It's What Daddy Wanted Ch. 01

I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going but I kept driving down I-90. I made it all the way to Auburn before I decided to pull off and call my attorney. I saw a sign for a nearby mall as I passed but could not navigate the signs or roads under the circumstances and pulled into a Walmart parking lot after I realized I was nowhere near the mall.

My attorney gave me some good news and some bad news. The bad news was that the pre-nup sort of spelled out the circumstances of my infidelity but didn't necessarily apply evenly to her. The good news was that if I had the video on my phone which was taken in my own home, I would be able to push this through as written and be done with it. He even suggested filing against my soon to be ex-father in law. It may end up going nowhere but his firm will not like the publicity and may agree to settle the divorce on friendlier terms so that the video is never played in court.

I had to ignore phone call after phone call from Julie, her mother, and her sister Shannon all week. I went in to sign the divorce paperwork and get the ball rolling by Friday. Interestingly enough, my attorney also found out Mark was married and had a small child. None of this had ever been disclosed by Julie who tried to tell me he was engaged. And since she was supposedly helping design the interior of their new home, a wife and child would certainly have factored into the design. She just never mentioned it, but then again, I was in the process of finding out a lot of things that she never mentioned. I never would have believed she had secrets.

With the video of their interlude being submitted to the court on grounds, and copies being sent to Julie, her mother and father, and to Mark's wife requiring signatures upon delivery things got messy in a hurry. Mark mistakenly left me a voice mail threatening me which my attorney said would come in hand at a later time. Her sister Shannon left a message begging me to talk to her, and her father just left another degrading, name calling, smear message which I really enjoyed. Hopefully the judge will be just as impressed with him as I am.

Two weeks after it all started my attorney called and said Julie and her family requested a meeting. I told him what I thought and he just laughed.

"You can't do that. But what you can do is accept the meeting and then via power of attorney I will go in your place." He said. "If it is what we are looking for then we accept it and move on."

"Perfect. Let me know when it is scheduled, don't do it in my house or his office, and give me time to go to the house and get all of the things I need."

"Jim, you can't take anything that isn't a personal item. All joint assets have to be left alone. Take all of the pictures you can, but don't take anything."

And that is what I did. I took over two hundred photos on my phone and climbed up to retrieve the seven hundred dollars and Mark's IDs from the top of the entertainment cabinet. The IDs I tossed on the kitchen table for Julie to find, the money I kept. I considered what he took to be mine anyway. With all of my clothes and business files I left the house for the last time.

I was only gone for two minutes when my phone rang.

"Jim, who all has a copy of the video?" My attorney asked.

I told him about the copies I sent to Mark's wife and Julie's family.

"OK, here is the deal. If we sign a statement that says all known copies have been destroyed then the divorce papers will be signed and you will receive a check for one million dollars from his firm.

"I can't do that. Since I sent a copy to Mark's wife and have no control over what she has done with it, my signature means nothing. Plus his own family has copies. The best I can do is list who I sent it to and refrain from sending any more. I will also keep my own copy no matter what and you can tell the bastard that."

"OK, I will tell them. And one more thing, Julie wants to see you before she signs."

"She doesn't have that option anymore. She saw me every day for years and has decided to sleep with someone else. Nothing I do or say will change that. It has already been done."

An hour later I received a message congratulating me on my divorce. Not sure why it should ever feel good, because I hurt pretty badly on the inside. Somehow I still had feelings for Julie.

I became absorbed in my work. The people who worked for me tried to lessen the pace I was going at by dragging me off to lunch or forcing me home at night. The hardest part for me was getting through the first Christmas Holiday alone four months after the divorce. I sat and stared into space a lot on most evenings before finally coming out of my cocoon in February. I had a few big leads turn into some lucrative contracts and was suddenly bombarded with work again in the New Year. This helped take my mind off my personal problems and I was soon back on track. I was also contacted by another large software company seeking to gain access to some of my work. We scheduled a meeting in San Jose California the following month.

At the beginning of March I went into a coffee shop on a Monday and fell in line behind a woman in a very nice dress. Her hair was perfect and her perfume was intoxicating. It was when she placed her order and stepped aside that I was shocked. The woman looking right at me was Shannon Morrow, Julie's older sister.

"Oh my God!" She screamed out as she stepped to me and wrapped her arms around me.

Before I had a chance to respond I could already detect her crying into my shoulder. She tilted her head back and looked up me and said it again. "Oh my God! I can't believe it is you?"

She held me tight and pleaded for me to sit with her. "Please. I need to talk to you!"

Eventually I nodded yes and went to a booth and sat with her. She initially tried to make an excuse for Julie and her father before I put a stop to it. I made it clear that the subject was off limits. She agreed and the subject turned to her. She was going to a larger hotel just around the corner to apply for a marketing position. We talked a little about what I was doing and how well my company was doing.

"Can I ask you a question?" Shannon said.

"Yes." I answered without adding a condition which I should have.

"Do you miss her?" She asked.

And just like that my heart fell to the bottom of my chest again. With tears forming in the corner of my eyes I answered her. "Yes. Every day."

"She cries every day over you. She misses you too. You two had something special going on."

I was about to argue that point but was interrupted by her phone ringing. It only took a second to realize it was Julie's voice. I had some quick flashbacks hearing the loving caring voice. But it was over and I had to snap out of it.

"Julie, you are never going to guess who I am sitting with having coffee."

I shook my head and frantically waved at her but she ignored me.

"Jim." She said with a smile into her phone. "Yes, your' Jim."

I couldn't hear every word but the tone seemed pleasant on both sides of the conversation.

"I don't know if that is a good idea but I will ask." Shannon said to Julie.

"We are having a small birthday party a week from Friday for mom and Julie thinks that mom would love to have you there. It would mean so much to her."

"It would mean so much to who? Julie or your mother?" I asked.

With a pause Shannon finally said. "All of us. We would all like to see you."

"Well before I start making excuses, which I would have, I can't. I am going to a meeting in California and won't be able to make it that night."

"Julie is asking what time your flight gets back. It is OK if you are a little late. We would still love to see you.

"I am not coming back until Saturday."

Shannon spent a few more minutes on the phone with Julie before she hung up.

"She is upset. She said you never go to meetings overnight."

There was no reason for me to have to explain myself but I did let Shannon know that when her sister and I were married it was never a choice I would make. I either came home every night or Julie came with me. The conversation stalled at that point but I could see Shannon struggling to say something.

"Jim, would you allow me to say something and then I will drop it?"

"To an extent. I don't want to get into any confrontations over what she did to me."

"Ok, I understand. You already know my father is a manipulative jerk. Nothing any of us have done, including my mother, has ever satisfied him. He finds fault in everything we do. The one difference between Julie and I is that I stopped trying or caring. Julie's nature wouldn't allow that. She has tried her whole life to gain his approval for something but it never happens. Not matter how hard she has tried it has never been good enough for him. Losing you has allowed her to come to terms with it now. She realizes he cost her a life full of happiness. He tried his bull shit on me with his associates in the past but I made it clear that he would be defending me in a murder case if any of them ever touched me." Shannon said while I just sat there. As promised the conversation came to an end.

Shannon gave me a hug and asked if she could call me sometime and I let her take off to her interview after she fixed her makeup.

The San Jose trip was the most interesting week I had in a long time and wasn't at all what I had expected. The meeting wasn't to establish a partnership, it was to extend an offer to buy my company and all of its software solutions. The offer was more than I would have asked for and we quickly came to an agreement. The five people I had working for me had to retain their jobs for at least two years. I would not sell out and leave them hanging.

With a few amendments the offer was accepted. I would get twenty five million dollars for my solutions. However, in order to make it work and allow the concept to generate enough revenue to support the deal I would take five million now and then four million each January for five years. I flew home Saturday a very rich man. I just wasn't that happy. As they say, money doesn't buy happiness.

Many hours were spent analyzing my past. Without any job to go to I started hitting the gym at the club. Julie had insisted we join the club as some sort of status symbol but I despised most of the people who were members. But I figured that since I was stuck paying monthly for it for five years I would start using it. At least I tried to tell myself it wasn't because I felt inadequate about the shape I was in after seeing Mark's muscles in my bedroom.

I went every night for the first couple of weeks but kept seeing the very people I didn't want to see so I changed my schedule to go in the mornings. Still ran into some snobby and obnoxious people but at least it wasn't the men that felt the need to compete with me or show me up in the weight room. The morning routine worked better and after four weeks my body appeared to be responding very well. I think I noticed some definition in places my muscles never appeared before. I felt better, was standing straighter, and overall just thought I looked better in the mirror.

One morning after my workout I drove from the club over to a Starbucks. I had just sat down when a woman approached the table and asked to join me. I looked up into the smile of Julie's mother.

"Hey you missed a good party last month. Shannon said she invited you but you were out of town. That is a shame. It would have really made the evening perfect for me if you were there."

She appeared to be genuine and I always thought she had been with me. But I found myself in a very uncomfortable place at the moment and she detected it.

"Look, this isn't easy for me either. I have a daughter who has been hurting for eight months, a husband that is an ass, and a son-in-law that I see working out alone every day and there is nothing I can do about it. If I had it my way, my husband would have left well enough alone and you and Julie would still be happily married."

Fortunately my phone rang as she finished her last sentence allowing me to not answer or respond to her. It was my attorney friend following up on an offer I made on new construction in Brecker Park.

"Jim he countered at ten grand short of two million."

"Really. Ten grand? That is insulting. Even for a home in Brecker Park. I would like to say my offer of one seven stands but I will give you something else. I will bring one million seven fifty to closing as long as it is within fifteen days. I want just one running bathroom so I can get an occupancy permit and leave everything else unfinished. He gets to decide on whether to keep his men working on his next project or let them sit on an empty house hoping for a buyer someday."

I went back to the conversation with Mrs. Morrow but did not continue from the point we left out. Instead I asked her a question inserting some humor. "So you follow young guys home from the club now a days?"

She was stunned at the insinuation. "No. That is not it at all. I have seen you there three or four times and just wanted to talk. I was serious when I said we all miss you. I know things really ran aground but I wanted you to know that I will always love you as my son-in-law."

"Thank you. You are a special lady." I answered struggling to find the right place to be in this conversation.

"So how come you are at the club every morning? What happened to your company?"

"Let's just say that someone offered me a very fair offer to buy it out from under me. I am in between jobs. Or companies I should say."

"I see. So if you can afford a home in Brecker Park now it must have been a very good offer!"

"I can afford ten homes in Brecker Park now." I enthusiastically said hoping that tidbit would find its way back to her asshole husband.

"Julie has some clients out there. She loves that area."

We chatted back and forth but each time she mentioned Julie or what it was that she liked or didn't like I didn't respond. It took Mrs. Morrow a few minutes to figure it out.

"I just want you to know, she thinks about you every day and misses you more than you can imagine."

Fortunately I was bailed out by another phone call and didn't have to respond to that comment either. My offer was accepted. I now owned a house in Brecker Park. It wasn't finished but it was going to be all mine.

"Well what do you know Mrs. Morrow? They accepted my offer. In two weeks I will be the proud owner of my own house again."

"That is wonderful Jim. Which one. Am I allowed to share that information or do you want me to keep it secret."

"I would never ask you or anybody else to keep a secret. Secrets destroy lives. I know that firsthand!" I said which drew a very sour face from her.

Two weeks later and twenty minutes after I left the closing office I found myself walking around my new empty home. The walls were finished and painted white, the floors were bare, and the kitchen had no sink or cabinets but it was still my new home.

I had been there opening and closing doors and windows, checking for hot water, making sure the few light fixtures that were installed actually worked, and setting the thermostat when the doorbell rang. My first guest.

Julie stood at the door with a scared face when I opened it. I should have expected it since her mother asked if she could share the news.

"Hi my name is Julie. I am an interior decorator with some experience in the neighborhood and was hoping I could give you my card in case you were interested in my services."

When I didn't respond right away she paled and stepped back from the door. I am not sure why I did it at the time but I stepped aside and asked her to come in and look the place over.

Julie cautiously stepped past me into the house and stood there waiting for me.

"Go on, you can look around. I will be down here when you are done." I told her.

I asked myself why I had just let her in my house. She was dressed impeccably with her hair tied up and make-up that reminded me of the person I fell in love with. Even though I missed her dearly, my emotions were slowly building to a point where I could live without her. One look at her blue eyes had just poked a hole in that chance.

She walked around while occasionally looking back at me. I did not follow her but stood at the front door.

"Can I see the upstairs?" She asked.

"Yes, go on up." I replied without following her.

I allowed her to walk around on her own while I went to the room that would become my office. As soon as I could get the house finished and I settled in, I had plans to start another company. This room would become my first office.

"This place is amazing. Do you have a designer in mind?" Julie asked when she found me in the future office.

"No, as you know, I closed today. That is as far as I have gotten."

"Any ideas for what you want to do?" She asked standing about three feet from me.

I couldn't answer her. I was looking into the eyes of someone that I was hoping not to love anymore but I just could break my mental bond. I still thought she was beautiful. Why did she have to hurt me so bad?

"What do you want to see in here?" She asked again.

"I am sorry, my thoughts were somewhere else. What is the question again?"

"I asked what you had in mind for this place. It is big and it is empty. What would make you the happiest?" She said with a smile.

It was then that it hit me. I didn't buy this house for me. I bought it because it was something I had promised her. Oh shit. What was going through my mind to make me do something that idiotic?

"Honestly Julie? I bought this place because deep down I remembered it was something you had wanted. I guess I just followed through on my promise without thinking. This would have been your sketch pad to do whatever you had wanted." I said as tears started in the corners of my eye.

I didn't know what to do next. I walked to the front door and sat out on the front step. Seeing her here had really sent me off into another world. I missed her. I missed that smile. I had tried to tell myself I had forgiven her. But had I? And if I did, could I allow her back into my life?

Julie came out a few minutes later and set next to me without saying anything. We looked at each other a couple of times before looking away.

"I wanted you to know I still love you and miss you every day." She said.

"Yeah and I think I feel the same way."

"Would it be alright if we worked together on your house?" She asked. "If it gets too weird we can stop."

It didn't take long before the two of us were knocking down one project after another. Julie had really developed into an incredible designer. We hit all of the different studios together picking out cabinets, tiles, bathroom fixtures, lighting, and more. On more than one occasion we hugged each other when something new was discovered that fit into her design plans. Many of our trips required stops for lunch or dinner and I can honestly say I was falling in love with her all over again. The house along with some of the contractors was stirring daily until June when it was almost complete and furnished.

"It is not my place or call, but would you like to invite some people over and have a small dinner party to show off your new digs? It has come together fabulously."

"No, I am not a showy person. You have done an amazing job. If you want your mother or Shannon or even some of your friends to stop by that would be fine. I don't want a party and I absolutely forbid your father to step foot on this property."

She looked at me for a second before saying, "Thank You."

As a surprise for Julie I paid for a professional photographer to come in and take pictures. She had spent over three hundred thousand dollars and the outcome was worthy of a photo session. When I hired the photographer it was stated that Julie would own all rights to the photos. Mixed in with some of the step by stop photos I had taken, the finished portfolio had over seven hundred photos for her to use in her advertising, magazine articles, or whatever she chose. They were hers.