Checked Out

The psychologist chimed in. "It's not unusual for someone in your situation to be abused while you're unresponsive. And in your case, I would say that you went into some type of shock upon hearing your wife's declaration of leaving you. Granted, this is a much more extreme case than we usually hear about, but it does make sense."

Rhonda spoke up, "When Arthur was young, there was a bully a few years older than him. He teased Arthur quite a bit, and one day one of the neighbourhood parents found Arthur lying on the ground in one of the local parks. From what our parents told me, they put him to bed, and he woke up the next morning. No one ever overthought it as he woke up regular as clockwork the next day. But it did happen."

I nodded, "I remember that Billy had been pushing me around and teasing me in the park. After a while, I didn't know what happened, but when I woke up, mum and dad told me I had passed out, and someone brought me home. When I told them about Billy, they went and spoke to his parents. The next day Billy came up to me at school and said sorry." I chucked at the memory. "I don't think he was, but he never bothered me again after that day."

"Well, I think we perhaps have some precedence here." The psychologist mentioned. "In a lot of ways, the mind is still poorly understood. However, if something like this has happened before, it does make sense it could happen again." I frowned. He smiled, "I wouldn't worry too much, with the love and attention of these three lovely ladies, even if something was to happen again, I think you will be well looked after." We spoke for a few more minutes before he excused himself.

I also found myself tired, that might sound strange for someone who had just slept for the past two weeks, but I was. So I sent all three girls home for some rest and told them they could come to visit me tomorrow and make sure I was okay.

The following two days got me back into life, Tina brought me a work laptop and a few simple issues to solve with instructions, only to do them if I was bored. Rhonda dropped in primarily to run through her amended divorce documents and to get me to sign a few documents so she could get to work on ending my marriage to Annie. Rhonda also brought a young detective, Karen Hill.

Detective Hill interviewed me for over an hour about my experience that night with Annie. She thanked me and let Rhonda and me know that we would receive her report in a few days. I wasn't sure if we were filing a complaint against Annie. Finally, however, Rhonda told me to leave it all to her, kissed me on the forehead and left.

On the afternoon of the second day, following my wake up from what Sally was calling my 'check-out', I was released to go back home. Sally escorted me out, and I was surprised when Tina met us at the door and helped Sally escort me to her big suburban SUV. Tina stayed that night for dinner. We ordered take out, she helped to clean up then stayed around to watch TV with us for a couple of hours. When she went to leave, Sally hugged her then made sure that I walked her to her car.

"Tina, thank you so much for everything you have done these past few weeks. I don't know how I can repay you."

"Well, in a few weeks, when you're feeling back on your game, you can take me out for dinner and dancing!"

I blushed. Here I was an afternoon out of the hospital, and the woman whose kiss had woken me up was asking me out. But she was good looking, and I was, according to Annie, to be a single man again.

"Okay, next Friday night after work, that gives me almost two weeks to get myself back to normal?"

She nodded and came and gave me a big hug. It lingered a little longer, and I sensed more of a hidden meaning. As she got into her car, I found it funny that I wondered for a moment the name of the woman I had been married to for almost twenty-five years.

For the next few days again, I had Sally, Rhonda and Tina buzzing around me making sure I was ok. It was nice to be looked after like that. However, the news that Rhonda brought me caught all of us a little off guard that Friday afternoon.

"So this afternoon, Annie was arrested!" she stated.

"What happened?" I asked

"Well, following your statement to the police in hospital, an arrest warrant was put out for Annie based on mental cruelty to a person with a disability. This is based on the fact that you were mentally disabled and unable to defend yourself at the time. Add to the fact that she left you unattended for an unknown period, and she's in quite a bit of trouble."

"What does this mean for the divorce?" asked Tina, who had again joined us for dinner.

That evening she had her eight-year-old daughter Clarice with her. Clarice was watching a Disney movie in the lounge room while we talked. On Monday, I was heading back to work, so Tina would see me then, but I was starting to understand that she was after a little more than an efficient number cruncher in the office. I found myself not minding the thought of Tina and imagining her and what was underneath those nice form-fitting clothes she was wearing each time she came to visit.

Rhonda smiled, "It's likely going to mean a few things go in Arthur's favour. From the status of the bank accounts and house, I'm pushing for a 50/50 split. I know we could go for more after everything. However, I figure that Arthur will want to be fair?" I nodded. "Annie will not be able to touch any of the bonus money that she tried to get from you Tina, I've put a case against her for extortion attached to the mental cruelty charge. It won't do much except stop her touching what is not hers. She will likely be out in a couple of days. None the worse for wear and likely back with the pig of a 'soul mate'."

"What I want to do is get the divorce settled quickly using Arthur's hospital visit and recovery as a pre-text. Then I have plans depending on how she reacts. I will make sure that Arthur does not get anything taken from him that shouldn't be" she smiled.

"So, how long will the divorce take aunt Rhonda?" Sally asked.

"I believe all going well; it should take about three months. After that, if Annie wants to fight anything, I bring in the big guns, and it will take longer but hurt her a lot more."

That night, as I walked Tina out to the car, Sally helped Clarice into the back seat of the big suburban. Tina again hugged me and surprised me with a brief kiss reminding me how I woke up the other day.

"Arthur, I know you are married, and you're an honourable man, so I'm not going to push too much too soon. But I want to stake a claim to you now and let you know that I want you. Of course, I've wanted you for a long time. But I would never chase a married man or dishonour someone's marriage vows. I had it happen to me, and I don't want to cause that to someone else, even if their marriage is on the rocks."

For a moment, I stared down into her deep blue eyes, brushed a lock of her dark raven hair off her face before leaning in to kiss her. But in place of a soft and gentle kiss, I let this be a kiss of passion for perhaps thirty seconds. I knew we both felt the connection. Tina's eyes were closed when I pulled back, and her tongue ran over her lips, savouring our kiss.

I grinned. "That is to let you know I accept your claim."

We turned to look at the girls, both of them giggling as they watched our kiss. Clarice was clapping, and Sally had a massive shit-eating grin on her face. As Tina and Clarice backed out of the drive, Sally hugged me, and we waved them away.

The next few months became somewhat of a rollercoaster. On the one hand, Annie wanted the divorce to move quick. On the other, she wasn't happy with the settlement. It looked like Paul was in the driving seat telling her that she should get the lion's share of the assets. He was feeding her bullshit, and at some level, she had to know it after so many years of marriage. As the settlement demands got more ludicrous, Rhonda had a single call with Annie's lawyer, and while I don't know what was said, all the objections to the settlement ceased overnight.

Tina and I dated each Friday night while Sally started babysitting Clarice, picking her up at school and looking after her giving Tina and me time for dinner, coffee and seeing a show or going dancing. Of course, we never did more than hold hands and kiss, but I had a feeling that the evening my divorce came through was going to be something else.

Now I was back at work, and we were doing well. As a financial organization, we turned a tidy profit, but we weren't in the big leagues; we all did our jobs, got paid well for it and generally had a good time together as a group. I think the staff figured out that Tina and I were becoming an item at some point. Although everyone was happy for both of us, I had to tone down my usual antics. My direct manager, who reported to Tina, made sure to chat around appropriate workplace behaviour as I was practically dating his boss.

About three and a half months later, we got a notification that the divorce would be granted one week from the coming Thursday. There were no courts; however, Annie had requested a meeting to talk before the final decree. I agreed the day before, and we arranged that she would come to the house to see both Sally and myself.

I'd taken the afternoon off work and prepared lamb chops and gnocchi in a burnt butter sauce for the three of us. It was a favourite of all three of us, and I hoped it would make the evening's conversations a little less awkward. Sally got home around five-thirty and went to shower and change, then a little before six, the doorbell rang, and Annie was standing at the front door.

Now, I haven't described Annie in all this time, but perhaps I will now but with somewhat of a now and then look. Before everything went down a few months ago, Annie was an attractive mid-forties housewife. She had cropped shoulder-length brown hair, a curvy mum figure, and while carrying a few pounds more than she liked, she was still very attractive. With an excellent 34-C bust and an ass to match, she was a great looking wife. But, unfortunately, the woman standing before me was almost unrecognisable. Annie had put on a massive amount of weight, she had jowls under her chin and big puffy cheeks, her stomach that always had a bit of a mum tum, now drooped down over her pants, and that curvy mum ass that I used to love and hold had ballooned out.

Moreover, she was wearing baggy clothes that hid more. Now I am not against more significant people, but that wasn't Annie. I think my shock at her body showed on my face. Annie grimaced but said nothing.

"Um, hello Annie, please come in." We walked into the kitchen, and I offered her a glass of wine, which she accepted. We made small talk for a few minutes. She asked about work and if I was taking care of myself. I asked her about work and didn't bother with the looking after herself comment.

"It's what Paul wants. He didn't like how thin I was, so we've been working on bulking me up." She mentioned the unspoken question. I frowned; For over twenty-five years, I had loved this woman. Yet, despite what she had done to me, I still had a lingering concern for her health, even if it was greatly diminished. "You don't approve, do you?" She looked at me.

"No, Annie, I don't. When we were together, you were a good size, healthy. But, I'll be honest, I am shocked at your appearance. You're not looking well, and if I weren't so hurt by what you did, I would be more concerned about your health and try to help you."

"But you don't care, do you," her face dropped. "You and Sally, you're happy and healthy without me here."

"Well, there is a part of me that cares, but when you walked out of here and pretty much left me for dead...." I shrugged, she sighed.

"I deserve that. I did a terrible thing, didn't I?"

"No, mother," Sally had appeared fresh from the shower. "You did a FUCKING horrible thing. You single-handedly ripped a happy family apart, then walked out the door without a care in the world and I, for one, can't understand why dad agreed to let you come here tonight."

"Sally, settle down; your mother knows the situation we are in and how unhappy we all are. Coming here has got to be hard for her. She has asked for this meeting tonight, so I thought the least we could do is be grown up and hear her out. "

Sally wasn't happy; from what I understood, just like me, she had not spoken to her mother since that fateful day. The way my daughter was looking at her mother, this would not end well for anyone--time to change the topic.

I tried to sound happy, "Difficult conversations are not good right before dinner, so let's eat first."

So I served dinner, no one spoke; however, there were many glances at each other across the table. Sally just plain glared at her mother the entire time. After dinner, I cleaned up the table, and Annie asked to speak to Sally alone first.

"No fucking way, you can say what you want to me in front of both of us!"

I was split, but I could see that Sally was determined not to be left alone with her mother. I think Annie could see that too. The look in her eyes was exactly what her mother did to me that fateful night. She nodded.

Annie took a deep breath, she didn't want to do this in front of me, but she looked at Sally. "Well Sally, I wanted to ask you to forgive me for what I did that night. I didn't think things through correctly, and despite everything, I don't want to alienate my daughter forever."

Annie looked at me, "There is more, but I would prefer to say it in private, not with your father present."

"Sorry, mother, but if you can't say it to both of us, then I don't want to hear it."

With that, before Annie could do anything more, Sally got up and walked away. A moment later, we heard her bedroom door slam.

"I wanted that to go better," Annie said softly, more to herself than me.

"I think it went rather well, all things considered," I replied to her, letting her know I heard her.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," I sighed, "Annie, you need to understand that right now, no one living in this house likes you very much." She went to reply, and I held up my hand, "Let me finish and lay it out for you.

"First, you have a long term sexual affair with someone, then hide it from both Sally and I. Next, you serve me with divorce papers without warning, and when I go into 'Check-out' mode as Sally is calling it, you yell, scream, then slap me." Annie looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Yes, I was aware, and I have memories of most of that time until a little after you hit me the first time. Now let's continue. You then at some point walk out on me when I am unresponsive and leave me there until Sally comes home and finds me in the same state."

Annie was now looking panicked.

"When Sally calls you, you show absolutely no concern for me when your daughter is in obvious distress about her father. You never once inquired about my health until tonight, make unreasonable demands of my workplace, and when you walk in here, it's still all about you. You ask Sally to forgive you, yet at no point have you said you are sorry to her." I paused just a moment to see if it would sink in. "Yes, Annie, I think with all of that said it went really well!"

Annie was now looking at the floor, and there were tears in her eyes. They weren't yet hitting the floor, but they were threatening. I didn't know if they were for Sally, myself or just still all about herself.

I continued, "Now, our divorce will be final tomorrow, and unless you have anything else to say, then I think we have fulfilled your request for a final meeting." I walked to the door and opened it. Annie looked and me and walked out. Once over the threshold, she turned to look at me.

"Arthur, we did have some good years, didn't we?"

"Yes Annie, most of our time together was amazing. You were a great lover, a caring wife and an adoring mother. I don't know what this Paul character has done to you, but I don't see any of the woman I fell in love with within the person standing in front of me. All I see is a lost being who has been manipulated by someone to become overweight, selfish and care nothing more for the people around them than what they can give you next."

She was again looking at her feet.

"You really mean that don't you Arthur."

"Yes, I do."

She turned to leave, then turned back one last time. This time she looked broken.

"Arthur, about the house, Paul told me I needed to ask?"

So that's what this visit was all about. It was nothing about reconnecting with her family. It was just about money. I laughed; Annie looked at me, perplexed as to why I was laughing.

"Go tell your 'soul mate' that you will have your part of the savings and the equity that was in this house in the bank account that your lawyer gave to Rhonda, this time tomorrow. And Annie!"

She looked at me

"Guard that money against Paul, or you're not going to have it long!"

******

The following morning brought the final decree, Annie and I were no longer husband and wife. There was a small part of me that was sad. But it was a very small part, mostly I was happy. The last few months had not been easy for anyone. Now I was free, and at forty-eight years old, I still had a lot of life in me to give.

Rhonda gave me the call and told me pizza was on her tonight at my place. Sally dropped by for lunch at the office. We talked about happier times with her mother when we were a family. I know she didn't like her mother very much, but I know she missed the woman she used to be. Honestly, I did too, we did have a lot of good years together.

Tina, well, I think there was a signal between Sally and Tina when Sally headed off because not five minutes later, I was called to Tina's office, and she slammed the door shut then proceeded to kiss me like the sun would never rise in the morning again. Although, I must admit that I may have kissed her back the same way.

"Can I claim you as mine now Arthur?"

I felt a sore spot on my neck where there may or may not be a bruise rising as she kissed my neck not a moment ago. "I think you may have already done that."

Dinner that night was great, I had Sally, Rhonda, Tina and Clarice around, and we celebrated my freedom from Annie. That same Friday night, when the girls were in bed, Tina and I consummated our relationship. I must have done everything right because for the rest of the weekend, every time she sat down, she squeaked a little like she was a little sore, but her smouldering eyes were burning with a flame that I knew was for me alone.

Six months later, we were married in a beautiful little ceremony on a local lake with many people from work in attendance. We would have liked to get married later. However, we wanted to be married when Sally and Clarice's little brother was born.

*********

It was five years later, Sally, her boyfriend, Tina and I had just sat down for dinner at one of our local restaurants, when five-year-old Keegan asked. "Daddy, who is that lady that keeps staring at us?"

We all turned around, and sitting across the way was Annie. She had lost a lot of weight, was staring at us, and she didn't look happy with herself. We hadn't seen or heard from her since after the divorce. She had never even tried to get in contact with Sally. I excused myself from the family and went over to her.

"Hi Annie."

"Hi Arthur,"

"How are you?"

She looked down at the chicken salad she was eating, "You were right Arthur, you were right about him. Paul convinced me I was his 'soul mate', and you were nothing. But when I didn't get the money upfront, he convinced me to become overweight because he loved me and liked overweight women. When I got the money from the divorce, you told me not to give it to him, but I didn't listen. He blew through it in six months and then left me."