Let's be Adults About This - 750 words

"Cayce, please. Let's be adults about this."

"Cam, when you say, let's be adults about this, what you are really saying is that you expect me to forgive and forget that you cheated on me for six months with that slimy bastard, Charlie, right?"

"His name is Charleston, dear...and, well, of course that would be ideal. I mean it didn't in anyway affect my love for you..."

"Stop right there, Cameron. So, help me, if you keep quoting chapter and verse from the Cheater's Handbook, I will walk out this door right now and you can talk through my attorney from now on..."

"Oh, quit being so melodramatic, Cayce." Cameron snapped at him. "I told you I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? Well, I guess that makes everything all right, doesn't it? There's really no need for me to be upset, is there?"

"Please, Cayce, stop with the histrionics. Quit acting so childishly, so we can get on with our life together."

"Now who's being childish, Cam? And, as long as we are on the subject of being adults. Was cheating on me a very adult thing for you to do? I really want to know."

Cameron was perplexed as to how she should answer. "Ah, I didn't really think about that. I mean, Charleston, well he made me feel so young, important, and alive again. He took away all the drudgery of everyday life. It was like..."

"Like you were a kid again, Cam?"

"Damn it, Cayce. Stop twisting my words, I'm trying to explain so you understand it didn't have anything to do with you..."

"Like it had nothing to do with your 45-year-old adult husband, who you've been married to for 24 years. And, it had nothing to do with your two adult children?" Cayce was trying to maintain his composure, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult. "So were you two being adults when you were belittling me..."

"We never..."

"Ah, Cam, my video evidence includes sound, you know? Don't lie to me. I agreed to talk with you on the condition that you told the truth. That would be an adult thing to do, now, wouldn't it?"

"Come on Cayce, you can't believe that I meant those things. It was just fun bedtime banter to get us going..."

"Oh, I see, kind of a fun thing like kids would do, right?"

"Please, stop interrupting me, Cayce. You're confusing the issue."

"No, I'm not, Cam. I'm discussing the real issue. The issue of you humiliating me."

"I did NOT humiliate you, ever! I love you."

"I see, because humiliating me would be childish, wouldn't it?"

"Y-y-yes, of course..." Gone was Cameron's arrogance and bluster. Doubt was creeping into her mind. This wasn't at all going as she had planned.

"So, you, fucking Charlie in my bed, and the two of you laughing about how funny it would be to leave a wet spot for me to lay in, shouldn't have been humiliating for me? I mean it was just you two kids having a bit of harmless fun, right?

"And, when he told you he wanted to get you pregnant in my bed, and have me raise his kid for him, again, that was just two kids having a little fun. No disrespect intended, right?"

Cameron began to cry. "I-i-it sounds so bad when you say it like t-t-that, Cayce. "I'm so sorry. Please can't we just..."

"No, Cameron, we can't. Only little kids can close their eyes and make the bad things they've done disappear. Adults have to live with their mistakes for the rest of their lives. We are getting divorced, Cam. We're in a no-fault state. The kids are out of the house, we make the same amount of money, we have our own retirement accounts, so we split everything down the middle. The law says that's the adult thing to do. Of course, the lawyers and legislators who made that law probably all had side pieces in place and were just covering their childish asses though.

"But, I Promise I will be an adult like you asked me to be." Cayce sighed bitterly. "When our paths cross in the future, and because we share two children, I'm sure they will, many times, I will be polite and act like a proper adult. Unless of course, you act like a child and lie about who destroyed our marriage. Then I will make sure everyone you know, receives a copy of you, acting like a child."