Just Once: A Sequel Pt. 02

This is the second chapter of my attempt at finishing Kalimaxo's story, "Just once...if you don't mind". He challenged writers to finish it. I highly encourage people to read the original story, https://www.literotica.com/s/just-once-if-you-dont-mind, It gives a much deeper understanding of the situation. I also encourage reading part 1 of my story, it won't make much sense without it. This turned out to be a more difficult story to write then I thought it would be, I wrestled with this but also felt compelled to finish it. I submitted this originally a day after the first part, hasn't shown up, so I resubmitted it after taking some of the comments into consideration and doing some rewriting.

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Returning to work continued to keep Rick steady. The routine of it helped him get through the days and nights with the looming return of Marcy and the formal end of his marriage. He even went out with people from work once in a while, it was nice to be out with people and not looking at the 4 walls of his new apartment.

Angela kept in daily touch with him. Rick thought it ironic that someone he hadn't seen in a long while was more concerned about his well being than the wife he had been married to for over 20 years.

His kids contacted him as well. They were very angry at their mom but they promised him they wouldn't cut her off, though Rhonda said if she kept denigrating her career choice it would be hard. They still held out hope that Marcy and he could reconcile but they seemed pretty much settled on the idea that the marriage couldn't go on.

Marcy finally contacted him and told him the team was flying home as scheduled, and mentioned the hotel and the time her flight landed and when he should be there. He noticed that at the end she didn't say "Love you" like she usually would. It was just further confirmation that he was right, that in her mind it was over.

Up until the night before Marcy was scheduled to return, he still debated going to the hotel, perhaps even getting a last fucking out of her, and then giving her the divorce papers and walking away.

In the end, though, he gave the divorce documents to a friend along with the letter for Marcy and asked his friend to meet her at the hotel at the appointed time.

It turned out his instincts were right. Marcy showed up at the appointed time according to his friend but she wasn't alone - she was on the arm of doctor dickless (on a hunch I had given my friend the picture of them taken together so he would know who it was).

His friend texted him a picture of the happy couple walking into the hotel lobby and it was apparent Marcy was still wearing the ring she had being wearing. Not to mention that they had their arms around each other and were kissing.

Rick asked his friend to take a video and send it to him.

When Rick looked at the performance, it was obvious to Rick that this was planned, the two of them were acting like 20 somethings on tik tok doing PDA's and they kept glancing around, as if they wanted to see if he was there.

After 10 minutes or so, which he told me about afterwords, my friend went up to the couple and told Marcy that Rick couldn't be there and handed her the two envelopes, told Marcy she should read the letter first before reading the rest.

My friend once again started to video the action as it played out after giving her the documents. Marcy had storm clouds over her head and when she opened the letter and read it, she got really angry, muttered out loud, "Son of a Bitch", and paced the hotel lobby like a tiger in a cage.

It was obvious she was really angry, Rick didn't know if it was because he wasn't there to witness her rude behavior and get humiliated or because she somehow thought he really would meet her and take her upstairs to fuck her. The fact that she showed up with Trey meant Angela was right about them, and that whatever she had planned, he knew that doctor asshole would be part of it going forward and thus her anger was primarily that he had foiled her plans.

From the video it looked like Marcy was reaching for her phone, presumably to call him and yell, but it didn't happen, Trey grabbed her hand with the phone, put his arm around her and (presumably) took her up to the hotel room that she and Rick were supposed to use.

Rick later heard from the kids, also from both his parents and her parents, and the latter weren't happy. Marcy told them all Rick had surprised her with divorce papers and that he had some 'friend' apparently that he decided to dump her for while she was working to save the lives of people in South America. She also intimated that this 'friend' must have been feeding him lies about her relationship with a work colleague and that allowed the friend to work her way into his heart, she painted him as the cheater and scoundrel.

The kids, of course, knew the truth, and they told her in no uncertain terms that her behavior in South America and the way she tried to blame their father made them sick to their stomach.

Rick told the kids he appreciated the loyalty, but they should work on trying to not walk away from Marcy, though he told them they were adults and it in the end was their relationship with her. However, he told them don't do it out of loyalty to him, do it because of how they felt about her.

Rick's parents were a bit shocked, though they did say being a military couple they had worried that Marcy and he wouldn't last. He pointed out that he had not been in the military for several years and this had happened now after 20 years. He gave an outline of what had happened without all the negative details and how that it simply was beyond repair at this point, that her actions and the way she did it burned it all away.

They asked who the friend was, and he explained it was a psychiatrist he was friends with, ex military, and that she helped him work through his feelings at a really tough time. He also explained why Marcy's claim was full of shit, that his friend was a married woman, with a wife, and therefore highly unlikely she would do what Marcy claimed.

Marcy's parents, not surprisingly, were a lot less kind, her father said he wanted to come over and kick Rick's ass. Her dad had been a boxer, so it was no idle threat.

He told them the same thing he told his own parents, that they needed to talk to Marcy, but that there was no new person and that he gave her divorce papers because of her behavior on the trip and that basically she had made clear she no longer wanted to have the marriage they had. She had decided new rules and Rick couldn't go along with them.

He told them there was a lot more detail but he wanted to spare them what she had done to him and their marriage, as she was still their daughter and there was no sense in hurting that bond. They didn't accept that, and it hurt, but Rick didn't want to hurt the old couple as he liked them. If they had to believe he was the bad guy, he was willing to take that on, not to protect Marcy, but to protect them.

A week later Rick was surprised when he got a call from his lawyer who said Marcy was willing to sign the papers, but that before doing that she wanted to have a final chance to sit down and talk. Rick resisted the idea but the attorney said she was adamant that she wouldn't sign until they had this meeting. His lawyer encouraged him and said anything he could do to avoid going to family court was worth it.

So the next day he met Marcy at the offices of his attorney and they gave them a conference room and left them alone.

Marcy looked good, she was tanned, not surprisingly, and Rick caught himself wondering if she had a no tan lines but realized it was inappropriate since she was no longer his. She otherwise looked as stunning as ever and Rick got a bit sad knowing that this person likely was not going to be in his life ever again. He noticed she was wearing her promise ring, not her wedding rings, and that alone told him she was likely not to say anything worthwhile but in the name of getting this done he was willing to endure it.

Rick spoke first. "You wanted this, Marcy, so you should be the one that leads this. Honestly, I think you made clear at the hotel what you felt by the way you acted on the video I saw, so I am surprised you just don't want to move on."

Marcy tensed up but then tried to get herself under control. "Rick, we need to talk, you know that we don't need to break up over this. I told you, Rick Weston, that I loved you and always would, and I meant it, I still do."

Rick looked at her, stunned. "Wait a minute, you come here, telling me you love me, after the performance you put on at the hotel? You show up at the place where we were supposed to reconnect and you show up with Dr. Dickhead acting like horny 14 year olds?"

She actually smiled at him! "Oh, Rick, it was just a bit of fun, a last fling, to show you it was over. I told you, he was just a boy toy."

Rick had a surge of anger, he stood up and was about to say, "that's it, its over" and walk out. Marcy, knowing him well, put a hand on his arm and said, "Please, Rick, don't. You owe me for all those years of marriage...and I apologize, I thought that it was just a bit of fun to tweak you."

He shook his head. "I don't know why I am staying here. The fact that you think almost having sex in the lobby of the hotel was just a bit of fun tells me how much you are twisted, Marcy. There is nothing really to be said, your letter and mine I think tell the whole story. Whatever we had is lost, it was lost the minute you hatched your scheme. The only reason I am not out that door is because we did have 20 good years, minus one scumbag doctor who should be lying at the bottom of the ocean with a boat anchor wrapped around him."

She shook her head, ignoring the last part. "But Rick, you are putting way, way too much into this. I told you that this was just a fling, to feel young and unattached and free once again! I know you are trained to think like that, but it wasn't that at all, Trey was just a fling with a younger man."

Rick turned red. "Don't you see, Marcy, that all you did was trying to get back at me for some offenses you think happened? Not to mention you are forgetting the fact that I know the backstory with Dr. Trey, I know you had at least an emotional affair when I was in Korea. You let that asshole worm his way into your heart and used your own feelings and emotions to basically end our relationship."

Marcy was furious. "That isn't true! Okay yes, I knew Trey back then and I was having a rough time of it, and yes, we became close friends. But Rick Weston, unlike you, I didn't violate our marriage vows back then. You are trying to blame Trey about all this when all he has been is a wonderful friend and a fun friends with benefits on this last trip."

Rick told her he had had someone investigate what was going on back home when he was in Korea and then had someone go back to investigate further when she went to Colombia with Trey, so he knew the truth.

Marcy was incensed that he had checked up on her, both then and now, and said she had always trusted him, to which Rick snorted , knowing the reason why Marcy ended up cheating.

He told her back then he had dropped the investigation because he had no proof she was unfaithful, but that even if she had, he felt like it was not worth confronting her over and possibly losing their marriage.

He then went on to say that the recent investigator uncovered evidence that that what went on back then was worse than sex, that she and Trey were in a full blown emotional affair. He pointed out that by the time they met in Hawaii she wasn't really there, she was angry and withdrawn and that he understood now that she was already under Trey's spell and resented being with him.

She almost yelled, then caught herself. "Rick Weston, when we met in Hawaii it was all your fault, you dismissed my concerns and treated me like I wasn't there! I was so angry at you, I wanted to leave."

He looked sad. "Which you did, you left early."

Those words hit home, and Marcy looked to be struggling to come up with words, but Rick didn't give her the chance. "You blame me, but you came loaded for bear, you were the victim wife and I was the bastard husband. Tell me, did Dr. Wonderful put those notions in your head, that I didn't care?"

She turned red and he knew he had dented the armor. "No! Of course I shared with Trey, he was a good friend and that is what friends do...as YOU know only too well."

Rick let that go. He pointed out that she, even when they got to Hawaii, never once mentioned to him what was bothering her, she never attempted to talk about the toll Korea was having on her and the kids, nothing.

He asked a simple question, "Tell me something Marcy, when you left early, was it because you were mad at me? Or was it you were eager to get back to dickless one, so you could share the pain and anger at being with a son of bitch like me."

Marcy shook her head, angrily, but he kept on. "No, Marcy, you wanted back, to go back to your soul mate who was so kind and understanding, and left me hanging in the wind, not knowing if I had a wife any more. "

Her response was tinged with anger and derision. "You want to know why I didn't say anything? You forgot that the good military wife lives by the motto, ' it is my duty to support my husband's career at all costs, and 'to keep a stiff upper lip', or what in the 'Right Stuff' they called 'maintaining an even strain'. We aren't supposed to have lives, we are just supposed to suck it up, remember? "

Rick shook his head. "Marcy, I won't even dignify that with calling it bullshit. If you think that literally of me, that I was just this oblivious oaf storming his way up the ranks, why are you even here now? Was I that awful a husband or person?"

She shook her head. "Rick, I never thought that of you! it is just that there is so much pressure not to burden a spouse in the military, that I couldn't do that to you."

He looked sad. "So instead of talking to me about all this, instead of trusting that I wasn't some career obsessed hack, you vented your anger and frustration with a stranger? "

She snapped. "He wasn't a stranger, he had become a good friend! And yes, he was very helpful to me, he listened to what I was saying and was sympathetic."

He grimaced. "Unlike me, right?"

It was apparent that hit home. "No, Rick, I told you, it wasn't you were a beast, it is just that I knew the rules, was bound by them."

He snorted and laughed. "The rules? Marcy, in the past we never had any trouble talking about things, before my duty in Korea we always talked about things, we trusted each other."

She shook her head. "You might think that, Rick, but it isn't true, there was a lot left unsaid."

Rick sighed. "Marcy, do you remember what happened when I was flying Blackhawks? Do you even remember when you expressed to me how worried you were, that each mission was taking years off your life, that your nerves were shot, what happened?"

She spoke softly. "You put in a transfer request and got into military intelligence."

He nodded. "Exactly, so what changed? That transfer in terms of my career probably slowed down my advancement by years, which I well knew, but I did it. Does that sound like an insensitive oaf?"

The reply was soft and one word. "No."

He went on "And after that R and R disaster in Hawaii and the fallout from that, what happened? "

She looked at him, comprehension dawning. "You left the military."

He smiled, not pleasantly. "Yes, I left, even though I was maybe an assignment away from making my star finally. That is how little I thought of you and my family."

She sat there, stunned. "I guess I really hadn't thought of all that, I was so angry and lost."

He shook his head. "No, you didn't, but what you are leaving out is why. Marcy, when you opened up to Trey, did he ever once give you a different perspective? Did he ever encourage you to open up to me, to tell me what you were feeling? Did he ever ask you if you had talked to me about all this, that you should be?"

Marcy had a hard time answering. "Well, not directly, but he was a really good listener, and he made me feel much better by letting it out."

His eyes narrowed. "Marcy, you didn't answer the question, you evaded it. Did he ever tell you to talk to me, that I was the person you needed to talk to?"

She shook her head. "No, he didn't. But Rick, you have to understand, I didn't have anyone else to talk to, who could help."

He sighed. "Marcy, a true friend would tell you to talk to your husband, they would tell you that is the person you needed to talk to. More importantly, if you were having that much trouble, why didn't you talk to a counselor or therapist to work through your feelings?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Rick, I just didn't think of it."

Rick nodded. "That is the first honest thing you have said, Marcy. What you are leaving out is why you didn't. Tell me, did Trey ever suggest that maybe you should talk to a counselor or therapist?

She looked puzzled. "I didn't leave it out, I told you I don't know why I didn't seek out help. And no, Trey never suggested getting help, at last not that I remember."

Rick wanted to growl. "Marcy, the reason you didn't is Cardozo had wormed his way into your confidence and you really didn't want to get help, you knew deep down they would point out that what you were doing with him was dangerous."

She weakly protested. "No, Rick, it wasn't like that."

Rick went on to tell her that Trey had not only not helped, but he magnified her feelings, told her she was justified, and she fell for it, because it made her "feel good."

Marcy couldn't even respond.

He finally got a rise out of her when he asked her if it ever dawned on her that Trey the whole time wanted to get into her pants, was a predator, and he had quite successfully used her anger and depression to get to the promised land. The final blow was when he told her she treated him badly in Hawaii because he had so painted Rick as the bad guy she really didn't want to be with him, only Trey.

Marcy started shaking, literally, with anger. "You think that, you dare think that? Trey was a friend, that's all! Do you think I am a simple-minded bimbo that can be fooled that easily? Sure, Trey was attractive to me, I won't lie, but I never had sex with him back then, I wouldn't violate my vows that way!"

He shook his head. "You mean the way Clinton didn't have sex? What did you do? First base? Second Base? Did you fantasize at night with your dildo that he was screwing your brains out?" Rick knew he had hit home again, she was redder than a Limey in the sun and she couldn't even look at him.

He said, almost softly, "And the sad part, that isn't the worse part of all this. However you define it not being sexual, it was much, much worse."

She looked startled at him. "How could it be worse? Since it wasn't sexual then I didn't do anything wrong!"

He snorted. "Don't you understand? You let that creep worm his way into your emotions. You were starting to see him differently, not as a colleague or even a friend, but as an intimate partner. I was 10,000 miles away, and you were basically allowing him to break the bond we had and you also let him convince you I was to blame."

She shook her head, violently. "No, that isn't true you are just saying that to make me feel bad, it wasn't like that."

Rick looked sad. "It was, Marcy, and though I didn't see it at the time, I noticed the change in you in retrospect. For one thing, after we moved away from where you had been living and things seemed to be going well, did you keep in touch with him?"

Marcy blushed. "Well, yes, he was a colleague in the same field and a friend."

Rick nodded. "Tell me, why didn't you talk about him? If he was just your friend and a colleague, how come you never mentioned him to me? You know about all my friends that count. I didn't know about him until he came to the hospital where you work."