told me the psychiatrist thought it might be a good idea.   

I didn't see her again until two days before the decree absolute was issued. I knew she'd been in the house because she had texted me that she was going to visit the girls, and the cat trays were clean. The mortgage money was left in an envelope on the kitchen table. That evening the mackintosh appeared again. She walked in wearing just her Macintosh, she dropped it and held out both her hands to me, "Please come and love me for the last time as man and wife," I did.  

I received the decree absolute through the post, and it left me with an empty feeling. Part of me expected to see Karen knocking on the front door with some sort of plan, I don't know, raping me pushing me back, giving me blow jobs. I knew she would turn up but when she did, it surprised the shit out of me.   

It had been three days since I got the absolute letter and I had to do some shopping; I was in the local supermarket on a Friday evening getting ready for the weekend, I'd nearly finished. I turned a corner and ran straight into another trolley. I was about to apologise when I saw it was Karen. I did apologise. "I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going, I was a bit distracted,"  

"That's okay, so was I." She looked into my trolley, tilted her head slightly to one side, looked at me and said, "You can tell an awful lot about a man by what he has in his trolley."  

"So, this was going to be the game," I thought to myself.  

"You've got cats, I love cats. You've got prick and ping ready meals, plus a lot of fresh vegetables, you have beer, quite a lot, if I might say and all of it strong stuff. Small packs of steak and pork and lots of stuff to make sauces, ham, mushrooms and eggs but not large amounts. And, because there is only one bottle of red wine and the amount of food, I'm guessing you're single, you like to cook, but you don't always have the time. That's why you have the prick and pings. How am I doing so far?"   

"Pretty good." With that she surprised me by just walking away. I saw she was smartly turned out, clothes I recognised, not sexy, not dowdy, but something was different I couldn't put my finger on it.  

I carried on with my shopping. There wasn't much left to do, just a bottle of Apple and Sage Gin to fetch then head towards the checkout. As I was unloading my trolley onto the belt I noticed she was behind me. She smiled and said, "Hello again," but did nothing else. I still couldn't put my finger on what was different about her.  

As I left the supermarket, she was just in front of me and I could see her car parked a few slots down from mine. She was loading her shopping into her car boot when she looked at me, and I saw it. Her hair, normally she parted her long wavy auburn hair in the middle. When we went out for a special night, she parted on the right so the left-hand side fell half across her face and she could peer round it sexily, giving me a cute come hither smile, sometimes she'd put a flower in it. And now her hair was parted on the left with the right tucked behind her ear. She saw me, she just smiled and carried on packing her car. 

I was expecting something from Karen on Saturday, nothing. I went out to the pub for a few beers with the lads, I kept an eye out in case Karen turned up, again nothing.   

Sunday morning, I was expecting a knock on the door, nope. Perhaps she decided to go her own way. I had a text asking if she could come round and play with the girls in the afternoon. I had already decided to go and watch the local cricket team. She arrived just after 12 as I was about to leave. Her hair was parted in the centre, perhaps I imagined it.  

I wandered to the Cricket Club, it was summer, so it was a Cricket Club. When winter comes around it will change to be a Rugby club. The young ones played rugby until they got too old and had too many broken bones, then they switched to the Cricket Club. Of course, the cheap beer had nothing to do with it.  

I found myself a nice chair at the edge of the pavilion and watched the cricket with a cool pint of bitter in my hand. A shadow fell across me. I looked up and there was Karen. The first thing I checked was the hair, it was left parted and tucked behind her right ear.  

She smiled at me. "Fancy seeing you here, did you eat the steak or the pork? And I hope you haven't drunk all that beer, there was quite a lot."  

There was a spare seat next to me. I indicated she might want to sit in it, she did. I told her I'd had steak with mushroom and Stilton sauce with some home cooked chips and peas, and there is quite a hole in the beer stock. I asked her if she would like a drink. Now let's see how far this game was going. I didn't ask her what she wanted and, as she had used her knowledge of me to start the conversation, I just walked away and got her a glass of Merlot, I refreshed my beer. When I sat down, she extended a hand to me and said, "My name is Karen, what's yours?"  

I stood up and shook her hand and said, "It's Brian, nice to meet you." I sat down again. This was a strange game, but I think I know where it was going. I wasn't talking about the cricket; it was all right by me.  

"I'm not sure about the rules of cricket." She said, "Is it something to do with two sides, one being 'in' and one being 'out', when the one that's 'in' is all 'out' then, the side that was 'out' goes 'in', is it something like that?" She asked.