Summer A Marriage In Trouble

"What about the girls?"

"I want to see them as often as possible. If we can come up with a suitable visitation schedule, I won't fight the child support payments."

Silence seeped out of every pore of the room. It was dark, moody, and in the end I I was just tired. "Summer, this marriage has been broken for a long time. You have been unhappy with me. I'm not ambitious or goal oriented enough for you. Let's part as friends and you can find somebody who is going to suit you."

She nodded slowly; her eyes downcast. "I still love you, Artie. All the reasons we married in the first place. I am still attracted to you; I still enjoy our love life. You're right, though. I do want more. I'm sorry I got carried away. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Bullshit, you knew how I felt and still went ahead with it."

"The teasing was supposed to be part of it. The sweet torture. That was supposed to be part of the fun. I have read many accounts from men who share their wives. They all talk about the sweet torture, the jealousy, the inner torment."

"Good for people who are into it, I guess."

"But don't you see? You never tried it. If you hadn't fallen overboard, I would have returned from Ross's cabin and we could have enjoyed a fabulous night in that big bed. Made love. You would have been worked up with jealousy and desire."

I gave a little snort and she carried on. "Babe, you could have laid there, imaging what was happening, listening to see if you could hear anything. Wondering what we were doing. I suppose it is a form of torture, but when I returned, we would have made sweet love and all the pain would have been worth it."

Standing, I muttered, "I'm going to bed."

She sighed. "Can I come with? If you are leaving tomorrow, let's make tonight special."

"Have you been with Ross?"

Shaking her head, she mumbled, "No, you falling overboard put a stop to that." She reached out her hand. "Yes?"

I smirked. "Yeah, come on then. One last night of passion."

As I walked out Monday morning she said. "What do I tell the girls?"

"Nothing, we will tell them together tonight."

At the office everybody had heard about what happened and wanted to hear about my adventure. Ross was furious because it was obvious Lye and two of the senior IT techs had left. The place was in turmoil. The systems were all frozen. The managers were trying to get some contract Techs in as cover. We did have some on other sites, but they were all busy.

Nothing worked, all of our programs were down, frozen or producing shit.

I got a phone call from Michael. "Arthur, can you get me spreadsheets that show how many of your employees have been falsely booking time to other clients?"

I sighed. "Yes, I suppose so, but is that necessary? Revington's is obviously not going to win the tender."

"Maybe not, but this is deeper than winning the tender. I want to fuck him over properly. He has been robbing from his clients and that needs to come out."

I had already gathered that information, but I was going to keep it. Hearing how incensed Michael was, I decided to go with it and send it to him.

It was much later in the day when Reynolds walked into my office. His face was drawn and he was obviously feeling the effects of everything going down. He leaned over my desk. "You are a fucking moron, you know that? What the fuck was that all about? Falling overboard, Christ you fucking drunkard. Was it just because Summer was going to have sex with me? You drank yourself stupid. Pity you didn't bloody drown. She would have been better off."

I sneered, trying to appear braver than I felt. "Thanks for the concern, boss. I'm feeling better thank you for asking."

He smirked. "Fucking moron. A limp-dicked fucking moron. Saturday night I will be fucking her anyway."

"After today, you can have her for good. I filed divorce proceedings against her today. She's a free woman, so do whatever the hell you want."

He glared angrily. "Divorce, oh you stupid fuck. She will eat you alive. The courts will screw you."

"Maybe, but at least it will be over."

He turned and walked out, steam billowing from his ears.

That night we gathered the girls together and gave them the bad news. They were devastated. Too young to understand, they cried. Summer cried, she bawled her eyes out and I cried, as well. It was incredibly painful.

We had a late dinner and cuddled together. Summer talked me into staying the night.

The next day the shit hit the fan. There were angry calls from clients who had found out about being cheated. There were people running everywhere; it was total pandemonium. He saw me talking to the IT techs and he snarled. "You can fuck off. You're no fucking use."

That was it for me. I was only hanging around to help out Michael. I stood up tall, the whole office was watching. "Ross, you can shove your job up your arse sideways."

He started to froth at the mouth his anger was so powerful. Before he could say anything, I snapped. "I will clear out my desk."

I turned and walked away to a mouthful of vitriolic vomit he sprayed my way. I quickly cleared out my personal shit and walked out.

As I walked out into the brisk morning air, I felt the dark mood I had been living under lift. Suddenly, the sky didn't look so dark. I felt lighter, I actually smiled. The smug bastard was going to suffer.

I rang Michael and apologised, explaining I could no longer work there. He was understanding and agreed I could start with their firm the next day. He did suggest he would organise for an office to be set up at my apartment and I could work from home.

That was for my protection. It would look a little suspicious if I officially started with them the day after I walked out of Revington's. It also meant I was going to be paid under the table and it would help keep down my child support payments.

That night Summer brought the girls over to my new place and I showed them where their bedroom was. Summer seemed impressed, but nervous. "How the hell are you going to afford this place and still give me back that money?"

"I have a few irons in the fire, Summer. I will have a job before long. Have you been into income support to sort out a benefit?"

She nodded. "I have decided to go back to work. I have contacted my old employers and they are interested. We just have to sort out suitable hours."

"Wow, good for you."

She smiled and gripped my arm. "It's time. We need to move on. I don't expect you to pay for me. I will need help with the mortgage. I don't want to rip the girls away from their home."

I agreed. "I will help. I don't want the girls to suffer."

She just held on tight. "God, Artie, how did we end up like this?"

I laughed snidely. "Maybe you could become the new Mr's Reynolds."

She laughed loudly. "Don't be an idiot. I could never live with him. Artie, I never wanted to replace you, just have a little fun."

"Hopefully your new man will be into it. You might be better matched sexually."

She shrugged. "Maybe."

That was the start of our new lives. Revington's did implode. Ross lost everything. He was brought out, and was lucky to escape jail.

My working relationship with Michael wasn't that great. He was so weighted down by jealousy and anger he was hard to deal with. He was obsessed with revenge. It flowed through every fibre of his being. His marriage deteriorated to the point he got divorced. I think if his demeanour at home was like work, she was sick of hearing about revenge.

He turned into a very bitter and twisted man.

Lye turned out to be my saviour. He was also sick of Michael and he found a job with another company. When he told me about it, I admitted I was envious of him getting out. He put in a good word for me and they were impressed enough to offer me a position as a frontline Project Manager

My life took a while to get back on track. Summer and I found the kids held us together as friends. We both shared that. We wanted what was best for them, and us fighting was no way forward.

I helped out financially as much as I could. Remembering back to the night it all fell apart I was so angry all I could think about was destroying her. It was all I could do to stop myself actually physically harming her.

With the way things turned out, divorce was the best thing for us. She had been unhappy for a while, and her dissatisfaction poisoned our marriage. We were so naïve in many ways. Our communication was so poor, neither of us was able to explain why we were unhappy.

In many ways I know she loved me, I still loved her. That much I did know. In the end we grew apart, wanted different things.

It took me a long time to meet another woman. This was a new world and things had changed. We met online. The internet introduced me to a series of women who I dated casually. It's real there are single women out there looking for sex. One of the women I met, I liked. It started out as a casual, no strings attached thing, but there was a connection. Over time we moved from booty calls to actual dates. Dates turned into a relationship.

She had a daughter, as well, and our two families bonded rather seamlessly. My girls loved having another sister.

Summer, well she went through a phase of, much like me, dating a succession of men. I found out about most of them from the girls, who liked to tell me about their mother's boyfriends.

We also talked. Funny how it took a divorce to fashion our friendship. She often told me some of the funnier aspects of her dates. She also liked to brag about some of her adventures. She did eventually find a partner. His name was Neil, and when we met, I really liked him. He reminded me a lot of myself.

Summer laughed. "Yes, I have a type okay."

It turned out she had finally found the man of her dreams. Unlike me, he liked being led and was more than happy for Summer to have extramarital adventures. She did try to rope me in, but that was far to kinky and my new wife was never going to agree to that.

The end.