Carefree Highway

"What the hell are you talking about?" screamed Ann, "You just left me here three years ago. You never said anything. We were happy. I loved you then more than anything, and I know you loved me. We had a great life, don't you dare call it crap."

"You must really think that because I was stupid then that I'm stupid now," I said.

"Maybe that wasn't a good question to start with," said Bertha, "Let's try something simple."

"It's my understanding that you and Mal, were very close, so why did you attack him, today and slam a 70+ year old man into the wall with no provocation?" she asked.

"That was his fault," I snapped, "He brought it on himself."

"How so?" asked Bertha, "What did he do?"

"He misread me," I said.

"It doesn't matter, I forgive him," said Mal holding out his hand to me.

I simply stared at it as if he was offering me a dead rat. "I neither need nor accept your fucking forgiveness," I snapped. "You're the one who fucked up not me. You should have had enough sense to stay away from Evie."

"Okay we're getting nowhere, why don't we try a different direction. Ann why don't you start and tell us what you remember of your time with your husband. Does anyone object to that?" asked Ann.

"I don't care who talks, let's just get this shit over with. But I do object to you calling him her husband," said Eve.

"Chase and I were happy," began Ann glaring at Evie. "After we'd been married for about 8 years I got an opportunity. My degree was in Health care management, and I was tired of working in hospitals. I was offered the position running Shady Acres and I wanted it badly. It would give me the chance to actually make a more personal impact on the lives of the people in my care. Of course I couldn't do it without Chase because we'd have to move to this state for me to do it. I knew that with his degree in business management Chase could find a job anywhere, but I was still worried that he wouldn't want to just move to a different state. To my surprise, he supported me totally. He even came to work here with me knowing that we were short on staff."

"This place became our lives and the residents our extended family. We put almost all we had to give into this place, and we were happy. I handled most of the patient's issues and Chase handled the day to day business issues. We were a great team. It just seemed like we grew more in love every day. There was nothing I wouldn't do for Chase, and I'd already seen the lengths he was willing to go to make me happy," said Ann.

"Steady stomach," said Evie just loud enough for everyone to hear,"don't barf, no matter how much of this bullshit she puts out, just hold it in." She looked up and smiled when she noticed everyone looking at her. "Oh sorry, I didn't thnk you guys could hear me," she said smiling.

Ann cleared her throat and began speaking again, "Then one day Chase just disappeared, with no warning. We hadn't had an argument or anything. He just kissed me goodbye, said he was going out to get some things I'd been telling him we needed and never came back. At first we all thought that maybe there had been an accident. But the truck was parked out by the gate and his Mustang was gone. All of his clothes were still here, the only thing that wasn't was Chase and his car," she said. Tears were rolling down her face and it was obvious that she couldn't continue.

"Ann just seemed to change over night when Chase vanished," said Malcolm picking up the story. "It didn't just affect her, it affected all of us. We were like one big happy family and then one of the most important parts of that family was gone with no warning. We all rallied around Ann to help make it easier on her and to support her, but it was like she just died and there was nothing left but her shell. She didn't even come out to talk to us anymore. Where before she was always there, she just became an administrator, and we miss her the way she was."

"Ann had a gift for seeing people's pain, and doing things to make them feel better. She was an angel to all of us. She did things for us that no doctor or anyone else could ever do. She brightened up the lives of a lot of old people in ways that even their families couldn't. She was a gift from heaven. And Chase was like the son we never had. He was always there to help out too. They were the perfect couple until he disappeared and broke Ann's heart," said Malcolm. "We searched for him for months, but couldn't find so much as a clue. All of the detectives thought we should look into management or businesses, since that was what he went to college for. No one could have predicted that he'd become a truck driver."

Bertha noticed me sitting back in my seat shaking my head and chuckling, "Would you like to add something?" she asked me.

"They gave you the story book version, but they left out a few important details," I began.

"Like the two assholes said, I quit my job and moved to this state with Ann because she was right, when she said that I loved her and would have done anything for her. And I did think that we were in love, and our lives together were great or so I thought. But it was all bullshit, she never loved me, and if she even thinks that she did then she's crazy as hell. You don't cheat on people you love."

"I did love you and I still do, I'd give anything to have you back," said Ann loudly.

I looked across the table at her and in the coldest voice I could muster said, "I listened to your bullshit version of everything, so give me a chance to tell her the way things really ended."

"Please continue," said Bertha.

"As I was saying we worked here to make everyone's lives better. We did everything we could for the residents. Ann was always arranging parties and trips, she did everything she could to make the place better, but she went too far. About a year after we got here I started to notice that Ann was always sending me out to get things. It didn't bother me because I wanted to help in any way I could. But sometimes I wondered why she never sent anyone else," I said. I looked around the table and noticed that everyone in the room was looking at me, and it was so quiet in the room that you could hear the snow blowing around outside.

"So as it happened one day, I was off on one of those little trips and before I got too far away, I noticed that I had forgotten the list that she made. I turned the truck around and headed back. I didn't want to deal with everybody making jokes about how I was getting old, and the first thing to go was the memory. You know the ones that start out with how at first your memory gets bad and you need a list to remember what you need. Then someone has to remind you that you had a list. So anyway I decided to just ease back into the office to get the list and be on my way with no one the wiser."

"I had to make sure that no one was in the office first though so I tiptoed through the house. I thought I was a fucking ninja the way I was moving. I was slipping around corners and making sure no one saw me. Then when I was finally near the office, I noticed a line of 5 or 6 of the residents outside the office. I didn't know what the hell was going on so I watched. The door opened and Claude Jenkins came shuffling out. He was a mean old bastard, even at 85 he never had a good thing to say about any one except Ann, and I was beginning to think I knew why."

"As Claude left the office the next Old guy went right in. I went back outside and crept around to the side of the building. I looked into the office and my heart broke and nearly stopped. There she was my wife, my best friend, my soul mate, the woman I had quit my fucking job and career for, and moved across the country so she could follow her dream. She was bent over her desk with her skirt raised up around her waist like a two dollar whore. And, my best friend Malcolm here was pumping his slimy old dick into her and squeezing her tits." Bertha's amazed gasp and the shocked looks on Everyone's faces caused me to pause.

"But I can explain," said Ann beginning to cry.

"Excuse me," I said, "But it's still my turn. I'm almost done and then Evie and I are getting out of here." Evie got up and started holding my hand because she could tell that this was hard on me but I needed to get it out after all of this time of holding it in.

"I couldn't think of any reason for Ann to betray me like this. As I said before we never argued, I did anything she asked because I loved her so much. Even things I didn't want to do, because I'd rather be a little unhappy then risk losing her. Our sex life was great we rarely ever missed a night; at least I'd thought it was. I did notice one thing as I looked in the window though. Ann was bent over the desk letting them fuck her from behind. She hadn't let me do that to her in a while and I missed it. You can't tell now because she's picked up some weight, but Ann used to have the nicest roundest ass in town, and I loved watching my dick slide between those perfect globes, but she just didn't feel comfortable in that position. Now I know why, she was saving that way for her geriatric gangbangs. Well not exactly a gangbang since she seemed to be doing them one at a time. It was more like a train. Remember that TV dance show back in the 90's, Soul Train? Well Ann was the conductor of the "Old Train."

"I guess there were a lot of ways I could have handled it. I could have gone in there and beat the fuck out of a lot of old geezers. But what would that have proved? I was younger and stronger then all of them put together. I could have marched in there and slapped the shit out of Ann. But I've never hit a woman in my life. As I sat there and just watched her I couldn't see the expression on her face but this had obviously been going on for a long time. And it was why I was always the one she sent to town to pick up things. We all make choices every day in life and I guess that Ann had chosen those old guys over me and our marriage. So, since this was what she wanted, and I had a history of giving her what she wanted. I just left the keys to the truck in the dinning room and headed for the garage.

My Mustang isn't the standard 4.6 liter V8. I'd had the engine swapped out for one of the Ford Racing, larger displacement V8s with the ram air scoop. It cranks out about 462 horse power through a Magna Flow exhaust system. It's pretty fast, but it's also pretty fucking loud. I hardly ever got to drive it back then because when I started it up you could hear it throughout the house and Ann would come running out and tell me to turn it off. That is unless she was bent over a desk pushing her pussy onto some75 year old guy's dick. I just drove away and never looked back."

"But," began Ann.

"Still my turn," I snapped. "For about the first year, I was pretty evil. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't want any friends or anything else. I thought back about what I had done or where I'd gone wrong, but I just couldn't figure it out. God I missed her. But after a while, that even faded. I started to realize that as I said before, we all make choices and Ann chose to ignore my feelings and any possible consequences, in favor of what she was doing. So I could either choose to shut myself off from life, or I could just move on. I started looking at women again I think the first one was probably Ruby in Memphis, because she looked like Ann, but was younger and with bigger tits. Screwing her in an odd way kind of gave me the closure I needed to just put the marriage behind me."

I paused here because I had two women giving em the evil eye simultaneously.

"Our marriage is not over, Chase, snapped Ann," we can, and will work this out, you don't under stand at all."

She started to say something else but was cut off, "Shut the fuck up Grandma, he's done with you," snapped Evie looking at me with fire in her eyes. "I knew that bitch was after you. Next time we go to Memphis, I'm gonna fuck that bottle blond bimbo up. Those tits aren't Even real, Chase. You'd be better off with Granny here, if my tits aren't big enough for you. Hers are probably at about waist level when she takes that bra off but at least they're the genuine article."

"Can, I please finish?" I asked loudly. Since there were no objections from Evie or Ann, I looked at Bertha and then at Malcolm, who was holding his head down and couldn't look at me.

"I didn't file for a divorce because I figured, if Ann wanted one, she could pay for it her self. I also didn't see myself ever getting married again so I didn't need one, then. I simply refused to take any jobs that called for me to go to Michigan for awhile. Then with all of the automotive parts being shipped in and out of here, I decided that was kind of stupid so I just didn't take any jobs inside of Detroit. I was just starting to feel human again, I had a new life, and a few friends around the country, nothing serious but life was good again. I did have a little lonely spot in my heart still, but I figured that was just the lingering traces of feeling I had left for Ann." I heard her sniffle a little at that.

"Then I met Evie. She was brash, rude, mean, and insanely jealous, the total opposite of Ann. She's way too young for me and we have absolutely nothing in common. We argue constantly about everything, and everyone. I don't know how or why we haven't killed each other yet. Oh wait, I do. It's because I love her like there's no tomorrow. She took away all of the hurt I had from Ann and made me whole again. I had avoided coming here all of this time because deep down inside I was afraid to come back. Afraid I'd still feel like I gave you everything I had and it still wasn't enough," I stared straight at Ann as I said this.

"But all of a sudden it no longer mattered what you thought Ann, because Evie is my life now, so if we ran into you, so be it. I was no longer afraid. Then we got here and I saw Malcolm and when he touched Evie, I just snapped. I won't apologize to you Mal. I'm sure you can understand why. But it's over, and that's my sad little tale," I said and then I stood up.

"Come on Evie, they've got to be done unloading by now. Let's hit the road."

Evie stood up to follow me and we both stopped, as Ann jumped in front of the door and said," wait!"

Evie and I just looked at her, Bertha was still in shock and had nothing to say, and Malcolm still sat at the table mumbling to him self.

"You don't understand," said Ann, "Don't you want me to explain it to you?"

"Nope," I said, and started for the door again.

"Let her talk," said Evie, "We've heard this much of it. We might as well hear the rest of it. So this can all be over."

Evie and I sat back at the table. Before Ann could start Malcolm started blubbering.

"I'm so sorry Chase. I never meant to hurt you. You weren't ever supposed to find out. It was stupid." he said.

"Great," I snapped. "I wasted my life and lost my marriage over something that was stupid."

"Chase, I love you so much that I still sit at the window day after day waiting for you to come back. If you hadn't showed up today, I'd probably be there waiting for you right now. I knew that a love as strong as ours couldn't fade away and that you'd be back." said Ann.

"As you already said, we were in love. You talked about how much you loved me. Well I loved you just as much and I still do. You were the only man in the world for me and you always will be." As she said this Evie snorted and started laughing.

"Chase back then, only two things were important to me, you first and foremost, and this place and my people a close second. If you remember some of those older guys were really depressed. Almost to the point where they'd just lost the will to live. Claude Jenkins was one of the worst; he just didn't care any more. I started talking to him about it and found out that even at his age he had a really strong sex drive. I figured an eighty year old man wouldn't know what to do with it. Any way one thing led to another and I started wearing my blouses a little more open around Claude and it got results. That led to more and more teasing and finally some touching. I never mentioned it to you because I didn't see the harm in it, but I knew that you'd have a fit. It took a while nearly six months but he started going down again. He got so depressed he wouldn't come out of his room. I had Malcolm force him to come to my office and that was when you went away for your first shopping trip. I felt guilty as hell about it but I was determined to save that old man's life, and I did."

"Chase he was barely able to keep it up and he came almost as soon as he stuck it in me. But for the next few weeks he was human again, he was better than he'd ever been. I was amazed that something so simple worked, when all of the drugs and psychologists had struck out. It didn't cost anything, and it wasn't something we'd run out of, and it worked so well. I never for a second thought about what it could possibly do to you, or us or our marriage, but if I had it would have never started. I was just so happy that it had worked.

And I figured if it worked for him. Well you know the rest of it. It wasn't like I was taking anything away from you. I didn't love them. I just let them have a little taste of what you were getting every night. And I only did it bent over the desk because I didn't want to see them or think about it. But with you I just stopped doing it in that position for two reasons, one was because I didn't want to do the same things with you that I did with them, and second was because I like looking in your eyes as we made love and seeing all the love you had for me." she said.

"When I was with them I thought about anything other than what was going on it was easy because let's face it they were old men. It isn't like they were going to rock my world or anything, but they loved it. Every night with you I just wanted to fully concentrate on all of the love we had for each other. I never thought that you'd find out. And it was only supposed to be temporary. It just got out of hand. I'm so sorry Chase. Until now I never knew you'd seen it. You must have been devastated. All this time I thought you'd just run off because you got tired of me? Especially when you showed up with her; can you ever forgive me?"

"Yep," I said, "you're forgiven." Evie stood up obviously pissed, but sat back down when I looked at her.

"What about me?" asked Malcolm, looking at the floor, he was obviously feeling guilt.

"Mal, we were friends, and good ones I thought," I said turning to him. "Mal, do you believe in God?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, "I go to church and pray often. I'm getting older so I don't know when I'm going to die so I need to be prepared."

"Well, Mal," I said smiling at him, "I hope it's soon, and I hope you know that you're going to rot in hell for a long time. Isn't coveting thy neighbor's wife one of the ten fucking commandments? Fuck no, I don't and won't forgive you. But it's water under the bridge. I once thought that I'd never get over Ann. But I did, and coming here was an important step. Now I can go ahead and get a divorce and stop dwelling in the fucking past."

"I've heard that there's a special part of hell reserved for adulterers though," I threw in.

"Ann have a great life, I mean that seriously. We could have had one, but you put other men in front of me. I'd still like us to be friends someday, but it's going to take some time. Don't be surprised as soon as I get home I'm going to go ahead and file for a divorce. I hope you can move on too. You'll meet someone else, I'm sure. And this time I hope you don't lie to him or hide things from him." I touched her gently on the shoulder as I opened the door and started down the hall with Evie following closely behind.

Even through the closed door and halfway down the hall we could hear Ann crying, and Bertha and Mal trying to comfort her. Cheating and covering up the truth, always have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass, and I guess Ann was finally having to face that. But maybe her motives for the cheating were in some twisted way pure. Maybe she started out with the best of intentions, and truly only wanted to help. But they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.