Laura, Jim and I

I made the deal with Mellows to sell him my share of the company on paper for a third of what he actually paid. That third went into a bank account in my name only. The other two thirds went to an offshore account that I set up. The deal was that he wouldn't show up at the office and take over my desk until the morning after I served Laura and Jim with the papers. Laura for a divorce on the grounds of adultery and Jim for alienation of affections. Even though we were in a no fault state I could still sue for adultery and depending on the judge we drew it could mean a little better split than fifty-fifty.

In order for the adultery grounds to fly I needed proof. A review of the reports from Gary's PI and mine showed that every time they were under observation they used the same motel and it was always on a Wednesday. My detective rented a room and set it up to record the action and a healthy bribe to the desk clerk insured that they would be put into that room.

Wednesday morning I called Maria, our receptionist, and told her to tell Jim I would not be in that morning because of a dentist appointment.

"And tell him if I don't feel all that good after the tooth is pulled I might not even be in this afternoon."

"You got it boss. If I were you I would go home and rest. I've never had a tooth pulled yet that didn't hurt like hell when the laughing gas wore off."

I left the house and circled back after Laura left for work. The locksmith was there at nine changing all the locks on the house. As soon as he was done I drove over to the bank and cleaned out the accounts and safe deposit box. My attorney said to only take half, but my mood was stone-assed "Fuck you Laura" and I wasn't going to do anything that would make it easy on her. She'd get her half eventually, but only after she'd had to fight for it. I also withdrew the funds I thought I had coming from the business. If it was too much Jim could go to court and try and get it back, but as long as I had it he wouldn't.

My detective called me at twelve ten and told me that the happy couple had arrived and were in room 128. I drove over and had a few words with my detective and then I sat on the hood of the car parked in front of the room and waited until they came out.

++++++++++++++

After the mini confrontation I got in my car and drove off. As I pulled away a man got out of a car and walked up to them and served them. In with the divorce papers that Laura received was a temporary restraining order keeping her 500 feet from me and the house. I had to fudge things a little to get it. I had to lie and say that I had been told by a third party that Jim and Laura had been overheard discussing how much life insurance I had and wondering how much my share of the business would be worth. There would be a hearing on whether or not to make it permanent, but that could take a couple of weeks. It was just one more way to fuck over Laura. The big thing was that she couldn't come into the house without someone from the court being there and I didn't plan on making myself available to furnish the keys to the new locks.

In with Jim's papers on the alienation of affections suit was a short note. It said:

"You know how these suits work, right? How does it feel to be on the other end of one?"

As I drove away from, the motel I gave Gary a call on my cell. "It is done. Have a great first day tomorrow at the office."

++++++++++++++++++++

I drove to the airport, parked the car in the long term lot, tossed my cell phone into the glove compartment and caught a flight to Cabo San Lucas. I spent a week scuba diving and lying on the beach and then I flew home.

My cell was loaded with voice mails when I turned it on. Not surprisingly most were from Laura, but there were four from Jim. I would have thought I'd be the last person he would want to talk to. No matter, I had no interest in speaking to him or Laura. Would I have liked an explanation? Of course I would like to know why, but I'd made up my mind to put the two of them behind me and get on with my life. The why of their betrayal was something that I didn't need my mind to be carrying around.

My attorney knew that I was going to be gone for a week so I decided to call him and let him know I was back. He asked me to call Laura and let her know I was back. She had been calling him twice a day trying to get in touch with me so she could get into the house and get some of her things. I was on the verge of telling him to call her and set up something with the court to get her into the house supervised when I had a thought. One more way to fuck over her. I called her and asked her what she wanted.

"I need to get my clothes and other things, but I can't get in even with someone from the court because I don't have a key and the people from the court won't let me break in."

"You don't have anything there to pick up. I gave it all to Goodwill. I didn't want anything of yours in the house to remind me of your lying, cheating ass. There isn't anything of yours here anymore, not even a stray hair pin."

"Damn it Rob, you had no right top do that?"

"I had as much right to do that as you had to stab me in the back."

"We need to talk Rob. It isn't what you think."

"Get real Laura. I don't think you were fucking Jim; I know it for a fact. Goodbye Laura."

I hung up on her. All of her stuff was still in the house, but again, fucking over her is what I wanted to do. Eventually she would get her things, but it wasn't going to be anytime soon.

++++++++++++++++++++++

I'd always been on good terms with Maria who was our receptionist, secretary, bookkeeper, chief cook and bottle washer so I gave her a call and asked how things were going.

"Not bad for me, but not so good for the company. Nothing is getting done. Gary and Jim constantly argue over the least little thing. Jim says do something and then Gary says don't do it. Jim will call and order something and as soon as Jim is out of the office Gary will call and cancel the order. We have jobs to start, but they just sit there as Jim and Gary go at it. I got so fed up I gave my notice last Friday, but Gary told me he would double my wages if I would stay so naturally I'm not going to leave.

"The two of them did get into a fist fight on Thursday, but outside of beating the hell out of each other there wasn't a winner although Jim did get a broken nose out of it. Why did you bail out on us? Why did you sell out to Gary?"

I told her the story behind it and she was silent for a minute and then she said:

"Now I've got another reason to stay."

"What's that?"

"I can help Gary. I've never liked Jim. He was always hitting on me even though he knew I was engaged. One time he even hinted that he would let me go if I didn't go out with him and we both know what he meant when he said "go out with." I asked him what you would have to say about his letting me go and that shut him up."

"You should have told me."

"Why? It was a personal problem and I handled it. I'm sorry about you and Laura Rob, but there could be a bright side to it at least for me."

"How is that?"

"It means that you are back on the market. How do you feel about being chased after?"

"I thought you were engaged?"

"I was until I caught the asshole doing to me what Laura was doing to you."

"When did this happen?"

"About three weeks ago."

"Well sweetie, for what is worth I will put your name at the head of the list for when I start dating again, but it won't be for a while. I'm not going to give Laura anything that she can use against me."

"I can wait, but keep me in mind if you get lonely and would like a dinner date for company."

"I will sweetie, and thanks."

My phone rang sixteen times that day. Fourteen were from Laura and two were from Jim. I couldn't for the life of me think of what the asshole could want to say that I would want to hear and if he was calling to ask for something he damned sure wasn't going to get it from me.

I deleted all the calls and went on home. I made myself some dinner and then on a whim I called Gary Mellows and asked him how his plan was working.

""Not bad, not bad at all. I made sure that I was sitting at your desk when he came to work. He saw me and got a scowl on his face and then asked me what the fuck was I doing in the office and sitting at your desk. I laughed at him and told him I was his new partner. The look on his face was priceless. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears as he read a copy of our agreement. I got us off to the right start almost right away. He called for a fuel truck because the front end loader and some of the other equipment on the Wilkin's site where low on diesel. As soon as he left the office I called and cancelled the order. One of the skid steers ran out of fuel and Jim got on the phone to Allied and cussed them out and they told him that I had cancelled the order and that they did have to take that kind of crap from him and for him to get his fuel from some one else. Then he came to me and asked me what the fuck I thought I was doing. I told him that Allied was charging us too much and that I was shopping around for a better price and things went downhill from there."

"A little birdie told me that the two of you engaged in some fist-a-cuffs."

"Yeah. Things came to a head last Thursday."

"How did that work out?"

"I guess I was a little optimistic when I told you that I thought I could take him, but I held my own and I did hurt him."

"Well carry on and good luck with your plan."

After hanging up I went into the room I had converted into an office, fired up the computer and began typing a resume. I'd start job hunting the next day. I was busy banging away on the keyboard when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find Jim standing there.

"What the fuck do you want?"

"We need to talk Rob."

"No we don't asshole."

"It wasn't my fault Rob. She came after me. She caught me when I was in a really down mood over what Annabelle did to me. I wasn't thinking straight Rob. I'm sorry Rob, but it wasn't my fault. I didn't go after her."

"But you did know that she was my wife. You knew how you felt when you found out about Annabelle and you didn't even stop for a second to think that you were going to make me feel the same way did you? You had to know that I'd find out sooner or later and probably the same way you found out about Annabelle. Somebody told you. Well shitface, some one did tell me. You are a sack of shit as far as I'm concerned. You were supposed to be my friend and even if I believed that Laura made a move on you, which I don't, you should have turned away from her that same way I turned away from Annabelle when she made a move on me. You knew better, but you did it anyway. And even if it is true that she made the move and caught you when you weren't thinking straight that doesn't excuse the second, third, forth and however many times that there were after that. No man, you stabbed me in the back and there isn't any getting past that."

"So why didn't you just whip my ass? Why did you saddle me with Mellows?"

"Because the mood I was in when I found out and the rage I felt if I'd have come after you I would probably have killed you and you are not worth going to prison over. Besides, sticking you with Mellows will cause you grief that will last a whole lot longer than the effects of any beating. But you know what? The rage I felt then is gone."

And then I hit him. I caught him a good one on the chin and he started to fold. I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him into the house, kicked the door shut behind me and then I stomped the hell out of him. He was unconscious when I drug him out of the house and stuffed him into his car. You would not believe how big a smile I had on my face when I walked back into the house. I might get a visit from the cops, but I wasn't worried about it. All I had to do was say that he had attacked me and I defended myself and point to his fight with Mellows and say that he was pissed at me because I had sold my half of the business to Mellows and he was trying to make me pay for it.

+++++++++++++++

The next morning I sent off fourteen resumes and then called my attorney to see what the status was. He told me that the coming Monday we had a hearing on the temporary restraining order, but he had not received any feedback from Laura or an attorney on her behalf. I debated calling Laura, but decided against it. The longer it went before she got an attorney the longer it would be before I had to give her anything.

During the week I received several responses to the resumes I'd sent out and Wednesday I flew to Atlanta for an interview and Thursday found me in Baltimore. I felt good about both interviews, but I'd also had a response from a company in San Diego and I thought that I might just like living in a place where it was almost always warm so I called and scheduled an interview for the following Tuesday.

Monday was the hearing on the temporary restraining order and to the surprise of no one the judge did not see any justification for leaving it in place and I was ordered to give Laura access to the house. Laura was of course at the hearing and she had a lawyer with her. She came up to me and started to say something and I walked away from her and got my attorney and then walked back to her.

"You don't say anything to me unless my attorney is present."

"All I was going to say is that I'll be over this evening."

"No you won't. I'm flying out for a job interview at two-thirty and I won't be home until Wednesday. You can come by any time after six."

Her attorney started to say something but I cut him off. "She will not and I repeat – will not – be in that house unless I'm there to monitor everything that she does."

"There will be some one from the court there to keep things above board and you can also have someone from your attorney's office there."

"Nope. Won't work. They would have no idea about what she was helping herself to. All they would do is list it and if it was something she wasn't supposed to have I'd end up having to fight to have it returned. She hasn't been in the house for two weeks and she has survived. Another forty-eight hours won't kill her."

Her attorney shook his head no and said, "Then I guess we will have to see what the judge says" and he turned to go back and see the court clerk, but Laura stopped him.

"Just drop it" she said, "I can wait another forty-eight hours."

I looked at her and said, "Wednesday at six" and I turned to leave.

"Wait a second Rob. Can we talk then?"

"No" I said and then I walked out of the building.

++++++++++++++++++++

I thought the interview in San Diego went well and I headed home hoping to hear from them. Laura arrived right at six with someone from her attorney's office. The woman from the court arrived at twenty to six and we spent the twenty minutes drinking coffee and talking. She told me that her job was just to observe for the court and inventory the items removed. She also would make a list of the disputed items and I told her that it wouldn't be necessary.

"She can have whatever she wants."

"If that is the way you feel why have you taken such a hard line on things where she is concerned."

"She stabbed me in the back and she did it with the man who had been my best friend for over twenty-five years. I couldn't beat her and I couldn't kill her, at least I couldn't if I wanted to stay out of jail, but I had to do something to get back at her and make her suffer. It wasn't much, but at least it was something."

Then the doorbell rang and I let Laura and the person she had with her from her attorney's office in and I went outside to cut the grass. When I finished and came back in the house every one was gone except Laura and she was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of tea. She looked up at me when I came in.

"You lied to me. You didn't give any of my things to Goodwill."

"Maybe not, but I sure as hell enjoyed the outrage in your voice when you told me that I had no right to do it."

"I wasn't expecting it all to be her and it is going to take me longer to get it out than I expected."

I pulled my key ring out of my pocket, took a house key off of it and slid it across the table to her. "Don't bother moving it. You can have the house on Friday. I'll have all of my things out of here by then."

"Why?"

"I'm interviewing for jobs and I'll be moving out of state as soon as I find one."

"I mean why have you done what you have done if you were just going to give me the house and leave. Why the restraining order and lying to me about giving my things away?"

"That's a stupid question. After what you did to me I had to do something to get back at you. Just be thankful that I decided to do it in a peaceful manner instead of a violent one. Fucking over you doesn't even come close to making us even, but it was the best I could so and still stay out of jail."

"I know you said no when I asked if we could talk tonight, but I am still going to try and convince you that we don't need to get divorced."

"Get serious Laura. There is no way on this green Earth that we can stay together after what you did."

"But it didn't mean anything Rob. I love you and you know it. What happened with Jim was a mistake; just a stupid mistake. I like Jim. I've always liked him, but I don't love him and I never have loved him."

"I don't give a shit if you loved him or not. You still fucked him and love or just like it was still infidelity and there shouldn't be any doubt in your mind on how I feel about that. All you have to do is remember how upset I was over what Annabelle was doing to Jim. I was so upset I was going to let him know but I let you talk me out of it. That should have clued you in right there as to how I would take it if you did it to me and don't give me any of that "I never meant for you to find out" shit. Cheaters always get caught. Sooner or later they always get caught. Jim found out about Annabelle because someone saw her fucking around on him and told him. That's the same way you got caught. Someone saw you and Jim go into a motel room and they told me."

"Doesn't it even matter that I love you?"

"No Laura it doesn't because it wasn't enough to keep you from cheating on me."

"But it didn't mean anything Rob. Honest to God it meant nothing. It was an accident."

"An accident? How was fucking the man who used to be my best friend an accident?"

"He stopped by the house when you were on that trip to Santa Fe and he was in a downer of a mood over Annabelle. He really loved her and even though he had thrown her out of his life he was missing her. We had several drinks and after a while he started crying and I took him in my arms, hugged him and trued to comfort him. To this day I don't know how we ended up naked on the couch having sex, but we did and even though I hate to admit it, it was great. There wasn't any love involved; it was just wild rutting sex, but it was exciting. I remember thinking that "This is just so wrong. I shouldn't be doing this, but it feels so good." After, I figured out that it was the illicit nature of what we had done that made it so exciting. It was a turn on to cheat.

"The next time you went out of town Jim stopped over and we both knew why he was there and we did it again. I had a huge orgasm, but it wasn't because of the way Jim made love to me, it was because the cheating was such a turn on and yes, I'll admit a good part of the turn on was because I was doing it with your best friend.

"There was no love involved Rob. As trite as it may sound it was just sex Rob. Just some excitement added to my life. I never shorted you while it was going on. I love you Rob. I really do and you know it. We can get by this. We don't need to get a divorce."