On The Lam

Markus raised his eyebrow questioning again. "Troy and I had broken free and started our company just like we had planned. It was slow for a bit as we built some spec houses and the new owners were more than pleased with our workmanship. Word of mouth built our reputation and soon we were looking at steady work for years. Then that shithead tried to throw out some antique dining chairs. Do you know what is the first to fail in a dining set?"

Markus shook his head. "The chairs. The table can withstand a lot more abuse than the chairs. As they deteriorate it gets harder and harder to find matching chairs. Too many people have no idea how much those remaining chairs go for and just throw them away instead of fixing or restoring them. Sometimes it is something simple like a rung or leg that causes the chair to be unusable and, poof, into the trash it goes. This guy, who had just purchased one of our homes and was raving about the workmanship was carrying the chairs to the curb as he spoke. I begged him to let me fix the chairs and he finally relented. After I got them done he sold the whole set at a premium price. Someone else would get many years use out of that set so I didn't mind. Suddenly I had a new career and it snowballed. It became so successful that I was working every evening and most weekends to try and keep up. Karen was supportive for a while but started to whine about the lack of 'us' time even though every customer raved about how well I restored their beloved pieces."

Mark drew another brew and set it down in front of John. With a nod of thanks John took a drink before continuing. "We had talked about children but it became less and less of a topic as our personal life deteriorated. I spent more and more time in the workshop just to avoid the arguments. I was wrong, I know that now. But I felt I was helping people and was still being the partner that Troy needed and couldn't understand why Karen wasn't in my corner. She started to go out in the evening. The first time I called her on it she just shouted that she wasn't going to sit alone in the house every evening wondering if I was ever going to call it quits for the night. After my grandfather died I didn't even take weekends off anymore. We weren't doing anything except fight anyhow. Even a trip to the grocery store became a pissing match as we refused to compromise on anything, even something as simple as the brand of milk we might buy."

Mark had to ask the question. "What caused you to up and leave so suddenly?"

John took another sip. "It wasn't sudden. I knew it was all done the day that the power went out on a house I was finishing. We didn't have a generator for backup power. I had sent the rest of the crew to another house to sand and paint and I was putting in trim. I need a lot of light to make the meticulous cuts and fit them together to make the illusion of seamless work so I decided to knock off early that day and maybe pay attention to my wife for a change. It was summer so she wasn't teaching and had a morning part-time job at the library and should have been at home. She was. She just wasn't alone. I caught her in bed with the high school football coach. He was still in excellent shape post NFL play but I beat him black and blue before throwing him out of my house."

He paused but then took a deep breath and continued. "Karen begged for my forgiveness. She ranted about how I had emotionally abandoned her and so she was just looking for companionship but it had escalated and became a love affair. She didn't love him, blah, blah, blah. I moved into the small apartment behind my shop and we made out publicly that we were still a happily married couple at her insistence. I hoped that we would be able to make it but made plans in case it all went to shit. I started to put my earnings from the furniture restoration in an account she couldn't even see, let alone use. I also told her that Troy and my business was floundering a little and put some of that earnings into the furniture account. That worked for a little while until she brought it up at a family gathering and Troy unwittingly flushed me down the drain by denying any work slowdown."

"Why not divorce her?"

"I checked into that. She could have forced the sale of the business to get her half of the value of my stake and that would have hurt Troy. Since we didn't have any children we would have to sell the house and the shop to get her fifty percent of the value. I would have had to start over somewhere else with my side hustle. Then I heard her tell her boyfriend, on the phone, that she thought she might be pregnant and she would name me as father and then would either tie me up permanently or demand the highest child support she could. That was when I rechecked the partnership agreement and set up my attorney with power of attorney and a spending account for the baby. I left my wedding ring, my cell phone, and my new pickup and just walked away. I knew I could get a job in construction just about anywhere. I didn't try to change my identity or even hide very well but just hit a town for a while before moving on. It's a big country with a lot of people. If you don't do something stupid and attract attention you can hide in plain sight for years."

"What about the brand on the furniture? Doesn't that pose a risk?"

John shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose it had to happen but it was a small risk. Most of the furniture I restore stays local. I am not buying and selling so there is no shipping. It just so happened that someone from here moved and praised my work. I could move ten miles and set up again and the risk goes down again. I was very humbled by the fact that no one here tonight gave me up. Most had seen me in the past few days but all silently agreed to stay with your story that I had not been seen for some time. No one even told Troy where I had been parked, just went and confirmed my rig was not there anymore. As a matter of fact, I just rented an old warehouse on the edge of town and my rig is parked inside and I walk where ever I need to go.

If Troy stays long enough I will have to decide if it is time to move on but with interest rates rising and the housing market flattening I don't think he can afford to stay and investigate even the littlest bit of gossip he might hear. Unless he has been investing in something other than real estate, he needs to get houses finished and sold as soon as possible. I hope he can ride out this inflationary period and I also hope that interest rates go down again soon. I wish him no harm but even if I was there, it might not help."

"What about your wife and child?"

"Well, first the child, she is not my daughter, despite what the birth certificate says, as Karen and I had not had sex for some time before I caught her in bed with her boyfriend. She knows it but kept it secret as her parents are very conservative and fundamentalist Christians. They believe in the Old Testament more than the New Testament. That is why she publicly doesn't admit to why I left. My attorney keeps me informed. Karen is afraid to date or even go out with friends to the bar as her parents would not be happy with her. Boyfriend can't move in with her and, actually, left town a couple of years ago to pursue other interests. I may, or may not, have had something to do with that career decision. My attorney is very sure that, as long as I make reasonable child support payments, that the judge will not grant her divorce petition. Since the judge is also a member of my in-laws church with similar beliefs and the uncle of my attorney, I don't see any change in the status quo for a while. I quit making payments on the house but she can't sell it so she has to scrape and scrimp to keep a roof over her child's head. You would think my in-laws would be very unhappy with me but Karen doesn't know that I sent a letter to them, after I left town, informing them of her unfaithfulness and I asked them to not tell her that they know. Since I take a lot of responsibility for the failure of my marriage I send them money to 'loan' her to get the house payments current. In ten years the house will be paid off."

Markus wouldn't let it go. "Aren't you being cruel to your wife? You have made it so she can't move on. How long are you going to punish her?"

"Markus, let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen me with a woman? I have not had sex since before I found my wife fucking someone else. I am serving the same penance as my wife. If I ever meet someone that I might take a fancy to then I may direct my attorney to forward the divorce paperwork and sign it and let her free. Until then, or until she finally gives in and confesses her sins to her parents and then just lives with some dick then we both continue to suffer."

The lightbulb went on. You could see it in Markus's face. "You still love the witch, don't you?"

John nodded. "That is my curse. In all these years of knocking around, washing dishes, being a short order cook, doing construction and whatever else to keep me in groceries, I still love and lust after the woman. I refuse to call her a bitch even after what she did to me. I deserved her ire but I didn't deserve her betrayal. Call me a cuck. Call me a wimp. Call me whatever you want but that doesn't change the fact that I still love her."

"Why don't you swallow your pride and go home? Accept the child as yours and get your life back."

"A couple of times a year I send her an email from a throwaway account. Her responses are usually a tirade against me. Not once has she ever said, 'I'm sorry for what I did.' She shows no remorse. She tried a couple of times to guilt me by saying my baby misses her daddy but I shut that down quickly by threatening to tell her family and friends about who really fathered her child. Oh, she ends each missive with a declaration of love but her rants in said missive belie her statement of love. So, she is unrepentant and we both still suffer."

John emptied his glass. "I am not happy but, then again, I am not unhappy. I make enough money to live on, if just cheaply. I make enough money to send back for Lacie's care and upbringing and still put some aside for future needs. I am content. Even if Troy came back in right now and tried to make me go back, he would not succeed. That is one of the benefits of living in a free society. There are things you have to do, like pay taxes, but no one can make you live where you do not want to live. I am free to help after storm damage and then move on. I am free to keep restoring antique fine furniture and I am free to find love again should I so desire."

John stood up from the bar. "Good night, Markus. Peace go with you. I may see you again. Then, again, I may not."