Surviving Corona

Even with her impassioned argument nothing could change my mind. I completed the documents and returned them to Arthur signed and complete. When I rang him he did offer me another bit of advice. Split the finances now before it gets acrimonious. That made perfect sense and I started to go through our finances and assets.

We only had one bank account and it was a joint account and everything swung off that, credit cards, mortgage, everything. It was impossible to open another account over the phone, I needed to go in there in person, shit everything was tied together. The only good news was she couldn't do anything either so for the time being the money was safe.

Of course the rest of the day was filled the same way answering call after call from friends and family, all wanting to know what was happening. I was sick of explaining it by the end of the day.

Jades parents were the worst they could not, or would not believe it and they were very seemingly convinced that it was some evil plot dreamed up by me to discredit their daughter.

Dinner time I went inside and was sorting through the cupboards looking for something to eat when Jade walked in. "Can we talk yet Mark? Please we need to talk about this Katie and July are devastated, bloody hell you scared them half to death with all this wild talk."

"It's not wild talk, I was honest with them. I told you Jade, I have already talked to Arthur and I have filed the paperwork. We are now in the process of becoming divorced."

"Jesus Christ... Mark this is ludicrous, honey it was just sex, I wasn't having a love affair, or planning to run away with him, it was stupid and selfish but it doesn't have to be the end of the world, my god you are acting crazy."

"No the crazy bit was me not seeing it carry on right under my nose, shit I must be a bloody moron, you must have been laughing your tits of, the pair of you. Jesus all those family get together's you and him must have had a good old laugh."

"No honey it was never like that, we never laughed or talked about it even."

"Bullshit you have been fucking for six months don't tell me that you never once had a laugh at sneaking away, or getting away with something... Six bloody months Jade... Six months."

Her face dropped. "We never made fun of you or Melissa."

"Say what you like but I feel like a fool, all that time and I loved you, brought you flowers for your birthday, what did he give you a quick fuck, Jesus how many times did we make love after you had been with him?

"Never!" She screamed, I would never do that to you, I love you."

"I'm sorry I didn't think about it, I didn't mean to hurt you, it just started off as a bit of innocent flirting and fun. Please Mark can't we just sit down and talk."

"No we bloody cant.... It's over. You will receive the papers in a week or so, just sign them and send them back."

"Like hell I will, there will be no divorce you are being silly, we can fix it."

I didn't respond and she burst into tears. "Mark you have already destroyed me, my career and Greg's business, how much revenge do you want?"

"This isn't about revenge, it's about getting closure and moving forward." I grabbed some crisps and left her there staring after me.

The next day I was woken by Jade banging on the door. I opened it to see what she wanted but she pushed her way in. "Mark, Greg, Melissa and I talked last night and we have a plan to try and save the business. We are going to say a disgruntled employee who we sacked hacked my email account and set the whole thing up as retaliation for being laid off."

"Say what you want, I don't care."

"Mark we need your help with this. If we are going to get people to believe it we need you to help, would you please support us?"

I laughed. "Like hell... If anybody asks I will tell them the truth, people need to know the sort of lying manipulative despicable shits they are dealing with."

My vehemence shocked her. "Mellissa has agreed, she is going to get behind us. Mark I am begging, Greg and Melissa will lose everything, his reputation is in tatters."

"That's his fault not mine."

She stomped her foot down. "Well that's what we are saying, we will tell everyone including the kids and mum and dad."

"Suit yourself, but I won't help."

Over the next week every time I walked inside she was on the phone talking to customers, distributors anyone who had received the email.

I left them to it but I did get a call from Melissa begging me to help. They were desperate to resuscitate the business and save Greg's reputation. Melissa seemed to have forgiven him and openly begged me to reconsider my stance.

I was so sick of the whole thing all I wanted was for it to be over, but there was no escaping the daily drama, there was no escaping the hell hole that our home had become.

Katie called several times and she became increasingly upset with me, her mother even had her convinced that it was this weird twisted plot to discredit her mother And she argued with me that I had to see it for what it was and forgive and forget.

Of course all I had to do was send her the video clip but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I went the other way and tackled her mother. She was in her office working harder than ever working with new customers.

I pulled out the chair beside her desk, stretched out and folded my arms. "Jade you need to tell Katie and July the truth. They are driving me crazy with this bullshit about the hacker."

She recoiled. "What... Why not let sleeping dogs lie."

"Because they won't leave me alone, they are on the phone every day lecturing me about why I am torturing you with the divorce, they think I'm the bad guy."

She leaned forward across her desk resting on her elbows as she stared straight at me. "Mark if you let me I will make everything up to you, give me a chance to make it right. Forgive me and let's start again. We have managed to get all the customers back on-board and it looks like we are almost back to normal."

"Jade if you do not tell the girls the truth then I will be forced to send them the final bit of evidence I have."

"Mark please why can't we just leave it, this way nobody loses."

"Yes they do, I lose at the moment the girls are treating me like I am the bad guy because I'm not buying your bullshit. Either you tell them or I will."

"No it's not fair, I don't want a divorce and the girls and I are just getting things straight I am not spoiling that, anyway there's nothing you can say that would make them believe it."

I pulled a thumb drive out of my pocket and waved it in front of her. "On this thumb drive is the video of you sucking off Greg. I think that might convince them."

She just about fainted. "Oh my god... You wouldn't."

I nodded. "Either you tell them or I might just send this to all of your contacts, including our parents and the kids."

"Jesus Mark you are being such a prick... Why do we have to get the divorce? It's over between Greg and me. Give us a chance and I promise I will spend the rest of our lives together making it right."

"You can't make this right Jade. Even if I could forgive you, I could never trust you again, I would always be looking over my shoulder wondering who you were fucking. Jesus girl I mean Greg might not be the only one, there might be hundreds."

She snarled violently. "Get out, get out now!"

I rose and when I got to the door I hissed. "Either you tell them or I will."

It took a couple of days but my daughter rang me to apologise for being so hard on me, she had spoken with her mother and she asked her to lighten up on me and that we were working through things ourselves.

She obviously hadn't told her the truth but at least now Katie was being a little more understanding.

It was when I rang and talked to a real-estate agent about selling the house that Jade blew up. When I told her she became hysterical. "Jesus Mark we can't sell the house what will everybody think? It has taken hours and hours on the phone to explain and convince everyone that we are OK and now you want to sell the house.... Jesus, be reasonable."

I was a little shocked at her blasé attitude. "Listen Jade we both are going to need somewhere to live. I know you cannot afford to buy out my share of the house, so you can't stay here. I don't want to stay here, it has nothing but bad memories for me now. I think the best thing is we sell the house and then we can each go our own way."

She grabbed my hand tightly squeezing it between her own and stared into my eyes. "Or we could stay and try to make a go of it. Mark I love you as much now as I did when we married, I don't want a divorce, can't we work things out?"

"For someone who says they love me you sure have a strange way of showing it. Having an affair doesn't show love."

Gripping my hand tighter and with tears rolling down her cheeks she sniffled. "I made a mistake, it was dumb, it was selfish, but it doesn't mean I don't love you. We have made plenty of mistakes over the years both of us, Mark... we can work through this."

"Jade you just don't get it, you lied to me, for months you lied to me and you would have kept on lying to me, you say it's over between you and him but if I hadn't found those messages it would still be going on wouldn't it?"

She stroked my hand gently. "Mark... please."

"Just tell me, would it still be going on? Once all this shit lifted you'd be back together fucking."

She sighed staring at the floor and the silence built longer and longer until I snapped snarling. "Well it would wouldn't it!"

She whispered hoarsely. "I don't know, I suppose so but things have changed, we have been so much closer since the lockdown, you have been so loving and caring, things are different."

She pleaded. "It's over now and if you give me a chance we can put it behind us and forget it ever happened."

"Jesus Jade you don't even have any remorse, you just expect me to suck it up and say oh well never mind. Let me tell you something...life isn't like that."

I snatched my hand away. "We are selling the house, its going on the market tomorrow. I walked away leaving her looking completely deflated.

It was a bad time to sell, real estate agents couldn't visit the house, they couldn't bring prospective clients around it would have to be done online and relied on photographs I took.

I spent the day taking photos that I thought highlighted the homes best features, sent them to the agent and the next day the house went on the market. Well that created a maelstrom of calls from friends and of course family wanting to know what was going on. Jade took all the calls trying to deflect the truth, she told everyone some cockamamie story about us looking for somewhere better.

As the country got control of the virus and restrictions were slowly lifted we had a little more freedom. Things were going to slowly return to a more normal way of life, but that was a month away at least. Over that month things calmed between Jade and me, we had dinner together, we managed to talk without arguing or yelling, the anger was slowly abating.

At dinner one night she asked. "What could I do to make you change your mind? I will do anything."

Glancing across the table I sighed. "I don't think anything will help, I have lost trust in you, but if we were to try and make a go of it the first thing would be you quitting your job."

"What!" She choked. "I can't do that I have shares in the company, we own 35% of the business now. Jesus Mark I love that job I love being part of building it. Honey I promise its over between Greg and me, it's over."

"You made me that promise 25 years ago on our wedding day, it obviously meant nothing then, why should I trust you now?"

She slumped back in her chair. "Mark I made a mistake, I know that but I promise, what else can I do?"

"Quit your job... it seems simple to me, if you want to try again that's what I require and even then I make no promises."

She shook her head. "I don't see what difference it makes? Mark I love that job I have put everything into it, why can't we just try to move on."

"Because you would be working together every day, travelling together, I can't do it. If you want to reconcile then that is the first building block."

"No Mark that's not fair. I will do anything else but I am not giving up my job."

"That's fine Jade, but it shows me exactly where I stand doesn't it."

That little exchange led to prolonged discussion slash arguments from my daughters as they tried to play the intermediaries, but they were on my side, they both tried to get her to see my side but she was adamant. I don't know whether she was just being stubborn, whether she thought that maybe she could have her cake and eat it as well or whether she was just plain stupid.

Later as we were watching the late news she snuggled nervously against me as we watched TV. "Mark will you sleep with me tonight? I need you back in our bed."

Pulling her head closer and kissing her on the forehead I said. "I don't think that's a good idea. That would just confuse everything."

She tried to turn our kiss into something deeper. "Mark honey, it could be the first step in reconciliation."

"I don't want reconciliation, I want to move on." She burst into tears and ran off to the bedroom and I could hear her crying her eyes out. Turning off the TV I headed for bed myself.

The paperwork came back from the solicitors and they were unsigned. Jade refused to sign. She wanted to fight. It took several days of constant fighting and me threatening to send out the video of her blowing Greg to get her to sign.

The realisation of the inevitable had finally sunk in and she came to grips with it. When the restrictions lifted it took only a couple of weeks for the house to sell. I found a small apartment in town as did Jade, she found one closer to her office. Our daughters went through a period of hating and blaming me. July was the worst she believed her mother and blamed me for not supporting her. It took a while before we could talk. "July when have you ever known me to act without knowing the full story? Look back over your life and tell me one time when I reacted to quickly or too harshly with you."

She pondered for a moment before responding. "Never... Dad you were always so fair with us that's why this seems so wrong."

"You know what hurts July is that you have never considered that I know the truth and my actions are not an overreaction, but the logical outcome."

She sighed glaring at me. "So you are saying that mum actually cheated?"

I nodded slowly.

"I don't believe it dad, she would never do that, she loves you. Couldn't you go to counselling or something?"

"What would you do if you found your boyfriend had cheated on you July? Would you be giving him a second chance?"

I could see the reality dawning on her. We parted on better terms. Living apart made the divorce go easier. We split everything 50/50 although at first things went well for Jade the difficulty was Melissa. She tried to come to grips with Jade and Greg still working together but she struggled just like I would have, how did she trust them? We no longer stayed in touch she blamed me for some of their difficulties. Crazy how some people react Melissa figured if I had forgiven Jade and stayed with her, the troubles she was having with Greg would somehow have been eased.

Now Greg was Jades closest ally but with Melissa's constant nagging a gap had started to appear and he was forced to step back which hurt Jade. She spent most nights crying on the phone with our daughters, which in turn drove them to call me begging to forgive and forget.

Greg... The moment the restrictions lifted I took my chance, I made him a promise and it was time to act. I waited in the carpark of their business, the day of reckoning had arrived. The moment he walked out into the carpark and saw me he stopped in his tracks. "Mark I am sorry, I was a fool and I apologise for this shit storm."

I took off my jacket and laid it over the bonnet of my car. "Greg I promised you I would come for you, well now I'm here, let's do this like men."

He backed up quickly. "Mate I don't want to fight you, it won't solve anything."

"You are not my mate, you gave up that privilege when you fucked my wife and lied to my face."

He realised as I approached him that this was happening, he dropped his briefcase and started stripping off his jacket. The moment he threw aside his jacket I was on him. We were pretty much the same size and neither of us were what you would call fighters but I had anger on my side, a cold dirty feeling in the pit of my stomach that needed to be released. As I punched him the pain eased a little, my stomach unwound. It wasn't all one way traffic he landed a few as well but fuelled by my anger I kept going. The only thing that stopped me was a cop dragging me off him. When I looked around there was a small group gathered watching and amongst them was Jade who had her hands up covering her mouth, she looked horrified.

The cop separated us and Greg and I stood up staring angrily at each other, blood running down his face and a broken nose and split lip he was no oil painting but then again neither was I. Jade walked up but as she neared the cop raised his hand. "Step back please lady, let me sort this out." She stood rooted to the spot her eyes focused on me, pleading... questioning.

The cop broke the moment pushing us back against the car and started his questioning to his credit Mark didn't try to blame me or lay any charges, he simply told the cop we had a disagreement and there was nothing to it. The cop wasn't convinced, but what was he going to say? He settled for making us shake hands. As we shook hands Greg held on longer than was needed. "I am sorry mate, I never planned any of it, it was just an error in judgement."

He dropped my hand when I refused to accept his apology, and I turned and walked towards my car. Jade ran after me. "Mark, I am sorry I kick myself every day I screwed up but can't we at least try? Jesus 25 years Mark, 25 years it has to be worth something."

"I'm sorry Jade but I can't I kick myself everyday as well, why didn't I see it, you carried on that affair right under my nose and I didn't even know, there's no way we could live together because I would always be wondering, where are you, who are you with."

I walked away feeling lighter, stronger and a whole lot better. Violence may not solve anything but sometimes it cannot be avoided.

With the restrictions falling and the world returning to business as usual the media was full of all these good news stories about how we survived the virus, well somethings survived but others died. Millions unemployed, businesses failing their doors never to open again. Food banks overrun poverty at the highest levels since the great depression. Yep somethings could not survive.