Sprung Ch. 07

"I needed to see if you would go through with it or whether your conscience would stop you before you committed to meeting like this. There was also a little, 'if you love something set it free', as well, but not much. I was mainly giving you enough rope to hang yourself. I installed a GPS tracker in your car last night and simply followed you today to find out who you were with. Once I'd observed you doing something a wife shouldn't do, I intended getting photos, so you couldn't deny it, then serve you with divorce papers. They're in my car outside."

I was stunned. Not only was I sprung, but Dave had decided to divorce me without so much as a word of discussion. But why was I surprised? Dave's handshake was his bond. Trust, to him, was paramount. However, there was hope in my mind. Dave hadn't followed through with his own plan. He'd confronted me before I'd done anything. He didn't have photos. My mind, desperately hunting for evidence that I hadn't completely screwed my life, clung to this thought. Was Dave changing his mind and contemplating forgiving me? I finally felt bold enough to speak.

"Thank you for saving me from myself, darling, before photos were necessary. Thank god you saved me from actually doing anything."

The sudden look of rage on his face registered his disagreement with this idea. He half rose, then sat again. I watched as he collected himself. When he spoke next, he appeared calm, but his voice contained more than a little hiss.

"Never did anything wrong? Meeting another guy secretly for lunches and make-out sessions. Lying to me and your children about where you were going. Stealing money from the family to buy that dress you are wearing and that filthy lingerie. Holding hands across the table while wearing that slutty dress and no knickers, like a total slut. Nothing wrong? Don't worry, I have plenty of photos already."

He stopped to calm himself down a little.

"So, have you decided where you'll live from now on? Maybe Michael here has a spare room he can rent you."

"No, Michael is married..."

I stopped and looked from one face at the table to the other. Dave's face had a look of 'it was a rhetorical suggestion, bitch.' Michael's said, 'thanks for telling him I'm married.'

Suddenly I felt very confused and unwelcome. I needed somewhere quiet to think of a plan. Getting up, I fled to my car and drove away. I drove for hours, just thinking. By the time I'd decided what to do, it was too late to go anywhere but a motel with 24-hour check-in. By the time I went to pick my kids up the next day, Dave already had them. I rang to beg him to hear my pleas for clemency. He told me to come by in two days' time and pitch to all three of them.

That night, the police found me, and I was questioned about an assault on Michael they were investigating. It had happened outside the restaurant we'd met in. I claimed no knowledge and insisted vehemently that my husband was incapable of such an action. They didn't seem unhappy with that response. No one likes a cheater, and the idea of locking a guy up that had merely acted like a man, would offend some people.

The next day I went to see a lawyer acquaintance of my sister's. Everything seemed to hinge on custody of the children. The custodian got the house, the bulk of the shared assets, and child support paid to them. The non-custodian got screwed. Apparently, my belief that all children under the age of fourteen were pretty much always awarded to the mother was incorrect. The courts would assess whether or not the child was mature enough to make their own considered choice, and that choice was normally respected. I knew I had to convince not only my husband to not continue the divorce, but my children to choose me if it came to that.

I turned up, I pitched, then was given the verdict. They each said their piece, starting with my eldest, Allan. He spoke very calmly about his disbelief that I would risk his, his father's, and his sister's happiness by betraying them.

Dave spoke next but kept it all child suitable. There was no encouragement there.

Jenny's speech hurt the most. She spoke about it being critical, if we went forward together as a family, that they could trust me. She mentioned my obviously superior acting skills and my undoubted ability to lie so convincingly that no one had even doubted my 'truths' about that weekend. That, and their obvious naivety, would make it very difficult for them to trust me going forwards and their dad deserved someone he could trust, didn't he?

I left, a devastated but much wiser woman. One that had only a faint glimmer of hope for the future with her family.

******

Perspective Change to Michael

When Sarah stormed out there was no way I wanted to be left alone with her husband. I jumped up and made for the counter where I settled up the bill. Glancing around before leaving, there was no sign of the destroyer of my weekend. I almost ran out the door, hoping to find that Sarah hadn't left yet, and she could advise me on how to stop her husband outing me to Laura, but she'd gone already. It was only then that I remembered that we'd both come in Sarah's car.

From the shadows, I heard a voice, followed by slow deliberate footsteps moving toward me.

"So, did your dirty weekend work out like you thought it would?"

Fear and frustration combined to make me snap. I swung around.

"Look, buster, you obviously weren't getting the job done at home, so it was fair game for me to move in and take up the slack. Get used to it."

The trauma of the next little while caused me to have no memory of events. My next moment of awareness was waking in the back of an ambulance. They gave me Penthrane but the agony in my groin was excruciating. The doctors later concluded that not only were my testicles kicked or kneed, but once I was on the ground, probably stomped on as well. Once at the hospital, I was knocked out, so they could operate and save what they could. On coming out of it they said that only time would tell how much function would return, but not to waste my time even trying for six months or so.

The police interviewed me, and I told them exactly what happened. I could see the contempt in their eyes as I described how I was there with another man's wife. They came around later and said they'd interviewed Sarah, her husband, and all the staff at the restaurant. David denied it and there were zero witnesses. They were dropping the case. One of them tried not to smile while he was telling me.

I was in hospital for eight days in all. Laura brought the kids in every day and swallowed my story about stopping at the restaurant to get take-out and being mugged in the carpark. I stayed at home for another two weeks after my release, walking was extremely painful. Three months later, I was almost entirely pain free, except when I became sexually excited. That triggered a deep ache. Laura and I were home one weekend, while the kids were wherever they went on the weekends. The doorbell rang, and Laura went to answer it. I could hear her talking to someone for a few minutes. She suddenly appeared and said her adult education teacher had dropped in. She was doing a course on landscape gardening and had invited her teacher to drop by for some advice on how to set up ours. I told her to invite them in.

Who should appear in my lounge room next? Bloody Sarah's husband, Dave. We shook hands like we'd never met, while my mind reeled. What did he want? My bones grating together in my hand brought me back to reality. He sat while Laura went to the kitchen to make the offered coffee. I leaned towards his chair and lowered my voice.

"What do you want here?"

He smiled and leaned towards me as well.

"Wasn't it you that told me that if a guy couldn't get the job done at home, it was fair game for another guy to move in on his wife? Well, get used to it."

I reeled back as a sudden insight into the future hit me. Although we hardly ever spoke, I knew Sarah never patched things up with her husband. I couldn't tell Laura who this guy really was, or he would destroy my family. With a future where pleasing a woman was probably not going to happen, I needed Laura and her loyalty to avoid dying a lonely old man. So, with no functioning wedding tackle, Laura was going to get more and more sexually frustrated.

******

The next few weeks were pure hell. Dave never came over during the week but was there part of Saturday and Sunday every weekend. When he did come over, he would give me a wink and spend the time out in the garden with Laura and the kids; both his and mine; digging and planting. Later it would be, 'Dave said this', or 'Dave suggested this', or, 'isn't he a genius with landscaping?' I pretty much had no social life as I stayed home to watch them together. Often seeing Laura staring at his muscly back and arms, bathed in perspiration. When they stood out there discussing the next steps, I could see her looking up at him admiringly; with him nodding his approval at her ideas.

Despite my best efforts, I just couldn't find a reason why he shouldn't be coming over so often. When I suggested some of her behaviour was inappropriate, she just shrugged it off immediately.

******

So, here I stand, Sunday afternoon, looking out the kitchen window. Dave is standing there, shirtless and glowing, having just finished playing with MY children. Laura must have touched his arm at least four times as they were chatting. Now, she has her hand on his chest, laughing at something he just said. Her free hand twirling her long hair at the back.

A feeling of dread steals over me. My business trips away are due to start shortly. I'd suggested them to my superiors just before my 'accident'. Officially they were to garner business in regional centres not well serviced by quality law firms. Unofficially, they were cover for an affair with Sarah. I meant to organise her services as a secretary on the trips. I would be going away for days on end.

And Dave would be in the background the whole time, waiting.

I'd tried to wriggle out of trips, but my superiors were adamant. The trips away had been my idea, after all. The irony was, I'd suggested them to create an opportunity to fuck this guy's wife.

Now the shoe was on the other foot. Now they'd be an opportunity for Dave to fuck mine.

And there was nothing I could do about it.