The Resurgence of a Weary Man Pt. 02

This is part 2 of a 4 part story. Tom is a character that began as a stand -alone story and as it proceeded I wanted to bring it into the SF Bay Area environs and characters from the later chapters of "The Epiphanous Spouses". This is not a story of great wrongs and retribution. There is no bitch burning and from my perspective there is no judgement of right or wrong. These are people who might do what others would not or not do what others might rush into.

There were no real people harmed in the writing of this story and it is not a collection of my experiences in any way except in understanding the emotions involved. I am going to leave anonymous commenting open for now but will probably delete those comments that are not constructive and adding to any fruitful discussion.

*****

After my conversation with Helen, I lay wide awake in bed for most of the night. Ann was putting me up which meant I needed to share the conversation with her or she would have worn me down. There wasn't much to share with her that she didn't already know so it was a confirmation, really.

"So, no chance of getting back together?"

"Honey, I learned a very long time ago to never say anything in absolutes but would you really want two unhappy people spending the rest of their unhappy lives together?"

"Dad, if you were unhappy, no, but you didn't really settle anything in your mind, did you?"

She was my daughter and we were close. There wasn't much about my psyche that she couldn't discern and she was right. It was an unsettling feeling like a piece of unfinished business that nags at you until you close the book on it. That is what this trip was supposed to do yet lying awake all those hours belied that purpose.

So, it was a long flight back to San Francisco the next day, a couple days earlier than I planned. I had already made a decision that gave me some comfort, if not relief. Carl's reports on Charles Madison painted the picture of an abusive spouse married and divorced three times, arrested twice for domestic abuse and a serial philanderer. How in hell Helen ever fell into his clutches can never be explained. She was never a stupid woman but apparently it took a beating and rape to waken her to the reality of her own nightmare. There is some comfort in knowing that her constitution shut down any further relationship with the abuser. He lost her the first time his fist connected. That is just how she is made.

Charles Madison could hold off on fucking Helen. He didn't need it. He was having a sexual relationship with two other women, both married, at the same time. I gave Carl the go and he delivered the smoking evidence to the spouses of both women and to his employer. Both women worked in the same offices. I learned later there were two divorces and an unemployed Charles to add to the philanderer's sordid history.

It was a red eye flight and I got into airport parking around 2 AM. After grabbing a quick all night eat, I pulled into the condo around 5 AM and sat there for a while. There was no reason really. I just wanted to absorb where I was living. At that time of the morning, it's as quiet as a mausoleum and I could see the nightlight shining in my entryway and the shadows casted from the lighting of the other units. With the window down and feeling the rush of cool air on my face, not even an insect made a sound. The door to Unit 38 opened and a man walked out adjusting the ball cap on his head. He walked with a swagger and settled himself into a grey Porsche Boxster. I knew his name. It was Art Sajac and he didn't live there. Somebody named Janet did.

The next morning I woke up a bit late and since it was Thursday I wasn't expected back in the office for a few more days. I called Bill at Omega just to let him know I was back in town a bit earlier if he needed anything. We got up to speed on business and I grabbed a quick bite at one of the local café's nearby.

"Well, hello stranger!"

I looked up into the face of Dana, one of the ladies I met at Janet's parents a few weeks ago.

"Good morning to you too!" I replied with sincerity. "Grab a seat here if you wish. I'm just grabbing a Danish and coffee."

She joined me and we had a wonderful conversation over brunch for the next hour or so. She reminded me of my commitment to visit their business incubator and I agreed to do it the following morning. I enjoyed her company. Dana was an attractive woman with an engaging personality. She's a tall woman, full breasted with dark hair and eyes and almost porcelain skin. I didn't mind the company at all.

Later that afternoon, I called my brother Carl. He opened a set of financial accounts in Helen's name and after giving me the pertinent information, I wired $5 Million into those accounts. I know some of those folks who love the 'burn the bitch' scenario in their own disastrous lives might not understand this but I had time to salve some of those gut reactions. I was satisfied with the timing of my sale but much of what I did was to prevent a paramour from getting his hands on what I had earned. I didn't see any chance of that now. Besides, my daughter asked me to do something for her and she pulls the strings to my heart.

In addition to my obligation to my daughter, I also felt that Helen had actually earned a good deal of that and more over the many years we were together. I didn't build the business on my own without her help on the home front even if never did pay attention to the specifics. Besides, if she had been in total bitch mode, she would have squeezed half the value of me, many times more than the $5 million.

I didn't run into Janet that day so she didn't know I had arrived back earlier than planned. I'm in unit 34, a corner condo with a wrap- around patio/balcony on two floors. Unit 38 is on the other end of the building, constructed in a similar fashion, and neither of us could see the other. I guess that was a good thing this evening.

Neither of us had made what we had an exclusive relationship although I think there was an unsaid understanding among adults that if it wasn't going to be exclusive, that understanding should at least be communicated. It never was. At 1AM, the little Boxster was back and I called it a night.

Maybe it was because I had been out of the "game" for 25 years and didn't know the rules. Perhaps it was because I was simply jealous. Whatever it was, I was a bit pissed the next morning. The Boxster was gone again.

I thought of that tall, full breasted woman with the porcelain skin, Dana. Picking up the phone, I called her with one thought in mind.

"Dana, good morning. Tom Davis here. Are you free for lunch today? I'd like to come in and take a look at your site today if you are free? Good. Noon then? Great. I'll meet you there."

With that, a lunch date was made and the day planned. I had a use for one of the incubator spots in her building that I had been mulling over in my mind for a while. My son Jason specialized in electronics engineering with a good background in robotics. He understood the mechanical aspects and electronic circuitry. I knew software. I knew how to run the brain. Jason could build and run the body even though he was still relatively young out of school.

So I met with Dana and Gail, her partner whom I had met before Christmas. I checked out their property and when we had finished, I laid out my proposal to them. They were certainly not expecting that. This was really supposed to be a social call and curtesy business visit. What I wanted was a unit to work out of and I got it, at a good price.

This was to be a place to play, outside my responsibilities at Omega. I was thinking of building a business for my kids and something I could have some fun toying around with. I called Jason and laid it all out to him.

"Dad, this is a lot for me to digest all at once. Can you give me some time to think about it and work out how all this all comes together?"

Of course I assured him all the time he needed. My next call was to Ann.

"Ann, dear, how is the job search going?"

She had not yet found the right replacement job for the one she blew off when she found out her mother's paramour would be working with her. She had turned down a couple reasonable offers I thought she should have accepted but she is a millennial and they do things differently I guess.

I laid out all the details of what I was doing and had talked with Jason about. We needed somebody who could market and sell. She didn't have any experience but she had enthusiasm. She didn't hesitate to say yes.

My next call was to my brother Carl and I had him set up and take care of all the business aspects to allow us to do business in California and cover any liability insurance needs. By the end of the day, the Davis family had the beginnings of a new thing.

Since it was Friday, I decided to take off for the weekend and be ready to hit the office on Monday. I was now CEO of Omega and life was going to get busy.

I had a bag packed and on the way to the airport by 5PM for a quick flight to Las Vegas. I still had not seen Janet although I was now leaving again about the same time I would have been arriving back from my previous trip. It didn't matter at that point. At midnight I had already lost $10K but I had a grand time doing it. I don't think that little Boxter came into my mind more than a dozen times that evening.

By Sunday afternoon, I had pretty much broken even on the gambling. I had eaten far too much. I had been propositioned three times, each of them looking for a monetary contribution toward their lifestyle choice. My steam valve had been open for most of my stay and I was now ready to step back to the real world.

When I arrived home that evening, they were sitting on my step. Jason and Ann were chowing down on subs and chips.

"It's about time you got here! Don't you ever answer your phone?" Ann asked.

I had forgotten to turn the ringer back on and to tell the truth, I hadn't really given it any thought. My purpose was to forget everything for a while.

"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't think."

"That's OK. At least your message told us when you would be back, Besides, we just got here actually."

"Well, come on in" I said.

I got them settled, each to their own room. I didn't ask what happened to Cynthia and Stephen, their significant others over Christmas break. Jason did indicate that he would be working remote to finish up a project for his current employer before officially leaving them over the next month. I told them they were on their own while I jumped head first at work. I gave them each $50K and told them to open accounts, find a place to live and get settled over the next several days.

First thing Monday morning, I walked through the offices introducing myself to everybody I could. I think I went through the whole building by noon and then joined a group of programmers in the cafeteria for lunch. That afternoon, I had a sit down with Bill, now my Chairman of the Board. We discussed strategy and on-going business. When we finished, I made him aware of my plans for the kids and my involvement. I didn't want any conflicts. He was certainly OK with it especially when I suggested I would probably use Omega resources to contract for software development.

Once the discussion was wrapped up, we made dinner plans and I returned to the executive suite and made nice with my immediate staff. There were four staff members working out of my suite. I had an administrative secretary, a wonderful woman named Marge who kept pictures of her three grandchildren in front of her as she worked. She seemed awful young to be a grandmother. I loved my own grandmother to death but she didn't look as hot as Marge.

I also had three administrative aides, all women and under the age of 40, each dressed to slay me. OK, so Bill liked females, a lot! He had already filled me in on their qualifications which were impeccable. After the sit downs with each of them, we resumed business and I wrapped up the day. Over the next several days, I remained immersed in the activities of the company arriving early and always leaving late. If I thought I had a social life, that notion was easily dispelled unless business lunches and dinners were included. There were a lot of those.

Jason and Ann handled the relationship with Dana and Gail at the business incubator. They had both decided to share a three bedroom apartment for a while to cut down on expenses and to also get out of my hair. They were adults used to living on their own now and to be honest, so was I. I needed the personal space. It took them less than a week to get set up on their own.

So, it was Friday evening and 10PM. I was sitting on my patio enjoying a run and coke along with a good cigar and my doorbell rang. When I opened it, Janet stood there. I didn't know what to say immediately so I welcomed her inside and took her jacket. It had been over a week since I saw Art Sajac leaving her condo in the wee hours of the morning with his repeat performance the following night, last Friday.

"So, Tom, how are you doing?" Her speech was a bit slurred as she had obviously been drinking.

"Janet, I'm doing OK. I've been buried at work in my new role of course but that was expected. It looks like you started the party before me." I tried to chuckle but honestly, I was a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah, my cousin Pam was by earlier and we had a few. I talked with your daughter Ann a couple days ago and she told me you were smoked at work so I didn't want to bother you for a while but since it's Friday night and you're not at work I thought it might be good to stop by."

The conversation was awkward so I fixed her a drink, freshened mine and we moved out onto the patio. I had the fire pit burning so even with the chill in the air, it was comfortable. We each settled into a chair and I sipped my drink, looking at her. She did the same and then she broke the silence.

"My mom has breast cancer." She looked down at her lap and broke into soft sobs.

I didn't really know what to say at the moment, I got up and went over to her and comforted her in my arms. As she sobbed on my shoulder, I thought of Art nailing her while she thought I was gone. I remembered her mom who I genuinely liked. Oddly, I thought of Helen and how she had comforted me when my own mother had cancer.

"When did you find out?" I asked softly and sincerely.

"I found out a week and a half ago while you were back east. I've been with her ever since except when I came back a couple days ago and talked with Ann."

"You've been gone since the middle of last week? Was somebody watching after your condo?"

"Pam asked Art to watch after it. You met him at Mom's Christmas dinner. He was the guy always after my panties much to your chagrin."

She had a slight smile on her face when she said that and the tears were drying up. I decided to reveal myself.

"I guess that is why he was spending most of the night there."

She looked at me oddly.

"What do you mean, most of the night. He was just going to check it quickly each morning."

"Well, I saw him leave at 5AM Friday morning and he arrived again at 1AM Saturday morning. His car was gone when I got up."

"That motherfucker... Wait a minute." She looked up at me with a sad look in her eyes.

"That means you thought he was fucking me while you were gone?"

I nodded my head and she hugged me tightly shaking her head no repeatedly.

"Tom, I'm not a Nun. Hell, you certainly know that but I'm not going to fuck some guy behind your back. I mean, I get the itch once in a while but if I know you are right here, you are the man I'm going to turn to take care of that. Listen, let's sit back down. Tom, my Mom is going to be OK. She is going to have a mastectomy next Tuesday and the doctors think they will get it all since it's a small tumor away from any nodes. I'm just upset.

Now, about Art. I've known Art for years. He and I used to date before I married my husband. After the divorce, we had a short fling but it was just a rebound on my part. For him, I was just another piece of ass. That's all it was. I haven't been with him since and that was over a year ago. I don't know why he would have spent the night here. I'll have to ask him."

I cut the fire off and we went back inside.

"Janet, why don't you stay here tonight and we'll check your condo together in the morning.

That is what she did. We didn't fuck although she slept in my bed. As I listened to her sleeping, I tried to take some stock of where I was. I really liked this woman. Did I believe her? I think I did. In my opinion, we could have something special if we nurtured it. She was very attractive, hot as hell in bed and smart as a whip.

In the morning, I positioned my prick up against her wet, warm vagina and then fucked her slowly and deeply for the next 15 minutes. It was a morning wood screw and a good one at that. After we showered and dressed, we walked over to her condo and went through it to see if anything was strange or amiss.

"Janet, come here." I called out to her from the master bedroom.

When she walked in, I pointed to the very small camera lens hidden among a couple of decorative scarves on her bedroom dresser. I knew what it was when I saw it because I wrote the software code for the digital signal used by the Manfrotti control unit for this lens. It is hi def and can zoom in with digital clarity, even in low light conditions. We used them on several robotic applications. Without knowing what to look for, you would have to search really hard to notice it. It was tucked underneath the mirror assembly and would have been unnoticeable unless you sat down and looked underneath. Its view range gave it a perfect observation point for any activity on the bed. It is a voyeur's dream.

I explained what it was and how it could have gotten there and what it would have captured. What I didn't know was the location of the receiver. It had to be WiFi and given all the hot spots in the area, any number of signals could have been used. It could be anywhere within a hundred feet of the unit but preferably inside the condo.

"Janet, who has had access to your condo other than you?"

"Tom, other than you and me, it could have been my Mom, my cousin Pam, Art and maybe Dad when he was in town."

"Wait here a few minutes. I'll be right back"

I went back to my condo and rummaged through my utility closet. Finally I found what I was looking for. It was a simple RF detector with a secondary remote that would light up if a signal was activated in its proximity. When I returned, I did a sweep of the condo and found nothing so I placed the detector on the back of the mirror, switched it on and checked the indicator light on the remote in my hand. There was nothing, which was good. The aperture on the lens was shut meaning it was not active.

"Janet, here is the thing. I don't know how long this has been here or how it got here meaning who. I don't think it was your Mom or Dad and Pam doesn't strike me as the type, I guess and I KNOW it wasn't me. That leaves Art.

So, here is what we are going to do"

It took some convincing on my part to get her to do it but l guessed our voyeur would be interested in a performance. Later that evening, Janet parked her car in front of the garage indicating she was definitely at home. She had me on speed dial and the RF remote sitting on the dresser off to the side but in plain view. If and when the blue light came on the remote, she was to speed dial me discreetly all the while continuing what she was doing.

Basically, she had stripped down to her panties and bra and walked around her condo sipping a glass of wine. It was what a voyeur would enjoy. Around 11:30PM, my phone vibrated. It was Janet using the speed dial.

I slowly stepped around the corner of the building looking for any activity. If the voyeur was accessing the signal remotely, he had to be close by in the vicinity meaning most likely in a car right outside.