Ridin the Storm Out Pt. 01

Grace was in the garage standing next to another housewife talking, I sidled next to them being an onlooker of sorts. I slid my hand down Graces ass and slipped it between her legs, she jumped, spun, and slapped my face.

"What the Sam hell do you think you're doing Cal. How dare you put your hand between my legs you dirty bastard."

I looked back, rubbed my sore cheek and spoke, "I'm only doing to you what your husband is doing to my wife.

Her eyes got big as saucers, "He's what? Bullshit."

"Come with me into the kitchen, you can see for yourself."

With three other curious onlookers we stood in the shadows looking out the patio door. Neal groped Bab's ass, still sliding a few fingers between her legs on the outside of her dress. Grace was pissed and about to bolt when I caught her arm.

"Grace, when you get done with your worthless husband, tell my equally worthless wife that our marriage is over and not to come home. She should call her sister for a ride. She left her purse at the house, we don't have a spare key hidden under a potted plant. She won't be able to get in."

She stopped my departure, "You may want to rethink that Cal, it's her house as well, all she has to do is call the cops."

Damn, I hadn't thought of that, "I can easily go elsewhere for the night. I left my bag in the truck with clothes from this weekend, I'm gonna leave the house before she figures out I'm gone. I assume your gonna tear Neal a new asshole."

"Not only Neal, but your bitch wife as well. Who the fuck do those two think they are ruining two otherwise decent marriages? Damn them both."

As I was walking through the side fence gate the last thing I heard was a loud voice, "You lousy cheating son of a bitch. And you Babs, you fucking slut."

I have no idea what happened after that, I hastened my pace away from the house as everyone else raced to the patio. I grabbed a set of work clothes, I had enough underwear and such in my overnight bag to last a few days, jumped in the truck and made my way to an out of the way mom and pop motel. It was clean and cheap. I texted our daughter Bridgette to let her know I was okay and that I'd contact her the next day. I then turned my phone off to avoid the inevitable shit storm I knew was coming my way. It would be the classic, 'I made a mistake, please forgive me" line of bullshit along with "I love only you, he seduced me' and who knows what else she might come up with.

When I turned it back on early Sunday morning my premonition had materialized, message after message about how she loved me and had made a one-time mistake, yada, yada, yada. I ignored the texts and the messages choosing to text our daughter instead.

"Hi dad, I spent the night at Wendy's instead of going to the party. I heard it got real ugly and that mom was involved. The cops were called, I have no idea where mom is at the moment. Dad, what the hell happened, where were you?"

When I told her what I'd witnessed and what I'd done she shouted, "You what? You put your hand between Grace's legs? Dad, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

I was surprised, "What's wrong with me? Maybe you should ask your mother what's wrong with her. Did you have any idea this was going on?"

"Not a clue dad, although the signs were there. She never went out when you were around, but when you'd be gone for a few days she was always out of the house doing something. Dammit, dammit, dammit, how could she be so stupid? Daddy, please tell me you aren't complicit in some form or fashion."

"Not that I'm aware of sweetheart, but who knows what's in your mothers head any longer? I thought I knew her inside and out, apparently not."

I called in sick on Monday asking my boss to meet me for lunch in order to explain my situation. With his approval I was able to take the next two days off, long enough to contact a lawyer. What I didn't know but learned after speaking with him is that he also had a guy who did investigations for his firm. An X-cop who sort of did it on the side, mostly old school stuff. I agreed to the extra minimal cost and by Friday of that week I had more information than I could possibly process. I hadn't spoken with Barbara, (Babs) at all since leaving home. Bridgette agreed to get more clothes for me and drop them off at my room.

Bridgette implored me to reconsider, "Mom is really in bad shape dad. She cries all the time and mumbles about how stupid she behaved. Daddy, can't you find it in your heart to forgive?"

It was time for a daughter/father talk I'd dreaded ever having to talk about. Bridgette called her older sister and asked if we could meet with her for supper. It was over the meal that I relayed the story of my childhood and teen years, how my parents had cheated on one another, would reconcile and do it the same thing all over. All of us were in tears by the time I finished talking.

Annabelle, the oldest took my hand, "Dad, is there any way you can forgive her one-time incident? She says he seduced her."

It was my turn to face the reality I wanted to ignore when I spoke, "How do I know it's only been once? What I saw him do and where his hand was are things your mother and I did, as married lovers. They were far too familiar with each other for it to be a one off. Bridgette, you said she had been going out anytime I was gone a few days. Where did she go, what did she do? And why did I find her panties full of semen after she told me she'd been to the spa?"

Both girls stared, it was Annabelle who broke the silence, "Oh my God dad, are you serious? Her panties were full of cum? How did you know to check?"

As I explained they both shook their heads slowly, tears running down their faces. With one of their hands in each of mine I laid it out as plain as possible.

"She's your mother and you can be upset with her, but you can't hate or disassociate yourself from her life. You don't have to like her to love her, in time all will even out for you girls."

"What about you dad, will it all you even out for you with time?"

"No honey, I'm done, our marriage is DOA. I'd like to know what I did that was so wrong she would cheat, but that may never happen."

"What about counseling dad? Maybe that would help."

Annabelle entered the conversation, "It won't. Mom won't have an answer that will satisfy you, and frankly, I don't know that she has one to satisfy me. You'll never trust her unconditionally again will you dad?"

Out of the mouths of my two grown babes, their words left me with more questions than answers. I was going to need time to process, to ponder, to try and figure out what went wrong. Why is it we men always fall back on the thought, "Why wasn't I enough for her? She was certainly enough for me."

"I think you've hit the proverbial nail on the head Anna, I don't know how I could ever trust her completely."

Bridgette jumped in, "Didn't mom try to stop him? I mean, push him away or something? I just can't see her letting him feel her up."

My girls had always been innocent in my eyes, and they may have been virgins still, but they sure as hell knew a lot about sex beyond the lingo. My answer to Bridgette's question left both with their mouths hanging open.

"No honey, she didn't. In fact, she opened her legs for him to have a better feel. His hand was on the outside of her dress, but still.....

Before I could go on Anna said what all of us were thinking but not saying. "Dress or not, pussy is pussy and his hands shouldn't have been there." Through tears she sniffled. "Damn you mom, why did you let him do that?"

Since her mother was not there to answer, we all shrugged our shoulders and wept in silence. I tried talking with Bab's a few days later. Her words were anything but convincing. She repeatedly said "I'm Sorry" but there was no visible remorse. I had reached the point of no return and asked outright.

"What was it that drove you into the arms of another man? Did I do something wrong? Am I not a good husband? Do I not take care of your needs in every way, including sexually? I'm at a loss Bab's."

After two or three minutes of sniffling and blowing her nose she looked up at me. I instinctively knew I wasn't going to like the answer.

"He's exciting to be around, he's interesting..........(there was a long pause), he's bigger than you."

My mind was numb, "What do you mean he's bigger than me. What's that supposed to mean?"

She took a deep breath, puffed out her chest and said softly, "He's longer than you."

I was about to blow a gasket but somehow found the wherewithal to hold it together.

"You mean his cock is bigger than mine? So. You have fucked him, even after you denied it to my face. Were all the orgasms through the years faked then? They sure seemed real."

"They were Cal, really, they were. He isn't bigger around, just a little longer. It was something different. You aren't a woman, you wouldn't understand. I don't know how to explain it. Now I need to ask you something. Are we done?"

I nodded, "Yup, we're done Barb. I don't know how we get back from this. Had it been a drunken one off or something along those lines, maybe, but when I watched you open your legs for him my heart sank. Did you two give any thought about his marriage? That has to be in ruins just like ours is."

"Neal told me they were on the outs and he was going to divorce her. I know I've let you down Cal, and for that I'll be eternally sorry, but I have to agree with you, there's no way back from this. I couldn't live with thinking you never fully trusted me again. Can we find a way to divorce without hating one another and going scorched earth?"

I sat back, "I think you'll find that Neal wasn't going to divorce her, from what I hear she was about to divorce him after his last affair. You were simply the next in line. As to your question. I'm willing to work something out, something that's fair. The house and vehicles are paid for, if you can't come up with the money to buy out my equity then we need to sell it. You keep your car, I'll keep my truck, as much as I hate the thought, the rest we'll need to work out with lawyers."

She let out a deep sigh, "What about the girls? What do we tell them?"

There was no way around this, I had to hit it head on, "They already know. It didn't take much for them to figure out something was going on. They may not like us for a while, but deep down they still love us. They're gonna get married and have kids, we're going to have to get along enough to see each other at birthdays and such. Can we do that Barb?"

With tears she answered, "We have to, there's no question. We just have to."

By the time we parted that night we were both in tears. My mind was whirling around trying to think of what I could have done differently. Oh sure, people want to say it was one or the other who cheated or somehow destroyed the marriage. It takes two people to make it work, and two people to watch it disintegrate. I kept telling myself "maybe if I was a better man we could make it work", each time the issue of trust resurfaced. I had no doubt she wished it hadn't happened, but it did, and we had to move on.

We met with lawyers and soon figured out we had nothing to gain by having two since neither of us was contesting anything. In the end the only real sticky point was that all the money in our investments came from my income, I felt it only right that we split it 70/30 in my favor, she wanted half. In the end we settled on a 60/40 split with 60% going to me. She didn't have the income to buy my half of the house which was put up for sale. She used her half of the sale to buy the floral shop she'd been working at and I stuck mine in the bank. With her income I didn't have to pay maintenance, the kids' education funds were in accounts and safely protected.

In our opinion, it was time to get on with the rest of our lives. Babs moved in with an old high school chum who had gone through a nasty vindictive divorce two years earlier. Little by little Barb was able to make her friend realize not all men were worthless pieces of fecal matter. As for Neal, they divorced and she DID take him to the cleaners. As soon as the divorce was final no one saw or heard from him again. Talk was he had gone abroad, no one really cared.

We'd been divorced almost two years when I moved back home with my elderly mother, at 87 and still on her own she welcomed the company and the help. Babs and I would see one another at a function or shopping from time to time. Twice during the two years I lived with mom before she passed Bab's had ended up in my bedroom making love. I say making love, it was more like fucking for the release we both needed. I wasn't dating and neither was she, it seemed better to be with someone who knew me than to go out looking. She felt the same way. There wasn't a lot of tenderness or intimacy, we were together to get our rocks off and that's what we did.

When mom died I saw no reason to stick around any longer. Both girls were now married, AnnaBelle and husband moved to Montana and Bridgette was in Vermont with her husband. To my surprise Babs found a guy and they were living together. I found it ironic that I should feel jealous, yet I was happy for her. That event was the impetus for me to make a move, I was in my 50's but felt as though I still had a lot to live for beyond grandkids in the future.

After my great granddad died at 103 my grandparents continued to make a huge impact on me as a young man. I especially remembered the times I'd sat on the porch watching rainstorms with gramps. They had built the log cabin on a hill overlooking a small lake in northern Alabama. It was one of those places you'd expect Terry Redlin to paint a picture about. There had been no electricity, phone, or stuff like that when they originally built it using trees they'd harvested off the 80 acres they owned.

Water came from a pump behind the house, plumbing was an outhouse to the west about 100 feet from the cabin. In time power made its way to the valley, along with that followed indoor plumbing and eventually phone service. Though I was only there summers, by the time I was headed to college all those modern features were in place. Mom's twin sister was a spinster schoolteacher who lived with their parents until they died, at which time the homestead had been left to her. They say twins have a connection that goes well beyond the physical, I was surprised, then again, I wasn't when my aunt died within three months of mom.

Why I was chosen I'm not sure, probably because none of my siblings wanted to live in what they called "a run-down shack". Not to mention I was the one niece or nephew who ever visited her, I was the one the authorities called after Aunt Cindy died. I was in the process of upgrading moms place when I got the news. I had inherited mothers place and wasn't planning to live there any longer, the contractor was at the stage where they were ready to gut the kitchen and bathrooms. I had oodles of vacation and comp time built up.

I figured it was as good a time as any to go find out what needed to be tended to at the old homestead. With three other PT's working under me it wasn't hard to get a month off and deal with the situation. When I arrived in the small town that morning it seemed as though people already knew me. The lady at the motel asked if I was the Burgess boy that had come home. When I explained I'd never lived in town, she laughed.

"Son, everybody in town knew who you were. Your aunt talked about her nephew the physical therapist and his two daughters. We know you son, we just haven't met you until now. Will you be staying? There's an opening for someone to run the PT department at the regional hospital fourteen miles away. You could live at Cindy's place and work there."

My facial expression must have been one of bewilderment, she chuckled, "Just give it some thought. This isn't a bad place to live, small enough that people still care, big enough to have most of what you might need. Somebody just bought the old Piggly Wiggly and is expanding it, should be real nice when it's done. Think about it, sleep well."

An hour later at the Mid-Town Diner a lady that had to be in her late 70's brought me a glass of water and a menu. When I gave her my order she smiled.

"You must be the Burgess boy. I figured you'd be coming home after your aunt died. Sorry to hear about your mom passing. I didn't really know her, I was just a little girl when she left town."

As she set the plate before me I gently touched her hand causing her to stay in one position long enough to read her nametag. "Please don't think me rude Gayle, but you look old enough to be retired and enjoying your golden years."

She chuckled, "I already tried that. Found myself bored to tears. One of my daughters owns the place and as long as my health holds out I'm gonna help. I only work the supper crowd unless somebody calls in sick. Dear me, if I was sick as much as some of these young ones, I'd be dead. And by the way, the only thing golden about these years is your urine. Enjoy your meal."

Since I would have to wait until later in the day to meet with the probate lawyer I decided to try and find out more about the PT supervisor position the motel lady had mentioned. The drive wasn't bad at all, the roads had recently been re-paved, I guessed no more than five years prior. No potholes, no bumps or severe dips, the scenery was pleasant and traffic flowed, except for the one piece of farm machinery which quickly turned off.

I was told the administrator was in a meeting but if I was willing to wait fifteen minutes she'd meet me in the cafeteria. Imagine how surprised I was when a pretty woman of what seemed to be early forties walked up to my table. She was on the thin side but well put together, and with her professional looking business attire there was no doubt she was in charge.

"Are you Calvin Burgess?"

I stood to shake her hand, "Yes ma'am, that's me."

She winced as she smiled, "Please, drop the ma'am, you make me feel like my mom. I understand you may be interested in the PT supervisory position?" I nodded. "So tell me about yourself Calvin. Is it okay if I call you Calvin?"

We'd been talking nearly an hour when she leaned forward, "If your credentials can validate everything you've just told me I can say without a doubt the job is yours if you want it. I'll have no problem convincing the board once they see your credentials. If and when that happens, I mean you providing me with verification of what you've told me, we'll sit down and talk salary with benefits."

I smiled even though I wasn't sure I actually wanted the job. That is until I heard a voice that sounded like mine which stated.

"I can have that information to you by tomorrow afternoon. My present employer already knows I may retire, moving here and working another few years won't matter to him. I'll contact him and have a copy of my employment file and credentials sent to you."

She handed me a business card, Gwen Saylor, and then sat back. "I can see the gears in your head trying to figure out how someone as young as me can be an administrator. I can assure you I meet all the criteria academically and have bona-fides to prove my worth at this position. I don't have a rich uncle who bought my way in, nor did I get the position by sleeping with half the board. I am what some refer to as, "batting for the other team", my partner and I have been together over ten years. She's a loan officer at our local bank. Will there be an issue with that if you decide to accept the position?"

I was laughing softly as I looked her in the eye, "I have to say, I like your upfront attitude. And frankly, I don't care who you show your underwear. If you're happy then what does it matter? And before you ask. I'm divorced, the reason isn't relevant, I'm not presently in a relationship nor am I looking to be."