All Comments on 'If Ch. 02'

All this time we've waited and that's it?

Cheaters neither know or care how badly they hurt people.

Thank you for sharing this story with us.

I didn't love it, but I did love it. There were very real feelings here. Very raw. Because the feelings were real and genuine, it leaves a kind of sick feeling in the pit of the reader's stomach.

This is a story about a marriage that ended in the worst type of betrayal. Real feelings surrounding that situation will be...sadness. Sadness leaves the reader empty. Explosive anger is one that the reader can get behind. That feeling is what drives protagonists to do the things that readers can get behind. Change accounts, seek revenge, beat the paramour up, etc. But sadness is the emotion readers hate. It comes with acceptance. Acceptance isn't entertaining. It's just sad.

I don't think that she and Nick will make it. Right now, they are therapy for each other. They need each other, but not in any way that will make for a lasting relationship. In time, the sadness and anger will pass. When it does, they will find that they have nothing left for each other.

Once again, GITM has told a gripping tale. The reality jumps off the page. No fairy tale ending. No Prince Charming. No epic battle with the evil villain. Just sadness and acceptance.

My brain hurts. This is not a good story. If you are rebelling against the simplistic BTB an RAAC stories, good for you. You should, however, read something about story arc and character arc. This mess has neither. No story and no growth. At some point, your people and story have to move. This had all the drama (and twice the pain) of a root canal.

This story, no matter the ratings, is the best that i have read about the feelings that a person who has been cheated on by someone so close and trusted. It doesn't matter which gender it affects. While painful to read, it mirrors so many feelings that i went through when it happened to me. Keep writing.

So much melodrama! And every last character is a shit.

Drawing the reader slowly in Only the most skilled writers are able to take advantage of present tense and put us exactly in the place, scene and setting. Girlinthemoon has successfully done so. It takes a highly gifted writer and a special sort of story. My congratulations. I hope you're saving something. I gave it a five, of course. Randi.

Can't they go back? And stay there?

is because it doesn't speak to 'me'. I'm not the sort of person who answers a wrong by repeating that wrong in reverse. I wouldn't cheat on my cheating spouse; I might leave her.

This and it's predecessor are well written and they do draw me in as a reader, but the emotions for all of them are foreign to me. That's not really because your characterization is wrong or that they're not well developed. It's because I'm not particularly normal.

This is excellent work, and worthy of praise. I can find no fault, other than it doesn't speak to me, specifically. But it does speak.

She doesn't love Nick. She's using him to get back at Mike. Yea, Mike was a douchebag and a divorce was in order but she lowered herself to his level when she slept with Nick. It's a hollow kind of love that she shares with Nick. A relationship built on sand.

On of the true to life stories that deals with a persons emotions.

Very realistic and descriptive of what could actually happen in this situation. A little dark but than so is life sometimes.

anon.1

Non erotic stories should not be here,Post in the non erotic next time.

Girlinthemoon is one of the five best female writers on this site, ever. One of the ten best in total. There are only two female writers that make that list, in my opinion. Sometimes the characters are very dark, and the actions they take are hard to fathom. This story chapter is in that tradition. It has two strikes against it, keeping it from being appreciated as it should.

One, it's written by Girlinthemoon. There are some who won't like anything she writes. Enough said.

Two, the protagonist is a female, doing nasty things to a man. That never plays as well as the other way around.

I continue to be amazed at the way you have with words. Very creative and spellbinding. You are the dark sorceress of Literotica. Five stars.

Very well written, real life about four fucked up people. I do think she is making a mistake with Nick, she doesn't really love him and it is not a good idea to be with someone because they need you. She would have been better off moving in with the parents for a few months, not see Nick, get her head straight, which right now it is not. By the way, when did salmon for dinner change into chicken in the space of about five lines.

The sadness in this story runs deep. For two chapters the narrator has simply held onto her anger towards Mike and Jessica and used Nick as a refuge.

At the end of Ch.2 she sits next to Nick and proclaims she needs him and he needs her.

Unfortunately, in Ch. 1 she indicated she doesn't love Nick and doesn't even think about him when she's not with him. That's not love. That's just holding onto disappointment, anger and remaining in unhappy limbo-land.

Nick was right to tell her not to contact him until she made up her mind. She's only thinking about herself, not him, except only as a thin refuge from her misery.

She'll never trust Mike.

She (as well as Nick and Mike) need to go their separate ways and abandon the misery they all steadfastly cling to.

5 stars if this is the beginning of a longer work, 1 if that was the end.

Great writing. She is doing right by leaving her husband. He is scum and never loved her. I'm not sure she is doing right by going with Nick. I think she would be better served by a clean break. However it could work just not likely. Thanks for the story.

Chapter 1, not a bad start, I'm interested. Chapter 2, (almost three months later!!) wasn't really worth the wait. Chapter 3, if there is one; will I really care??

BDEarth

A paen to pain.

Every time I start to feel sympathy for this woman, she opens her mouth and ruins the feeling.

I think that Nick is the worse one. He thinks he is getting back at Mike by sleeping with his wife, but is a constant reminder of his his misery, that he continues to relive. He has the opportunity to healing, if he leaves Claire alone, and separate himself.

Why is Claire going to therapy with her husband, but doesn't really want to work it out with him, nor does she really need Nick, That would be two miserable fucked up people together trying to be whole, plus she wouldn't have the thrill of Mike knowing she is with Nick.

I am not sure why Mike is wanting to work things out with Claire

Obviously, he doesn't really love her because he wanted to leave her. He needs to leave her for everyone's mental health. Someone has to decide to get better.

All 3 of the survivors were dealing with grief. In fact, they were dealing with multiple types of grief overlaid upon one another. Mix in very large doses of pain and anger, at least for 2 of them, and you get this emotional car crush of a story's recipe.

Mike was mourning his lost love, and his lost - well, thrown away, really - marriage.

Nick was mourning his lost wife, and his lost marriage - then too he was dealing with the revenge part of things by having the affair with the jilted best friend.

Claire was mourning her betraying bitch of a best friend, and the loss of her storybook marriage fiction. She was also still dealing with the loss of her failed pregnancy's baby too, so a triple whammy for her.

All of those each represent separate deaths of hopes for futures planned and fought for (if only minimally). Each has their own grieving process - even in the face of betrayals like this, grief still happens, it only gets partially shortcut by anger and betrayal for a healthy psyche. Claire's pain is palpable in her lethargy and emotional numbness. It's an emotional state of PTSD-like shock - like the sort of shell-shocked state where soldiers break from having artillery shells exploding all around them, deafening and numbing them into catatonia. For example, she can't even really rally her emotions enough to be enraged at Mike for what he's done to her as she should - as anyone ordinarily would.

Ultimately, I would agree that there will be no great future for Claire and Nick - there is too much pain around and between them to allow love fertile ground in which to grow. Well, normally, at any rate. Weirder things have happened, but the odds would be long indeed.

Well done, GITM. 5* easily.

A brief glimpse into three broken lives and the specter of Jessica's death hanging over them. I wonder if they wish the accident never happened, whether it would have been to go back to the time of secret affairs and blissful ignorance. Nick and Claire need to decide how much of Jessica they are willing to become.

...I think Claire makes the right decision in leaving Mike, for both of them. I'm not sure there is a way to patch up what was an ultimate betrayal. Its probably best for both of them to move on.

But I also don't think the relationship with Nick would last. They are both too damaged right now, by the same two people. I don't think either of them can fully recover until they can deal with that pain and get away from it, and I don't see how they can do it together. If we do get a Chapter 3, that's where I suspect we go.

I did appreciate that we got to see Jessica's journal entry, that at least she felt a great deal of guilt over what she was doing to her best friend. Doesn't absolve her, or Mike, but I like that neither are treated as cartoonishly evil, just people making bad decisions and not knowing the best way to deal with them.

That's always been the strength of GITM stories, and its no different here. But this just doesn't feel to me like a satisfying spot to end the story. I kind of feel like it still has a ways to go, even if we end up with a fully tragic ending.

This would sort of feel like a forced happy ending for Claire...she ends up with Nick, who she cares about (but I suspect doesn't love), but there is still all sorts of work she needs to do to make herself whole again. I hope we get to see it.

I read this for two reasons: to try to understand how GITM crafts these sparse and poignant stories, and to understand the female POV. I appreciate the effort and tradecraft but, honestly, I can't stand the dysfunction and the endless hamster wheel-spinning. Make something happen, why don't you, Jessica? But that's the male POV. Even so, this is a welcome change from the boring barroom tales so common on Lit. Five stars.

what Clare is doing now with Nick to be anywhere near what Jessica and Mike did for years? Because it isn't. Not even close.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this tale and hope there is more of it coming at some point. The best thing for all parties involved would be to get as far away from each other as possible, but of course that wouldn't make for a very interesting story.

In a complex story like this I find a long break between chapters makes it difficult for me, as reader, having to go back to the earlier episode to make the connections. In this story it's not just the things that happened that had to be recalled, but also the powerful emotions that were described earlier.

Once past that block I, like most commenters, really appreciated the story crafted so expertly by GirlInTheMoon.

Lue

It took me a moment to remember ch 1 but after a couple of paragraphs it came back with all its angst and pain.

And there it was again, the heart break, the anger, the fear... In the end she decides to take the step, to follow a path forward instead of trying to make sense of the past.

I think this is probably the most real story I've read on this site. Cheating happens everyday but rarely does either side "win" as we often read here. Is this a happy ending? Highly doubtful but at least they are moving forward. 5*

An extremely well thought out story with all the back and forth that a person that has

been emotionally battered will do. My feeling is that the approximation to Nick is a bad idea. She should move away and start a new life.

And he worded exactly what I was thinking .

I did have to go back and skim the first chapter to refresh my memory of who was whom , but as most true LW fanatics have stated , this is brilliant writing .

She strung Mike along long enough to allow him the glimmer of forgiveness , but when the actual words of Jessica and his plans were revealed , she did the right thing .

I had a discussion the other day with my friend SBrooks about the most heart wrenching storyline that can be inflicted on someone here in LW land . I'm of the opinion that when someone is married to someone for many years and are late in life , and then it's revealed that the spouse was a serial cheater ie Hansbrwl and Ohio's versions of A Loving Wife Dies .

Well , this scenario , while she's still young enough to start over again , is sorta similar , in that the person who you were so close to that betrayed you in such a way , isn't around to tell why they did it . Yes I know some will say Jessica paid for her sin , but where does that leave Claire ?

GITM gave Claire her answer . That's the one I think everyone who would be caught in a situation like that would crave .

Claire should have left both, she is not going to end up happy with nick. Two wrongs do not make it right . Plenty of pain to go around. This story is not finished ,hope you finish it.

I applaud the WOMAN who wrote this story. You are a master of life in the real world. Your RAW account of how an affair literally destroys 4 lives is as real as it gets. That she was sleeping with Nick wasn't a problem this time. It just added more to the horrorific story unfolding.

Well written sea of dispair in a seriously messed of set of people.

But a horrible read. This is Literotica. There was nothing remotely erotic or sexy about this story. It was a sad look at the collapse of a marriage. Maybe it belonged in Non-erotic. But even there it would have been a depressing story to read. While I appreciate the writing skills of Girlinthemoon, this story was neither entertaining or fun to read. Thanks for the effort but maybe next time something a little lighter?

Of course Nick and Claire will not make it. They have nothing drawing them together, only pain and anger and opportunity pushing on them from the outside, to a place that only the two of them can find some small space for grief, and mutual solace, and unacknowledged revenge. When those outside emotions dissipate, they will look at each other and sadly admit that their time, while helpful, is in the end, a waste of time to continue. Nick will probably beat Mike down one day, then move on, thanking Mike's poor driving for saving him from a life of continuous humiliation. Mike and Jessica would have thrived and soared and multiplied. Mike will still be missing Jessica long after Claire has become a distant memory. Serve him right. May he live long and suffer.

Nick and Claire will always live with regret, but they will be OK, eventually. If they find the right partners in the future they may even see the past tragedy as a painful step to their eventual happiness. We have to hope so, don't we?

Creative and emotive to the extreme. Thank You.

And thank you for allowing anonymous comments. It helps. A story this piquant requires more than a check mark.

This story touches on real life, more so than most of the stories in this category. And being on the outside looking in at the characters, I can understand why she chose Nick. After all, leaving doubt behind a hypothetical question... especially that question... just goes to show that Mike was "settling" for Claire. That relationship will always be ruined / unhealthy because of Claire believing she will be the consolation prize.

However, Claire needs to see some of the traits of Nick. As she pointed out, he drinks in the morning. Obviously, drunk and angry Nick scares the crap out of her. Like other people have said, that relationship is doomed as well. Claire really should leave them both behind. Though, that'd be just as hard because she'd be alone with a daughter. Alone as in lacking a support circle.

Very sad, but the story was well written and very compelling. Not sure if there will be a third chapter or not. A part of me would like to see a "happy" ending for our heroine. This just left me feeling like she's choosing the lesser of two evils -- though, I'm not sure if she simply jumped from frying pan and into the fire. Especially since she needs to worry about Brooklyn as well.

We don't get intellectually challenging comments like yours every day of the week.

Lue

Serial cheaters don't 'settle' for anyone. They pick the spouse that can be snowballed about their affairs, like Claire.

This is real literature, a narrative used not just to provide vicarious experience but to present and explore in concentrated form a dilemma and some of the profound attitudes generated by it. Extraordinary!

but the ending sucked so 4*. I give you credit for the resolution, but it took two months to come up with one page of written text? You must have really struggled with the characters and the appropriate ending. Love your writing, pls post more.

Kind of makes one think of the adage two wrongs don't make a right.

They ALL really need intensive therapy before going ahead in life; they're too damaged for any relationship.

Thoughtful story, well-written. And it seems real to me. Very well done.

Let GirlintheMoon write all the stories on Literotica.com I say.

Thank you for the well written story.

Gave you 3*s. I realized that multiple chapter posts of a story is fashionable GITM .

Unfortunately in this case the practice really fails you. It destroyed the balanced impact. The first part is a depression causing nightmare. In the second part your protagonist Claire finally wakes up, does the right/smart thing. But your left wondering why the fuck it took her so long😱❓

GITM then you hit the reader over the head with that diary entry. WTF are we ignorant teenagers that have to be shown the obvious? Apparently so, as you know your audience better than I .

Well you gave us the usual exceptional, awesome dialogue. Used the weather to reinforce the claustrophobic atmosphere of the plot. Very good writing technique.

Hopefully, I await your next story. Maybe it will be something with more substance. More emotions. Not just sadness. More dramatic🎭.

Good luck and I am

AMerryman

I recall from your stories some time ago that your strength was in dialog, your ability to describe inner emotional and psychological conflict through the way in which the characters talk to each other.

I found this story and went back and found ch 1 .. so read both in order. As a portrait of 4 messed up and conflicted people, the story works. I mean, that all too often in stories like this I just feel that the characters are a bunch of idiots. In this story I can feel how they're being torn apart. Your skill with dialog is still there.

OK, as a 'portrait' the story succeeds. The portrait isn't pretty, but life isn't always a beauty pageant.

But I am left wondering about where to go from here, in terms of depth regarding motivation. The matter of motivation is what drives readers to pass moral judgements on possible outcomes - who deserves what, etc.

I am content if an author is ambiguous. On the other hand, the issue of motivation is always there and an author ought to deal with it somehow. I'm thinking specifically about Claire. She is the narrator and in that sense the story is about her and her reactions to events. Certainly in Ch 1 she's incredibly cynical and bitter. This begs the question why. Other reactions are possible. The question of motivation has to do with why this one. It says something about her character.

Does the last two paragraphs give the clue? Certain in the moment, good enough for now? That could well be an explanation for the past marriage. Life with blinders, missing things? I as reader can only speculate. But what did the author have in mind? I'm not so sure.

Quite depressing at the start, but growing to be believable as the story went on and things became clearer. Maybe I wouldn't have been surprised if the story had ended where part one ended, but hey, it's your story.

Greetings and thanks.

Very very impressed girl. Very envious of your writing skills! Thank you for a very thought provoking story full of emotional turmoil.

Killian

Its gone. And I wanted to read it again after a day or two to see if it hit me any differently.

I thoroughly enjoy your stories. The pain is real, the plot is believable. The characters so vivid I can see them. I eagerly look forward to your next story.

There is more censorship of the written word at this site than I ever imagined🚫.

I thought at an erotic or pornography website people would have more freedom to post words, pictures, video, etc.

That is not true. Many writers are suffering censorship here😨.

I hope GITM can bring back her story about "The Beach House".

I recommend she post on ' stories-on-line'. Other writers post on both sites. That is a good idea❗

Thank you for your patience with my comment.

AMerryman

Where is it? Please don't tell me that it was taken down. When i saw comments asking about it, i scrambled to look for it. With all the badly written stories, it would be a shame to lose one that good.

This may be her final story on this site. If you go to here blog she writes about the beach house being pulled.

I emailed you.

There's some ambiguity here, since the charge was that The Beach House was 'snuff' and this was in violation of the house rules. Same would be true for a story with a pedophile theme. Such a story would not be permitted.

The killing (murder? crime of passion?) in The Beach House doesn't fit my understanding of what a 'snuff' theme means .. being a sexual gratification through killing fetish. If the mere killing was the issue, then half the BTB stories would have to be pulled, as would a good percentage of the anon comments to BTB stories.

Anyway, the issue isn't one of censorship as such but whether a given story meets the publication guidelines. In other words, whether The Beach House fits the reason given for it being pulled. It doesn't, not on my reading. Dark as The Beach House is, it just doesn't fit a snuff story.

People die from boredom every day, reading his shit.

It says she has a project she's working on, and that will LIKELY be her final contribution. Heh, that "people die from boredom" was kinda funny, you have to admit.

I was simply blown away by this story. The emotion, the mental anguish and the heart rending pain of the multiple betrayals come through so clearly. It would be as shame if as some posters say your not going to write here anymore but if so hopefully you'll find Storiesonline or one of the other sites.

I learned that The Beach House had been removed from the comment section of another story. I felt I need to let GirlintheMoon know how amazingly real that story was. It was not a "snuff" story. Sorry that I have to do it here instead of in the comment section of a great story that no longer exists on Literotica. Of course murder is wrong and will not take away the desolation of emotions that occur in this situation. That being said, I believe part of the horror and pain every man who has been utterly betrayed by the woman he loved with abandon includes at least a fleeting thought of ending her life. Most of us thankfully realize quickly that doing so will not decrease the pain and actually would eventually increase it. The truth is that the thought occurs and is sometimes acted upon making it sometimes the consequence of cheating, etc. Are a small minority of readers and the hierarchy of Literotica afraid to acknowledge that once in awhile the fruit of adultery and betrayal is death. Why are we afraid of a dose of truth in literature? GITM's Beach House reminded me of a heart rending LW tale called Shattered Crystal by StormX. Also not a "snuff " story. Same kind of painful emotional outcome that should be felt and represented occasionally. Literotica, please don't censure just for politically correct reasons. --Hoppydoodle

ummm.. reread The Beach House. It goes a lot deeper than mere adultery/cheating wife. Your apologetic tone for all those poor men out there who lose it because of the bitch woman is entirely off the mark.

I understand the story better than Ch 01. Thanks for sharing.

why are the score so low?

I loved this chapter.

Mike is an a $$hole. I'm guessing you know my thoughts on best friend Jess!

She's as big a cheater as him, so they are both shit. She's worse because she's stringing him along, besides she's just as big a cunt as all this author's other characters. I had hope from the first chapter and from her other story maybe she was changing, but it's clear now that she's not.

Jedd Clampett (carvohi)

Hey, Jedd! I feel like we're buddies now considering all of the lovely feedback emails you send me! If by "haven't changed", you mean still living... you're right! I'm referencing the email where you said, and I quote, "I hope your husband beats you to death then raped your corpse." Yup, neither have us have changed! And your writing skills haven't changed, either. Let me know if you ever decide to write one of your own stories and I'll try to return the favor.

Whether or not you've liked my stories, I always appreciate the time you take to read and respond thoughtfully. You are appreciated more than you know.

Well that's sure not how Girlinthemoon and her characters roll. They talk a LOT . The conclusion got to a logical place via roundabout but not aimlessly meandering in the slightest. To me , the characters were so individual and vamped off each other in the dialogues like jazz bandmates.

Claire could have ( and some would argue should have ) left from the getgo upon learning of how she was betrayed . Well it was a process, as eloquent as it was indirect. Frankly IMHO Claire's questions lie beyond Mike and Nick's ability to collaborate and collect meaningful answers. They are rudderless in the aftermath, looking to her for marching orders.

Jessica seems to have been the General Patton of the quartet of characters . Unfortunately both she and the late military genius didn't have airbags to break car crash impact. I thank Girlinthemoon for sharing.

Sadly, the rest of us sane will now be subjected to his deranged and incoherent ravings. Tell me, Doggy Boy, did you learn to enjoy rape during your incarceration? You, who advocate so strongly for the enjoyment of rape for others, surely learned to enjoy it’s finer points at the hands of your large rough cellmate. Maybe that is how you earned the sobriquet, Doggy Boy.

How embarrassing it must be for authors to have your gratuitous verbiage on their comment sections. Hopefully, they will learn to delete before their comment areas are fouled by your odor.

So sorry swingerjoe left you moist and avid for friction in this venue. I can't and won't attempt to fill the carnal sinkhole in your life opened by his abrupt departure . Have a nice day/ life kimi.

I'll be around as long as you will. Act like and ass and I'm going to treat you like an ass. You don't have a choice. Oh, I guess you do. Don't act like an ass and I'll never mention you again.

I don't know exactly why but, after the first chapter, this one seemed a bit sparse and underdeveloped. Maybe developing Jessica more through her diary could prived the insight into her that you allowed the other characters.

Or maybe it's that neither Nick or Claire, particularly Nick, seemed to have found closure or moved on.

Jesus! What is wrong with people? The author is allowed to take breaks. She is allowed to abandon stories. Stop the attacks.

Chapter 2 was amazing. It's a great build up and I like how real the characters are.

That stands for They All Deserve Each Other. These characters should every one just jump in a big 6ft hole have a circle shoot, drop over and moulder into the earth. Adios, Arseholes!

Why didn't they just get divorced?

Seriously? You know what? If you're angry that the story isn't what you wanted then you write a story.

It's a fine story, and all too real. Sometimes life is too ridiculous to even contemplate.

I think I mentioned elsewhere that you write beautifully. I sure hope you continue.

Thanks for a glimpse into city people who aren't at all like me and mine.

You set this story in such a way that there is no satisfactory ending. And perhaps that is what life is really like. There's rarely a burst of light and an obvious path forward. You take the best path you can; the best you see right now and move ahead. It may well be that you've chosen wrong or that there was another alternative that you didn't consider. I personally found the story unsettling and the ending unsatisfactory, but I don't know that there was a better way to end it. Claire was looking for a "tell" that would guide her to a decision and she found one and jumped at it. Was it her best decision? Only time will tell. I think her best approach would be to leave both Nick and Mike and go on her own for a while. She'd probably find that one or the other of her men would be the obvious one to return to and that's where she would go....if he was still waiting for her. I know I wouldn't be. Three screwed up lives. But still a good literary effort: 4*

Here's the link to that story.

http://thereisagirlinthemoon.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-beach-house.html

I love all your stories. In my opinion, you are one of the most underrated authors on the site. The visceral emotion of your characters comes shining through, as always. I believe that Claire makes the right decision in leaving Mike. This decision hinges on what Mike would have done had Jessica not died. In order to continue in a functional marriage, Claire would have to believe that she was 1st choice. Mike loved her, just not enough.

... because there ain't no 6. One of the very best.

On thing though - I still don't understand Mike. Why is he still there - trying to salvage something that's so broken? (I think you told us enough about the other 3).

Nick is using her to get over his grief and she's using him to get back at her soon to be ex-husband.

To bad there isnt another chapter to this. something isnt right in the way the story ended.

Personally not being the author it is hard to understand what Nick is doing. But to me he using Claire as a tool to hurt Mike. Get revenge so to speak. Yes he needs her for sex but that’s not enough for a long term relationship. I think he relishes his having sex with Claire hurts Mike but once Claire leaves Mike a he moves on maybe finding someone new then his relationship with Claire will have no point any longer. In th end Claire will be the one hurt most after Nick walks. Mike will be gone and she will be alone with her mom and dad Brooklyn the dog.

Some commenters said Nick is using her. She needs to make a choice. The story doesn't have a resolution. I think they're totally missing the point of the story. This is a snapshot of the aftermath of a woman losing her best friend to death, at the same time finding out she was having an affair with a man she deeply loved, at the same time finding out that same man loved her best friend more than her and was planning on leaving her for him. For Nick it was finding out his wife was having an affair, was planning on leaving him for the other man, and that woman he loved was now dead.

These two people had layers of things to deal with. I can easily see part of it for Nick being to take away from Mike the same thing he took from him. I'm sure part of it is that Claire was Jessica's best friend so she was his connection still to Jessica the woman I'm sure he still loved and deeply missed, I'm sure part of it is that Claire is going through something similar so understands him, I'm sure part of it is desperate loneliness. Perhaps he even had real feelings for Claire. At the same time a great deal is going on for Claire. So many different things to deal with at the same time, loss of a best friend who by the way was stealing your husband away, the loss of her husband who was ready to leave her but wants her now by default. Does she want him under those circumstances? Btw, this man she loved for 5 years so easily also got hurt very badly in the car accident so she feels compelled to help him heal, while trying to decide on her emotions.

Those that want a simple resolution have been fed on these simple LW stories. This is the real life of thinking people hit hard from many sides and grappling with multiple major hits at the same time. The point isn't a resolution, the point is the struggle period. Only 4 months has passed since Nick lost his wife and Claire lost her best friend. Only 4 months they both discovered their affair. This is the time period of the confusion, trying to sort things out, the struggle. This is the "rebound" period, the fog, the struggle.

This story is not if she ends up with Mike or Nick. It's not if Nick ends up with Claire. I'm sure Nick is as confused about his motivations for wanting Claire. He seems like a mess, not calculating to try to fuck Mike over, even though if part of it is to not lose another person to Mike again as well which will probably really hit him hard. These are two people that truly loved their spouses and were blindsided 4 months earlier and now trying to muddle through all their new reality.

Extremely well written story and the reason I love reading these LW stories. I love the extremes of human experiences and the psychology and struggles people go through. I can care less about BTB and all that bullshit. These are people hit with a major psychological trauma and this story beautifully lays their struggle through it.

Claire and Nick are just using each other as emotional crutches... there's no future in that relationship. Neither of them love each other, they're each the consolation prizes left behind when their real loves betrayed them... they both know it and that would poison their chance at happiness together.

Both need to find someone new and start over with a clean slate. The excitement of a fresh relationship would distract them from all those painful memories and eventually they'd be able to forget and move on.

Chapter 2 was still well written, but a disappointing conclusion to the story.

But did not care the overall story much

So I've been thinking about heroism, and particularly heroic images of women.

I think heroism in stories is important, since stories are one of the ways we work out the behavior we wish to have - heroic is admirable. Villainous is not.

LW is one of the forums that have a lot of heroic content in the stories - the protagonist is put in an awful situation, and must continue on - and so heroic behavior is to be admired.

Amyyum writes heroic women. But I feel that the heroism is flawed often by fundamental egocentricity on the part of the protagonist. GirlintheMoon on the other hand writes often women who are swept away by situations and emotions not entirely in their control... and so are not heroic actors.

Here, the protagonist finds peace as her conclusion. The ex is exposed as manipulative and exploitative. Nick is... messed up and damaged. However, he seems to be as emotionally honest as he can be.

There are few heroes in the world, and so heroic models may have limits. The other actors, who live and continue to live, need representation - GITM has their back.

YMMV

Green-something

Have baggage but not all baggage is bad if you learn something from it..

Many of the same things are important to them,they definitely have a shot.

From the first chapter -

She's upset that the therapist wants her to "get over it," but isn't that what the husbands are told when the wives cheat?

I see where Mike is coming from. If she doesn't want to work on the marriage, why pretend? And a revenge affair, especially with the lover's husband, isn't the way to go.

She has a good point; things obviously WEREN'T so good when they supposedly were, or he wouldn't have been cheating!

From the second chapter -

I can't think of anything specific about the characters. I think they all did all that they could do.

Well-written, excellent story.

This was a very thought-provoking situation. I was hoping that she would make a mature choice, like moving into her Mom's place (after all, she shampooed the carpet, for God's sake!). Retreat from both relationships, recover her life and then move forward. Her choice ended up being only the better of two evils.

I've know some people who claimed that they loved two people, but when push came to shove, they really only loved one of them, and just wanted the other for selfish reasons. They turned out to be really flaky, immature people. I even heard one of them say "If one of them makes me choose, I'll choose the other"; yeah, like that is a good criteria for choosing. I think they were just control freaks exercising their power.

5

Not for me, but have to admit that it was a good story.

with totally fucked up characters, like in real life. Nick is as bad a decision for Claire as staying any longer with Mike would have been. That seems clear to most commenters.

But I can't really feel the sexual attraction between Claire and Nick. Is it just me or is it because Gitm doesn't tell us how it started and 'developed'? I don't know, and it's her decision, of course.

Anyway, a 5 stars rating is unavoidable ;-)

You're truely one of the best of the best at Lit, Gitm. I feel like a foolish old fanboy. It's good I have read only about half of your stories so far, so there is still much left for me to enjoy.

Story, but beyond that all I can say is how much I liked Brooklyn. Signed: BTW

I found myself disturbed by it. It's probably one of the best stories I have red on Literotica. Betrayal by both a friend and a lover/spouse. Maybe because I just got done with a story that had that and the main character is a woman. I've been fascinated with the concept of understanding the woman's side of things lately, because the man's side is no mystery being one.

Not sure Nick is the man for her either. She will see in him everything that happened and the pain will never go away. But then its not my story.

A great story! Really felt what she was going through.

She is clearly undecided and the therapists words seem to ring true. From what was written about Nick, he was just holding on to her for comfort...and so was she. She seemed to reach an impasse about Mike and Nick....and it was broken by asking Mike about a hypothetical situation. Mike rightly hesitates and points out that the question is hypothetical. She takes the hesitation to mean that he would have carried on with Jessica. She doesn't really register his point that he didn't really know what he would have done.

We should note that after the accident, if Jessica had survived, their affair would have been blown, one way or the other. Before that, we read about Jessica's thoughts that eventually, she would leave Nick for Mike. In reality, once it was out in the open, both Jessica and Mike would have had to deal with the reality. Whether they would have left their spouses can never be certain. The spouses responses would have a big impact on the decision. Each still loved their spouses. There was no animosity or hatred. In marriages, the incumbents often have the advantage of longevity, closeness, etc. and so have a chance of survival.

In this case, Mike seems to be the realist. He recognizes that Jessica is gone. He decides he wants his wife back despite the difficulties. She, on the other hand seems to have taken the hypothetical path, dwelling on the what if scenario. She leaves Mike for Nick even though she realizes that Nick is only holding on to her for his comfort (as the therapist had suggested). She leaves him even though she was slowly getting around to wanting him back (no Jessica to cloud the issue). She seems happy to be back home to his cooking and appreciates his efforts to get back together. But then his hesitation to a hypothetical question makes her go to Nick and what she already confirmed to herself, was going to be a flawed relationship?? Many readers have already identified and commented that that relationship would die as soon as they got over their anguish. Then what? Sometimes it is possible to over think a situation. Why not take a chance on the devil you know? After all the she devil is departed!!

So the ending didn't make any sense to me. Opportunity to write part 3 I think.

What she was REALLY asking was, 'You guys would still be fucking if she hadn't died, wouldn't you?'

That's not a hypothetical question, it's a simple yes or no-rather, me or her-question, and he couldn't be sure, which is an answer.

Everybody deserves to be chosen. To be loved. To have someone sacrifice something because you're more important, because they love you!

Mike... He couldn't give her that, even with his lover DEAD he couldn't commit. He couldn't even LIE, try and spare her feelings... He's too selfish to give her what she needs from him, too selfish to even hypothetically commit to her, and if she stayed he would do it again the first chance his sorry ass got. Fuck that guy and anyone like him.

I think Claire and Nick are going to be a great couple, actually. They were friends already, so they have a level of familiarity that most psople take years to develop. Beyond that, a couple who shares a trauma are already connected on an emotional level... I'm not saying it's a good or healthy start, but they both have the tools to heal each other and the will to commit-and most importantly, they have TRUST in each other. They are the faithful spouses, the ones who didn't cheat, and the fact that she can feel guilty about cheating on Mike after he's ripped the center out of her life like a kid trying to make a donut from a burger bun tells you her character. They both lost the same future, Nick just realized it quicker, but now that they both do they can build a future together. This is a happy ending, but a real one!

Great story, pretty depressing and i loved the way the weather reflected the cold war that is happening between these three players. Claire is now the last prize that these two men are fighting over, Mike because he can't bear to be alone and Nick to exact his revenge. The thing about Claire is if she stays with Nick she will never be free of Mike or Jessica, she'll wake up everyday reminded of both of them. I wish she had the courage to break it off with both of them as these two men are incomplete, they can't exist without a woman to stave of the emptiness they have in their lives and Claire is not the solution to their problems. This is truly a hostage situation and if Claire stays with Nick she'll never truly love him and live her life with him with pain everyday. And really that will exact a price on her, she needs to move on, Mike needs to free her, he was wrong to let her help him convalesce and so was Nick but his injuries weren't physical. Let me tell you, that must have been a hell of a funeral and wake! Great stuff, really got the wheels turning in my head. Kind of like a Suzanne Vega song.

Good read. Hard story. She should run for awhile get her bearings.

I needed more than just this meh half ending. It was so good but I got no closure from the characters I grew so attached to

Can we get a third story please? Would be awesome to have her and Nick realise they want to be with each other, rather than need to because of grief. And tgen for Mike to realise he loved her more than he thought and he can just be pretty bloody miserable for the rest of his life. That would be ace.