All Comments on 'Let Go'

Read again. Better story but I can’t see getting back together with a woman after that. Has anyone written a story where she ends up broke and he ends up well off married to a hot younger woman?

very well written, happy story. Just remember, not everyone has their financial resources

OLD LION - While you may have a point to a degree, NO two people can agree on anything when it comes to a story - ESPECIALLY the ending. Personally, some writers tell a tale so well one is never ready for it to end. CASE IN POINT!

somewhere east of Omaha

Great transformation of the precursor "You're Fired" by BigGuy33. What I particularly enjoyed is how you took a REALLY deficient story focused your attention on the glaring deficits particularly in the Human Resources inattention and transformed these deficits into core attributes of your transformative story. What I particularly hated in "You're Fired" was how the husband/salesman was blamed for everything...and the corporate bitch wife got an absolutely free ride. Your version correctly caught her utter arrogance in firing her husband cold turkey without any due process whatsoever. Then you fold in the correct perspective into your core story and have her almost fired...while the husband pursues restoring his honor through another totally independent position You really have two separate yet linked story threads here: the original blindside actions by the arrogant bitch CEO wife generated by her total contempt for what she views as a passive wimp husband...and the second story of restoration and expansion of a new true family with basal respect.

You have done an outstanding job of in depth portrayal of all characters as well as developing a really immersive and complex story line. Congratulations on one of the more compelling restoration stories on this website!

Nice story but I agree with some commentators that the switching between third and first person was durcheinander bringend.

One of your best!!!

Another good story. Still need a competent editor.

Anony Mous

Five. Five *****. Thank you for the time and thought you put into it! Your people breathe.

Needs to be made into a full length novel with time spent on the troubles of raising a family. More time spent on reconciling the problems between husband and wife, Also, Marsha's success was a little too easy.

A feel good story, enjoyable to read, but please do stop to do some editing. The simple spelling mistakes were easier to overlook than the numerous places where skipping form third person to first in the same sentence became a distraction. All-in-all an easy story to identify with and characters that were believable with whom the reader could empathize. Thank you!

This is one of my favorite stories here. I've read it about every six months ever since I first found it about 2 years ago.

I enjoyed this short greatly. Unfortunately I'm personally in the problem phase of the marriage. My importance and Input have been minimised. Even my four kids (3 Daughters and one Son - All grown & all gone) don't have time to message, email or even phone me, The old man.

Just one point about about your story, a Truism. A good Author knows when to finish their story - Neither too short or too long (!!) This was too long. You tied off all the treads, then added more!

A wonderful and amazing story that as I got hooked on reading it, the more it seemed so true to life. A championship 5 I say. Looking forward to reading more of your work. Thank you.

Very nice story, 2nd or third reading, this time the type got a little blurry here and there, I think you might need a new ribbon for you typewriter. Great story. This story sort of goes along Re-Claiming My Marriage, another story of guy giving in too much and then finally waking and standing up for himself.

There are quite a number of mistakes that should have been picked up by an editor. Quite often you go from a third person to the first person in the same sentence.

If he had enough pride to walk out on his wife and jeopardize her career but took her back on her first attempt to get him back. A more better course of attempt would have been to slam the door on the first time but allow her in if she didn't go away and persisted.

Lesson learnt - Never work in the same place as your spouse, especially if they are employees and not business owners

What a mess. Wife screws up and fires husband, thereby crushing him and his ego. I don't see him EVER taking her back. In fact, I'm surprised he didn't file fir a divorce at the same time he sued the Company. What man would take her back considering what he knew of their history? Bad ending.

Very moving and too close to home! It is easy to pour oneself into work, to gather possessions and activity. It is far too easy to let these override personal relationships. They were very lucky to be able to recover and even more lucky to get a ready made family. Far to many people never get that luck!

I am surprised this story got such a good rating. A CEO fires her best salesman's ass, who also happens to be her husband in the most humiliating way possible. But she loves him and expects understanding from him?

And the transitions are too abrupt for comfort. The guy gets over years of mistreatment in a few moments. After years of sissying her husband, she misses him once he leaves? Doesn't make sense to me. This story just cant be properly told in a few pages

It would have been believable had the wife really sort of hated her husband and schemed to kick him out of her life and the husband somehow exacts revenge on her, something on those lines

If this were a regular sex story, ppl wouldn't mind the inadequate narrative bc they anyhow come for the actual sex scenes

I would have loved for this to be 12 pages and had a more fleshed out reconciliation section, I just find it hard to believe that if he went months not talking to her that one day would have her in the house.

Loved it but, jeez, after all that good storytelling get the pronouns straight. I am not a grammar Nazi, for good reason, but why do all that work and screw up on something even I can see....5

3 stars - it is still a RAAC, but at least it flowed well and the 'kids' were a good addition.

However, the wife's emotional betrayal, put downs and total level of disrespect of the husband is probably one of the best of the 'worst' possible examples (without sexual cheating), I've seen on this website.

Having said that, it makes it almost impossible to believe the miraculous way 'the wife' managed to reconnect so quickly with 'the husband' with nary a scratch. After all, she trashed his ego, his respect, his love, her marriage became meaningless and she did this over YEARS & YEARS & YEARS. In a normal environment, it would take years and years to repair the damage - IF EVER. Then there is the final question - would he be better off with her - or without her? I would have to say WITHOUT.

I think this story is a good example where it might just be a better choice to cut his losses and make a fresh start with a new wife and create his own family. It would be with a lot less angst or drama, plus faster and easier.

One of the best on here. The real act of cheating is the loss of faith in your partner. When you no longer believe in them, you treat them badly, including running around on them and stepping out.

Nice change for this catagory - nobody cuckolded anybody and nobody screwed over the other party. A generally realistic story and a good read. Thanks!

Second time reading this. Even better. There are some nuts and bolts grimmer and tense errors but the goody still shines through

One of my favorite stories. I've read it several times and it just gets better. Recognizing she really f*cked up, it was a path they both created. I like that he forged a new path and ultimately allowed her to reconnect. Stories don't always have to be BTB. In this case she lost sight of their marriage, and he indirectly allowed it. That said, she didn't cheat with another person, so there was still a way back. Great story! Wish I could score it more than a 5.

He moves out, sues the company, naming his wife as one of the defendants, and his attorney doesn't file for legal separation or a separation agreement, if not divorce? What universe is this? What kind of idiot does this? She has already dismissed having his biological children, even though they have the financial means for fertility treatments if necessary. My thought is if her mind was set on the _convenient_ path, she was never really going to make up for putting the marriage and him before her career. Of course for the RAAC to work, there are children that _coincidentally_ appear that need saving.

Reconciliation isn't what bugs me, it's RAAC that bugs me. File for divorce. Make her work for it and actually _sacrifice_ for the marriage. If she won't give him what he wants for once in his life--children--even if she has to sacrifice the 25 year old figure that she kept for the benefit of her career, then let him start over with a woman that will. Marriage isn't supposed to be slavery, torture, or an endless grind. If you can't find happiness with someone, divorce and move on. There's no point in tormenting yourself for a Best Martyr award (a.k.a. Super-Jesus trope).

Close to a masterpiece in my view. Bev was a bitch for much too long and I'm not sure if the punishment inflicted was enough. The pain associated with her wake-up call was certainly deserved. Bev eventually recovered and gave Dave all he had hoped for originally, except for the years where she had a head the size of Alaska (cold and desolate).

BJ

Why would he not divorce her? He'd get half of everything and screw her in the process. It makes no sense to RAAC them. She illegally fires him, not to mention running roughshod over him for years in their marriage. Time to be rid of her.

Schon oft gelesen, da sie eine meiner TOP 10 - Geschichten ist. Toller Spannungsbogen, Herz, Schmerz und das glückliche Ende...

Einfach klasse!!!

Seriously what's with this author so many of his 'male' protagonists are complete pussies. He admitted that he basically ate shit for 8 years and then for 2-3 years was completely ignored/emasculated and the moment she turns up takes her back give me a fucking break!

Still should have moved a lot farther away

Yeah. What about the car Dave was restoring? As usual enjoyed another one of qhml1's stories.

Mike the Irishman 🍀

I really liked it but what about the bumper Bev purchased for the car Dave was restoring?

Still love reading this my 3rd time now

I spent most of the of the story being choked up. I lost my family some years ago and the relationship with my son, who lives in Franklin, TN (I live in Pa.) has been strained, so I haven't seen my granddaughter in years. There are a number of these types of stories on this site and they always bring me to tears. Regrets and longings see to be my life now at 75.

Good story, and the characters were well developed.

Again, didn’t move far enough away.

While I found the reconciliation at bit hard to buy, I can appreciate it. But the perspective shifts in the middle of sentences were unbelievably jarring. Things like "Beverly had the best counterpart my company had to offer with her" The story is told in the third person, so who is "my"? This happens not infrequently and totally throws me out of the story when it does. This is the sort of thing your editors should catch.

Amazing Tale....

Love every bit of it!

Great story...unusual, but great. Have not read many of your tales, but this story changes that. Thanks. LP

Nice premise but badly structured. No board would accept a CEO breaking into tears and opening them up to lawsuits with their behaviour...they would be out the door. No person in my experience changes very quickly from destructive behaviour built up over many years. Still.. why am I complaining about a nice story on a free site. TC Ireland

Most important of all, as a guy, what sort of car was Dave rebuilding? And what happened to it?

Some of the hardest lessons are learned when we fail. If we are clever enough to see where we failed and work to fix it. You remember it and never do it again!

To many marriages fail because they lose track and stop really talking. Hug often, listen more and love like tomorrow is not promised.

Good story.

In most stories in Loving Wives, the marriages were destroyed by spouses cheating with another persons. In real life however, most marriages ended not because of infidelities, but the couples no longer pay attentions to each other such as this story.

I am a longtime fan of your writing and enjoy most all your stories immensely. However you have a quirk in your writing of using both the narrator and person in the same sentence. Always with the narration first. I wouldn’t say it is bad grammar as I can’t write myself out of a wet paper bag but It just doesn’t read properly

These need the context of the situation but are a couple examples;

Once he left the company, though, I no longer considered it binding

My head down in despair, Beverly shook her head no. Dave spoke.

Very well developed story but I don’t understand how there is both arbitration with the state employment commission and a lawsuit against the company. It seems the law would allow for one or the other but not both.

As for Dave and Beverly’s marriage, she should have been served with divorce paper on the way out of the arbitration meeting. Their marriage was long dead and Dave should have been allowed some measure of justice for the destruction of his marriage to go along with the justice he received for the destruction of his professional life.

Great story. Please ignore the negative destructive criticisms. I agree with the previous comment. It is such a gift to have so much FREE literature!!! I live in a poor country with limited options. This site provides so much for FREE. I love keep up the good work and keep the stories coming.

One of the few people who comment that I agree with is Legio_P_N. We read stories for the old fashion reason, the joy of reading. Far too many aren't even reading - their only reason to be here is to find fault to bolster their own damaged self worth. They are missing a great gift- free fiction that allows us a few minutes of escape from daily trolls. If you really want to show how a story should be written, please do so, rather than sniping at the work of someone else. Or are you afraid of your fellow snipes tearing apart your work.

Legio, I agree - this is one of the finest stories here though Q, oshaw and Randi have a few others that are really close (A Summer By the Lake, Vagabonds and Grief to name a very few). This site offers so many good stories by so many good writers. Thank you all! BTW, think this is my fifth time through!

somewhere east of Omaha

One of my favorites!

Read again. Author busted his ass to justify reconciliation and I suppose he did. I’d have missed out on all that because I’d have immediately taken a job out of the country and ghosted her.

You ruined a perfectly good story by turning it into just another pathetic RAAC tale.

Very well written and enjoyable story. Thanks

I agree with another commenter that they should have divorced. From fire breathing dragon CEO to loving wife? Too far or a stretch. Personalities don't change. I've known a few corporate boss type women. They don't seem the warm fuzzy type. They must have a hard time dating. Also your spouse wouldn't typically work for you, and you certainly wouldn't fire your spouse in any company. I do give the author props for not making it a straight up revenge story, the second half of the story was romantic, I guess.

wow, one of your best, no nitpicking here

Loved it. 3rd read for me. Call me a sap but love happy endings.

Great story.

It's actually a really good story. That being said you definitely need a far better editor than the one you have now.

I'll never get tired of reading this story. Its really just beautiful and wonderful.

Even in my years reading as an Anon, I don't think I ever gave a qmh1 story less than a 3, with 5 fairly common.

To me this was a 2.

Firstly, this couple didn't, to my mind, have any business reconciling. History is history and can poison relationships even if the couple would, without the history, now be perfect together. Perhaps I just have too long a memory.

Secondly, the change of person was disconcerting. There were a few places where I wondered whether the story had originally started as being in first person with the narrator changing from time to time, or in first person with one narrator who had been changed on editing, or in 3rd person changed to 1st person and then back again. I am thankful for the mental exercise of trying to surmise what brought on the change in person which could happen and then reverse itself all in one sentence, but it is sloppy work.

3 or 4th time reading this. Great stuff!

Couple gripes with this, continuously changes between first and third person, usually mid sentence or thought, it's incredibly jarring but understandable in a big story if it's not edited.

The second gripe for me, is the first half of this story seems to have so much planning put Into it, a decent amount of character development and plot, then the second half just tries to rush the ending. They spend an hour together and decide to adopt two kids even though their marriage is in shambles? Then it just kinda time skips through the next 15 years. First half is a 4 star story, second half is a 2 star.

he had, without a doubt, destroyed the woman I was supposed to love and support.""" ?? This needs an editor, in the worst way. DO NOT get who is speaking mixed with the 3rd person. Keep the 1st, 2nd, 3rd person in mind when writing. You would not say' I went to the house, and when I saw who was coming up the drive, you left out the back door as he knocked on the door.' Why not? Well, it makes NO sense!

Read again. Shoulda moved farther away

Great stuff! A real tear-jerker!

I am reading this story repeatedly.

Excellent writing about the values of family.

Expect more stories.

It appears some readers like short stories and don't want to invest the time for a good read. I had to go out with my family between pages 5 and 6. I couldn't wait to come back and finish the story.

As usual with you, Q - well done!

***** stars!!

Burninglove

It was a wonderful story, and not far-fetched. Life, sometimes gets away from us and we forget what's truly important. Bev not only disrespected Dave, she did the ultimate betrayal, she almost lost her marriage. A young lady and a beautiful little girl brought her back to reality and love, just in time. Later, her name was not Patterson, it was her married name Waxman and she and her family were proud of it... 25 stars is not enough...

a great story well told. in a sea of tales of hatred /revenge here's one of love lost and found again. it's a 6 star story but you can only vote 5

The hard times the good times. It was great to see the marriage come back but I don't think many would have come back from that situation. At least it wasn't a cheating wife just one with misplaced priorities. Nice ending as ends well. Wouldn't know what to criticizes as I got mostly 'Ds' in English class.

I read for the enjoyment of the story. I can't help but believe that many of the comments would be very different if others read for the same enjoyment instead of hunting for petty crap to sling at others. I guess many are so disappointed with their own lives that they try to share their pain. NONE of you with all your "expertise" have dared to write your own stories Pulleaze OMG ( I'm guessing you already were dizzy) !

Thank you Q for a very good story as usual - 5 stars.

somewhere east of Omaha

I gave up after page three... Pulleaze! Get an editor! Cut this story down in half! Way, way too tedious, and truly - just nattering with inconsequential details!

This actually made me dizzy.

The problem for me with this story was the pacing, the first half was great, little step to little step, the problem arose half way through when it was "okay I want my husband back" to "okay now we're back together and have adopted two kids and going to church" in the course of a day. It was like reading two seperate stories smashed together, or you had the ending planned out and just rushed to get there. I honestly skipped the last few pages because it just wasn't enjoyable anymore.

First half was great, second half was totally missable.

I liked it a lot. Did need a good read, the view point change in edits kept slipping through, but --it happens. I appreciate it as a story of two people that let life get in the way. I can relate. Fighting to keep a marriage is sometimes tougher than walking away.

Too little too late, Dave shouldve gotten rid of Bev a looonnnnnggggg time ago. Bev was a good wife after they reconciled but he shouldve divorced that bitch when he left. Men put up with way too much, its like only cheating will make men file for divorce.

Good story. I read up to about page six and got what I needed out of it. I have a very hard time seeing a marriage survive the extreme negativity of the business dealings, but not my story. It did detract a bit from my enjoyment, just saying. Super characters get away with anything. I would have given Dave a pond to walk on, personally.

/

Anyway, four stars. There were a bazillion mistakes that should have been caught in a decent proofread. The constant switching between first and third person was horrific. Did I see some second person in there, too? Yes, you did. Thanks for shring.

/

PS — what is the title/author of the original story? I can’t find a “Matt Moreau” anywhere. TIA

What a great story. Definitely a 5*+. I was surprised that Beverly thought she was to old to have children when she was only 36.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it was a fine read. Pretty much nothing left to the imagination, except for maybe Bob winding up working at a fast-food restaurant flipping burgers for the rest of his life. 5 stars. And what's with Anonymousy of 3 days ago below, with all the yelling capital letters, and what the hell is he trying to say? So he didn't read the story, then why comment in the end? There is no real sentence structure, but maybe he thinks he can compensate by using a big word like comeuppance. Issues.... issues...issues... Maybe he googled it?

BITCH DAVE WAS FUCKING PATHETIC FOR MOPING AND LETTING HIMSELF GO AFTER BEING FIRED....NOW WONDERING IF I SHOULD WASTE MY TIME READING THE FULL STORY......BEV IS A BITCH BUT WILL SHE MEET HER COMEUPPANCE...DOES DICK DAVE REMAIN WITHBEV

She’s lucky he loved her. Our else she’d be a lonely bitch

Incredable story, cheating with a company. You have great talent, you had me in tears several times and im a hard nosed oil field worker and 60. Great details, long story but never slow or boring. Excelent job, dont stop.

Nice twist on a cheating wife. One of my all time favorites

@Anonymous.. 2 Days ago... I know a few 60 plus-year-olds who rock a bikini, Ari wouldn't remember her birth parents, she was too young, Marsha would've remembered and most likely suppressed the knowledge of her birth parents' deaths... Marriage is hard work, couples grow apart and find their way back again, that's exactly what happened in this story... No need for a divorce, since counseling was taken and they both learned from old bad habits that's what makes a marriage work... Great plot, You need to write your own dam story... I won't hold my breath for that, easy to criticize than to praise...

@Markivunib... My buddy's wife is a CEO of a huge company in Ontario, and the horror stories I've heard make me glad I'm not 1... People have emotions at all levels, She's cried, laughed, and got pissed in 1 meeting, it's not weakness, it shows she's compassionate... Companies want someone who is like that and not some dam robot...

Ok. Overall, a good plot. However, it still suffers from not being grounded in reality. First off, both of the new “ daughters” would have been damaged, by having both parents OD, and the grandpa treating them the way he did. Second, I think the husband and wife would have gotten divorced, due to her blatant disrespect. And women like her, do not admit to being wrong. Was never gonna happen. Last... I know some women who are in their early 50’s. The did “ rock” bikinis back in their 29’s, along with skinny jeans, etc. They would not wear now, what Huey wore then. It’s called the aging process. And it affects everyone....

excelente

The first several years were terrific. But as she climbed the corporate ladder and he stagnated in sales, that’s when things declined. The higher she got the worse their home life. That’s why he stuck around. The first few years obviously carried over enough into the bad times to stick around.

How can a board expect and pacify a CEO who cries in meetings, how stupid it sounds, lot of corrections needed in what could have been a great story.

I dont understand why he put up with all that crap for years before the firing happened. She was a good wife in the end but years of her undermining, backstabbing and no children shouldve been enough to divorce her.

That there was a whole long paragraph dedicated to it. It was the excuse used to get her to see Dave at his party. Then... nothing.

I remember the term now — Chekhov’s Gun.

A Great Read THANKS.

Honestly, when Beverly asked to stay at his house he should have said no. It was far too son in reconciliation for that. That night she asked to sleep in his bed and snuggle should have been a hard no. Wayyyyyy too soon for physical intimacy. Then when she was wearing her lingerie she said HE was five months behind on HIS duties...yeah no, she is like three years behind on her wifely duties. He doesn't owe her anything. Then she starts making decisions on his house, not their house, but his. That isn't her house to do so with. Also, I didn't really like Susan. She went behind Daves back in a way when she invited Beverly to his barbeque after promising she would let the situation drop. She seemed a little too on Beverly's side then later got onto Dave about making it too easy? And she advised Beverly to 'hit below the belt' figuratively when Beverly was the one who most definitely was in the wrong and should have been the one on the wrong foot and most definitely doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to the entire situation.

During the counseling sessions, she harbors resentment that he would periodically bring up kids? After she, a bit before this, told Jen she wanted Marsha to eventually call her mom? That is pretty hypocritical. And before that she even thought of adopting a kid. Kind of backwards progress there. He's right about if they both had her desire to move up in position. Why hold resentment for that after the fact, when shes trying to get him back, when that is a major reason why she lost him to begin with? And they were supposed to be in an equal partnership yet she didn't even tell him her suspicions on being pregnant, involve him in the decision to go to the doctor to confirm, or even tell him she was late? That is not very equal nor a good way to start upholding the vows they just renewed. Especially publicly. That should probably have been a discussion in private. Not much was gone over on how they raised their kids, I sure hope she didn't make many unilateral decisions with them. It was a true partnership hopefully?

Now on the good: I love how she handled the Amanda situation. She set her straight before it was too late. I like how she actually committed to working on herself to make it up to Dave and win him back...though she never had to try as hard as she should have, but that is beside the point, the effort was still there. She was great with Marsha and Ari and she had good maternal instincts. I am proud of Dave for not just letting her railroad him when it all began. He stood up for himself, got himself out of the toxic situation, and kept to his guns. Dave handled the situation with the girls very well, he is such a good father figure. The one gripe I have from him at all is that he really made it far too easy for Beverly to get back into his life after she went to the barbeque. That moved far too quickly back into intimacy, both physical and emotional. She never really had to work to get back to where they were before, never had to earn anything back except for some counseling. That said, he was a great character and he got the happiness and family he deserved in the end.

Nice story, but I lost track of how many times the tense changed, or his/her got swapped, 'my company'/'his company' was wrong, or even the writer went from third person to first, usually with the wrong he/she or 'my' thrown in. A quick editing pass would make this good story far more compelling to read.

Absolutely the best non-revenge revenge story I have read......period. Well thought out and well written. Yes, it has been a few years since the story came out but, gosh, this was the best I have read....period (oh, I already said that).

This is at least my third time through and I always love it (and go through a LOT of tissues). For a story with such a short, dull title it is anything but. Thank you for one of the best stories on the site!

somewhere east of Omaha

As Was Said Long Ago

Although in a much different context - "So Let It Be Written, So Let It Be Done." As always *****'s Signed: BTW

It was really good,but fuck.This shouldn't count as an erotic story,good read anyways

Again, don’t know why he wanted her in the first place but I bet she never fucks with him again

I always like reading this story. It proves that not every LW story has to end with BTB.

Another great story! Thank-you... was so enjoyable. Another story where I lost some sleep.

A pleasant, heart warming little tale. The writing was a little stilted at times but well worth a read.

LA