All Comments on 'Should've Been'

Very disappointed in the ending. Otherwise well written as always.

That said, this one was... decent.

4 Stars.

He brags about his hot mustang and I figure he is destined to discover his wife is screwing around on him, but surprise, surprise his wife has been screwing around on him the whole time he was driving a BMW. When he found out however, he quickly did the right thing and traded for a mustang, the car of choice for all clueless cucks.

From reading these LW stories, if you drive a Stang, you had better hire a PI to check up on your wifey.

Wow, that seemed a lot more ... real... than most of your usual works, very deep emotional impact, as if they could be ordinary people. There's a lot of people like Aubrey, people disconnected from the world around them, not understanding that the steps they take through life have meaning the people they live and interact with. In life, there are few clean cuts, especially when kids come into play. Too many authors treat the kids like weapons with no emotions of their own, simply existing as tools for the revenge of the cheated husband, while the husband gives so little of a fuck about his kids that he'd treat them this way. Yes, often people do stay just for the kids. Sometimes that's healthy, and sometimes not.

Looks like this couple could make something of the former. A sad story, but one with a little hope in the ending, rather than some fantasy scenario where the dude rides off into the sunset on his trusty mustang with a hottie on his arm and millions in the bank.

...and just the right length. Normally don't care for reconciliation stories, but this worked for me.

Interesting. You have explained what no doctor has told me in many years of searching. Thanks!

Liked ths one a lot. As a person who was sort of fucked in the head when younger, glad to see you allow growth in this story.

The emotional damage we see in the comments section is there because it is allowed to continue. Embrace the pain and never let it go is what truly weak people do to themselves.

Fairly complex, some subtlety.

You realize, of course, that since the wife is not dead that we'll have to shut down the government?

A woman who thinks a Mustang is a 'monster'

is better than a woman who drives a Camaro!

5* (and some 'flat black' spray paint!)

You did give warning in the beginning, and due to that I was ready to hand you a 4/5 for a decent story with a useless main character, and then I hit the last few lines and yep another self cuck story with a main character that would never ever even remotely think about heading back to a useless cunt

1/5 for complete self cuck

I felt the reconciliation needed a bit more to be believable, though. More communicarion, more understanding, and more repentance. Without it, it devolved to "I'm not happy without her, so might as well go back to the cheating slut." I think she rruly was remorseful, but with his reasoning it didn't really matter.

Still deserving of a high score, though.

@Lickideesplit

My wife drives my Camaro occasionally. I love her even more than I love my car, and that's saying something. :P

I'd kill for a '68 Fastback 390 GT with Shelby mods, though...

This woman is the definition of a sociopath. Jake is a guy with low self-esteem (hence the mustang and the trophy wife) he people-pleaser, because he feels he has to be, to be accepted and loved. It is pathetic to call this a love story. This is a psycho drama about a sick and abusive relationship.

But I felt that Aubrey's character was too unbelievable.

Sorry, I prefer Burn The Bitch Stang. Bitches; male or female need to burn.

but Didn't, TK U MLJ LV NV

What a lame way to end a fucked up story. One of your worst! Did you fall and hit your head because this story is so unbelievable that you had to been hallucinating when you wrote it. She never told him the total truth about the depth of betrayal. And Steve never let the cat out of the bag - how feasible is that? Total bullshit!!!

For shit's sake! It is a freakin' story. Fiction. Written to entertain. And entertain it did. If you don't like it, if you don't like the direction it is going, there is a simple solution. Don't read it.

Definitely top drawer and well worth the five stars I gave it.

Well written and very engaging. I totally buy the reconciliation, at least from his perspective. She has changed and she does seem sincere. However, it sucks from the readers perspective, knowing she is still lying about her past. Five stars. Very authentic.

was a sick puppy that needs a leash and a master.I guess he volunteered.

I know you usually go for the BTB type of story which i thoroughly enjoy but this one in a while a fucked up romance story does it for me. Thank you for being able to write something different to your usual norm.

and I HATED it! It was the term "co-dependency". My mom (in counseling after my folks split), introduced me to it back in the late 80's. I guess being co-dependent on your spouse is supposed to be a bad thing. Funny thing was, the more she tried to re-interpret the counselor's interpretation in order to explain it to me ( a confused college kid in the early 90's), the more "co-dependency" sounded like "true love". The idea of needing your spouse to complete you, and not feeling whole without them. The idea that one part isn't as strong or capable alone without the two parts comprising the whole of the marriage. Shit, it made sense to me. But I guess, the reason why couples might choose to avoid developing "co-dependency", is after the inevitable split, neither has the "tools" to function to the best of their ability in the aftermath of divorce, and move on to another "healthy" relationship that won't be poisoned with lack of trust, and the stink of failure imprinted on their past. Hmm, but I thought the goal was to AVOID divorce, and do whatever it takes to make the marriage work. I suppose with some folks, that just can't happen, and divorce IS the only solution. I think that if you can recognize that you (as a couple) ARE "co-dependent" on each other, it might serve as a protective barrier, helping to insulate from outside interference. Or perhaps help to magnify the responsibility you have to the other person that you VOWED to be committed to "till death". I haven't read a Stangstar story in a minute, because well.....there was a sense of "sameness" I was getting out of them recently, and his attempts to break that mold only set up strange weird tales that just weren't compelling my interest. That said, I had ALWAYS enjoyed Stang's work in the past, always offering high praise, and voting high numbers. May be I just needed a break, and later I'll go back and rediscover some of his work that I missed. We'll see. But this simple (and blessedly brief) tale today, struck me as a return to the older style of Stang's work that I had been familiar with. But, then today, I finally had a revelation. Stang is a master of illustrating stories of "co-dependency", and sometimes it destroys souls, and sometimes it manages to save them. And today, I guess I figured out that the reason I always liked his stuff, is that at some level, his male leads always thought the same as I did when approaching marriage. Give it your all, and pray to God you won't be betrayed. JPB (for example), is a master of taking this genre and offering every slice of life, and differing viewpoints and varied approaches for his male leads, but Stang is always consistent. However this story is received by others, it stands out to me as a great example of the need to take responsibility for the circumstances, perhaps beyond your control, but taking ownership of the hardship and reinventing happiness. Thanks for bringing me back to you Stang!

Most of your recent stories, the MALE protagonist behaves as a sociopath: turning off his love quicker than a 68 Mustang burns through a gallon of gas.

In this one, I got a sense that he cared a LOT. That added dimension to him. Aubrey seemed a cypher who gradually turned into a loving wife...at least for him. (God save her kids...)

I also liked how you added a bit of verisimilitude at dealing with the REALITY of joint parenthood. Most recent stories have him hurrying off to some beach or desert where he is a happy beach bum, with nary a glance at his (conveniently) grown kids. This man was stuck and doing his best, just like a hundred thousand other dads.

Oops! Last thought! I LOVED the twist at the counselor's office: that she admitted that every time she said she loved him, she was lying! That caught me off guard but it made perfect sense from his perspective. However, he eventually treated this in what I consider a realistic manner: how did she treat him? Forget feelings and motives. His REALITY is love or not, except for some regretted infidelity, she treated him like gold.

Hmm....did Stang borrow a stock character from JPB? Well Bob has psycho wives to spare. He won't miss this one.

Refreshing.

Well written like all of Stang's work but as with nearly all RACC stories the ending just doesn't work. The biggest issue that hubby needed to get over to reconcile is trust and after all her countless lies and cheating, no explanation is given on how he could ever trust her again.

What don't I like? I tend not to enjoy stories told in the first person but by several different people. If you want to show the view point of all it's better to use a third person narrator. However, that is a purely personal point of view and no real reflection on the author.

What I did like, A hero with some depth. Jake was a man with more than a couple of brain cells and weighed up all his actions. He experienced more than one emotion, unusual in LW stories. He found himself loving his wife but hating what she'd done at the same time. I liked that constant tugging back and forth. It made Jake more real than the one dimensional cowboys I often see here.

Thank you for a fine story.

Aubrey was screwed up,Jake showed her kindness and love asnd she didn't feel it..until the shit hit the fan.Jake realizes that Aubrey had been screwed up and believed she did love him,but needed to finally see that she was the person he lived,after Audrey made clear she wanted only him.It is realistic,some people find that what they believed isn't always true and sometimes love dies win.This isn't raac,it is a man acting like a man,not a spoiled boy,and realizing love is a gift.

But I wasn't surprised nor angry--because you did warm me and you've been putting out semi-shitty stories anyway. But it really really suck'd. It's a RAAC cost story which I loathe. You have NOT WRITTEN a BTB story in quite some time. Your stories have become a little lame if not boring Compared to your old stories. Take this atrocious story, he's a loser wimp & she's a fucking slut. The end. he forgives & forgets all the shit she did.. I hope you do better next week. I gave you a nice juicy *

the wife caught a break. 5*s.

The story line didn't depend on stupid people constantly doing stupid things to carry the plot along.

Give everyone a brain and a little emotional self-control and I can actually say I like a Stang story. Most of the time I don't, like them that is.

the way the story started and was going i thought they would not get back togther. thank god cooler heads prevailed and they got back togther.

I enjoyed your story.

Thank you.

I really ALMOST Liked this story. The problem is that the author seems to have forgotten his own story. This was not a case of the wife / spouse cheating 1 or 2 times This was NOT the case of the wife had a 2 or 3 month long affair with ONE guy.

she cheated from the day they were married . And as read tis story JAKE has NO fucking clue she has always been a serial cheater.

therefore the reconciliation a sick fucking Joke

Enjoyable as ever your stories are, this one has a brush of reality that is almost scary. Thanks again for sharing with all of us out here and for your writing editor person. The thoughts are complete enough to not detract from the story line and still get the scene fleshed out and reveal easily missed details. Living life without sharing is never fun indeed. Life often turns out in ways that are just full of crazy results.

I don't care if it's BTB, RAAC or something in between, what matters is that it is well written and keeps my interest. You succeeded, keep it up.

You're surely right about this not being for the BTB fans. Still a good story. After reading a couple of your more recent stories I was beginning to feel that you were becoming burned out, but this one changed that. Thanks & Cheers!

I agree with you and that concept: that she HAD cheated several times but didn't reveal it, offended my sense of justice too.

However, one of the few benefits of multiple POV first person narrative IS the fact we can get into her head and KNOW...she will not cheat again. Or if she does, it would require as substantial a change in character as she had already experienced to actually learn how to love.

So, while it is offensive and a trifle dishonest on her part, it is also realistic, which adds depth to the story. Now...in principle she is playing with fire if Hubby finds out about a couple other guys. Marriage over. BUT...maybe she comes clean later. Maybe they never find out. Maybe he finds out and having offered 'amnesty' he wipes away those sins too.

Maybe the horse WILL sing.

... but I won't say that I completely hated it. I just thought the character, Aubrey, was somewhat contradictory. Not exactly the type that I would have figured you to use for a reconciliation story but "sil la vie". As long as you liked the story, that's all that really counts and what anybody else thinks is irrelevant. Really, when you think about it, if you try to please everybody all the time, you'll wind up just kissing a lot of ass.

So what's next?

He buys the chasity belt http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs18/f/2007/139/d/f/Chastity_Belt_by_dollhouse65.jpg

He buys the GPS anklet http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1443150.1378079909!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/shackle2n-2-web.jpg

He hires a PI to check up on her at random intervals.

He keeps tabs on her PC and mobile phone.

He knocks her up again, by the time kid #3 rolls around she will be a fat American landwhale http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/images/column/june2011/fatlady.jpg and he won't have to worry.

She's as bad as the Chinese whores I've done in Shanghai. At least there I know where I stand "fuckee suckee $200"

Personally I'd kick her to the curb, take the kid away from her, deny her visitation and publicize everything she did on the internet.

great story , tired of sad ones!!!

She fucked around on Jake many times, but got caught once. She was the luckiest person on earth to have the baby be theirs and not some other cock. He took her back because love is ignorant on purpose! He considered for a long time! Her mind is broke and she will cheat again now that he's back, but they love their child and maybe another, and God is her only hope when she gets caught! LOVE, go figure?

I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Stang's characters are just a little bi-polar because they react with extremes to most events in their lives. That said, not going to criticize the story for getting back together with his ex wife, but am a bit surprised that it took so long and why it took the foxy police woman to make him realize where he needed to be.

Women's motto is:

>>It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission!! <<

LEARN IT!! It is their creed!

That and that a little pussy will make you forget EVERYTHING?

This is not about burn the bitch.

It is about BETRAYAL and DECEPTION.

She was fucking the lawn guy for Heavens sake!

Could anyone short of Christ truly ever 100% trust her ever again? Hell no.

And there's your answer as to what you have to do.

Doing DQS1?

Well, okay - "The Dream Wife" was rather down beat as stories go. The basic plot ala SS6 has his car of course (tres amusant comment at the top of the commenters list about drifting wives and mustangs...) as well as fairly uncomplicated characterizations. Here, wife finds out she actually loves the protagonist early enough to make as difference whereas in DQS1-ville wife finds out she is chasing images of her ex long after it is too late.

Humm... well, I think I prefer DQS's treatment to be frank, but this one has the nice uptempo of say, "Quantum Entanglement" with somewhat more realistic characters.

I do like the bit more data on Serving Girl - I look forward to learning more.

Green-something

I am not a BTB only fan, but I have to say that this story disappointed me. One of the hallmarks of a StangStar tale is fairness to the wronged party. This one failed to hit that mark. This is not the first reconciliation story he has written, but it is the first one that I have real issues with.

What is the best way to describe Aubrey?

Sociopath.

“A sociopath is often well liked because of their charm and high charisma, but they do not usually care about other people. They think mainly of themselves and often blame others for the things that they do. They have a complete disregard for rules and lie constantly. They seldom feel guilt or learn from punishments.”

Sound like any characters in this story?

Throughout most of the story, she was thinking only of herself. Why did she really marry Jake?

“It wasn't like I really loved him, I still wasn't sure what love was, but we had a connection. It also meant that I wouldn't have to worry about having a job or any of that bullshit. I could have a good life and I wouldn't have to work. There was also the fact that even if it didn't last, if I could just hold on long enough, even if he divorced me, I'd do fine.” Aubrey’s own words about her husband.

Nice.

Jake made decent money, took her on many vacations, gave her everything she wanted. See any reason for cheating here? Not me. But here is her view on things.

“I had, since the beginning of our relationship occasionally had sex with other men.”

“I watched as a really well-built guy marched around our yard cutting and spraying the grass. I wanted him. I knew that Jake would never find out about it so it wouldn't hurt him. So I did it.”

What Jake doesn’t know won’t hurt him. In her own words.

Insecurity, perhaps? Nope. She had always been pretty (her words). Used her looks to get what she wanted, since work did not really appeal to her.

And then there is her affair with Steve.

“To keep him from telling Jake I had to give him some of what the lawn guy got. So I did it and felt nothing. I actually felt good about it because instead of just doing it to have sex I had done it to help my marriage. In a way it worked out because the guy had a history of cheating on his wife. He'd been caught a few times. It also gave me an outlet. So instead of risking getting caught with random guys, I had someone to call when Jake wasn't available.”

Felt good about being blackmailed, cheating with her husband’s friend, adding to her girlfriend’s pain? Even being talked into the proverbial “one last time” came after her epiphany about loving her husband. This is all there in the story.

That disconnect she had- lack of empathy. May not have been Stang’s intent, but it was how it came across. Sociopathic behavior.

He should have taken the child for its own good. She admitted she is going to be a shitty mother. And we know why.

Like a few others have mentioned, she did not come clean with Jake. It is this that primarily soured me on the story. Therapy is all about honesty. She intentionally kept Jake in the dark about her extensive cheating. While it was her lying about loving him that ultimately ended the marriage (and rightly so), the continued omission says that she has learned nothing. And we still have the ticking Steve bomb, someone with knowledge of her cheating. A few well placed words in an e-mail or voice message…revenge, perhaps? And she will be blown out of the water. Again. But this time for good. Think Jake will feel even worse than he did the first time?

How can he trust her? She learned that lying works. She may have actually come to love her man, but she had no real reason to cheat in the first place. Their “connection” wasn’t enough then, why should anyone believe that this “love” will be enough now? Or over the long haul?

With all that being said, I COULD have accepted a reconciliation IF she had come clean and he knew the whole truth. We know Jake loves Aubrey. If Aubrey actually loved Jake, she would have confessed all. Then we would know that she was truly selfless. Letting him go when she knew the baby would keep him around wasn’t selfless. Even trying to set him up with another woman wasn’t selfless- she knew her (ex) husband pretty well and could have guessed that he wouldn’t go for her.

My .02 cents.

Not very believable, especially the part where the Mousebang beats the Camero.

Get real!

I think it doesn't have to be about "anger and revenge" everytime.

Sometimes is good to have two people in love to get their happy end

5 starrs

I am also troubled by her continued lying in their counseling sessions, as others have already pointed out. It's just more of "what he doesn't know won't hurt him." On top of this, there is the well-worn plot device of throwing an "unexpected" pregnancy into the mix. It's sad for the child, who obviously had no control over his parentage, but his existence "saves" the marriage. In reality, I bet most men would have gone after the tall, aggressive, police detective, myself included. Three stars.

This one was different. I gave 5 stars 'cause it was a well written story but SS06 can't win...if Jack got together with the police officer, many would write "same as his other stories." Now that he stayed, it is dump the bitch.

OK, she was a bitch. We knew of all her affairs. Jack didn't. He only knew of the one affair, not all the others. That was what the reconciliation was based upon. The reader knew of all of them, Jack didn't. So he reconciled, move on to the next story.

I must complement SS06 on his character development of Aubrey. Being in healthcare and seeing mental and emotionally "challenged" people frequently, I see there are many people out there similar to her. It took until she was going to lose what she really wanted to make her "see the light." OK, she did and they both got what they wanted...she got to keep her loving husband; he finally got a faithful and loving wife. Maybe a longer epilogue or a chapter 2 describing her new outlook on love and faithful marriage would have helped.

Good writing SS06. You keep writing, I'll keep reading. I love your stories...!!!

This wasn't a sex story it was a human story with painful love. You did a great job. It is nice to have a happy ending for a change.

He only knew of the one case and therefore reconciliation was a strong possibility. The fact that we and of course , Aubrey know of the others does not change his reactions to the events. Therefore the story is well told and deserves five stars..

I have to admit that knowing what Aubrey knows of herself I really can not see them living happily ever after..

One thing is, that the child did not do anything to deserve living in a terrible home environment.

A great story, well written. I can personally relate to this story, I however will not take the bitch back.

but I liked it. She realized she loved him in the end. They had a child to love and he realized he still love her enough to get past her infidelity. What the fuck else do you BTB ass-holes want? Are all of you so perfect you cannot forgive someone their weakness when they still love you? Life is not even close to being all about ego and never forgiving someone you love because they betray you... Oh well, what the hell...just a story. Thanks Stang

Old Marine Vet

I wrote this short essay about SS06 to somebody in E-mail.

I discovered the healing up from a marriage with a cheating wife stories from a Sci Fi & Fantasy Author, Sirreadsalot10. His story "Outlander" was the first story where I enjoy the emotional rebirth with a new love with new woman. I found this very romantic and interesting. Unfortunatelly sirreadsalot10 stopped to write his fantastic Fantasy serial. I investigated him by Twitter that he lives luckily but he disappeared from the story websites (LIT and SOL). I hope he is writting his book to sell. Then I discovered SW_MO_Hermit on SOL and the next discovering was StangStar06. I wrote an angry feedback to SS06, that he punished his cheating wife too extrem, when I read "Circling the Drain". I wrote him the punishment did not fit the crime. He sent me the sequel story of "Circling the Drain", which was not published on SOL and LIT. I will not send his sequel to anybody (confidential). It is not reconciliation, but similar to my story end "Different Gyms Do Train the Body Better". I read the comment part of "Circling the Drain" and I guess SS06 writes Fable stories, excellent Fable stories, because who do not read according to Fable stories that reader can enjoy his stories too.

Some commenters wrote the husband did Federal felony to kidnapp their common children according to the USA Federal law and the FBI would begin to investigate them. This was the point when I understood SS06's stories are not True Life stories and I understood why Harry In VA was angry with SS06 for a long time.......Harry likes the almost 100% true life stories only, he does not like Fable, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Satire stories at all.

The central (Fable) idea of the most of SS06's stories is the loss of the cheating wife after cheating. This loss may be true life situation, sometime possibility of the seriouse consequences or total fantasy consequencies. After about 10-15 BTB stories he writes 1 reconcilation story SS06 tryes to show (also Fable stories) when the reconcilation is not wimp RAAC (Sometime he is succesfull sometimes not too succesful with these Reconcilation stories). Sometime he tries to write Mutuality stories when he shows the cheating is not cheating too, these sort of stories are Fable stories too.

considered acceptable behavior outside of your homeland of Albania.

This is one of your best stories.

I believe every one should get a second chance as life is tough and we are not all perfect.

As for Steve, well he did need to burn for initially blackmailing his bosses wife. The boss who gave him a chance to proof his worth in society.

Good story with emotional decisions.

keep up the good work.

I'll caution comment-readers, right at the outset, that this is going to be a long comment - so it you're looking to read quick 'slams' at Stang for this not being a BTB tale, look elsewhere!

I've read the story - twice! - and read all 57 (at this point) public comments, and it makes me wonder at the real intelligence level of the average Literotica reader. I can't believe how many people read this story, and missed out on the underlying 'truths' that Stang sprinkled into the mix.

Aubrey's Nature:

The 'nature' that an adult person has is largely a product of their experiences during their formative years. Aubrey was gorgeous, and even she considered it to be more a curse than a blessing, because people always mistakenly judged the type of person she was by her looks. Most girls aren't all that attracted to guys who fight over them, and - apparently - Aubrey was such a girl. And it's usually true, in the high school environment, that the sensitive, caring, intellectual types like Jake are the guys who believe that they don't stand a chance in hell of dating the loveliest girl in their class. Hence, Aubrey apparently didn't date until after high school. Even then, the guys all wanted one thing - sex. And, having made their conquest, they went on to the next 'notch' on their bedposts.

Aubrey also learned - early on - that a lot of men would give her 'goodies' in return for her attention, however paid. Teachers gave her good grades, despite her lack of work, in the hope of getting some sex from her. Later, she wound up working for bosses, and renting living quarters from landlords, who'd trade her sexual favors for continued paychecks or in lieu of rent, and the like. Essentially, she wound up being a rather poorly-paid prostitute.

Through all of this, whatever 'attentions' she got, from males, was aimed solely at getting into her panties, and whatever sex she had was lackluster and without love being offered in accompaniment. Hence, there was apparently never a time when Aubrey pursued a man - they were always pursuing her. But there was something different, about Jake, and she noticed it right away.

The Nature of Love (and Marriage Terror-py)

Marriage Therapy can be wonderful, or an absolute disaster - and that depends a good deal more on the mind-set of the therapist, than it does on the mind-set of the two people seeking the therapy. Therapists in this field come in two types - those who believe that marriage CAN work, and that Reconciliation IS possible, and those who believe that marriage - in general - is an outmoded, absolutely useless notion foisted on civilization by religious zealots. I've been through that mill, and I can tell you that the therapist that Aubrey and Jake consulted was one of the latter, solely interested in continuing the destruction of already troubled marriages. It's this sort of counselor who prattles on about "brutal honesty", and casts every action and every interaction in absolutes of black and white.

Under this sort of therapy, Aubrey would be forced to look back at her life and see that she never really, truly, understood what REAL LOVE consists of. Therefore, she would be forced to state ("brutal honesty") that all of those early "I love you" words she spoke to Jake were "lies".

But, let's face it - Love comes differently, to different people. Mostly, in books and in films, we see it in a very stereotyped view. Fireworks. Feeling like you're waltzing in the clouds. But it isn't always like that. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote a song that was a monster hit for Mama Cass Elliott, back in 1969, called "It's Getting Better", that begins:

"Once I believed that, when love came to me

It would come with rockets, bells, and poetry

But, with me and you, it just started quietly and grew..."

And, very often, love is like that. We start out with some sort of 'connected' feeling that's different - subtly - from any connection we've ever felt before, but it's not an earth-shattering feeling. Given time and nurture, it grows into something much more grand. And it's this type of feeling that Aubrey had, going into her relationship with Jake. The fact that she didn't (and, perhaps, couldn't) equate it with the stereotype 'rockets, bells, and poetry' type of love that the movies and books and songs rave on and on about DID NOT make it any less LOVE, really. It was the ground rules laid out by the therapist that had her admitting that her early 'love' was a lie. If it was something that she didn't RECOGNIZE as being "True Love", then whenever she told Jake "I love you", she was obviously lying. Absolute bullshit!

Co-Dependence?

That's another psychotherapy term that's been foisted on civilization, in the last few decades, principally as a "bad thing". We live in a split civilization, here in the 21st Century. Some people believe in God (however they conceive Him, and by whatever name they call Him) and others do not. Religion (or spiritual belief systems) attempt to help humankind understand behavior as part of one's relationship with (or absence of relationship with) God. Psychology attempts to explain human behavior in a world-view in which God does not exist. Most modern psychology is all about "Self" (as in "Self-esteem" or "Self-ish"), and views each human as needing no other person for "completeness". Every man (or woman) is an island, totally independent of one another - and, if you're dependent at all upon some other person, to find any true fulfillment in life, then there is something wrong with you.

Religion - at least the Judeo-Christian variety - sees it differently. The scripture says that God looked at all the living creatures he had made, and each creature had its counterpart, male and female - except Man. And God said, "It is not good for Man to be alone." The text goes on to say that God create Woman to be a "help-mate" for the man. The original Hebrew, properly translated, carries the sense of "co-equal (not subservient) and completion". Each was to be the "completion" of the other. (We carry this notion into English when we refer to our spouses as "my other half"!)

So, what (in this story) was so wrong with Aubrey finally realizing that her true source of 'fulfillment' or 'purpose' in life was in her relationship with Jake - or that, without him, she felt empty?

Time-Frames in the story:

Jake and Aubrey met when Aubrey was 20, based on the text. 2 years later, they were married. Also, according to the text, at the time the two finally got back together, Aubrey was 27 and JJ (the baby) was 2. That means that Aubrey was in her 24th year (plus or minus a couple months) when she had the one-off with the lawn guy. That means that Aubrey and Jake were married for at least 2 years before Aubrey cheated on him. So the idiot who said that Aubrey cheated on Jake from "Day 1" of their marriage needs to go back and re-read the story a couple times!

Once a cheater, always a cheater? (Will Aubrey remain faithful to Jake, now?)

Maybe yes, maybe no. But people can, and often do, change. I know a couple who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary - and both of them had 'flings' with other people, early on in the marriage. They went through a rocky year or so, but managed to forgive each other, reconcile, and start fresh. It's a damned good thing, too! If they hadn't, my wife of 30 years would never have been born!

@ Ciguardian "A cheater is always a cheater" American way of saying is statistical law and not absolut detarministic natural law as the gravitation, electrimagnetic power, etc. However nobody has special mesauring instrument to investigate a cheater if she/he will be in the group which consists of the reformed people after reconciliation, in newer marriage.........

This story reminded me in some parts of Eleanor Rigby by Harddaysknight. That story, as well as its follow-on make great statements about remorse, redemption and forgiveness.

In ‘Should’ve Been’ I was first concerned with your using first person for the 3 major characters. Hearing the voice of the husband and wife is one thing, adding the voice of her lover is another. In the end, we learned little from Steven and his input really did not advance the story.

There was enough substance in the core struggle that we needed only to listen to the couple; and the one who held my interest most was Aubrey. By her own admission she was disconnected from everyone almost as if she stopped maturing in her teens.

It’s an interesting question to ask how one would be if their entire life they never HAD to fit in because of their attractiveness. Would a person so inclined miss part of their emotional development? Would narcissism guide their actions? Would they live mainly in the moment?

When you’ve given us a character like Aubrey you virtually guarantee the readers will initially dislike her. I had no affinity for her until she truly began to grow. Perhaps motherhood played a role, making her more selfless and caring. Whether it did or not, by time she is able to totally sacrifice her own happiness so that Jake will find his with another woman, I was hooked. Then when she says at the end that Jake taught her how to love I thought reconciliation was possible.

I enjoyed this story because you took some risks with the characters and it was a fun read.

It was so long but it ended nice.

Loved it! Thank you for sharing your story with us!

I liked it a lot. The only thing I'd be concerned with is that she did not tell of her other sex partners before her epiphany. If Jake found out later it could bite her in the ass.

so in short, she gets her second chance to be his one and only, and as a bonus, a second chance to spread her legs for the next duffis she finds attractive too. Happy ever after doesn't factor in the thoughts of s cheating whore. Not now. Not 10 million years from now.

She'll soon be on her back again, banging some strange, you can bet the rent on it.

There is a saying..., "No one gets out of childhood unbroken". Unlike most of the women in this genre, she was neither a thug, or a predator. She was just a broken person, doing the best she could. She seemed to be a sociopath, stumbling through life. But her inner dialogue seems to indicate that knowing him, may have healed some of the cracks in her psyche.

I know for a fact, that in his position, I never could have trusted her enough to give her another chance, "no matter what". I say that with some shame and sadness.

I am a black man, born during America's racial apartheid era. My experience with white Americans, my reading of American history, has convinced me that people were and are, basically evil. American's are convinced of their own goodness and decency, regardless of the facts to the contrary. Self delusion, seems to be an obvious characteristic of selfish and ego-centric people. So I realize that the an inner dialogue would not necessarily prove remorse or an "epiphany". But it is heartwarming that the protagonist is willing to take the chance.

I generally believe that everyone should have all the facts to make an "informed" decision. But I wonder if it is not better that he doesn't know exactly "how broken" she was, before her epiphany.

Robert

Slut wife + Weak Cucky Husband + long drawn out story of faithful, spineless, dumbass male character blaming himself for the whore wife's actions + author's pathetic attempts to fool the reader's into feeling sorry & forgiving the low life, serial cheating skank = RAAC ENDING where the victim (read: mentally castrated husband) ends up being the bad guy & the villain (read: cunt wife) gets what she wants (cuck husband that gives her a total pass while she continues to spread her legs for any and every cock not attached to her wimp husband)

... same as it ever was ....

SS6 it's ok ........ Just turn the knob and come on out of the CUCK closet! You know it's always the cuckhold writer who is last to recognize what his readers have known for some time .... your a wannabe BTB writer trying to cover up his true cuck writing self .... so just turn the knob and come on out!!!

..... same as it ever was!!!

I don't know how long it took StangStar06 to write this story, but I stopped reading when I reached the part where the wife flamed out of college because she has below average intelligence and became barely employable working as a waitress. Not only that, she has the mind of a child and the psyche of a sociopath. Given all of her conditions, of course she is going to cheat, get caught, get divorced, and become destitute living in the streets as a cheap whore. How can she not. She is doomed from the start without any chance of escaping her fate. Where does StangStar06 find these cheating wives?

Next door neighbor, Ethel and Fred Mertz (LOL). I Like You, Your Silly.

It was definitely not a BTB story (just as you warned us) so flamers push off - if you do not want to see that then do not read it -

He built a good case for them to do what they wanted regardless of how the rest of the world feels about it - you and other writers have dealt with this aspect of human nature by asking the simple question - "Am I happier / better off / more complete / more content with her/him or without them?" There is no universal right or wrong answer to this it is what it is for each individual. Jake decided he is better with her - I decided I was better without her - we were both right - even if he is a fictional character lol.

Nice work as usual - we should all be a bit more appreciative that you bother to share you work - whether we think we would do what your characters do or not!!

Only rarely do I agree with reconciliation, but in this case it may work.

Aubrey has learned what love is and how to love, yes it took her a long time, nearly too long.

Now that she does love Jake, she loves him so deeply that being without him was slowly killing her.

It is less likely for her to cheat, she will not risk losing him again.

She went without sex the entire time from when Jake left her until he came back to her.

LOve your stories so far... now where can I read about the process server.

Nothing wrong with reconciliation and in this story it fit very well.

Excellent work as usual: love, anger, fear, despair, lust and humor. Loved the CPR scene with Fred and Ethel! Thank you for sharing your work.

I'm big on BTB, but it appears he kept her waiting in anticipation long enough to cure her of her slutty ways. Difficult to imagine a person to be so cold as to not have any emotional feelings after living together as man and wife. Without the child there never would have been a reconciliation. Cheers!

Dammit, Stang! You even make cheating sluts sympathetic characters sometimes! LOL

4 Stars.

I don't usually mind reconciliation, but this time I just wanted to puke! I had absolutely no sympathy for this particular cheating slut. Didn't make the story any less well written or entertaining though. SS06 you just have a way with words!

about who was the loser...the bigger the idiot the harder and further they bounce, TK U MLJ LV NV

Stang's women are usually so terminally stupid ("It was just sex", etc), that anything they suffer is well-deserved, but this one had other issues which she out-grew, so reconciliation makes sense.

That was so offensive, revolting even the sheer volume of cheating.

Let's face it if it were true he would be eating another mans creampie within a year or so.

She was just too easy of a lay first time she had an argument it would be back in the saddle.

you pulled it off. i believed the reconciliation and i agreed with him going back to her. well done.

Not your usual fare and a horrible ending. The bitch had no emotion or feeling and only "loved" Jake for what he could provide her and the sake of the child. It's a sad thing to break up a marriage esp with a young child, but her past would probably rear it's head again.

What many readers seem to either not understand or ignore is that if you don't like something you don't have to read it,

"I had, since the beginning of our relationship occasionally had sex with other men."

YOU should re-read the story! Above is a direct quote from the story, before they were eve married she was cheating on him!

He passed up a woman who would probably never have let him down. Remember her reaction when she heard what Aubrey had done to him.

"That was when the fight started. Ethel had run over to see what was going on and caught Fred feeling my boobs" Fred and Ethel Mertz? Come on, Stang. I suppose when Ricky wasn't around, Ol' Fred was practicing CPR on Lucy?

no matter what the entrée. TK U MLJ LV NV

Sure, you don't have to read what you don't like, but how do you know until you've read it?

Loving Wives covers a lot of territory, much of it disgusting to me, but some few parts are quite good. No tag for this story says their going to reconcile. The category and tags often tell you little or nothing about a story. Worse yet, you can't see the tags until the end so even if a story is well tagged the tags aren't very useful in helping you predict ones you'll like or hate.

Authors want feedback when we read stories. If they don't help the readers avoid the kinds of stories they hate, they're gonna get more negative feedback.

Weak man-manipulating whore...Hated it RACC yuck!

I stand by my earlier comment. This woman suffers from a severe personality disorder. Her husband has his own problems. It is a shame they produced a child. She will be a terrible, cold selfish sociopathic mother and Jake will be compensating for her for the next 18 years minimum. People DO NOT change. They can grow, but they cannot grow a moral compass or grow the capacity to love if they are sociopaths. Jake, needs therapy just to be able to see that he married his fantasy, not the freak she turned out to be. Like I said, he has his own problems. This is not a love story at all, it is a mental health psychodrama.

One can only hope that with the epiphany this woman finally had she will confine herself to one man not to mention caring for their child. If they had not had this boy child I would not give them a chance of making it and I will give them a 50/50 chance, only. With the history this woman had they will be lucky if she can keep it together (or her legs, either). Good luck to them, sometimes the leopard CAN change her spots.

go the old route---If you cant beat em"----join em" TK U MLJ LV NV

This story is worth the five stars I gave it. I have to also say that this is one of the best stories I have read on this site so far, and I have read a whole frigging bunch of them well over 80 to 90 of them. I especially liked the ending of the story, true love can almost overcome most hurdles. I'm glad you gave this the ending that you did. Great frigging job with this story. You do have a talent for writing, and a great imagination which shows in this story and of all the stories of yours that I read ( almost all so far ) this is still the best one so far.

This is an intense story...We become divided between BTB and the love they have for each other...But I believe that love winning was the best ending....

it seems you believe the same thing.

WHAT'S NEXT ?!, SPLOPPY'S & CREAMPIES ?!

HOLD ON TO YA STANG, STANG.

Harry in VA's Witness

Had to give it a five. I'm not sure what I'd do being in his situation. When I got beyond the teenage years, I realized that you can't help who you love and you can't make someone love you, despite what the 'you did me wrong songs' say. He loved her despite her actions, and she loved him, at least to the extent that she was capable of loving. An interesting story about unusual personalities. To the haters again, it's just a story, and a well told one at that. Damn it!

Yeah, if he'd known at the start how she FELT at the start, they'd have never married. But when you ask someone who went through hell to become happy "Was it worth it...?" The answer is invariably "yes".

And, sometimes, if you ask someone who was happy for so long and whose life turns to crap "If you had it to do all over again, would you...?" the answer is still "yes".

Making many people realize you can't always be happy but to have BEEN happy at some point makes up for a lot, even if that happiness isn't NOW.

Never having loved she didn't know what it felt like. And for her it wasn't "love" at first sight... but, for her, she learned how to love before she understood that was what it was.

When I was a child, we moved into a city I'd never been in before. I had an initial picture of where we were. A year later I was wandering around an area (which turned out to be the area we'd entered the city) and over a period of a few seconds the way I'd come to see that area based off of what I'd built up as important landmarks at the time (our home, the home of a friend, our church) all changed. It was like the two images merged or overlapped... like I suddenly saw both of them in the larger sense... almost a sense of vertigo for a moment as my whole (then) world shifted. Until that moment I'd completely failed to connect where we'd entered with where I was.

So, perhaps in spite of the fact she was occasionally screwing around on him, her pictures - sex with others is "eh, OK"; "There was just something about him (Jake)." "Somehow just his (Jake) gaze felt warm." "He (Jake) told me about the way he felt and I melted." Jake's really nice to me and sex with Jake is really nice and I'll have sex with someone I don't really want to in order to protect Jake (though you're still a bitch for doing THAT) and it hurts to realize I hurt Jake ---- (world shift) Oh. My. God. I LOVE Jake. (Though you were still a cheating bitch.)

So Jake, without knowing (or instead, thinking you DO know) the full details... was it worth it...? Will it be worth it...? Because it sure looks like you'd do it all over again...

All told, a good story...

I have been noticing Mustangs around the city. But a real mustang owner would never have taken a cheater back. She was a serial cheater. No reason for reconciliation here. Remember, it took her being caught before she found her supposedly true love. She will cheat again.

understood the whole story, followed it all the way through, and was lost as to how the story would work. when the cop made the statement after the race. is what it took, along with admiring customers. nicely done. I should have thought about that but didn't.

With a wife like her, who needs enemies? Silly premise!

I'm ashamed of you SS6! Putting out a wimp story like that. "Should've Been" BTB!

Good writing and reading, however. Cheers!

Not the usual SS tale.

I did like the one though. Sometimes people really do grow up.