Never Got Over Her

The funny thing about it was Jim's reaction. He didn't look embarrassed or ashamed or even surprised that he'd been caught. He looked angry and hurt. His reaction would have made sense if he hadn't been the one who'd had an affair first. As a matter of fact he had no reason to be angry or upset at all. He should have been sorry and begging for her forgiveness. It just didn't seem like Jim to hold onto some kind of double standard where he could have an affair, but then be hurt when she slipped one time.

In his case, this had been going on for a very long time, every year like clockwork. In her case it had happened one fucking time. And even then she'd been tricked or taken advantage of. He had never felt guilty enough about his affair or been honest enough to come clean about it. She had felt so badly about the betrayal that she'd immediately come clean. She was sure that he'd eventually realize that he was in the wrong and come back to her.

Even if he came back to her for another reason or just to pick up more clothing, they'd have a chance to talk and he'd have to realize that this was no reason for them to be apart. Shit, they'd never been apart, not in the whole twenty years that they'd been married. They knew couples who when arguing, one of them would leave temporarily and go stay with a relative or stay in a hotel for a few days until they missed each other enough to talk. But that wasn't the way she and Jim handled things. To them being apart was for them to roll to opposite sides of the bed when they slept. Even then, by morning they'd have moved during the night until they were touching again. Usually, they'd both apologize, no matter which of them was wrong and talked about it.

She was sure that Jim would be back soon. When the phone rang she picked it up hoping it was Jim. It was her sister Connie. Connie sounded upset and slightly weird.

"Connie is there something you want to ask me about?" said Charlotte.

"Well, Charlotte, tell Jim that he can pay us the money back anytime. I know he's good for it, but I guess I just wanted to ask you if it was true?"

"What money are you talking about, Connie?" asked Charlotte.

"Rob and I went down to bail Jim out of Jail so he wouldn't have to stay there all night," said Connie. "Actually the police just wanted him to be released to someone who'd watch over him until he calmed down."

"What was Jim in Jail for?" asked Charlotte in shock. "He isn't the type to break the law."

"He didn't break the law," said Connie. "He broke Carl Bennett. Rob saw the whole thing. Rob was in a bar with his team after his bowling league. Carl was in the bar talking very loudly to a few of his friends when Jim came and started trying to get drunk. Rob had never seen Jim drink before. Carl was telling his friends about some woman and hadn't noticed Jim there."

"Oh no," said Charlotte.

"Carl started talking about what a slut the woman was. How she invited him over to her house while her husband was out of town. She made him dinner, then one thing led to another and finally she asked him to fuck her. Right there on her couch in her living room. He didn't even have to get her drunk or anything. He told his friends how she had the tightest pussy he had ever been in and how she had to get lube so he could get his dick into her," said Connie.

"All of Carl's friends were laughing and egging him on until Jim stood up and Carl got as white as a sheet. Jim beat Carl so badly that they had to call an ambulance for him. Carl refused to press charges but the police took Jim anyway. Most of Carl's friends didn't stick up for him. I don't think they're his friends anymore. I think that they thought that Carl was just making up the story for fun until Jim showed up and they found out it was for real. Most of them know you and Jim and how much you loved each other. I think it made them think that Carl wasn't really their friend either. If he'd go after Jim's wife, there was no reason he wouldn't try to do it to them too. Men like Carl aren't really anybody's friend. So when the police asked for witnesses, they could not get a single guy to say what had happened."

For a while there was silence over the phone line. Then Connie broke it. "Charlotte, why would Carl make something like that up about you?" she asked.

When Charlotte didn't answer her Connie was shocked. "Charlotte, why would you do something like that to Jim? He loves you so much. I'm ashamed to call you my sister."

"Connie, I...."began Charlotte but the loud droning sound of the dial tone let her know that Connie had hung up on her.

An hour later and Charlotte's phone rang again. This time it was her mother. Her mother had called to tell her how shocked and ashamed of her she was as well. "There has to be more to this story than Connie is telling me Charlotte," she said. "I didn't raise my daughter to be a whore."

"Mom, I'll come over tomorrow and try to explain the whole thing to you," said Charlotte. "Right now I need to keep the phone line open in case Jim tries to call me."

"I doubt that," said her mother. "He told your father that he's looking for a lawyer to handle the divorce. He wants to find one who doesn't just want to rake somebody over the coals. Funny isn't it, even after what you did, he's trying to be fair to you."

"Mom, Jim had an affair first," said Charlotte.

"Bull...shit!" said her mother. "First off anyone who knows Jim knows how much he loves you. Rob brought him by here to change clothes after he got out of jail because he didn't want to go home to you and he needed to change clothes. When he opened up his fucking suitcase the first thing your dad saw was that big assed framed picture of you. If he was cheating, why would he be carrying a giant picture of you around with him?"

"I...." said Charlotte before her mother cut her off again.

"And secondly, if he was having an affair himself, he wouldn't be as hurt as he is right now. Why the hell did you do this Charlotte?"

"I'll call you tomorrow mother," said Charlotte as she hung up. She'd have to call her PI firm in the morning. She was going to need their proof before this got out of hand. Jim was playing the martyr and trying to make everyone think that she was the one in the wrong. He'd even managed to turn her family against her.

Charlotte tossed and turned the whole night. The more she thought about it, this had all been Carl's fault. He'd taken advantage of her and ruined everything. Even if Jim had been having an affair, the situation hadn't gotten out of control until he'd tricked her into having sex. Jim wasn't angry about her accusing him of having an affair. He was pissed about her sleeping with Carl. There was and always had been a double standard when it came to extra-marital affairs. If a man had one he was just sowing his wild oats or just boys being boys. If a woman did it, she was a whore, plain and simple.

Charlotte hated to believe that Jim would subscribe to that kind of belief, but there it was right in front of her. He could do it for years with no recriminations, but for her to do it even once, was unthinkable.

By the time Charlotte woke up that morning alone and lonely in their big bed, she was onboard with the double standard. Jim's affair had been going on for years and hadn't hurt their marriage. She got tricked and fucked once and everything was going to hell. Charlotte hadn't intended to screw Carl and she'd never screw anyone but Jim again for the rest of her life. All she wanted was her happy home back under any circumstances. If Jim wanted to go out and discreetly do it once a year, she'd grin and bear it. The other 51 weekends of the year he was all hers body and soul. It was enough for her, whether it was fair or not.

Charlotte was still in bed thinking about it when the doorbell rang. There was a youngish looking girl, probably a college student waiting there for her. She looked bored, thought Charlotte. She was probably selling candy or magazine subscriptions to make money for college. Charlotte needed to get rid of her so she'd be ready to handle her problems.

"Charlotte Ramsey?" asked the girl.

"Yes," said Charlotte. The girl handed her a large manila envelope that Charlotte reached out and took out of reflex.

"You've been served," said the girl. She turned and walked away snapping her gum as she left.

Charlotte opened the envelope and saw how serious this was. Jim was not joking or beating around the bush. He'd filed for divorce. He'd even charged her with infidelity. There was a card with his attorney's name and number on it in the envelope as well. It was after 9 am. Charlotte hadn't realized that she'd slept for that long.

She called the number and told the attorney when she finally got him on the phone that there was some kind of mistake. She didn't want a divorce and she was sure that Jim didn't either. They just need to get together to talk out their problems and they could solve all of this without involving lawyers or the court.

The attorney was very polite. He told her that Jim had hired him to start divorce procedures and he would gladly stop everything as soon as Jim told him to. It was up to Charlotte to get Jim to do that. Charlotte told the man to please ask Jim to call her because she'd called him twenty times yesterday and he not only wouldn't take her calls he didn't return them. She told him to tell Jim that he'd won, she loved him and he could have anything and everything he wanted if only he'd come home to her. The man said that he'd deliver the message, but in the mean time she should get an attorney of her own.

Charlotte was devastated, so she turned to the only person she could. She called her mother, crying like a baby. Her mother agreed to get Jim to come over to the house for a barbecue and they could all sit down together and talk this out with the parents there as impartial mediators. Her mom would try to arrange it for tomorrow afternoon.

The next morning Charlotte woke up, and again, she felt awful. She just felt so empty. She didn't want to eat or do anything. A big part of it, she realized as she looked across the big empty bed, was that fact that Jim wasn't here. This wasn't like anything she'd ever been through before. Not only was he not here, but there was the very real possibility that he wouldn't be for a very long time. Just thinking about it made her want to cry.

Though she didn't want to, she took a shower anyway. She put on makeup and fretted over what she'd wear. The barbecue this afternoon was probably the most important event of her life. It would probably be my one chance to save her marriage.

She thought about wearing Jim's favorite dress. The one that just made him take her to bed every time she wore it. Unfortunately it was evening wear and would be very out of place at a barbecue. She put on a pair of shorts that showed off her legs without being too obvious. If she was lucky and got a chance to bend over in front of Jim, they'd also display her ass really well.

To complete the outfit, She put on a very light-weight sweater. It would mold her breasts nicely, and still appear as if she hadn't taken very much time to create the outfit. She'd considered wearing one of Jim's shirts and tying it up under her boobs like Daisy Duke or Elli Mae Clampett, but her tummy just wasn't flat enough for that anymore. It wouldn't matter, Jim loved her, and he'd find her sexy enough anyway.

Charlotte went over to her parent's house. She was at least a couple of hours early, but her sister and Rob were already there. It was like they wanted to get to the movies before everyone else so they could get good seats.

Charlotte was enthralled that the embers of her marriage might provide good entertainment for them. Charlotte wondered what had happened to her relationship with her sister. When they were younger, they'd been exceptionally close. They'd always confided in each other during times of both trouble and joy. But now it just seemed like Connie didn't want to be anywhere near her let alone be on her side.

As Charlotte walked around the house and the yard, she felt her sister's eyes boring into her back. Connie spent a lot of time whispering to her husband, Rob. Charlotte knew that at some point her mom would come out of the kitchen where she was making her preparations. She wasn't too sure about facing her mom and dad, but Connie should have been on her side.

Charlotte walked across the yard and said hello to Rob and Connie. "Sis, can I speak to you for a moment?" she asked.

"Uhm, okay," Connie said nervously. My God, it was as if she just didn't want to have anything to do with me, thought Charlotte.

"We're sisters," Charlotte told Connie as soon as she got her away from Rob. "I thought that if anyone would, you'd have my back."

"That's part of the problem with being sisters," Connie spat. "Everyone tends to think that we're cut from the same cloth. So if you've taken leave of your senses and cheated on your husband, everyone thinks that at some point I'll flip out and become a whore too. The past twenty-four hours have been a nightmare for me. Even Rob is looking at me differently. And you know what the shittiest part of this is, Charlotte. It's looking at your husband. I love Rob, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't want to be with any other man under any circumstance you could name. But Jim has always been the model that I pushed Rob to be more like. Jim has a great job, he's a great guy, and he loves you like nothing I've ever seen. He fucking worships the ground you walk on, even after what happened all those years ago."

Charlotte thought back to what Connie was talking about and shuddered just bringing it to mind. She hadn't thought about it in many years. Back when they first married, Charlotte and Jim had talked about having kids. They both wanted a house full of kids and very soon after they got married, Charlotte was pregnant.

Jim was great. He was so excited that he couldn't sit down. He was always up doing something for the baby, or talking about what we'd do when the baby was born. He took her temperature. He made sure she ate the right foods and didn't stress out. He gave her massages, bought her all kinds of things, both for the baby and for herself. Charlotte had never seen a man who was so ready to have a child. She really believed that if it had been possible, Jim would have carried the baby for her. He would have been an awesome dad.

But almost eight and a half months into the pregnancy, she had to go to the hospital, and delivered their daughter, stillborn. Even worse was the news that she would never be able to have another child. Charlotte was crushed and so was Jim. For a while she entertained thoughts that he'd leave her or want a divorce. Even before they got married, they'd known that they wanted to have a lot of kids.

Jim helped her to recover and never brought it up. When she did he looked at her as if she had taken a shit in the Vatican Museum. "I've just lost my daughter," he said angrily. "Now you want to leave me too? Charlotte, I love you more than anything on this earth. With or without children, you're the woman I married. I married you because I love you, not because I need you to be some kind of baby factory."

Charlotte had never felt more loved in her entire life. Over the next few months Jim did everything he could to help her get over her grief and sadness at the loss of their child. He put up with a lot. Some women become suicidal after the loss of a child, so he watched her like a hawk. They took vacations, long and short. They engaged in new hobbies and activities. They did some of the silliest things you can imagine, just so he could show her that just the two of them were enough, that just because they couldn't have children didn't make their lives any less fulfilling.

Do you know what it's like to make love in the rain? I do, thought Charlotte. It sucks. Jim and I did that just to try it out after reading about it in one of my romance novels. You know what else really sucks? Doing it on the beach is awful. I don't even want to try to explain how awful it feels to get sand in your....

Anyway, she hadn't thought about that until Connie brought it up. Charlotte tried to focus on what Connie was saying.

"Jim is such a great guy Charlotte and you just destroyed him. He's just not himself at all. All of his confidence is gone. I haven't seen him smile one time since all of this started. It's a terrible thing to look at someone you considered to be a pillar of strength and know that they're on the verge of tears. The worst thing about it is what you're taking from me," she said.

"What the fuck are you talking about Connie?" Charlotte asked. Charlotte was beginning to get pissed now herself. Connie had this way, like a lot of baby sisters do, of making everything about her. Charlotte had been tricked into cheating on her husband. She might be forced into a divorce. He doesn't think that his long term affair counts, but somehow this all revolves around Connie.

"Well Sis, Jim is talking about moving away after the divorce," said Connie. "I mean not just to a different house, but out of state. He told Rob that all of his friends know about what happened so he can't bear to show his face around here. He thinks that everyone is laughing at him."

"Rob tried to tell him that wasn't true. Especially after the way he beat the fuck out of Carl, and because of the way that he left you. Both of those actions show him to be a strong man who won't take any shit. But Charlotte, he told Rob that what he did doesn't matter. What matters is how he feels, and he loves you so much that he just wants all of this to go away. He told Rob that his heart hurts him so much he just wants to die. You took a good man and just ruined him, Charlotte."

"I still don't see how any of this affects you or is any of your fucking business Connie," snapped Charlotte. She'd had enough of Connie's shit. There was no way Charlotte was going to sit there and just let Connie try to make her feel any worse than she already did.

"What the fuck does any of this mean to you, Connie?" Charlotte yelled. "How does this affect you in any way? At the end of the day, you and Rob will go home and cuddle up with each other on your sofa and think about how lucky you are to have each other. I'll probably go home alone again. Do you know what it feels like after being married for almost twenty years to suddenly know that the person you love more than anything else doesn't want to be with you anymore because of something you did? And everyone seems to forget that the perfect man, Saint Jim, has been fucking some little bitch in a motel room for the past couple of nights and he does it every God Damned year. I slip once, just one fucking time, and even then I was tricked into it and everyone treats me like I'm the whore of Babylon."

"Charlotte" snapped Connie. "Even if you hadn't fucked around on Jim, we'd have been here for a barbecue this weekend. This weekend Rob and I had planned on asking you and Jim to be the God-parents for our baby, because I'm pregnant. Neither, Rob or I could think of anyone more loving and more suited to raise our child if anything happened to us than you and Jim. But now my sister is, as you put it yourself, the whore of Babylon and the man we chose as Godfather wants to move out of state. So yeah, this does in some small way affect me. Even if that weren't true, you're still as I said, my sister so people do tend to connect us and expect similar behavior from us. This isn't just about you. It affects the whole family and if you weren't such a bitch, you'd see it."

Connie was going to town. She took a breath and was about to launch into Charlotte again when the doorbell rang and saved them both.

Naturally it was Jim. And even more naturally he looked awful. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Rob, Connie and the sister's parents were all over him.