Is it possible to love two people?

Is it possible to love two people?

Part one.

Copyright Catcher78 All rights reserved.

My parents held me back a year enrolling in school, so I was always a year ahead of everyone in my class and I was really tall all the way through school. When I started my junior year in high school I turned eighteen in the second week in September.

I was six feet tall and weighed about one hundred and thirty pounds, give or take if I was running longer intervals towards a cross country 5k race, which in my school district was a coed event. It was difficult to beat boys, not impossible, but difficult.

I had to really blast out hard and hold on, shooting for a low eighteen minute time, say 18.15 minutes. I live in a rural suburb of Seattle up against the Cascade Mountains, North Bend. Two Rivers High school.

I am an only child. My mom is on the road with her job and my dad (Tom) is partners in an insurance agency with his cousin Phil. I was in a dilemma. I overheard my mom having phone sex when my dad was fishing, one time and then just last week I heard her tell some guy on the phone that she loved him and it wouldn't be long.

I work after school after practice at the insurance agency of dad's, I'm Hailey Bigelow by the way, four days a week. Filing mostly sometimes filling out new prospect information into a sales force system on the company network. I did the work on dad's computer since I didn't have one. It was mundane work but, I really had to focus or I'd mess it up.

A new email came in and flashed across the screen to dad's personal gmail account. My Zen was busted. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I opened it up. It was from an investigative agency and there was just an attachment.

I opened it up and there was a table of contents, starting with an overview, then thirty four photos by date and finally four videos by date. I forwarded it to my Hotmail account and reset the email to unread, erased the sent email to me.

I forced myself to finish the work.

Fifteen minutes later I walked home. I had some reading for a literature class, but I could push that off because I could do this weekend.

The walk was the longest fifteen minute walk, because although I had not read anything the email was about my mom cheating on my dad. I started singing under my breath this ancient Beatle's song that my Pops loves, "Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace Molly is a singer in a band Desmond says to Molly, "Girl, I like your face And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand Ob-la-di, ob-la-da Life goes on, brah a-la, how their life goes on Ob-la-di, ob-la-da Life goes on, brah La-la, how their life goes on.

I got home and dad's car was gone. There was a note on the fridge saying Hails, heat up some pizza pops. I did and carried two slices up to my room. I had a big desk, it was an interior door that my refinished and it was dark. I had my laptop there with three screens.

I opened up the email and I felt dead. I put the main index and overview on the left screen, then the photo index on the right and the video index.

They overview indicated that they had broken into her bank's personnel system and extracted warnings and a demotion when I was five years old for her having an affair with her boss and at least four others admonishing her for blatant behavior in public a lap dance in Dallas with a customer. Going to a sex club in London. She was planning to divorce my dad and move to London.

Innately, I knew this was true. How could your mother for years abandon you? Why cheat on a man that loved you and enabled you to pursue your personal dreams. The word that rose up in my mind was that she held us in contempt. Then I felt this ice in my core. Could dad not be my biological dad?

I was taller than him by two inches. He had dirty blond hair and I had red hair. None of my grandparents had red hair. I raced to the bathroom and got very, very sick. Freshly swallowed pizza followed by a morning coffee burnt on the way out.

I returned to my desk and ran through the photos. Some were in bars and beaches. Her going into a sex club in Marseille, France with two women. Then more recently in the last two months in a hotel room in London with a couple, but looking at the most recent ones in a jewelry store in London, with her betrothed who was not in the picture with the couple. My guess is he was very rich.

Then I looked at the videos, black and white, so the cinematography sucked but if the index was right, they were all in the last month. Two were hacked out of the bank's personnel files. One was with her lover, two with random women and her last one with two Arab men.

Clinically, she did weird dirty shit (sorry for swearing) with women and the Arabs, but missionary with her lover. Randomly, I thought he was probably an okay guy, but she was already cheating on him.

I saved it on the cloud and deleted everything off my laptop. I thought about uploading everything to the cloud and buying a new hard drive. I let that thought go.

Then I was ravenously hungry and I ran down to the kitchen and got a local Carnation brand vanilla ice cream and some oatmeal raison cookies that nobody but me liked. I took the whole carton up to my room and carefully set them down. I opened my facebook account and searched for her in London and found her in thirty seconds. It was under her maiden name, surprise, surprise.

She had hid nothing, apparently we were too stupid to be able to expose her treachery. Heavens to Murgatroyd, she had an Instagram account too.

There were pictures, with lots of people. Not us. Lots of beach photos with men and women and her with her boyfriend. And boyfriends going way, way back. On a lark I went out to Reddit and found a subcategory for cheating sluts and another for lesbian porn. I identified her as the performer, using her middle name. At the last moment I looked for and found one for BBC porn and added that.

I paused and ate one of the oatmeal cookies, they're so good and some ice cream too. I felt better.

I created a fake email account on gmail and then opened up a fake Instagram account with that and followed her. I put some photos of a fake Elizabeth Hurley on the account (she was dad's favorite). I hoped that she would follow me back.

Dad came in the front door. It was ten thirty. I shut everything down and brought the ice cream down with me to the family room and plopped down on the couch. I said, "Pops, please come here. I need to talk to you."

He walked in and stood there, with concern on his face and raised his eyebrows as if to question me.

I asked him, "When did you go fishing last?"

"Five weeks ago, why?"

"I came home from running and through the basement door and mom was having phone sex with somebody and it was really loud. I am really sorry I didn't tell you. I thought it was just some stupid online thing and didn't mean anything. But last week I heard her on the phone tell some guy she loved him and it wouldn't be long. Then today I was finishing up adding the information into your salesforce software and your personal gmail account dinged.

"I shouldn't have, but I opened it and read everything and looked at it all and I have one question, but first I have two bits of information," I paused to breathe and he started to talk and I held my hand up for him to stop and resumed talking, "She has both a facebook account and an Instagram account on her maiden name. The facebook account is current, but old. There are pictures with her with boyfriends and girlfriends going back for well over ten years ago. I set up a fake account and email on Instagram and put pictures of Elizabeth Hurley look a likes and followed her. If she refollows me we have a tool."

I took some ice cream and set it on the ground in front of me. Stood up and walked over to him and gave him the biggest hug I've ever given to anyone and looked at him and said, "Daddy I love you with all my heart and we're going to get through this together okay?"

He had begun to cry hard and I hugged him back harder. Then I stepped back and said, "Dad now comes the hard part. Please sit down."

He halfway stumbled backwards into the adjoining love seat. I walked over and sat down on my haunches in front of him.

"I was thinking earlier today that mom has not texted me or called me ever. Just me I mean, not a joint thing with us on zoom or facetime in years, maybe never. When she's home she'll say stuff like next time I'm home we'll have some girl time and go shopping. I don't know if I've ever gone shopping with her. You always buy birthday presents and Christmas presents. She hasn't been home for Thanksgiving in two years, because her work in London doesn't allow her to take four days off. All my friends families go on vacation. We've never had a vacation."

"So Dad was I adopted?"

He immediately said, "No you were born in Seattle at the Virginia Mason birthing center in their midwifery program."

I said, "Mom is five foot five and you're five foot ten while I am six feet tall. She has dark hair and you have blond hair. Both of you have brown eyes.

I have red hair and green eyes. Nobody in our immediate family has either red hair or green eyes and since I for sure came out of her belly. I think it's very likely that you're not my biological dad. You are and always will be my only parent. I saw a red haired guy in a fuzzy picture on facebook, but just one and it's from 2007."

"I'm eighteen so there are no custodial issues. But for your sake if we can tie down whether or not I'm your biological child, then there might be some serious, serious money for you from her firm. According to the investigation, her firm has repeatedly admonished her for fucking employees, bosses and clients. If my biological dad is a former employee or even a current one, we can sue both of them and the company for alienation of affection suits and get millions."

Dad had been quiet for some time. He stood up and walked into the kitchen and made himself a drink. He drank Platte Valley Corn whisky. I was running tomorrow so I had some more ice cream.

He said, "Truth time Hails, I've known about her infidelities for some time, five years or so. She was not discrete and people would call me. Finally I confronted her and she admitted it and said she had to blow off steam on the road and it didn't mean anything and she loved me."

"I said to her that you broke up Julie Vanasse's marriage last year in Bellevue. You were supposed to be in Toronto and were seen in a strip club in Tacoma for God's sake. I said why lie."

Then she said, Tom, I have great affection for you, but I don't love you. I'm sorry I've hurt you. I tried to keep this from you and Hailey. Our sex is great still. So what's wrong?"

I asked to her to leave, go on a trip or something. Just hook up with one of your fuck buddies. I need to think.

She was gone for two months. I had my attorney draw up a post nuptial agreement saying she from this point forward give up every asset since we were married or sign the attached divorce proceedings. She was served when you were in the seventh grade. She had ninety days to sign them or the divorce would proceed or she could counter file. She signed the postnuptial agreement."

At the time I thought it was too easy. So we sell policies underwritten by Lloyd's of London, mostly big, odd developments and industrial farm stuff. I reached out to a guy that has a seat there to find out where she might have some money. It took a little bit, but he called me and read me the account numbers with three Swiss bank accounts and one in the Cayman Islands. Quite a few of the folks at Lloyd's are former British Government folks, intelligence and stuff. He said that her bank was involved with Russian Oligarchs and other dirty people."

"When she finally returned, she said, feel better?

It was weirdly toxic, she said I'd like to put this behind us and move on as we're sophisticated people. Let's go out and celebrate and go dancing. I'm hoping to get lucky with my man tonight.

I just looked at her. Then I said, "Did you read the agreement you signed?

She shrugged with an open hand's gesture as if to say what gives?"

I said, "For the record, I've never once cheated on you. The only reason I'm doing this is for Hailey's sake. I don't find you remotely attractive and if we never have sex again, it's ok with me. That said, the agreement states that anytime you're away from home or have been caught sleeping with someone that you must be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. You've been gone for a very long time. Do you have the test from this week?

"She walked out and was gone for another two months.

"She and I never slept in the same bed again.

"I think you're probably right about the paternity and you know I love you to death.

I suspected it for some times. We will get that checked.

"Dad, I have to go to bed. Big run tomorrow. Actually I feel better than I have in so long. I think I knew in my soul this was going on. Can we go out for dinner after my run tomorrow? Are you coming?"

He said, "Yes to both."

I said, "One more thing. I think we can utterly blow her up and that would lay the groundwork for the alienation of affection suits. I want you to think about this and I want to be part of any meetings with the attorney. I'm eighteen and an adult and I've learned a phrase at school, it is this, I don't want some lazy ass small timer to cause us to get rat fucked."

He burst out laughing and said that's a phrase from the old movie, "All The President's Men."

"The meeting is Monday afternoon.

I went upstairs and crashed. In the morning I had oatmeal and toast to carbo load, which is old school, but my coach swears by it. The race was at four thirty, in and around the campus for Bellevue College in Bellevue, obviously.

My strategy was simple. The first part of the course had a downhill incline and most people took that as kind of free money and were saving up energy for the hill that came out of it that fed into running through neighborhoods. I was not going to do that. At all.

As we lined up behind a rope all of us standing. The rope dropped and I attacked.

Within one hundred meters I had a ten meter lead and I was running as hard as I could.

The old John Denver country roads song was in my head and I was running as hard as I could and I never stopped I was thinking low eighteens would win and I blasted through the tape and felt strong like I could go further."

When they announced my time it didn't register until the guy said, "Folks that's the second fastest woman's 5k ever run at 16.01. I give you the greatest female runner in Washington State history, Hailey Bigelow from Two Rivers High School in North Bend!"

We were a class B school and I'd just beaten AAA schools. Then my coach and teammates were all over me screaming Biggs over and over again and I broke down and wept. Pops was there and picked me up and carried me off.

My legs were cramping and he got me to the first aid station and they started to try to hydrate me and had ice all over me to stop me from cramping and finally it all seemed to work.

There was a reporter from the Seattle Times and another guy from Sports Illustrated and they asked me what my strategy was.

I said, "I don't want to be cute, but I'd trained really hard and adhered to a nutritional plan. I have a tremendous coach and she's made me what I am. I run for me and my dad, I'd be nowhere without him. My plan you ask?

I felt that I was in the best shape of my life, last night I ate Carnation vanilla and oatmeal raisin cookies. More oatmeal cereal with almond milk this morning and then it's really simple, I attacked when everyone else coasted and that made my body feel great and I never stopped.

I figured that my first one thousand meters was at least a minute faster than anyone else and as I ran the uphill portions also felt good. They were going to have to run a fourteen minute pace to catch me and they didn't.

Pops and I are going to celebrate with some pizza now. Lots of pizza at Cascadia's Pies."

The Sports Illustrated guy then randomly asks, "I bet mom's excited?"

I looked at him and shrugged and said, "I don't have a clue. She's never been to one of my meets, "then Pops and I slowly walked away. His arm was around my waist and mine was around his neck and we were yacking about nothing and cracking up.

Then I said, "Stop Pops, " I turned and hugged him and said I love you so much daddy and started to cry."

I didn't know but a local television crew caught that and it was on ESPN and MSNBC and the story about "Running Hailey Bigs" went viral.

The pizza was incredible, sausage, pepperoni, goat cheese in a huge wood fired oven and a Hawaiian which was Pop's favorite.

What a day. In the morning the doorbell rang, I had fallen asleep on the couch and was wearing some ratty sweatpants and a Seattle Mariner tee shirt with Julio Rodriguez.

I had got very excited one night looking at him and his incredibly hot girl friend from Canada, she played for the Seattle Reign and the Canadian national soccer team.

There was this one picture where they were on the beach. He had these shorty board shorts and she had this bikini on and he's so ripped and she's the same size as me and was wrapped around him like a vine.

I mean that night in my head I asked if she'd share him. That all flashed as I answered the door.

There was a middle aged guy standing there, blondish and balding and he introduced himself as a columnist for the New York Times and his name was Tim and asked if he could come in and talk about what happened yesterday I said, "Let me ask my dad, please. Just a second please and I closed the door."

I ran up stairs and Pops was asleep and I yelled, "Pops, Pops please wake up, " he grunted and I screamed, "Now God damn it!"

His eyes opened up wide and I said, "There's a reporter for the New York Times that wants to talk to me at the door. God damn it get up now, show some hustle Pops."

He was up and running down the stairs and had a Mariner cap on and opened the door up said, "I'm Tom Bigelow. Please come in. Would you like some coffee? Hails it's ready just hit the button."

I ran into the kitchen and started the coffee and got out three unmatched mugs. I carefully and slowly walked out into the family room.

"Have either you looked at Twitter or Instagram last night or this morning Mr. Bigelow or you Hailey?"

We looked each other and then back to him and we both shrugged and shook our heads."

He laughed and said, "I know you didn't plan that but you looked like you could be on Sesame street with perfect choreography,"

The coffee dinged and I asked him, "Cream or sugar, well milk anyway?"

"Black's fine."

Pops and I went in and got the coffee. He took two mugs and I had my Mariner mug.

"Well the elephant in the room that you guys don't know about is that you're trending on Twitter with over thirty million hits and Instagram is maybe a little bit more."

Last night Jimmy Fallon did his monologue about the straight A student from Two Rivers High School with one hundred students in North Bend, Washington, who ran the second fastest ever 5k and she's a junior. It's her and her Pops against the world."

I said, "I love my Pops. Everything I am is about him. How to be disciplined and ordered and get ahead of things and build on my mistakes. He always says, use your mistakes to make you stronger. I help out at my dad's office after my workout, doing filing and computer entry stuff about customers. He built this home and it's paid off."

"We fish for fun. I've been on a running program that feeds up to the school. Most of my schoolmates are natives. So's my coach. I love her like she's my mom. I get today and tomorrow off but I'll be back at it on Monday, slow stuff. My bodies really depleted and we'll build it back up with some really slow intervals, I'll walk through a swimming pool and then a jacuzzi and my nutrition plan shifts from carbs to protein and greens. She's my English lit and History teacher too. Her and her wife had pizza with us last night.