We Made A Really Big Mistake

I was served with divorce papers two weeks later. I wasn't surprised she was using the law firm she worked for but what did surprise me though, were the conditions of the divorce papers. She wanted everything. It was so one sided, it was almost laughable, but wasn't. I tried to call her and ask her what the hell she was doing, but she wouldn't take my calls.

Using the law firm that our company uses, I was able to get the paperwork together to counter sue in about two weeks. I decided to push it to the limit by asking for everything she did, but full custody and the reason being adultery and alcoholism. Two could play those games.

This time she called me screaming that I was the one who cheated and that since she didn't state adultery as a condition why did I? I just told her that I was going to let my attorney handle it and hung up on her. The tit for tat had begun.

It got ugly real fast because I wasn't going to back down on any of my conditions. I told my attorney that I didn't care if it took ten years, she started it but I would finish it. My attorney did gain me visitation privileges for every other weekend and I took full advantage of it. Shannon would drop Danny off at my parent's house and I would pick him up from there.

"Shannon wants to know why you're being such an ass," my mom asked one Friday night when I went to pick up Danny. "She just wants to move on with her life and you're fighting her at every turn."

"Mom, she started it. I came back to try and save our marriage and she went nuts on me. She was the one to file first and asked for everything including a pound of flesh from me," I said maybe a little too loud.

"Honey, she explained that one of the over zealous attorneys convinced her that if she asked for everything then she could always negotiate for less later. She's sorry that it happened that way. And why did you claim adultery? Shannon would never cheat on you?" my mom told me.

"Mom, we both cheated." I told her the ugly story as she sat there with her mouth wide open.

"You both need to sit down and talk. This has gone too far already. Think about what it's doing to Danny. You two let your egos get the better of you and now your both digging in your heels, and it's not pretty," she chastised me.

I told her not to get in the middle, but mom never listened, especially if she thought she was right.

So it went on for the next couple of weeks. Work was busy and I'd started getting into a schedule that was starting to work, at least for me. I was putting in too many hours and my boss was the first one to say something.

"Steve, back it off. You can't solve the world's problems in the first couple of months. I can't let my star burn out in the first six months. Get your head straight and I don't want you putting in more than nine hours a day, and that's an order," he said with a smile walking out of my office.

After work Bob invited me out for drinks.

"Come on buddy, let's get the hell out of here and unwind. I'll even buy the first round," he told me throwing me my coat.

The place wasn't packed, but filling up fast. Thursday night was always a big night. Hell people figured they could always survive Friday even with a hang over. We were on our second beer when I saw her at the bar. Shannon was slamming down the drinks, which had become her trademark, and the guy next to her was making sure her glass was always full.

He was pretty damn big and was always trying to touch her as she continued to fight off his advances. What caught my eye was that he kept looking at his two buddies at the table behind them, and then I saw it.

Shannon had just been given a new drink and when her head was turned the guy slipped something into her drink. Before I could get to my feet, Shannon had raised it to her lips and started to drink as the guy got this shit eating grin on his face.

It took me only ten steps to get to the bar. He never knew what hit him. My half full bottle broke across his forehead as he went down in a lump.

"You fucking asshole," I yelled. I shouted to the bartender to call the cops and get an ambulance because he'd put something in my wife's drink. His two buddies disappeared by the time I'd turned around. The bouncers were dragging the piece of shit to the back as Shannon just sat there with a wide-eyed look on her face, but not for long.

Within a couple of minutes she went woozy and I had to carry her to the back office and put her on a couch. The cops took her glass as evidence, handcuffed the guy and put him in the back of the squad car. The paramedics had already arrived and searching the dick heads pockets, found what he'd given her. With an I.V. started, they carried her away I gave the cops my statement as Bob looked on. In twenty minutes I was done and out in the parking lot.

"You going to the hospital?" Bob asked me.

"Nope, she's not going to be lucid for a while and there's nothing I can do," I told him.

"She owes you big time. If you hadn't been watching her, there's no telling what they would have done to her," Bob told me as a news crew showed up. Must have been a slow night.

I got my fifteen seconds of fame. The news at ten showed me and as I explained what happened. I still referred to Shannon as my wife, which wasn't a lie, and said that I hoped that the cops would catch the two accomplices that got away. Within a half hour, I was on the way back to my quiet apartment.

"My mom called and wanted to know all the details and even Shannon's parents called to thank me, which didn't surprise me because I always liked them. They told me they were sorry about Shannon and I, and I told them not anymore than I was. I finally took my phone off the hook because I really didn't want to talk to anyone further.

At work everyone thought I was a hero, thanks to Bob and the evening news. I told everyone thank you but enough was enough and that we all had jobs to do. By noon the excitement had died down and by 2:00 everything was back to normal, what ever that was any more.

A week later, the police called to say they'd caught the other two and that Shannon was pressing charges. Believe it or not, I was told that the guy I'd hit with the beer bottle was pressing charges of battery on me. They told me not to worry because most likely the judge would probably throw it out and it was. All three took pleas and only the guy who'd actually put it in her drink was going to do any time. Life went on after everything died down.

"Steve, Shannon's withdrawn her divorce petition," my lawyer said on Wednesday. "No reason was given, do you still want to proceed with your?" he asked.

"Put it on hold for now, and I'll get back to you later," I told him as I pondered what to do next.

Saturday Danny was wired to say the least. He told me about the new games his grandma had given him and that every Tuesday and Thursday grandma was taking him out to dinner.

"Looks like Shannon was back at it," I said to myself with disgust. "I thought she'd learned the last time, but I guess she no longer cared."

We went to the movies that afternoon and Sunday we spent the day by the apartment pool. I'd bought him an inflatable vest and he was having the time of his life jumping into the water and bouncing up and down like a cork in the shallow end of the pool. I was tired of Chucky Cheese so we had our own BBQ with hotdogs and by 7:30 we were heading over to moms to drop him off.

"I love you daddy," he said as we got to moms. "When are you coming home?" he asked.

What do you say to a four year old when he asks something like that? I was going to lay the groundwork of mommy and daddy getting a divorce when he told me that mommy cries every night.

"Daddy come home so mommy won't cry anymore." He said giving me a hug.

I told him soon and gave him over to mom.

"Shannon's on her way, you want to stick around?" she asked.

My look at her said it all.

"Just thought I'd ask. You're going to have to talk to her eventually and since you're both too stubborn to listen, I just thought I'd maybe help a little," she told me.

"Mom, Shannon filed first. She never gave me the chance to apologize or explain what happened. I'm just tired of all the bull shit and fighting. If she wants to talk to me she knows where I live," I said leaving before I got even more upset. "Why is it always the guys fault when something like this happens," I thought to myself as I drove home.

Wednesday I got an e-mail from Shannon at work.

"Dinner Friday at the house. 7:00 and bring a gift for Danny. Unless I hear back from you, I'll assume you're coming.

"July 1st?" I said to myself. "What the hell was July 1st?" It wasn't his birthday or anything else and I was stumped. I replied that I'd be there and for the next twenty-four hours I went nuts trying to think what I'd forgotten. Finally I just gave up and picked up something on my way to the house. "I guess I'll find out when I get there."

I knocked on the door and Shannon answered it and at least she didn't slam it in my face this time. Dinner was on the table and Danny grabbed my hand and led me to my chair.

"I helped mom make dinner," he told me proudly as he sat in his big boy chair.

Dinner was quiet as we talked about bullshit items as usual. How was my new job going, her parents had just come back from a cruise, the potato pie recipe was one my mom had given her and so our dinner went. When we finished, I help with the dishes or should I say, I helped Danny carry the dishes to the dishwasher.

The desserts were a pecan pie, ice cream and thank God coffee. The one thing I did noticed, was that Shannon hadn't had a drink all night. Maybe she'd had a couple before I got there, but she didn't look even a little bit drunk. I was thankful for that.

I gave Danny his present. Ripping it open in three seconds flat he saw that it was the new Disney movie. He was excited and took me by the hand to the living room and told me to put it in. Sitting down on the couch, he went into the kitchen and pulled Shannon out and sat her next to me.

For the next ninety minutes the cartoon played, but neither one of us watched. We were too busy glancing at one another. Danny wanted to watch it again, but Shannon told him it was past his bedtime and that he needed to get ready for bed. Again he took me by the hand to his room as we got him ready for bed. I kissed him goodnight after reading him the same book twice; luckily it was short. I turned off the light, shut the door and went down to the kitchen.

Shannon was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee. I went over to the pot and poured myself one and sat down across from her.

"I just want to say how sorry I am," she started. I was hurt the night of your dinner that you didn't tell me in advance and that everyone knew but me. I guess I should have remembered it was your night not mine and gotten over it. Instead I got drunk and didn't even realize what was going on. You've got to believe me when I say that the last thing on my mind was picking someone up at your dinner. I was angry with you, but I'm not a total idiot. What you said to me cut me to the core. You could have thought it, but you didn't have to say it out loud in front of God and everyone else there. You made me look like a damn slut and I hated you for that. I thought we were starting to work it out and after that I just wanted you gone.

"Shannon, I let my brain get ahead of my mouth. I wasn't thinking and I regretted it as soon as it came out of my mouth. I guess saying I'm sorry has become something I'm having to do a lot of lately," I told her. "I like to say, how did our lives get this screwed up, but I already know how. I guess I should have come clean when I came home that Friday, it's just that I didn't want to lose you, that's all."

"If you did, I know I would have been angry, but how angry I'll never know. Letting it go on for so long, I thought you didn't love me anymore. I was positive you were having an affair and after a while it no longer made a difference to me any more. I just started pulling away from you waiting for the other shoe to drop," she said as her eyes teared up.

"Roger was a huge mistake plain and simple. I don't know why I brought him home, probably to make you mad enough to fight for me. Instead you just walked away and left me to decide what to do next; so I did nothing. I knew you'd have to come back eventually so I just decided to bide my time and have it out with you when you came back. Then every thing got complicated again; I'm so sorry she said starting to cry.

"My dad was right, we never sat down and talked. We just avoided the issues and threw insults at each other," I told her, sitting there looking at her. "What do you want Shannon? Where do we go from here?" I asked.

"Steve, I want another shot at it, and if we fail, well at least we tried. I've sworn off the alcohol, which became my crutch, and as you know I cancelled all the divorce paperwork. I don't know if we can get it together but damn it, I want to try if you're willing."

I got up from my chain and went over and pulled her into my arms. We didn't kiss or express our love for each other; we just stood there holding each other for the longest time.

"You need to move back in and I don't mean into the guest room either. If we're going to try again, it has to be as husband and wife all the way, no more games," she told me as I held her hand.

I'd love to say we made mad passionate love that night and I made the earth move for Shannon but that didn't happen. We did kiss, but I went home that night and moved partially back in the following day. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, so I kept my apartment. That was our first disagreement.

"If you know that you've got a place to go if things get too rough it'll never work. Dump the apartment if you're serious about trying," she told me. A week later it was gone.

We started therapy a week later because we didn't have a clue where to start and didn't want to make the same mistakes all over again. We got angry, we cried and yelled at one another but we got over it. The hurt was still there, but with time even that started to fade

As Shannon once said in a session, "Steve I forgive you for what you did, it's just that it's going to take me a while to forget, but I'm working on that."

We made love three days after I moved back in. It was awkward at best and lasted only about twenty minutes the fist time. I was so sexed up that I almost shot off as soon as I got into her pussy. The second time that night was much, much slower and better.

Besides in therapy, we agreed never to bring up Roger and Chris. Are we going to make it? I think so, because we're committed to our marriage again, but it's still going to take work. We take one night a week now and talk, really talk. It's usually done in bed and after wards we find that the sex is out of this world. I guess for us, talking is one hell of an aphrodisiac

And July 1st? That was the night Danny was conceived years ago. I think she wanted to do it again that night and if I'd remembered, we probably would have.