Survivor's Remorse

Two days later, I had a meeting with Rick. We met in a booth in my friend's bar.

"Hey, buddy, I delivered everything on my end," he said. "Wendy is really pissed at me. I had to move into a motel when she found out that we are really married. So ..."

"I guess it's time for me to fulfill my part, right?" I asked.

"Exactly," he said smiling.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a check. I slid it across the table to him. His eyes lit up and then his face darkened in anger.

"What the fuck is this chicken feed?" he yelled. The check was made out for $111.11.

"You said the amount would be in the low five figures," he screamed.

"There are five figures there," I said. "I never said that all five figures would be in front of the decimal point. Oh shit, here's the other one. You did a great job and I said I would double it if you did."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" he asked angrily. "Two hundred dollars won't even pay for the wedding."

"Come on Rick," I smirked. "Two hundred dollars would pay for that wedding and you'd have a lot of change back."

"Alright, forget about the money," he said. "I can get some of that back from the alimony you're paying my new wife. She'll have to give me some of it if she wants a quick easy divorce ..." I didn't have the heart to tell him.

"You promised me that you'd speak to Janice about me seeing my kids!" he said.

"Rick your kids are fine," I said. I didn't tell him that Janice was dating a really nice guy and that he had kids too. Or that Saraya and I often baby sat both sets of the kids so Janice and Paul could go out on dates.

"You gave me your word," he said. "Or was that another trick."

"Okay, I'll do it," I said.

"When?" he asked angrily.

"Right now," I said. I turned to the booth behind us. Saraya and Janice were sitting there. They got up and came around to our booth.

"Janice, I know that Rick is way behind on his child support payments, so legally you don't have to let him see them," I said. "I also know that when you guys were together he barely spent any time with them and that he only wants to see them now as a thinly disguised attempt to get you back, so you'll stop ass raping him financially. But Janice do you think that you could find it in your heart to let the man see his children?"

Janice closed her eyes as if she was in deep thought. She looked over at Rick and smiled pleasantly. "NO!" she said. "Rick, my lawyer tells me that you have about a month to catch up on your payments before you end up in jail."

"Come on Janice," I pleaded.

"Yeah, come on Janice," echoed Saraya. Rick had no idea where to look. On one hand Saraya was sitting next to him and he had trouble not staring at her because she was simply that pretty.

On the other hand Janice had on a sweater that was so low cut it seemed like her big round titties were about to escape from it every time she took a breath.

"Oh alright," said Janice. As she said it her breasts jutted out even further. Rick's eyes were glued to her cleavage.

"Huh?" said Rick. Janice pointed towards the door.

Paul stood in the doorway with Janice's three kids. They were too young to be allowed in a bar.

"You're going to miss seeing them if you don't stop staring at my titties," said Janice. "They used to be yours but you never appreciated what you had. But don't think worry, they're appreciated now."

Rick quickly looked towards the door. His oldest son held up his middle finger to a Rick and the three kids went back out to the parking lot.

"Janice ..." gulped Rick. "Is there any way that we could ...?"

"Fuck no!" said Janice. She got up and walked out of the bar to join her family. Saraya and I left Rick there in the bar crying his eyes out with his head down on the table.

As a final insult to Rick. Janice refused to marry Paul until the day after her court ordered alimony ran out. Rick wasn't around for that though.

Less than two weeks after the meeting between Janice and Rick, my phone rang.

"Vee, where the fuck is my check?" screamed Wendy. "Are you spending all of MY money on that bitch? If you don't bring me a check ... TODAY I'll haul your ass into court."

"Wendy, what check would that be?" I asked.

"Don't play stupid, Vee," she hissed. "My alimony or spousal support. The money I fucking live on and pay my bills with. Are you buying extravagant gifts for that home wrecking whore? Maybe we can make a deal. If you bring me whatever money you have and stay with me for an hour or two ... I won't report the late payment to the court."

"Wendy, where are you?" asked Saraya. "I'll be right over."

"Uhm ... I'm out of the country," said Wendy. She wanted no part of a rematch with Saraya.

"Wendy, I don't owe you any money," I said calmly.

"Yes you do," she screamed. "You have to pay me for the next four years. I have it in our divorce papers."

"Wendy, go get the papers and read them," I said. "Alimony is a standard thing. It's usually three years ... In our case I voluntarily gave you four ..."

"And it hasn't even been three months," she hissed. "Where's my fucking money?"

"Did you get the papers?" I asked ignoring her outburst.

"Yes," she said.

"Does the wording no say, and I quote, "a term of four calendar years OR until such time as Mrs. Dallbinger remarries?"

There was nothing but silence on the phone. Then I heard the sound of Wendy sobbing. "No," she cried. "It was supposed to be a fake wedding ..."

To add insult to injury it turned out that Wendy truly had moved on with her life. She was pregnant with Rick's child. Rick refused to divorce her. Even without getting a part of the alimony she was no longer receiving, he couldn't afford a divorce. Not only was the cost of any quickie divorce outside of his budget. Having to pay child support for a fourth child would have put him to the point where he'd have to starve.

Rick finally decided to run. He left town. He drove halfway across the country for a new start. He was never the sharpest knife in the drawer but he did manage to hide for more than two years.

He got paid under the table and paid for everything in cash or by money order. He used a cheap track phone that he bought minutes for and paid cash for the cards. He didn't use any form of social media and rented the place that he lived in month to month.

But the arms of the law are long and unforgiving. When Rick went in to renew his driver's license he thought it would be smarter to come back to our state where he could simply pay the fee and leave. He would tell the clerk that neither his address nor any of the information on the license had changed, pay the fee and go back home.

If he'd applied for a new license he would have had to produce documents proving residency and possibly a criminal record or background check

He ALMOST got away with it. Rick got a new clerk, who was very vigorous in performing her duties. Where most experienced clerks would have rubber stamped his application, took his picture and moved on to the next customer. The woman did a search and fund out that there were several warrants out for Rick.

She told him that he needed to retake the written test because he hadn't taken it in a while.

It was a quick test with only twenty questions. It took Rick eight minutes to take the test and the clerk took only three minutes checking it. Rick was about to take his picture for the new license and have it mailed to his PO Box when two burly police officers took him into custody.

Rick owed thousands of dollars in back child support for his three kids with Janice, and his child with Wendy. He also owed thousands in spousal support for Janice. Wendy had divorced him for abandonment.

Wendy was living with her parents and working as a secretary for her dad's church. She'd put on a lot of weight and was miserable.

So like I said we didn't all live happily ever after, but Saraya and I did. Janice and Paul were pretty happy too.

The end.