Getting By Ch. 02

When Pete nodded his head yes and said, "Yes I am Sally," she immediately dialed a number and announced him. After she hung up she once again smiled at Pete.

Pete visited with Sally until his friend and attorney Forrest Dameron came into the lobby to greet him. They walked back to the office and Pete handed Forrest the surveillance report. Forrest scanned the written pages and placed them on his desk. He looked at Pete and said, "Pete I don't know what to say really. You know if one party of a marriage wants out it is almost impossible to prevent a divorce. Having said that I have to ask you if you are sure this is what you want here? I mean if this report is accurate Cindy hasn't cheated on you, she has just been disrespectful and hard to live with. Hell, if every marriage where one of the couple was hard to live with ended up in the divorce courts we would all be there. Have you considered seeing a marriage counselor? Maybe that would be the way to go?"

"Yeah, I hear ya Forrest. I did think about counseling for a while but I just don't feel as if I have a marriage I want to save. I just can't take it any longer. We don't fit. I hate to lose as many assets as I will probably lose but I just want out. It's got to where I'm almost sick to my stomach when I go home now. I never know if she's going to verbally attack me or if she'll even be home at all. I don't like her any longer and I know I don't love her any longer. I just want it over with."

"You're the boss," Forrest said. He picked up a pen and pulled a legal tablet in front of him on his desk. He went into full fledged Lawyer mode and he and Pete discussed the petition and proposed property settlement in detail for the next thirty minutes. They even considered some scenarios and rebuttals that Cindy and her attorney might make.

Pete went straight home. Since he was early he surprised Cindy as she was getting into her car. She watched him with her lips pressed tightly together as he drove into the garage beside her. She started to get into her car before he got out of his but he quickly opened his door and yelled, "Cindy wait. I need to talk to you before you take off."

Cindy looked torn for a moment. He thought she was going to ignore him and just leave anyway but she finally closed her car door and walked around the front of his car to meet him at the door into the house. She followed him into the kitchen.

Pete got a glass of water and sat at the table. He pushed Cindy's chair out for her and watched as she reluctantly sat in it. She put her arms on the table and clasped her hands together. Pete sipped his water then looked at Cindy. She was dressed in one of her better outfits. From the indentations in the blouse he suspected she was braless.

Pete said, "Cindy there's just no good way to say this. You need to find an attorney. I have authorized Forrest to file for divorce today. I just can't keep living in the hell you have made our home. I get the impression you don't love me any longer and I know for damn sure you don't respect me. I've just had all I can take. I've tried to be fair in the property settlement. You can have the house and country club membership. I'll take my share of the value in investments. We each keep our retirement accounts. No alimony and a fifty fifty split of the rest of the assets."

Cindy looked at Pete in shock for a moment. Her face flushed and her jaws set in anger. Her eyes flashed and she said, "Well, I'm not surprised. Saul and some of my friends told me you just couldn't be comfortable in our group. I've tried for the last four years to educate you and bring you into the proper society but you've fought me every step of the way. I had almost given up on you too. I'll look the papers over and let you know. Now if there's nothing else I have an appointment I have to get to."

Pete just shook his head and watched as Cindy walked rapidly from the kitchen into the garage. He was almost sick at his stomach from tension and nerves. He took a deep breath and went into his bedroom to change into cutoff shorts. He didn't even bother with a shirt. Pete walked out onto his patio and jumped into the pool to cool off. He swam two laps then lay floating on his back, eyes closed as he tried to relax.

Cindy went straight to the country club after she left Pete at home. She was amazed at how happy she felt after his announcement. It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. When she arrived at the club the regular group was there. Cindy walked past the bar and ordered her usual drink to be delivered to her at the table. She took her usual seat beside Saul and smiled at the rest of the group. Roberta commented on how happy Cindy seemed that evening.

Cindy looked up and smirked then said, "You know I'm sort of surprised also. Pete came home early today and caught me before I could leave. He told me he had filed for divorce because he couldn't take my attempts to improve our standing any longer. I feel as if I should be upset or sad but all I feel is relief that it's over with."

Perhaps she and Pete both would have been slightly curious if they had seen the large smile on Saul's face or heard his happily hissed "yessss" when Cindy said Pete had filed. Saul stood soon after hearing Cindy's announcement. He made his way toward the restrooms. As he walked he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and called a friend to report on the breakup of Cindy's marriage.

Cindy was served two days later. She was still staying in the house but had moved to one of the guest suites. She rarely spoke to Pete. One evening a week after he told her he was filing for divorce she was waiting on him when he got home. She was standing beside her car in the garage. After he got out of his car she said, "Pete I've had my attorney look over the papers. There are a few things I want to change and talk about. Could we have a meeting this week to talk about them?"

"Yeah. I don't think I have any important meetings coming up. Have your attorney get with Forrest and set up a time."

Cindy looked at Pete a moment then got into her car and left.

The day of the meeting to Pete's disgust Saul brought Cindy to the attorney's office. He overheard Saul advising Cindy to be forceful and not give in to any pressure. He reminded her to remember what they had talked about. Pete glared at him as he walked past him and into the meeting room. He became even angrier when he saw the satisfied smirk on Saul's face.

Cindy was fine with the basic settlement but she and her attorney disputed the valuation on the house and country club membership. They submitted a much lower proposed valuation that Pete would not accept. They also found fault with some of the property distribution proposals. Finally they agreed to accept an average of three more appraisals. Pete would get one appraiser, Cindy one and the third one would be chosen randomly from a prepared list with a dart thrown at it. They also complained about the wording of some of the settlement and distribution of some of their personal property. It took nearly two hours to work those issues out.

A week later, to Pete's delight and Cindy's horror the average of the three new appraisals came out much in Pete's favor. The valuation of the house actually went up over $30,000 and the value of the country club membership went up by $5,673.

After they each signed the property settlement and divorce documents they were presented to the court as an uncontested divorce. In the state of Missouri thirty days after that date the divorce was final. On that date Pete resigned from his position at the bank and gave his two weeks' notice. He had been living in an extended stay lodge so had not even unloaded his truck and a 24 foot gooseneck box trailer he had purchased for his belongings. After his last day of work he just loaded the few clothes he had been wearing in his truck, hooked up the trailer and took off for his childhood home.

Once again on his way Pete had lunch at Lamberts. This time he had the hamburger steak and again enjoyed it immensely. Pete moved back into his parent's home when he got back to Van Buren. They still had a 320 acre farm and he helped his father on it for several weeks doing things that his father either had not had time to do or that needed more muscle than he had. Pete was decompressing and reassessing his life at the same time. He did not hear from either Cindy or Winona. His son who was in the service did call once and they visited for a short time. Pete still remembered the first few minutes of the conversation. His son said, "Well frankly Dad I'm surprised you waited as long as you did. I would have deep sixed Joanie a couple of years ago if she'd done me like Mom did you. I'm sorry but she and sis were both stone cold bitches and you're well rid of them."

Pete tried to pin his son down about what he meant by his statement but he would not say more. Just from the way he talked Pete was almost positive his son suspected Cindy of cheating on him even if he didn't have proof. He finally decided to let it drop. It was a moot point at this stage. Hell, a divorce was a divorce. All that would happen if he had found out she cheated was become angry. He didn't hate Cindy but it was close. He had no desire to ever see or talk to or about her again.

Pete helped his father through the fall harvest then began trying to find work. He was well versed in the banking industry but really didn't want to be a banker any longer. There wasn't much need for an educated professional in the little town of Van Buren. He was visiting with one of his friends who owned the local feed mill and farm store one day when his friend asked, "Don't you have a CPA certificate Pete?"

"Yeah but I haven't used it for years. After I got into management at the bank I did other kinds of work. I did keep up my continuing education requirements though. Why?"

"Well old man Stiles wants to cut back in his business. His daughter works with him now but he still claims he's too busy. I thought you might want to stop by and see if he needed help."

"Don't know. I might do that. I really didn't like working as a CPA after I got the certification. Massaging numbers all day got to be a real bore real fast. Still it would give me something to do and bring in a little money. Don't suppose it'll hurt to talk to him."

The next day Pete stopped by the accounting office and visited with Mr. Stiles. He almost had to fight to get out of the office when he told him what he wanted to talk about. Finally they came to an agreement. Pete did not want to be involved in the day to day workings of the office. He did agree to work on tax returns during season and to handle all tax returns that were due in months other than January through April for those who worked on a fiscal year or who extended their reporting date.

That year Pete's son Randy got leave from the Navy to come home for Christmas. They were walking around outside visiting and to settle the huge meal Pete's mother prepared. Randy looked over at Pete and said, "You ever talk to Mom now?"

"No. I haven't seen or talked to her since our divorce consultation. I'm sorry son but I don't have any desire to see her or talk about her."

"I understand Dad but I think there's something you should know about things. You know she was really deep into the whole society thing and the country club. She thought her friends there were perfect people and all. Well, after the divorce was final they almost all deserted her. She caught up with Saul what's his name in the bar one evening and I guess he really hurt her.

"She thought he was a real upstanding guy and her friend you know. After all he had that big construction company and built most of the large houses around the country club. He really unloaded on her one evening. He and his two male friends were joking and laughing about your divorce and how easy mom was to manipulate. Saul hates you Dad and hates Mom almost as much. She said they were trying to break the two of you up. Your bank refused to give him a loan a year or so before your divorce and he was trying to get back at you. He had to merge his company with a competitor to keep from going bankrupt after he didn't get the loan. He has blamed you for that ever since.

"He tried to seduce mom but she still swears she didn't cheat on you. Anyway he worked for months feeding her lines about her position in society and how unsuitable you were. She finally bought into it and started treating you like shit. As soon as the divorce was final he tried a few more times to get her into bed then just dumped her when she wouldn't tumble. He began bad mouthing her and spreading rumors about her then. Finally most of her female friends deserted her also.

"She and Winona aren't too well liked in town now either. Almost all they do is work and go home. Of course losing the baby upset Winona pretty badly. You sure were right about that asshole she took up with after she dumped Jerrod. He took off as soon as she told him she was pregnant. Are you sure you're doing the right thing the way you're treating sis though?"

"A baby? Shit. I didn't even know Winona was pregnant. This is the first thing I've heard about any baby. When did she lose it? Why didn't they tell me about it?"

"She miscarried in November Dad. I don't know why they didn't tell you but I suppose it was because of some of the things you said about asshole while you were still home."

"Well hell son. I still love your sister. I don't respect her much or like the way she acted but she is my daughter and I still love her. I called a time or two to see if I could come see her or meet her before I came home here and she refused so I guess I just stopped trying. I never go to St. Louis now so I can't just drop by. I've sent her cards on her birthday and for the holidays and on both of them I invited her to come see me here. There's not much more I can do son. Next time you see her tell her she's always welcome here and we do want to see her."

Pete's life continued to rock on like most lives do. He was happier than he had ever been in St. Louis. He went to work in blue jeans, cowboy boots and flannel shirts in the winter. He wore shorts and button front short sleeve shirts in the summer if he even went into the office. Almost every day he stopped into the local café and bar to visit with the good ole boys. He and his friends reconnected and became as close as they had been before he left for college. He spent many pleasurable days hunting and fishing during the seasons.

Pete was even happy he now knew most of what had happened to his marriage. He knew some of the problem had been Cindy's personality, her need to be Queen Bee and a "big duck". She had an innate need to lord it over people and be in control. He was glad to know some of it was the manipulation of a small minded resentful asshole. At times he thought about going back to St. Louis and exacting some revenge from good ole Saul but in the end it just wasn't worth it. Even before Saul began manipulating Cindy she had become a bitch to live with. He just took advantage of the situation.

Pete even got a little pussy from time to time from Ginnie or one of the unmarried women that frequented the local bar. Pete admitted to his friends that it wasn't as good as making love with someone you loved but at least it did relieve the pressure. He probably got laid twice or three times a month and was always careful to use a rubber. He laughed one time and said that was almost as much pussy as he got from Cindy in the year or so before they divorced. The rest of the time he made love with Rosy Palm and her five sisters in the shower.

Emily and his female friends were always trying to set him up but so far Pete has not found one of the offerings he is too interested in pursuing.

It had been almost two years since his divorce and Pete was resigned to his life now. Some of it was good, some great. In fact the only downside to his divorce was that he had no one to love and spend quality time with. Life goes on. Pete could be happier but he IS much happier than he was in the last few years he was married to Cindy.