Reconciliation

Sally mulled this. "It's pretty sad that he thinks he has to hide who he is to get what he thinks he wants."

Jim gave his wife a sly smile. "I happen to like video games. Does that mean I can be myself and go get a console?

"As if! Video games are filler in your life when you don't have anything else going on. YOU have a life. Did you want to trade picnics at the park with the kids and late nights with the wife for some pixels?" she asked archly.

"Well...when you put it that way...."

She smiled. "Tell you what. Maybe I'll see if I have a pair of shorts and a halter top and we can play Tomb Raider one night when the kids are away..."

"Do you think I'll find the treasure?"

"I guarantee it." She put her head on his shoulder.

+

"So...how do you like your counselor?" Sally asked as they drove through Columbus in her car.

"Eh...a bit...old fashioned." Reg said carefully. "Where are we going?"

"Some people these days mistake political fashions for real human nature." Sally said. Reg started to recognize the houses of the suburb they were driving through and twitched nervously. This increased as he got closer and closer to...

"You look like you're about to jump out of your skin." Sally noted. He found he was stuck by a mixture of agitation and...yearning? This drove itself home as they turned a final corner into a cul de sac. His eyes twitched back and forth quickly as they pulled over in front of the house. He started to duck lower in his seat.

"Relax," she said "They sold and moved last month. Well, SHE moved. He left her long before that." Sally said with some bitterness. In front of them was a very nice two story home with a sculpted lawn and ample, well maintained flower beds. It was the home of Wes and Beth Moran, two former friends. "It was a short sale. They were underwater in the market. After your little tete a tete with Beth, he had her served almost instantly. If it wasn't for all the work they put into the garden, they'd have been even worse off. Nice little house, don't you think?"

"Who...who moved in?" Reg asked. His eyes still darted around, looking for a familiar Volvo anyway.

She shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe some renters. Or someone who took advantage of their 'circumstances.'"

"Where did she go?" Sally just looked at him for a long time then put the car in gear and pulled around in a circle and started driving past the park and the Graeter's Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street. It was charming in a way that only small Midwestern neighborhoods could be.

"She moved obviously." She waited but Reg was in his own world. "What about Wes?"

"Who cares what rock he slithered under." Reg spat back. She gazed at him out of the corner of her eye as they drove along in silence.

"I'm curious...who pursued who when you slept with Beth?" she finally asked.

"What?" Reg said.

"You heard me. Did you go out of your way to chase her? Or did she chase you?"

Reg considered. He steadfastly held to the principle that he didn't tell anyone a thing about his conquests. No writing, no pictures, no video, deny deny deny! Only if he was caught red-handed would he admit that he even knew the girl. Then he tried to give her as much of a soft landing as he could. First, it seemed like the right thing to do. She had everything to lose and he didn't. Second...well...it saved his ass a few times and set things up for a replay on occasion, though he seldom wanted the drama that was likely. 'This was the only time.' 'She was really drunk.' All the ready excuses he told whomever discovered him so he could give the woman cover. But...in this case, charity and the truth both served the same purpose. "I chased her." He admitted.

Sally started to pound on the dashboard. "Damn you, Reg. Damn you! She has two kids!"

The suburbs got sparser and large swaths of farmland started showing as they drove north. There were more utility towers and railroads and the number of houses went down and they drove past a shoddy trailer park. After a series of turns which seemed to backtrack, they settled on a country road. Three tiny little houses were clustered in the middle of open fields. A train passed by in the distance across the field and Sally pulled up in front of one of the small houses. It had several siding shingles missing from the facade. One of the two windows facing the road had a piece of tape across its cracked pane. A gravel driveway which had seen better days lead to a pile of lumber which the charitable would call a shed or maybe a garage, but any fire marshal worth his salt would call a fire trap. A couple of two yard tall dead trees marred the front yard. A battered Ford Focus was in the drive. Sally pulled over.

"What are we doing here?" Reg quirked an eyebrow at the place. "This is a little 'low rent' for you, isn't it? I wouldn't leave my dog here."

"You don't have a dog." She opened the door and pointed her finger at him. "You stay here." She said in tones which brooked no argument. Going around to the back of her car, she pushed the remote to pop the trunk and pulled out a double handful of Kroger bags filled with groceries. She started to struggle with them toward the front. Reg started to pull at the door handle to go help but she just glared at him.

She kicked at the front door of the house and someone answered the summons. Reg slid down in his seat quickly, hiding and peeking over the console. A blond woman stood there, talking to Sally. They seemed to be in a bit of an argument, with Sally pressing the bags forward and the other woman just shaking her head. Finally Sally, with some effort lifted her arm full of bags and pointed into the house and said a few words. The other woman dropped her head momentarily and with a leaden gesture, waved Sally inside, taking a handful of the bags as she passed inside.

Fifteen minutes later, the two women appeared at the door, a small girl following. The adults shared a long hug and said their good byes. The woman glanced at the car and Reg ducked further beneath the dash.

"What the FUCK is she doing in a shithole like this?!?" he said to Sallyafter he took a moment to control himself.

Sally gave him a bland look. "It's what she can afford."

"THIS? Wes was pulling down some good coin! Even if she only got half, she should be doing better than this!"

"Wes isn't around.Wes emptied the accounts. She's filed to the court for him to pay the arrearage for her support, but it's hard to serve someone when you don't have a forwarding address and he's ducking the servers."

"But...but...HERE?"

Finally the anger Sally was keeping tamped burst through. "YES, HERE! This is the only place she can afford in her school district. SHE HAS TWO KIDS! It's the middle of the school year. Their world has exploded quite enough, don't you think, without moving them to Hell and gone in some strange school. Beth's mother lives in a one bedroom postage stamp. Where exactly is she supposed to go? She's doing the best that she can on her little entry level position. She was a HOUSEWIFE! She made a deal with the school district that as long as she's SOMEWHERE in the district, her kids can stay at the same school. It only adds a 30 minute drive back and forth for her in the morning and afternoon, not to mention the added expense of the latchkey program." She didn't need to tack on the 'thanks to you'.

"What happened to her Volvo?" As a car salesman, Reg noted the car change immediately.

"She sold it to help pay for her attorney fees and to come up with the deposits on that place. It's a lease to own."

"Why would she want to own that?"

Sally gazed at him coolly. "You rent an apartment. What about your car?"

"It has a good lease. I need to keep up appearances and get a new car frequently, so it doesn't make sense to buy."

"So you own nothing and are beholden to nothing. The reason she's still here is that this is a very good school district."

"I live the life I want." He said defensively.

"And how is that working out for you?" They were silent for a while as she retraced her route.

"What was the purpose of this little road trip?" Reg asked wearily.

"I wanted you to see the consequences of your actions. You've known Beth since High School. You knew Wes. You knew her kids. She's here because of you."

He squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. "It was consensual." He bit his lip. "How...what do you want me to do?"

"Well, normally I'd say to let your conscience be your guide like Jiminy Cricket, but in your case, I'm not sure if it's up to the task." Reg bit his tongue hard. "How many vacations did you take last year?"

"Three...okay, four if you count that weekend at Vail. I'm a really good salesman." He explained.

"Mmm." She watched the road.

"I suppose I could float her a few bucks." He started to warm to the idea. "Hey...and she lives in a real shithole. Maybe I could get some contractors to fix up the place or something. What do you think?"

"Or something..." she said enigmatically.

+

Beth checked the account again by logging off and logging on again. It was still incorrect. She showed a positive balance of $287 on her electric bill, when she knew that she was behind.

Frowning, she picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Beth Moran. I have a question about my bill. Okay...I'll wait." One transfer later and she got someone else. "Yes...Beth Moran...my address?" She went through the tedious process of proving that, yes, the woman who was calling from the phone AT the address was indeed the person who was at the house associated at the bill. "Yes...I am showing a balance of...yes...but I was um..."she flushed, embarrassed "...a little behind and now it shows that I have a...yes...my last payment was for $40...what? NO! I didn't make a payment...how much? At the home office? Exactly who paid...you don't know? No no...I guess it's alright."

Mentally she started to curse out her remaining friends. She still had a smidgeon of pride. She looked at the chipped and faded linoleum tiles at her feet. Could she really afford pride right now?

"MOM! Jimmy is overflowing the tub!" April called out from the lone bathroom.

"I'm sorry...no that's fine. I got to go...thank you." By the time she was able to clean up the bathroom, the entire incident had skipped her mind, at least for the moment.

+

The dust whipped around in huge clouds under the mower. Probably because there was barely any grass... Reg thought acerbically. He stopped and glanced at Beth's porch where his Warden sat on a injected plastic chair, making lists next to a sweating pitcher of lemonade.

She noted the lack of movement and glanced at the yard. Sally pointed at a patch and looked down again. Sighing deeply, he went over to go over that part of the 'lawn' again.Bitch!

"You know...I haven't cut any lawns since I was fifteen." He told her when he was finished. "It would be better for everyone if I just paid that fat kid down the road $20 to do it. I'd get my afternoon off, he'd have money for more Ho Ho's. It's a win win."

She peeled the page off her legal pad and handed it to him, ignoring him completely. "Here."

"What's this?"

"It's a list of repairs, replacements and jobs that need to be done around this dump." Sally stated.

He turned the page over to continue reading. "This...this is a LONG list...hell, I don't know how to do half of this stuff!"

"That's why I'm giving it to you now. So you can figure out how to do it. I hear Youtube and the Internet is good for that kind of thing."

"You know...I live in an apartment for a REASON..."

"Well...this is that 'whatever it takes' that you promised Jim. This is what it's going to take. Now go scrape the grass off the underside of the lawnmower, put the leavings in the compost pile and go put it in the shed." Sally said simply.

"You have to scrape off the bottom of that thing? I figure it's been sandblasted clean already by the dirt. And she doesn't HAVE a compost pile."

She smiled pleasantly at him. "Check number three on the list." She poured two tall glasses of lemonade and handed him one. "Oh...don't look like that. You did a good job today. After we finish up here and you get cleaned up, I'm going to treat you to a home cooked meal as a reward. It's your favorite...lasagna." Reg sighed. "Now what are the rules?"

"Don't let her know I'm helping around the house. But she's going to see repairs." He protested.

"I know she'll see repairs. Don't let her know YOU are helping around the house...Come on, she's going to be home soon."

+

Reg was picking at the lasagna when the inevitable question came up from Jim. "What did you two do all day?"

Sally slowly picked up her glass of iced tea and took a long sip. "We were at Beth's house while Reg was doing some repairs."

Jim looked at his two teen aged children and said very carefully. "Oh." He took a slow bite of garlic bread. "Do you think that's wise?" he asked after he finished chewing.

"Yes." Came her short reply. Even the kids glanced up at the feeling of tension. After dinner, Reg quickly excused himself and the kids wandered off to do some homework.

"What are you thinking?" Jim asked Sally in his office after the meal, trying to keep his voice level.

Sally sat on the loveseat. "It's very simple. Reggie used to have a thing with Beth. He has no sense of ownership or obligation. He needs to see a blatant example of what his actions have done to someone he cared about once. He needs to invest some sense of...of...ownership...some sweat equity in SOMETHING. This is also a way for him to do some restitution. Though you should have seen him in the car when I showed him her house for the first time."

Jim clasped his hands together and squeezed, trying to formulate his words. "And how do you think Wes is going to see things? He's going to be enraged! It's throwing her infidelity in his face."

Sally nodded her head slowly. "You know what...I can see that. I didn't originally consider it...but I can see how he'd feel that way."

"So we're going to stop this." Jim nodded.

"No." Sally said firmly. She stood up and pointed at Jim. "The person I'm almost as mad at as Reggie and Beth is Wesley! It's been what, four months? He's barely spoken to his wife, he hasn't sent her ANY money, he's had ONE, count them, ONE visit to his kids. So please tell me why I should care about how Wes sees things?" Her nostrils flared.

"He's going to think that Beth or Reg is going to try to replace him as their father." Jim said. "That can be very dangerous. He's a man...we think differently." Jim warned her.

"You know how Wes can avoid that? He can step up to the plate and actually BE their father! She screwed up. She screwed up badly. She's sorry! I would think that if he ever loved her, he'd find some room in his heart to...to..."

"Forgive?" Jim asked. "Would you forgive me?"

Sally paced back and forth a few times as she thought about this. Jim appreciated how she always took the time to think things through. She might not always get an answer he agreed with...but she always thought about it. "If you did that to me, it would break my heart. I don't know that I would ever be able to trust you after that...but...after all these years...they've been good. Some of them have been fantastic...some," she smiled wryly "have really stunk. But...for the children...for all the good times we had, I'd at least try. But don't...please don't put us through that. Let's try to learn from their bad example, okay?"

She reached over and hugged her husband and whispered in his ear "But if you did that to me, I'd probably make you suffer for a good long while." She squeezed him tighter as they smiled.

She released him and looked at him seriously. "I think Wes owes her the same...or at least to find a way to interact with her so he can be a part of his children's lives. I can't expect him to take her back. I can expect him to stop being an ass."

"Okay...but just remember that I warned you that this might go south, Lucy." It was his pet name for her when he thought she'd tried something particularly harebrained.

+

This lead to the obvious and rather painful call on Jim's part.

"Hello?" Wes' voice was tight.

"Wes...this is Jim. How are you?"

"Jim...Jim...you mean the Jim who knew about my wife fucking around on me? THAT Jim? Who thought my marriage was a joke? THAT Jim? I'm DANDY! How the FUCK are YOU Jim?"

"I never thought your marriage was a joke. I let you know almost as soon as I found out. I'm sorry if it came off as a little...flip."

"You ruined everything!"

Jim gritted his teeth. Shooting the messenger had a grand and glorious tradition and it wouldn't help to get sidetracked by details. "No...I told you something that you didn't want to hear."

"And now, after telling us what kind of scumbag Reg is for months and months...NOW you prefer his company to me. How do you spell 'hypocrite', because I can spell it with just three letters."

That was a surprise to Jim. He had barely talked to Wes after the confrontation in the bar and certainly hadn't shared about his new arrangement. "It's...complicated. Reg seems to feel honestly bad about what he's done and he's trying to make it up. He came to me to try to straighten things out, change and apologize."

"Well, you chose him over me, so don't bother calling me with any more of your 'help'." The phone slammed down. Jim stared at it for a minute. He hadn't even had a chance to discuss his kids, child support or Beth hanging around Reg. Two more attempts indicated that Wes wasn't taking his calls.

Jim shook his head. This was not good.

+

Reg looked down at the blonde head slowly going back and forth on his cock, her form kneeling in shadow. She had insisted on keeping the lights off. The familiar rasp of the tongue going over the glans was heavenly! It had been so long! Why had he denied himself?

A single fingernail stroked the tender skin behind his scrotum. What was it called again? The perineum? Something like that. Guys called it the 'taint' but you just didn't use those sort of words in front of a woman...unless she was into it. Even the Tommiest of Tom Boys tended to like a little euphemism in their love making. Always best to err on the side of caution.

His testicles started to tighten up. A fellatio professional, the girl caressed his sac and tugged gently on it, prolonging the pleasure. She withdrew almost entirely off his shaft, massaging the head of his cock with her lips and tongue. He groaned his release. One of the pistols fell off of its holder and he thoughtlessly replaced it back on the shelf. When had he gotten a gun? What room was he in?

The faceless blonde pulled down on his hips and he let his knees go soft and gently fell backwards onto the king bed, the coolness of the sheets feeling soothing on his naked form. She started scrunching up the bed, her knees straddling his torso and arms as she pulled up her blue skirt. "I sucked on you. It's time to return the favor..."

Reg smiled. He was a veteran at cunnilingus. He tried to peer at her face but it was still in shadow, her hair blowing in the wind with stars framing her head in the background. "I'll be more than happy to lick you till you can't stand it anymore."

"I didn't lick you...I sucked you. Now you can suck on mine..." Her hand appeared with a gun.

Appalled, Reg looked up and saw the girl from the bar, Andrea's face! She forced the automatic into his mouth as his arms struggled against her suddenly imprisoning thighs. He heard the hammer come back. "I'm going to cum..." she giggled

Reg jolted awake. His sheets were a mess of jism and night terror sweat. The first nocturnal emission he'd had since very young and it had to come in a dream like THAT! He curled into a ball on his bed until he stopped shuddering. This was actually one of the better nightmares.