Consequences - Erin Ch. 02

good ending

you made a good comeback.you cleaned all the bases.

I just love it when

the good guy wins.

I think it is a well constructed story and more plausible than most of the plots on this site. I went back and re-read the original story and enjoyed the whole thing immensely.

Tape recording? THAT was in the Original?

I dont seem to recall that in the 1st or original ERIN the CONSEQUENCES story... does anyone recall that?

Since that is so this s really a totall different story. Dont get me wrong its VERY good but not great.

For example the wife is trying to GET the creepy sexual predators boss. OK fine. When the wife realizes how she fucked this up and what her husband think went on.... she is TRYING to convince it is NOT what he thinks.

she says this -- note the wife after being caught LIES agin... and says NOTHING about trying to save her job or bring blackmailed!!

WIFE.....
"Paul! Paul is that you? Paul, what did you mean by this letter you left me? Why would you think I was with someone? I told you I was at the plant working last night. You knew that! What the hell did you mean by this nasty letter?"


again Nothing like ..."Paul I was being blackmailed by him ... and I have him tape so I can prove it and gte his ass fired.."

what she says is this ....

"Paul, no. No. No. I don't want a divorce. I love you and I want to be with you. I haven't done anything like you think. You have to believe me. Please, Paul. I love you so much. Please, please."


sorry folks this is Huge. She is about to lose her marriage and she cant utter the truth for 5 seconds about being blackmailed...?

no this version of the ERIN makes NO sense. It a great read but it fails to match the original

Much Better

Celt,
I like this ending, you cleaned it up and didn't leave it so open. Please try to give a complete ending as the open ones seem to just cause confusion. You write great stories, keep up the goos work!

cageytee pretty much has it right!

Like him I went back and read the original. Well constructed and ince and easy to read - good flow.

Yeah, she shoulda communicated better ... but sometimes shit happens. She recovered nicely and learned a lesson.

Regards, DJ

Excellent

I loved it and am filled with admiration in terms of how you composed a tightly plotted, well written and reasonable story about the frailities of people. I'm glad that Eric and Paul straightened things out and are back together. A hell of a good read, thanks celt.

The first two parts of the story were great

This part was really bad. What country did this woman live in? Any sane woman would have been in the HR dept. or her boss's bose's office ASAP. She would have filed sexual harassment chatges and that asshole woul dhave been gone. She should have taped the first couple conversations. That's all she would need. This part of the story Celt was bad and I usually love your stories.

Even though the story was very

well written, I had more than one problem with it. Erin’s character was not relalistic to me, the conflict between her confidence and insecurity was too huge a gap to bridge, but I’m not going to go there.

My biggest problem was with the fact Erin was finally portrayed as having not cheated on her husband. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if a woman doesn’t fight, kick, scream, or even object, but allows her body, more precisely, her ass to be used in a dry hump to bring a man to orgasm, then she has had sex with him. If she had allowed him to use her hand, mouth, or breasts, I don’t think anyone, other than Bill Clinton, would have a problem understanding it was sex.

What is the difference, someone please explain it to me. To me, she lied, covered up, denied her husband sex, and in the end, cheated on him for her own selfish personal reasons. Other than that, still enjoyed the story and remain, a fan always.

The writing was good but...

You sure do look at life through rose colored glasses. Everything has to be perfect and I can't stand perfect all the time.

The first story ended with consequences that appeared to be the split of a marriage. BUT NO, you couldn't possibly believe that a marriage could end like that so you agonized over this until you came up with a plan that lets her off the hook and saves the marriage.

What, did all your reconciliation buddies give you too much shit? So I guess in the future no matter what a story seems like, if The Celt wrote it I don't even have to read it to know they will reconcile? That sir is bullshit.

Finally, even accepting this far fetched story as you wrote it, she is a cheating whore. She let her boss masturbate in the crack of her ass and said nothing? She played his games for how many months? She kept secrets from her husband and even refused him sex? Fuck that noise. God what a lame excuse for a story.

Her actions call for a split. You twisted it and turned it around so many bends in the road to get to reconciliation that I got motion sickness, or at least that is the reason I think I am sick.

Why not try to be real for a change?

Much better!

Liked this ending much better! But I am a romantic. Thanks great story!

No Sir-eee!

Contrary to what Cageytee said, the good guy did not win. When he took her back, he got fucked all over again.

It was a well written story, though.

Cheers

Not one of your best

Celt:

Although many of your stories are deserving of much praise, this isn't one of them. If your attempt in writing this sequel was to show that another story with extenuating circumstances lay beneath the first, I applaud your efforts. But the execution was lacking.

I do appreciate a villain who is clever and original. Your 'Addison' was not. His abusing his position to coerce a married female subordinate into having sex was uninspired and unimaginative. I'm surprised he didn't drug her as well. The scene in which he dry humps her derriere was feeble. Apparently, he's not only not very creative but is incredibly lacking in subtlety. With this in mind, it's hard to imagine he attained any position of authority with the company. And it's equally hard to imagine that a woman as intelligent as 'Erin' would let herself be intimidated by the author of such a lame gambit. And I don't understand the origin of 'Addison's' villainy. Nowhere is it detailed that he had a history of harrassing his female employees.

'Erin's' unwillingness to relate to her husband that her job is being threatened and that she's being pressured into being intimate with her superior doesn't make sense. This can't just be attributed to a simple lack of communication. Her job, self integrity and marriage are in peril, and she keeps it a secret? HUH?!

Don't let yourself be prodded into writing a story if one isn't there for you. This story seemed too hastily written and too contrived. Sometimes the best stories are those which require the reader's imagination. Don't write a resolution when none is required.

What strory did they read...???

what story did Blue88 and DJ read? They LIKED this silly reonciliation story!?!? Jesus that is hard to believe...

its OBVIOUS this story as hastly written b/c of Celt super wimp tendency came storming back

Lets assume for the moment ERIN is a absolutely correct in her "version" of events....

These keys points were NEVER discussed as they reconciled which is why the story fails

1 when ERIN was in trouble... she did NOT tell her husband. Marrage is suppose to be husband and wife against the world ...NOT every bitch for herself

2 when she was confonted by her Husband and stood on the edge of her marriage she Lied again.

3 she was unable to distinguish her loving Husband from Addison the sexual predator for several weeks....

hey I dont know about you guys but I think woman that are delusional are REALLY sexy... ask The celt.

......................NOT

The cry baby and the idiot

Good story about a selfish idiot and her cry baby husband. Where are the men in this story?

The writing was Okay but Erin is a loser.

HARRY!!!!

Loved it Celt. HARRY!!! I'm STILL WAITING on YOUR story whiney!! So let's see it big boy...put one of YOUR stories where your mouth is or keep your mouth shut. Or maybe all you can do is shoot your mouth off about how bad other writers stories are???? You're WAY out of your league when you're questioning TheCelt or Blue88!!

the recording device too lame as explanation

the recording may have mitigated the scheming part on Erin a bit; but the scheming part's too cold blooded,,,

"I'm gonna go get my pills first, then I'll be back; don't start any thing without me, boy" and ooophs,,, the recording memory ran out.

how lame is that, when you was playin' that to your husband to convince him he did NOT see what he was seeing the other night?

oh, now I'm gonna call Addison again and finishing the rest of the recording and THEN find Paul and play it all for him and see what he says again!

how lame is that, using such as a rationaling device?

the story would have been better served to have ended it after the first installment; or to let the husband's view be the correct one and have the wife simply admit to it; that would have taken out the lame recording "literary device" as an explanation of a person scheming to do and to say a whole bunch of BS as rationale for their calculated and scheming behavior --- not allwing the husband to have sex for weeks or months on end ,,, but, oh, it's only to safe her job from a blackmailing supervisor?

sheer nonsense

Sorry, but I gotta go with Harry and the Anon ....

...poster below him.

Celt, I can't say this was a good ending to the first story. The one thing this story made me think you were doing, was the same thing that the Troubador mentioned in a comment to Jack Straw (and other readers) in Jack's story. That this story was written in a way (to me at least) to make the reader wonder why they assumed the wife's was guiltly without any "proof" of it ever being seen. That the reader should have been giving the wife the benifit of the doubt instead of accusing her.

But here's my problem with that approach. Why would a writer write a story a given way, to lead the reader into believing that the wife has cheated by the circumstances presented in the story, then throw them a curve ball to make they doubt what they believe? That's what you did here. And let me say the same thing I said to the Troubador to you, "Why do this, and then later try to point out to the reader that they made a mistake believing she was guilty, when all we have to work with is what you gave us in the first story??" Don't point us off in one direction only to act suprised we're heading off that way.

Harry has a MAJOR point too. Why couldn't the wife have just taken 10 seconds (5 even) to say to the husband "It's not what you think, I have proof that he was blackmailing me" when she got the letter in the first story? It's not like the letter wasn't straight forward enough she didn't know what he was thinking? Why answer a question with a question? That makes the reader believe she was guilty. In the letter he said she was cheating. She knew that much from reading the letter, why call him to try to get it confirmed? Why not just tell then she was innocent? It would not be that hard to say it just that fast. If I was desperate to save my marriage, when I had not cheated on my wife but she believed I had, but I had proof that I was being blackmailed and had not cheated, you can bet your last dollar I'm going to throw all the proof out there I have, as FAST as I can, as SOON as I can, to save my butt! Not HOURS after the fact. Just so I can do it face to face.

Why didn't the wife do this!?!?

Why was the villian, Erin's boss, not sneaker than this. That made no sense, why would someone who covered his tracks as well as he was at first, suddenly loose all his cool over not getting her in bed the first time. Why would he basicly confess after she told him she intentionally stood him up the first time and had no plans to have sex with him ever?

All of this makes no sense to me. Other than to stick them back together I mean.

The only reason I can personally think you would write this story this way was to vainly try to make the reader see there are two sides to every story, and those of us who might be asking for her head could be wrong in doing so. That suddenly in reading this story we would totally change our believe in what we believed. But the problem is you presented an "incomplete" case in which to do so in the first story, and "suddenly" produced new evidence in the second story to try and make the reader doubt what they thought or felt (as such that the wife was guilty).

I can't say I'm a fan of a story like this. I think you write really well, but you kinda try to hard to hide too many morals in your stories for me at times.

Sorry

-Risq

Confusing and Unsatisfying

This story was a lot less satisfying than I had hoped - the original was brief and choppy, with no real explanation of why the adultery had happened. The husband cut and ran without wanting an explanation of what was really going on, which wasn't entirely plausible. So I was happy to get a promise of a second installment, with the expectation that the story would be fleshed out. The second installment did provide an explanation, but it's so hard to believe that we were almost better off without it.
It's clear from the first story that the husband is aware of trouble in the relationship, and that it has something to do with sex. We find out here that the real reason for her attitude change is work stress - threat of layoffs, worries about her boss's attitude, and then looming sexual harassment as her boss sucks her into some weird conspiracy over selecting people to lay off as a way to get her isolated from the rest of the company. The real questions all revolve around two central questions: why does she not go to upper management over this nonsense, and why can't she be frank with her husband? In reality, she did nothing to be guilty for - the whole guilt trip was over being eld still and used as a masturbation doll by a pervert. Why not confide? And why does she not just get out of the bad work situation. Repeatedly we are told of her competence as an engineer, yet when this gink puts her in a situation where she can't possibly win, she just blindly goes along with it until her epiphany in Toledo (now _there's_ a good story title). And then she decides to wear a wire and confront the guy again without consulting management? I found the entire hotel sequence extremely implausible; he flies out after her and rearranges manufacturing schedules in order to coerce her into sex. That sounds like a big, fat paper trail. Why not just force the issue at home? And why, why, why would he ever
The real question in this story is whether or not the reconciliation works. While she has realized that a breach of confidence caused the rupture, they will have to work on repairing trust and reopening communications. A good story, but just not as good as some of your best.

I thought it was good

Dont agree that it was in the same vein as Troubador's story - when I read the original I noticed that there was no direct evidence and it was only the husbands pov. Seemed like there was lots of room for an explanation and that things might not be what they seem. Differs from How High a Price in that there wasnt much wiggle room left in that story. Troub's assertion that Susan could be/is innocent seems like revisionist history to me. Not the case here.

Dont agree that wife in this story was guilty even if she didnt screw her boss. She was dealing with a very stressful and traumatic situation and maybe she didnt handle things perfectly but she wasnt evil or even being a horrible wife (like she later accuses herself of being). She's the one dealing with trauma here and in addition to dealing with her job/boss, she has to worry about pussyfooting around her husband as well. Seems like she got the short end of the stick in this relationship and not him (opposite of most cheating stories on this site).

Agree that it was nice that the couple stayed together in the end and that the good guys triumphed. Too often we see a marrige destroyed or maybe just mortally wounded by the bad guys. Nice that this couple (mostly the wife since the husband did nothing but add to her problems - even if she didnt tell him everything, he was pretty quick to jump to conclusions and take a hard line) got one over on the evil boss.

All in all, I think you explained everything major and didnt have to step way outside the realm of possibility to do it.

Also liked that you kept me guessing until the end. I didnt know how things were going to turn out even after we found out what the wife was going through. Husband could have remained intransigent over her not telling him everything from the start like some posters are advocating. Wife could have been pissed at him over his lack of trust and refusal to take her side when she was already stressed enough. etc. I did like the happy ending you picked best though.

Thanks for writing.

The story feels contrived

I'm forced to agree with Harry and Risq: the story's a little contrived.

When she calls her husband about the letter, why not play the tape for him as proof she's being blackmailed? He might not believe it but surely it'll give him pause to consider, perhaps enough motivation for the two of them to sit down, stop lying and start talking. thecelt didn't do it that way and his chosen method of resolving the central conflict left me unsatisfied.

The husband is not blameless in this mess. He acts on his assumptions about what's going on without the proof of what's happening. She's already guilty of cheating as far as he's concerned and that's a problem since he doesn't have proof, only suspicions. I suppose some will say "Well, he couldn't take the pain of knowing" and I'll say, "Don't drive off the bridge 'til you get there."

I can't say as I liked the conclusion because it feels phony. The characters don't act as I would've expected and don't react in ways that are credible.

As usual, thecelt does a fine job of writing but I didn't like this story much.

A logical explanation for what happened

I don't see cause for all negativity here - yeah, she screwed up in not telling her husband immediately, but she paid a price for it and I think they both learned a lesson. I think the reconciliation ending was appropriate - wouldn't have minded a bit more epilogue with the perpetrator getting some just desserts for screwing up a marriage - but this chapter does fit with the first one and is reasonably well written.

I enjoyed the story, but I'm

loving the comments more. I have learned a lot from them.

Since several of you believe that Erin didn’t cheat or do anything wrong and therefore has nothing to confess or feel guilty for, I have a request for you. Please tell me where your wives and girlfriends work so I can apply for a job there.

I would enjoy telling them that you have no problem with me dry humping their asses since it isn’t sex and they have nothing to feel guilty about. Better yet, to make sure there is no misunderstanding, how about you tell them for me.

Nice Ending

Considering it was 3 "pages," one might forget how much time passess in the story. Although one can look and say the lack of communication is stupid, it is not implausible. Depending on the intent of characters in any story in this category, communication is critical to all of these stories .. and lack thereof can have dire endings. I appreciate the reconcilliation because she did not "actively" participate in the plan, and when it came down to the hard choices, she made the right one. Perfect? No...but then who is.

Good job.

A good read

I never understand all the negative comments seem anonimouass. As in most real life lack of communications hurt the most. Love your stories, hate some peoples stories but have no need to belittle anyone who does what I can't do. A good blend of suspence between chapters. Thanks and keep them coming!!!

a close call

Honey you nearly blew it you had the diamond and you nearly destroyed your husband and your marriage.
Pat Murray
Atlanta,Ga.

Good Story

Good story as usual.

Well..

I like this version of the story better than the first one. I was one of those who ask that you to complete the story. Unfortunately, you rewrote the story.

For example in the first story, Paul noted changes in her benavior for a six month period. In this story, Erin is placed in a vice by Addison over a 3-4 month period. In this story Paul complained about these changes but in the first story he does not talk about it until that night he cooked dinner.

What I don't get is why she associated what Addison was doing to her with Paul's loving attentions? You do a good job of making her realize that she placed her job before Paul but the whole scenario with Addison was unrealistic. The fact is women engineers at isolated plant sites are hit upon all the time and if you do not know how to handle yourself you will fail. Erin comes off like a deer in the headlights when she had to have been in situations like that many times before.

Erin never answered the question why she had that sexy dinner dress on the trip. She did have sex with Addison (not the first time that a man cums and leaves a woman hanging). What prevented her from exposing him after he had cummed in his pants? Given that it was just him and her in his office it would be a slam dunk case of sexual harrassment. Most women who have turned him in just on the outrageous way he used her body.

Addison is one of the dumb and dumber criminals since (1) she left him cold so her previous statements to him were suspect and (2) she was talking over a phone line which could easily be recorded. Lastly, HR people are typically the last to know things in the company so it would have been more credible if she had spoken with the CEO or VP.

Overall, I agree with the other commenters that the two stories together make it seem like you were trying to fool the readers. I have no problem with the ending since Erin was forced into the situaton but it seemed unrealistic. Thanks for writing (I know I sound negative but I would not read your stories if I did not enjoy them).

SleeplessinMD

Different

Change in story. The first part was more poweful though.

too bad, really

i find this story to be much weaker and a very poor substitute for the first

i will not understand why some authors here will allow the comments of the readers to sway their ideas...true artists write, compose, create for themselves, if someone else likes it than that is a bonus

i am disappointed you provided a lesser work just because others felt the first version was inadequate...i guess you must have as well

Very good story

Little white lies can bite you in the ass, eh?
I enjoyed this story very much; maybe because it doesn't involve cheating and has a happy ending.
From Paul's point of view I think his conclusions were justifiable, but wrong.
She's lucky she was able to record Addison asking why she didn't have sex with him. Most people are leery of phones even with normal conversation, let alone voicing indignation about her refusal to have sex with him.
A very good reading, Celt!

It’s all about the relations, stupid…

A little take on the “economy stupid”, but it puts the focus on what have already been emphasized in the first part. That’s what the husband emphasized all along, NOT who did what and when. He asked for the essentials: Truth and Communication. If you wish, these are the two sides of the same coin, called marriage. In that respect, my original claim still stands, and the continuation was not necessary. The wife failed (upon her own admission) and over a long time to TRUST her husband and be TRUTHFUL to him, which for HIM was the critical point of the marriage. In that respect when we find the husband forgiving the wife at the end it’s somewhat inconsistent with the first part. Maybe I would too, but I talk about the character of the husband in the first part. I mean, she was lying, lying, lying, and it was so important to him that she does not…?
In terms of the perspective of the wife, it’s reasonable, but nothing earthshaking. I mean, we have read many quite similar blackmailed to cheat, or to almost cheat, stories.

wondering

I wondered in what direction you were going to go. I enjoyed the story but I hope you don't let it end there. Post some Consequences stories, please.

I don't think I would want to work where she did.

It's apparent that the employees had to have a lobotomy to work there. Ooooh, he's blackmailing me for my job. I won't tell anyone who could possibly assist me in any way, shape or form, I will submit to his advances to save my job. With the rules about sexual mis-conduct in every work place, just a hint of a impropriety will have the ravening wolves of human resources/personnel down on him like hyenas on a sick calf. But, she can take care of herself.
What happens the next time she vecomes so self-absorbed? I think she was selfish in her thinking and was still selfish at the end.

I think she lied for a reason.

She lied about everything and wasn't honest in the end. I think she had a latent desire to do what she had once done when she was single and unattached. No woman would allow anyone to blackmail her if she were as credible a person as you depicted. The story just doesn't hold water. Sorry.

Harry – Please clarify

I was trying to put together your two postings and got confused. In your first posting you say: “Since that is so this is really a total different story. Don’t get me wrong its VERY good but not great.” But in the second posting I read: “what story did Blue88 and DJ read? They LIKED this silly reconciliation story!?!? Jesus that is hard to believe...”
Is it a “very good” story but also a “silly reconciliation story”? If it’s not contradictory please clarify.
Yet if it’s not contradictory and the story was indeed “very good” why are you surprised that others liked it too?
BTW, on the main arguments that you made I was with you, i.e. emphasizing the ongoing LYING on the wife’s part as the key problem in their relations.

Very good conclusion

I consider this conclusion to Erin's story quite good. The story is clear, though short in length and consequently does not have many angles and twists to it. Very well organized, superb writing, and to the point.
RAG

liked this story a lot...

and HARRY'S a fucking moron. he contributes nothing to this site except his own bitter psychotic rants. he takes on blue88 and dynamite jack like he should be considered a peer...write something you buffoon...your the joke of this site

Good

I enjoyed your story.

Boyd

excellant story, but plot faded in this episode

You always write well and this story is typically well written, but the characters of Erin and Paul kind of disintegrated in this chapter. Intelligent loving couple after 12 years cease to communicate. She decides to play a solo role in beating the villan, without ever letting her loving husband know what was gong on. He, on the other hand , after she told him the truth,refused to believe her. If your point was to illustrate the importace of communications in marriage, it was well done. Otherwise I think they were both a little dumb, she more so than him. As one of your readers said. These days all you ave to do is claim sexual harassment and the whole world jumps. Why didn't Erin? 60 year old George

Disappointment....

I'm disappointed in this story. This is the third story I have read that has the 'sexual harassment' theme. The others are: DG Hear's "Stay at Home Dad", and Jack_Straw's "Sittin' Pretty".

In all of them, they wife does not tell her husband that they are being harassed. In 'Dad' she doesn't say anything for months, until her husband leaves, and punches out the man harassing her, and goes to jail. Finally she wakes up and realizes what she is about to lose, and files a complaint.

'Sittin' Pretty' she documents all of the harassment from the beginning, but STILL does not say anything to her husband. She confides in others, but not him, he then leaves her. After he leaves then she finally tells him what has happened. In the context of those stories there is the threat of physical violence, but still.

Here is my disappointment with this so-called consequences.For a woman in middle to upper management that has not been in a sexual harassment seminar or class, in this day and age is ridiculous. To not act on harassment at once, just does not ring true. There have been men who have lost jobs, and family for just an inappropriate remark or touching. How is it that she has no one in which she can confide with? What woman would put herself in that position without some kind of documentation from pratically the beginning? A log book? Wireless cameras, which can be configured to a laptop? Why did she not use the recording pen in the beginning?

I realize for the sake of the story, there are trials and tribulations that Erin must endure. However, her character comes across as selfish.

Let me put it this way, if Paul was cheating on her, and she wanted to catch him how would she do it? She would ask for help from someone. This story does not make sense in that regard.


As for consequences, what did Erin lose? For not trusting Paul or confiding in him, Erin deserves to lose him. Period.

A great story

First, I'll admit it, thecelt is one of my favorite authors here. That said, I'd also like to comment about the commentors. Authors write mainly for their own satisfaction. It is a skill few of us can really master. Many times the authors offer their work for our enjoyment. Such is the case here. If the reader doesn't like the work, so be it. Don't finish it and move on. Unfortunately, some readers take the author to task because he, the reader, wanted it to end differently. Or the reader thinks his moral stance should be that of the author, or his fictitious characters. Too bad for the reader. Nothing will ever satisfy him. In the end, just the author is the winner -- and those who enjoyed his efforts. thecelt is another winner.

i am glad this one worked out .....

rich ....

Very disappointing...

her husband behaved like a fool. She should have simply given him the evidence. if he chose to ignore so be it. In any event, should have dumped the fool.

Liked it

This kind of plot is actually my favorite kind in that there is the emotional anguish, the sense of betrayal, and the confrontation, but without the actual cheating. Though tbh was totally surprised you made this woman innocent of that since it seemed from part 1 that there was no doubt. Bravo on another great story.

You had to wimp out

Harry is right!!!! You couldn't leave well enough could you? Old habits are hard to break

Liked it, but . . .

I liked the story, but didn't quite understand some of her side. Why would she equate her stress about Addison and her job, with sex with her husband? If she was under such stress, why would she not talk this over with her husband? It doesn't sound like a very stable base for a marriage.

...casting the first stone

She is way too hard on herself and Paul is way too hard on her. She was faced with several difficult choices. At the worst she didn't make the best one. She's human and did the best she could. Paul, on the other hand, thought only of himself. Even when she played the first tape he wouldn't even consider that she might be telling the truth. Why would she even have made the first tape if not to get the evidence she needed? Paul was pig headed to not even give her a chance. She has apologized enough. Now he should apologize to her. Otherwise they won't live happily ever after.

Unrealistic ending

The lady should have simply played her idiot husband the tape and then told him to get out and finish the divorce.

I only found

one comment on here about the story and that was the first one>The rest were what they would oe wqould not have done.The story was tight and moved well with no misspelling of words great job.If you want a story to be about what you do and do not want he character to do WRITE IT.

Good story as always

I wanted to comment on some of the postings here. Erin didn't leave him because the situation was her fault. Not her boss's actions But rather how she let it affect her marriage. She was stressed and conflicted, wanting to protect her career and coworkers but not wanting to betray her spouse. She should have communicated with him, that's what marriage is about, it is supposed to take priority over family, friends and work. He didn't leave her because at the end of the day she didn't really do anything. She should have handled things better but still wasn't guilty of cheating. Someone asked about sexual harrasement policies and why someone in a managerial position wasn't better educated in how to handle the situation when it arises. Alot of the authors here, The Celt, DG Hear and others are over 60. The business climate has changed greatly, someone in that age bracket is going to respond differently than someone in their 30's. Sorry guys, obviously this is a generalization, but I've seen this in many different situations. We often reflect our early training and climate. Still, I thought this was a great story and am glad it had a happy ending.