Recession

He smiled as he dropped the five envelopes into the mailbox and kept walking. That was the last piece of the nasty business he had to handle. Briefly he wondered how long it would take for the explosions to start.

He knew when they would finish; August thirty first. That was the date they would sit down in the lawyer's office and go over all the financial records and discuss division of property. Right now, she also thought they'd be discussing child support payments, but four of those five envelopes would negate those talks.

She also thought that she held all of the cards, but his lawyer assured him, she held half, and he held the other half. Georgia is a 'No-Fault' state, which means a divorce, no matter what the reason, gives equal division of all marital assets to each person.

----

When Jonathon and Lori met, he had been a very successful financial planner, with a large office in Buckhead. She had been a manager of a catering company that had catered the Christmas party of Devon & Associates.

Jonathon was one of the Associates and was slated to take over their out of state accounts when Bill Tisdale retired. He smiled, shook hands, slapped backs, and made sure that everyone's glass of champagne was kept full.

"Hey, any more of that shrimp stuff?" he smiled as Lori popped out of the kitchen to check the buffet table.

"Uh, yeah, um, I mean, yes, sir," she stammered.

Jonathon was the handsomest man she'd ever seen and he smiled at her, his blue eyes never letting her go.

He continued to circulate among his coworkers, but every time he saw her, he made a point of smiling at her, nodding his head, letting her know he was aware of her presence.

Lori Pruitta wasn't used to men showing her any attention; she was short and fat. The two other females on her staff, however, barely elicited any response from 'the tall, good looking guy with the curly hair.'

"Um, hey, suppose I want you to cater an intimate dinner for two?" Jonathon asked her as she and Debbie and Angie were tearing down the equipment.

She almost felt like crying; obviously this guy had a girlfriend or wife and had only been interested in her for her services, not her for herself.

"That would be fine, I can send one of my girls..." she began to say.

"No, no, I'd really like it if you would do it," he smiled.

----

She showed up at his Buckhead condominium and quickly set up in his kitchen and agreed with him that the balcony would be the most romantic place; as it was unseasonably warm that evening.

"So, um, when is your date going to be here?" she asked, wanting to kick herself for asking.

"She just got here," he smiled and took her hand and led her to the small table on the balcony.

----

She wanted to turn off the bedside lamps, but he insisted on seeing her nude body. She shrugged out of the industrial strength bra and he groaned in appreciation as her heavy breasts spilled out. He groaned again when she eased her large panties, 'grandma undies,' her friend Monica laughingly called them, and her very profuse bush of dark pubic hair came into view.

She looked on in fascination as his nearly perfect body was exposed to her and she actually felt light-headed when he pulled her onto the bed and sucked wet, noisy kisses from her lips.

"No, don't!" she protested when his wandering mouth came close to her pussy. "That's dirty!"

"You wash it, right?" he asked her and she nodded her head yes.

"Then it ain't dirty," he argued and put his mouth directly onto her wet slit.

----

She began to watch her diet and actually went with Monica to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. When she saw that Monica was only going to the gym to flirt with Matt, the personal trainer, she switched to Monday and Wednesday.

"But, why?" Jonathon asked. "You're perfect.

----

The following Christmas, he proposed marriage to her. He took her to a trendy restaurant, and then took her to the Omni, which overlooked all of downtown Atlanta, quite beautiful in the nighttime. In the very center of the king sized bed was a small jewelry box, it's red velvet quite visible against the white comforter.

"Is that what I think it is?" she barely dared to ask.

"I don't know," he said easily. "If you think it's 'I'm going to get down on my knees and beg you to marry me and promise to spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy and love you forever,' then yes, that's what it is."

----

Even with catering her lavish wedding, and the few other contacts supplied to them by Devon & Associates, Catherine's Caterers had to close its business. When it had been in Catherine's hands, it had been a successful business, but Terri, Catherine's daughter, had a bit of cocaine habit and spent the money faster than they could make it.

Lori was stricken with fear but bravely went looking for work. Like most people that had struggled with a weight problem for much of their lives, Lori still saw herself as the fat little kid and had very low self-esteem.

----

Jackson's, an automobile parts supplier, saw themselves as very lucky to acquire such an attractive young woman with such a wealth of experience. Bob and Ben Jackson, sons of the original Mr. Jackson, and Larry Knolles, the warehouse supervisor, fawned attention and praise to the befuddled and pleased Lori.

Jonathon, at first, encouraged his wife to go out and have drinks with the guys, get to know them, enjoy herself. He had no reason to be jealous or wary; she was his wife, after all.

----

The economy overseas was beginning to slip and he began to warn his supervisors, colleagues, and his own clients. He sent out many memos and went so far as to withdraw his own portfolio from several key accounts.

So, when the shit hit the fan, Devon & Associates stepped aside and let it hit Jonathon.

"You lost your job?" Lori asked, the contempt evident in her voice.

She was different. The changes had been subtle at first, but when he stopped and took inventory of their marriage, the changes had become most noticeable after her business trip to Chicago.

She had her cell phone with her, but had never answered it the entire week she was there. She hadn't told her what hotel she was staying at, so he couldn't call the hotel and ask for her room. The automobile parts convention was being held at a convention center and there were eighteen hotels within easy walking distance of the center.

When he tried to talk with her about the convention, when he expressed concern that he'd not heard from her the entire week, nor been able to contact her, she blew up and they spent her first night home night sleeping in separate bedrooms.

She continued to make advances in her job, and soon convinced him to leave his cozy Buckhead condominium and move into a townhouse that was close to her place of employment. The sale of his condo netted him much less than he'd hoped for, and the proceeds were swallowed up by the six hundred and eighty thousand dollar sales price of the townhouse. When he lost his job and her paycheck had to pay all expenses, her contempt of him grew by leaps and bounds.

----

"Guess what, Honey?" she excitedly told him one night over dinner.

"I don't know," he said, missing the fact that she'd called him 'Honey.'

"I'm pregnant!" she crowed. "We're having a baby!"

He knew their marriage was over.

The last time he'd made love to her was nearly four months ago. She'd not noticed the lack of intimacy, so caught up in her job.

The baby was born on a cold November morning and Jonathon smiled and accepted the congratulations of Ben, Bob, and Larry. She named the boy Francis, after her father and Jonathon agreed that this was a fine name for the boy.

----

He swabbed the baby's mouth and put the swab into a plastic bag. He used a second swab in his own mouth and sealed it in a separate plastic bag. The ad on the Internet promised quick, accurate DNA test results, and he watched the mailbox diligently.

He made five copies of the results and hid them in the top of the closet in the second bedroom.

Lori was to have six weeks off for maternity leave, but Jonathon wasn't surprised when she went back to work after only three weeks.

"At least we don't have to get a day-care center, since you're out of a job," she said glibly.

----

His buddy, Shane, had also been let go from Devon & Associates, but not for any financial reasons. He'd been let go for 'dipping his pen into Clark Devon's ink-well,' or more appropriately, into Mandy Devon, Clark's wife.

Shane had to laugh at how easily he'd been caught and after settling up and squaring away all of his debts and obligations, decided to open his own surveillance business.

"Not a problem," he smiled and assured Jonathon. "Kind of a shame, though, I remember how much you two were in love."

"Yeah, kind of wish she would remember that," Jonathon agreed and shifted Francis from one arm to the other.

----

The OSHA Inspector was certainly thorough in his job, even got a ladder and checked their air-conditioner ventilation. Finally, he seemed satisfied and filled out the forms and promised them they'd be getting the results in the mail.

----

The pictures were very clear and left no question; his wife was in her office, on her knees, sucking Ben's cock.

She was perched on the edge of her desk, Bob's cock plowing her hairy pussy.

She was bent over her desk, Larry drilling her from behind.

She was on her back, Ben's cock in her pussy, and Larry's cock in her mouth.

----

"Hey, Sara, hate to do this, but could you watch Francis?" he cheerfully asked his mother in law.

"But of course, got a job interview?" she asked.

"Yeah, something like that," he agreed.

Lori was livid with rage when she arrived home and there was no sign of husband or child. She read and reread the note, and snorted with derision. She gave no information to her mother or father when she came to pick up the baby, just sullenly collected the baby and left.

----

Carol Jackson happily opened the thick envelope. The pictures turned her blood cold, though.

Dianne Jackson sobbed bitterly, the contents of the envelope on the table in front of her.

Natalie Knolles very calmly withdrew every last penny from their savings accounts, cashed in their IRAs and Money-Market accounts, gathered up all of his possessions and dumped them into their swimming pool.

Sara and Francis Pruitta felt sick to their stomachs, but after reading the DNA laboratory test results, set their jaws firmly and promised one another that they would stay out of their daughter's business.

-----

It had started with light verbal banter, a few innuendos here and there.

At the bar after work, a few 'accidental' touches, a few warm embraces, a few comments.

A few disparaging remarks about 'men that would let their wives go out with the boys,' a few comments about how beautiful she was and what they'd do if she were their wife.

A couple of off-handed remarks about what a failure Jonathon was when he lost his job and was unable to find gainful employment.

By the time the plane touched down in Chicago, Lori was primed and ready to be the company slut.

She had no respect for Jonathon, had long ago ceased caring about his feelings or opinions or point of view.

She absolutely idolized the three men of Jackson's and would do anything at all to please them.

The fact that they were staying to two adjoining suites was of no importance to her; she knew that all four of them would be staying in the one suite.

When she discovered she was pregnant, none of the men at Jackson's were happy to hear this, so she tried to warm up to Jonathon again, but the damage had been done, on her end and on his.

"Fucking dumb ass," she heard one of the men tell the other. "He fucking thinks the kid's his."

----

"Fucking shame," Jonathon cheerfully said when Lori dourly told him she was unemployed.

Jackson's had been sold; one half of the profits went to Carol and Dianne and Larry's wife was suing Ben and Bob for compensation. Larry was still trying to get half of his money back from Natalie.

"Find out who the daddy is," Jonathon laughed when Lori's lawyer approached the subject of child support. Jonathon's lawyer cheerfully slid the DNA test results across the table to her lawyer.

"You are fucking joking," Lori spat when she was told that she would have to give Jonathon half of their marital assets.

In the recession, both Jonathon and Lori are unemployed, and both are finding it hard to find gainful employment.

Fucking shame, as Jonathon says.