Seduction Ch. 03: Romance

"Or, option B, you could decide to live in the real world. I sent you an audio file of your lover talking about some woman to his friends. I recorded it so we can have a laugh about it, as it was so ridiculous. Of course, I didn't know he was talking about you. Don't listen to it if you decide on option A. In this option, you cheated on your loving husband, a man who always gave you anything you wanted, to live out a romantic fantasy. You get to keep your house, since you inherited it from you grandmother, but won't have enough money for all the restaurants and vacations we used to share.

"If you go with option B, I recommend you hurry to the pharmacy and buy the morning-after pill. Being a single mother in the real world will really suck. Especially since, when you look at your child, you won't be recalling the love of your life. You'll be reminded of the man who seduced you; the man for whom you betrayed a husband who thought you were the love of his life. On the plus side, you'll have plenty of companionship. Word will get around as to why you divorced and lots of single and even married men will offer to ease your loneliness for a night or two.

"If you are looking for an Option C, where we get back together, with or without your love child, well, that just isn't going to happen.

"DAMN YOU! I've dreamed about the day when I would be with you in the delivery room, and you would smile at me and hand me our baby. OUR baby. That's the most precious gift a woman can give a man. You decided to take this gift, which you promised to me, and give it to a fucking stranger, whose real name you don't even know. You wanted to take something I would treasure above everything else for the rest of my life and give it away to a man who just wanted to fuck you for one night. That's how little you think of me. Short of pulling a gun and shooting me, I can't think of a worse betrayal. In fact, I would have preferred that."

"Please, honey, I made a mistake. I'll take the pill."

"Oh, it was the mother of all 'mistakes.' It was a mistake that was weeks in the planning, when at any time you could have remembered that you loved me. But you never did."

I stand up and sigh. "Look, Cheryl. I still have to go on that trip. I changed my ticket to this afternoon, so I need to get ready to go. I'll take a shower, and you can bask in the warm feeling of having Reynaldo's come in your pussy a little longer. Then I'll just leave. I'll get to the airport a few hours early, but frankly, I'd rather be there than here. When I get back, I'll see a divorce lawyer. I suggest you talk to Susan. I never knew, but, apparently, she went through something like this, and can probably give you some good advice on getting through a divorce. Goodbye."

I take a shower and get dressed in the guest room. I leave without even looking in her direction.

Well, dear reader, this is where I pause and let you think about where this should go. The BTB case is pretty obvious. She goes for option C, of course, but he refuses to even talk to her, and they get a divorce. She gets approached by a lot of men who figure she is an easy lay. Finally, she moves to another town. There she meets and marries a good man who treats her well, but she can never stop comparing him to Bob, and they fall apart. She stays single, and ends up living in a house full of cats.

When word gets out that Bob is now single, a line of women vie for his attention. After enjoying the life of a bachelor for a few years, he meets and falls in love with a young widow with a small girl. They marry, showing that Bob is not averse to raising another man's child conceived in love. A year later, his smiling wife hands him two identical baby boys, and his life is complete.

Is there another option? We see two people who are still in love and have the potential to have a happy marriage, but it's hard for me to come up with a reconciliation scenario that even comes close to being believable. So, I'll just step back and let the characters loose and see what they do. Maybe they'll figure something out; they can be full of surprises. But if you don't like their ending, don't blame me. I went with the house full of cats.

Cheryl

As Bob walks past me to go to the guest room, my brain is screaming, "No! This isn't the way the story goes!" My mind is in a fog, but it begins to clear and I realize that my whole world has just turned upside down.

After I manage to pull myself together, I remember Bob said he sent me a text. I go to my nightstand and find my purse with the cellphone in it, thinking how clever I thought I was to leave it behind. I listen to several angry voicemails, telling me he's coming home and I'd better be there. Why had I never even bothered to check my phone? There's a text message with an attachment, but I can't bear to listen to it alone.

I run to Susan's house. I really need a friend now. I'm out of breath as I ring her doorbell.

"Susan, please, can I come in?"

"Of course, Cheryl. My God, you're a mess. I take it you talked to Bob."

"He's going to divorce me! He's going to get a lawyer as soon as he gets back from his trip. He told me you might be able to help me. I'm sorry, I haven't even taken a shower -- I just had to talk to someone right away."

"So, were you with the guy you told me about a couple of months ago? The one you promised not to see again?"

"I'm sorry I didn't listen. God, I was so stupid. You told me then that you had cheated and gotten divorced. But you two are back together. Do I have a chance?"

"I don't know, Cheryl. Bob is not Jim, and I'm sure what I did was different, although you would have to go a long way to beat me. I was divorced for two years. Bob told me he overheard your lover talking about his date that night, although he didn't know it was with you. Did he tell you what he heard?"

"He recorded it and sent me the file, but I haven't listened to it."

"Well, let's listen to it."

As we listen to the recording, I feel myself get weaker and weaker. Everything he did was a lie! Every time he smiled at me, he was really laughing at how gullible I was! When he called me a slut and all his friends laughed and congratulated him, I collapse in shock.

Susan puts her hand on my shoulder. "Look, Cheryl, this is an important part of your healing process. Yes, he played you for a fool. But you'll never get over it if you're still carrying a torch for that bastard. Now you see what your hero really is -- he cheats on his wife, seduces married women and cares for nothing but his own pleasure. Keep this firmly in your mind. Else you can drift back to longing for the dashing Reynaldo." Susan pauses, drops her eyes and speaks in a lower voice. "That happened to me. Even after I knew what a bastard my seducer was, I couldn't keep away from the fantasy."

She looks up again. "Cheryl, you really identified with the girl in the book. Did you really feel you were in a loveless marriage?"

"No, but Bob was so romantic before we were married, and he stopped afterwards. He treats me well, gives me anything I want and takes me with him on trips whenever he can. But I felt there was something missing."

"Hell, Cheryl, I have no idea what you thought you were missing. Well, tell me about your date last night. Was it everything you wanted?"

"Susan, I have to admit it was incredibly romantic. I took the afternoon off and bought this dress. I've never worn anything so short. Then I went to the beauty parlor and had my hair and nails done. I drove home and got ready. He picked me up just before seven in a fancy sports car. We drove to an Italian restaurant. At the valet parking, the attendant opened the door for me, and I noticed him admiring my bare legs as I stepped out. It was such a turn-on! We got to our table and ordered drinks. As I looked at the menu, I realized it was the same restaurant Bob had taken me to six months ago when I got my promotion.

"Reynaldo took the menu away from me and ordered in Italian. The sommelier brought a bottle of red wine and poured it, and we clink glasses as he whispers, 'To lovers.' Then a man came by with flowers, and Reynaldo bought me a rose. His fingers brushed against mine as he handed it to me and I felt myself shivering.

"After dinner, he drove us to a hotel and we went up to the penthouse. I hardly noticed the room, though, as we were all over each other. In the morning, he said he had to get ready to go back to Italy, and called me a cab. We had a passionate kiss and I went home."

"Okay, now let's talk about the time Bob took you to that same restaurant. When did Bob invite you on that date?"

"I got my promotion on Tuesday, and he invited me that night to go out on Friday."

"What did you do to get ready for it?"

"Well, nothing. I mean, it was just Bob. We go out a lot."

"But this was special, wasn't it? I mean, it wasn't one of your usual places, and you were celebrating. But you just wore the clothes you had on for work. When he drove you there, did he valet park?"

"He wanted to, but it cost $15.00! Plus tip. I insisted he self-park. It's only a short walk."

"So, you didn't get turned on by the valet admiring your legs. But then, you were wearing slacks, weren't you? Did Bob buy you a rose?"

"When the flower seller came to our table, before Bob could speak, I told him no."

"Did Bob order for you?"

"He tried once, early on, but I told him I would rather order myself. Instead, we would discuss what we were going to have, and sometimes he would order something he knew I would like so I could have a taste."

"That sounds more romantic to me. When you got home, did you have sex?

"I suppose so. I mean, we have sex about three times a week. It's always good; he's a very considerate lover."

"So, think: did Reynaldo do anything Bob didn't do, or want to do? Yet your date with Reynaldo was one of the highlights of your life, and your date with Bob was just ho-hum. If both men acted the same way, who acted differently?"

Tears stream down my cheeks. "Susan, I'm such an idiot. I thought Bob stopped being romantic after we married, but he didn't! I just stopped responding. I mean, if he buys me an overpriced rose, he's using our money. I feel like I'm the one paying for something frivolous."

"Cheryl, romantic gestures are often frivolous. No woman would be happy if her husband gave her a vacuum cleaner for Valentine's Day, but would be happy with flowers which will die in a few days, or chocolates which she shouldn't eat anyway. But he does other things that don't involve money. Didn't you tell me he brings you breakfast in bed every Saturday morning?"

"Yeah, but he does it every week. I guess I came to expect it."

"Oh, so you would rather he did it less often? Is it always the same?"

"No, he tries to vary it -- sometimes buying something special, or trying a new recipe. Or he might pluck a flower from the garden, or cut out a funny article from a newspaper or magazine."

"Let me tell you, Sister, I love my husband more than anything in the world. I wouldn't trade him for anyone. But he doesn't do half of what Bob does. You go ask all your other married friends. Tell them all the things Bob does for you and ask them if they think he's unromantic. You dismissed all the things Bob did out of love, but you went gaga over the things Reynaldo did just to get in your panties. You were missing romance? Bob has been trying to romance you for your whole marriage and you never even noticed!"

By now I'm bawling uncontrollably. "Susan, please stop," I sob. "I can't take any more."

Susan hugs me, and I cry on her shoulder. As I calm down, she says gently, "I'm sorry Cheryl. But I tell you the worst is yet to come. I can't tell you how many times I cried myself to sleep. And I had to deal with a pregnancy at the same time."

I feel myself blanch. "I didn't tell you the worst part. I stopped taking my birth control pills. It's possible I'm pregnant, too."

"Oh, my God. And you won't know who the father is?"

"I'm not sure I'm pregnant, but if I were I would know. I haven't had sex with Bob since my last period. I kept him away since I wanted to have a child with Reynaldo. In the book, the heroine gets pregnant and her husband thinks it's his. That way she always has a piece of her lover with her. The worst thing is that Bob read the book and figured out what I was trying to do."

Susan stares at me for a full minute. "Cheryl, you know I love you dearly. I told you that you would have to go a long way to beat me, but I think you did. I know that in romance novels, everything always works out in the end. But this is real life, kiddo. The night I cheated I tried my best to make sure he didn't get me pregnant. The only reason I'm still with Jim is that I had the fetus tested as soon as possible and proved it was his. If it wasn't, I would have aborted it. It would have been my only chance to get back with Jim, and I would not have wanted to have that bastard's spawn anyway. Wait here."

After a few minutes she came back with her daughter in her arms. She says, "Jim was watching Hope, but I sent him to the pharmacy to buy you a morning-after pill. You're in no shape to drive, and I don't want to leave you alone. You may have only a small chance to get back together with Bob, but it will be none at all if you have your fantasy baby. This baby won't have the genes of the hero in the novel. He won't have Reynaldo's genes either, because both are fictional characters. He'll have Seymour's genes. Cheryl, a modern woman will only have a few children in her lifetime. Do you want one of them to be like Seymour?"

I look up and see Hope looking at me. "Mommy, why is Aunt Cheryl crying?"

I reach for her, and Hope comes into my arms. I hug her and say, "Aunt Cheryl did a very bad thing and she's crying because she's sorry. But look at you! You are growing up so quickly!"

"Yes," she says. "Mommy says I'm going to be tall like Daddy!"

Susan can see the tears welling up in my eyes as I realize what I was denying not only Bob, but my baby as well. She takes Hope back and says, "Cheryl, go home now and take the most thorough shower you can manage. Wash your hair, douche, brush your teeth -- get every trace of that guy off your body. Get rid of that dress and anything else you bought for your date. Take off your nail polish. Throw away that damned book, and anything he gave you or has any special meaning attached to him. Get rid of everything that might remind you of him. Then come over at noon. I'll fix lunch, and after I put Hope down for her nap, you, Jim and I will have a nice long talk. And you really need to think long and hard about how you let it get this far. Now, go!"

I walk into my empty house and up to our, I mean my, bedroom. I take off my dress and think, "I wouldn't let Bob spend $10 of our money on a rose to make me happy, but look at how much of our money I spent to betray him." Susan's right. I have to get rid of everything that reminds me of that bastard. The dress and black clutch purse will go to Goodwill. I see myself in the mirror, dressed in the new sexy lingerie that Bob will never see, and sob as I take it off and throw it into the trash. I find my copy of that stupid romance and the rose Reynaldo stole for me which I had pressed between the pages where Jacques bought a rose for Genevieve. I throw them in the trash, too. I look at my nails, and admire how nice they look. I had not gotten a professional manicure since we got married. I realize I can't get mad at Reynaldo, I mean Seymour, for calling me a slut. I certainly acted like one.

I clean myself as thoroughly as I can, and dress in sweats. I lie in bed, but I can't even begin to think how I could have done what I did. It started out as a game -- a little role-play. A couple of hours a week when I could live out a fantasy. When did it stop being a game? At noon, I walk over to Susan and Jim's house. We have a nice lunch, and after Susan comes back from putting Hope in bed for her nap, she says, "Okay Cheryl, let's talk.

"I told Jim all I know about your affair. I figured you wouldn't want to go through it again. He had some interesting thoughts. Jim?"

Jim takes my hand. "Cheryl, I've known you and Bob for years now. You've always struck me as a level-headed person. But your behavior was not rational. I never told Susan, but after we were divorced, I saw a psychiatrist. He helped me a lot. I think you should see him. This is not about bringing Bob back. You need to do this for yourself. You need to explore your obsession and your self-destructive actions.

"I honestly don't know if Bob will ever come back. He may not even want to ever see you again. I'll talk to him, since he's my friend too, but I'm not going to try to influence him one way or the other. So, you do have a line of communication, but use it sparingly. The first thing you have to do is figure out what led you to this point. Then maybe you can become the kind of person he would even want to see again."

I thank him, and he gives me a business card. "I'll call him on Monday. But, please, can you give me some guidance here? After all, you got back together again. How did you do it?"

Sue and Jim look at each other for a long while. Finally, Jim sighs and says, "Go ahead. She needs it."

Sue looks at me and says, "Cheryl, this is still painful for me -- for us, really. It seems we are perfectly happy, but we lost something three years ago. Back then, we both would have sworn that I would never cheat on Jim. Then I did. Today, I'm even more sure than ever that I will never cheat. But I can't be sure that Jim feels that way. We lost that confidence because I did something worse than just cheat.

"My story starts just like yours. A handsome man named Jack started chatting with me at lunch. Over a period of months, we grew closer. Jim was supposed to be out of town one Friday night, and I went out on a date with Jack. Jim found out about it before the date. So far, my story is about the same as yours.

"There were some big differences, though. For over two weeks, you were planning to have sex with your lover. On the other hand, as I was leaving on my date, I would have sworn that I was going to have dinner, dance and nothing else. Jim was afraid that if he accused me of cheating, I would have denied that anything else was going to happen, and been angry that he didn't trust me. So, he followed me on my date, and waited until Jack was in my house, had me down to my panties and was playing with my breasts before he stopped us."

"You didn't actually cheat? I thought you said you did even worse than that."

"Cheryl, what I did was cheating. I had surrendered myself to him. Jim found out about us by accident. If he hadn't, I would have spent that night with Jack. Then, I would probably would have had an affair with him that would have lasted for months. Jim was furious with me. I won't go into details, but it turned out that Jack was a master seducer who had an unbelievable track record when it came to seducing married women. After we learned that, Jim forgave me, and I promised to never see Jack again. Two days later I spent the night with him."

Susan starts crying, so Jim pulls her toward him, and she sobs into his shoulder. Jim says, "You see why this was so terrible. Marriage is based on trust. I was considering divorce, but she explained how she saw through all his tricks and would never fall for anything like that again. She swore to me that I would be the only man in her life. She cried as we made love that night, and all her emotions seemed so heartfelt that I accepted her promises without reservation. The very next day, she decides to fuck him. How could I ever trust her again?

"I filed for divorce, and moved out. I resolved never to speak to her again. But some weeks later, my lawyer told me that she said she was pregnant with my child. I insisted on proof that it's mine. A month later, she gave me a report of the fetal DNA, and I have mine tested, too. That's when I found out that she was carrying my daughter.