Shannon

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She looked into her coffee mug for a while. “I love you, Mike. I do very much love you. I guess that I’ve been slowly coming to the realization that my marriage was over. I just didn’t know what to do if I left Don. Hell, I guess he left me a long time ago in many ways. I’m tired of being a convenience for him. I won’t do that again for any man.”

I noticed for the first time that she wasn’t wearing her rings. Some time between supper and now they’d disappeared. She noticed where I was looking.

“They’re in my purse. I’m not going to wear that bastard’s rings any more. I seriously thought about flushing them down the toilet. Instead I think that I’ll just leave them in the apartment with a ‘Dear Don’ letter.”

“Do you mean,” I said, daring to hope.

“Yes, you silly old fart. If you want me, you’ve got me.”

Now it was my turn to cry and her turn to be the comforter.

We finally did get dressed. I drove her to her apartment. I helped her pack some suitcases and carried them to the car. I put the suitcases in the trunk, and we drove home.

Home. What a great word when you have someone to share it with. Someone who is wonderful.

The rest of that weekend was spent getting to know each other, in bed and out. I’d never been so much in love, and I allowed myself to believe that Shannon felt the same way. No one could be that good an actress.

On Sunday morning, Shannon delivered yet another of her surprises.

“Mike, have you ever tried anal intercourse?”

“Well, once or twice when I was a lot younger. But it’s not my preferred method of love making. Why do you ask? Have you tried it?”

“No. Never. Would you try it with me?”

I was quiet for a few minutes. Then I asked softly, “Darling, why are you asking this?”

“I have my own reasons. Just please believe that it’s important to me. Maybe just this once. OK?”

“OK. I’ll be as gentle as I can.”

I found some lube in the john, and it turned out that there were condoms in the night stand. I put one on. Shannon got on all fours, and I gently applied the lubrication to her anus and my penis. The condom was lubricated, but that lubrication presupposed that one’s partner would produce some of her own. Butt holes don’t do that.

As gently as I could, I introduced my penis into her. Shannon grunted a few times, her head buried in the pillow.

“Precious, am I hurting you? Shall I stop?”

“No, no. Keep going slowly.”

Gradually, I introduced nearly my full length into her.

“Are you all there now?”

“Yes.”

“Then fuck me. Please.”

I slowly stroked in and out of her. Gradually, the friction became slightly less and her grunts less frequent. I reached around to her clitoris, attempting to give her some pleasure of her own. She spread her legs slightly to ease my access.

“Oh, that’s nicer. Oh yes, fuck me. If only those bastards at work could see sweet, prim little Shannon getting fucked in the ass. Or most of all that son of a bitch Don. Keep on fucking me. I want you to come in my ass.”

The sight before me, the heightened friction of her anus, and the feeling of her sex proved too much for me, in spite of my concern for Shannon. I accelerated my manipulations of her pussy.

“Oh darling baby, I’m coming. Oh my sweet, dear little Shannon.”

“I’m coming, too. Oh Christ, here it comes!”

We both collapsed on the bed. I withdrew from her, careful to keep the condom on and intact. A kissed Shannon and hugged her gently. Then I went into the washroom to clean up.

When I returned, she was crying. Not with the huge racking sobs of two nights before. She was gently crying into her pillow.

I held her to my bosom. “Precious, please don’t cry. I’m so sorry that I hurt you. I’ll never do that again.”

Shannon smiled at me through her tears. “Don’t say never. And please don’t apologize. I came, didn’t I? And I’m not the kinky sort of person who could come when I’m in pain. Just give me a few minutes. I feel like I need a shower.”

When she returned from her shower, she looked a lot more like herself. She laid down beside me and put her head on my shoulder. I asked, “Now do you want to tell me what all this is about?”

“To be honest, I think that I just figured it out in the shower. Don has pressured me for years for anal sex. I refused for several reasons. To begin with, I had a very middle-class Catholic upbringing on the Prairies. Like a lot of good Catholic girls, I had trouble enough accepting that my genitals weren’t filthy, much less my anus. Then there was also the fact that I now know that I didn’t trust Don not to hurt me. Badly. He’d never have been worried about my needs, the way you are. I’m sure that anal intercourse with Don would have been pretty brutal. It would have been an asshole fucking an asshole!”

Shannon giggled at her joke. I was a bit taken aback at her choice of language. In the mouths of many women, those words wouldn’t have shocked me at all. I began to realize that I had to cut Shannon more slack. She had to develop her personality in ways that she’d never allowed herself to do.

She stopped laughing and looked at me more seriously. “The crying came because I realized that my marriage was now really and truly over. I had let you -- no, begged you -- to do the one thing that I’d never allowed Don to do. I’m no longer his in any way. I’m yours, and I proved that to myself with that act -- something I’d never have done with anyone else. I wasn’t crying about him, I was mourning the marriage itself.”

“He couldn’t always have been such a prick, or you wouldn’t have married him.”

“Looking back, I don’t know that I’ve ever really known him. Especially not when we met in university. You see, Don was a jock. Football and Rugby.” She smiled. “He had a bumper sticker on his car that said ‘It Takes Leather Balls To Play Rugby’. He was handsome and charming and had an incredible body. He was so different from any of the guys I dated in high school. And we seemed to have common interests. We were both business majors and did pretty well in school. We got married after graduation, moved into married students’ housing and took our masters’ degrees.”

Shannon looked at me with a very serious expression, perhaps verging on tears. “The problems started after we left school and both got jobs. At first, I made more money than Don did. I know that he was jealous, even though he denied it. Then, he found that he had a real talent for sales and landed the job he has now. That was when the traveling started, and we drifted apart even more after that.” Shannon looked into my eyes. “Now, I realize that I wouldn’t take Don back under any circumstances. I want you, not him or anyone else.”

We cuddled. Then, we made love slowly and gently. The regular way.

Since New Year’s Day fell on a Saturday, our company, like many others, observed the Monday as a holiday. I used the time to make some arrangements. I called a moving company and arranged for them to send a truck to Shannon’s apartment that afternoon. We didn’t need a very large truck, since Shannon had a limited list of things that she wanted to take. In addition to her clothes and personal items, there were only a couple of small pieces of furniture that had sentimental value to her.

My next call was to Howard Goldfarb, my lawyer. I explained the situation to him and waited for him to call me a silly old fart who’d gotten himself in over his head. To my surprise, he did not.

“Mike, I wish to hell that you’d waited until she had the goods on her old man. If he’s fucking around, as you suspect, she could take the bastard to the cleaners. Now, since she’s left him, I suspect she’ll get nothing.”

“Howie, she doesn’t need anything. She has a job, and anyway I make more than enough to take care of both of us. What we need is a divorce. Pronto. I’ll even pay the son of a bitch off if necessary.”

“You won’t have to do that, but I’ll need another opinion on just what the options are. I’m in business law, not family law. But one of my classmates in law school is the top family law guy in town. I’ll call him and get back to you, you old home wrecker.”

By that night, we had Shannon moved in. We were tired but extremely happy. Shannon had done as she’d said she would. She’d left her rings and her keys in the apartment and gotten the super to lock the place. I decided that we were much too tired to cook, so we went out.

We went to one of my favourite little restaurants -- Provence. It’s fairly expensive but well worth it. I’m afraid that we spent as much time looking at each other and holding hands as we did eating. We finished our meal and strolled home.

We went into the house and hung up our coats. As I turned away from the coat rack, I was almost knocked down as Shannon suddenly rushed into my arms. “Mike, I’m so goddam happy! I feel like you’ve saved me. How the hell can you be so wonderful? What did I do to deserve you?”

“Well, I can think of a few things,” I said.

Shannon gave me a little light punch to the cheek. “Get your mind out of the gutter, you dirty old man. I’m serious.”

“So am I, my little love. So am I.”

I unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down.

“Mike, what the hell are you doing?”

“Grab me, will you, you forward little minx! Now you’re going to get what you deserve.” I grinned at her. “Just relax and enjoy it.”

I removed her pants and took her right there, on the floor in the hallway.

“Mike, you’re raping me! Please don’t stop.”

Eventually I did stop, and we made our way upstairs. We got ready for bed. Shannon kissed me and laid her head on my chest.

“You are a rapist, you know. But you’re my rapist. Just don’t think of attacking anyone else.”

The next morning we went to work. I suspect that it may have turned a few heads when we came in together, but everyone knew that we’d been working together on a project. I supposed it was reasonable to assume that we might have met for breakfast, as indeed we had. In our kitchen.

Shannon went to her office and I to mine. We’d promised to meet for lunch, but when I got to the office there was a message waiting for me. It was from the president of the company. He requested my presence at lunch that afternoon. I called Shannon and told her what had happened.

“Gosh, I wonder what he wants,” she said, “the last time that he took someone out to lunch the security goons cleaned out their office while they were gone. I sure hope you’re not going to get fired.”

I grinned. “No chance. He probably just wants to be briefed on the new software. He’ll have to make a report to the board soon, and he’ll want to sound like he knows what he’s talking about.”

At noon, I showed up at the president’s office. His secretary took me into his office. I was taken aback. The chairman of the board was sitting on the chesterfield. Both Guy Lapointe, the president, and Henri “Hank” Poirier, the chairman, stood and shook my hand. At our company, everyone is on a first-name basis. But don’t let that fool you. There’s a real pecking order in spite of the seeming informality.

Guy said, “Mike, Hank, we’d better go. I have a reservation at Fenice, and you know that Luigi likes people to be prompt.”

Luigi was the maitre d’ at Fenice. He ran a tight ship, and people were willing to put up with his seeming crankiness because of the incredible food and service. We arrived at Fenice, and Luigi showed us to our table.

We made small talk over a round of drinks. After we’d placed our order, Hank turned to me.

“Mike, I’ll get right to the point. You may have heard that Joe Barnes is leaving the company. He has a great job offer in the States.”

I had heard something about that. Joe was the vice-president for development. He was a first-class engineer and a decent enough guy. I’d be sorry to see him go. Hank continued.

“As I said, I’ll get right to the point. Joe’s departure leaves a vice-presidency vacant. Would you be interested in the job?”

I was speechless. Is the Pope Polish? Of course I’d be interested, and I managed to stammer out some words to that effect. Hank had more to say.

“I’m glad. Guy and I think you’ll make a terrific vice president. Joe’s resignation technically took place at the end of the year, but he’s offered to stay on for a while to show you the ropes. As of now, you’re vice president of development. Let’s drink to that.”

I needed a drink. Boy, did I need a drink. I couldn’t believe it. A new year that brought a fantastic new woman and a great new job. I had to have an ass full of horseshoes.

After our toast, Hank said, “There’s more. You probably know that I’m looking forward to retirement in a year or so. It seems reasonable to assume that Guy will succeed me as chair. There’s certainly no one more qualified. That will leave the presidency open. As you know, it’s our policy to promote from within whenever possible. Anytime we’ve used a headhunter the result has been a disaster.”

Both Hank and Guy were grinning at me. I’m sure that I looked like a prize idiot sitting there with me mouth open. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Guy said, “Damned right, and this isn’t a snap decision. This old bastard and I have been talking about it for a long time, ever since Joe decided to leave. I thought that Joe would take over my job, and that you’d take over from Joe. His leaving has moved things ahead a bit. We think that, unless you fuck up royally between now and then, which, by the way, I consider highly unlikely, that you’re now the obvious choice to run the company. You sure as hell know our business, and you’ve shown that you’re excellent in working with people. Of course, you don’t have to make up your mind yet. We just wanted to be sure that you were thinking of it.”

Son of a bitch. All I could think of was how soon I could break it to Shannon. That and another drink. Mercifully, Hank ordered another drink.

During lunch, the two of them briefed me on some of the pending company business. Just after we finished our main course, my cell phone rang. The call display showed Shannon’s office number. I excused myself saying that I really had to take the call.

Shannon sounded out of breath. “Mike, what the hell is going on? I was joking before, but there’s a whole gang of guys here cleaning out your office. I asked one of them what’s going on. He said that you’re moving down the hall. You haven’t been fired, have you?”

I grinned into the phone. “Baby, are you sitting down?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You might not know this, but you’re shacked up with the vice president of development of Radius Software, Inc.”

“Do you mean...”

“Yeah, and there’s more. Do me a favour and make us a supper reservation at Scaramouche. We’re going to celebrate tonight. Big time.”

I went back to the table. Both guys were grinning at me. Guy said, “I guess Shannon was pretty freaked when she saw them moving your office, eh?”

“What the...”

“Oh come on. It’s been obvious to everyone but you and Shannon what was happening. When you two came back to work today making goo-goo eyes at each other, I collected on the pool. The whole management team was betting on how long it would take you two to get together. I won. New Year’s Eve, right?”

I nodded, speechless.

“I knew it. She’s a great girl, and her husband is a real asshole. My brother-in-law is his manager at Daytronics. I’ll bet that Shannon thinks Don is out of town at some sales convention or something.”

Again I nodded.

“Hell no. He’s shacked up at the 4 Seasons with a bimbo. She looks like a pro, but I think she’s actually a secretary or something. Here are some pictures.”

He threw them on the table. I assumed the guy in the shots was Don. He looked like a college jock who’d gone to flab. He was sitting in a restaurant, and there was a cheap-looking blonde all over him.

“How did you...”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The pictures are dated and certified. Give them to Howie Goldfarb with my compliments.”

I was astounded and also a bit pissed off. Was my private life common knowledge to all these people? How about Shannon’s privacy? If anyone else had seen these pictures...

Hank spoke this time. He seemed to be reading my mind. “Mike, believe me, no one but the people at this table has seen the pictures. And Guy was joking about the betting pool. There is no pool. Jacques Laroche, the head of marketing, just happened to be at the 4 Seasons restaurant the other day. He’d met Don at a party and recognized him. Jacques really likes Shannon, as does everyone who’s worked with her. At least that’s what I’ve heard, although I never had the pleasure. Anyway, it was Jacques’ wife’s birthday, so he had his camera along. He took pictures of Betty and the family and snuck in a few of lover-boy and the bimbo. Jacques and Betty are prepared to testify to that effect if need be. The manager of the hotel will also testify that Mr. and Mrs. Donald Peters were booked into the hotel all last week.”

“Jesus, guys, I’m really grateful. Shannon and I owe a lot to you. And to Jacques, of course. You two are the best. It will be great to work closely with you.”

We’d have a lot to celebrate that night.

Guy said, “Actually, Joe Barnes is out of town until next week, so he can’t work with you on the transition until then. Why don't you and Shannon take the rest of the week off? But I warn you, you’ve got to hit the ground running next Monday.”

When we returned to the office, we went to the upper-management area. On the door of the office next to Guy’s, there was a shiny new nameplate on the door. It read, “Michael Johnson, Vice President, Development.” A whole group of the staff were gathered in the reception area. They all applauded. Shannon grabbed me in a bear hug. She kissed me, and they applauded louder.

Shannon and I went home on a cloud that night. We got into our glad rags and headed for Scaramouche, which I’ve always felt is one of the best restaurants in the world. Shannon had never been there. She absolutely loved it. I vowed to myself to take her there at least once a week from now on. I have to give myself some credit on living up to that vow. I haven’t missed too many weeks in the years since.

That night we wined and dined and finished off the evening with a bottle of bubbly at home. It was the bottle that I’d originally meant for New Year’s Eve. I got out the Waterford crystal and lit the fireplace. I poured the Veuve Clicquot and presented Shannon with her glass. I’d waited until this moment to introduce the subject of the incriminating pictures.

“First, I’d like to toast our life together. May we have many wonderful years to come.”

We clinked glasses and drank.

“Now, another toast. Confusion to our enemies.”

I took the pictures from my breast pocket and put them on the coffee table. Shannon’s eyes got very big.

“Christ! Who the hell is that with Don? Where are they? When was this? Who took these pictures?”

“Darling, take a deep breath. First of all, the bimbo with Don is a receptionist or something at his company. Second, they were at the 4 Seasons Hotel here in town. That’s where he was when he left you the message that he’d be out of town for the next week. The pictures were taken by your boss Jacques. He’d booked a table at the 4 Seasons for his wife’s birthday and recognized lover boy, here. Now, I have a question for you. Do you know what this means? I don't mean the fact that ass wipe here has been lying to you and cheating on you for a long time. I mean do you know what this means to us?”

For a minute she looked as though she might cry. Then, she slowly began to smile. “It means...”

“Yes, it means that Don will never bother us. He’s toast. My lawyer, Howie, says that you don’t ever need to see him again. You’ll get your divorce quickly, and then...”

Shannon smiled at me. It was as though the sun had come out and the world was beautiful and new. Her smile had that kind of power.