The Party and the Indecent Proposal

"You're right, Adam. This is about me taking something away from him. Rubbing his face in the fact he can't have me. He needs to know he can't keep doing to women what he did to Janice."

I shrugged, and walked away. "I picked up some moving boxes on the way home. They're already in the bedroom. If you fill them up. I'll carry them down to your car for you."

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"You could go over to Brett's, start the holiday early. Although, call first. He probably already has a hooker tonight."

"Fuck you, Adam. You have never been this bitter before."

"No, well, my wife has never ripped out my heart before."

"It doesn't have to end this way."

"It does for me. You have the power to stop it right now. Call him, and tell him you changed your mind."

"No, I won't do it. Don't you see, I want him to think he has won, then at the last possible moment, pull the rug out from underneath him. I want to see the look on his face when I say. We're sleeping in separate beds."

"Nobody would believe you. Okay, you would have a win, but that would just make him more determined to ruin your reputation. After you go with him, everybody will believe him. Your word will mean nothing."

She looked confused as she listened to, but ignored my words. "I refuse to believe you could be so thin skinned and that you have so little trust in me."

"Believe what you want."

She packed up box after box, and I carried them down to her car. In the end, we ran out of room. Our marriage and our life together ended with a hug.

I spent the weekend packing up her shit. I received call after call on Saturday, to ask whether I'd seen the footage of Ali with Brett at the awards. The sleazy bastard won an award, so the cameras were on him a lot.

Her parents called, my parents called. Damon called. I got sick of saying the same thing over and over. I told them all, "Ali and I have already separated. The divorce papers were filed Thursday."

Of course, there were commiserations and consoling calls, but it changed nothing.

I was surprised when the tow truck turned up on Sunday morning with my 56. That shocked me, and it hurt, but I got one last win. I organized for it to be crushed and dropped off in Brett's driveway that same afternoon.

Ali's call later that afternoon was quiet. She was also quick to say. "Adam, nothing happened. We slept in separate beds, you should of seen the look on his face."

"Good, I'm pleased you got your moment of satisfaction. Was it worth it?"

"I was hoping that you might have changed your mind, that some sort of logic might have prevailed."

"Nope, no change of mind here."

"Not even after they delivered your car?"

"The car wasn't mine. I sold it to Brett, remember? It belongs to him now. They did bring it here, but I sent it back." I snickered loudly. "Although, he might not recognize it now."

"Oh my god, what did you do?" She gasped.

"Ask Brett, I'm sure he will tell you all about it."

The divorce happened quickly. Ali didn't contest. She wasn't happy, and made no bones of telling everybody so.

The separation was difficult as we split up over twenty years of collected memories and belongings. Thankfully, having Damon of at college took away one problem. I left it for Ali to tell him about the divorce. It may sound gutless, but I saw it as her job, after all, she created the situation.

It took a while for things to settle down. Ali tried. I'll give her credit, she tried. She never shied away from telling the truth about what happened, and what really happened on her trip with Brett.

Unfortunately, he turned out to be an even bigger jerk than I gave him credit for.

He did his best to destroy her reputation, both professionally and personally.

I knew it was all lies. When he went off for his weekend with Janice, apart from a few friends at parties, he told nobody. He let the grapevine do the dirty work for him.

This time, he went on a publicity mission to destroy Ali. He told everyone, and by that I mean anybody he could get to listen. He sprouted on about how she was a real slut. Yeah, he went the whole hog. Apparently, she begged to fucked in the ass and swallowed his cock afterwards. The plane door was barely closed before she pounced on his cock, screaming about wanting to join the mile high club.

He recruited idiots like Jeff to help spread his toxic shit.

I heard all the shit through third parties. As soon as I heard the bit about her wanting to join the mile high club, I knew it was all horse shit.

The one thing Ali suffers from is travel sickness, especially when it comes to flying. I knew how nervous she would be getting on that plane. She hated small planes. She freaked out when we took out trip to Polynesia and we flew out to one of the islands in a small plane. I almost had to push her onto the plane.

Surprise, surprise, I suppose, that Brett was such an asshole about it. That's just the sort of person he was.

Ali, though, stood tall, used the publicity to push her career forward. That, coupled with the fact she had more time to throw at it, gained her a couple of promotions, in fact, she was the top realtor in town and in very hot demand.

The publicity might not have been good, but it's an age old adage that still holds water. There's no such thing as bad publicity.

She brought a new house, not that far from our home, but a much more affluent neighborhood.

Ali and I bumped into each other at the supermarket. There she was, looking as gorgeous as ever. There's no explaining what I felt, my heart did a back flip. She was bending over getting something from a lower shelf. With her leg stretched out for balance, I admired once again those spectacular legs. God damn it she looked good. I sneaked up behind her, out of view. "Hey stranger. What are you doing roughing it here?"

She smiled broadly as she turned to see me, wheeling my cart. "Some habits are hard to break. I tried the local one, but I could never find anything. Just found myself coming back here."

"You look good," I offered truthfully.

With a cute little blush, she replied. "Thanks, Adam."

"Hey, it's true. Life's obviously going well for you."

She shrugged. "Business is good. I miss you though," The last bit dribbled out slowly.

"Yeah, same. I miss you as well. We did have more than twenty years together, you don't walk away from that without leaving a hole."

"Oh god, that is true. How have you been?" she asked.

"I'm doing okay. Finished the f55."

She giggled girlishly. "I know, dad showed me the photos. It looks really good, congratulations."

"Thanks, it's probably not as much fun to drive as a Porsche, but it gets along okay."

Her smile disappeared, and she winced a little. "I bet it's a lot more fun than a Porsche. I brought an old 911, it's fun, but you know I still prefer the Nova Dad brought for me."

"Wow, a 911, huh. Must be nice."

"Yeah," she said giggling. "It is, but I don't know. The Nova has memories. It was the one car you and I had."

"Yep, your Dad did a hell of a job fixing that damn thing up for you."

"I think that's why I love it, memories."

"Do you talk to Damon much? I haven't spoken to him for a while."

She reached for my hand, hers falling over mine on the shopping cart handle. "Adam, you need to call him more. I talk to him every week. He misses you, but the one thing he gets from you is stubbornness."

"Ali, we'll sort it out. The only reason I don't call is he keeps lecturing me. He blames me for our damn divorce. If he learns to let that go, then we can talk some. Until then, we'll get by. His Grandmother keeps me up to date."

"Adam, he needs his dad."

"Then you do us both a favor and tell him to stop blaming me for what happened."

"I have, I told him exactly what happened. I didn't try to make myself look good. I told the truth. I have never blamed you, never put you down. I accept it was all my fault. He looks up to you so much, I guess he had an expectation or something."

"Yeah, look, let's not talk about that."

She squeezed my hand, and nodded. "Yes, I hear you've been dating?"

I laughed. "Shit, your surveillance is much better than mine."

She smiled. "Craig, he doesn't understand the words 'in confidence.'"

"Yeah, that boy has got a big mouth. Guess I better remember that when he asks what I've been up to."

"Chantelle Rice, really? You could do better, Adam."

"She's a nice lady."

"Like hell she is. She's a tramp."

I laughed bitterly. "She never went out with Brett." It was a low blow, and I knew as soon as I saw her face fall, I had gone too far.

"Adam, I told you. I never even kissed him. He was so pissed at me when I said no. He went out and hired a hooker. Nothing happened."

"Wow, calm down. I know that, but it still hurts, okay?"

"Yes, I understand, I suppose..."

"Anyway, Chantelle was nice. She's actually loads of fun."

"At least you knew you were going to get laid."

I laughed at her attempt at humor. "There was that to it."

"I hope you used condoms," she scoffed.

"A whole packet, and that was only the foreplay."

"Ew, yuck. To much information."

"Hey, you asked."

"Sorry, I won't do that again."

"What about you, Ali?"

She shrugged. "I've dated a couple of guys. Nobody you'd know."

"I don't know about you, but I found it strange. Dating, it's awful. I have to say, that was the main attraction for Chantelle. No games, she was honest."

"Awful. God I hate it. There are so many jerks out there. Thanks to Brett, they all think I'm some sort of slut."

"I tried to warn you, Ali."

"Yes I know. I was naive, oblivious, really. All I wanted was to show him he can't just buy everything."

"Plenty of idealists with lofty goals locked up around the world, Ali. I understand your motives were good, but I tried to tell you what was going to happen."

"I know, and I am not complaining. Not true, but at least I found out who my real friends were."

"Strangely, me too."

She gave me another pat on the arm. "Would you like to get a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, we could do that."

We worked our way through the checkout, and headed out to the cars. Sure enough, she was in her Nova. It looked as good as ever, I did notice some new mags.

At the coffee shop, we found a corner table away from the thinning crowd.

"So how have you really been?" I asked.

She sipped her coffee, gathering her words before answering. "You want the truth? Not so good. If it hadn't been for Janice, I might not have made it. She's been amazing. Even Craig."

"Well, I guess they both understand what you went through."

She gave me a piercing glare, seeing if I was being antagonistic. "Yes, but they went over and above." When I didn't reply, she said. "You've had similar experiences?"

"Oh, I just got sick of all the assholes, the snide remarks, the pointing fingers. Then there were the shits who wanted to tell me I did the right thing for dumping the cheating bitch. I hated them as much. Condescending fuckers."

She laughed softly at that. "You know, of all my friends, I now only consider a few of them friends."

"Same. I haven't spoken to Jeff since that fucking party."

"I'm sorry, Adam."

"Oh don't be. It took that night to prove to me what a lousy friend he was. He's a real dirt bag."

She leaned over the little table. "You know he asked me out?"

"What?" I exclaimed loudly, drawing stares from the near-bye tables.

"I said no, but what a bastard. The ink wasn't even dry on our divorce."

"Fucker, if there's any justice in this world, he'll get his."

With a deep frown, she added. "He did the same thing with Janice. Low life. He knew how much of a financial hole they were in, and tried offering money."

"Did she take it?"

"God no, the money they got from Brett saved them. She told Jeff to shove it up his butt."

"Good. Jeff and I managed to fashion a bit of our old friendship. It's been tough, though. Christ, after the breakup, he was worse than Damon, lecturing me every time we saw each other. I got so sick of it, I stopped calling him."

She nodded. "I know, he told me. I said he had to stop blaming you. It was my mistake."

Letting her words filter in, I said, "You told him that?"

"Yep, sure did. It was my mistake, Adam. I fucked up. I don't blame you for your actions."

"Truthfully, I think I fucked up as well, Ali. I stopped communicating. I let the anger drive my decision making, and that was the wrong thing to do. I should have tried something else."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm the one who fucked up."

As we were drinking our coffees, enjoying the moment, her phone rang. "Hello, sweetheart," she cooed into the phone.

"I'm having coffee with your father."

There was a little pause. "Don't sound so shocked. We still talk, you know. We aren't enemies. Would you like to say hi?" Before he could answer, she handed me the phone.

"Hey, Son."

"Hey Dad, what's going on?"

"Damon, your mom, and I are just catching up. As she said, we aren't trying to kill each other."

"Bullshit," He sneered.

"Damon, can we get passed this? How have you been?" I pressed loudspeaker so we could all chat. God, it was the friendliest conversation we'd had in a very long time.

After, Ali blew him a kiss she disconnected. "Gee, that was nice."

"Yeah, sounds like he's doing okay."

"He really is, Adam. He would do better if you called him more regularly."

"I'll try. If we could have conversations like that, I just might."

"It will get easier, Adam. Just don't cut him off."

After talking generalities, we hugged, and she stole a little kiss. "Like Damon," she said, "I would like to see you more often, as well, you know."

"Let's play it by ear. It was nice catching up without fighting. I don't want to push our luck."

She kissed me and walked away without further conversation. Watching her walk away was painful. All the mixed emotions bubbled away like a slow cooker.

Damon and I did manage to get things together after that day, but his first question was always the same. "Have you spoken to Mom recently?"

No, I hadn't but I didn't tell him that. It seemed to hard when I thought about it. How do you keep somebody as a friend after stuff like that?

It was somewhere around the twelve month mark when I got the tearful call. "Adam, Mom's been diagnosed with lung cancer, and it's inoperable." I raced straight over to her folks' place. Ray, her father, welcomed me in with open arms. His eyes were red and swollen. "I'm sorry, Ray," was all I could think of.

"It's okay, son. I know what you mean." We hugged like fighting bears before he waved me towards the rear porch. "They're out there, drinking some evil mix of tequila."

"Is that a good thing, I mean, alcohol?"

He laughed. "Adam, it's terminal son. If having a drink with her daughter gives her some joy. I ain't gonna try and stop them. You know what I mean?"

"Yep, gotcha. I'm not getting in the middle of that one either."

I wandered out. Alice looked weak and fragile. She was curled up on the cane sofa, with Ali cuddled up beside her. When she saw me, she cried out in surprise. "Well, god almighty. Will wonders never cease. What are you doing here, Adam?"

I smiled, trying to keep my emotions in check. "You know why I'm here. I wanted a hug."

I leaned over, and she slipped into my arms with a gentle kiss. "Thank you, son."

We had always been close, from the moment Ali and I started dating, I was their favorite. Ray was a car nut, just like me, so we bonded easily. Alice, she was harder to win over. It took me a few months before I got the Mom seal of approval.

Since that day, we were as close as I was with my own parents. Ali jumped into my arms as soon as her mom let me go. "God, I'm glad you're here."

"When are the boys getting here?" I asked.

"They're all on their way."

Ali's brothers had all left town, started lives all over the country. I knew as soon as I heard that they would be coming home."

"Do you want a drink?" Alice asked.

"No thanks, Mom. I can't stay long. I have to get home and cook dinner."

"The hell you do," she snapped. "You're having dinner with us, and don't you damn well say another word."

Ali sneered. "Wow, consider yourself told."

"Guess I'll be having one of those drinks after all."

The drinks were way too strong for me. Ray saved me with a beer. We all sat together, and as happens in situations like that, the conversation quickly turned to memories. Those special occasions, funny stories and stand out moments.

As we talked, there was no hiding from the emotions. Alice was tearful, with the end in sight. She couldn't help but go back over her life's highlights. Which, of course, was filled with stories that included Ali, Damon and me. With all her sons moving away, it was always us, we were the ones who were there helping.

Of course, all the reminiscing brought tears, as our current situation kept popping up.

When I announced the divorce, Ray had come to visit. He didn't exactly bring a two by four, but he may as well have. He was furious, and at one point he had me by the scruff of the neck and had me pressed up against the garage door. He gave me the full on lecture. He was furious with Ali, but more so with me. That day I heard it all, I needed to grow up, grow a pair and stop worrying about what other people thought.

It ended with both of us in tears, sitting on the deck with cold beers.

Ray, was an ex cop, and had strong values. "You're telling me," he growled disbelievingly, "you know she didn't have any god damned sexual contact with him, but you're still divorcing her."

"Ray, I'm not living my life with folks pointing the bone."

"God damn it, Adam, I always credited you with you with more brains than that. Who the hell cares what idiots say? God almighty, son. You have to ignore the shitheads. The world's full of assholes. They all got opinions, but they're worth shit. Don't throw your marriage away because some dip shit points a god damned finger at you."

It was a lecture and a half, that's for sure. Yeah, it made me think, but to hell with that. I was comfortable with my decision. Ray, Alice and I had managed to stay connected, and I still got invited to birthdays and stuff, even if I didn't go.

Now, sitting with all of us together, it was painful. Ali had a meltdown. Luckily, Alice had crashed and a 747 landing next door wouldn't have woken her.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but she was hysterical. I grabbed her and hugged her tight. We rocked back and forth as she cried. "It's not fair, Adam. Mom's still young, she is always busy at charities. She loves life."

I said nothing, just hugged her tightly. We stayed like that for over an hour as Ray helped Alice off to bed. Eventually, she calmed down and wiped away the tears. "Sorry," she said softly. "I've ruined your shirt."

"How are you getting home? You've had a shit load to drink. I don't think you should drive."

In the end, I drove her home. It seemed weird, pulling into the driveway of her new place.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, with a hint of desperation. "Adam, I don't want to be alone. Not tonight."

"Yeah, all right." I mumbled. It was one of those moments in time. I could see the loneliness, the pain. It was against my better judgment, but she gripped my hand, and led me in like a lamb to the slaughter.

As we sat in her swanky lounge, I said, "Ali, I don't want to give you the wrong impression. I'm not here looking to restart our marriage."

She nodded slowly. "I understand that, Adam. I'm not asking for anything. Tonight, I just feel like my world collapsed. I need you."

If I thought pulling up outside her new house was weird, climbing into her bed was even stranger. As we snuggled together, I couldn't help but wonder how many other men had been under these same sheets.