Shame, Shame, Shame!

* * * * * *

Betty

A little more than six weeks had passed since the concert. Four weeks had passed since Colton had fired me. I didn't mind him firing me. But I did mind the particular amount of glee he took in doing it. He called me bright and early one morning and asked me to come in for a meeting. It was near the middle of the summer and with less than two months before the start of the next school year I'd been hearing that they were looking for more teachers.

I'd dressed up for the meeting. I was sure I was due a dressing down and a warning to keep my nose clean and a speech about how I represented both the town and the school so I had to maintain a professional attitude. He walked in sat down and smiled at me.

"It is both my pleasure and my duty to inform you that as of this moment you are fired. That's EFF EYE ARR DEE fired," he said.

"That isn't the correct spelling," I said.

"Fuck spelling. Just hit the bricks," he said.

Since then my life had gone further and further into the toilet. I applied at the only other high school in town. They wouldn't even interview me. I took a step downwards and applied at both middle schools. I got one interview bit it seemed more out of curiosity than serious interest. I applied at the elementary school and wasn't even considered.

I googled the schools within a fifty mile radius. I was working my way through them alphabetically. I had made it all the way up to the G's with no luck so far.

Beside that the divorce seemed to be progressing at an alarming rate though I'd done everything I could to slow it down. I'd been giving Danny his space but I missed him so much that I was always in a crappy mood. I stalked him from time to time but he never went out.

Even worse was that the only person besides my dad and the guys in his band to even visit him was Greg's wife Amanda. I was sure the two of them were getting together to share divorce tips. Just two lonely people commiserating over their mutual sadness. It was a sadness that I had caused. I had taken one of the most caring and dynamic men I knew and turned him into a hermit.

My son had virtually erased me from his life. I almost missed his eighteenth birthday party. The only reason I made it was because of Danny. He proved again exactly why I loved him. He called me and told me to get my ass over there. No matter what Jordan had said it was still his house and he wanted me there.

I dressed for Danny. No one else mattered. When I got to the party there were at least forty people there. Ten minutes after I arrived, the only people left were Danny, Jordan, my parents and me.

"Great job Mom. Way to clear a room," said Jordan. "Thank God, you got here. There were far too many people here. If you hadn't shown up, we'd have been forced to have fun and have a good time. Jeezus, we'd have had to share the cake."

He ran upstairs and my parents left. I tried to make small talk with Danny, but it was so hard. Every time I looked at him I ached. I missed him so much. But when I looked into his eyes, I saw only pain.

That was a week ago. Today I'd gotten the triple whammy. I'd started out by being dismissed from two interviews at separate schools without any kind of serious consideration. Then I'd had to go in and approve the final divorce papers. So by the time I'd gotten home I was pretty low.

When my dad got home and threw his briefcase across the floor, I could tell he was pissed too. Apparently Danny was still hooked on me. Seeing me upset at the divorce meeting had upset him. He hadn't gone back to work and my dad had set up some sort of impromptu meeting. He'd needed Danny there to explain some of the technical crap. So Dad was already upset when he'd walked in.

"You really need to get control of yourself," he said. "I think everyone is kind of tired of this dying swan routine. I guess you're expecting me to blow sunshine up your ass and get all emotional like your mom does. But this is your fault. You caused this shit and now you want everyone to wipe your ass. Get with the real world. Give the guy a break."

"Daddy you don't know anything about the real world," I snapped. "You still live in the sixties."

"No matter which world you live in, survival is based on resources," he said. "For all of your life before you met Danny, I supported you. While you were in college acting like some sort of amateur prostitute, I figured that you were trying to find yourself like a lot of people during the sixties."

I just stared at him. I had no idea that he knew anything about what I'd done.

"I didn't say anything because you kept it away from home and I hoped you'd grow out of it. You've always been my little princess, even when you were a whore. But I was feeling pretty bad, Honey. I was spending forty thousand dollars a year on college for you. That's a hundred and sixty grand. You turned out to be a high school teacher in a small town. You made twenty two grand a year, before you fucked that job up. On that kind of money you wouldn't have been able to support yourself without a serious downgrade in your lifestyle. If you'd even considered paying me back for college it would have taken you close to two hundred years."

. "But then in your last wasted year of college you did something amazing," he said. "You didn't find yourself. You found Danny. Over-night you fell in love with him and gave up being a slut. You also gave me someone who could help advance the company. And a short time later you have me a grandson who'll eventually run things. You had it all, Honey, but you fucked it up. You did that. You put your slut suit back on and broke his heart."

"Can't you see that you're tearing him apart? Stop quibbling over pennies. Let him go. Let me explain something to you from the real world. If I had to hire another manufacturing director, I'd have to pay him at least twice what I pay Danny. And that's IF I could get him to come to this Podunk town. If I had to have another QC director, I'd have the same situation. Then I'd have to deal with conflicts between them. Danny does both of those jobs and I pay him like he's my son. So whatever you want in the divorce just let him go and I'll pay you. It'll be cheaper and easier than replacing him."

"Daddy this was never about money," I screamed. "I've been delaying things because I want my husband back. The reason this is so hard on everyone is because he still loves me. And I can't let go because I love him too."

We yelled at each other for a while longer and then I just left. I ended up in this bar, just trying to get away and think. As soon as I sat down someone took the stool next to me. Without even looking I told him.

"I'm not looking for companionship," I said sharply.

"Being your companion almost ruined my life," he said. "It cost me my job, my band, all my friends and ALMOST cost me my marriage."

I looked up and saw Greg. He looked like hell. But he managed a wry smile.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked glumly.

"I have a chance," he said. "No divorce. She's letting me come home, if I want to."

"Of course you want to," I said.

"I really do," he said. "But she's making it hard on me."

"I'd do anything for a chance like that," I said with tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Don't be so sure," he said. "First I had to sign a contract with her lawyer that If I ever cheat again, she gets every penny we have and I have to walk away with nothing."

"I'd do it," I said.

"She's been fucking some guy," he said. He was almost crying. He had to choke out every word as if they hurt coming out of his throat. Clearly the thought of his wife having sex with another man was painful for him. I think he understood Danny's pain a lot more viscerally then.

"I know that she wasn't lying because she showed me pictures," he sobbed. "She did all of the things that you and I did, with him...Well except for the pissing and spitting and the disgusting stuff. She even gave him her ass. She only let me try that once and I didn't get in. She said he was better in bed than I am. She said he was more patient and he made her feel special. Can you believe that? I've been married to her for all of those years but someone else makes her feel special."

I could see how badly this hurt him. "She made me...." his voice broke. "She tricked me into...she invited me over to talk. She was only wearing a robe. We were talking about getting back together. Her legs were apart and I could see her pussy."

"She told me that she was so wet it was painful. She asked me if I wanted to feel it. She spread her legs and I did it. I stuck a finger in her and she was wet. She told me to lick her juices off of my finger to see what I'd been missing. I knew we were going to fuck. So I stuck my fingers in my mouth and sucked them. She just smiled at me."

"See we still have a lot in common," she said. "We both like the taste of his cum." She spread her legs further and I could see it running down her legs. Then she made me watch a video of her sucking this guy's dick. She stuck her tongue out so I could see it. Then she told me that if I want to come back we probably wouldn't ever have sex again, but that she could go and fuck this guy whenever she wanted to. I also have to earn my way back. I can come home but I have to sleep in the garage. I have to find a job ASAP and I'm only allowed to go to work and come home."

"Holy shit!" I said.

"That's not all," he said. "This is where I need you. I have to find Danny and apologize to him. And I have to offer to let Danny have sex with Amanda for revenge if he wants to. I have to basically beg my best friend to fuck my wife. But if I go near Danny, he'll try to kill me. He hates me now. Can you help me?"

"You're willing to do all of that? You'd put up with it?" I asked. He just nodded his head. He was a totally broken man.

"I would too," I said. "I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.

* * * * * *

Epilog

Danny.

The day we signed the final divorce papers was bittersweet. On one hand, it meant an end to all of the drama and a chance to put all of that pain behind me. On the other hand seeing the pain on Betty's face reminded me of two recent conversations I'd had.

When I'd spoken to Amanda the previous afternoon, yes we were still sleeping together, she'd told me a few things that I didn't know. Amanda thought that I should take some kind of draconian measures like she had and then take Betty back. She was sure that Betty loved me very deeply. She explained some things to me that I'd been wrong about. When Betty and Greg had talked about the boring people, they weren't talking about us. It turned out that neither of them really liked their jobs very much. The boring people were actually their bosses and co-workers. She showed me something on my own evidence tape that I had never noticed. While Greg and Betty were fucking, every time she had an orgasm, and several other times she called him Danny. Amanda was sure that Betty would never risk losing me again. But I wasn't buying it.

The second conversation I'd had was with Greg. Amanda had told me to expect him. But even knowing he was coming didn't make it easier to talk to him.

"Danny, I'm so sorry man," he said. There were tears in his eyes. And he spoke from the heart. He seemed like a different person. After he apologized he bit his lip and started talking again. "Danny, I'd do anything to make this up," he said. "So if you want to....I mean I know she's not your type. But you can stop by and have sex with Amanda if you want to." He looked like he was eating a turd as he said it.

"No thanks," I said.

He started telling me things about her that I already knew, like how big and soft her breasts were. He got down on his knees and started begging me to just drop by and fuck her any time I wanted to. "No thanks," I repeated. I just couldn't take away any more of his pride away. And the thought of telling him that I'd done things with his wife that he not only hadn't, but probably would never have the chance to do, was too cruel. I wasn't the kind of person to kick a man while he was down.

He nodded and walked away, but then turned and came back. "Danny, do you think there's even the slightest chance that you and I....?"

"Never," I said sharply. Again I saw real pain there, but he tried one more time.

"Danny, you should really think about giving Betty another chance," he said. "I know we did what we did and it was a big mistake. But that woman loves you. She always has.

It also turned out that John was more or less responsible for Greg getting fired. John had felt bad about us ostracizing Greg. He'd confided in his minister who'd told him that we were doing the right thing. The minister had then told a few of his most pious church members including Greg's boss and Betty's principal, the rest was history.

So as we signed the papers that made us, for all intents, single. Betty's pain touched me.

"Dinner?" I asked.

"Me?" she asked back. I nodded.

"Yes, please," she said.

As we waited for our food she looked at me. "Okay explain," I said.

"Explain what?" she asked.

"You kept telling me that you wanted to explain things. I loved you with every bit of my heart. So I'd kind of like to know why we fell out of love," I said.

"We didn't Danny," she said. "I still love you and I always will." She spent over an hour giving me a tear filled explanation that was very close to what Amanda had already told me she'd heard from Greg."

Her tears and her pain affected me again so I tried to let her down easy.

"Betty, we have a son together so we're always going to be around each other," I said. "And I'm always going to love you too. We need some time apart. Then we need to date..."

"I'm ready to date now," she said.

"Betty, I was about to say that we needed to date other people," I said. "We need to let all of the hurt and the pain of our divorce and the reasons for it have a chance to heal and then we can try being friends."

"I don't need to date anyone," she said. "Never again. I don't need any other men. Can we just cut to the friends part?" I just looked at her and smiled.

"And can we be the same kind of friends that you and Amanda are?" she asked coyly.

I just looked at her. "I could tell by the way that Greg described what Amanda told him about the way the guy she was having sex with made her feel," she said. "He's too stupid to figure it out."

"Well I need some time," I said. "So I'm going to go out on some dates. Besides I already accepted a date from a lady I met."

"But after that we can start our friendship right?" she asked. I got the idea that she was expecting more than just friendship.

"I guess," I said.

"Good because, I'm going to friend the shit out of you," she said. "I'm warning you, once I get you uhm "friending me," you won't have the energy to "friend" anyone else."

"I do feel kind of guilty about Amanda," I said.

"Right," she said. "It would be a shame, shame, shame to mess up someone's family, when you can have your own."

"But I'm still going to date..." I began.

"Uh huh?" she said. "It doesn't matter. Once I get you back between my legs no one else will even register. Just like before. As a matter of fact we'll probably end up married again. But this time it's going to be even better. I'm not going to work. I'm going to spend all of my time on us."

"But I'm still going to..."

"Uh huh?" she said. "I'm thinking you only need one or two dates with her. Any more would be a waste of our time. Where'd you meet her? What's her name?"

"I met her at the concert," I said. "She's tiny, but she's really pretty. She has all of this long honey blond hair. Her name is Rhonda and..."

She stopped talking and her mouth dropped open.

"Oh God, please, no..." she said.

The End.

* * * * * *

Does this story feel over? It feels like there's a cliff hanger or one more scene. What happened next? Well guys and dolls this one is up to you. Right now you're already thinking about what you'd like to see happen. And it's probably far better than anything I could write. The BTB guys probably see Greg not being able to ever find a job and Amanda keeping him under her thumb forever. They probably see Betty's uterus falling out and her discovering a live hand grenade with the pin already out of it and Danny's fingerprints on it. The Reunion people probably see Danny and Betty getting back together again. I'll bet the people who read a lot of my stories probably know how I'd end it. But the point here is that the ending is all in your mind. However you want it to end, it does. See ya next week. SS06