A Painful Confession: Cliff and Amy

We didn't have proof of that last charge. But we were going to round up witnesses about the exercise class and hoped the story Amy told me left out that part. I was sure that some of the Teachers suspected Cody and my wife's affair. Time would tell. Either way it was a fact that they were cheating and I was suffering for it.

I got a call at work right after lunch.

"Damn you Cliff!" Amy screamed at me. "You damn fool. I told you what would happen in a divorce."

"It can't be worse than living with a cheater and a molester. I'm sick of you and your jerk of a boyfriend. Both of you can go to hell."

"I get why you're upset with me." She said, "You've made that clear dozens of times. But did you have to involve Cody in your revenge? He's a nice guy. Having this charge on his record will not be good for his career."

"Tough shit. He should have thought about that before he decided to fuck a coworker. He's just as much of a sleaze bag as you, and deserves everything he's getting."

"By the way, don't bring any of your sluts to the house anymore. And you can stay away too. You can read the restraining order I've had taken out against you. You have to keep away from me. I've also changed the locks so you can't bring your slutty girlfriends over to rape me anymore."

"You're nuts. It wasn't like that at all." She yelled. "Most guys would have jumped at the chance to have two hot women in bed. But not you. I guess two sexually charged females are too much for a wimp like you. Susan was right. You are one fucked up guy."

"By the way slut. Is your friend Susan married? If so I'd like to have a word with her husband and let him know what kind of a whore he's married to."

"Fuck you!"

"Not anymore." I laughed. "Come get your things from the driveway before it rains and they get ruined. If you want anything else, just talk to my Lawyer."

"You better not..." She started to say before I hung up on her.

Amy came by that night and picked up her clothes. I watched her from the window as she came to the house with her friend Heidi. She yelled a few curses at me and gave me the finger. I just laughed.

Now that she was out of the house I felt a big sense of relief. Her wayward ways were no longer on my mind. Sure I missed her. After living with her for so long, it was inevitable that I would. But after living with her adultery for many months, a lot of the love I felt had melted away.

The kids called me a few times. Martha was a little angry with me. She found out what her mother had done, and she didn't approve of it. She asked me if I could ever forgive her and take her back. I told her I would have if she had just stopped fucking her boyfriend and came back to being a faithful wife. But she wouldn't and I couldn't handle it after a while. Robbie was more sympathetic. He understood that his mother had messed up. He didn't blame me for kicking her out and I appreciated that. I told both of them I still loved them and they could count on me if they ever needed help. We still have a good relationship.

My lawsuit against the School Board never went anywhere. Apparently Amy was truthful that she never had sex on school grounds. She and her boyfriend only fucked at his apartment or some other place, but never at the school. In fact we had trouble finding anyone who even knew they were having an affair. So she was right that they had kept their cheating a secret.

But the fact that we couldn't prove misconduct while on school grounds, didn't save Cody's job. He was let go with a stern reprimand, and he soon moved out of the area because of the gossip. Amy was fired too. She was quite bitter about it and yelled at me on a few phone calls that her work problems were all my fault. She applied to a school out of the area, but they had found out about her affair and wouldn't hire her. Martha told me she was working as a receptionist as a Real Estate company in the next town over.

The divorce took a while to go through. We had to sell our house because neither Amy or I could afford it on our own. I might have been able to. But it was too big for me anyway. Amy only took a few items from our house when she moved. I got a two bedroom apartment near my work and put a lot of our furniture into temporary storage.

After the divorce I didn't date much. I was gun shy with women and money was tight with the kids school bills and Amy's alimony. I wasn't able to hide much from Amy's Lawyer. But once I was on my own I spent very little and my finances began to improve. I put myself into my work, and am now getting near a promotion at my company.

After the fiasco with my wife I'm a little leery about my ability to handle a long term relationship. I didn't feel comfortable jumping right back into the dating scene. I met a few nice ladies from concerned friends. I don't know how it will turn out. But even without a steady relationship, I do enjoy meeting women and hope to find some female companionship with a nice woman.

One Friday night I was out with an attractive woman I met from work. Her name is Stacy and she's in her late thirties and has been divorced for a few years. She's sweet as can be, a lot of fun and good looking. It was our third date and we were across town enjoying our dinner at a nice restaurant.

We were having our coffee and dessert when I noticed a familiar looking older woman a few tables away. The old woman was painfully thin, with short blonde hair and was having dinner with a much older man. He was frail looking and what little hair he had left was grey. He looked to be in his seventies. At first glance I didn't recognize her. But looking closer I saw it was my ex wife Amy.

I mentioned to my date that my ex was close by. Stacy looked over and seemed rather shocked.

"That woman's your ex wife?" She stated with amusement. " She looks more like your mother than your wife."

I explained that she was a few years older than me (4 to be exact), and that she must be having a rough life after we split up. I was a little worried how thin she was, almost too skinny.

"Gosh." Stacy laughed. "She looks old enough to be your mother, and he looks like her father. I can hardly believe she was your wife."

I tried to appear unaffected. But inside I was worried about Amy. She had on a sleeveless dress, and I could see the flesh on her arms was just flapping skin hanging off her bones. The wrinkles on her face that she had when we were together seemed to have deepened considerably. I didn't tell Stacy, but she looked very unhealthy. I hope she was taking care of herself.

We didn't discuss her anymore. We finished our delicious meal and were leaving the restaurant. We went to the front and Stacy needed to use the bathroom. So I waited by the entrance for her when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hello Cliff." A familiar voice said to me.

"Hi Amy." I replied.

I turned around and there she was. Her face had aged a lot. So much that I barely recognized her. I was going to politely say how well she looked but I didn't want to lie. Instead I just said, "How nice to see you. How are you?"

"Oh not too bad."

Her once sparkling blue eyes had dulled. Her face was thinner and the skin looked ashen, with an unhealthy pallor in her cheeks that was worrisome.

"I speak to Martha and Robbie sometime." I told her. "They seem to be doing well in school. I'm glad about that."

"Yes. Martha comes and visits once in a while. Robbie, not so much."

We just stared at each other for a minute.

"Well Amy. I don't want to keep you from your date."

"He's not my date. Not really." She replied vaguely.

"Oh. Are you still with Cody then?" I asked innocently.

A haunted look came into her dull blue eyes. Amy lowered her head for a moment before she spoke.

"No. Cody and I aren't together anymore." She answered in a raspy voice. "I haven't seen him since a few months after our divorce." She looked up at me and added softly, "But that's okay. I don't want to see him anyway."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause and I wanted to end the conversation before Stacy returned.

"Well it was nice to see you again Amy."

"Yes, it is." She said holding my gaze. Her skinny fingers suddenly grasped my arm in a surprisingly tight grip. "You know Cliff. I'm real sorry how things turned out between us. You were right you know."

"I was?"

"Yeah. About everything. Cody wasn't worth it. I know that now."

She spoke with emotion. Her eyes were watery.

"Are you married? I saw your date. She's real pretty."

"No. I'm not married. You know what they say, once bitten, twice shy."

I meant it as a joke. But she didn't laugh. She just watched me with sad eyes.

"Yeah. I hear that honey. You always were the man for me. I knew it then but was too stupid to appreciate it."

"Oh. Well...I don't know what to say." I replied a bit tongue tied.

"Listen Cliff. If you ever feel like talking about it..." She said as she shoved a scrap of paper in my hand.

Her wrinkled face watched me for my reaction. I didn't reject the paper and for a moment, her blue eyes sparkled again like they used to when I loved her.

"I really would like to hear from you Cliff. I know we can never be together. I know I messed that up. But I hope you're happy now. I know you weren't with me. Your date is real pretty. I just hope she appreciates the opportunity she has to be with you."

Then without another word, Amy turned from me and shuffled back to her table. She said something to the old man. He glanced over at me with a curious look. Stacy came out of the rest room about that time.

"You ready to go Cliff?"

"I sure am."

We left arm in arm. I left the restaurant and threw the scrap of paper in the trash on my way out. That was the last time I saw Amy. I heard from her kids that she was living with some old guy a couple towns away, probably the same guy I saw her with at the restaurant. They said she's not doing too well. Her health isn't good and she has diabetes. Luckily the guy has money to support her.

Stacy and I never married. But I'm still doing well working as an Accountant. I still see my kids as much as I can, but not their mother. I guess I still feel something for her. But after what she put me through I can never live with her again, and want to keep it that way.