Frank and Ruth

She must have seen a change in my facial expression when she said that because she got a big smile on her face. I thought about it for a few seconds and then I said:

"She won't try anal. I don't even know if I would like it, but I've wanted to try it and find out what it is like."

"Anything else?"

"I'd like a complete blow job, but she won't do that. She will mouth me until I'm nice and hard, but then she quits and spreads her legs."

"I do both Frank and I swallow. Anything else?"

"Well, it really isn't sexual, but it takes sex to make it happen."

"Oh? What is it?"

"I want kids and she doesn't."

"I love kids and I wouldn't mind having another one. In fact I would like two more and so would Larry, but because he wants them I've put myself on birth control just to deny him what he wants. I haven't told him that and as far as he knows we are trying to have another child. How would that be for revenge Frank? You giving me a child for Larry to raise? Hopefully it would be a boy since what Larry wants is a son to carry on the family name. Oh sweet fucking Jesus; I'm getting hot at just the thought!"

"I don't know that I could do something like that. I'd want to a part of my child's life and I can't see anyway that could happen if I were to get you pregnant."

"I guess you are right on that, but I can't think of a greater revenge on Larry. I can address that later after you get tired of me. I'll let my next lover get me pregnant and I just won't let him know that the child is his. So how about it Frank? Are you in?"

"It is tempting. It is very tempting and I do have to admit that if I was going to cheat I would hope to find a woman as sexy as you to do it with, but I have to say no. Some of us take our vows seriously. I realize that it can be said that by Ruth breaking her vows she has released me from mine, but I can't do it. As soon as the divorce is final I'll look for another lady to share my life with, but not until then."

"So how do you rationalize them?"

"Pardon?"

"Your vows. How do you rationalize being selective in which vows you will honor and which ones you won't?"

"I don't understand what you are getting at."

"Your vows Frank. You are going to honor forsaking all others, but what about for better or worse? What about until death do us part? I'd say cheating on you definitely goes into the worse column, but you are going to divorce her for that."

I laughed and said, "You've got me on that one, but it isn't going to make me change my mind."

"Can you at least dump her using irreconcilable differences? Unless your PI was a whole lot better than mine you don't have anything you can use to show infidelity. Irreconcilable differences would leave Larry out of it and I can keep on with my life the way I want."

"I'll see. I can't promise, but I'll see."

She slid a piece of paper across the table to me. "That's my number Frank. If you change your mind about my offer give me a call."

As she walked away I admired the swing of her ass and wished I wasn't so uptight. Just as she went out the door Joe Lambert, the owner of the strip got up on the raised bandstand and said:

"Good evening folks and welcome to our weekly open mike night. Tonight I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that Bobby is on vacation so you won't be subjected to his blond jokes tonight."

That brought a loud cheer for several of the blonds in the audience.

"The bad news is that until he comes back you are stuck with me."

That got a loud boo from the crowd and he sarcastically said, "Thank you for your support. Our first hopeful tonight is Bill Miglio. Bill works down the street at DST Industries when he isn't trying to make people laugh." He handed the mike to a guy I recognized as someone who was usually in the Strip having drinks with his buddies whenever I came in. He looked a little nervous as he started:

"I always wondered what the job application is like at Hooters. Do they hand you a bra and say "Here. Fill this out?"

He got a good laugh out of that and you could see the nervousness leave him.

"On average an American man's wife will let him make love to her two or three times a week whereas a Japanese wife will only let her husband make love to her one or two times a year. This was upsetting news to me. I had no idea I was Japanese."

"I don't understand why women are okay that JC Penny has an older women's line named Sag Harbor."

"I think it is pretty cool how Chinese people made a language entirely out of tattoos."

"My therapist says that my narcissism causes me to misread social situations. I'm pretty sure she is trying to hit on me."

"I'm getting tired of always raising my hand when somebody asks, "Who does something like that?"

"Four time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon announced that this will be his final season of racing. You could tell it was time for him to retire. During his last race he had his left turn signal on the whole time."

"Denny's has a slogan: "If it's your birthday the meal is on us. If you are in Denny's and it is your birthday ...Your life REALLY sucks."

"When I die I want to be reincarnated as a spider. Just so I can finally hear a woman say, "Oh My God! It is huge!"

He got a big laugh on that one, thanked the crowd for their support and handed the mike back to Joe

And on that I decided it was time to head for home.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When I got there Ruth was sitting in front of the TV watching one of those stupid so-call reality shows.

"Good; your home" she said. "I was afraid I was going to have to go to bed without you."

"That day is coming girl" I thought to myself, but I said, "No way we can let that happen sweetie."

I followed her to the bedroom and we had a hot, passionate session that had me wondering why what we had wasn't enough for her. When we finished she cuddled up next to me and we snuggled. And I almost fucked up. In my contented state I thought "I am going to miss this' and Ruth asked "Miss what?" I must have spoken aloud without realizing it and I hastily tried to cover.

"What we just did. I'm going to miss it when I have to go to Baltimore next week for a training course."

"What training course?"

"I just found out about it today. I'll be leaving Monday morning and won't be back until Thursday late."

"Don't sweat it sweetie. I'll give you enough before you go to hold you until you come back."

She didn't know it, but I wouldn't be coming back. There wasn't any training course. I'd made up my mind driving home from the Landing Strip to give Brenda Maxon what she wanted. I'd file and use irreconcilable differences as a reason. Monday I would drive around the block, park and wait for Ruth to leave for work and then go back to the apartment and move out. I'd have Ruth served at work and then avoid all contact with her.

Once I got to my office on Thursday I called the number Brenda Maxon had given me and gave her the news. She thanked me and told me not to lose the number and I told her that I wouldn't. I then called Ashcroft, told him to make it irreconcilable differences and have Ruth served at work on Monday.

Ruth hadn't ben fibbing when she said she would give me enough to hold me. We made love in the morning and evening on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and one last time on Monday morning. And yes, I do mean that we made love. It did seem like she loved me or at least liked me a lot, but unfortunately for me I did love the unfaithful bitch, but love alone wasn't enough for me to stay with her after finding out what she had been doing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Monday morning Ruth damned near destroyed me.

"Think that will hold you until you get back?" she laughingly asked.

Knowing that once she walked out the door it would never happen again I said, "Probably not, but I'm sure that I will think about it a lot."

"Then you had better plan on doing a lot of catch up when you get home."

I received a passionate goodbye kiss when I left the apartment. I had arranged for the rest of the week and the next to be vacation time and my plan was to be moved out and gone by the time Ruth got home that evening. I drove to a place where I could see Ruth's car and then waited until I saw her leave for work. I drove back and started packing my stuff and moving it out to my car. I was done except for one last suitcase and I was looking around to see if I missed anything. There is a saying that goes "Man plans and the Gods laugh." The plan was for me to move out and avoid Ruth, but the Gods chuckled and said" Oh no Frank." I was picking up the last suitcase and getting ready to leave when I heard:

"What are you doing Frank?"

I turned to see Ruth standing there.

"The question is what are you doing here? You are supposed to be on your way to work."

"I forgot my cell phone. I put it on the charger last night and forgot it when I left for work. So back to you Frank. You are also supposed to be on your way to work so why are you here and what are you doing?"

"I'm moving out Ruth. I don't want to live here with you anymore."

I picked up the suitcase and headed for the door. She moved quickly to block the door and said, "Oh no you don't Frank. You're not going anywhere. I want to know what this is about."

I really had wanted to just walk away and not say anything, but it looked like that wasn't going to be possible so I just hit her with it.

"I know all about your long lunches spent at the Hilton. Why they are called long lunches I don't know since you never once went into the restaurant to eat although I suppose that you and your male friends might have called for room service, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that I will not live with a woman who cheats on me."

She had a look of absolute horror on her face and I didn't know if it was caused by my leaving her or the fact that I had found out what she had been doing. I suspect that it was more of the latter than the former. She stood there looking at me with that look and didn't move so I pushed her out of the way. I was out the door and on my way to the car before she recovered and chased after me, but you can't run all that fast in four inch heels and I was in the car and had it started before she reached me. She was reaching for the door handle when I stepped on the gas and pulled away. I didn't even look in the rear view mirror.

There were plenty of motels close to where I work and I figured that was where Ruth would go looking for me so I checked in at the one place I was sure that she wouldn't even think of. I checked into the Hilton. Once settled in I got busy doing all of the things that I decided had to be done. I hit the bank, took half of the checking and savings and all of the new house account and then went down the street to a different bank and opened new accounts in my name only. I might catch some shit over taking all of the new house account, but my argument for doing it was going to be that since Ruth was the one to destroy the marriage and made it necessary for me to move she should be the one to finance the move. Her share of the house account could pay the first and last month's rent and security deposit on wherever I ended up. Probably wouldn't fly, but until the courts got involved it was money that Ruth wouldn't have.

Next on my list was to find a place to live. The Hilton would do for a couple of days, but there wasn't any way I could live there at the rates they charged. I got the daily paper and an apartment guide, found several prospects and spent the rest of the day looking at them. I found one that I liked and put a deposit on it. I wouldn't be able to move in until they did a credit check on me. The girl in the office told me that I could probably move in on Wednesday.

I hit the Village Inn for a bite to eat and then went back to my room at the Hilton. My cell had been going off almost every fifteen minutes and the calls were all rom Ruth so I never took any of them. She left a bunch of voice mails and I deleted them without listening to them. I would have just turned it off except for the fact I needed it on in case my credit check went through quickly and they called me to tell me I could move in.

I watched TV for a while and then sacked out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

I was up bright and early on Tuesday and had breakfast at the Hilton and then I went to Target and Wally World to get the things I would need for my new apartment. After a full morning of shopping I stopped at a Waffle House for lunch. While I was eating I remembered that I had turned my cell off when I went to bed and had forgotten to turn it back on. There were a dozen or so missed messages and five voicemails from Ruth. Knowing that she had already been served at work I was curious to hear what she might have to say.

The first three voicemails were pretty much the same. "Call me Frank. We have to talk. I don't want a divorce." The fourth one showed me that Ruth was losing her cool. "Damn it Frank; this isn't funny. Call me. We need to talk and forget about this divorce nonsense. I will not give you a divorce!" I smiled at that. Apparently she hadn't talked to an attorney yet. She could fight it, she could stall it, but she couldn't stop it. She could make it expensive, but if I stayed the course the divorce would happen.

I knew that her employer frowned on personal calls at work during business hours so I called Ruth at work knowing that as eager as she was to talk to me she would take the call. Then I'd try to make the call last long enough to get her in dutch with her supervisor. I called her cell and she answered on the second ring.

"Frank? Where are you? You need to come home so we can sit down and talk this out."

"I don't want to come home Ruth and I don't see any need for us to talk."

"I don't want a divorce Frank. I love you and you know I do."

"Oh? You sure have a funny way of expressing your love for me. Let's see now. On the ninth you expressed your love for me at the Hilton with Larry Maxon. On the eleventh you and Alex Cashion spent from eleven forty-five until one-fifteen expressing your love for me. On the twelfth you expressed your love for me, again at the Hilton and again with Maxon. I could go on, but I sure you get the picture. Bottom line is that your expressions of love for me are not those I would have expected from a loving wife. As for your not wanting a divorce? Tough shit Ruth! If you didn't want a divorce you should not have started having long lunches with men in hotel rooms. I will not live with a wife who cheats on me and the only way to get rid of a cheating wife without going to prison is to divorce her."

There was a touch of steel in her voice when she said, "I'm not giving you a divorce Frank!"

I looked at my watch and wondered if Ruth was getting nasty looks from her boss yet, but just in case she wasn't I drug the call out a little longer.

"You can't stop it Ruth. All you can do is delay it and to delay it you will have to hire an attorney and attorneys charge by the hour Ruth and if you want to pay an attorney a couple of hundred bucks an hour for a year or so to throw up roadblocks and stall things go right ahead. Waste your money. You can slow it down, you can make it expensive and you could possibly delay it for a year or so, but you cannot stop it."

"I don't want a divorce Frank. I'm sure that if you will sit down and talk with me we can iron things out. It isn't what you think Frank. I love you. I love you and you know it."

"Maybe you do Ruth, but it isn't the kind of love that I want and talking with you will only make things worse for me. There have to be reasons for your cheating on me and having you spell out those reasons would only make me feel worse than I do right now. Don't fight it Ruth. Sign the papers and send them back to my attorney. Let it happen so we can both move on with our lives."

"Never Frank. You belong to me and I'm not letting you go. I have to go now, but I'm going to keep trying to get you to sit down and talk with me."

"It won't do you any good Ruth. I don't want you okay? As far as I'm concerned you spit on our marriage and I'm done with you."

"I have to go Frank. I'm getting nasty looks and I have to get off the phone. Please call me at the house this evening."

"No! This is my last conversation with you. From this point on all communication between us will have to go through my attorney. Goodbye Ruth."

While I still had my phone in my hand I decided to call Brenda Maxon and see how things were going with her. She answered and after identifying myself I said:

"Ruth was served yesterday at work. I stated irreconcilable differences so there was no mention of Larry, but did he seem normal when he got home from work?"

"No; as a matter of fact he didn't. He is acting kind of skittish right now. Almost like he is expecting something bad to happen."

"Guilty conscious I'm guessing."

"You are probably right. Have you given my proposal any thought?"

"Of course I have. It isn't every day that a sexy woman offers herself to me. I'm most likely stupid not to accept your offer, but I just can't bring myself to do it."

"Just don't lose the number Frank. Maybe after going without for a while you will change your mind."

At three I got a call from the apartment manager telling me I was cleared to move in. I had to get a bed and some other furniture so that and moving in took up the rest of the day and most of Wednesday. I decided that I didn't want to cook my first night in the place so I left the apartment and headed for El Meson for Mexican. After eating I decided to stop by the Landing Strip. It was open mike night and felt that I could use some cheering up.

Bobby Denton was back from vacation and I walked in just I time to catch one of his trademark blond jokes.

"A blond walked into the police station looking or a job. The on duty officer told her that she needed to answer a few questions before he could even give her an application to fill out.

Officer -- "What is two and two?"

Blond -- "Ummmm...4!'

Officer -- "What is the square root of one hundred?"

Blond -- "Ummmm...ten!"

Officer -- "Good. Now tell me who killed Abraham Lincoln?"

Blond -- "Ummmm..I don't know."

Officer -- "Well go on home and think about it and come back tomorrow."

The blond goes home and calls up one of her friends who asked her if she got the job. The blond excitedly says:

"Not only did I get the job, but I'm already working on a murder case."

He was loudly booed and he responded with, "Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm now going to turn over the microphone to Mrs. Sally Meyer's fresh from her job as a mother of four aged five through ten. Give her a hand' and he handed the mike to a hot looking redhead who didn't look like she was old enough to have any kids let alone four.

"Ralph and Edna had been married for forty-five years and they were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking by the swimming pool Ralph suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom of the pool and pulled him out. When the Nursing Director became aware of Edna's heroic act she immediately ordered that Edna be discharged from the hospital as she now considered Edna to be mentally stable.

"When she went to give Edna the good news she said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you are being discharged. You were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping into the pool to save the man you love. I have concluded that your act displayed sound mindedness. The bad news is that Ralph hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt. I'm so sorry, but he is dead."