Anniversary Ch. 02

"That's quite close enough." Karen had always enjoyed the social side of cricketing, not necessarily the intricacies.  

"Are there things like 'silly mid-on' and 'back short leg' or are they just joke names?"  

"No 'silly mid-on' really exists but I think you mean 'forward short leg'."   

We talked some more about the game, some of the styles of bowling and batting, we had a few more drinks. By then I plucked up my courage, probably with some Dutch courage to ask her a question. "Why are you here?"   

She didn't falter, "I bumped into a nice chap in the supermarket, and I thought I'd like to get to know him better."   

"So, you followed him here, me here? "   

"Well sort of, I had an idea where he would be, the sort of person he is." With that she tucked her hair behind her right ear.   

That action still confused me. We chatted about cats and mundane things till the end of the match; which my team lost, by the way. Then I saw her make a decision, she stood up and said to me, "I would like to see you again if you don't mind, I'd like to find out more about you." She offered me a hand to shake. I must have looked confused, or concerned, she said. "Don't worry, if you say 'no', I'll be hurt, but I'll understand."  

I was tempted to say 'No'. I'd pushed most of the pain away, I hadn't thought about it all the time I was talking to her, I felt comfortable with her, it was only when she wanted to see me again that the pain came back. But that would have been the coward's way out. So, I said 'yes'. I followed her lead and we swapped phone numbers. She had her purple phone out. I had a little giggle to myself at that, we were just going through the motions. Then she said, "Call me when you're ready, even if it's a work day." She had left the ball firmly in my court. With that she turned and walked away. I went to the bar to get another beer and commiserate with my team. They saw me talking to Karen and asked me what the fuck that was all about, I said I had no idea. But I fibbed, I thought I knew exactly what she was doing, just not how.  

After the usual text, she popped round on Wednesday, she played with the cats, I made a pot of tea. Her hair was parted in the middle. I was tempted to ask her what days she worked. But I didn't want to mess up her game. I gave her time to get to her Mum and Dad's house and gave her a call. "Hi this is Brian, we met at the cricket match on Sunday, I was wondering if you had an afternoon or an evening off this week?"  

There's a little cry at the other end of the line. "I can be, I'll work something out, just tell me when. Most evenings except Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but I do have weekend afternoons off. But if you want to make it work in the evening, I can get It off."  

"How about I take you to Sunday lunch?"  

"That would be lovely, I'll text you my address. What time?"  

"I'll let you know when I've booked the table."  

The line went quiet, there was hesitation in her voice, "Is this a date?"  

Bugger, didn't see that coming just yet. "I don't think so, not quite yet. I think we need to get to know each other more before we go that far. I want to know why a pretty lady like you isn't married."  

"I was hoping it was, but I see where you're coming from. One day I will tell you why I'm not married, see you Sunday, I look forward to it."   

"So do I, bye for now." I hung up.  

My phone text buzzed, 'Thank you.' It was from Karen, but which one, my ex-Karen or New Karen. I will have to sort them out on my phone to make them different. I had a beer and sorted through the numbers. It was from my ex-Karen. Did she mean thank you for letting her play with the cats, or for playing the game? I had a feeling I wasn't completely in control here.  

She came round on Tuesday and played with the cats until they got fed up and cleared off outside to look for more mice. I made a pot of tea. We chatted for a little bit, it was a bit tense, just a little bit. She told me she thought the trips to the psychiatrist were helping her. She explained a few things she was doing and by doing them she was hoping she could put things right, and at least not make the same mistakes again. I told her I'm not sure that was possible. That didn't go down well.  

I picked her up just after two o'clock and took her to a little pub for Sunday lunch, it was one we had been meaning to go to for a while, it was down by the river. I checked the hair; it was left parted. We finished lunch then we took our drinks and went to sit by the river, watching it flow past was quite therapeutic. It was all a little bit subdued, as if we knew what was going to happen next, but not how to start. We waited for the other person to begin and after a couple of minutes I said to her. "Why isn't a beautiful, caring woman like you married?"  

"Ah, you see that's the problem, caring; I was led into caring too much for the wrong person. I ignored the person I love the most in this world. I ignored his warnings. And I did some things that hurt him more than I could ever believe. I lied to him, I stole from him, I got my priorities mixed up, he should have been number one all the time, but he wasn't. Despite his warnings I let somebody else take over that spot. Not for long, only a few hours a week. But during these few hours I let him down, I Ignored him, and all that he did for me."  

"I assume it was another man, did you cheat on your husband?" This was going to be the test.  

This was truth time. "No, I did not. Almost worse than that, I was going to let a man seduce me. I guessed he was going to try, and I was going to let it happen. It wasn't my plan to let him seduce me, but I guessed if he did, I would give in." She was still looking at me straight in the face, I could see tears welling up in her eyes. This was hard on her, but it had to be done.  

She carried on, "Not only was I going to let another man have sex with me, I'd forgotten it was our 10th wedding anniversary and it was going to happen on that day, I let the man convince me to take my wedding ring off so he didn't feel like he was stealing another man's woman, and he would feel no guilt." Tears were pouring down her face now.  

She wiped away her tears and she looked me hard in the face. "I lied to him, I ignored him, I did things for the other man that I should have done from my man, I stole from him, money, time and affection and used them on another man. But what I think hurt him most was that I was going to have sex with another man. It wasn't planned to be like that but in hindsight, I probably would have let it happen, hindsight can be a nasty thing. And he realised I would not be wearing my wedding ring on our 10th wedding anniversary." She took a long drink from her wine, put the empty glass down and said to me, "It was the biggest set of fucking mistakes of my life. I hurt the man I love with all my heart to his core. And I don't think he'll forgive me"  

She got that about right. "So, what are you going to do about it?"  

Her next comment surprised me, "is there any chance I could have another glass of wine please, I'll pay for this round." I waved my hand and went to the bar. Halfway there I looked back and she was looking down into a lap, wiping her eyes with a hanky. I placed her wine in front of her and I had a tonic water. Bloody hell I wish there was a large slice of gin in there.   

She looked at me with that stern face again. "If this relationship is going to continue, I must let you know that I was a soft touch for any weepy story, I took in waifs and strays, I listened to anybody else's problems, I put these people and problems before my man.   

"I'm seeing a psychiatrist to find out why I did it so it doesn't happen again. And then I'm going to try and get my man back. If you'll have me?"  

Was that a Freudian slip? I think not, that was exactly what she planned to say. And I didn't have an answer for her.  

"So, what's your story, what's a good looking man like you talking to a wreck like me?" She said.  

My turn. And I wasn't going to go easy on her. "It's a similar story, but I was on the other side. The woman I loved, cherished, would die for putting me in second place for a cheat, a liar and a scoundrel. She was warned, but chose to ignore my warnings. One of the things that hurt me the most was whilst she seemed to accept my warnings, she actually ignored them and carried on. I thought I'd got through to her, she gave me the impression I did. I tried my best, I tried to protect her from predators like that, but she ignored me. And that hurt. Because I thought I'd got through to her I shoved my head up my arse and didn't see the problem. I did some stuff but it was too little too late. I feel like I failed her."  

At this she reached a hand across the table, took mine and gave it a squeeze. "I think she knows how much you did for her, how much you love her and that is actually making it harder on her."  

It was my turn to take a drink to think, "She was, sorry, is beautiful and the sex was fantastic. We'd been married 10 years and I had a warm comfortable feeling that things were going to be alright for the rest of our lives. I knew what she was like, she was a mother hen, and that she would try and sort out other people's problems, the odd animal would come home and we'd nurse it, pay the vet's bills. That's who she was, I didn't have a problem with that, that was part of her makeup and that was part of the reason I loved her."  

Now was the chance to let her really know how I felt. This was going to be both barrels. "I'd been planning a special weekend away for our 10th wedding anniversary, I'd been working on it for nearly a year. First class train tickets, best hotels, spa afternoons, and a show that I knew she had been wanting to see for ages. She was my goddess and, on that 10th wedding anniversary I was going to treat her like a goddess.  

"She had a lost soul, or so the cheat portrayed himself to be and despite my warnings, she let him entice her into something she really shouldn't have done. She knows how much importance I put on wedding anniversaries, the celebration of another year with the one you love, a team effort to make it work.  

"Look at this from my side. It all came out the day before our wedding anniversary, she had planned to stay with him in a spa, and allow herself to be seduced to 'build his confidence' after a divorce that was an absolute lie. He was still married. She's been planning this for weeks. I asked her to take the Friday off to be with me, and I was under the impression she had. I checked her work and found out she'd already booked it off. I was a happy man, everything was going to be good. I cooked her favourite dinner that Friday night. She couldn't be bothered to get in on time, she was with him. She had forgotten our wedding anniversary, she planned to allow him to have sex with her on our wedding anniversary. And because he didn't like the fact she was married she betrayed me by taking her wedding ring off.   

"I may have forgiven her for forgetting our wedding anniversary because she was busy with one of her waifs and strays.  

"I may have even forgiven her for being led astray and seduced by a twat who practises that evil art.  

"I may have forgiven her for removing her wedding ring because she didn't want to lose it or something like that.    

"But to forget our wedding anniversary, to be planned by to be fucked by another man and take her wedding ring off to appease this man, to save his feelings and do all of that on our wedding anniversary was too much for this human man to stand. And I divorced her." I had gotten angry throughout my rant, and I was still angry.  

She had that firm look in her eyes again; but tears as well, "so my turn to ask the question now. What are you going to do about it?"  

I looked back at her. "I truly loved that woman. But after what she's done, I couldn't stay married to her." that was no Freudian slip of mine. She looked sad, tears rolling down her cheeks. Time to give a little back. I put my hand on top of hers and said. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"  

"If I did what she did to you, I would kill myself."   

"Please don't, it will be a waste of a beautiful lady."  

Time was getting on a bit now and it was getting a bit nippy sitting by the river. I suggested I took her back to her caravan, she agreed. She invited me in for a cup of tea; she had that look that said it was just a cup of tea. To be honest at the moment I didn't want anything else. I was still a little bit angry after talking about it again and bringing all the old pain back.   

Most of the time we'd been together we'd sat next to each other and wasn't looking at one another, but whilst she moved around the caravan making the tea, I watched her and I realised how beautiful she was, the anger started to fade.  

We talked for a while again about mundane stuff, work, weather, cricket and the like. It was getting towards 8:00 o'clock and I had cats to feed and work to get ready for tomorrow. She came with me out to my car. I got a big proper kiss, she wrapped her arms around my neck placing one hand on the back of my head she pulled me in for a deep sensual kiss. She slowly pulled back, looked me in the eyes and said, "Now we know how each other's pain, is it time for a proper date now?"  

I wasn't sure if that was a good excuse or not, but I did miss being around her. "I think so, can you get Thursday off? I don't want to wait until Sunday again."  

"Nor do I, so yes, I will. Just text me a time, oh and a dress code too."  

As I got in the car I noticed the curtains on her Mum and Dad's house twitching. That made me smile, it took me back to when we first started courting.  

I had to go into the office on Monday, I hadn't talked much about my personal life, the boss knew but as far as I was concerned that was it. That was until Mary walked up, she was another tech author and I'd not had much to do with her. She was a widow, slightly older than me and very classy, if I remember rightly she had a young son. She plonked herself down on the edge of my desk, she moved her legs around so I could see she was wearing stockings. "There are rumours abound that you're no longer married, is it a rumour or is it true?"  

"Unfortunately, it's true. But I didn't want it getting out. Please keep it to yourself, I don't want the sympathy that you get when this sort of thing happens."  

"I can do that on the proviso that you let me take you out. To try and cheer you up you've been a bit grumpy and out of sorts lately. Not your usual bubbly self. You're not wearing your wedding ring so we just put two and two together. What do you say?" Bugger, I knew I should have kept it on, but I didn't want to give Karen the wrong idea.  

I knew she was looking for another man, and I had the feeling she had set her sights on me. She was a nice lady, cheerful, practical, very good looking and dressed well. I thought about it for a few seconds and said, "Yes I'll come out with you, but please let's not shout about this from the rooftops."  

She leaned forward to my ear and whispered, "It'll be our secret," and then she kissed me on the cheek. Some bloody secret, kissing me in the office full of people. I had a quick look round, it appeared nobody noticed. We would have to wait and see.  

It was a nice restaurant, the food was good, the beer wasn't bad; the wine was better. Mary was very good company, very entertaining, witty, she looked sexy but understated. I managed to hold my end up in the banter and chat. I had an excellent evening. It was quite late when we left, she didn't live far away; so, I walked her home, we got to her door and she invited me in. I hesitated, she gently pulled me in and kissed me lightly on the lips. She pushed me back a little while still holding on to me and said. "Thank you for a lovely evening. I'm sorry. It's too soon, isn't it?"  

"Yes, I had a very good time, but I'm afraid it is, thank you very much; you distracted me for a while from all my problems and for that I am grateful. We can do it again; I may even pay next time." We both had a little giggle about that.  

I was a little bit bothered about what Mary would do at work the following day, I needn't have worried. Mary didn't bother me apart from a small discreet wave and a smile.   

I was in a quandary about what to do on Thursday. I was running out of decent restaurants that I could use. This was a bit more than a pub meal. I didn't want to take her to the house just yet, I didn't want to go to the places we used to go as man and wife, where she worked or where I had been with Mary. But I managed to find a quiet secluded restaurant with dim lighting just outside of town. I phoned Karen and told her I will pick her up. I just told her about the restaurant and let her decide what she wore.  

She was waiting outside the house when I picked her up, the first thing I looked for was where her hair was parted; It was on the left. She was dressed a little on the dowdy side, not really dressed to impress I thought, never mind. I sensed a level of frostiness in the air coming from her. We chatted on the way to the restaurant; we got there and were shown to our table. After we sat down and she looked at the menu she said to me, "This is a bit special for a first date, are you trying to impress."  

"I thought somewhere a little discreet and to impress, yes."  

"Or are you running out of places you've taken your girlfriends to?" A bit more frostiness.  

I didn't need to stand for that attitude. "If you're going to get bitchy, I'll drop you off at your home right now." I stood up.  

She looked up at me, "No please sit down, give me a few minutes." with that she stood up and disappeared to the ladies' room.  

It was nearly five minutes before she got back and I was getting a little worried. She came back and sat down, smiled at me and said. "Can I have your hand please?" I put it on the table and she grasped it. There was a little sigh and a cough. "I'm sorry about that, that was unforgivable." She took a deep breath. "My friend Karen, your ex-wife, is getting a bit jealous of your girlfriends. She thought our new relationship wouldn't have any complications. But now I realise after seeing you with Wendy and hearing about Mary that I may have more competition than we thought. And it put me a bit out of sorts. It won't happen again and I need to up my game. I keep forgetting we're just friends and not exclusive." She was getting her different personas mixed up. Hell, I was confused. I don't doubt she would.  

"Can your ex-wife ask you a big favour?" She said. 

This was getting spooky. I knew what she was trying to do. The ex-wife Karen was re-inventing herself as new Karen to woo me. That I understood and actually approved. But the crossover was spooky. Were there actually two people? "Depends on what it is, but if I can help her, I will."  

"She would like you to see her psychiatrist. To meet her so she can get your side of the problem."  

"Will she be there?"  

"That's up to you, if you want her to be there, she will, if you'd rather she wasn't, then she won't. You are not a patient, so it's up to you. Personally, I think she would like to be there but it's not her choice."  

I tried to follow the game, "Please tell my ex-wife to arrange it, I'm happy for her to be there. It might help." I put my hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze. "Right, now we've sorted that can we get back to our date now please. Let's order something to eat and drink and talk about cats and cricket."  

I think the worry about Mary and wanting to ask about the psychiatrist may have left her a little out of sorts.  

We ordered our food and drink; I must have looked sad when I ordered a plain tonic water. Karen stopped the waitress and said. "Would you be so kind as to put a double gin in that tonic? I think he needs a serious drink.