Paul Takes a Holiday

Bob nodded, cuddling his daughter. "Yes, baby girl, that's about it all in a nut shell, as they say."

He looked again at Maeve and said: "You'll need to find a place to live. I don't want you staying here. Maybe Nancy can put you up.

"Why in the Hell did you do it in the first place?"

Maeve shook her head, making her hair shimmer. "I don't know, Bob. Maybe it was because I could? Oh, yes, there was something there about helping a friend who was dying, but it was also so naughty and exciting, a secret romantic world, hidden from you. I can honestly say I never intended to hurt you, or to belittle you in any way. You were not intended to know about the divorce, or the 'marriage' that was supposed to be just a little fun thing between Paul and me."

Bob then said, thoughtfully, almost as if to himself: "I wonder exactly why Paul and Carol split up?

"Anyway, I guess I'd best phone the pastor and tell him I can't give that eulogy, tomorrow."

"Daddy, you will do no such thing! Shouted Tegan, crossly. "May I suggest that you do your eulogy tomorrow, as planned? But that you use it to have the opportunity to tell the story of how he was able ruin your marriage and fuck over what was a lifelong friendship?"

So, what would you do? Phone the pastor and cry off from reading the eulogy? Or write the eulogy and include massive chunks of the IM printouts, and read it out to a shell-shocked funeral congregation, so everyone would know the truth about Paul and Maeve?

What did Bob do? It took him several hours to write the eulogy. And a shade under 25 minutes to use it to destroy Paul's reputation.

It turned out that Nancy had not known of what Paul and Maeve had been doing and she got busy trying to help heal Bob's broken heart. Assisted by Tegan who liked and approved of Nancy.

Both Nancy and Tegan knew that what Paul and Maeve had done to Bob would take a long time to heal. But they were patient. He'd come round, given enough time.

As for Maeve? When Nancy found out what she had done, she could barely speak with her let alone offer her a home.

Maeve lived in a tiny apartment and mainly spent her free time wondering how she could have turned the crock of gold of her marriage into a crock of shit.

Bob insisted on giving her a fair settlement in the divorce, which probably hurt Maeve more than if he had tried to do her down, as she knew she really deserved.

Maeve eventually left town to go live somewhere else, somewhere where she did not get a constant reminder that nobody likes a cheat. Well, no wife, certainly, as they always expect the worst of you and warn their husbands not to talk with you, too much.