My Dilemma

well designed

nice design. no hero, all cheaters.
family financial worries, arguements, overtime.
wife's lack of sex, his affairs (multi), she finds out.
wife's cheats.

it sounds like they should have gotten counseling earlier.

but somehow even though it is well designed, it feels empty and unsatisfying. maybe because there is no one to root for.

Truthful

I find this like many of your stories to be truthful. Not erotic but more like real life. Non-communication, is the fault of many divorces. I see his re-action to be real. I've felt like that many times in my life. Until you sent back and think about the situation, we have a tendency to over react. Your stories are so real to life. Not everyone reacts the same. Like many women she just kept her sadness about his cheating to herself. Hoping she could hole the family together. I can't count the number of familes I know like that.
Again another very good story. Please keep writing.
with high regards
An avid fan

If this were real life....

I would tell her to dump him. Surely she could do better than him.

What a...

hipacrit..you yell at and want nothing to do with your wife. Well, you should practice what you preach. If I was her, I would tell you to take a long walk off a very short pier. The whole time it was you who cheated and not her. You don't deserve someone like her..or any women for that matter.

I liked the story

DG, a lot. But you missed something. If any man pulled a knife on a police officer, he'd go to jail for assault with a deadly. He wouldn't have been written off and no other cop would have seen anything but the cop taking down a criminal. It's the way it goes with the fraternity of cops. Otherwise, I like the story.

Very well done

Great writing!
I have known many women who have forgiven their husbands for infidelity. I don’t know if it is low self-esteem or maybe a lot of women can forgive easier then men. Men seem to have such huge ego’s that they feel so personally violated when a woman cheats on them. With many men it’s all about them not what the woman feels. How some women can handle being put second by the man she loves is a mystery. Only a truthful woman who has experience such a scenario could ever explain it.

Do women hold a love deeper in themselves then men? To act on an erg to have sex with someone else is not as strong in married women? Do women keep their vows closer to their heart and soul then men? Is that why 3 times more married men cheat then married women? Divorced women are 65% more likely to have been with a married man since their divorced then with single men (all statistics are 9 years old). Are most women superior in true love?

I guess most people would call my statement just another example of a double standard, but it does exist in real life. This guy is lucky to have a woman who hung on so long before cracking. He also is unbelievably lucky to have been at the bar when he was.
Thank you for the story

Good job

Interesting story line. Is it worse when it's the wife who cheats? In this case, she didn't really, but HE did. Glad he finally woke up. Well done, DG.

good

Well written and I would have to call this a true loving wife story

It's a good story

It's the old lack of communication' bit but I am at a loss as to her express feeling of guilt over letting someone touch her breast. A little out of the marriage decorum but I don't think she should feel guilty about it. She would have to feel guilty about what she was THINKING of doing. And that is a lost cause. Now HE has a problem with all of his cheating. I am surprised she is so willing to overlook it. But 22 years is a long time to let go of.
I think the story is very well written, flows well.

Which half of the story am I supposed to believe?

Sorry, but I remembered enough of the first part of the story that I couldn't believe the ending. It seems that the marriage was basically over with BEFORE the husband found the wife in the bar. Did he start cheating because their sex life went down the drain or did their sex life go down the drain because of his cheating? I only hope that the disparities between the first and last parts were unintentional and not a deliberate 'literary device'.

Well, DG...

when you write a story that sounds like "real life" you find that a lot of people can't accept it.

Real life is not the fantasies of a lot of the stories on Lit. Reality is the frailites of being human. It is the angst of young people struggling to understand why it is harder to talk to someone than to sleep with them. Reality is the bickering that goes on between two people that have lost the ability to communicate, both verbally and sexually.

Was he wrong for his cheating? Sure!

Was she wrong for acting the harridan and driving him to an outside job, thus creating the environment for their already faltering love to die a slow death. Sure!

Did either of them have a monumental, non credible change of personality at the end? No, reality just stepped in and hit them up against the side of the head. That shock and their separation awoke in them the realization that each had lost their best friend.

So, DG, if you are going to write about real life instead of fantasy, expect a lot of readers not to believe you.

Well, I liked the story!

DJ

dg hear

I always learn from the readers and especially the other authors. Almost every type of marriage written about exist. My cop character does exist, he's not every cop but there are many like him. Same goes for the wife. As was pointed out by my readers, a lot of loving wifes do forgive their spouses. As far as pulling the knife it is probably true he would have gotten arrested. I can make excuses if it makes it more realistic for you.
1. He wasn't wearing the unifiorm. That's why he showed his badge to the other officers.
2. He pushed the man back down in his seat before the man pulled his knife to protect himself.
There hope that helps.
Thanks for reading and commenting on my stories. I write stories because I have fun doing it. But without you the readers, there would be noone to comment
As always
Thank you
DG Hear

Great love story

Up to the usually high standards we have expected from you, DG! A very warm love story, in my view. I see them as real people, people just like us. People who have human frailties, struggle with them, and struggle again. It was your story and you told it well, as you always do. Some readers may want this or that changed. I find it perfect, just as it is.

You are a gifted writer and we always look forward to reading a new story from you. (As well as re-reading some of them from time to time.)

You Know What I Like About This Author's Stories

They are like onto life. Reality means no perfect person or scenario. Shit happens - in everyone's life and the interesting thing is how we handle it

He is there to tell a story which may include sex or not if it doesn't pertain. He is there to portray human response and circumstance in a believable way. He doesn't write down to us and he isn't perfect.

Author - your imagination and ability to express it well is more than most could ask.

Thanks - With Very High Regard

Just Like True Life...

things happen to two people in love. I really did not believe that Joe and Bev had not fucked each other. Most men will not pull a knife on the husband of a woman they were just hitting on. Here is the key passage:

Beginning of Quote
I walked over to their booth as Beverly screamed, "My God, David!"

The son of a bitch with her went to stand up and I pushed him back down. He drew a knife on me. That was all I needed. I pulled him out of the booth and took my baton and started beating the son of a bitch. All the time my wife was screaming, "Please, David, don't, please, don't hurt him."

End of quote

Once again Bev's words not to hurt him implied that there was more than just a harmless fling going on. She could have said "Stop, don't fight him" or "Leave him alone, David" or "David, it is not worth it" to show her desire to protect Dave. I suspect that Bev joined Dave in seeking lovers outside the marriage.

Since they both cheated on their marriage and they both wanted a fresh start then Bev's past actions were no longer relevant.

Once again another powerful realistic story with real people as characters. I can't wait for the next one. Thanks again!

SleeplessinMD

Loved It

Great story from start to finish, with somewhat of a surprise ending, with him confessing his own affairs. Nice twist, keep up the good work.

Great job,..

it really felt real and tugged at my heartstrings.

A very believable story !!!

Well-done DG, another great tale! Your recent offerings have shown a subtle change in style gining us reality with or without the sex. Poor Bev is a long suffering wife who, despite the long term cheating by David, is determined to fight to save her marriage. To do this she is prepared admit to her own acts as cheating and to accept David's as something a 'loving wife' should accept. Not very logical but, if it saves the marriage, then why not? I love the new DG. Pete.

Thanks

Very good as always.

PeggyTwitty is 1st class BOZO

Peggytwitty wrote. something so offensive so outrageous so mindless and shallow that I have to come after him and tear him a new asshole

... he made the following post .... as I suppose part of the continuing WAR against all MEN and husbands ....

"I have known many women who have forgiven their husbands for infidelity. I don’t know if it is low self-esteem or maybe a lot of women can forgive easier then men. Men seem to have such huge ego’s that they feel so personally violated when a woman cheats on them. With many men it’s all about them not what the woman feels. "


wrong you blithering idiot... MOST men cheat b/c their wives cut them off. "MOST men" ie those not sexual weirdos... perverts or predators... would NEVER risk their family life.. their possible careers... financial well being... their relationship with their kids... and their wife to get some on the IF wife did not cut them off

Peggytwity is a MORON... and has not the 1st clue of how and what drives MOST straight to cheat. Men -- especially married men NEED sex from their wives to function. For men the research is clear... SEX it is How they communicate with women

Men are simply not as advanced as women are emotionally. The sexual act with with wife tells hubby that HE still has value ... that he is still respected
and wanted.

Peggy witty mental masturbation continued:

...."Do women hold a love deeper in themselves then men? To act on an erg to have sex with someone else is not as strong in married women? Do women keep their vows closer to their heart and soul then men? Is that why 3 times more married men cheat then married women? Divorced women are 65% more likely to have been with a married man since their divorced then with single men (all statistics are 9 years old). Are most women superior in true love?

I guess most people would call my statement just another example of a double standard, but it does exist in real life...."

what pathetic stupid mindless PC crapola..

65% ? Newsweek recently carried a story that has been carried in many other places as well ....that the % of affairs of married working women now exceed the % of married working men

It is NOT a double standard you imbecile... but a refusal by YOU and mass media pro estrogen society we have to understand How men see the world and their wives sexually.

any woman who thinks "My marriage is great" but at the SAME time is giving Hubby sex 1 a month or once every 2 or 3 months or after hours of PLEADING... is a liar and a fool.

that sort of sexual activity as part of a NORMAL routine is a massive rejection to a man that strikes at his very being.


--
When everyone is thinking the same ... someone isnt thinking -- George S Patton

as written this SOLELY the Wife's fault

Good story but as usual many here cannot keep the basics facts straight and are operating on the assumption all men are dogs and chld molesters

She cut Hubby off.
Period THAT is why he stepped out.

everything else is bullshit

any woman who thinks "My marriage is great" but at the SAME time is giving Hubby sex 1 a month or once every 2 or 3 months or after hours of PLEADING... is a liar and a fool.

that sort of sexual activity as part of a NORMAL routine is a massive rejection to a man that strikes at his very being.

nope

It's obvious that there are more than a few women haters here.

I didn't like this one as much : /

It lacked common sence. He cheated all that time and then shes caught once and he feels all high and mighty? Might I add it was never even cheating, but discussing the possibility. and.... I would also assume that if she were caught with dirty laundry like that, rather than just say Oh im so sorry! and worship the double standar.. people tend to like to accuse others and make it sound like their fault. I was very suprised to find out she had know about his cheating throughout the whole fiasco and never once called him on his cheating. Just didnt make the sence that so many other stories have.

Once an Asshole,Always an Asshole

The author did a very good job of making his hero an ass hole.So at the end of the story you didnt give a shit if he stayed with his wife or not.In fact you didnt care what the dumb shit did.I even got to a place I didnt like the son of a bitch.

Harry in Virginia a complete moron and asshole

Harry, your comments just show that you are full of shit, probably rolling in cow dung in Virginia. What a mysoginistic asshole.

I am a man and be honest you fool, a man is more likely to cheat than a woman. If there is a woman that you find attractive and you dont fuck her, it is because she did not let you, or you are afraid it will come out. But if a man can fuck a hot bitch and get away clean, he will do it. I will fuck that pussy, tear it up and leave it loose.

If you are a normal man Harry and you dont think like that, then you got a small cock and you have gay homosexcual feelings.

I think women should not cheat around, they should stay at home, clean, cook and make themselves look pretty and drink a lot of water, so that the pussy is wet when the husband comes home. However, if the wife has the tightest pussy, prettiest face, and hottest pussy on the planet, a good husband will still fuck another woman, even a trailer trash bitch. I will fuck her good and hard, cumm in her face and then drive home to my wife and kids in the burb, and I am so smart that wife cant catch me out. I just deny it and pretend to get angry, that shuts a bitch up.

It is a man's nature and right to cheat. To be a real man, you must fuck your wife good. WOmen are dumb. As long as they are fucked good, they dont fuck around. Whereas a man will nail any bitch he can, coz he is a real man, not some wimp like Harry In Virginia. Anyway, we used too have a Virginia boy in the Army, he was pussy boy for my company. WHen we were away from women, we all fucked him in the ass coz he was a pussy from Virginia, like Harry.

I Hate A Sad Ending

Stupid Dumb Broad. Gives women a bad name by staying with that cheating ASS-HOLE. She shoulda got outta there while she could. Dumb pig will probably start beating on her next.

Lucky man...

This was one lucky cop. The assault charge against him was going nowhere since lover-boy pulled a knife, but he's damn lucky the wife was willing to overlook HIS cheating. The wife is also very lucky because, even though she hadn't 'done the deed' yet, she had cut hubby off and started taking applications for his replacement. All in all, two flawed people trying to work their way through mistakes they BOTH made. It felt much closer to reality than stories that present one side as entirely right and the other entirely wrong. By the way Peggytwitty, if women hold love deeper then why is it that men being more torn up when that love is betrayed is seen by you to be just a function of their big egos? You claim "Divorced women are 65% more likely to have been with a married man since their divorced (sic) then with single men." It seems these divorced women of yours don't have too high a regard for marriage vows of others. Maybe that's a clue to why they ended up divorced in the first place. Anyway, thanks DG and keep 'em coming (the STORIES!) you're getting better all the time.

so many interesting comments. Myself I can

only think one thing, dumb and dumber. Neither of these two are flying a flag at full staff. He strayed, she said women called, how many times did she tell he about it? She had sex with a man and was caught with him on a different occassion. Hubby had "fucked around" but no affairs it seems. She had virtually cut hubby off from sex and that in some states is grounds for divorce by itself. Laying there like a dead dog and waiting on hubby to finish isnt called love making or sex, it is just masturbation in a warm (?) place. She was caught with her "lover" hubby came over to confront her and loverboy whipped out a knife even tho in the he was a police officer, now we know the IQ of loverboy. Wife made a cooment that can only be construded to be protective of loverboy to husband. Hubby sets up to divorce wife, he didnt even know at that time wife had bedded the lover. Now wife comes to hubby and confesses and wants forgiveness. Shame those two had kids, saw the gene pool lower its level there. Hubby goes back with wife, yeah roconciliation wins again. Women are never sorry for cheating, they are only sorry for getting caught, and she was caught. Women never unintentionally cheat, they know and plan what they are doing even when being seduced, grow up guys. A cheater, in this case male and female, will always be a cheater, it is their personality and their mental state, maybe even a mental illness. ONce you spit out a bad piece of meat into the garbage, never ever pick it back up and put in in your mouth to chew again. Trash is trash, these two deserve each other just to keep them from inflicting their abnormal behavior on others.

nice story

as usual, this was a good story, i dont think dg hear knows how to write a bad one. my only question is, when he said he started having one nite stands when she wouldnt have sex with him. thats different that what is said at the end of the story.

If just more couples were so lucky...

The couple in this story gives at the end a rare example at self help couple's therapy. After going through extremely difficult trials: emotional pain, and no doubt, anger and frustration with each other over years, they find a way to take charge of their lives and happiness by re-writing their marriage contract, each accepting responsibility for maintaining it.
More often than not though, when things go wrong, each side corner him/herself in a: "it's- all- your- fault,- you- started- it- all' position. The fact that the result of holding this POV almost always guarantees a defeat to both sides does not seem to matter...
The reality is that the responsibility to maintain the marriage in good condition - is a two people job at all times - and when one person weakens it's ALWAYS the other spouse responsibility to take all measures (including calling for help) to address the situation.
The fact that so many of the commentators chose to point to one partner as the only liable side, is in and of itself an interesting social commentary which can explain some the weak status of marriage.

The last twist ruined the story.

Up to then you had a good story. And I did not believe the wife had not slept with the guy. I sitll think she did, but having the husband come across as a cheater to justify her actions was just bad.

As usual Harry in VA had some very good

arguments in his writing. To caustic to peggy but well based on facts. The people calling him names are just unhappy their version of the world doesnt hold water and pap they spread isnt working.

too much damage

ok each has taken steps, where the net effect is the same. the marriage is gone, and each lives with their own stuff. trust is something that has been thrashed about, and any reconstruction, fatally flawed. his affairs, hers (don't really think she's being truthful); where the net effect each deals with their own demons, separately.

So, the bitch cuts him off, then decides to fuck around on him when he goes out to find satisfaction. Is that about right?

Just like fucking cunts. He's better off without her.

an interesting story, but blew my mind at the end

We can talk about social sciences til the cows come home. Ego, lack of sex, infidelity of men and women, effects on their spouses... but I ask you this question: if the woman was your mother or your sister or your aunt or cousin, would you encourage her man to cheat just because she's not giving him enough sex? Or would you upon finding out he's cheating encourage her to also stray?

come on guys, cheating is cheating

she was wrong for cutting him off, but then she wouldn't have cut him off if he wasn't fucking around. He got mad because some body else showed interest in his wife. Shit he had been fucking around she was nice enough not to fucking leave him. But in the end she was a better woman that he was a man.

TO PROTECT AND SERVE

should start at home :firstly:. TK U MLJ LV NV

There is in this country a situation with wives where they use sex as a tool or a weapon to force their will on their husbands. If the hubby complains to loudly they use the system to put hubby in jail, husbands don't want to make big waves so they keep their mouth shut,,,, marriage has become a non answer to lonleiness or honest desire.

Um, double standard, he was cheating around her and with more than one woman.

slightly confused

she says they grew apart sexually in the bedroom because of his cheating. why then does it state earlier in the story that his wandering was from not getting it at home. the way i see it whatever drove them apart is still there. sure things may have gotten "colder" between them once he started cheating but but from the groundwork of the story it wasn't the original cause of her pulling away.

this bothered me as well

she says they grew apart sexually in the bedroom because of his cheating. why then does it state earlier in the story that his wandering was from not getting it at home. the way i see it whatever drove them apart is still there. sure things may have gotten "colder" between them once he started cheating but but from the groundwork of the story it wasn't the original cause of her pulling away.

sorry about that

apparently today hitting edit comment to change the subject translates into posting both versions

EVEN OLD CLOTHES FEEL COMFORTABLE

after all the wear and tear of breaking them in. TK U MLJ LV NV

A bit confused

She said the reason why they grew apart sexually is because she was aware of his cheating ass, but in the beginning of the story he stated they weren't having sex hence why he went around screwing bar whores, so I'm a bit confused. Ok ... I must say these two cheaters never should've married & they don't have a clue as to what love & marriage means, she's aware of his philandering yet she says nothing because she's hoping he'd eventually stop.... Get the fuck out of here! Her husband is going around fucking bar sluts possibly running the risk of bringing his wife a fucking STD or worst & the moronic wife -- A.) still have sex with him & B.) wait & hope he eventually stops fucking around on her. Are you serious?! I'm a wife & there's no fucking way I'd let my husband fuck around on me , there's absofuckinglutely no way I'd have sex with his dirty ass EVER! & if I was this idiot wife I would've went into a blind rage & possibly crazy glue his dick to his stomach or I might just cut it off completely. I didn't care for either characters, the wife is a cheater, regardless if she's lonely & some dickwad pays her a little compliment or her husband is a man-whore, she should've divorced his sorry ass! What furthermore confused the shit out of me is the fact that the husband actually had the audacity to call her a cheater, what the fuck does that make him? He's been sticking his dick in places it didn't belong for probably years yet he's mad because she spread'em for another guy. Makes no sense... The wife disgusted me more than the husband for a number of reasons -- she was actually begging him to take her back, she didn't want a divorce, she cheated also, I'm not really as disgusted by her cheating as I am by her begging. If these two knew how to communicate their marriage wouldn't have turned out to be such a trainwreck, I really can't see how these two people can stay married when both of them has betrayed each other, there's absolutely no way they'd be able to trust one another. I don't see how the trust is so easily repaired after so much adultery & lies. Story was ok but it wasn't my thing.... Sorry... Two cheating idiots--they deserve each other....Only a matter of time before they bring one another herpes or AIDS....

so why didnt she confront him about his affairs

he was the cheater but she took it and it blew up her marriage, communication and confrontation about his affair would have worked here.. instead of all the pain and he thought she was a cheater. double standard.. women just get ambushed by men rape murder,beating etc. the weaker sex loses a lot in this world of ours..

This Proves The Old Saying

"Birds of a feather flock together." Cheaters belong together. Even wannabe cheaters. Fuck them all.

making him a cheater at the end destroyed the story

twist like that from nowhere destroy a story

Loved it

Very nicely done. Not sure what the dilemma was. Five stars.

He acknowledged he was a cheater in the begining -

She was the rock that held them together and she cracked - he better damned well forgive her heh - and then thank her for being there.

They were a far too typical couple - especially when you have money issues and a cop who sees way too much real life for anyone to believe - it eats at you and won't let go. You have to be solid - but you should never be arrogant enough to ASSume you are the all knowing etc.

Another good one -

so they were both flawed

they both strayed. they both resented the other and the lives they endured.
sounds like a good foundation to build a future on to me. as little as they enjoy each others company I can't wait to hear about their life together when he retires and they are together full time.