Independence Day

When Josie said she had some last-minute shopping to do on Christmas eve, Ray said nothing, even though she hadn't needed to do last minute shopping in years. He knew where she was going, and he didn't need to follow her or track her phone. The look in her eye told him everything he needed to know. Whether she just wanted to exchange gifts or wanted to do more than that he didn't know, but he knew she was having a private celebration with him.

On New Year's Eve, Ray did give his wife a kiss at midnight, though it lacked the passion of past years. Josie was disappointed that she hadn't been able to communicate anything to Luke, but she did call him the next day to wish him a happy new year.

As Valentine's Day approached, Ray made plans for a nice dinner at an upscale seafood restaurant, and Josie was delighted at the prospect of the celebration. It gave her the idea that perhaps her husband was returning to her.

But Ray had a niggling suspicion. Josie's desire to spend holidays with her lover made him wonder about Valentine's Day. It was, after all, the day for lovers, and Ray doubted Josie would let it pass without seeing Luke.

So, he decided to leave the office for a bit and stake out his house. He parked down the street, giving himself a good view of the front door and the adjoining streets. Sure enough, he saw Luke park around the corner and walk up the sidewalk. Ray half-expected him to just walk in but he knocked and waited for Josie to let him in. Ray doubted they were just going to talk. This was their own private valentine's day celebration. Obviously, they were no longer just fuck buddies.

The dinner that evening was subdued. Josie went into it with a positive attitude and hope for a rekindling of her relationship with her husband, but the upbeat mood that he had displayed the last few days had disappeared. She was disappointed but tried to make the best of it, wondering what could have led to the change.

With no young children, Easter was mostly just an excuse for a big family dinner. They did hide a few eggs around the yard but they were the large plastic kind and usually had a gift card or something in them. It was just a little fun to get into the spirit of the holiday.

To Ray's relief, Luke had not been invited (or at least he didn't show up). Josie had at least honored that request ever since that Thanksgiving debacle, but Ray knew she had been to see him on days other than Saturday mornings, and probably more often than he knew. She had arranged it for valentine's day and could certainly have done it on other days as well.

After the morning festivities were over, Ray announced that he was going to lay down. True, he was a little tired but nothing he couldn't handle. He just wanted to avoid having to sit and socialize with the family that had betrayed him. He couldn't avoid them altogether but he could limit the amount of time he spent with them.

It was a beautiful day so he opened one of the windows that led to the backyard. A cool breeze flowed through the room. Unfortunately, so did Josie and Kristine's conversation.

"So, how's Luke?" he heard his daughter ask.

"Shh. Not too loud. I don't want your father to hear."

"Okay, okay," Kristine responded, lowering her voice but still speaking loud enough for Ray to hear her clearly. "I just can't believe my mom has a boyfriend 10 years younger than me."

"He's not my boyfriend, Kristine. He's just..."

"Oh, come on mom. You're having sex with him 2 and 3 times a week, and you two are going out to lunch as well. You may not want to use the word 'boyfriend' but that's still what he is."

"Okay, fine, he's my boyfriend. I just want to be considerate of your father's feelings."

"I know, mom, and I love dad, too, you know I do, and I don't want to see him hurt. But let's be honest: he's an old man and you're a young woman."

"He's only 5 years older than me, Kristine."

"In physical age, sure. But you're an active woman and he can barely make it through the day without a nap. You deserve this. Frankly, I'm a little envious of you getting the whole getting-to-know-you process again."

"Does anyone else know? I mean, that it's more than just Saturday mornings?"

"Leo, Eric, and Rebecca do. I've kept the girls out of it."

"Is everyone okay with it?"

"Leo and Eric don't see a problem. They agree with me that you should be allowed to see to your needs since dad can't do it. Rebecca is the only one that thinks it's wrong but she doesn't want to see dad hurt so she promises she won't say anything. What dad doesn't know won't hurt him."

As Ray listened to the depths to which his wife's betrayal had sunk, and his daughter's wholehearted support of her mother having a boyfriend (never mind the things she said about him), he felt the last traces of love and affection for them leave his heart. While he had made many preliminary preparations, he had held off on taking anything too far because of his love for his family and his long marriage to Josie. Now, it was time to begin the final process in earnest.

Ray closed the window slowly, then climbed into bed.

[::::::::::]

As the next couple of months rolled along, Ray's relationship with his wife and daughter deteriorated. It wasn't much better with his son or son-in-law, but he tried to improve things with Rebecca and his granddaughters, based on what Kristine had said about Rebecca and his belief that his granddaughters were simply too young to truly grasp the situation.

Mother's Day.

Every family has their traditions. Mother's Day for this family was an upscale brunch at a local French-inspired restaurant. The food and the service were excellent, and the prices reflected that. When the kids were young, Ray took his family out to celebrate their mother and his wife. When the kids got older and became employed, they took over the responsibility of the celebration. They did the same thing with Father's Day.

Where this family differed from most is that the other parent did not join in the celebration. Many years ago, Ray stopped going on Mother's Day and Josie stopped going on Father's Day. They allowed the kids to celebrate with the appropriate parent and would express their own feelings later.

But Ray had a feeling, brought on by the events of the last several months. So, while he usually took advantage of his free time to get some reading done or some other personal activity, this morning he got dressed and drove over to the restaurant. Josie had been gone for about 30 minutes so he knew she'd be there.

He had no intention of participating in the brunch, or even making anyone aware he was there. In fact, he doubted he'd even have to get out of his car.

He went up and down the aisles of the restaurant parking lot, easily finding Kristine and Eric's car, then Josie's car, then Leo and Rebecca's car. He was beginning to build some hope that he had been wrong until he saw it, the thing he had been looking for but had hoped he wouldn't find, tucked into a corner parking space.

Luke's car.

Ray had seen it enough times and had memorized the plate number. His wife, or maybe his daughter, had invited his wife's lover...boyfriend...whatever, to participate in a family event, knowing that Ray would not be there. Despite what had been done up until now and the fact that Ray's love for his wife was essentially gone, this newest betrayal made him angry, and where he had been planning to moderate his actions, he longer had any such intention.

Ray drove back to his house, picked up his golf clubs, and made his way to the local driving range. He went through several buckets, losing count along the way. By the end he was exhausted and his shots were not going very far or very straight, but he felt better for the release.

He drove back home ready to take a nap. They thought him to be useless, incapable of getting through the day without a nap. He would allow them to continue to believe that.

Josie greeted him as he walked in the door. He wondered if she'd had a 'private celebration' with her boy toy, though in truth he really didn't care anymore. It all still hurt but that's different than really caring. As he entered the house, he wondered if she'd confess to having invited Luke, if given the opportunity.

"How was your Mother's Day celebration with your family?" Ray asked, putting a slight emphasis on family.

"It was lovely, Ray. Thank you for asking. I had a wonderful time with the children," Josie answered.

She hadn't mentioned Luke. Did that mean she, and maybe the rest of the family, considered him family, or did she just choose not to mention him at all. Ray supposed he would never know. He continued to his bedroom and took his nap.

Chapter 8

Soon the Fourth of July was again approaching. Josie was always in a good mood, and Ray knew precisely why, of course. He had hung around for almost a year now, and no doubt Josie thought she had pulled it off. She had her husband to support her and a young boyfriend that she was seeing several times a week. Her life, as she saw it, was nearly perfect.

Luke had proven to be a wonderful boyfriend, except for his general unwillingness to perform oral sex on her. Since Ray was no longer willing to make love to her in any way, that was the one thing her life was missing, but that was something she was willing to endure.

Luke had gotten a new job that had him working evenings, freeing him up to spend several afternoons a week with Josie. It didn't pay anymore but she wasn't with him for his money. Not wanting to rub Ray's nose in it (well, if she was being completely honest, she just didn't want to get caught) they avoided Josie's bedroom for everything but Saturday mornings. That meant using Luke's apartment, or borrowing a friend's place if that wasn't an option. He did have roommates, after all.

The most difficult thing for her had been having to exclude Luke from events. She had not raised the subject with Ray again and did not think he would change his mind. It was the only thing she could point to that she was dissatisfied with. She had hoped at the beginning, and still wished for now, that Ray and Luke could be, if not friends, at least friendly. They provided different things to her so were really not in competition as far as she was concerned. She had her days with Luke and her evenings and weekends (well, most of it) with Ray. She couldn't see why this shouldn't work out just fine. So, with reluctance, she did not invite Luke to join the family for the family barbecue and the trip to see the fireworks.

The family came over early to help with the food prep. Ray made a point of being visible and active, so there would be no doubt that he was tired later. He kept a watchful eye on the crowd, wondering if Josie would sneak Luke in, but he never appeared.

As the day wore on, Ray pretended to get more and more tired. Okay, not all of it was pretending, but a lot of it was. Maybe he laid it on too thick because Josie seemed to notice and walked over to him.

"Honey, why don't you lay down so you're rested for the fireworks?" she gently suggested.

The hard thing about this whole situation was that he knew Josie loved him and genuinely cared about him, which made it even harder to do what he was about to do.

"I won't be going to the fireworks so I decided to just enjoy the day with family and turn in early," Ray responded.

"Are you sure? You missed them last year but before that you always looked forward to it," Josie noted, genuinely concerned that he was missing them again.

"I'm sure. Guess I'm just getting old. But I'm sure everyone will have fun without me."

"Okay, if you're sure."

As soon as she left him, Josie went immediately to track down Kristine. Ray watched as she weaved in and out of the crowd and tracked their...her daughter down. Josie, he suddenly realized, had been trying to find out whether he planned on attending the fireworks display, and there was only one reason that would be a priority. She planned to invite Luke to join them for fireworks. Not that it mattered anymore, but this last fresh betrayal stung hard.

As the evening wore on, guests started to take their leave until it was just family. Josie, Kristine, Leo, and Eric all came by at some point to ask if he was sure he didn't want to join them for fireworks and all expressing that they would miss him when he said he would be staying home. Ray saw it for what it was, and knew his family was lost to him.

As the family was getting ready to leave for the fireworks, Ray swallowed his anger and made a point of interacting with each member of his family. Whatever had happened over the past year, he had many fond memories of their time together and he would miss those times. He hugged his granddaughters tightest of all.

Ray watched in melancholy as the family joyously climbed into Kristine's minivan. It was clear no one even really missed him. He put them out of this mind and went on with his own business.

[::::::::::]

The family returned a little later than usual, allowing time for Josie to have a little private time with Luke. He had thanked them for inviting him, especially since he had no family nearby and no close family at all. While no one other than Josie had spent any extensive time with him, they had come to consider him a part of the extended family, and were thrilled at how happy he had made Josie. They said their goodbyes at the park, since he obviously couldn't return to the house with them.

They tried to be reasonably quiet as they entered the house, not wanting to disturb Ray. They poured some drinks and gathered around the dining room table to visit for a while. Probably 30-45 minutes had gone by before Josie thought about Ray, and asked her son to just please go check on him. Leo dutifully got up from the table and went slowly into the master bedroom.

He did not find Ray asleep in bed.

What he did find was the covers pulled back, revealing the crisp white sheets underneath. Josie had always insisted on white sheets. On those sheets Leo found Ray's wedding ring alongside a flash drive. This did not bode well.

"He's not there," Leo said as he exited the bedroom.

"What do mean he's not there?" his mother asked.

"Just that, mom. The bed hasn't been slept in and I found these sitting on the sheets next to his pillow."

Not fully believing what her son had to say, Josie went into the bedroom and looked for herself. It was true: the bed was unused and there was no sign of her husband.

By the time she returned to the living room, Eric was already plugging the flash drive into a laptop to see what was on it. Once the files had become visible, there was only a single file listed, though it was fairly large. Eric glanced at his mom and she returned his glance with a single nod. He double-clicked on the file.

The computer's video player sprung to life, and Eric maximized the image to full screen. At first it was just a blank wall but they could hear voices. After a few seconds, Ray stepped in front of the camera.

"Is it recording?" he asked the invisible camera operator.

"Yes," answered a feminine voice.

Ray looked at the camera.

"Good evening, everyone. If I've timed this right, you're watching this at a little after 10:00pm after just getting back from the fireworks display."

Everyone reflexively glanced at a nearby clock and saw that it was nearly 11:00pm because they hadn't bothered to check on Ray when they got home.

"As you watch this video, I am sitting on an airplane that is flying through the air and will not land until I am well outside the United States. If you're wondering, I won't be coming back."

"NO!" Josie screamed as she burst into tears.

"You betrayed me," the video continued. "Every single one of you. My wife, who benefitted from my love and support for over 40 years, who didn't have to work a day in her life other than raising our kids, tossed me aside like trash for a guy half my age just because he had a hard dick. And when I had the gall to object, she turned the entire family against me.

"I would have thought that 40 years of loyalty, dedication, faithfulness, and support would have meant more to you, Josephine. I believe I earned that. Your wants, and I think we all know they were actually wants and not needs, but your wants should have taken a backseat to my feelings. It was bad enough that you were doing it behind my back, but that you would get the family to take your side was even worse. I felt like I was stabbed in the heart seven times that day.

"Kristine, your betrayal was just as bad as your mother's. You had always been a daddy's girl when you were growing up. We did everything together. That you would support your mother in cheating on me, in committing adultery against your own father, broke my heart even more than your mother doing it. Even if I hadn't heard you say that I was an old man that didn't deserve a faithful wife, my heartbreak would have been total."

"I never said that!" Kristine said aloud. "Never!"

"Leo, Eric. You must be the biggest morons in the world. Do you even realize that you've just given your wives permission to cheat on you? Leo, I doubt Rebecca would do that, but some of the things I've heard from my daughter should concern you, Eric. All she has to do is find a reason to claim you're not satisfying her and off she goes. She already told her mother how envious she was of her."

Eric glared at Kristine, wo shook her head in denial, as Ray's words poured from the speaker.

"No baby, I never said that and wouldn't do that."

"It's not like you can object," Ray continued. "You've already said it's perfectly okay for Josie, unless you only meant that it was okay because you weren't the one being cheated on. Was that it, Eric? You were perfectly fine with someone else being cheated on? I'll bet when it's your turn you won't be quite so agreeable. And I'll bet Kristine is already denying she would do something like that, but ask her if she thinks it would be wrong for her, why was it okay for her mother? Her answer will be telling."

Eric paused the video and looked at his wife.

"Did you say you envied your mom?" he finally asked.

"I don't remember exactly what I said. I know I was just excited for mom getting to go through that new relationship/getting to know you phase again."

"So, you want to 'get to know' someone again?" Eric persisted.

"No, baby. Please don't read too much into it, okay? I love you and I have no interest in being with anyone else."

"Unless I can't perform, right?"

"Honey, can we please talk about this later? We need to focus on mom right now."

"Okay, but this isn't over."

Eric hit the play button again and Ray continued.

"I was not willing to stay in a marriage that saw my wife cheating on me every week, and I certainly wasn't going to stay once I found out it had increased to several times each week. Sorry, Josephine, but you weren't nearly as discreet and subtle as you thought you were. And to invite him to your Mother's Day celebration? That was just tacky.

"As you might expect, I have no intention of telling you where I've gone, but I can assure you that even if you find me, there won't be anything you can do about it. I should also mention the financial situation I've left for you. I have taken the vast majority of our money, as I intend to live out the rest of my life as a retired person as a reward to myself for putting everyone else first for most of my adult life. Josephine, I have left you the house, which is paid for as you know and is worth a few hundred thousand. My attorney will contact you and help you complete the sale if that's what you want to do. I also left about $400,000 in the bank. That's $10,000 for each good year that you gave me. No credit for the last 12 months, I'm afraid.