The Fourth Man Ch. 02

"God, I hope so, Marge, I'm doing everything I can. I make sure the house is spotless, I cook his favorite meals, and I haven't said no to anything in the bedroom. I'm trying so hard."

"I know you are, honey. Maybe you're trying a little too hard. Are you doing it out of love or out of guilt?"

Jen wasn't prepared for that question. She couldn't even respond at first.

After a moment of silence, Marge spoke again. "Jen?"

"Yeah, I'm here," she answered. "I just had to think for a minute. Both I guess. I...I don't know to tell you the truth. I do feel guilty, terribly guilty for hurting him like that."

"Uh huh," replied Marge. "Maybe that's the problem. Ken's not dumb. Maybe he can sense that you're doing all that out of guilt. Inwardly he probably figures why would you feel so guilty if you did nothing wrong."

"But I did do something wrong, I hurt my husband."

"Maybe you should sit down with him and tell him that's why you've been going out of your way to make things up to him, because you feel guilty over hurting him, not for what you did when you were away."

"You know you just might have something there. He told me not to go out of my way to try and make up for things; he told me but I didn't listen."

"I would stop trying so hard," continued Marge. "If you want things to go back to normal you have to start acting normal. I'm sure Ken loves all the special attention but I'll also bet it's a constant reminder. I really think you should just relax and let things go back the way they were before your little weekend excursion."

Jen thought about what her friend said. It sounded like good advice. "You're right, Marge. That makes a lot of sense, thanks. Starting tonight I'm going to stop trying so hard to make things up to him and just be myself again." She was about to change the subject to some neighborhood gossip when she remembered the reason she called. "Oh, Marge, do you know Linda Baskin? Her husband, Arnie, plays golf with Ken and Jack."

"Actually I only met her twice," Marge responded. "I'm sure you know Arnie has cancer. Man that's got to be tough."

"Yeah, that's why I was calling. Ken's pretty shaken up over it. He says Linda could really use some help around the house; you know, cleaning, laundry, shopping, things like that. I was thinking..."

"That we could go over and help her out?" Marge interjected.

"Yeah...what do you think?"

"Absolutely, I think it's a great idea; maybe what's-her-name, Smitty's wife would want to join us also."

"Ah, yeah what is her name," Jen said pondering. "Ah, Darlene I think."

"Yeah I think you're right. Funny, Jack hardly ever mentions Smitty anymore. All I ever hear about is Tara. If I didn't know better I'd swear he was screwing her."

"Marge, that's a terrible thing to say. You should be ashamed of yourself. You know damn well Jack would never cheat on you."

"Oh I know but every damn week when he comes home it's Tara this and Tara that..."

"Every week?" Jen asked expressing a little shock. "You mean she plays with them every week?"

"Yeah, you didn't know that? She's taking Arnie's place until he's able to play again; Ken didn't tell you?"

"No...well I knew she filled in a couple times but I didn't know it was an ongoing thing."

"Yeah, she's been playing with the guys all summer."

"Have you ever seen her? Is she pretty?" Jen's curiosity was piqued.

"Yes and yes. I saw her briefly when my car is in the shop and I had to drop Jack off at the course last month. She was standing over by the driving range talking to Ken. She has long blond hair and a body that won't quit...pretty face too. Jack said she learned to play golf from her ex-husband; I guess he's a pro. He gives lessons at one of the courses around here somewhere. Anyway, I have to get going, honey. Jack will be coming home soon and I don't even have dinner started yet. Did you want to see if Darlene wants to help us or keep it just you and me?"

Jen's mind was wandering and didn't catch the last part of her friend's question right away. "Huh...oh, ah no, I think we should see if she wants to help. The more the merrier," Jen replied. "I'll see if I can get their number from Ken tonight. I'll call her tomorrow and see what she says."

The girls said their goodbyes and hung up. Without even realizing it, Jen was about to get a taste of what her husband went through. She went into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee then sat down at the table to mull over some of the things her friend had said about Tara.

Hmmmm, so she has an ex, huh. I wonder why Ken hasn't told me about her, she asked herself. She fought against any thoughts of infidelity but she couldn't help feeling a small knot slowly forming in the pit of her stomach.

Ken would never cheat on me...then again...if he thought I cheated on him...no, he'd never do that. She tried pushing any notions of her husband with another woman from her mind and chastised herself for even considering such a thing...even for a moment.

She took another sip of coffee and thought back over the last couple of nights when her husband was not in the mood to have sex; how often has that happened in our eight-and-a-half years of marriage, she asked herself; and he's been awfully quiet lately. Maybe I've been wrong about those far away looks I've seen on his face. Maybe he wasn't thinking about that weekend at all; he was thinking about her...his slut girlfriend!

"Stop! Stop it right now," she yelled to herself out loud. "What the hell are you doing? There's absolutely no reason to think he's having an affair. Stop thinking like that!"

Jen did her best to occupy her mind with other thoughts but it wasn't that easy.

Later, as she and Ken sat eating dinner, she couldn't help but bring up the subject.

"I called Marge about going over to Linda and Arnie's and helping out; she's all for it."

"Good, I think that's great, honey. I know you and Marge don't really know them very well so I think that's extremely generous of your guys," he said with a smile.

"Well, you've been playing golf with Arnie for several years, maybe it's time I got to know them better. We thought we'd call Darlene and see if she'd like to go too."

Ken's brow wrinkled. "Darlene? Who's Darlene?"

"Smitty's wife, isn't that her name?"

"Marlene, her name is Marlene. That's okay," he chuckled, "you were close."

"Well I knew it was some kind of, 'lene,'" she said joking back. Do you have their number, I'd like to call her tomorrow and see if she's interested in going with."

"Yeah, sure, it's in my address book on the computer. Their last name is Dennison."

"Okay," Jen replied. It's now or never, she thought. "Marge told me that woman, Tara, has been playing every week with you guys. How come you never told me about her?"

"What's there to tell? She's been filling in for Arnie. I'm pretty sure I did tell you."

"A while back you mentioned that the pro shop stuck you with a woman but you never said she played every week with you guys. Marge said she's very pretty."

Ken looked closer at this wife. He immediately recognized the look on her face. It was easy to spot; it was the same pain and uncertainty he saw in the mirror not so long ago. Instantly he wondered how he should play it. Should he string her along, teach her a lesson? Almost as quickly as he thought about it he decided against it. It would be petty.

"Yes, honey, Tara is very pretty. She also works long hours and has two small kids. She can barely find the time to play every Sunday, so if you're wondering if she and I have anything more in common than eighteen holes of golf once a week, the answer is no."

"Oh honey, you know better than that. The thought never crossed my mind," she said not too convincingly.

"Ah-huh, sure," responded Ken.

It was mid-November when old man winter caught Chicago in its grip. The first good snowfall put an end to golf for the next four or five months. By the time the holidays came, Jen's mysterious weekend was a distant memory. She took her friend's advice and stopped trying so hard to be the perfect wife but never let a day go by without reminding her husband of her love.

In February a cold snap hit the Midwest. Ken was still trying to warm up after returning from lunch when he heard his secretary's voice over the intercom.

"Ken, Mr. Spitzer wants to see you."

"Okay, Betty, thanks."

Mr. Spitzer was the executive vice president of corporate sales and his boss, a nice guy but all business. Ken saw an uncharacteristic smile on his face as he was shown into the big man's office. "Have a seat, Ken," he said broadening his smile even more.

Ken sat in one of the plush, leather chairs in front of the large oak desk.

"Ken, I don't know if you're aware of it but you're having a hell-of-a-year so far. You've already earned your quarterly bonus and it's only February."

"Thanks, Mr. Spitzer, I wasn't aware of that," he humbly replied.

"Well the firm would like to show its appreciation. I know you're an avid golfer and seeing there's six inches of snow on the ground around here, I've arranged a little vacation for you at the company's expense," he said sliding an envelope across his desk.

Ken opened the envelope and looked in astonishment at its contents. "Oh wow!" he exclaimed, "a golf junket to Hilton Head."

"Yup, all expenses paid for you and three guests. I figured one of those guests would be Jack and since it's a three day weekend thing I've arranged for both you and him to take a Friday off. Just let me know what weekend you're going."

Ken thanked his boss profusely. As soon as he returned to his own office he called Jack in to give him the good news.

"Okay," Jack said eagerly, "we gotta call Smitty and see when he can get a Friday off."

As Ken reached for his cell phone Jack brought his hand to his chin. "Who else?" he asked rhetorically. "There's no way Arnie can make a trip like that yet, I guess we should ask Tara; what do you think?"

"Yeah, I guess, although she works such long hours I doubt she'll be able to make it," Ken responded while still holding the phone.

"Yeah but I still think we should call her."

Ken hit Smitty's work number and told him about the junket. Much to their disappointment, Smitty said there was no way he could go. Neither Ken nor Jack could believe he would pass up the opportunity but he had no vacation time or sick days available until later in the year and he couldn't afford to take a day off without pay.

"Besides," he told them, "we'd still have some expenses; this close after Christmas...I just can't afford it. If I went home and told Marlene I was taking time off to go play golf for three days she'd kill me. Sorry guys."

"Shit," Jack said after Ken disconnected, "now what?"

Ken started scrolling through his phone contacts. "Well I'm going to call Tara. We might as well see if she can go, and if she can't I guess it'll just be the two of us old buddy."

When she picked up the phone, Tara was surprised to hear Ken's voice. They hadn't spoken in almost three months and she really didn't expect to hear from him for another month, at least. When he told her about the trip she jumped at it. Unlike Smitty, she had a bunch of sick days piled up. She was pretty sure her ex would love to have the kids for a long weekend, but if he balked her parents would baby sit. When Ken told her Smitty couldn't make it and it would be just the three of them, she had a suggestion.

"Ken, would you mind playing with two women?" she asked.

"Ah, well it depends. Who's the other woman and can she play?"

"It's my sister, Laura. She lives in Atlanta and yes, she can play almost as well as me. I'd have to call her and make sure she could go but she's a big shot where she works; I'm pretty sure she can take the time off. The only problem is she has two kids and a husband. Let me give her a call real quick and see if she could go."

"Hold on, Tara, let me run it by Jack first," replied ken. He held his hand over the phone while he asked his friend if he had any objections.

"How come every time we need a fourth guy it turns out to be a woman?" Jack remarked.

"I don't know, just lucky I guess," Ken quipped back.

"Yeah, well if Tara's sister looks anything like her then by all means, let's invite her."

Ken chuckled before lifting his hand from the phone then told Tara to go ahead and call her sister. About an hour later Tara called back, it was all set. Her sister would meet them at Hilton Head.

Ken was almost walking on air when he went home that night, but when she heard the news, Jen was a little less enthusiastic.

"You're going out of town for three days with Tara?"

"Yeah," he replied innocently, "her sister's going to meet us there."

"Her sister, just when did all this happen? Who the hell is her sister? You've never even mentioned her at all."

"That's because I've never met her, she lives in Atlanta."

"Let me get this straight, you and Jack are going to be spending three days and nights alone with Tara and her sister in some resort hotel...over my dead body," she stated angrily. "You're nuts if you think I'm going to sit at home while you go gallivanting off with your girlfriend for..."

"Enough!" Ken said raising his voice and stopping his wife's rant dead in its tracks. "I don't want to hear another word about it. Tara is not my girlfriend. Where in the hell are you coming up with this crap? We're going out there to play golf, not fuck around."

Jen saw his face turning red with anger.

"You went away for a weekend and wouldn't tell me where you were going, what you'd be doing, or who you were doing it with. I had to deal with it then so you can deal with this now."

"That was different, you said I could go."

"You didn't give me much choice, did you? If you remember, when I asked if you'd still go if I said no, you weren't sure if you would or wouldn't. You said you would be terribly disappointed with my lack of trust in you. Well how the hell do you think I feel? I have never so much as looked at another woman. I have no idea where all this mistrust is coming from but it better stop...and I mean right now or we're going to have some very rough times ahead of us. With that Ken left his stunned wife to go shower and change clothes.

Tears instantly clouded her eyes as Jen plopped down in one of the kitchen chairs. Damn, she thought, he's still mad. I wish I had never gone on that stupid weekend. I almost destroyed my marriage and now it's coming back to bite me in the ass again. I really thought he'd pretty much forgotten all about it, but obviously that's not the case. It was the first thing he threw at me.

The rest of the evening was quiet. Jen was pissed, but not so much at Ken, she was pissed at herself. She was taken by surprise when Ken told her of the trip. In the heat of the moment she practically accused him of going off to have an affair. Dumb, dumb, dumb, she chastised herself silently. In her heart she knew Ken wouldn't cheat on her yet she just couldn't shake her anxiety. Later, as they lay in bed Jen wanted to apologize.

"I'm sorry, honey. I know you wouldn't cheat, I know that, it's...it's just that I know how pretty she is and...well, just the thought of you and her in the same hotel for all those nights; there's just so much temptation..."

"Jen, where is all this coming from? I've been on trips before and you've never worried about me having an affair...at least you never said anything."

"I know, I know, it's...I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. I just have a bad feeling. Marge says she's real pretty and..."

"Jen, there's a lot of pretty women out there, some are even prettier than you; but you're my wife. You're the only woman I love, the only woman I want...in or out of bed."

"Oh honey," she reached around his chin and gently pulled his face around to meet hers. She touched her lips to his and ever-so-tenderly held them there until slowly pulling apart. "I love you so much," she whispered.

Ken put his arm around her. She snuggled into his strong frame and silently slipped away into dreamland.

The next day Jen tried not to dwell on thoughts of her husband alone with two beautiful women and had almost pushed it from her mind until the phone rang.

"Hi honey," greeted Marge. "So did you hear about the boy's big weekend golf trip? You must be awful proud of your man, he's doing something right, I wish he'd let Jack in on his secret."

"Oh yeah," replied Jen, "I heard all about it." She thought for a second about what her friend just said. "What do you mean I should be proud of him; for what? What secret?"

"Didn't he tell you? This whole golf trip thing is like a second bonus. Ken has already surpassed his quarterly quota. Jack says he's their top salesman for corporate accounts."

"No, he didn't even mention that. All he said was he, Jack, and that Tara were going to meet her sister for a three day weekend to go play golf. After that we...we kind of got into it. I, ah...I kind of expressed some concerns and he got pissed. He brought up that stupid weekend again. I thought he was over that but evidently not."

"What do you mean, you got into it. What concerns, what are you talking about?"

"What am I...Marge, your husband and my husband are going to spend a long weekend in a luxury hotel with two beautiful women...that doesn't concern you?"

"Well when you put it like that," Marge said with a chuckle in her voice. "No, I'm not concerned, not at all. I swear, Jen, you've been paranoid ever since you went on that crazy trip. First Ken thinks you were cheating and now you think he's cheating; what the hell is going on with you two?"

"I...I don't know, Marge. You're right, I am paranoid. I can't help it; I'm worried sick. I think Ken still has his doubts about me sleeping with another man on that trip and I'm afraid he might do something stupid out of revenge."

"Jeez, Jen, listen to yourself. Stop! Ken's not like that, he's not about to do anything stupid with anyone. You know better than that, I know you do. He didn't plan this you know, it was given to him. It was Jack's idea to call Tara, then Smitty said he couldn't go; that's when Tara asked if her sister could join them. It's not like Ken had any of this prearranged, the whole thing was put together on the spur of the moment. You should be proud of him, not accusing him."

Jen sat while silently pondering her friend's words. She knew she was being irrational but she just couldn't ignore the bad feeling in her gut.

"Listen," Marge continued, "why don't we go out to a movie Saturday night, it'll take your mind off things for awhile."

"Thanks, Marge, that's a great idea. Call me in the afternoon and we'll figure out what to see."

As they said their goodbyes, Jen was determined to stop all her foolishness, take her friend's advice, and treat her man with the love and respect he deserved.

When Ken walked in that night Jen had a candle light dinner waiting for him. A good bottle of wine, a delicious meal, and a loving wife can do wonders for a man's disposition.

After she cleared the table Ken tried to help her with the dishes but she would have none of it.

"You go relax," she told him, "I'll be out in a few minutes."

Ken almost felt guilty sitting in the den searching for something to watch on TV as his wife was clanging dishes in the kitchen.

True to her word though, she was soon done and was cuddled up alongside him. He put his arm around her and pulled her tighter into his side. Almost unperceptively Jen reached over and started to unbutton his shirt. She had the first three undone before he even realized what was going on.

"What are you doing?" he asked as if he didn't know.

"Well, I'm not going to see you all weekend," she responded in her sexiest voice. "I'm going to need a little something to hold me over."