Turning the Other Cheek

All characters are older than 18

Colin Aldritch never saw it coming.

Everything about his life seemed to be going so well. He'd gotten a promotion at work six months ago, along with a nice bump in pay. Celia's interior design business was taking off, and she was now contributing meaningfully to their family income. The home they'd bought two years ago wasn't lavish, but it was large enough for their needs and in a good neighborhood. He and Celia had recently started talking about starting a family.

So he wasn't looking for trouble when it hit him in the face.

Colin couldn't help noticing the unfamiliar car parked in front of his house, but he wasn't concerned by its presence. He was concerned, however, when he came in from the garage and found Celia seated in the living room beside another man.

When he entered the room, she immediately rose, and Colin couldn't help noticing how slim and attractive she looked. It was only when he focused on her face that he saw how nervous she looked.

"Hey, Sweetie," she greeted him. Then she gestured at the man still seated on the sofa. "You remember Vince Callahan," she said. "He's a client of mine -- I've been redecorating his office. You two have met."

"Oh, yeah, I remember now. Hi, Vince, nice to see you again. What brings you here?"

Vince shot Celia an uncomfortable glance, and she cleared her throat. "Damn, this is so hard," she said in a low tone. Then she drew in a deep breath as if steeling herself for the ordeal to come. "Sweetie, there's really no other way to do this -- I'm leaving you."

The words made no sense to him. "What did you say?"

She shook her head sadly. "I know this comes as a shock, but I've filed for divorce."

He half-stumbled to the chair facing the sofa and sat down heavily. "What...why?"

"We didn't mean for it to happen," she said remorsefully, "but Vince and I have fallen in love. We've been seeing each other for some time now, and we don't want to hide our love anymore."

"You've been having an affair?" Colin said stupidly.

She cast a quick glance at her paramour. "We didn't plan to, but after a while we just couldn't deny our feelings for each other. Anyway, I've already moved a load of my things in my car. I'll come back for the rest later."

"But, but..." Colin stammered.

She ignored his abortive protest and handed him the envelope he hadn't noticed. "So here are the papers and everything. I've tried to be very fair about the settlement, but, just so you'll know, I did go ahead and take half our savings out. Anyway, you'll want to get your own attorney to look these over. If you have a problem with anything, he or she can contact my attorney. I clipped her card onto the notice."

Dumbly, he accepted the envelope, still trying to comprehend what was happening. As he sat there holding it, she walked back to Vince's side and took his hand. He stood, and the two of them moved to the door.

"But why? What..."

"I've already explained that," she interrupted. She nodded her head at Vince and he opened the front door. She turned back one last time. "So, I guess we're going now. And Colin, I really am sorry. I want you to know it wasn't you, it was me, okay?"

Then they were gone, taking with them the happiness he'd enjoyed for the last eight years.

Colin had always considered himself level-headed. When faced with an emergency at work, he'd always been able to analyze the problem cooly and quickly before deciding on a course of action. Today, that capability deserted him. Now his thoughts were chaotic, jumping from one subject to another, unable to concentrate on any of them.

How could I not have realized this was happening? Where can I find a good lawyer? How am I going to get ready for that meeting with Ferguson tomorrow morning? I wonder if Celia planned anything for dinner? How am I ever going to get through this?

On and on his thoughts raced, circling and repeating, each clamoring for attention in his brain until he clapped his hands to his head trying to make them stop. In desperation he struggled to his feet and made his way back to the bedroom. Shedding his clothes, he let them lie where they fell, then crawled into bed in mental exhaustion. Remarkably, he soon fell asleep and stayed in bed until the next morning.

When he awoke, the chatter of thoughts had subsided, but evidence of the new reality of his life was all around him. He immediately noticed that Celia wasn't sleeping beside him, and when he went to get dressed, he found her side of the closet empty. When he went out to the kitchen to make coffee, his footsteps seemed to echo in the empty house. Even when he looked out the window, the North Carolina morning seemed noticeably gloomier.

* * * * *

Vince Callahan awoke to find Celia staring at the ceiling, her arms crooked behind her head. "Whatcha thinking, Babe?" he asked.

"I guess I was thinking about Colin," she replied. "I hope he's OK."

"He'll be fine," Vince replied dismissively.

"I hope so," she said. "He looked like he was in a state of shock when we left. I feel bad about that. I mean it's not like he was bad husband. Things just got kind of stale, you know?"

"Well it's not gonna be that way with us," he vowed. "You're gonna get plenty of excitement!" At that he playfully nipped at her left nipple, then rolled over on top of her and began kissing her passionately.

"Oh, Vince, yes!" she gasped, memories of last night's passion rapidly returning. Any thoughts of Colin rapidly evaporated in a sensual overload.

* * * * *

For most of the day, the envelope Celia had handed him sat on Colin's desk at the office. When he could procrastinate no longer, he opened it and began to read the divorce petition and the proposed financial settlement. But concentrating on the dry legal language was difficult because he didn't want a divorce in the first place. What he felt like doing was laying his head on his desk and crying, but he didn't want anyone in the office to see him that way.

After a few minutes he got up and slowly made his way down the hall to his boss's office. The woman had hired him way back when, and he considered her his mentor.

She looked up at him when he knocked on the door frame, then took a closer look. "Are you OK, Colin? You don't look so good."

With a pained expression, he asked, "Do you know the name of a good divorce lawyer?"

"Oh, damn, Colin, not you and Celia! Sit down." With that the woman got up and closed her office door. Then she took the side chair next to Colin and put her hand on his forearm. "Tell me what happened," she asked with obvious concern.

This time Colin couldn't hide his tears.

* * * * *

When Colin finally met with the attorney his boss had recommended, he soon wished he hadn't. The man's advice was, bluntly, to take what Celia had offered and run. "But I don't care how good her deal is," Colin protested. "I don't want to get divorced in the first place, and I sure don't want to pay her to dump me and live with some other guy."

The lawyer sighed. "Look, you need to think rationally about this. You can't force your wife to stay married to you if she wants to leave. And honestly, you wouldn't want her to stay if all you're getting is an unhappy wife.

"As for paying her, you haven't seen it from my side of the desk. All Celia -- it is Celia, right? -- all she's asking for is to split your current assets. She's not even asking for alimony; apparently she's planning to remarry as soon as the divorce goes through. Listen: I've seen wives go after their husband's retirement accounts, demand crippling levels of alimony and petition for most of the family's assets, including the house. Your wife is being reasonable; don't piss her off and provoke her to become vindictive."

"Maybe so," Colin said stubbornly, "But the fact remains that I still don't want a divorce."

The attorney nodded and his tone grew sympathetic. "Listen, Colin, you don't want marital counseling from a lawyer. In the first place, I'm no good at it, and in the second place, I charge a lot more than any marriage counselor. If you're not ready to sign, my advice is to go find someone who can help you work through your feelings."

* * * * *

When Colin told his boss about the meeting, she surprised him by handing him a business card. "I kind of thought that might be your reaction after we talked. I think you ought to go see Dr. Helmar. He's a psychologist who specializes in marital problems. I've had several other friends use him, and they all raved about him. Give him a try and see if he can help."

* * * * *

In his third counseling session, Colin was repeating his litany of complaints when Dr. Helmar interrupted. "Look, Colin, let's be honest: you're stuck. What I want you to do is to change directions, mentally speaking.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. What people get wrong about them is that they're not distinct from each other and you don't necessarily go through them in nice, neat steps. As I've listened to you, at one time or another I've heard you express all of the five stages but acceptance. That's perfectly natural for someone going through what you've experienced.

"But you've also told me you're a rational thinker, able to sort out problems and develop a solution. That's what you need to do now: push aside the emotional stuff so you can devise a strategy that will allow you to move forward. Rationally, you know that Celia doesn't want to come back. Rationally, you understand that you wouldn't want her back if she doesn't want to be with you. Until you can accept the reality of those things -- over which you have no control, I might add -- you're going to continue to be stuck. You need to solve the problem of life-after-Celia based on the facts, just like you've done when confronted with other challenges in the past."

Colin sat quietly, thinking about what the counselor had just said. Much of the pain he was feeling, he realized, stemmed from the crazy, unexpected way everything had happened. There'd been no warning, no signs that their marriage was in trouble. One day he'd been a happily married husband, the next he was headed for divorce. One day he'd believed that Celia loved him, the next he'd learned that she's been sleeping with another man. "How can I move forward when I don't know what's real? And how can I move on when I'm dealing with all this anger?"

The counselor listened to Colin's outburst quietly. Once Colin fell silent, Dr. Helmar asked, "Have you ever heard of Reinhold Niebuhr?"

Colin shook his head negatively.

"He was a widely recognized 20th century theologian who composed a simple, powerful prayer: 'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.'"

"That's the Serenity Prayer. I've heard of it: it's the Alcoholics Anonymous prayer."

"That's right. Anyway, in my mind, it encapsulates the passage through the stages of grief simply and eloquently. That's what you need to strive for: serenity, acceptance and wisdom. Until you do that, you won't be able to move on."

* * * * *

When Colin left his session that day, Niebuhr's prayer continued to replay in his mind. "Serenity," that's what I want in my life. The question is: how do I achieve it? What can I do that will give me peace? After an entire weekend of reflection, he decided on a course of action.

On Monday Colin called his attorney. "I'll agree to everything Celia's asking for if I can sit down with her face to face for half an hour."

"Are you sure?" the attorney asked. "I've seen face-offs like that go horribly awry, and very few of them satisfy either party in a divorce."

"This time will be different, I promise. Set it up."

* * * * *

When Colin was ushered into the conference room of Celia's attorney, he was surprised to see Vince sitting beside her, holding her hand. Actually, this is good. Colin thought. Now Vince and Celia can both hear it for themselves.

Celia's attorney gestured for him to begin, and Colin cleared his throat. "Look, Celia, this is as hard for me as it is for you. Things between us didn't work out the way I wanted, but I guess that's true about a lot of things in life. In this case, what's done is done, and now it's time for me to move on.

"My attorney has told me you've offered a fair settlement, and he's advised me to accept it. In the spirit of moving on, I'm ready to do so."

He picked up the pen on the table and signed the agreement with a flourish.

As the couple on the other side of the table exchanged a look of relief, he added, "There's just one more thing I want to say." The two froze, apprehensive about what might come next. "I understand that you plan to marry as soon as the divorce is final," Colin went on. "So in the spirit of moving on, let me wish you two all the happiness you deserve in your marriage."

With that he walked around the table and shook hands with a startled Vince. Then he bent over and gave Celia a friendly hug and a kiss on the cheek. As the two lovers watched in surprise, he turned and left the room. They looked at each other. "Did that just happen?" Vince asked.

Celia shook her head in amazement. "Wow, not what I was expecting." Then she smiled. "But it's wonderful. The last thing I wanted was a war between us every time we see him."

* * * * *

With the terms of the divorce settled, it now fell to Colin to sell the house they jointly owned. Celia had no interest in the place because she had already moved into the home Vince owned. Colin did not have the funds necessary to buy Celia out, and even if he had, he knew the house was too large for him. Besides, there are too many memories, he decided.

The good news was that the real estate market was strong, so selling the house would be no problem. The bad news was that since Colin and Celia had only bought the place two years ago, they hadn't built up that much equity, even in a strong market. Ultimately, Colin walked away from the closing with just enough cash to make a downpayment on a two-bedroom condominium in a nice development.

By the time the old house was sold, his new condo purchased and Colin was moved in, the waiting period for the divorce was almost over. Through a friend, Colin learned that Vince and Celia had already sent out wedding invitations. Needless to say, Colin hadn't received an invitation, but he did hear that the happy couple would leave for a weeklong Caribbean honeymoon. He made his plans accordingly.

* * * * *

When the suntanned couple returned, Vince swept Celia off her feet in preparation for carrying her over the threshold. But as he stepped inside, he spotted an index card that had been slipped under the door. "Check your back deck," it read.

Concerned, he set his new wife on her feet, grabbed her hand and hurried out to the deck. At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary, but when he turned to one side, his eyes widened and he gasped. Sitting there gleaming was a deluxe 3-burner propane gas grill, hooked up and ready to go.

He turned back to Celia. "Did you get this for me? I've always wanted one, but they're so expensive."

"No," she admitted, "I don't know anything about it." Before she could speculate, she spotted an envelope taped to the grill's gleaming stainless-steel hood. Hurrying over, she pulled it off and opened it. When she read the card inside, she was the one to gasp. "I can't believe it -- this came from Colin! It says 'Best wishes on your new marriage.'"

"Colin gave this to us?" Vince asked unbelievingly. "If this is what he meant by 'moving on,' all I can say is he's a bigger man than I am. This is an amazing gift -- I'm going to love grilling on it this summer."

"I've got to call and thank him," Celia said, as Vince checked out the features of the grill.

When Colin picked up the phone, he could hear a mix of surprise, gratitude and even a touch of guilt in Celia's voice. "Colin, we just found your wedding present. I can't believe you bought that expensive grill for us. It's too much."

"Didn't Vince like it?"

"Like it? He's still out on the deck drooling over it."

"Good, that's what I hoped."

"But you didn't have to do something like this. We didn't even send you a wedding invitation."

Colin laughed. "Of course not -- that would have been too weird. But I meant what I said: it's time for me to accept what's happened and move on. The gift is just my way to show I've done that. So I hope you and Vince enjoy it."

When Celia went back out to the deck to tell Vince, he shook his head in wonder. "Like I said, he's a better man than I am. Anyway, how about I grill some burgers for dinner tonight, Mrs. Callahan?"

* * * * *

As April turned into May, Celia and Vince began making plans to celebrate Mother's Day with Celia's mom. They discussed taking her out for brunch to a nice restaurant, but when they proposed the idea, her mother was reluctant. "It's always such a madhouse on Mother's Day. I'd be just as happy if you two came here for brunch." So plans were made, with the newlyweds to bring over a special meal that featured salmon and vegetables grilled on Vince's new favorite toy.

On the way over, Celia asked her husband, "Did you remember to get some flowers for Mom?" Face-palming himself, Vince quickly turned off the highway and pulled into the lot of a regional grocery store chain. Soon he returned with a dozen pink roses. "They're a little the worse for wear," he apologized to Celia, "but it's the thought that counts."

After arriving and bringing their dishes into the kitchen, Vince handed the roses to Celia's mother with Happy Mother's Day wishes. "Thank you, Vince, that's so nice," she told him. "I'll put them in a vase later." Then she suggested they serve themselves in the kitchen and bring the plates into the dining room. "Your Dad is starving," she whispered to her daughter.

As they brought the food in, Celia couldn't help noticing the lavish floral arrangement sitting in the middle of the dining room table. "Mom, those are gorgeous!" she said. "Did Dad give those to you?"

Her mother snickered. "Him? He told me I'm not his mother! Actually Colin sent them to me. Aren't they lovely?"

"Colin?"

"I know. Wasn't that sweet of him?" her mother said.

As Celia nodded, she noticed a scowl flit across her new husband's face.

Later that afternoon, when the couple was home and Celia had a few minutes to herself, she called Colin. "Why did you send that floral arrangement to my mother?" she demanded.

"Oh, good, they got there in time. Did she like them?"

"Of course she loved them," Celia acknowledged. "They were lovely. But why did you send them?"

Colin sighed. "Your Mom has always been really sweet to me, and since my mother passed away years ago, I always felt close to yours. So I wanted to honor her -- I hope that's not a problem."

"No, no, not at all. Like I said, she really appreciated your thoughtfulness. It's just something I wasn't expecting, that's all. Honestly, I really appreciate it as well."

"Okay, well if I haven't made a huge faux pas, I have a favor to ask of you.

"Um, sure. What is it?"

"This is a little awkward, but I think that the time is right for me to start getting back in the dating game."

He could almost hear her hesitation. "Colin, I'd feel really uncomfortable trying to set you up with a date."

"Oh, no, nothing like that. It's just that I can see myself inviting a date back to my condo and, to be honest, right now it looks a little barren, more like a guy's crash pad. Could I hire you to redecorate? You've always had much better taste than me."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that! But sure, I guess I could do that. I've just finished up a big design project, so I could get on it right away. Is there a time next week when I could come by and have a look?"