Jason

I knew that Laura wasn't prepared to be a faithful wife and mother and I wanted to get serious with Diane. After supper on a Friday night, I went and got a glass of wine for Laura and a beer for myself. I walked over to her and passed her the glass.

Her head came up, "what?"

"Are you in love with him?"

"Wha...what...do you want to talk about, sweetheart?"

"It's a simple question: Are you in love with him?"

Laura took a big drink of her wine. She looked at the glass. She didn't look at me.

"C'mon, Laura. You know what this is. You started this. It's time we finished it."

The kids were in the TV room. Now was as good a time as any to get this started. I don't drink much anymore, but once in a while I do like a good IPA. I took a drink and started. "So, how do we want to do this? The easy way or the very expensive way?"

"What are you talking about Jason?"

"How long has it been?"

"How long has what been?"

"Come on; how long have you been having sex with other men while you and I have been married?"

"Why is that important, now?"

"Just low long did you think that you could go on doing this?"

Laura took a big drink of her wine.

I continued, "I mean, did you see us growing old together, but part of the time with another man in your bed or you in his bed, however often do you do that now?"

She looked up at me, "Why do we need to talk about this now? We've both been just fine doing what we're doing. Why do we need to change anything?"

I shook my head and took a drink. "I know pretty much what you've been doing; do you have any idea what I've been doing?"

"Well, you and the girls are camping a lot and you ride your bike a lot and I know that you have been doing...stuff."

"Yes, I have been doing 'stuff' as you say. Yes, the girls and I have been camping quite a lot; since learning my true value to you. And yes, I've been doing a few other things."

Laura looked at me with a funny expression on her face. Like she wanted to know, but at the same time didn't want to know anything that might rock her boat. She had a good thing going. She figured that if we were to divorce that I would be the one to suffer the most, but the kids would be very affected, and she figured that I would do just about anything to lessen the impact on the kids. That was the big thing that guaranteed that she'd be able to do whatever she wanted. She knew that I would put up with a lot for my children. But what she didn't know was that I had a life too and I had a plan.

"Laura, you didn't answer my question; are you in love with him? Are you going to keep him for the long-term?"

"Jason, I don't really have a boyfriend..."

I interrupted her, "For fucks sake Laura! Stop with your bullshit! How long have you been fucking Scott? How many others have there been before him? For that matter, are those two girls mine? How much have you used me? Lately, you've been a shitty wife; you know that. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not happy with you and I'm not happy with the state of our marriage. Hell, for the last two years this has not been a marriage. And tonight, I need you to know that it's going to change, and when it's going to fucking change."

"Wha...what are talking about sweetie?"

"Oh, stop with the 'sweetie' crap. All I am to you is a security blanket. Someone to do all the boring work of a marriage. You run to your boyfriend for the fun part. You and I haven't touched each other in a very long time, and I don't see us doing anything to change that."

There was silence from Laura.

I went on. "So, it's time that you and I do something."

Laura looked up, "What are you talking about, Sweetie?"

This was becoming ridiculous now. "What do you think I'm talking about? I'm talking about sorting out the ending of this sham. I'm talking about you moving out of this house. I'm tired of being fucking used!"

Laura looked up from her glass when she heard the part about moving out of the house. "I'm not moving out of our house, Jason! That's just crazy talk to think that I'm leaving our home."

"Well, it's pretty clear to me that you'd rather be with your boyfriend than be part of this family. Make up your fucking mind what you want Laura!"

I got up, finished off the beer that was in my glass and went to the kitchen sink. I could feel my blood pressure climbing and knew that I was close to losing-it. I had to get out of there. I had achieved my aim for now. The gauntlet had been tossed down and I wanted to see just how Laura reacted.

**********

Laura

Shit! I've gotta go get a lawyer and make sure that Jason doesn't throw me out of the house. Why can't he just go along with things? It's not like I deny him anything. I don't. But he hasn't come near me for a while now. He doesn't want me. Fuck. He doesn't want me.

If I can't get him to want me, maybe we are done. If Jason and I divorce, I'll get the kids and the house and part of his income to pay for things. Jason isn't gonna do well if he tries to get rid of me. He won't want to have to move out. I'm pretty sure that I've got a big advantage here. I just have to be patient and it will all go my way. It would be better if I could get Jason to make love with me again. I do love the man. It's just that I need Scott too. He makes me feel so good when we're together. Sex with him is...slow and fast and hot and sweaty and so good. He touches all the places that I need touched. He knows what I want, and he gives it to me. When I feel him inside me, I just melt and lose control and I orgasm almost continuously. When he sucks on my clit I just about turn inside out. I want him inside me all the time. I can't get enough of him.

Yeah, if I stay the course, it will be fine. Jason knows that I'll come back to him, eventually. This thing with Scott isn't going to be forever. Things with Jason and I will get back to just him and me in a bit more. For now, I need to have Scott, too.

**********

Jason

If Laura thinks that I'm going to put up with her shit for forever, she might want to rethink that. It's time for some of the consequences that I alluded to earlier.

I started to do some work online about our family finances. I set up a new account for just me and transferred about half of our cash reserves into it. I also had my salary and bonuses deposited to that new account. I would go online every month and move some money to our house account to pay half of the bills.

Part of that also meant that it was time for Laura to realize that the free ride was just about done. She could pony-up half of our living expenses. I didn't want to be paying more than my fair share just so that she could spend money on her boyfriend. In reality I knew that she was fucking him at his apartment, so she wasn't forking out for hotel rooms, but it was the principle of the thing that I wanted her to recognize.

**********

Laura

I didn't want Jason to know that I had actually seen a lawyer. I looked up a family law attorney and went for a meeting. She talked generally about divorce law in the state and how it was a no-fault state and that mothers always get the kids. She looked at me and asked 'you do want your kids I assume?'

I answered 'of course.' She made a note on her pad and then asked some questions about my income and Jason's income. She also talked about child support, spousal maintenance (alimony) and how much we owed on our house. She asked, in a very roundabout way, if there was any reason why I felt that I wouldn't get custody of the kids. I told her that I didn't think there was any reason that I shouldn't get custody of my kids. I'm a good mother. She nodded. Mind you, all the while I had this picture in the back of my brain of Scott and how being in a sexual relationship with him for the last two years might change what a court might think of me as a mother.

When I left the lawyers office, I had a nagging doubt about my ability to win in a battle with Jason. Just how dirty could the fight become?

**********

Diane

Jason called and we made plans to go camping next weekend. Matilda is looking forward to it. She loves camping in Jason's trailer. The three girls are at the back end in the bunk beds, and we can hear them talking and laughing for hours after they are supposed to be asleep. Jason and I occupy the bedroom at the front of the trailer, and we keep the door shut for the most part.

Sex in the trailer was something that I had to get used to. There was a bit of rocking going on but then Jason put a bit more pressure on the corner stabilizers and that took a lot of the rocking out of the trailer. The really hot sex we have is back at my house, or when we're together after biking events.

I can't for the life of me figure out why Jason's wife is fucking around on him. She has to be monumentally stupid. I mean, Jason is a great guy. He's handsome, fit, smart, talented, energetic, he has a great smile, a wicked sense of humour (he really makes me, and the kids laugh) and it's obvious that he cares about people. Too bad his wife doesn't care about him or his daughters.

So, Laura's loss is my gain. I'm divorced from an asshole that didn't really want to be a father and I have a wonderful little girl that is my world. When I met Jason, he struck me as a man that needed someone to care about him. As I got to know him, I realized that his wife was using him; she wanted her cake and to eat it at the same time.

My friend Marilyn introduced us and told me a bit about Jason and his wife and how she was openly fucking around on him. Knowing a bit about our state divorce law, I knew that she had him cornered and if he decided to divorce her, he would lose his children and that was not what he wanted. So, he was sticking it out until the girls were grown and then he could tell her to fuck-off.

I make a good living and I wasn't looking for a serious relationship, but I wanted the occasional friend-with-benefits to take the stress off. Having a man is something that would be great for me, I figured. Jason turned out to be that man.

Going camping with him and his daughters in his camper was a side-benefit for me and my daughter and to put is simply, we had fun. Matilda really likes his girls, and they treat her like a little sister. The longest that we have been together was nine days on a trip to Florida. We camped close to Disney and took in the park for two days. We did some hiking and spent time on the beach. It was great. Jason and I had sex almost every day and at the end we came home tired and I needed a day to rest. It was a great vacation. Jason told me that he really enjoyed the time together and his girls clearly did.

We made plans to do more adventures.

**********

Laura

I went to see my lawyer again. It was while Jason had the girls camping in Florida. He was gone a week, so I took the time to go see my lawyer and make sure that I was secure in my rights to have custody of the girls if Jason tried to force me out.

My lawyer is Claire Barnett. She's about 50ish years old and has been doing family law for over two decades. I had some things that I wanted to clarify.

"Claire, last time we talked, you told me that if Jason tried to divorce me, I would get the kids, the house and he would have to pay me every month."

"Well, yes, I recall that we talked about your family, and you told me that it was your top priority that you have custody of your children. The court is normally on side with that, and I can tell you that the majority of mothers that I deal with do get custody; but there are exceptions to that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if your husband were to show to the court that he was the more fit parent to have custody of the children, then the court may agree with any request that he might make to have primary custody. It's not a given that the mother always gets custody. If a mother is considered to be unfit, for whatever reason, the court won't still automatically give her custody. Judges are not blind and I see some cases where the father has rightfully gotten custody. Laura, is there something I should know that might impact my ability to ensure that you get custody?"

"No, no. Um..."

"What aren't you telling me? I can't help you if you're not completely honest with me."

"Well, Jason spends a lot of time with the girls. But I do too."

"Could you define that a bit more closely please, Laura. Just exactly what are you saying?"

"Well, Jason takes the girls camping a lot and he goes to all of their school activities."

"Do you go with them?"

"I don't really like that outdoors thing and I hate bugs. As well, my work is very demanding, and I have to miss a lot of their school events."

Claire rolled her eyes at that. She knew that her client was bullshitting her. She knew that what Laura was telling her was to paint herself in the best possible light. Trouble was that family law courts see right through that, and they are good at seeing who the best parent is to take care of the children. Her husbands lawyer was going to make sure that the judge got all the details of his side of the relationship, all the work that he did and just how much she missed doing with her own children. Fuck! Now she had a lot of work to do.

The family court didn't care about Laura fucking some man other than her husband. The court didn't care about Jason having a sexual relationship with another woman. None of that mattered. What mattered was which one of them did the best job parenting. The fact that Laura was an absentee mother would put Jason ahead in the comparison. Claire had to tell her client a few things that she had to fix.

"So, Laura, I'm not sure how to tell you this..."

"What?"

"Let me be blunt. If you don't step up and be a more involved mother, your chances of custody of your children in a divorce battle are, in my estimation, quite low."

"What?"

"Are you seeing another man just now?"

"Well, um..."

"That's kind of a Yes, or No question?"

"Ah...yes, I am."

"How much time do you spend with him?"

"We only see each other a few times a week."

"How much actual time do you spend with him. Hours and the times of the day and nights?"

"Not that much..." Claire put her hand up to stop Laura... "If you're not completely honest with yourself and me, you can pretty much forget about custody of your kids. Now how much time do you actually spend with your boyfriend?"

Laura went on to tell her lawyer a bit more of the reality of the time that she spent with Scott. Claire winced notably as she made notes on her legal pad. This was not looking good. Claire knew that when it came time to battle it out in court for custody of the kids, if it came to that, Laura was going to come off looking like she had almost abandoned her family so she could fuck her boyfriend. This was not good at all. Shit.

**********

Jason

Okay, time for the first round of consequences to be revealed to my lovely unfaithful new-age wife. It was a Saturday night, and the kids were just getting to bed after a busy day. I went to the refrigerator and got a beer and brought out the wine bottle for Laura. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, remembering that when I had important things to talk about, I always poured her a glass of wine. She cleared her throat a bit as she looked at me.

"Kind of late for a beer, isn't it?"

"It's only 9 o'clock. I want to talk to you about a couple of things."

"Uh, what things?'

"Well, I want to talk about our marriage and how we manage it. The daily business of being married. We need to clarify our individual responsibilities and who is going to be responsible for what."

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"What I mean, exactly, is that you and I need to better understand what we are each responsible for day-to-day. I've made a list of some things, and I'm sure that you'll have more to add. Let's get started."

Laura took a very large gulp of her wine. I took a sip of my beer and pulled out the notepad that I used to write some things down. "So, first, we need to sort out some of the financial aspects of our life. We need to decide how much we each contribute to paying for things. Now, I know that you weren't exactly thrilled about me buying the truck and camper, so paying for that is all on me, but managing the house and the kids, and all of those costs, are both our responsibility."

I let that sink in for a few seconds. "So, I think that a basic budget to clarify who pays for what is the right thing to do."

Laura looked at me like I was an 18-wheeler bearing down on her. I laid out what I thought was a reasonable division of expenses for us each to pay for. I wasn't gonna finance her relationship with her boyfriend, that was certain, and I wanted her to see that me, as the one that took care of all the bills that had to be paid, wasn't quite so desirous of continuing to pay for everything and let her enjoy her other 'activities.' Nope.

We talked late into the night, and it was after 1 AM when I yawned, stretched and told Laura that I was done for the night and stood up to go to bed. I left all the papers that I had pulled out; our monthly bills and financial stuff, right on the table. I left her there and went off to get a shower and some sleep.

**********

Laura

What the fuck! Jason wants to separate out our finances and get each of us to contribute half of all the costs of running the house and paying for the kids activities. Fuck! He knows that I don't make as much as he does. When I told him that, he just looked at me and said, 'maybe you need to think about a better paying job.' Like I could just do that.

This is all about Scott and time that I spend with him. This is all about...fuck!

**********

Four days later

Lawyer Claire

Claire started, "So Laura, what is it that you needed to see me about so quickly? Have you decided to file for divorce from your husband?"

"No, but last Saturday night he wanted to talk about our family finances, and he wants us each to contribute 50% to running the house and paying for the day-to-day stuff."

Claire's eyes got a bit bigger, and her eyebrows arched up a bit. "Tell me exactly what you and he talked about."

Laura went into the retelling of her lengthy session with her husband that Saturday night. I asked her several questions and made a few notes. It was becoming very clear to me where this was going bad fast. It was also becoming much clearer to me that my client had been giving me only half of the story and trying her best to avoid the consequences of fucking around on her husband.

It seems the lovely little Laura has been fucking a guy, besides her husband, for almost three years. Her husband found out about two years ago and after he met with a lawyer, realized that he would only pay for her to fuck around and in the process likely lose his kids and a bunch of money. That's what I usually have to tell my male clients who catch their wives fucking around on them. Sad but true.

Everything that Laura told me led me to the conclusion that her husband was putting into place all the basics of a separation agreement. Fun fact on separation agreements: this sort of legal document is all about the division of responsibilities before a divorce action is started. It's really a prelude to divorce and it certainly signals a deterioration of the marriage and the beginning of the divvying up of the assets of the family and the deciding about the major issues. In the case of Laura and her husband, the big issues were their two daughters; which parent would have primary custody and who gets to live in the house .

Laura had undercut her position regarding her ability to demonstrate that she was the best parent to have custody of the children. She was spending time with a boyfriend in a sexual relationship while her husband was spending that time with the kids. Family law courts take that sort of thing very seriously. Jason was quietly building his case for custody and by my reckoning, he was doing a good job.