Betty's Choice

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In my new position as Manager of Material Handling Support I started getting invited to corporate social events. Usually cocktail parties held for customers and suppliers, but occasionally a promotional dinner or awards banquet. It was an awards banquet that turned my life around again. I should put in here that I didn't care for those things, but as a member of management it is more of a mandatory requirement than an invitation you could turn down. You could get out of them if you had a very good reason, but for this particular event I was informed that I HAD to be there by none other than Mr. Gifford himself.

The event was on a Wednesday evening and when I got to my office on Tuesday I had a message to call Mr. Gifford as soon as I got in. I did and his secretary put me right through to him. He went right to it.

"I need you to be at the banquet tomorrow so don't try to duck it. I know you don't care for these kind of things, but I need you there for this one. Okay?"

"Yes sir; I'll be there."

When I got to the banquet hall at the Hilton and since there usually wasn't assigned seating at these events (accept for the head table where all the wheels sat) I took a seat in the back of the room. Myra, Mr. Gifford's PA, came into the room, saw me and hurried over to me.

"You can't sit here Mr. Bailey (I never could get her to call me Jack). You are supposed to be seated at the head table."

She grabbed my arm and literally pulled me off of my seat and pulled me over to the head table and sure enough there was a little placard there with my name on it. Myra actually pushed me down on the seat and told me not to go away and that she would be right back. Minutes later she was back with my usual drink of choice - a large vodka tonic with a slice of lime - and she set it down in front of me. I picked it up, took a sip and then said:

"All right Myra; how about telling me what is going on here?"

"All I know is that the boss told me to see to it that you were seated where he wanted you and that's right there."

She wandered off to handle other duties and left me to sit there and wonder about what the hell was going on.

Pretty soon the place started filling up and others who usually sat at the head table began to take their seats and I got several "What the hell are you doing here" looks which was pretty much what I was asking myself. I did notice that no one took the seats to my right and left.

Then the mystery was solved. Mr. Gifford came in and with him were his wife Annabelle and his daughter Elizabeth. Annabelle took the seat to my left and Betty took the seat to my right. The mystery of the seating solved only to be replaced by another mystery. What the hell was Mr. Gifford up to?

I looked from Betty's mom to Betty and then back at her mom and her mom grinned at me patted my leg and said:

"Yes indeed Jack; you have been set up."

The look on my face must have screamed out confusion and Mrs. Gifford laughed and said "Get that silly look off your face young man. You have to have figured out by now that this is Jasper's way of getting you and Betty back together or at the very least get you talking to each other."

I looked back at Betty and she shrugged and said "I'm just as surprised as you are. I didn't even know you would be here. I didn't even intend to come, but mom and dad insisted."

"What is your husband going to think about this?"

She held up her left hand and I saw that here were no wedding rings. "He's history" she said.

"My next question has to be how do you feel about this ambush?"

"I'm good with it. What about you?"

Before I could answer her the festivities were called to order. After all the speeches and other nonsense were out of the way the collapsible wall between the room we were in and the next room was slid back to reveal an open bar, dance floor and a band. Mrs. Gifford said:

"You two are on your own now. Be nice."

She got up and went over to her husband and the two of them were the first out on the floor when the band started playing. I looked at Betty and asked:

"Now that your mother isn't here how do you really feel about this little get together?"

"Awkward, but I really am good with it. How about you?"

"Just surprised. Way back in the day your dad never seemed to like me being around you and now he sets this up? And then there is the surprise that you are divorced. Last I heard your dad was insisting that you not get a divorce and put a stain on the family name."

"Where did you here that and who from?"

I told her and she said "That's absolute bullshit! The part about Bernie being an abusive drunk was right, but it wasn't daddy who kept me from kicking Bernie out. That was all on me. I kept blaming myself for his behavior. It had to be something that I was doing that was causing it and I was going to find out what it was and correct it and then we would live happily ever after. If I would have had my head on straight at the time I could have figured out what kind of an asshole he would turn out to be when he threw a hissy fit over the prenuptial agreement that daddy insisted he sign.

"Daddy was the one who finally pushed me into dumping Bernie. He put a private detective on him and found out that the asshole was keeping a mistress on the side. They somehow managed to tape a couple of sessions of the asshole and his lover in action and listening to him bad mouth me while they played is what finally made me do it.

"As for why daddy set this up I can only guess. It is true that he didn't like us going together. He saw you as someone who wasn't going to go anywhere and he wanted better for me than he thought you would be. Several months ago I was having dinner with mom and dad at Marco's. I'd been divorced a little over a year and was living at home with them and hadn't dated since the divorce. You were there with Abby and I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. Daddy noticed and asked if I was thinking about what might have been and I started crying and got up and ran out of the place. I've been down in the dumps since that night and I'm guessing daddy set this up to see if it would pull me out of the funk I've been in."

I sat there listening and thinking. I was still single and it was primarily because I'd never found a girl who could make me feel the way I felt when Betty and I were together. I came close twice, but both of them were married to men they intended to stay married to. As I looked at her I wanted her, but the question that had to be asked was:

"Could we put it back together?"

The only way to get the answer was to try.

"Would you like to dance" I asked.

You have to start somewhere right?

Note:

Some may question this one being in the Loving Wife category. Were Gail and Abby not loving wives?