February Sucks - For Linda

This is my take on the "February Sucks" line. I have tried to think of Jim and Linda's back story and see if there was something in it that made Linda feel so entitled. That is why I came up with a new character called Helen. I know she is very underdeveloped in this peace. I did try to write more about her backstory but it took the story in the wrong direction and made it way to convoluted and long. As a result I hope to revisit the character in a later story.

I have picked the story up just as Jim goes looking for Linda.

Thanks again to my editor, Kenji. There input is vital.

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"She's all right, you don't need to check on her." Dee was addressing the bartender. "Everything's fine. I'll take care of this." She placed a five on the counter.

I wondered why the bartender looked at me with what seemed like sympathy, as he pocketed the bill. "What... why... but she went there with you? Because you asked her?" I was completely confused.

"Jim, she's not in the restroom. She has left the club."

"Left? Without me? Why? What's the matter? Why didn't she tell me? Where did she go? Is she all right?" I still didn't get it.

"Let's go to the end of the bar, where there's some privacy."

I just went where Dee dragged me. It was quieter in the dark corner at the end of the bar.

Dee looked me in the eye. "Jim, Linda loves you. She loves you and the children more than anything else in the world, and she always will, and you know it. But she is spending tonight with Marc."

I stood there with my mouth open, looking stupid as my world ended. Pictures whirled madly through my mind, or what was left of it. Linda at the top of the stairs in her beautiful blue dress. Linda at dinner; Linda at the club; Linda as we fed wings to each other. Linda in the asshole's arms. My anger rose.

"So, on what was supposed to be our special night, she left me for some asshole jock." I glared at Dee, as I growled out the words.

"Jim, she hasn't left you. She'll come home to you tomorrow, and you'll have plenty of other special nights together.

"She didn't even have the guts to tell me to my face that she was leaving me. She just snuck out the back door."

"Jim, listen to me. She hasn't left you..."

Just then I heard another voice saying, "Don't tell me the silly bitch actually did it?" I looked over Dee's left shoulder to see Helen, dressed in a simple but stunning dress. I had only seen her once in the last twenty years, and that was for ten minutes about two weeks ago.

Helen had been my best friend through elementary school and junior high. We were inseparable, doing homework and playing together. But as we grew older, Helen had become more interested in her career and I wanted to party. As we entered senior high, Helen studied hard, wanting to go to a college on the east coast to become an actuary. We drifted apart, as Helen had stopped going to events and parties. Shortly before senior prom, Dee, who was also in our year, introduced me to a new girl, Linda. Linda and I became friends and, as they say, the rest was history. I took her to the senior prom, we went to State together, and got married.

Helen, on the other hand, stayed home for the senior prom, topped the school in SATs, and got her scholarship to become an actuary. After qualification, she had joined a large insurance company and for the next fifteen years, worked her way to a VP position.

Several years ago, I found her on my 'people you might know' section on Facebook, and we connected. Apart from a few messages nothing more was said. I did notice her profile said 'single', and I always wondered why she had never married.

About a year ago, there was a big splash in our local business paper about the insurance company she worked for, opening a new office in our state to cover its expanding business in the Northwest. A few months later, the same paper ran another story about Helen moving back to our city to run the office.

I sent her a message congratulating her, but nothing was ever planned and no meeting was proposed.

All remained quiet until just after the big snow cleared, and I had returned to work. My phone rang with a strange ringtone and when I answered it, it was Helen phoning me on a social media call. We exchanged pleasantries and then she asked to meet me for a coffee, as she had something she needed to show me.

We arranged to meet at ten the next morning, in an out-of-the-way coffee shop that we both went to as teenagers. When Helen walked in, she was dressed in a business suit, but it could not hide the fact that the years had not changed her body, and that smile could still melt my heart at a thousand yards.

We both got coffee and sat down. Helen started "I don't have long, but you need to see this; I am worried for your marriage." She quickly pulled out her phone and opened her Facebook app. She typed in a search and pulled up a page called 'Marc LaValliere wants you'.

It was a private page for women only. LaValliere posted details of where he would be on any given night, and women posted photos of themselves and he would make comments about dancing with them and indicated other things he would like to do. It looked bad, but what did it have to do with me?

Then, Helen scrolled down and I noticed a picture of my wife, wearing a blue dress I had never seen before. I quickly grabbed the phone and noticed the posting had been made by Dee, along with a request that Linda be let in as a member to the group. I checked the comments and LaValliere had said he hoped to see Linda at a specific club the following Friday night, and he would take her away for the 'ride of her life'.

I took a screenshot of the post, and then Helen had to leave. My head was in a buzzy, but I decided this was Dee's doing and Linda would never do anything to humiliate me, as she knew it would end our marriage.

So, I had forgotten about the whole thing right up to the moment Helen appeared in my vision.

Dee heard the same voice and looked around, almost shouting, "Where did that stupid cow come from?"

I pushed past Dee as she tried to grab my arm in a vain attempt at preventing me going

to Helen. As I reached her, I took her face in both hands and gave her a kiss on the lips.

Helen, who was just slightly shorter than me, looked into my eyes and said, "I don't care if you are Linda's leftovers, you are definitely the one I should not have let go of."

I could hear the steam coming out of Dee's ears, as she screamed, "Jim, what are you doing?"

I turned around and looked at Dee, and said, "Well, as Linda has made the decision to open our marriage I have decided to use the opportunity to rekindle an old flame!"

Dee was now right up in my face, so much so, that I could smell the sauce from the hot wings she had eaten earlier on her breath. She screamed, "What do you mean 'opened our marriage', she has done no such thing!"

I looked around, then bent down a little more, so my nose was only inches from Dee, and said, "Why don't we go and ask her what she meant when she let you post that photo on the asshole's social media page, about coming here tonight. Let's ask her what she was hoping for when she left. Oh, we can't, she's not here. So, I am going to make the assumptions for her, and as she has gone for her night with a local celebrity, I'm going to have my night with this local celebrity from the business community."

For the first time, Dee's face showed shock, and she said, "You know about the posting?"

I smirked, and said, "Yes. Helen showed it to me last week. I never thought Linda would be so stupid, but clearly she is."

Helen then looked me in the eye and then back to Dee, and said, "If she wants to throw him away, I will happily take him back. You helped split us up the first time. How ironic if you are the one who gets us back together." She then turned to me, and said, "Take me onto the dance floor for a bit of dirty dancing."

Helen and I headed onto the dance floor, followed closely by Dee, who was still screaming at me that Linda would not tolerate this, and that I had better get back to the table now.

I laughed, and said, "If Linda doesn't like it, she better come and tell me herself. Oh wait, she isn't here, is she-- so you can go to hell."

With that, Helen pushed Dee backwards, hard enough for her to fall on her ass. Helen smiled, then put both hands around my neck and said, "Take me now!"

As we danced, Jane tried to cut in, but I said, "No thanks." I could see our table, and Dave was frantically calling someone on Dee's phone, but it clearly was not going through. Dee had gone over to the table where the asshole had been sitting and spoke to his friends. With some reluctance, one of his friends dialed a number on his phone, spoke a few sentences, then handed the phone to Dee.

I whispered in Helen's ear, "Looks like she has got through to asshole, I think we should leave this place. I have no interest in ever seeing her again."

Helen laughed and said, "Let's wait to see what the slut has to say, then we'll go. I want Dee to know she let me back into your life, and that now you are mine! This may be a terrible way to do it, but I never stopped loving you. Dee told me you were cheating on me, with Linda and that is why I dumped you and didn't go to the prom. It was only years later, that I found out you hadn't, and that Dee basically forced us apart because she wanted you to be with Linda. I'm rectifying that now."

I pulled my head back and said, "What!"

She laughed and said, "She loves to manipulate people and she played both of us."

With that, Dee appeared on my shoulder and said, "Well you successfully ruined her dream night, I hope you're pleased. She will be back here in twenty minutes."

I kissed Helen, then turned to Dee. "I don't want that slut back in my life. Tell her I will see her sometime tomorrow to discuss the divorce."

I took Helen's hand and started for the front door. Dee's mouth was hanging open, as we walked past. I saw Dave and Jane running up to us, but I just held out a hand and said, "Talk to the hand, the head isn't listening," and walked on.

I collected my coat from the cloakroom, and both Helen and I walked to the taxi rank, where we stood for ten minutes. Just as we reached the front of the line, a Cadillac Escalade came around the corner at speed, and stopped by the curb. Linda jumped out and Dee came out of the club.

She shouted something to Linda and pointed at the taxi rank, just as I was opening the door to let Helen into the taxi. I could hear, more than see, Linda running to the taxi as I got in and slammed the door. Helen had given the driver the address and we moved away from the curb. I felt my phone vibrate and I took it out of my pocket to see Linda's ID on the screen. I didn't kill the call, I just switched the phone off and sat back with my arm around Helen.

We stayed silent for a good ten minutes.

Then Helen said, "You never knew the story, did you? When we started senior high, Dee started telling me I was bad for you, trying to drag you away from your home and turning you into a bookworm. She bullied me and told me her new friend, Linda, was going to take you away from me. Then a month before senior prom, she told me you and Linda had got together at a party. We had argued about going to that party, I wanted to stay home and study, and you went by yourself. I didn't know what to do, so I just focused on studying and wiped you from my life. I have had a great business life ever since, but every guy I meet never compares to you."

I was speechless but also happy. My feelings for Helen had never died, they'd just been covered by Linda. Now, they came flooding out, and in that moment, I knew Linda and I were finished and that, if truth be told, she should never have been in my life.

Again, we sat in silence, until we turned into a gated community in the hills above the city. I had never been here, as the houses were way out of my league. I asked, "You live here?"

Helen nodded, then said, "Plenty of room for kids, as well."

I didn't know whether to look at her, or the houses.

We fell through the front door in each other's arms. There was no foreplay, as we tore at each other's clothes, like the long-lost lovers we were. We attacked each other on a mat in the living room. It was raw sex-- fast, too fast, but we both needed it. It was no-holds-barred sex, and there was no thought of anything but our own releases. We both climaxed fast and together.

Once we came down, Helen stood up and said, "Let's get a drink and go to bed." We walked around the house naked, our clothes in the heap they were dropped in, getting a drink and some food. We lay in bed, drank, ate, talked; then we made love slowly, slept, made love again, then slept.

I woke to the alarm clock and slowly got up. Helen watched and said, "Now what?"

My smile said it all.

And she laughed, and said, "When are you going to move in?"

After a shower and a light breakfast, I called a taxi to take me home. I knew the next few hours were going to be bad, but Linda had set the wheels in motion; I just took the steering wheel and made sure the car crash that our marriage had become was total. I hardly remembered the drive back to the house, but I remembered sitting in the taxi after paying the driver, wondering if I should just run away. But, I realised I had to own my actions and take responsibility.

I got out of the taxi and saw a face at the door. As I walked up, I saw it was Dee who had opened the door. I walked in and straight into the living room to see Linda sitting in an armchair, having clearly been crying. Her first words stung, not because of what they represented, but because of how she absolved herself from her own actions.

She spat, "How could you do that to me?"

My laugh echoed through the house, and I noticed her face had fear, not anger in it. "How could I do that to you? It was your plan to cuckold me, I just refused to play by your rules."

Her response was instant. "What plan?"

I fished my phone out of my pocket, and showed her the screenshot of the posting, saying, "Your new dress was not for me, but for him. We went to the club you knew he would be at, and you were hoping for the 'ride of your life'. So don't lie to me, Linda; last night was a set up. You planned to give up your marriage and the only thing that stopped you was discovering two can play at that game."

The shock was clear on her face, when she said, "What now?"

I ignored the question, and asked, "What made you do it?"

She looked at the floor, and said, "I don't know, I just wanted something different. I thought you would love me enough to let me have it, and be pleased; wear it as a badge of honour that your wife was desired by someone famous."

I started to laugh. I could not believe she would say that. I replied, "Well, if you don't know why you did it, you will definitely do it again, and being cuckolded is not an honour, it's the worst kind of disrespect a wife can do to a husband. So clearly, I don't love you enough to let you have that, and you don't love me enough to understand that. Clearly, this marriage has imploded."

I turned on my heels to walk up the stairs, only to be met by a slap in the face by Dee. With venom in her voice, she said, "How dare you take away that special night from her and now you are going to leave her? You need to get back there and apologize, then work out how you are going to give her back what she deserves."

Linda sniffled, and said, "Give it up, Dee. I can see what I have done in his face. I have killed his love for me. I didn't think, and now the pain caused to me by his actions, means I don't want him back, either. Jim, go back to her, but make sure you don't cut the children out of your life."

That is exactly what I did. I packed a bag, and got a taxi to the hotel to collect my car then drove back to Helen's house. I just looked at her, and said, "Can I come live with you?"

Helen laughed and said, "Oh yes."

The divorce was unpleasant, but could have been worse. Linda's parents hated me, but did not want the full story to come out, so they stopped pushing for a divorce on the grounds of my adultery. I was pretty-well raped on childcare and spousal support, but that was based on my salary. Helen earned four times what I earned, so I became a kept man, but Helen never rubbed my nose in it.

The kids came to stay with Helen and me, every-other weekend, and we split the holidays. The kids loved the big house with an indoor pool and games room, and Linda always complained about the competition between her house and ours.

About two years after the divorce, Helen and I married, and we had one child of our own. Not long after the birth, Linda asked us to take the children full time, and she moved away. I know she is in contact with the children when they go to her parents' house once a week, but I don't ask and they don't tell.

Somehow, we all know that what happened was for a reason.