Conversation Took a Left Turn Ch. 02

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Mr. Harrison heard a knock on his door. He looked up to see Mary standing there with a desperate look on her face, "Mr. Henderson, can we talk for a minute? I have a personal problem."

He waved her in as he finished putting away the files on his desk. He looked up and saw a scoured look on her face. He chuckled, "Let me guess. What did Bobby do now?"

With a concerned look, Mary spoke, "I don't know. But he's up to something. I don't know what, where, or how. But I know he is. He lied to me about his upcoming trip to Vegas.

"Mary, you're' confusing me," replied her boss with a smirk. "I thought you two were in an open relationship. Remember, what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas."

Mary was caught off guard with that comment. "It's not only that. He goes off Sunday mornings without telling me where he's going. He has changed so much. I don't even know him anymore.

We have more money in the bank that I can spend. He's taking care of everything around the house since I am at school. He's taking business classes that are over at 8 P.M. But doesn't come home to 10:30. He is out the door at five every morning, rain or shine. He hasn't touched a beer since he has gotten home.

Hell, since I've gone back to school, he has taken over all the household duties and is pretty much raising Amanda all by himself. He even hired me a maid. All I do is show up to events we have planned together, and he does everything. I am almost useless to him anymore. He even put in a pool for me.

I finally went by his office the other day for the first time. I didn't realize how good he was doing. He's hired an attractive secretary that's working for him. I wanted to pump her for information, so I took her to lunch to introduce myself.

I picked up from a casual conversation with her she is taking a week of vacation to supposedly visit her mother in Tennessee. At the same time, Bobby is going to be in Vegas. I know we are in an open relationship, but I smell something fishy going on with him.

Do you know he just sent Thomas a cashier's check for the remaining amount due on his court-ordered restitution? It covered the $138,000 plus some change he owed him.

He has a separate account he is paying everything out of. My paycheck goes into the household account, and we never touch it. Hell, he's even doing the bills now. He is having his cousin do it. His cousin is his accountant. He can't tell me what's going on because of client confidentiality. So I don't know what he's up to."

Mary sighed, "I'm worried about how's he's getting his money. You know Bobby. Him and his hair brain ideas. I don't want him to drag me down with him, especially now that I'm becoming a lawyer." It got deathly quiet between the two of them.

Mr. Harrison smiled, "Are you about through? It's hard to have a discussion when one of the parties are talking, doesn't stop to take a breath." Chuckling, "First of all, don't tell Lori the perks you're getting, or I'd have to up my game.

As far his money goes, he's getting a boatload off me. He had installed a sprinkler system in my next neighbor's yard. Lori went nuts because of his yard compared to mine. His yard looks like the fifteenth fairway at Augusta. Basically, he's shamed half of the homeowners in my community into going with what he calls his 'Supreme Service.' It's not cheap, but dam, the yard looks great.

You know this year's Christmas party was the most entertaining in years. Well, at least since Bobby went to prison. The dynamics between Booby and everyone else there was quite a revelation. We first thought we were going to have trouble between Thomas and him. But it turned out Thomas just wanted to get Bobby to handle his yard.

Next, Bobby was the big topic between all the ladies. With that dam high and tight haircut he had, they thought he looked like Chris Hemsworth. And he's developed into quite the little dancer."

Mary responded, "He told me he had been practicing with Amanda. But now I think about it he was pretty good."

Mr. Harrison continued. "Lori said he was the only male that kept his distance the whole night from all the wives. That reminds me. I need to call some interns and some other employees and discuss boundaries. And some women also got a little flirtatious after too many drinks, MARY.

Lori watched him closely, and you should have seen his expression every time you got too little flirtatious with some of the interns, Mary. He wasn't happy. And when you were moving around the room, he couldn't take his eyes off of you. Lori said every time she brought your name up. You could see Bobby's eyes smiling."

"Lori told me even when he was falling down drunk at the previous parties, he never made a pass or lewd comments to the wives. He didn't grope them or grind into them. That's just not Bobby.

Let's keep an eye on Bobby. And then you make your decision when you graduate.

Mary sighed, "You know how law school is. And I don't have time to date and any of that crap. I have practically thrown myself at him, and all he says is, 'give me more time.' He's driving me crazy, he's everything I wanted in a husband, but I'm not sure we can get back together after what he did. I don't know if I can ever trust him again."

Mr. Harrison smiled and replied, "Bobby was immature, lazy, and drank too much. He made many bad choices. But he was never a womanizer, I don't know what happened that one night, but it was a one-off, I bet. Now, if you want to save your marriage at all, then you have to quit dating other men, period. If not, get divorced."

Mary huffed, "I thought I was going to have to beat them off with the baseball bat with the way some of them were throwing themselves at him."

Mr. Harrison looked at her and snickered. "Funny isn't, Mary. You want him now that every woman that sees him wants him.

I want to ask you something and don't get the wrong idea. And for God's sake, don't ask him. He might still be trying to deal with it. You don't think he was attacked in prison."

"Mary put her hands up to her mouth and gasped, "Oh no, I didn't think about that. I never wanted that to happen to him. I hope he is getting help," she started sobbing.

"Mary, I love you like a daughter, and I want to protect you and your future here. I'll call a PI firm we use and have him monitor Bobby over the next month and see what we can find out what he is up to. Does he try to hide his phone, or is text?"

Mary dry chuckled. "I'd already been through it a dozen times. He leaves his phone out all time. And he uses the same code he has always used. And because he uses it for business, he has hundreds of texts from women and people I don't know.

He has a calendar. It has dates and times with everyone he has an appointment with. I have no way of telling who is who. And if they're legitimate or not."

"Well, Mary, I'm going to go ahead and get things going with the PI. I'll let you know what Bobby's up to," replied Mr. Harrison.

One more thing, Mary, Lori told me you are now a threat to the others wives of the men in our office. You're a good-looking 40-year-old woman. Once you're divorced, your dynamic with them is going to change. And you will be shunned by them.

They will see to you keep your distance from their husbands. As a single woman, you won't be invited to parties and events they throw. They will make sure you stay away from husbands as much as possible."

Mary's eyes got big, "I would never....."

Mr. Harrison cut her off. "It doesn't matter what I think. I want you to quit dating and just watch and see Bobby what does. If it doesn't work out, you can divorce him after you graduate. But tell everyone here you are no longer dating. That should placate the wives for a while.

An old American Indian saying, 'When you have one foot in the canoe and one in the river. You're going to drown every time."

TO BE CONTINUED...