That was it!

"Morning Boss." He said as I got in his car. I had told him off about calling me 'boss', but he carried on doing it. "Must have been a good New Year bash, you still look a bit jaded."

"It was okay, I've had better. How was yours?" I asked, trying to deflect him from asking more questions. It worked, the rest of the drive to work he filled me in on what he and his mates did over the Christmas and New Year break. It sounded not dissimilar to what I did at his age.

Ellie left our company about 30 years ago and went to a big building supply company as an accountant and worked her way up to Chief Accountant. We sometimes did business with them. She worked hard, I was proud of her and her achievements.

I made it through the rest of the day, mainly planning my trip to a housing estate we had built a few years ago. There was a problem with one or two of the houses. I had risen through the workforce, and I was now the company Quality Assurance Director. It was a bit rough for the first couple of months, and then my boss gave me some advice. 'Show them what you can do and what you expect of them'. On my next site visit I asked a young lad if I could have a go at laying a few bricks. Being a Director he didn't refuse, just gave me a wry smile. I laid a few and got back in the flow. "Right just keep the bricks and muck coming." I spent an hour laying bricks, the young lad was amazed, the old sweats who I had worked with in the early days just looked on and smiled. Harry, who had helped me build my house, shouted. "Still got it then Dave."

Without pausing I shouted. "Yes, mate it's like riding a bike, I just needed to get into the swing of things. Now, if you buggers have no work to do? I can find a floor that needs sweeping in Scotland." It was a standing joke in our day. They told me to fuck off in a fake Scottish accent and went off laughing. I did that at most sites I visited and it soon got around. I was okay and was there to help, not hinder. At some sites, I was asked to help the apprentices and at some I had my own trowel.

I received a text about half three, it was to both of us. "I will be round at 7. Will bring wine." That was bad, when Julie brought the wine, it was always bad news, but she normally brought good stuff. Ellie replied "Ta." Me with a thumb's up emoji. I got home and Ellie was still not dressed, she hadn't been to work today.

Julie's visit.

"We've got a friend coming round, try to look presentable for them if not for your husband." I browned some beef and threw it and some vegetables in a pot and put it on a low heat to simmer, enough for three in case Julie stayed. I put three wine glasses on the table.

Ellie went upstairs and I heard our shower running. She came down 20 minutes later looking better.

Julie arrived at ten past seven, that was odd, she is never late. She knocked, why'd she do that, she has her own key? I opened the door to her. She breezed in as normal and went to the kitchen cutlery drawer and got out the corkscrew. She passed both of them to me and smiled at me. She considered using a corkscrew a man's job. But wine with a cork, things must be really bad.

I poured 3 glasses, Julie sank hers in one go, when I went to refill it, she put her hand over the top and shook her head. Not a word had been spoken.

Julie looked at us. "It's not good. When I got back into the dance, all the young lads from your office, Ellie, were giggling until they saw me looking at them. Then they all went quiet.

"I sent young Katie out on a spying mission, she wasn't there New Years eve, so she went round saying she heard there had been a bit of upset and asked what happened?

"Ellie, you're a laughing stock. Throwing yourself at a man young enough to be your son whilst your crippled husband just had to sit there, you didn't even go to him to give him a chance to complain about what you were doing. They kept you on the far side of the dance floor on purpose so David couldn't get to you. And not going to your husband for a New Year kiss was a bonus for Richard and his mates. And if I remember I warned you what was happening."

Ellie just sat there with her mouth open. "But I thought it was good fun and bonding with the young people who work for me, and to be honest, being chatted up by a young bloke felt good. I'm such a fool."

"They were taking the piss Ellie. This is harsh. Richard volunteered because the rumour going round is that he likes large older women, that's what Katie heard. And I suspect that taking the piss out of their boss was fun."

"Oh Shit."

"Sorry Ellie, it gets worse. Management saw it all. They are not happy with you. You didn't help yourself by not coming in today. They know we're friend's and they asked me to have a chat with you. They didn't know I was coming round anyway."

"What do I do?" Wailed Ellie as she sat there crying.

Looking at her I said. "You stop blubbering and pull your fucking self together, or they have won. So your stupidity has given you two battles to fight. But if you pull yourself together, with our help you can win both."

I looked at Julie. "Will you help?"

"Yes, I have already put plans in place. Ellie, you will be in my office at seven tomorrow, I will tell you how to handle this. We in HR are trained for awkward conversations, and this is going to be awkward, trust me. I will not be there when you have it. It will be you and one of my junior staff, to witness what happens. Not Katie."

Julie looked at me. "Two battles?"

"She's fighting for her marriage. New Year was the last straw."

"I know things haven't been 100% between you two for a few months, but surely one mistake is forgivable? She was targeted."

"The target had legs and a mind of her own, she wasn't drunk. She could have walked away. As the New Year turned, she kissed another man, she turned away from our marriage. I won't be humiliated again. And it's been 18 months, we're just good at hiding it. Pretending everything is okay. Well, it's not and if things don't change. I'm out of here."

"What, divorce?" Asked Julie.

"Yes. The balls in her court."

Julie looked at me. "Actually David, you came out of it not too bad. People could see what was happening and you were obviously in pain, yet you still came to the party to support Ellie. And you were stuck in that chair and when you hobbled out, not taking any more crap, they thought you did the right thing. Oh, and I wasn't the only one to warn Ellie. Sherrie, the MD's wife, is really pissed at her for ignoring her warning. If Sherrie is pissed, then so is her husband. Ellie has got a lot of work to do."

By now Ellie seemed to have dragged herself together. She had stopped crying and was sitting more upright in her chair. That was better. I asked Julie if she wanted to stay for tea, there was plenty. She thanked me but said she had to go. She had a date tonight. That was another strange thing. She had only had a couple of relationships since she got divorced, they didn't last. She didn't date that much either. Which Ellie and I thought was strange. She was a very attractive, cheerful woman. a bit younger than me and Ellie. That was when I noticed how smart she looked. She asked me to walk her to the front door.

I opened the front door for her. "You look smart tonight, your date is a lucky chap, do I know him?"

"No, I met him on a dating website. I don't hold out much hope."

"Well, thank you for the chat tonight, hopefully we can get past this."

"We will give it our best shot." She looked up at me. She appeared to be nervous. "I didn't get my usual New Year kiss off you either, and you're one kiss down from your wife. So, I will try to make it up for you." With that she put her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss, a proper kiss not our usual peck on the cheek, not a friend kiss." She pulled away, she was blushing. she said quietly. "If you go down the divorce route, I'm still your friend." She walked away quickly. I was confused.

I went back and packed my bag for my trip. The car was going to pick me up at seven in the morning to take me to the airfield for my trip to Cannock. We had a five year contract to build houses and a couple of the early ones started to show problems. some of the brickwork on the side walls was starting to bow. I would have to investigate and rectify where I could. I already had several plans up my sleeve, but it would depend on the House owners.

If I had my way, I would knock the houses down and start again but that would be too expensive and draw too much attention. I had a bit to think about, not just my marriage.

Ellie asked if she could sleep in our bed tonight? I relented and let her, she started stroking my cock once we got in bed. I was still angry and not in the mood. I turned over and I harshly said. "I don't want a pity fuck."

She whispered back at me. "It's not a pity fuck, it's an I'm sorry fuck. Please."

"Sorry, I'm still not in the mood. I've got an early start. I need to get some sleep."

She was up before me in the morning and had tea and toast on the go. She was looking at her phone when I came in, she could see I was suspicious, so she held it out to me. "It's just Julie telling me to dress powerful." I didn't bother taking the phone. I just nodded my head and thanked her for the tea and toast and waited for the taxi. She came and saw me off at the door. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and said. "I still love you, I can't turn that off, but you seem to be doing your best to do just that. You need to think about what you want out of your life and how you're going to get it. I'll phone you tonight to see how you get on at work." I went to the taxi and as we drove off, I gave her a little wave.

The flight was uneventful, and I managed to get out of the Cessna without hurting myself this time. The site project manager, Bob, was there to meet me, we had worked together before. He was a solid chap. As we drove to the site office he filled me in on more detail with the problems. It was just two houses and he thinks he knows what the problem was, but to confirm it he wanted me to carry out my investigation to see if it agreed with his investigation. A strange way to do it I thought but it seemed to show integrity, openness.

I inspected the houses and I could see what the problem was with the brickwork. It was lucky it was seen as it was between two houses in both cases with limited access. We tend to cram as many houses into small spaces as we can. The repair would be difficult, there was only just enough room to walk between the houses. There were 18 months left to run on the project before we were due to finish. I asked how many houses we had still left to build, how many were vacant, not sold and how many would soon be finished.

Then I looked at the records of who did what. I knew most of the builders we had on the payroll and the regular contractors we used. There were a couple of new names, as there always was. I also didn't recognise the name of the supervisor. I looked at the time of year the house was built. It was bloody cold back then. There was no point in talking to the owners of the houses just yet, they were still at work. But I had arranged to meet the first couple tonight in their house and I had a plan. It was drastic, management wouldn't like it. But it was about remaining faithful to the custom and damage limitation. I went and laid some bricks.

I told Bob my initial findings, I thought there was no anti-freeze added to the cement to stop the water content freezing before the cement set. The brickies were in a hurry, and they didn't lay the bricks completely vertically. Any decent inspector would have seen that, and that was a name I didn't recognise. The best way to repair this was, as strange as it may seem, would be from the inside of the house. Okay somebody would have to go on the outside to do the pointing, and you'd have to use props to hold the house up while we did the work, plus the family certainly couldn't live there. We couldn't hide the fact that something was wrong. But you can make at least a mess as possible. Bob handed me a folder which detailed almost exactly what I had said, there's also a note indicating the names of the builders and the supervisor. He told me he had already passed the names around to all the other local builders by word of mouth, those chaps might find it hard getting a job for the next couple of years.

The meeting with the first couple went better than I expected, I was honest with them well up to a point. I offered them to either stay in a hotel for the 2 months that it would take to do the repair, or I could offer them a house that was already completed as a direct exchange. To sweeten the deal the new house was slightly larger and had an extra bedroom, but the proviso was but they kept the details of the reason for the move a secret. They agreed, but it was nothing we could really enforce. Good. The damage was done, people would see us doing work. But it was all about recovery now.

Bob took me to my hotel. I was shattered but at least we had one happy ish customer. Now on to my other problem.

I skyped Ellie after I had dinner. I wasn't looking forward to this. When I got through she looked quite happy. She told me she got to work at 7 o'clock. Julie gave her a lot of tips on how to handle difficult conversations. Julie had already booked an interview with the managing director for 8 o'clock when he got in. Ellie went and saw him and told him she'd been stupid and got carried away, she had let her husband down as well as the company. She would sort out the problem with her husband. She laid out her plans of what she had done from the company. The managing director gave her the okay but told her she was on a very thin tightrope.

She told me she waited until everybody was in the office, probably thinking she wasn't going to come in again today. Then she burst through the door followed by a little HR woman with a notepad. She said her first words after coming through the door word "Right you lot, listen in. There are enough rumours around. I know what your game was, and I stupidly fell for it. You are going to wish you hadn't done that. From this moment on any mistake, deviation from policy, coming in late or sneaking off early even by one minute will be an instant formal warning. The second occurrence will be instant dismissal. You have been warned. Richard, my office right now."

With the HR person present she laid the law down to Richard. She had to be a little bit careful because she was also part of the problem. But he left her office knowing full well his job was in danger.

She guessed something would happen to give her an opportunity to show her colours. Just after the prescribed lunch time she walked around the office and found a bunch of chaps in the corner talking about football. "What has Tranmere Rovers got to do with building supplies? You lot are on your first formal warning violating company policy. You're here to work, not talk about football." That certainly grabbed their attention.

She asked me how my day went. I told her it was okay​​. I would more than likely be home Friday lunchtime. I got a text from Julie which basically said Ellie had done okay ​​at work and how was I? I just replied with a simple. "Not good, but not bad."

I offered the couple in the next house a similar deal. They were a little more awkward because they had just spent thousands of pounds on new white goods for the kitchen and the new house already had them fitted so basically, I had to pay them for their white goods. Not ideal because we would have to remove them and dispose of them, we couldn't pass them on. I'm sure some of the lads around the building site will help a modern fridge freezer, washing machine and dishwasher find new homes.

Whilst there I managed a few hours laying bricks, very therapeutic. I could push my worries to the back of my mind. Even if I had to sit down to do it.

I was dreading going home, I had sort of decided that unless Ellie changed her approach to our marriage drastically, it was over. That was a hard decision to make after 40 odd years with one person. To be honest I was dithering, I didn't want to give up just yet.

I got home late afternoon. Ellie was waiting for me. The table was set for two with candles, that was a good sign. She was dressed smartly. It's hard to look sexy at her size. We had dinner, nothing special, grilled chicken with herbs and fresh vegetables. I noticed her portion was much smaller than mine. And she drank water instead of wine.

I had already decided that Abbots Reserve, courtesy of Greene King Brewery, was going to be my painkiller of choice tonight. I took it through to the lounge, very little had been said apart from the usual pleasantries.

Ellie came in and sat beside me. This time she had a small glass of white wine. I waited for her to start. The ball was still in her court. "Darling, I'm sorry for Sunday night. I was out of order. I didn't ignore you." I held my temper. Yes, she did. "It was worse than that. I got carried away and I forgot you. I was revelling in the attention from Richard. I know now that was all a set up. To my utter shame I fell for their games. Because I hadn't been drinking, I thought I was in control, I now know I wasn't. I forgot all about you until Julie came and got me from the dance floor telling me you were going home." She looked into her lap for a few seconds. "I'm not sure, but I think the attention of an attractive young man, the music, I sort of think I wanted to capture my youth. But all I did was make myself look stupid in front of my colleagues. I've got some serious work to do there to get their respect back. That's what the psychiatrist's side of Julie told me. But that's no excuse for the way I treated you."

She took a sip of her wine and carried on, I was intrigued where this was going. "I did as you asked and thought of where I wanted to go, which led me to where we had been. I realised I checked out of this marriage months ago, I gave up on me, our marriage and life. That can't continue."

"I hope you don't mind but I've joined your gym. I've been to see them and they've given me a diet as well. There is a whole package. I thought you insulted me when you called me fat, until I looked in the mirror, really looked. I could see what you see. I have let myself go. I'm never going to get into that corset you like so much, perhaps we can get a new one when I don't look like a Michelin man."

I took her hand and kissed it. I knew when she set her mind to something she would see it through. I thought we could make it. When we went to bed we didn't have sex, we just cuddled, but I was woken up with a blowjob in the morning. She looked up at me and smiled and said. "I hope this stuff isn't fattening because I intend to take a lot of it."

We went to the gym together, we had different machines regimes. She worked hard and the pounds fell off. When that happened our sex life picked up. We did get her a new corset. She looked good in it. My leg got better. She lost her weight and we stopped going to the gym every day. It gave us more time to do stuff together. I got the odd message from Julie saying how impressed she was with what Ellie had done. She worked hard at work to repair her reputation and losing all that weight showed a determination and her reputation was slowly regained.

A couple of times we had to go shopping for new clothes. She was careful what she chose to look professional. I called it her sexy smart look. Her dresses, when we went to parties, were a bit more risqué, but she looked good. She had taken to wearing stockings more often, I approved. She was still a bit on the large side, but she carried it well, it suited her. I did have to remind her a couple of times to tone the dresses down a bit. At her company summer BBQ Richard and the cronies stayed well away from her. Although I did catch Richard having surreptitious looks her way. She was once bitten twice shy. She wouldn't let it happen again. I was confident. She wasn't a stupid woman.