It's Not All About Her

"Remember when you had that bad cold a few weeks ago and were on some cold prescriptions. Sometimes those kind of things cancel out birth control for a while, from what I've been told," Lisa said.

"Have you told Griff yet? I'll bet he'll be absolutely thrilled. I know he's wanted kids for so long now..."

Lisa stopped short as she looked at Reece's face. It looked like her boss was about to cry. It was a look Lisa hadn't seen in the eight years she had been Reece's admin.

"It might not be Griff's," Reece whispered.

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit," Lisa whispered back. "Boston?"

"Yeah," Reece admitted.

Lisa took a sip of her coffee and stared straight ahead blankly. When Reece said nothing for several seconds, Lisa looked at her, raised her hands and shrugged.

"All three nights. He was a really big, handsome guy," Reece said.

"Griff doesn't know, right?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, God, no. And he never will," Reece asserted.

"Could the baby be his?" Lisa queried.

"That's the problem. It could be. I suppose I could take the chance. It's not like they're different races," Reece said.

"But... if."

"So... are you going to take the chance?" Lisa asked.

"I'm leaning away from that. I think I'll need to take a last-minute trip to Illinois next week for a few days," she answered. "Why don't you book me a flight to Chicago and get me a hotel room for four days."

Reece had an abortion the first day she was in Chicago. She pretended to be sick when she got home to buy her several more days to recover, then used several other excuses and several world-class blowjobs to not have vaginal sex so she had a full month to recover from the surgery.

"Men are so easy," she thought one night while swallowing a large load of cum a couple of weeks after her abortion.

She knew her husband had absolutely no clue as to what had gone on in the last couple of months.

In truth, Griff didn't have a clue, right up until that very moment. As he was coming, he looked into his wife's eyes... and saw that although she was literally attached to him at that moment, she was figuratively a million miles away. Griff knew then that he had a problem that was not going away.

Reece's apparent success at hiding a short affair, a pregnancy and then an abortion only served to reinforce in her mind that she could get away with stepping out on her husband, if she was careful and did it in other cities. Once again, she examined her feelings and came to the same conclusion she did years ago: she loved Griff, but she enjoyed the thrill of illicit sex and the difference of a new partner. She deserved to have sex on her terms... of a sort.

Gary Bergeron owned a small construction company in Minneapolis, MN, so it was definitely not a business meeting of any kind, Griff thought, when the Minneapolis police told him who was driving the car that crashed in which his wife was a passenger.

Griff was listed as Reece's emergency contact, and although her injuries weren't life-threatening, it was standard procedure to inform an emergency contact when someone was hospitalized due to an accident.

The police officer was surprised that Griff had asked for the driver's name and address after informing him that his wife was involved in an accident but only had minor injuries.

"Fuck, the bastard's probably looking to sue already," the officer thought, not even wondering about the fact that the woman was in a car with a man not her husband at 10:15 at night.

Griff took down the information and thanked the officer before walking over to his computer to do a look-up on the man. Five minutes later, he had all the information he needed. He sat still at the screen, taking a few minutes to calm his breathing.

Reece knew that the Minneapolis police would call her home to inform her husband of the accident and her subsequent hospitalization. She hadn't counted on them relaying additional information, if they were asked a direct question. She knew the coming phone call home could be awkward, but she knew she was smart enough to be able to keep her husband in the dark.

"Hi, babe. Yeah it's me," she said casually. "You should have gotten a phone call earlier from the Minneapolis PD about an accident I was in. I'm good. Might have a slight concussion, the doc said. They're going to keep me overnight just to make sure I'm good."

Griff was quiet for several seconds, which worried his wife, before finally answering.

"I'm glad it wasn't a bad accident, Ree. What happened? Why were you driving around so late?" he asked quietly.

Reece listened carefully to her husband's tone. She didn't pick up that anything was different, and gave an audible sigh. Griff smiled to himself when he heard it.

"I was out with several of the locals catching a couple of drinks. I was heading back to the hotel when somebody blew through a stop sign. He spotted me late and we both hit the brakes, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And since it was the other guy's fault, our company's insurance won't take a hit either," she said.

"So you don't need me to fly up there and bring you back?" Griff said in his most sincere voice.

"Nah. I'll be out of here tomorrow morning, and be home the next day," she said.

"Okay, then, babe. I'll see you the day after tomorrow. Good night," he said.

It was completely lost on Reece that Griff had not ended their call with a loving sign-off, which was usual.

As was usual, Reece paid particular attention to her husband the day she got home from a trip. It was just her way of making sure the man she thought of as the love of her life had remained clueless and didn't seem to have any suspicions. Griff seemed very solicitous of the few cuts she had on her face from the accident, and practically hovered over her on her first night home from the trip. For a few seconds, Reece felt guilty that she was cheating on a man as good as her husband.

Griff stopped her in bed that night when she reached for his dick. She seemed surprised until he told her he was concerned that she should get her rest after the accident.

"Sleep good, baby. We'll play tomorrow," he said quietly.

She rolled over and Griff spooned around her. She was asleep within a minute. Griff laid awake thinking of everything and nothing. He felt tears in his eyes.

Being wrapped up in herself, Reece didn't have any idea that Griff knew she had been marginalizing him more and more during the seven years she had been president at her company. He also knew that she would turn on the charm and try to distract him with sex after every trip she made, particularly those three and four-nighters that she had started making in the last six months.

Although he didn't think she did it purposely at first, Reece started her marginalization campaign a couple of years after she became president. She expected Griff to accompany her to several company events, but then would abandon him to mingle with others from her company, leaving him to talk with "the other wives," as she phrased it one time, never realizing what she said.

He would often start out talking with the executives' wives, then drift off someplace quiet where he could read a book or look at sports on his phone.

A couple of years before, Griff drifted into a conversation with Geneva Chief Financial Officer Mark Hayes that proved highly beneficial to Geneva's bottom line. As part of Reece's compensation package was company stock, she and Griff were provided profit and loss statements. Griff noticed that Geneva was relying way too much on investments and letting core business suffer. He suggested cutting spending in several strategic costs of sales areas to counter decreased sales, and the next year profits returned to previous levels.

When Reece questioned Hayes on the increased performance, Hayes took complete credit for it, never mentioning Griff's hand in the increase.

As Griff was by this point a high-ranking exec at his firm as well, there were several events where he needed his wife to be there for him, but he noticed that she less than subtly let everybody know she was a seven-figure a year president of her company, and quickly turned off Griff's co-workers. The other spouses, too, wanted no part of Griff's wife, although his friendship in the company was highly sought after.

After several years of that behavior, Griff quietly stopped telling Reece about company events involving spouses, and much to his relief, she was too caught up in her own life to question it.

Reece was surprised that Griff was already gone when she woke up. They normally woke at the same time. She thought about it for a moment, but not too long. After all, she had a company to run, and her own life to live.

Maybe that was why she never saw it coming. As she strode into her office, her admin, Lisa, stood to greet her and pointed to a young woman sitting in a chair off to the side. As Reece turned, the young, professionally-dressed woman approached her with a large manila envelope, handed it to her, took a cell phone photo and said, "Reece Watson, you are served."

Reece had pulled up when the young woman approached, and took the envelope with a look of confusion, which was quickly dispelled by her announcement of service. She staggered forward into her office and dropped into her chair behind her desk. Lisa quickly followed her into the office, grabbing a box of tissues from a drawer in her own desk.

"What... how... why," Reece mumbled as tears fell from her eyes.

Lisa gently took the envelope from her boss's hands and opened it. As she figured, it was divorce papers. She showed them to Reece, who continue to bawl vociferously.

"Why?" Reece asked. "I thought we'd be together forever. We weren't having any problems..."

Lisa had been with Reece for a number of years. Next to Griff, the woman probably knew more about Reece's private life than anybody else. She probably knew more than Griff, in reality, because she was sure she was the only one who knew about Reece's affair in Boston, the resulting pregnancy and the following abortion. She also knew, although it was never discussed, that Reece's business trips in the last few months might also have had a "personal" side to them as well.

"Ree... could Griff have found out something?" she asked barely above a whisper.

Reece immediately stopped crying and blinked her wet eyes at her admin. Although she and Lisa hadn't ever discussed what was happening in the evenings on her business trips, she knew her admin was smart enough to figure it out, and then of course, there was the whole Boston debacle. She knew Lisa would take that secret and her thoughts to her grave, but could Griff somehow have found out... something? When she thought about it logically, she knew her husband was a smart, capable man, even though in recent years she often denigrated him in her mind as not being her equal. She realized this might have been a monumental mistake.

"I don't know how," she finally responded. "Even if the police called him to report I was in an accident, they wouldn't know anything about what I had been doing. And he wouldn't have any way to know what happened on the other trips."

Lisa scrunched up her nose and eyes. She hated to be the one to ask the next obvious question.

"Anything else going on in your life, boss? Could he have found out about something not related to here?" she asked.

Reece's mouth dropped open in shock. She heard her admin ask her if she was a slut in her personal life away from the office, as well. After thinking about it for a bit, she supposed she earned that question.

"No, Lisa. I guess you could say I'm a little more circumspect in my life away from the office. I would never do anything... I would never do anything else to jeopardize my marriage," she said.

"Well, how have you guys been doing at home then? Have you been neglecting him in the bedroom, you guys been fighting? Anything?" Lisa asked.

Reece sat quietly for several long seconds. Lisa could see the emotions playing out on her face as she did so.

"Come to think of it, he has been kind of quiet for awhile, may a couple of months," she answered. "Been kind of standoffish, quieter than usual. And we haven't been quite as touchy-feely either, now that I think about it. Sex has slowed way down, and we've only done it when I've initiated, which hasn't been very much, I've got to admit.

"Oh shit, I've missed all the signals. I wonder if he's got somebody on the side."

The irony of what she just said came to her and she giggled nervously. That didn't go past Lisa.

"Griff's the nicest guy in the world and he loves you completely. He would never screw around on you," Lisa said.

"But I never thought I would ever screw around on him," Reece whispered.

"Yeah, there is that," Lisa whispered in return.

Griff knew by text that Reece had been served 20 minutes earlier. He surmised that she was discussing the matter with her administrative assistant, Lisa, perhaps the one person who knew what actually was going on with his wife. He had considered sitting down with Lisa and trying to get some information, but dismissed that idea because Reece had told him several times through the years that Lisa was completely loyal to her.

Griff had gotten a divorce attorney and asked her to draw up divorce papers several months back when he first realized that his wife might have been cheating on him. His attorney asked him why he didn't take the next step and hire a private investigator.

"Basically, I'm a coward," he answered. "I really love the woman, and if I hire a PI, I might find out something I'm really not prepared for. I'll just watch and wait for things to develop, get my emotions and ducks in a row for when I have to. Because once I do, there will be no turning back.

"I'm really hoping that for once there will be no fire where there has been smoke. I can't help myself. I love her."

The phone call came a few minutes later. By this point, Reece had gotten her act together and decided on a plan of action. She quickly dismissed her first thought of proclaiming ignorance of any problem, instead choosing her default workplace setting of powering through problems while not actually admitting the problem existed.

"What the hell are you doing, Griff?" came the question through the phone when Griff finally answered.

Her voice was in control. The question was asked, not yelled. She sounded every bit the president of Geneva. He expected nothing less.

"You know exactly what it is, Reece. I've taken enough disrespect from you in the past few years. I shouldn't have to take the disrespect of you also cheating on me. That's where I draw the line," Griff said quietly but firmly.

"Please don't insult my intelligence by telling me you haven't been cheating on me these last several months when you've gone on these short business trips. For example, there's no reason why you are in a car with a small construction company owner at 10:30 at night... That's definitely not business-related."

Reece's brain almost burst. How could Griff possibly know about her cheating on her short business trips in recent months? At the very least, he knew about her most recent lover. How much did he know? Shit, shit, shit, she thought.

"How dare you have me served here!" she said, anger rising in her voice. "I would have expected better from you."

"And I expected better from you as well!" he declared with anger in his own voice. "I guess sometimes we expect too much from the ones who profess to love us the most."

Griff heard his wife's end of the call get very quiet. He saw, rather than heard, the call end. All in all, he thought to himself, that could have gone much worse.

Reece left her office at 4. Griff stayed at his until the usual quitting time of 5. He felt he was unusually productive, considering the circumstances.

"Not going to be a divorce, Griff!" Reece yelled at her husband when he walked into the house from the garage.

Griff knew that his wife had a full day to think about things and marshal her mental resources. He knew the evening wouldn't be pretty when he saw her Lexus already in its spot in the garage when he got home.

"You love me. I love you. No divorce. Not now, not ever," she said.

"When did you decide that you could unilaterally step out of our marriage, Ree? When did you decide that you could rewrite our wedding vows? Hell, when did you personally rewrite the 10 Commandments?" he shot back. "I don't recall the seventh one being, 'Thou shall not commit adultery except occasionally.'"

Reece dropped her eyes to the floor. This was going to be a much shorter argument than she planned if Griff was going to keep asking her questions she couldn't answer.

"Let's make this easy, Ree. Why don't you not give me the trite answers like, 'it was just sex,' 'it didn't mean anything to me' and my personal favorite, 'I love only you,'" he declared.

Reece started to answer, then realized her husband had just shot down anything she would have said. For the first time, she looked worried, but still not remorseful, Griff noted to himself.

"Why don't you start with why, Ree? That should be easy to answer. A simple why," he said.

She opened and closed her mouth several times. Griff could see her trying to think of the right thing to say.

"It's a simple question, damn it! Why? You owe me an answer!" he yelled.

"I-I guess because I felt like I could. I deserved it. I'm the president of a global company," she said haltingly. "Sounds pretty lame now when I say it out loud."

"Yeah. And since I was no longer your equal, my feelings just didn't matter," he said sadly.

Reece gasped, then sighed before finally dropping her eyes again. It seemed so easy at the time.

"Can't we try counseling, Griff? Please. I love you. I've always loved you. Maybe I kind of forget it for a while, took you for granted. Please," she said.

"How long have you been cheating? How many lovers?" Griff growled. "Would it be easier if you just rounded off the numbers?"

Reece shot her husband a nasty look but bit back the sharp retort that was coming. Since she didn't know how much he knew, she didn't know how much to say. She opted to give him a very condensed version, leaving out the affair with her boss and the Boston debacle.

"I've only been doing this for a few months. I've been with five other men. I'm sorry, Griff. I'm really sorry," she said quietly.

"Are you sorry for the cheating, the disrespect or for ripping apart my hopes and dreams?" he asked sarcastically.

"All three. Really. Can't we try again?" she asked.

"I doubt you're telling me the whole story, Ree. I don't trust that you are. That's what happens when you break trust. It all goes away. I could never trust you again," Griff said.

"Please, Griff. Please. I'll do anything you want," she pleaded.

"I don't want you to do anything... except sign the divorce papers," he responded.

"But you love me. You know you do. We're supposed to be together forever," she remarked.

"I did love you. Now I mostly feel sad... sad that I wasted a lot of years with you and have nothing... nothing to show for it. No kids, no wife. Nothing," Griff said.

Reece again averted her eyes from those of her husband. She briefly thought of long ago discussions with him about having children... and the discussions where she kept putting off having those kids. She suddenly felt a wave of guilt roll over her.

Reece wasn't running Geneva because she was a stupid woman. She and her attorney were able to convince the judge in the divorce case to grant 12 counseling sessions.

Griff knew things weren't going to go his way when the counselor turned out to be a woman about the same age as he and Reece, and who seemed way too impressed by the fact that Reece was president of her company.