Carpe Diem

"Are you ready for this?" he asked with a very serious face.

"I don't know how I could possibly be ready. I'm literally still numb from all this."

He nodded. I noticed the bartender Amelia, from Friday night walk by and she gave me a wink. I smiled for the first time in over two days.

The in laws walked in ten minutes earlier than expected. They all took seats with Terry at the head of the table and Rose across from me. My mother-in-law looked angry. For some reason they felt it was necessary to bring Rose's sister Teresa.

George started the meeting by having all parties present sign a 'consent to record' form allowing us to record everything.

I drew in a long breath and said, "Okay, you have the floor. I suggest you lay out your reasons we shouldn't divorce and then I'll ask questions afterwards. Does that sound fair?" Everyone agreed.

Terry started off, "I speak for all of us when I say we thank you for giving us this chance to talk to you. Rose feels blindsided and devastated by your reaction to her actions. We all hope to convince you to give Rose a chance at reconciliation. Rose?" He smiled at Rose who blushed.

"I don't know how to start," she said. "Well first of all I want to say again that I love you. I have always loved you. We raised two great kids together. We shouldn't throw 22 years of marriage away for such a small thing. It was just one night out of over 8000 nights. We should be together. I just wanted to live for the day, and that day was about Charlie. I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings." She sniffled as the emotion started to get to her. I had to admit to getting emotional myself but said nothing yet.

My mother-in-law, Janet, still looked very unhappy. She spat, "I don't see why you have a problem with this. She told you about it ahead of time. She was perfectly honest. It's not cheating if she told you. Besides, she almost fucking died!!! You need to have some empathy and stop being so controlling!!" She was practically screaming by the time she was done. I still said nothing. I figured I'd let them all have their say before responding. Otherwise it could become a shouting match, at least that's what George suggested.

My sister-in-law, Teresa, cleared her throat. It seemed she had something to say, so I nodded at her.

"Bob, you know my husband Dave pretty well, don't you?" I nodded. "Are you aware that he allows me to sleep with anyone I want? Yup, I'm a hotwife. Sometimes he watches and other times I come home and tell him about my experiences or show him a video. He loves it. If Dave can handle it why can't you? We wouldn't have told her it was a good idea if we thought you wouldn't like it." I thought I miss heard her.

"We?" I asked.

"Yes, me and my mother." My eyes got big, Rose looked down at her feet, Janet gasped, and Terry almost choked on his water.

Terry was coughing as Janet yelled, "Teresa!!" like she gave up a secret.

Terry went red in the face. "You two? Oh my God. What did you do?!!!"

Teresa answered, "Daddy it's okay, we were just supporting Rose's plan. We didn't suggest the idea."

"You two are detestable. You helped my daughter defile herself. Now she's nothing but a cheap whore. I think this is grounds for divorce!! Bob, I apologize for our family. They are some kind of fucked up. I don't blame you if you never talk to us again. We will never have a son-in-law like you again. I'm just so disappointed." He thought for a second and then, "I'm sorry I called you a whore baby, I'm just so pissed off right now."

Rose was obviously in shock from her father's words. I knew he liked me but I was taken aback by his complete disgust at the situation. He was a good man and seemed to back me completely.

"I want to add one thing and then I think I'm done," Terry said. "We came here to ask Bob to stay with Rose, to forgive her. I am no longer siding with my daughter. If he wants to reconcile that's great, but I'm not going to demand it or try to coerce him to. It's not my place."

"Daddy...." Teresa started but Terry interjected.

"DON'T!!! I am done. I'm more angry at you than Rose. You have some nerve egging her on like that."

Rose snapped out of her shock to utter, "Honey, I honestly thought you would just be mad for a day or two and then we could go on living Carpe Diem. Won't you please just get past this little indiscretion and we can be happy for years to come?"

That sounded to me like the end of the arguments on their side. I figured it was time to address the issues at hand.

"I would like to have the floor uninterrupted until I finish since I allowed you all to say your piece." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"First I will address the arguments you made for staying married and then give you my feelings. I will give you another chance to respond after that, okay?" Everyone nodded again.

"Teresa, you're a hotwife and your husband loves it. Dave and I have talked about it. I'm glad his fantasy has come true for him. I hear many men have that fantasy. I, on the other hand, do not. My fantasy was to have a long faithful marriage to a faithful wife and grow old together. I think it was stupid of you to assume I'd like it. Beside the fact I had never once expressed an interest in sharing my wife. I hate that you helped Rose rationalize doing this to me." She looked embarrassed to her credit, then glanced at her scowling father.

"Janet," I said and she looked concerned. "You just totally destroyed my image of you. How could you? I doubt Terry has ever had to deal with an issue like this. I know by his reaction if he ever found out you did, YOUR marriage would be over no questions asked." She too glanced at the still intimidating face of her husband. "I have to tell you that just because someone is honest and doesn't hide it doesn't mean it still isn't cheating. She told me ahead of time she was going to cheat on me. I told her I DID'NT want her to do that, that she shouldn't throw away 22 years of marriage. I was clearly opposed but she did anyway thanks to you not stopping her but rather encouraging her. I'm so disappointed in you. She would have listened to you. I just wish Terry had caught wind of it beforehand. In hindsight I should have called him but I didn't want to involve family."

"You also said she almost died but in reality she was never in much danger. Yes she had a major operation but that's really where things were over. Our Carpe Diem plan was supposed to be for both of us. I should have seen that Rose became selfish like only she deserved to have a bucket list. I drive to work everyday on one of the most dangerous highways in the country. I have been in so many close calls, I could have died. I'm sorry Janet but the empathy you spoke of should have been coming from Rose. She had no clue how much this hurt me, how I could never look at her the same way. That's very condemning. I wasn't trying to be "controlling ", I was just trying to save our marriage." Everbody shifted in their seats uncomfortably as the waitress brought us a new round of drinks.

I continued, "Rose," she jumped. "You said it was a small thing just 1 night out of over 8000? You can try to minimize it but the damage is done. This was a HUGE event. You put my feelings aside, totally disrespected me, and all for 'a little thing' as you call it. You don't respect me or my feelings. You only care about you and Carpe Diem. That's fine now that I know where you stand. I'm not throwing 22 years of marriage away, I'm salvaging the next 22 years."

Rose was crying. I said, "That's all I have. I relinquish the floor." Everyone just sat silent and listened to Rose crying.

She looked up and said, "I do respect you. I just made an error in judgment. Can't you see we belong together?"

"You respect me?" I asked. She nodded her head and wiped the snots from her nose. The bartender walked by smiling at first and then went very serious. It was a solemn scene I'm sure.

"Give me your phone then." I demanded.

"What? Why?" she squeaked.

"If I don't find disrespect on your phone I will cancel the divorce." she started to get up. "Where are you going?"

Rose stopped in her tracks, "To the ladies room."

"Deal's off if you take your phone with you. I want it now or never." She sat back down and slid the phone over. I turned it toward her to get her fingerprint. I was in.

First order of business was the text messages obviously. I didn't see Charlie's name in her contacts. "What name is Charlie under. I know you had to be texting but his name isn't in here. I'll search every single name until I find him so just tell me."

"Charlotte," she said blushing.

"Thank you. Here we go, the usual stuff lovers talk about. Oh nice, you sent him nudes, not unexpected. Wow, you sent him nudes all the way back to five years ago. Wait, thats when your old phone died. I bet it went further back didn't it. You know they call this an emotional affair, unless you were doing him then too, but I doubt it. So did you know you were going to almost die even back then? Or were you just messing around until you found a good reason to cheat for real?"

I started reading through. "I'll just read some highlights now. Ohhh here, 'Bob has no clue. He's kind of dumb that way.' Let's see, oh here we go, 'He's snoring right next to me like a clueless buffoon'. Hmmm, here's one, 'I never have orgasms with Bob, he just doesn't do it for me.' Oh here's a winner!! 'I don't love him the way I used to.'"

"Is everything you said true?" Rose shook her head no. "Well there's plenty more in here I'm sure but I've made my point."

I looked around her apps. "Why do you have two calculators on your phone?" She jumped up and reached for the phone.

"No," she whimpered.

"What's the passcode? Never mind, let me guess. There we go. Oh now see, here's all the nude photos. Whoa, that one is not very nice. Oh look, a video, quite a long video too from two days ago. Let's see what that is."

Rose jumped up, "NO DON'T, please."

"I'm sure you can get the gist from just the sound." I sent myself a copy of the video on email then I hit play. It was the night at the hotel. I watched while everyone else listened except Terry who left the table.

The first words were,

Charlie: I can't believe your husband let you do this

Rose: Well he was supposed to give me the green light but I ended up having to overrule him.

Charlie: You mean you're cheating on him?

Rose: No I told him what I was doing. I think he'll be fine.

Charlie: So you're chea.... Never mind. Well why don't we get more comfortable.

I started scrolling looking for juicy spots. "Here we go. Fyi, just so everyone is on the same page, I wanted to put getting blow jobs and anal sex on my bucket list since I never get either. I had to take them off because Rose said she didn't feel comfortable doing that." I hit play again.

Charlie: That's so good, you suck my cock so good. I'm gonna cum. Ohhh yeees! Wow, you even swallow. Your husband is a lucky man.

Rose: Yes he is. That's why he's going to accept all this like the cuck he is. I think I could keep doing this, I'm still attractive. How about I come see you in Denver?

Charlie: I don't know, I have to see how you fuck first.

I scrolled more as Terry returned to the table. He said, "Sorry, I had to go throw up."

"I'll just skip by the actual fucking for now," I said. I stopped when they disconnected.

Charlie: That was great. Let's do it again. How bout your ass this time?

Rose: Sure, just give me a few minutes to clean up some of this cum. I need to recover a little too. It's a good thing I can't get pregnant anymore, haha.

Charlie: It sure was nice of Michelle to get us this room.

Rose: I know right? Leslie and Joan told her what we were planning and she wanted to help out.

Charlie: Are you liking this so far?

Rose: Better than I had hoped, you're bigger than Bob and so much better

I had to stop there. "Rose? Does Charlie have a bigger penis than me?"

Rose turned red. "No, I just said that."

"Were you planning on cheating on me after Friday night? Making me a cuckold?"

Rose was crying. "I said a lot of things that weren't true to some people including Teresa and my mother. I was having such a good time that I started thinking you might let me be a hotwife like Teresa."

"Were you telling other people lies about me?"

Rose nodded, "I told them bad things about you so they would feel sorry for me. I guess I was just being over dramatic."

"Everything I found on your phone is disrespectful to me and I just scratched the surface. I can't accept that kind of treachery. You ruined my reputation with people in our town. But worse than lying to all these other people is lying to me and your own family. I can't stay married to someone like that."

"I promised you all could respond after you gave me the floor so now's the time. Does anyone have anything else to say or ask?" Rose's family bowed their heads in defeat. Terry shook his head.

George opened his briefcase and dropped a large envelope in front of Rose. He said, "Rose Lemon, you have been served."

"Why Bob? I love you." Rose cried.

"I have to live for today. Staying married to you is demeaning and I would never trust you again after all the shit you did behind my back. 22 years was a good run but all of that is tarnished now."

"You asshole, I'm going to take you for everything I can so I can finish my bucket list."

"Get a lawyer Rose, before you start counting your chickens. This is not a no-fault divorce state. I can bring infidelity into court and they will probably side heavily with me in regards to money."

"Fuck you Bob!!! I'll tell the kids what you're doing to me!" she screamed.

"And if you lie I will show them the evidence just like I did with your family today. Is that what you want? I'd be happy to leave our kids out of this. You're still their mother and they don't need to know details but I suggest YOU tell them the truth in your own words without lying."

"This meeting is over folks. I'll pick up the check." Teresa and Janet started walking Rose out of the restaurant crying. Terry shook my hand.

"I'm sorry things didn't work out but I understand." Then he gave me a man hug, picked up the divorce packet and walked out.

I looked at George and said, "Fuck do I need a drink."

"Let's go up to the bar, I have more stuff to discuss with you," he said. I nodded.

We sat at the bar and Amelia came over. She said, "Your lunch date looked pretty intense. I don't mean to be nosy but was that about Friday night?"

"It's fine, I don't mind talking about it. That was my last stand against her family. She's been served and now I want to get drunk."

"So Carpe Diem turned into Mortis Matrimonium Diem?" she quipped.

"Wow, you know latin? Beautiful and smart!!" I said. "Too bad you aren't 20 years older, I'd ask you out."

"And I'd say yes, but I have a better idea. My mother is beautiful, smart, sexy, and FAITHFUL. When you're ready to date again I could set you up. I know she'd like you."

"Nice, give me your number and I'll contact you after the divorce crap is done." She had just given my ego the boost it needed after being libeled by my soon-to-be ex.

George cleared his throat. "We have more business to cover before you get too shitfaced. You have excellent grounds for a lawsuit against her employer. They condoned and facilitated her cheating and we have proof."

"Really? Yeah!! Let's fuck them up!!"

Long story short, we filed suit on the grounds that Rose's boss not only was encouraging Rose to cheat on me but paid for the hotel room on her corporate card. It was an open and shut case so they quickly came at me with a settlement offer for 75% of what we had asked for. I took the offer with the stipulation that ALL participants or parties involved with the planning of the event be terminated. I named Rose and Charlie of course. I named Rose's boss Michelle for her part of pushing Rose into it and paying for the room. I also named three female colleagues of Rose who helped her decide to go through with it. The company was able to verify my claims by checking email on the company server.

Charlie worked less than a month in Denver before getting the old heave ho long before my divorce proceedings had even started. I got my generous settlement making my life much easier now that I only had my income to pay all the bills.

I was ready to start dating again. I talked to Amelia who set me up with her still single mother, Grace. We had dinner and talked about our previous relationships which I thought was a faux pas but what do I know. Her husband had died of cancer three years ago but I was her first date since.

Amelia hadn't lied. Grace was quite attractive, very sexy, and intelligent enough to hold an interesting conversation with me about a host of topics. I continued asking her out and we took our sweet time becoming closer. We became intimate one evening after a few glasses of wine at her place. She was an amazing lover wanting to please me so much while expecting little in return. But that's not me. She gave me a masterful blow job which I returned in kind. I took my time eating her pussy. It helped that she tasted fantastic. I built her up slowly to a booming screaming crescendo. Her orgasm and mine were enough for that night. We made it to bed on our next date having vaginal sex four times. She stayed the night at my place. That was the beginning of the next phase of my romantic life.

I still spoke to Rose occasionally. She was pretty angry at me for getting everyone fired. She did however find a new job paying less but enough to survive on. She ended up apologizing for screwing up our marriage. She admitted that other people influenced her too much. She felt she should have realized it was wrong from the beginning.

I let Rose explain what happened to our kids. They were never involved in the story until we had to tell them we were divorcing. I did verify that Rose gave them the facts. I'm sure it was embarrassing for her to admit her own mistakes to our children.

Carpe Diem became a difficult task for Rose since she was just getting by financially. I continued chasing my dreams with help from Grace. We took the trips I had already started booking with Rose. Rose found out and was none too pleased. We planned to go back to Europe since Grace had never been. I had Grace make her own bucket list so we could continue the journey Rose had started. I was surprised to find several sexual items on her list so I added a few more to mine. Grace moved into my house and I reduced my work hours since I now had the money to spend more time with Grace living for each day.

The End