Some Things Are Meant to Be

"Sure, Chris. I'd be glad to speak with you about that," I said.

"Okay. I'll call and let you know when to come. Don't worry about Bill. He's going to become a history lesson around here that had better not be repeated. And, by the way, take as much time off as you need to work through things. I have gone through a divorce so I know that you're going to have a lot of wrinkles to iron out, especially with kids and all. I'm sure Mike can handle it while you're doing what you need to do. Talk to you later, Ed." He hung up before I had a chance to thank him.

After I hung up I sat in my office thinking about our conversation. It had gone much better than I could have imagined. I smiled to myself and thought, "Maybe some good will come of all this after all."

CHAPTER EIGHT

I went out front and told Mike that I needed to talk to him. I had not had a vacation since joining Audiomart and I was going to take Chris up on his offer to take some time off while I had the chance. After I explained to Mike what had happened earlier today, he agreed that I should absent myself from the store until things were ironed out. I promised to be available in emergencies but he said that he and Sharon could handle whatever came up. I thanked him and left the mall.

It was time to pick up my children so I went directly to the school. They were having such a good time that I had to wait for about fifteen minutes while they finished the game they were playing. Even then it was difficult to settle them down enough to get them buckled into their seats in the car.

"Where are we going, Daddy," they asked?

"Wherever you want to go," I replied.

"Can we go to McDonalds? We really like the shakes there, and the kiddies meals are yummy," they said excitedly.

As I looked at them in the rearview mirror my heart went out to them. They did not know all that had happened today and I was hoping against hope that I would be able to protect them from finding out. I was not ready to rock their little world right now, and I truly hoped it would never come to that.

When we arrived home I noticed the new hardware on the doors and found the keys where he had left them. He also left a copy of his bill. I was amazed at his prices, but it was to late to say anything. I tried the keys and locks. They worked better than the old ones.

During the evening the children seemed content to play by themselves. They only asked about Colleen once and that was because they wondered where she had gone. I told them that I didn't know where she was right now but I would tell them when I found out. They seemed satisfied with that and went on playing.

I fully expected Colleen to call before they went to bed and she didn't let me down. The telephone rang at 7:30 PM on the dot. When I saw the caller ID I did not recognize the number but I picked up anyway.

"Hello," I said.

There was a slight pause before she said, "I want to come home. Please, let me. I miss my children ... and I miss you, too."

I did not want to give her any hope at this point, false or otherwise, so I said to her, "I'm truly sorry that it had to come to this, Colleen, but that's not going to happen tonight, and maybe never. We have a lot of things to straighten out between us before I can accept you back, if I ever do."

"I've been crying my eyes out all afternoon. I cancelled my class and stayed in my room. There was no way I could go there and face the people who know that I lied to my husband, so I called in sick," she said rather softly.

I wasn't about to cut her any slack, so I said, "You deserve what's happening. You made the bed you are now sleeping in. By the way, where are you staying," I asked? "I need an emergency telephone number from you."

"I am renting a dorm room for now," she said. "It's very inexpensive and all that I need. The number here is 555-3108. May I talk to the children?"

"For your information I told them that you have not been feeling well and that you will be away until you feel better. They seemed to accept that. What are you planning to say to them? "

"I'm glad you worded it that way to them. I am sick about what has happened and that's something we can all agree on," she replied. "I just want to tell them that I love them and that I want them to help you around the house by doing whatever you ask them to do."

"Okay, Colleen, but don't upset them," I told her. "When you're finished talking to them, hang up. I will need to put them to bed. I'll call you back when I've done that."

I called the children and they came running. I told my daughter, Jill, to go upstairs and get on the bedroom telephone, and I asked my son, Jack, to take my telephone. Jill was on her way when Jack grabbed my telephone and said, "Hello."

I listened as they talked and listened to their mother. When they were finished, I told Jill and Jack to get ready for bed and I would be up for story time in a few minutes

They ran off to their rooms. After the children were tucked in and I had closed their doors, I called Colleen.

"Colleen, I began, I may not know all I need to know to care for the kids properly while you're gone. Is there anything special I need to know?"

She told me some things that were helpful and I took notes as fast as I could write. According to her, we had two fine healthy children that did not have any special needs to speak of. I was slightly embarrassed that I had to ask, however, but I knew I'd better do it. She did tell me that the parents of a couple of their friends had said in the past that they were welcome to come stay with them any time we needed a babysitter. I knew who they were and I was glad for their offer. If things didn't work out soon between Colleen and me, I may need them.

I decided that it was premature for me to tell her about all Chris and I had discussed, but I did tell her that Bill was to be fired, if he hadn't been already.

She asked, "Because of me?"

"Because of both of you," I replied. "You're both to blame. Chris felt that it would be too uncomfortable for Bill and I both to be included in business and staff meetings, so he decided to fire Bill."

"I feel sorry about Bill getting fired, but I understand," she said sadly.

"Do you really," I asked? "Do you really understand the ramifications of what you're doing, or are you just mouthing words at this point?"

"I guess I deserved that, Ed, and you're right. I don't. I just know that around him I felt like I hadn't felt in a long time. He seemed to have it all together with all the right answers I wanted to hear. I admire his intellect and his ability to communicate. However, I assure you once again that nothing happened today except holding hands. We are not involved physically."

"What did you talk about in our house when you were all alone with him for almost two hours? And while we're at it, what did you talk about on the telephone over those three days when you called him so often?"

"How did you know about the calls?"

"I have ways," I said noncommittally.

"Before I answer your questions, I need to clear something up," she said. "He wasn't at our house for more than a forty-five minutes, not two hours. I told him not to come until noon, and he was late on top of that. We talked at length about how I felt after you approached me this morning in the bathroom. He brought up some other things that I won't go into here, and we had an argument. As for what we discussed on the telephone before today, we just talked about things that happened after he left Saturday night, and what had happened since. In case you're wondering, I poured out my heart to him a couple of times. He's a good listener and he said that he was deeply concerned about my feelings. Whether or not you know it, feelings are important to me and I shared a lot of mine with him."

"Yeah, Colleen, well how do you feel about this? If you continue down the road you're on now, you are about to be placed in the same category with several other adulteress wives that Bill has twice seduced. He first seduced them by screwing up their minds, and that led to seducing them on their husbands' beds. He may have painted a picture of you and him in Lollipop Land, but don't be a fool. You are not unique or special to him. He'll take your ass for his pleasure and then brag about it to his salesmen cronies just like he's bragged to me in the past.

What you need to understand is that you are not Bill's ultimate conquest, you are just a prize along the way. Yes, he wants to win you over, but his ultimate goal is to beat me. If he can do that, what does that make me look like? I'm his real target and have been since I dethroned him as the best salesman at Audiomart some months ago."

"It makes me sick that you've shared intimate family information that Bill has no right to know. You've probably divulged things to him that only I should know. I thought that you, of all people, would see him for what he is. You allowed him to get inside your head because you were vulnerable; you bought his spiel because he made a fool out of you. And by the way, on the morning you wake up in his bed with a sore ass, looking up at a dingy ceiling and wondering what made you do it, don't you dare try to blame it on me. You will deserve to lose all that it's going to cost you. Maybe some things are meant to be, Colleen ... especially for fools."

I must have really stung her with those statements because she didn't answer right away. Finally, she said, "I don't know that I fully agree with all of your assessments but I don't want to argue with you anymore tonight. Maybe it's best we call it a day."

I jumped in. "Before you hang up, I want to know only one thing: Are you going to contact Bill again?"

"Well, I did talk to him this afternoon after you threw me out because I wanted to know how badly you hurt him. I also told him about the hell you put me through after he left," she answered truthfully, "but I don't have any plans to call him again."

"So you ran crying to him again! As long as you are talking to him, you won't be talking to me, so don't call here anymore. I will not allow you to have it both ways. Goodbye."

As I hung up, I heard her shout, "Wait ...."

I unplugged the receiver and took it off the hook. I also turned off my cellular phone. I didn't want any more calls tonight.

My assessment of our conversation brought me to the conclusion that she was, at the very least, deeply infatuated with Bill. It could be more serious than that but how could I know until it plays out in real life. How could it happen so quickly? I still could not fathom that!

It occurred to me that how I had handled matters could very well drive them into each other's arms. In fact, I may have already done that. If that's what it takes to prove how far Colleen is willing to go, then so be it.

If they're planning to get together again, I want to know about it. I need someone to tell me how I can keep tabs on her. I recalled the book I had been reading and how the wife had handled the situation with her cheating husband. I have never been the sneaky type but I guess there comes a time in every person's life when more drastic measures become necessary.

As I climbed the stairs to go to bed I thought to myself, "I've had bad days before but this one has topped them all."

CHAPTER NINE

Thursday morning I awakened the children, fed them and took them to school. I instructed them to go to daycare after school and gave them money for lunches. I kissed them both and watched as they ran up the sidewalk to their classrooms. My heart went out to them. Then a thought occurred to me ... I had not talked to their teacher yet. I made a mental note to do that before I went back to work.

I drove by the college in Ypsi on the way back home. I knew Colleen was in class and I wanted to see where she parked her car. Evidently residents had assigned parking because the spaces were all numbered. Her car was in #108. Where had I heard that number before? Oh yes. Now I remember. Those are the last three digits of her telephone number, so that must also be her room number. She evidently had a first floor faculty apartment. That should be easy to remember.

I drove on home and reconnected my telephone. I picked up and dialed the store. Sharon answered and I took the opportunity to tell her how much I appreciated her help in this time of need. She told me not to think a thing of it because she was glad to do it. I asked for Mike and she called him to the telephone.

"Hi, Mike. I need to talk to you about some very private things so I want to have lunch with you, if you can swing it today."

"Sure, Boss Man. What time," he asked?

"How about 11:30?"

"Good by me, Boss Man. See you then," he said.

It occurred to me that my cellular phone was still turned off, so I turned in on and saw that I hade one new message from 555-3108. I punched it in and listened. The call was made last night. She was angry that I had hung up on her and then turned off my phones. I could hardly believe the tongue lashing she gave me, which finally ended with, "You're the one who caused this when you threw me out, so whatever happens is on you, damn you!"

"The woman has lost her mind," I told myself. "She's totally missed the point of our separation." All I could do was shake my head. It was obvious that she was going to do her best to turn everything upside down and make me out to be the culprit."

This is not going well. This is not going well at all!"

To take my mind off my wife's most recent comments, I puttered around the house doing the dishes and cleaning up after the children. Then I sat down a made up a list of thoughts and things. At the top of my list was a question about equipment for spying on someone. Since we had once stocked the stuff, I was sure that Mike had set up surveillance equipment around town. He was the best installer Audio-Mart employed and he often did work for other managers. Normally, our company didn't install hidden cameras or any of that clandestine stuff but I was willing to bet that Mike knew just what I would need and where to get it. He was a natural to answer my questions.

When I completed my list, I went out to my car and started my drive from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor. It was about seven miles to the mall from our house. As I drove I thought about the seriousness of the course on which I was about to embark. Could I go through with all this, or should I just say, "It's over, Colleen. It's over," and be done with it.

*******

"Must be a slow day," I said as I walked into the store. "Sharon, can't you go out in the corridor and offer a lap dance to passersby and get some business in this place?"

"Sure, Boss Man. Right after I go in the back room and inhale a few hits off my stash," she replied.

"Is that what I smell?"

"We need to fix that exhaust fan back there," said Mike. "It doesn't work worth a damn."

I looked at him and smiled. "Don't you think it would be best to take it out side in the first place? You know the cops are not going to prosecute you in Ann Arbor if you're taking a hit in the open air. In here it's a dead give away. Forty thousand students each year at the smoke out can't be wrong."

"Boss Man, you always could come up with the simplest answers."

I continued, "Mike and I are going to lunch. Sharon, we have our cell phones and you know the numbers if you need us. Keep the other two salesmen in line while we're gone. Okay?"

"Not a problem, Boss Man. They are all afraid of me. Don't hurry yourselves," she said.

Mike and I walked to a restaurant in the mall for lunch. As we waited in line to be seated, Mike asked me how things were on the home front. I told him they were deteriorating as we speak.

"How," he asked?

"She has completely flipped out, Mike, and she's now telling me that whatever happens now will be my fault. In our twelve years of marriage I never realized that she could possibly act the way she's been acting. I knew she had a temper but I didn't ever think she could be this irrational. She is so infatuated with the bastard that he's got her head all screwed up. It's only been twenty-four hours since I put here out and I'm already losing hope."

"Don't do that, Boss Man," Mike encouraged. "Hang in there and keep a good thought. Remember what you always tell us when things go wrong. You know, about some things are just meant to be. You gotta live by your own words, Boss Man."

I didn't respond because I didn't want Mike to know that those words were of little encouragement to me these days.

After we were seated, Mike and I discussed the things on my list and he was extremely helpful. He said there were voice-activated bugs for car interiors, telephones, and even under beds. He told me about spy cameras the size of pencil erasures that could transmit up to the length of a football field with incredible clarity. He also mentioned a camera that takes clear pictures in total darkness. He went on to say that Audiomart didn't carry any of that stuff but he could get it for me.

"How would we be able to check on the telephone bug or the spy camera in her apartment?"

"We can sit in our car outside the building with a TV receiver and hear and see it all," Boss Man.

"How much," I queried.

The waitress interrupted us momentarily to take our orders. We placed them and Mike continued.

"Your last question? Oh yeah. How much? Do you mean how much can we hear and see, or how much will it cost?"

"I'm talking cost, Mike."

"I think I might be able to get some of it on loan if I tell them that I want to use it on a trial basis ... maybe all of it. I could also swap some stuff with him if need be. This one dealer I know can't sell much of his stuff so he's willing to stretch his rules quite a bit for a potential sale. We may have to rent at least one of the items but it won't be very much. I'll get him down to his bottom dollar. Of course, if we lose or break it we have to buy it," he told me. "What do you want to do?"

"Mike, I have no knowledge or what to do or how to do it. How about I leave that up to you. Could you make those decisions for me?"

"Sure, Boss Man. Just leave it up to me. Do you want something in her apartment, car, or office?

"How about all three?"

"Okay, not a problem."

"But how do you think you are going to do all that?

"Simple. I have a couple of friends who are grunts on the maintenance crew at the college in Ypsi. We are drinking buddies and they have already told me stories of stunts they've pulled that I found hard to believe. They get off doing stuff like this and the can get into every building and room on campus."

"Mike, I don't know what I would do without you. You are a keeper," I said. "Thanks for being so helpful."

"No problem, Boss Man. I think I'm going to like getting into this gig."

The waitress conveniently delivered our orders and we began to enjoy our meals.

Looking up from my plate of food I said, "I wish I could feel good about this, Mike. I hate doing this sort of thing, especially to my own wife. How am I going to feel if I discover more than I could ever want to know? Am I going to feel dirty inside once this is all resolved? Until this week, Mike, I had never even gotten into my wife's purse. I had never checked up on her. I have never had cause to. Now I'm planning to violate her privacy in the worst way. I'm planning to eavesdrop on what could become a most intimate part of her life. Is that what I want to do? I wish I could feel good about it, Mike, but I cannot."

"Boss Man, just let me and my friends do it for you. I can report what we find. Besides, it would not be good for you to be seen on campus. No one knows me all that well except Colleen and I can avoid her. It would be much more logical for my buddies and me to do this," Mike suggested. "Besides, I'm good at this sort of thing. I know how the surveillance gizmos work and I've done it before, so I'd be happy to do it for you if you'll let me."