All Comments on 'It Was Something in Her Voice'

I relate to Greg boring and lonely life

This story made me think. The husband was right to go for the divorce. His wife cheated and falsely believed he cheated several times over 20 years and never mentioned it to him??? And then uses this as an excuse to cheat on him??? The husband should be glad to get rid of her. I did not understand the wife's lover at all. I had to read the lover and ex-husband's meeting several times and still did not buy it. The wife and her lover both were cheaters and just looking for excuses to try and justify their cheating. I can understand that it was hard on the husband after 20 plus years of what he thought was a happy marriage, but he needs to grow up and move on. There is a woman for him out there, he just needs to find her and forget about his ex-wife. She made her bed and now she has to lie in it. She still blames everything on the husband and takes no responsibility for her actions. She is the one that destroyed the marriage - not him. Thank you for a good story.

this one is probably the worst one I have ever read. It undercut everything leading up to that point.

About one man's journey through a divorce. But the entire time I kept thinking he might show some real emotion or listen to someone close to him - not George the barman. This may be an accurate portrayal of that thing the British refer to as a "stiff upper lip" but his doing the the right thing, keeping his self respect and honor, appears to have ruined his life. Maybe a little understanding for the frailty and insecurity of his wife of 25 years might have been in order. And one other thought.

That was a depressing and horrible ending. Unless there is another chapter coming this was just depressing. No wonder the Brits are so uptight.

"Come home" she said "even if YOU sleep in the guest room", what a cheeky cow, not giving up her bed, not for anything. If she had one shred of decency left she would be the one to leave. Very good story.

Jude needs to stick to his own knitting and Susan has no excuse. She said she was sorry and would do anything to make up for it but there was NO contrition and no real apology. She was sorry that she got caught and that she's lost that which she took for granted. So in the author's view Greg is the villain? Something real wrong with that thinking.

The writing is pretty good, in fact very good. The complacency and resignation are sad. I'm not looking for BTB but how can there be reconciliation without honesty and without remorse?

Susan deserves no more than she got. David deserves less. Jude needs to grow up.

The women in his age group are legion,especially if you are financially secure.

As the English would say poppycock on him not finding a companion.

But Greg was just a horse's ass all the way through. That he's sad at the end is more his fault than Susan's. I like how he bangs a hooker, and somehow that's okay, even though he was still married.

Stupid ass didn't know when to quit.

was a sanctemonious asshole and is old and lonely now,that's what you get for being more catholic than the pope

Congrats. Good story. Four out of five. It was sad but accurate. I really liked Greg's character. I liked how he stuck to his guns. Susan's betrayal was doubly shocking in that she believed he cheated all those years when he had not. I found her collapse intriguing. I would have liked to have seen more inner monologue of both character on what they were thinking. And somehow their conversations seemed a bit flat. The conversation between greg and his wife's lover was bizarre. But all that might be the whole English stiff upper lip thing. Also the ending was a bit abrupt. I would like as sequel. Cheers Steve

Why do so many authors here have such a narrow world view? In a world of infinite possibilities and countless choices, why do so many only ever write the same two options; swallow all self respect, and stay married to a selfish cheater that by definition doesn't love anyone other than themselves, or end up bitter and lonely?

Quite literally millions of divorced people lead very happy lives, believe it or not, some even happier than when they were married! So what's with the masochistic 'You MUST BE, AND MUST STAY married at any cost!' True love? Doesn't exist, or at least, doesn't exist outside Disney. And if it does, then their characters WOULD NEVER CHEAT to begin with!

I give writers like Stang a lot of stick, but at least he believes in his characters moving on to a happier life, even if it is ridiculous at times!

he doesn't have to be sad and lonely. Take more trips, do more things, etc. and he'll eventually find a new life partner. Well told story, perhaps the first APB story I've read. Glad there was no RAAC, and I choose to believe it did not happen after "END." Tags sucked re my ability to later find this story. (I'm still trying to find a blackmail story I read months ago, but the author obviously did not use "blackmail" as a tag.)

Throughout the give and take between Susan and Greg she NEVER owned the betrayal she said she HAD to to it. She was sorry for the pain she caused but didn't give a shit about her commitments, her vows, her husband, or even her children. Susan cared about Susan. And the author has the truly fucked up view that Greg ruined his life? Of course he does, Gary is a Brit and from what I can tell here the Brits take marriage very lightly and think somehow that fucking around is less sexually repressed. They also love to blame the victim and let the perpetrator off

So what happened to them?

On the face of it I agree with you. But what seems to be missed, he was looking for a reason, any reason to be talked into taking her back. Yet, she fails miserably at that. She looks and sounds like she will suicide and soon. What she failed to realize, is that his biggest problem was the insult to him that she thought he was a cheating bastard all those years. When he shot all that down, well she is now punishing herself. Right or wrong, when you have that much time vested in a marriage, you don't just go off the deep end, and, he didn't. He was willing to be convinced to stay with her. Barring that he saw no other recourse to this whole fiasco. I am almost always in the BTB crowd. On this one however, before she or he should have mentioned or agreed to counseling she needed to be in therapy first and foremost. Please do not assume that I am talking about reconciliation here. I am not! If he still loved her as the mother of his children, he should have tried to help her to go to therapy to at the very least try to get the therapist to help her realize her mistakes in believing that he didn't cheat on her. That it was something that she came up with from whole cloth as the saying goes. As for depression, on his side at least, he hasn't really tried to meet new people. Where are all of his friends? This is a rich man under sixty with a vitality in him yet to go off exploring. He is expecting to find his second soul mate in what a year or so without putting any effort into the search? He needs help from a therapist to help him transition into single life. At his age, to have his belief center or core, shattered so compleatly so quickly is devastating. Should he go back to her, maybe, maybe not & I am leaning heavily on the not. His ex just doesn't seem to be able to perceive the concept that her one little relationship in 27 years isn't the deal breaker. Fractured to almost broken yes, but breaker not really. The deal breaker is that she held him in such contempt for Lo those many years. That is the problem. He wants to find someone like her because after all these years, he is used to her and her mannerisms. Hence the need for therapy for him to assist in his transition to bachelorhood, and she just needs a reality check here.

Ok, I am repeating myself and will stop here.

Seeker

Because he stuck to his guns and divorced her. It would have been 5 if not for the crappy ending; which I think was total bullshit! He is so much better off without her. Of course he is sad after finding out his marriage was a sham; but now he doesn't have to live a lie with woman with no respect for him or herself. After seething with hate for 20 years, she cheats on him; but oh, she loves him so much! Reconciliation would be a disaster!

Is your whole life your wife? For most men, the answer is no. For some, they are as attached to their wives as little boys to their mothers. Most successful business men do not fit that profile. They are much more independent. They are more about a relationship with their ego than any other human being. As you age and hopefully gain some wisdom, some actually develop their faith in God. A relationship with God is far more reliable than with any other human being. So what happened to this guy? How does he, and so many others like him in these stories wind up a sad little boy/old mad crying for his wife/mommy? It really does not make any sense to me. Their relationship had been shitty and full of distrust for twenty years - what it there to miss?

No offense, but I don't think a "relationship" with God is paramount to wisdom. What if you don't believe in God? Does that mean that you can't be wise? What if you believe in Buddha or Allah?

I don't believe in any deity. I've met others who don't either, and they have given me sound advice on how to go about life and interact with others. They have helped me become a better person than I was before I met them. So I don't think belief in any God is the only way to get wisdom. I believe wisdom comes from having an insight into life that guides your decisions in such a way that you avoid pitfalls.

come out of this okay. He doesn't need a bunch of bullshit psychobabble from a counselor. What he needs is to keep on doing what he's doing, but tell the kids to shut the hell up and leave him alone. If it's okay to have a cheating spouse, let them have that in their relationships, but they need to keep their mouths shut about that bitch when they are around their father. Obvious to me she had much more of an influence on them than he did so maybe he should just cut them loose for a bit. Decent women don't just crop up everywhere. Most of them out there on the make are single for a reason, and usually not a good one. The women that are worthwhile to meet are there but just not as obviously on the make. Takes time to meet them. They have their shit together too and are just biding their time a pickin' and a choosin'.

Not a bad story at all. Good that some men are allowed to stand fast in their ethical and moral beliefs. How could he live with someone who absolutely didn't know him after all of that time? Didn't seem to me that she had any idea that what she had done was "really" wrong, just him finding out and getting hurt by it. Cheater's handbook. You know, maybe someone should write a cheater's handbook, might be a best seller. Stepping stone to riches.

To an ok story

alcohol therapy helped ... sorta Scotty

still love it. Still a favorite.

She believed he was unfaithful at times and still stayed with him for over twenty years? You could argue that her cheating indicates that she didn't love him. However, she comes across as authentically loving him. That's why she stayed and wants to make it up to him. Yes she was wrong, and yes it lead to her having a pretty crappy view of herself. Which in turn lead to her falling into an affair. And yet, he can't get over her lack of trust of him? Not the affair, but her lack of respect for him. Odd.

In the one story you didn't spit shine a shit Raac together. You wouldn't have to spin a yarn that he is worse off without a woman who jumped in the sack and would have continued if not caught.

Of loving him so much that she could deal with them... and now that she's cheated and discovered he never did...?

Now she can't manage to love him enough to do whatever it takes to try to keep it together to show him she loves him...?

Yeah, what more needs to be said...?

I liked the story but hated the ending. Although she cheated, her regret seemed sincere. He was a fucking stiff for reacting so heartlessly.

It wasn't the cheating that did it. It was the fact that his wife had spent the last twenty years of their marriage thinking he was was the one sleeping around every chance he got, and she more or less said that the only reason she was still with him was because she felt she was obligated. That's not love, and he's right when he says it feels like their married life was a lie.

That's twenty years of memories tainted beyond salvation. Now every smile, every kiss, every "joke" and every session in the bedroom has a different meaning behind it. Twenty years of her thinking he was a piece of shit and she was a victim. Twenty years that he thought were happy ones, but in reality she felt she was suffering in silence. That's fucked up, no matter how you look at it. She basically just robbed him of half his life, and it's really too late for him to make twenty years of new memories with her to make up for the lost ones. And really, would those memories be any better with the roles reversed and him being the "martyr"? So instead of acting out of perceived obligations, the wife can act out of guilt for the next two decades. Sounds like a great marriage to me...

and he can't get over it ? The man is a social icecube, his later relations prove this,i hope he enjoys his lonely life to the full

am glad that i did. Reading some of these comments makes me wonder about how seriously some people on this site take commitments and vows that they make. Does it really matter that she "made it" 27 years before cheating? Once is enough to break the contract and as the husband said, she did it 4 times and probably would have continued if he didnt find out. When you say your marriage vows its supposed to be for life-- too many people think they can say sorry and it wont happen again...... It shouldnt happen in the first place unless you were lying when you said your vows.

I like reading the story until the end. It was sad. Greg was almost heartless. How can one turn off love like that, no matter what the other has done. Also, again, no communication between the spouses.

Though I was hoping for RAAC and not BTB, it was a well written story. 5 *'s

There have been so many comments about how "stiff" he was and chastising him for not taking her back. I believe the fact that she "believed" he was having affairs their whole married life only was contrived to give her an excuse to cheat herself. 27 years together with children and all that life entails should have given her a better idea who her husband was. A strong, determined, thoughtful man that would brook no interference with their marriage from cheating.

She was remorseful but for what? Loss of her cushy life? She was all about her own issues not about the pain she created.

If it was a deliberate act to show the man as a prick then it worked.... Because that's what he is... Though he will get a lot of hoots from the losers looking for "kill the bitch" joys...

Gary was an unmitigated pompous asshole. And his daughter Melissa was similarly despicable. Having her father, this jerk and the slut he was banging host her engagement party!? What a miserable cunt of a daughter.

The author's take on how Chas. Dickens' "A Christmas Tale" would have gone with Greg in the role of Ebenezer Srooge:

And then the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showed Scrooge the cold, neglected grave with his name on it. To which Ebenezer Scrooge replied, "take me home, Ghost, I must get to my counting-house this morning, so I can work on putting more of my delinquent account holders into the prisons and workhouses!"

And with that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come departed and Scrooge found himself awake in his own bed, only to hear the church bells, and said aloud, "Bah, humbug."

So she cheats after 27 years, I've been there and done that, BUT try 32 years for me. The way I found out was here telling me that she was in love with my best friend and she wanted a divorce. Well guess what, I did divorce her and HE decided that he wanted to stay with his wife. So now I'm single and unhappy but my ex is single, unhappy, and has no friends left.

Life works in mysterious ways ...

That's what's really sad, not the story.

The story simply reflects the pervasive, current "I want to break the rules and not suffer any bad things" attitude. Well, no, real life isn't like that. You break your word, you could get hurt. Sadly, others like Greg can get hurt as well.

Melancholy, but a firm 5 stars, thanks.

the affair so readily after an almost telepathic moment that one would assume she really thought he would understand: ie that their apparent readiness to joke about imaginary affairs would translate into an understanding when one actually happened. But his desire for vengeance was immediate and all consuming. And that also seems slightly inconsistent in his character portrayal -- if they had been light-heartedly joking about that previously. On the other hand if she knew him well enough to know that he was going to be so single minded (cf his business dealings) then she would have put up a much better attempt at denying the affair. But "she knew when he knew she was lying". (er -- she shouldn't have let loverboy waste their time together watching golf, or at least she should have checked channels after he'd gone!) I'm not a reconciliation at all costs man but here it would have been right I think because of her genuine sorrow at what happened and their real opportunity to get away together -- so long as she really did end it with the other guy. I agree with some of what Nici said about his heartlessness -- if I remember rightly the heartlessness on hubby's side this time was matched in a story Nici wrote about a wife who just said to hubby: "The divorce will ruin you financially, so you'll just have to put up with the affair"?) . But why had she never said anything previously about her suspicions about him? And the last paragraph: a Pyrrhic victory resulting in self-righteous loneliness.

Well it didn't rely as so many stories do on hubby getting all the latest tecky gizmos to catch the cheat out; once again women have to make that judgement as to whether their man might actually get off or at least tolerate there being a third party -- cf so many quite different stories here on Literotica.

He found out that his wife cheated, but worse he found out that she had never trusted in him and had never really communicated with him. It wasn't just that her cheating destroyed the marriage they had, but that the marriage he thought they had turned out to never have existed at all. That's a genie that couldn't ever be forced back into its bottle.

Why hasn't anyone thought about the other option here? The guy doesn't have to remarry his ex-wife, he could just start including her in his life. He could start by showing up on her doorstep and dragging her off to a gym, on the excuse that he wants her to take a trip with him and she needs to be in shape for it. Then he could find a trip to match the excuse. I'm not a fan of taking the cheating slut back, but just because I don't want to see them remarry doesn't mean I don't understand why two people who share interests and family would want to still have some sort of relationship. You don't even have to be intimate to share a love of travel or some other activities, like the theater or a sport.

I think that a follow-up story about these two would work as long as they weren't forced to remarry to fulfil some need of literotica readers to have husbands and cheating sluts get remarried. They don't have to move in together. They don't have to fuck. They don't have to do anything, but spending time together would be the best thing for both of the characters in this story.

Came back for a reread. Have to wonder who is wearing the pants in that family... Sure wasn't dad.

Good plot however the main characters made it a muddle.

His main fault, other than being a selfish shit, is that he treats marriage as a business - he is lucky it lasted as long as it did.

She chose to cheat and have an affair. Despite his many protestations otherwise - he chose the divorce.

He deserves the life he has chosen to make for himself.

This story is the closest I have seen to the couple admitting that they had a shitty marriage for 25 years! Decent people in decent marriages do not cheat. So that leaves you with the possibilities of a crappy marriage with both members contributing to it. Even if one is not a cheater, that spouse contributed to the marriage if only by being a part of it. Horrible thought? But true. I would like to see a story where this idea was truly realized. A marriage is greater or lesser than the sum of the spouses and the other influences it has on it. In this case the husbands aggressive and didactic personality was clear, the revelation that she justified her own cheating because she believed he had cheated for years was very interesting. It revealed her own lack of honesty in not talking to him about her concerns. These are the things that make a rotten marriage.

I am not in favour of cheating and cheaters. However this story is all wrong, he ends up a lonely bitter man "even though he did everything right". Oh yes he did comparing a marriage to a business contract is so way off field that it labels him as an unthinking and really cold husband, in spite of all his protestations to the contrary. He used this as a simple excuse so that he did not have to make some really hard and complex decisions. Once he arrived at this decision it was reasonably easy to justify everything he then did.

His wife thinks, mistakenly, that he is cheating but goes along with it because of her insecurity so he makes that her fault and justifies his treatment of her and gets awfully angry, poor diddums. He acts like a boorish thug and destroys a young family, 1 guilty 3 innocents, but they are only contractual damage. He then destroys his own family, 1 guilty, the rest innocent and therefor more collateral damage. His wife start to genuinely go into depression physically and mentally and this loving selfish husband decides that's just a penalty for breaking a contract.

To be blunt he does not deserve any sympathy. In real business he would be destroyed.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavens" is an excellent guide on how to live a good life and the mark of an intelligent and good man. Read the full poem to understand) This guy hides behind a "contract" and his wife is destroyed. Good going you prat you deserve a long and miserable life. The riches of Croesus and no way to enjoy it. Get off your arse and start trying to reconcile with a fundamentally good person and not a badly flawed bastard as he has turned into.

I see a lot of the comments are negatively aimed at Greg. I have to ask why? He was a good and faithful husband who was unfortunately stuck with a wife who doesn't even know the real inner man and then she turns into a cheat. A one time cheat is one thing that he 'might' have been able to tolerate but four times makes it totally intolerable and brands the wife as a total cheater. Maybe she was a good mother and maybe (remembering that most cheaters are also liars) she has never cheated before but she dumped all of that when she took up with her new friend. You have to admire the man! He didn't go all BTB and managed to remain quite civilized even though he was terribly hurt by her actions.

If Greg is so lonely and in need of a companion that may have similar interests maybe he could "hire" her to be his travelling companion just like he would hire an escort. He could have a contract drawn up instead of a marriage license so that he would be able renegotiate if/when any new issues surfaced and he wouldn't have to worry about any more expensive divorces in the future. This would also clear the way in the event that he met a new interesting and willing woman that might take his fancy.

A contract would also allow Susan to keep in contact (maybe intimate contact) with Greg while continuing to act the poor imposed upon (ex)wife. At the same time she can look around for other men to help her expand her sexual horizons whenever she needs an itch scratched or even just when Greg turned his back or was pursuing his other interests.

We must always remember that in the vast majority of cases "ONCE A CHEATER ALWAYS A CHEATER"!!!!!

Was it the right choice ?i doubt it,living with principles and (marriage)contracts is the way you can do buseness but a marriage has different standards,there were better solutions than divorce but ok he made his choice and now has to live with the consequences by destroying two lifes

What a chump! He'd rather be alone and unloved and let his ex fall apart than swallow his pride and reconcile.

when broken the marriage is broken, adultery breaks the contract, I had rather be lonely than married to a liar and cheat, that disrespects you to the point of betraying you.

there are no winners in divorce.

I noticed several times during the story that she falsely accused Greg of being guilty of things that she was actually guilty of, but wouldn't admit to. She had no trust in her husband for at least 20 years of her marriage...and committed adultery. Divorce is only option available.

I feel like the time I spent reading this story was wasted. There was little warning that after twenty five years he couldn't forgive her. There was NO Grace in him for her. What I did learn was he is heartless and only cared about rules he made. He was the King and created the rules they all lived by. The King could change or make new rules for the woman he loved or supposed to have loved. I've seen writers who suppected that others may have a different ending on the final outcome ask or give permission to make changes to the ending. Or you can make the changes instead of that ending. That story needs a better end. This is a first for me a cold blooded heartless breakup for such a poor reason. Two Stars

The reality of a divorce because of adultery, especially in this story, is the permanent damage done to both spouses. For tweny years she thought he was a serial cheater, never once talking to him about her concerns. Trust, a necessary part of a marriage had been destroyed for years. My read on the story is that fact is what destroyed any chance of reconciliation. Having read many stories and given great consideration to the plots and cheaters' excuses, I have one unchangeable opinion. A spouse bringing a lover into the couple's house and having sex, whether in the marital bed or not being only slighly more consequential, is the epitome of disregard for the faithful spouse. That act of international spite and humiliation is unforgivable. Additionally creating unforgetable reminders of the betrayal. For my part, the simple act of coming home early would make me queasy with trepidation about what I might encounter.

The ending depicted reality. Some decry the husband and that is the opinion they are entitled to have. However, the wife is the one who destroyed the marriage and caused the both of them irreparable damage, and she did so because of her years of mistrust. Playing the martyr for years she doomed both to a live of sadness and loneliness.

Your point was dulled by Susan never realizing she alone fucked everything up and taking steps to change herself.

Greg is not at all to fault except for his decisions to remain lonely. He could rescue Susan by getting her into counseling and telling her she needs to improve to have a chance at winning him back.

I don't particularly feel sorry for Susan.

Some comments I have read are beyond me. The wife cheated, he found out and divorced her. Perfectly understandable. That is the way some people are. He hurts and can't forgive her. Why is he being pilloried?

"but I promise you for every minute of it, I would have preferred to have been here..."

I don't believe it for a moment. He was as married to the power and prestige that his job evolved into as he was to Susan. Both marriages became business contracts. She cheated. Okay. He treated it with the same black and white regard as the business decision that he made with cold calculation. It's hard to cheer for the wronged man when his character is created to being so stoic an no nonsense that it is impossible to imagine him emitting any warmth and compassion. 27 years of that would challenge any woman. No one to empathize with here.

Cheating cunt that shits all over a loving husband working hard to provide for her and the home.. for a month and when he rightfully did not put up with it, the author decided that he should condemn him to a life of miserable loneliness.

Fucking wanker GaryApb

probably a submissive cuck lover

Why are men such arrogant pricks? There are only two men in the world I honor and respect. They are my husband and my Father. Because of his own arrogance and self importance he has alienated himself from his own family. If I had been his daughter I'd have totally disowned him He really should have been the one suffering from depression not Susan. It always amazes me how guys think they put more into a marriage/relationship than we women.

get over yourself. however, having read the bullshit you wrote, I think I understand why you're single.

personally, I wouldn't fuck you if you were the only pussy within a thousand miles, maybe even two thousand.

Clearly you are just a cheap whore. No wonder you are SINGLE.

Sorry but if your a man or woman with someone you love for 27 years and they go and fuck someone four times or one time it would be the end for me also. I'd never believe her again or that it was only four times . I would put her through the DNA test for the kids and my question would be how could you prove it was only him all these years. I would second guess our whole time together and after her saying she believed he cheated starting so many years ago and waited 20 years to get revenge, I'd never believe it. Also for me even having a four mont relationship without the sex is just as bad as the actual sex. They built a relationship together. The only major thing you never brought up again was the tv being on the golf channel, was that an indication that she was fucking her lover in their house which for some strange reason to me makes it even worse. It sad but I as a man couldn't live with that over my head for the rest of my life. I would never believe or trust her ever again .

She cheated, he didn't. She thought he did but never confronted him. If she had, maybe they would still be together. He will meet someone better and have a healthier relationship. She will continue to wallow and be alone. Her kids are trying to help but she is in the comfort of martyrdom.

Face it, if a spouse is willing to cheat, even if they think they are careful and will not get caught, if they are willing to risk the marriage at all, that tells you the LOW VALUE they have placed on the relationship. They may value the MARRIAGE because of the life style it gives them - like an income producing investment. They will likely be saddened if that income is threatened, reduced or terminated altogether. So, what is the difference between a husband and a wife cheating? 1. Traditionally and in most cases today the husband is the source of the income. That means that when a cheating is caught, her interest in continuing the marriage is likely in part to continue to receive dividends from her husbands income production. 2. When a husband cheats and is caught, his interest if any, in continuing the relationship is likely do to the emotional connection he feels with his wife. His cheating like her cheating is most often a search for ego gratification, not love. He has little to gain by remaining married to an angry hurt wife who will likely punish him for years. Only his love can hold him to her. As time goes on and women continue to become significant income producers themselves we are likely to see more women cheating and not trying to hold on to their marriages for the money.

Even if she thought he was cheating and he wasn't he never thought about what would have happened if she walked away (that aspect was never mentioned). She raised the children kept a good home for all of those years without complaining.

Yes she had some thoughts which were incorrect but, he being the smart man he portrayed failed to inform her of the stuff he was sneaking around doing! Then he turns into a bitch!

I'm going to be a little flippant here "he didn't care about her, he cared about outward appearances." He can't miss what he can't measure!

Writer fix the damn story, many of us perfer a happy ending. She deserved better but, maybe she was better off without his ass! After putting up with all that BS then you make her a no self-esteem drunk! She was still as rich as he was remember the company they had and because of the children she never would have fallen into the depths this story portrayed. You actually sound like someone who had their ass kicked in a divorce and this is what you wished happened in your favor, again BITCH!

This screams rewrite!

1.5 stars!

Yes, she cheated that's very hard to overcome. She was wrong but, she did have some thing going for her. He was connected to her by more than just the children. She told him what she thought he was doing but, rather than correcting her and understanding her point of view, she wasn't being vindictive, She made a mistake! He just couldn't keep moving forward. She should have been allowed some GRACE that's not much but, it's a great gift to give someone you care for and care for her he did.

I just don't understand how anyone can say after 24 plus years she was a heartless bitch. Hell she put up with him and his enflexablity for that amount of time. It wasn't like he was a super prize to have.

He made errors just not the errors she made there where things I couldn't explain but, in the story he felt for her. He was not flexible enough to forgive and nobody can say it was wrong for him. I'm a hard person who has very strong opinions, I was a drill instructor for 10 years so everything was either right or wrong with no gray areas. I was married to the same woman for over 30 years. She put up with a lot of my crap for years without complaining. I could forgive her to her face and she would have my grace. I knew her but, nobody's a mind reader and there will always be surprises.

Quote: He who is without sin cast the first stone.

Grace is to allow forgiveness when the only place forgiveness is inside your heart ❤️ for that person. You can forgive but,you don't have to forget.

Trust but verify (Ronald Regan)

If you are not a woman hater your are lying. I'm sure you've seen stories about women being found pregnant in every stage of health young, old, blind crippled and crazy. All she needs is a pussy! Somebody's going to want it even if they are too ashame to say or are breaking the law to get it! Sorry to say.

Anyone that could accept her cheating as just a little mistake no matter how many years of marriage is just sick in the head.i like him would have just dumped and forgot hher .as always you have some criers out there. Good story and I support your finish.I got rid of my cheating bitch after thirty years and have never looked back

... there are no happy endings. This was a slice of real life, her big mistake was not confronting her suspicions years before and communicating. This is what causes many relationships to fail is a lack of communication.

Thanks for the tale.

I guess if you love someone your whole life its easy to walk away as anony, writes. Its easy if you have no heart, They both were wrong and seems they lacked communication skills until it was to late. Now they both die lonely and alone. Good call anony

Divorce her. That was wise. Her reasoning was faulty and she did it on purpose. Keep looking for the one for you. Don't give up yet buddy=-)

First 2 pages were unnecessary, boring as hell, then the rest just dragged.

She made the conscious choice to throw it all away. Not only that but it seems she never respected him and most of the marriage was affected by the mistaken belief that he was a serial cheater. Can you imagine how different their relationship would be if she did not harbor that for so many years. It sucks but divorce her.

Many stories and probably many people do not understand that a real marriage based on love means you put the other person first. Always. Obviously she did not do this. There is no excuse for deliberate cheating.

And Payenbrant... Please finish your story!

So how many times would she have fucked him if she hadn't been caught? There is no indication that she regretted what she was doing, until after she got caught. It was getting caught that she regretted. She actually thought she was entitled to cheat, because she thought her husband had first!

The only flaw in the story is that Gary will stay bitter and lonely. Men age like wine, while women age like cheese. Gary will do quite well, and even better as he gets older, if he stays in shape and keeps his health. Susan will soon look like the cow she is. She lacked the self respect and confidence to challenge Gary's supposed philandering, and she continues to wallow in her self made misery. Susan has no moral compass, depending on others to guide and advise her. She is a simpleton, who has lost her keeper.

Divorces aren't normally followed by living happily ever after. It's been 15 years since my wife took our kids and left to live with another man. They were 12 and 10 and neither of them wanted to live with me. The guy who was cheated on.

So I left. I suppose Amelia divorced me but I don't care. She called a couple times about the kids staying with me one weekend out of the month and a week during the summer. Unfortunately I was busy packing and didn't return her calls. All three, four actually, made their decision and it was to live a life without me.

I never thought about suicide, at least, not seriously. Amy spreading her legs for another man and falling in love with him shouldn't kill me. Nor should my kids deciding to live with their mother and new father kill me either.

They would be 27 and 25 now. I kind of keep up on FB with their lives, although not friended. Both are married with children of their own and seem happy. One picture showed them with my ex and her husband and they called him dad and grandpa.

I was replaced because I tried to work hard and provide for my family. Fuck them.

He's a sad. lonely old man only if he allows himself to be one. Either man up and find someone else, try to put his life back together with his ex-wife or move on as a single man. He's got plenty of money to do anything he likes. What a lot of moaning and groaning over nothing. I have no sympathy for wither of them. She could get herself into shape and do the same things. She's got the money necessary. But they're both wallowing around in the mud. Not a pretty picture. Not a good story.

Surely her husband should forgive her cheating just 4 times. Bullshit. Each time she crawled in bed with David, she was firing a shot into the bodies of her husband and David's wife. Instead of thinking I only cheated 4 times, she should say. "I only shot you four times." And as the story revealed, her little affair only destroyed four lives, not counting five children. Reconciliation? Not possible.

But the main protagonist is a complete fucking twat. I've dealt with his kind many times in my life, and they're to most opportunistic control freaks you can imagine.

I'd lose no sleep at all if every fucking one of them died a horrific death.

Yeah, she cheated. Maybe it was because he put more time into his business than he spent putting his dick into her.

But Johnny Control Freak is always right, least in his own eyes. Fucking goofs.

You made your point very well. I'd like to see a happier conclusion but, that's me. There enough unnecessary sadness in this world without this sad ending to a sad story which could have been better served with a better happier ending.

There was only two things which could have been worse 1. She killed her self. 2. He killed himself.

I could only picture and hear Jay Peterman from Seinfeld in Gregs character. Story just ended in a whimper. Such is reality I suppose.

could have a better ending hate the ones that just stop

Well written cautionary tale--lack of self knowledge can be a killer. Too bad he didn't just ruin his own life.

If you don't take the cheating slut back you will end up lonely and alone.

...everyone dumping on husband. The ending was pathetic.

Guess those detractors skimmed over the wife's actions during 20 years of marriage.

How could you stay married to someone who had so little respect for you and your marriage?

Very close to reality I feel. They say that self respect doesn't keep you warm on cold winter nights.. But having a wife who disrespects you can eat away at you until you lose respect for yourself. Tough decision he had to make but the right one.

A self-righteous, ridgid idiot.

A marriage is not a contract. It is a partnership, and no partnership can be perfect

Which is the author's point, I assume, but the ending does not make that clear.

The story ends without a resolution.

As I was to find out after being nearly as shocked as Greg (although not for the same reason) when my then-wife told me she wanted a divorce. There's really no point in fighting it, you're not going to change his/her feelings. Your marriage is over, so get on with it! (My personal story, in the Romance category, is an example of how things CAN work out.)

Greg, the way you've drawn him, is doomed. As other readers have said, I too wish you'd given him a more upbeat ending in this story.

And it's unclear to me if Susan started her affair for revenge or if some random radiation from a slut ray zapped her one morning. Whichever it was, it was quite clear that the affair would have continued indefinitely if she hadn't been caught. Also, it was implied (but not confirmed) that she was fucking him in the marital bed... another cold slap of disrespect.

The ending was just plain stupid. Who said that you came have a happy life without a spouse? My only advice to the author "Never go full retard"

2* since the rest wasn't bad, he did the right thing, at 50 I divorced my wife of 28 years, then five years later found the love of my life and my second wife!

I fully agree with MusicGuy4Fun. I gave it a 4 because the ending as written is inconclusive and the reader is left hanging wondering what happened.

1* as the ending was utter crap.

Every thing. A dizzying plot. No ending. It defies a true category.

Wish there was more *****

It left me hanging. On the other hand, I totally understand. I kept my self respect, I had and continued to be have honorably but ended roughly in the same place as Greg. It makes on wonder if self respect and honor are worth the price or if it is merely pride. Standing on the high ground but lost and lonely is a pretty steep price. It took me 25 yrs. to heal and I still don't know if it was worth it all. Maybe it is better to except human frailties and live with that humanity. I don't know, I only know what I did. I'm not sorry but it sure as hell wasn't easy. Doing ok now but wasted a lot of time and feeling licking my wounds while up there on that lofty moral high ground. Can't get the time back it slipped thru my fingers like sand in the wind. I sometimes wonder what would have happened, what would my life be like if I had just let everything slide and just accepted I was just a man who was not perfect. But...?

... but a bit slow/pedantic and wordy-wordy-wordy.

Plot good. Wish a little bit more on David. Nice enigmatic ending. Just so wordy. I found myself skimming ahead too often. Ugh.

Still, overall a very solid 3-stars

Great story, crap ending.

I've given you a 2* because the ending was very lacklustre.

TitoTonto 975

Enjoyed the story but he tried to run his marriage like a business with out compassion and his marriage was always at the end of his concern till it was to late remember how he treat C&G.

I guess your intent was to write a depressing story and you succeeded. Having broken up there is no one for either of them. So sad. Yuck.

Sue cheated for typical reasons, boredom, feeling lonely and unappreciated, and the BIG one - her husband was cheating too. Except, he wasn't. I really get his point, she thought so little of him because she saw him as a cheater. It's one thing to think she cheated because of HER weakness. It's worse to understand that she had long thought of him in a demeaning way as well. He stressed several times their sharing everything in the relationship. Except, she wasn't. What other secrets did she hold? You begin to question your understanding of the whole relationship.

Others have criticized him for being too severe. But in their conversations, it is clear that they have openly discussed and agreed upon things in their marriage. Even his job responsibilities. That's another thing. She accuses that he was not really trying to retire. They agreed the time would be by the time their son graduated. In one conversation she agreed that that is what they planned to do. That time had not come yet and he WAS working on it, had accomplished it to happen as planned. Yet, she didn't believe he was to be trusted. In her mind, he was a liar, a cheat. That's not how you expect your wife to see you. Nor does she talk with him about any of her concerns. She condemns him without his awareness or recourse. The more they talk, the more you get the impression that he doesn't think very highly of him. That's painful.

Yes, he's a clear thinking businessman. That's not a crime. He has provided a good life for his family. His kids know him, like him, and appreciate him. He is NOT a bad person. In fact, he is a pretty good person.

But there is no one for this well off, healthy, adventurous man? Really? I get a year or so of sadness, even mild depression. But it is not the personality of a successful businessman to collapse in on himself.

I was feeling good about reading a well-written story until 3 things ruined it for me.

He realizes she cheated by an osmosis or mental telepathy or intuition. That's baloney. Belongs in SciFi/Fantasy. If he's so good at it, sometime within 20 years he should intuit that she suspicious.

I'm guessing the first part with the company breaking its contract is supposed to parallel the marriage. Marriages are based on love. The contract is secondary. A hard-nosed man may make a good businessman, but not a good lover. The cold guy got a cold life. Should have reconciled.

Lastly, I hate unhappy and unfinished stories. I go to Literotica for entertainment, not depression.

2 stars

Paul in Oklahoma

He rightfully leaves a cheating spouse he has to end up miserable for the rest of his life instead of finding someone who feels about fidelity the same as he does.

Got a little boring

around the hesitation

in the end.

But otherwise a good

solid story.

One comment said marriage is about love.

That's just the start.

A marriage needs respect,

trust and consideration.

Love is good, but not enough.

The guy did right.

The marriage was ruined.

I give the story 4 out of 5.

Too depressing to get top score.

All very calm and civilized. Punching the asshole who was fucking his wife was over the top. When they sat down and discussed the fucking in a civilized manner, that is the 'British stiff upper lip' that we expected. And the very civilized and calm discussions he had with his wife about their marriage made me want to puke. How about a little emotional action. My God, except for the punch in the face and his whore of a wife sometimes crying, this story was as exciting as watching paint dry. Even his kids were 'civilized' about the affair. When his dad told his son that he had punched the asshole in the face I thought the kid was going to have a stroke.

The whole story was just too 'civilized and calm'. I'm surprised that they didn't have a sign in their house that said 'Keep calm and civilized and keep on committing adultery'. Sorry, but this doesn't deserve more than 3* for the poor execution.

That's impossible.