Best Served Cold

I noticed my girls never mentioned Sophie to their mother, and neither did I.

Sophie and I were becoming firm friends as well. As I was virtually a single parent like her, it made our lives much easier to help each other out with child rearing. After the soccer season finished we were increasingly being left alone by our kids on Saturday afternoons as they went off on their own excursions or visiting various friends. With no wife usually around I was mostly free. So increasingly Sophie and I spent that time in each other's company and went for walks, had a casual lunch or watched a movie. I found myself more and more looking forward to our meetings and realised I was falling for her. Despite that, we never crossed the friendship line.

One day over a coffee with Sophie, I told her I appreciated her spending girl time with Lauren. "You know she never shuts up about you when she gets home - Sophie this and Sophie that," I laughed.

"Well, Tom never shuts up about you after he goes to see you - Allan this and Allan that," she laughed back. "Seriously he needs a male figure in his life, so I appreciate you spending time with him."

Then she suddenly said, "forgive me for being blunt Allan, but it seems pretty obvious that things are not all good between you and your wife." We had never really discussed Amy, carefully avoiding the subject. I sat silent for about 30 seconds. It was an issue I had pushed to the back of my mind for a long time and had avoided confronting.

"The truth is Sophie, that if not for the girls, I would probably have walked out ages ago. Things have been pretty bad now for a few years. I have tried to talk to her many times but I just hit a 'brick-wall'. Our marriage was hard from the start. I guess Lauren told you about how Amy and I came to be married."

"Yes, and she blames herself a bit for the situation you are in. I know that is crazy and I have been telling her it is not her fault at all."

That open the floodgates for me. I spent the next hour unloading all my woes on Sophie. At the end she came over and held me in tightly in her arms. It was my first real hug from a woman for ages.

"I am here for you whenever you need me Allan, you know that." I just hugged her tighter and wouldn't let go.

Not long after yet another year was ending and Amy's annual staff Christmas party came around once again. My reintroduction with her boss was very similar to the previous two year. I was on high alert this time. Though Amy and her boss appeared a lot more casual than before something didn't feel right. I was definitely suspicious about the two of them.

Later towards the end of the evening Amy excused herself to go to toilet. After a minute I looked around and realised her boss was casually heading upstairs as well. So I decided to follow and walked upstairs in search. She was not in the toilet so I searched around the huge house and was about to pass a bedroom door just open a crack when I heard my wife inside. "Merry Christmas my darling." A man's voice replied, "Merry Christmas my love." I peeked through the door crack to be confronted by Amy and her boss having a long passionate kiss with their hands all over each other. I quickly retreated in shock. I walked back downstairs contemplating what to do. I was beyond, angry just feeling dead. I don't have a temper, so instead of immediate confrontation I calmed myself down and decided first to investigate and plan. Amy returned soon after a bit flushed and spent the rest of the evening pretending to be my loving wife. I pretended nothing happened.

By New Year, working when Amy was asleep, I had broken into her phone and laptop. Amy should have known better. Keeping incriminating evidence in your personal computer, even when it has been really well hidden, is not very smart when it's your husband's profession to know how to hack computers. My worst fears were realised. In her work, personal and secret email accounts there was a trail of evidence. Amy was in a long-term torrid and intimate affair with her boss that had started over two years ago. I also found graphic photos and videos of the two of them 'enjoying themselves together', showing the depth of her betrayal. I saw from their emails that Amy and Dan had even discussing the possibility leaving their partners to be together. She seemed interested but her lover was more cautious.

I had really been a dumb clueless husband.

I put hidden surveillance software into both her phone and laptop. I could follow her every electronic and physical step remotely if I wished.

My marriage was clearly over. My main concern now was to keep custody of my daughters and protect my business and finances. In the New Year I consulted a divorce lawyer. She told me that divorces were 'no fault', so no suing for adultery. However with child custody, once children were 14 years old they had the right to decide which parent they wanted to live with after a marriage breakup. She also came up with a strategy to protect my company from the divorce financial settlement. Emma turned 14 years in six months. I could endure living with Amy until then and it gave me time to get organised. To make it all work I would have to keep it secret from Amy.

I told Sophie what I had found out and she dissolved into tears. That was a surprise, I thought I was the one who should be most upset and needing hugs? I held her close for a while and she started to tell me tearfully that her husband had been killed while driving with his secretary. When she looked through his things after he died she discovered they had been having an affair. It made his loss even worse. After she recovered we talked some more and I told her of my plans to leave Amy. She just grinned.

To set my plans in motion, first I convinced my wife that since we were now both earning good money we should sell our small house and rent somewhere larger while we looked for our dream house. We would use the cash from the equity for a deposit on the new one. She readily agreed. Our house sold very quickly and we rented another place nearby. I was lessee on the rental contract which was for six months only.

I felt really nauseated sharing a bed with Amy when she was at home. When we moved into the rented place I got a really bad cold. I used that as an excuse to move into the spare room to avoid giving it to her. I just never moved back after that, and she never commented. Maybe she didn't notice or maybe she just preferred it.

Next, I got my dad, who I had also confided in, to establish a new IT company with him as owner. I was his sole employee. Then I closed down my own company and started operating my business through his company.

All was going to plan until I was confronted by a very nervous and fearful looking Lauren. Lauren was dating her first boyfriend and my immediate 'déjà-vu' thought was she was pregnant, like what happened to her mum.

"Umm, dad, this is hard to tell you, but mum is having an affair with her boss."

I was shocked that she knew and momentarily at a loss for words. "Really! Why do you think that?"

"Well, just after we moved in here, Emma and I went back to our old house to collect something she had forgotten. Mum and her boss were there."

"Well that is a bit strange but it doesn't prove anything."

"They were fucking dad, in the doggy position, on the floor in the living room."

After I recovered from the shock, mostly that my 16 year old daughter knew what the doggy position was, I said, "I know about their affair Lauren, I have known for a while."

"Then why don't you do something about that cheating slut."

"Did Emma see her too?"

"Yes."

I called Emma who had been hiding within earshot around the corner and she sheepishly came into the room. I gave them both a big hug. I knew what a terrible thing that must have been for them to see, especially young Emma.

"Can you both keep a very big secret?" They nodded.

"I am planning to leave you mother soon. I am just waiting until Emma turns 14 so you can both legally choose who you want to live with."

"WITH YOU," they both shouted in unison.

"It won't be easy keeping this secret, but we mustn't do anything to alert your mother until then." They smiled conspiratorially.

Afterwards, I asked Sophie to have a girl to girl chat with Lauren. Now she had her first boyfriend I didn't want her to follow in her mother's footsteps.

Fortunately Amy wasn't present that often so we could endure her occasional presence and keep our secret. We enjoyed ourselves even more when she was away knowing the end was in sight. We were spending more and more time with Sophie and her two children often sharing meals at each other's places or going out together.

One Friday afternoon, when my wife was allegedly at a conference all weekend but really was with her boss at a hotel for a fuck-fest, Lauren said, "dad, I am baby-sitting for Sophie tonight."

"Oh really, what's she doing?"

"Going out on a dinner date with a guy to the Brassiere Paris, you know that really classy French restaurant in town."

I immediately felt really jealous and tried unsuccessfully not to show it.

My daughter looked at me with a pitying expression. "She is going out with you idiot. It's time you both went out on a proper date. I have made the booking already, so just ring her now and ask her out properly," handing me my phone.

"What if she doesn't want to go out on a date with me? We are just friends after all? I don't want her to feel uncomfortable."

"How you ever managed to be smart enough to graduate from university is beyond me. Ring her now."

I made the call and Sophie sounded absolutely delighted and accepted immediately. Somehow I got the feeling it wasn't a surprise.

That evening it took me three attempts before my girls were happy that I was suitably attired for dinner. As I was getting ready to leave home, Callie and Tom trooped in. In response to my quizzical look Lauren said, "oh, I forgot to tell you, they are sleeping-over here tonight so don't worry about getting home late or at all really if you prefer." She smiled and handed me an already packed overnight bag.

All our children were obviously involved in a determined conspiracy.

When I arrived, Sophie greeted me at the door. OH-MY-GOD. She was wearing a tight little black cocktail dress with a plunging neckline and spiked heels. The dress was perfectly moulded to every inch of that superb, trim, athletic body. Her 34C breasts, with no bra, just stood straight out with two little tantalising points. Her long black hair was loosely braided and swept to one side.

"Well say something Allan!"

"I can't, I am speechless."

"You like?" she said as she twirled around.

"Oh much more than like Sophie."

I had the best dinner ever and we had a wonderful time in each other's company.

At the end of the evening when we reached the front door of her house I said, "I know our children have set me up to stay the night but you don't have ... "

She put her finger on my lips and said, "Shhhh, I am counting on you staying," and led me inside and up to her bedroom. I wasn't going to argue with that.

We were a bit shy and tentative at first. For both of us it was our first time with someone different. If I thought she looked stunning before, seeing her naked was mind-blowing. It didn't take us long to get comfortable and really get into it. I let go of all my pent up mental and sexual frustrations and truly felt like I had died and gone to heaven. By the end I was spent.

The next morning we made sweet love again, and afterwards, lay in bed for quite a while enjoying the afterglow and the feeling of our naked bodies intertwined. It had been a long time for both of us and it felt so good and so right.

We heard the sound of multiple feet on the stairs, voices outside, and a knock at the bedroom door which then opened. Lauren stuck her head inside. "Good morning you two. It's almost 10 and we got sick of waiting so we came over. Breakfast will be ready downstairs in 20 minutes. Oh, and I would ask if you had an enjoyable evening but judging from your expressions there is absolutely no need," she grinned. We could hear laughter outside the door as they all went away.

"How did we get such a wonderful bunch of kids Sophie?"

The breakfast they made was yummy and it was wonderful to have it together as a family.

Later at home I tried to justify to my girls what had happened with me and Sophie. After all, technically I was being unfaithful to their mother.

They both just rolled their eyes and laughed at my discomfort. "Dad, its time you were happy again. Anyway you are not really married to mum anymore, she left you ages ago."

"So what are all you co-conspirators up to?"

"We are all agreed actually. Emma and I need a mother and Cassie and Tom need a father. You and Sophie are meant for each other. So everyone wins."

"Even if I thought that was a good idea, Sophie may not."

"DAD, REALLY! Even YOU should be able to tell how she feels about you and what she wants."

"Do I have any say in the matter?"

"Nope, absolutely none dad."

Their looks showed they found it all very amusing. I was well and truly being ruled by my daughters now.

A few days later over dinner with us all together I announced I was intending on going house hunting next weekend. Sophie asked me what sort of place I was looking for.

"Well I want it to be near the beach, two storey, have a big family room, a kid's escape room, big backyard and a pool. It has to have at least six bedrooms in case my family ever grows, you never know." Looking directly at her I said, "I also want to make sure that a woman I just may be falling head over heels in love with also likes it."

Sophie stared back intently for a whole minute then walked over to where I was sitting and laid a passionate kiss on me in front of the kids. When we came up for breath they were silently watching us, then they erupted with joy dancing around us. I took that as a 'yes'.

We found the perfect place after a few weeks searching. We decided to buy it jointly, her using some life insurance money from her husband and me the proceeds of my house sale, as a deposit.

The stage was set for the showdown with Amy.

As Emma's 14^th birthday and thus D-Day approached, Amy announced that she was going away for seven days to a sales conference on the west coast. I checked her emails later and found she was really going on a holiday with her boss to celebrate their third anniversary on, the island of Bali in Indonesia. To avoid suspicion at work they independently told everyone they were taking holidays with their families as they had been working so hard they were neglecting them. She would leave work a day ahead of her boss and fly alone to Bali. He would follow a day later. She would come get back to work a day earlier than her boss to make that scenario seem credible.

They were getting lazy. Their subterfuge wasn't up to their usual standard as this could become easily unstuck if anyone checked.

Amy flew out for her 'conference' and we immediately started packing our things and moving them into our new house where Sophie and her kids had moved one month earlier.

Well the Balinese God of Revenge, if there is one, was really smiling on me. The same evening Amy arrived, Mt Mount Agung, an active volcano on Bali, erupted in full force spewing clouds of volcanic dust into the air. All air travel in and out of Bali was immediately suspended. Her lover was still at home while Amy was stuck in Bali alone to celebrate their anniversary. You couldn't make this up, I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

The volcano continued to erupt and all flights remained cancelled keeping the lovers apart. Behind the scenes I checked her emails and messages every day for amusement. The lovers were not happy campers and Amy was getting very cross with Dan, as if it were his fault. Amy would occasionally ring home and tell us how busy she was at the conference blah, blah, blah. Unusually, I would ask her what the hotel was like and ask her questions about the city she was supposedly in. When I accesses her laptop remotely later, her history showed she frantically did internet searches while on the phone to me to come up with believable answers.

Meanwhile, all six of us were nicely settled in at our new house.

I had my lawyer lodge a legal separation document with the family court. I also gained interim custody of my girls from the court after lodging their signed requests to live with me.

As the day for Amy's return approached, all flights remained cancelled, so I wondered how Amy would handle things.

One evening she rang me to say that she had made a lot of connections at the conference with potential big sales and her boss had asked her to follow them all up straight away before coming home. I could tell she was very nervous. Just as well she didn't video call as I couldn't have kept a straight face. I just reassured Amy we were all fine, and I understood.

As another week went by with her still stuck in Bali. I saw frantic emails and messages between the two lovers. Her boss told everyone at work she had to extend her leave due to a 'family emergency.'

Her boss also rang me and profusely apologised for making Amy stay away from home for so long but it was a big opportunity, vital to the company, blah, blah, blah. I had been expecting his call and was well prepared to respond, like the dutiful husband of an important working wife. I reassured him I was fine and I understood. Then, I innocently asked him where Amy would be going. He scrambled to invent some places. I read his email back to Amy where he told her where she was supposed to be.

My strategy of course was to make her squirm and sow seeds of doubt in her mind that she had been discovered. I continued reassuring my wife whenever she called that I understood, but I did keep quizzing her about sites of interest in the towns she was 'staying.' I could tell what she had researched in advance so I always asked her a few unexpected 'trick' questions and enjoyed her attempts to pass it off. I just played dumb.

During one call I said, "hey Amy have you been reading about those poor people stuck in Bali who can't get home because of the volcano."

There was a moment of silence then "oh yes, but I haven't been paying much attention to it on the news."

"One of my colleagues has been stuck there for two weeks. You remember Paul Howard and his wife? We met them about six months ago."

"Oh ... yes."

"We are working on a project together and he is having to do his part remotely online from his hotel in Nusa Dua. At least the Grand Hyatt is not a bad place to be stuck."

I heard a squawk from Amy on the line. Of course that was the hotel where she was staying. Paul was not even on Bali but she didn't know that.

Immediately after the call she relocated to a cheap hotel other side of the Island.

She must be praying she could get away with it.

Of course my five girls and my son thought the whole farce hilarious. Yes Sophie's kids were mine now.

Finally after almost three weeks the volcano ceased erupting and flights from Bali resumed. Amy called me to say her work was ended and she would be returning Friday afternoon.

I waited for her to come home from the airport at our rented and now otherwise vacant house.

I had planned this meeting very carefully. When she entered, I was sitting at the kitchen table with two glasses and a bottle of wine. She looked tired and super nervous. Incongruously for someone doing business for three weeks, she had a deep suntan.

I didn't bother with the usual perfunctory kiss on the cheek. "Wow you got a great tan on your business trip, did you actually get any work done?" She babbled something turning red.