Temptation Island

I pulled out my phone and called work. I called Ken.

The phone rang about five times before he answered it. He sounded as if he was out of breath.

"Ken..." I began before he cut me off.

"You fucking bitch," he screamed at me. "This is your fault. If you hadn't come into my office begging to suck my dick, none of this would have happened. I'm going to lose my wife, my kids and my home because of you. I hate you..."

The line went dead then. While I was on the phone the boat left and I had to wait for the next one. With no reservation, again I had to pay a crazy amount for the boat. I was able to get to the airport again within hours of when Jeff's flight left. It just seemed like I was always trying to play catch up. I got home just in time to see a truck drive away from my house. The truck belonged to some sort of locksmith service. I tried the doors and found out that I couldn't get into my own home.

I called my parents and went to stay with them for a while. I told them that Jeff and I were having problems. I didn't tell them the nature of the problems though. I tried calling Jeff over and over, but he wouldn't pick up the phone.

My mom was sure that we'd work it out. "You and Jeff love each other," she said. "It's good for you to spend some time at home."

My dad eyed me suspiciously. "Where are my grandkids?" he asked.

"Uhm, they're with Jeff's parents for the night or so," I said. "They'll be home in plenty of time to go to school on Monday and..."

"What did you do?" asked my dad pointedly.

"Henry," said my mother. "We don't know what happened. It's probably just a difference of opinion."

"She got thrown out of the house, not him," said my dad. "The kids are with him, Martha, do the math. She fucked up somehow. If he was the one who fucked up, he'd be calling here trying to kiss HER ass. Instead, ever since she got here she's been calling him over and over again. Think about it Martha, if he fucked up, he'd be calling HER trying to apologize."

My mom took me into the kitchen. "You can stay here for as long as you need, Honey," she said.

But even my mom was looking at me after that. I spent Saturday morning trying to call Jeff. I think I called him a hundred times, but he still refused to pick up the phone. I had the bright idea of trying to use my parents' phone but my dad unplugged it and hid it.

"Uh unh!" he said.

"Henry, she's our daughter," said my mom.

"I love her," said my dad. "But I love my grandkids too. I am fucking Switzerland in this. I do not want Jeff blocking our number because he thinks we took her side. He's pretty reasonable. You know that yourself Martha. I'll bet it you called him right now and asked him if we could come and visit the kids as soon as they're home, he'd say yes. So I don't want him associating our number with Lisa. Besides, she's got that six hundred dollar me-phone. Why can't she use that?"

"It's an iPhone, daddy," I said. "And my battery is dead."

"Well, just plug it in," he said. "You can have all of the electricity you need. Just leave my phone alone."

I stubbornly refused to try to find a lawyer. I was sure that once Jeff calmed down, we could talk and work everything out. My mom and I spent Sunday looking through the photo albums and remembering and discussing some of our fondest memories. The worst part about it was that at nearly forty, I had spent more than half of my life with Jeff. We met when I was 19. So the last twenty years of my life, were full mostly of memories that involved him. I'd started out trying to bond with my mother and finished the day crying because I missed my husband.

It only got worse when dinner time came. My dad had been gone all day and he showed up just in time to eat as usual. "He snuck off to go fishing," smiled my mom. "And he didn't catch a damned thing."

"I did go fishing, kind of," he said. He pulled some papers out of his jacket and handed them to my mom. They were drawings that were made with crayons. Grandpa and Grandma were written across the top. Grandma was spelled wrong.

"I went to visit my grandkids," he said. "And I'm not a God damned headshrinker, but any idiot can see something in these fucking pictures. Look at the first one," he said.

It was a drawing of a large man and two smaller figures a girl and a boy. Next to them in a different color was another figure that I supposed was me.

"Notice anything about that picture?" he asked. "Nobody told him what to draw. He drew himself and his sister and Jeff. I had to ask him, well what about your mommy. He still had the first crayon in his hand but he picked up a different color to draw you, Lisa. And you're standing apart from the three of them. The three of them are all smiling, but you have a frown on your face. Jeff wouldn't let me ask them any questions. I don't think he's ready to talk with them about whatever the fuck is going on but the kids know it." I looked at my feet.

"And Lisa, he looks like hell. He looks like someone just took a fucking shovel and dug his heart out of his chest. So whatever is going on between you too is hurting him badly. But he wouldn't talk about it. If he thought that he'd done something wrong, shit, I'm your dad. He'd have been trying to get me to talk to you about it. Or he'd try to get me to convince you to give him another chance. I even tried to catch him off guard a couple of times. I just asked him what he did, out of the blue. He just said he loved you too much."

"I tried again hours later, but I switched tactics. I asked him what you did. I figured that maybe, just maybe, the guy needed someone to talk to, maybe to vent a bit. He just said I'd need to ask you."

"Henry," said my mother angrily. "Lisa is our daughter and we..."

"Martha, Jeff is our son in law. Has he ever done anything to hurt Lisa that you know of? Lisa, tell your mom what Jeff did. If he hurt you, just say the word and I'll go back over there and kick his ass. With the mood he's in he probably wouldn't even fight back. Martha we need to support both of them because that's what families do. We don't take sides. But right now he needs someone and badly. Do you know that he didn't even say anything to HIS parents? I called Ed to see if he knew anything and they don't know jack. They didn't even know the lovebirds were upset at each other. Ed really thought that they took the kids on Friday and Saturday so these two could have one of their weekend fuck fests."

I looked at my dad in shock. "Oh Lisa, we're old but we're not stupid. We used to do it too. Shit, we still do. How the hell do you think that we got you?"

"I'm telling you Lisa, you need to fix this. Whatever the fuck you did or didn't do, just say you're sorry and go home. And you need to quit that God damned job of yours. For the past year or so, half the time when I go for a visit you're not even home and..." He looked at me.

"That's what this is about isn't it?" he asked. "He's tired of trying to be those kids' mother and father all rolled into one. He wants you to quit and you said, "No," didn't you?"

I just relied on my best strategy then. I just started crying and my mom glared at my dad and walked me up to my room. My dad just rolled his eyes and sat down in front of the TV.

I spent another night in bed with the most awful dreams possible going through my mind. I couldn't believe it. The next day would be my triumphant moment; the day that all of this had been about and Jeff wouldn't be there to share it with me. Somehow, the moment just seemed hollow.

I got to work the next day and tried to swipe my time card to log in. The clock wouldn't accept it. I tried it eight times until I realized that since I was a manager now, I no longer had to swipe in and out. I smiled. I went and sat down at my desk for one last time. I noticed that Ken's office was still dark. I decided to log in on my computer and do some work. That way it would seem better when they made the announcement. My log in credentials weren't accepted either. Then I remembered that I'd be working with George until I took over for him, so I headed over to his office. The light was already on but there was no one inside.

As I walked out, a younger guy that I'd seen around the office but never met, walked in and dropped a ton of paperwork on the desk.

"Shit, George has a lot to do," I said.

"Like what?" he asked. He had a bemused expression on his face.

"Well, all of that paperwork," I said. He laughed.

"George doesn't have to do shit," he said. "He's gone."

"The old bastard retired early?" I gasped. "Who's going to...?"

"Retired," he laughed. "George didn't retire. He was fired. The old bastard left me in the lurch. I have to figure all of this shit out on my own and..."

The edges of my vision started to close in around me. This asshole was talking like he'd gotten MY job. There was just no way that they'd given him my job. I didn't even know him.

I felt someone tapping me on my shoulder. I turned and saw Eunice Parker our HR manager. "Lisa, I need you to come with me," she said. "We'll straighten this whole thing out."

As we left the office, I felt better. "Forgive me Lisa," she said. "This is all my fault. I'd intended to get to work early this morning so I could take care of everything before you got here. But my husband, Alex, fucked the shit out of me last night. I'm going to have to hide that Cialis just so I can get a break. He's been acting like we're in our twenties again." Her face was flushed as she spoke. Eunice was in her mid fifties.

As we got to her office in HR, she was humming some little tune as she grabbed papers and a file from various cabinets. I was having trouble imagining Eunice lying flat on her back while her ancient husband got between her legs. They were so old that I'd bet his sperm was gray.

"Okay Hon," she said cheerfully. "Here's your entire file and work history. You go through the doors and up to the boardroom. They're already waiting for you."

I knocked and then walked into the board room. I looked around at seven sour looking faces. Even the one woman on the board was sour looking. That was why they needed me. They needed someone with some drive. They needed someone to inject some youth and vigor into the board. Between the seven of them, they had to be about six hundred years old.

I smiled at them, ready to be anointed. I was ready for power. "Bitch," said the one in the center chair. "Do you even have a clue of what you did?"

I was flabbergasted. "Is this the way you treat all of the new managers?" I asked. "Is this some kind of hazing ritual?" They looked at each other crazily and then back at me.

"Speaking of managing," said the woman. Her voice was as venomous as the man's had been. "Do you think you can MANAGE to get your head out of your ass long enough for us to get through this?"

She was a mean one, I thought.

"Okay, the reason that you were fired," she began and I lost consciousness.

Several moments later someone splashed water roughly in my face to awaken me. At first, I really thought they'd pissed on me but then I saw one of the men holding the vase that had been full of flowers on the long table a few moments before. Obviously, the water they'd put in the vase had some kind of foul smelling nutrients for the flowers in it.

"I was fired?" I screamed.

"Hell yes," said one of the men. "We may even sue you. Because of you, our reputation is in danger. We're going to have to settle with your husband and the settlement won't be a small one. This little sex ring of yours will not look good for us in the media. And since it involves all four of our middle managers, our customers would go crazy. We considered suing you to recoup some of our costs. But we decided that the best course of action was just to give you the broom. WE had to bring you up here to inform you that we are terminating you with extreme prejudice. You will receive no severance package and no recommendation. In fact, you'd be better off never telling anyone that you worked for us. Legally, we can't bad mouth you to anyone who asks, but under the table and off the record, we'd fill them in on what you did."

I heard one of them ask another if he'd pissed in the flower vase again.

I turned and walked out of the room with tears in my eyes. Two security guards dogged my steps and led me toward the elevators. "I need to get my stuff," I said.

"We've emptied your desk already," said one. "We have your box of personal items waiting for you."

As the elevator doors opened, I saw Patti step off of the elevator. "I'm really sor..." I began. That was all I got out of my mouth before Patti slapped me so hard I saw stars. Another woman, the blond from the island, spoke to me as she led Patti out.

"Forgive her," she said. "She's really emotional this morning. She's going in to discuss HER suit against the company too. Jeff and she are suing the company separately." I stepped onto the elevator and silently rode it down to the ground level.

Another guard joined us and he handed me a huge over loaded box full of office supplies and my personal items. On top of the pile was the framed picture of me, taken on my first day at work here. Someone had defaced the picture by drawing tiny shriveled breasts over mine and gave me a mustache. They also wrote, "Whore," in huge letters across the photo.

There were staplers and all kinds of other things that didn't belong to me in the box. I told the guard and he laughed.

"No one wants to touch those things anymore," he said. "So you may as well keep them."

As the elevator doors opened, the guards looked at me and coldly said, "See ya." As I stepped away from the elevator, someone slammed into me like a freight train and football tackled me to the ground. The box went flying as the man on me started pounding me. The guard pulled him off of me and I realized it was Al. Only a week previously he'd fucked me on the island. Now he was trying to beat the shit out of me.

"You and your pimp ruined my life," he said. "I lost my fucking job and my wife is divorcing me."

He was still trying to hit me as the guards held him back. They were laughing their asses off.

"You'd better get out of here lady," said one of the guards.

"I can't believe she got bowled over by a fucking Ewok," laughed another guard. I just left the box where it had fallen and headed for my car.

Just as I got to the car, I saw another familiar face standing next to it.

The tall thin blond was there. She was still chewing gum. She looked at me in confusion and then smiled. "This is a first," she said. "I've never served the same person twice in three days before. Here ya go."

"Wait, is Jeff changing our divorce?" I asked. "He said I had a week to make up my mind. I don't even have a lawyer yet."

"Nope, this is something else," she smiled. "I hope your luck gets better. Have a good day. I hate to do this but I have to say it. You've been served."

As she walked away with her tight little ass just twitching from side to side and men watching her, I looked at the papers. I couldn't believe it. Ken was suing ME for sexual harassment.

I got inside my car and called him. "I'm not supposed to talk to you," he said.

"Why the fuck are you suing me?" I asked.

"You were the one who started it," he whined. "I can't control myself. I'm like Tiger Woods, I'm a sex addict. I was trying to put it all behind me and be a faithful husband until you forced me to start all over again by sucking my dick. You're a menace." Then he hung up the phone.

I called Jeff's office and was told that he'd taken the week off to take care of some personal matters. I drove over to the house just in time to see him pull his Mustang into the driveway. I ran up behind him and tried to get inside. He closed the door. That was it. I snapped and started pounding on the door. Within a few minutes, the police showed up. Jeff ended up getting a restraining order against me.

My parents had to bail me out of jail. Over the next few weeks I tried to see Jeff, but was only able to speak to him through our lawyers. I fought the divorce with everything I had. I also watched the house every day. Jeff did allow me to see the kids whenever I wanted but it wasn't the same.

Jeff did meet with and have lunch with Patti several times but there was nothing going on between them. That became apparent when Patti's divorce was settled and her and Jeff's lawsuits against my company were also settled. Patti sold her and Ken's house and moved out of state.

The last I heard, Ken had also moved away. I heard that someone had beaten the shit out Ken just before he moved away. He'd dropped his suit against me before he left and I thought that maybe Jeff had something to do with it. From what I'd heard, whoever had beaten Ken up had kicked him in the nuts so hard that he'd needed surgery to repair them.

All of the former managers had been fired and were divorcing, except for George who was already a widower. George's heart condition had been exacerbated by all of the stress though and he was in the hospital.

A little more than a month into my fighting the divorce I got good news. I was pregnant. With Jeff being a super dad, I knew that he'd never be able to abandon one of his children.

My lawyer contacted Jeff and he agreed to support me during the pregnancy. It gave me a little bit more than seven months of the divorce being on hold to work things out.

Jeff brought the kids out to see me a couple of times a week. He spoke to mom and dad but never to me. Finally I cornered him.

"Jeff, I know you hate me, but we need to talk. I don't want our kids separated," I said.

"I don't either," he said. "So I'm going after custody of that one too." I was shocked. But not nearly as shocked as I was by his next statement. "If it's mine," he'd said.

I just started crying and ran away from him. As the weeks went on, the pregnancy became problematic. I was hospitalized. As the doctors examined the baby, they looked for genetic abnormalities. There weren't any, but unfortunately, Jeff was also not the father. Jeff was able to contact Patti and get a swab from her children. With no one able to find Ken, it was good to rule him out. Al was also ruled out and since the baby had no African American genes, that left only one man to test.

George died the day after he was confirmed as the baby's father. That was the last straw. Jeff was given his divorce. He was very fair about it. He got physical custody of the kids. He got the house until the kids moved out at which time we were to sell it and split the proceeds. We split everything else fifty/fifty. We also each kept our own pensions, which I thought was unfair because I had next to nothing in mine while his was fully vested and would continue to grow.

Jeff continued to come and visit me until the baby was born. He didn't go into the delivery room this time or do any of the things he'd done for our kids, but I couldn't fault him for that. I put the baby up for adoption. I wanted him to have a good home with people who would love him. I didn't want him to be raised by a woman who would look at him every day and only see the reflection of the biggest mistake she ever made.

I couldn't find a job. Six months after the birth, I was waitressing. I got a call then from a friend of Mom's. She wanted to offer me a job as a housekeeper for a client of hers. The only problem was the pay. It was only a couple of hundred dollars a week, but it was a live in position so I could bank most of that. I hated waitressing so I told her I'd interview for it. I figured that I could look for another job while I did that one. Who knows, sooner or later my luck had to change.

As she drove me to the house for the interview, my heart was pounding in my chest. I knew that neighborhood like the back of my hand. I even knew the house.