That Sunday Afternoon

"I don't deserve that."

I let that pass.

"Finish getting ready," I said, "because you are going to the party without me. I will drive you there and drop you off. I'll ask no questions tomorrow because I will already know the answers."

Tears were streaming down Sonya's cheeks as she looked at me in disbelief.

"Why would you do this to me? If you think I would have sex with Tony why would you send me to the party alone?" She asked.

"I am doing this for both of us," I said. "I can't live with worrying about when you might get together with that asshole again and you need to find out if you can live without him. So you are going to the party tonight."

Sonya didn't say another word she just disappeared upstairs. Forty-five minutes later Sonya came back down stairs. She looked beautiful. She was wearing a sexy black strapless cocktail dress, black stocking and black pumps. I was a little upset that she looked so good. I was kind of hoping that she would not make herself look so tempting.

We stood facing each other over the kitchen island. That is when I played my final angry card. It was the idea that struck me that afternoon while I was in the drug store. I tossed a three pack of condoms on the counter in front of Sonya.

"Use these tonight," I said.

"What's this?"

"What do they look?" I said. "They are condoms and I want you to use them tonight."

"Why are you doing this?"

I said, "Because the idea of that fuck head coming inside you is more than I can handle so please use the condoms."

"You bastard."

Sonya left the condoms on the counter and went into the bathroom. I could hear her crying but I maintained my resolve and didn't run to her. I gave her a few minutes to recover and then went to the bathroom door.

"I am going to back the car out of the garage," I said. "I'll wait for you outside."

It was ten minutes before she finally came out and got into the car. Sonya didn't say a work during the ride to the Marriott. When I pulled up in front of the hotel Sonya turned and looked at me I guess hoping I would say something but I didn't. Sonya stepped out of the car and turned to face me again.

"What ever happens tonight is your fault," she said.

"Have fun," I said and started to drive away before Sonya could even close the door.

I watched her in the mirror, standing there watching me drive away. Just before I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street I saw Sonya turn and walk into the hotel.

Chapter Eight – Bourbon is My Friend

When I was alone in the car I realized how stupid a thing I had just done. I had just sent my wife off to have sex with another man. Not because I wanted her to but because I felt it was inevitable that it was going to happen. I just wanted to take control of the situation.

When I got back to the house the first thing I noticed was that the condoms were no longer on the counter. Sonya had taken them with her. I poured myself another large bourbon. I was about halfway through that drink when I came to the conclusion that my marriage was over. It didn't matter if Sonya could rid herself of Kaplan by having sex with him just once or if it took fifty times. I was never going to be able to live with her infidelity. I was sure that Sonya was never going to forgive me for treating her the way I did that night. I gulped the rest of my drink and poured another.

When I opened that bottle of bourbon earlier in the day it was full, by ten o'clock that night it was almost empty. At 10:30 I dragged myself off to bed. I tried to go to sleep but the bed would not stop spinning so I ended up in the bathroom emptying my stomach into the toilet. I don't know what time it was when I finally crawled back into bed and fell asleep or passed out.

I woke up the first time around eight o'clock in the morning. My head felt like I had an ax buried in it and my tongue felt like I slept with a wool sock in my mouth all night. Without thinking I reached over to Sonya's side of the bed but she wasn't there. Then I remembered why she wasn't there and the nausea returned. I managed to lie still until it passed and then I drifted off to sleep again.

I woke up again an hour later feeling only slightly better. I got out of bed very slowly as my head would not tolerate any quick moves. I climbed into the shower and let the hot water run over me for several minutes and then I lathered myself with soap and rinsed off. The last thing I did before I got out of the shower was to turn the hot water off and let the cold water run over my head. The shock of the cold water cleared some of the cob webs and slightly reduced the pounding in my head. When I got out of the shower I brushed my teeth twice to get rid of the wool sock and then gargled with mouthwash.

By the time I had dried and dressed myself I was starting to feel human again. I was even feeling a little hungry as I headed for the stairs. That's when the thought of Sonya being in bed somewhere with Kaplan hit me. Instantly my appetite was gone and my headache was back.

I climbed unsteadily down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. I noticed that there was coffee in the coffee maker but I didn't remember putting coffee and water in the maker before I went to bed. As I was trying to figure this mystery out I heard a voice from the family room.

"So, you finally decided to get up," Sonya said.

When I turned to where she was, which I did with difficulty because of the pain in my head, I saw Sonya sitting in the family room with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. I noticed she was wearing a night gown covered by her bathrobe.

I was in no condition to start any kind of conversation, especially the one we were about to have. I pour myself a cup of coffee and waited in the kitchen until I was able to swallow enough coffee to kick start my brain and then I walked slowly into the family room.

"I saw the empty bourbon bottle when I got home," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Not very well right now," I said. "When did you get home?"

"I got home around 11:30 last night," she said.

"11:30?" I said. I didn't hear you come in.

"I tried to wake you but you were dead to the world and you smelled so bad that I wasn't sure I wanted you to wake up," she said. "Then after I cleaned up the mess you left in the bathroom I was sure I didn't want to wake you up."

"I guess I owe you one for that," I said.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes. The coffee was making me feel a little stronger and my head felt a little better. When I took the last swallow of my coffee Sonya got up and took my cup from me. She went out to the kitchen and refilled my cup and brought it back to me and then she sat down again.

"I want to thank you for last night," she said.

"Thank me, what the hell does that mean?" I asked.

How could she thank me? Could she be under the mistaken impression that I was doing her a favor by letting her fuck the asshole.

"I mean that I appreciate what you did for me last night," Sonya said.

"Don't thank me, it was no gift," I said.

"Well it was wonderful and I want to tell you all about it," she said.

She did understand and this was her way of punishing me for the way I treated her.

"You really don't have to tell me about anything," I said, "and I would rather you didn't."

"I have to tell you because I don't want us to have any secrets," she said.

I could see she was determined to tell me her story so I took a deep breath and prepared for the oncoming torture. I figured if it got too bad I would get up and leave.

"I was so pissed at you when you dropped me off at the hotel I was going to go in and find Tony immediately and go do what you wanted me to do but when I got inside I realized I couldn't behave in that obvious a manner in front of our friends. I would have to be more discreet.

"I saw Tony as soon as I walked into the ball room. He was standing at the bar with his back to me. Then I saw Julie and Dave sitting at a table across the room from the bar so I went over and sat next to Julie."

Sonya was determined to tell me the story in excruciating detail and was going to make my pain last as long as possible. She didn't seem to have any fear of me. I guessed that she somehow knew that I would never physically attack her and in the condition I was in I couldn't have even if I wanted to..

"As soon as I sat down Dave offered to get me a drink and went to the bar leaving me with Julie. Julie told me she loved my dress and then I told her I liked what she was wearing also. Then Julie asked me where you were. I told her that we had a fight and you stayed home."

"You told her we had a fight?" I asked.

"What did you want me to tell her?" She asked. "That you sent me there to have sex with Tony Kaplan? Anyway as soon as I told her that you were not coming I was aware of someone standing behind me. When I turned to look I found Tony standing there. He had heard me tell Julie that you weren't at the party and he didn't waste any time. He said that he needed to talk to me about something and quickly ushered me away from the table and out of the ball room."

I thought, 'Oh Jesus, she is going to tell me everything?'

"We walked down the hall to the hotel lobby and walked out side. It was a beautiful night and in case you didn't notice there was a full moon. Tony put his arm around me and pulled me close to him as we walked.

"Then Tony said, 'I finally have you alone. I waited thirteen years to finally make love to you and then it was ruined by your husband but he isn't here to spoil our evening tonight. I was hoping that you would come without him so I got us a room for the night. We can go up there now or we can enjoy the party for a little while first if you'd like."

"I told him he was moving a little fast for me and that was not why I came to the party. Then Tony reminded me of how hot I made him on our two previous occasions and how he felt that the two best moments of his life where the two times he was with me and that the two worst moments of his life were the two times we didn't get to finish what we started. Then he kissed me."

I wasn't going to be able to listen to much more of her story. My stomach was already doing flips and I was afraid that the two cups off coffee I had consumed were on the way back out. I held my hand up to Sonya.

"Please, I can't listen to this. I know you hate me because of what I did to you yesterday but this is too much. I am getting sick," I said.

"I am sorry you don't feel well but I want you to know how your handy work turned out," she said. "After he kissed me I told Tony to take me back to the party so I could think about what I wanted to do. As we walked back into the hotel I told Tony that when we got back to the party we should separate so that none of my friends would get suspicious and I would let him know when I was ready to go up to his room.

"When we got back to the party Tony headed for the bar and I went back over to sit with Julie. When I sat down Julie asked me what Tony had wanted so I told her he wanted to get in my pants. Julie laughed because she thought I was joking but I told her I wasn't. I told Julie that Tony had been hitting on me ever since he started working at SA. I told Julie a few more things before I left the table an hour later and gave Tony a signal that I was ready to go and then I headed out the door.

"I was halfway down the hall going toward the lobby when Tony caught up with me. We walked to the elevators and waited quietly for the doors to open. As soon as the doors closed behind us Tony was all over me. I had to push him away and tell him to wait. When we got to the room I went straight out to the balcony and looked up at the moon. Tony got a beer from the mini bar and joined me on the balcony.

"He started to put his arm around me but I pushed it away and said that I was worried that you would find out what we were doing and you would leave me.

"Tony laughed and said, 'You don't really care what he thinks because if you did you wouldn't be here now. Besides, he would have to be pretty thick to not know. That night he interrupted us at your house, he had to know something was up. "If he is that stupid he deserves to have this happen to him."

"Then I said I guess you don't care if I get divorced because of this? Tony said that was up to me. He didn't care if I stayed married or not. Then he put his arms around me and kissed me."

When Sonya didn't say anything for a minute I looked over at her dreading what she was going to say next. Sonya reached in the pocket of her bathrobe and pulled something out and threw at me. The object hit me in the chest and landed in my lap. It was the three pack of condoms. I look up at Sonya and she smiled at me.

"I didn't need them last night," she said.

"Oh God, I am going to be sick," I said.

I wasn't sure what she meant but my first thought was that she let him fuck her without the condoms and that was the ultimate way of punishing me for the way I had treated her.

"I didn't need them because I didn't do anything. When Tony kissed me I pulled away from him and said, "I am a married woman, I love my husband and I won't have sex with you tonight or any other night. At this point I not only find you unattractive but I also find you repulsive. You never wanted anything more than a quick fuck from me. I don't know how I could have been such a fool." I told him he was to stop bothering me, that his memories of our afternoon in my bedroom no longer held any erotic excitement for me."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was this true? Had she finally broken free of whatever spell she was under?

"So you went up to his room with him and then decided not to go through with it?"

"No. I decided not to go through with it when he kissed me while we were walking outside the hotel. That is when I had an epiphany of sorts. That is when I realized that his kiss meant nothing to me. Suddenly everything became clear. You were right about Tony, he is an asshole. He didn't care that he was going to destroy a marriage he just wanted to fuck me. I guess what really got me was when I was walking outside with him and I was looking at the moon I thought about the night you seduced me in the garage. I thought about how nice it would have been that night if there had been a full moon to cast some light into the garage."

I looked over at Sonya and she was smiling at me.

"Is it over then?" I asked.

"Yes, it's over and I am sorry I put you through so much hell," she said, "and I really do want to thank you for last night. If you hadn't forced me to face the fact that I had better smarten up or I was going to lose everything I don't know what would have happened. I realized that at some point you were bound to run out of patience with me. Where did you get the nerve to do that? I mean how did you know it would work?"

"I didn't know it would work," I said. "I was desperate. If I did nothing I knew that I would lose you. I tried everything else so that was my last chance to save our marriage and I must say I really didn't think it would work."

"I am ready for marriage counseling now if you still want to do that," she said.

"If we do that you have to be willing to talk about everything," I said.

"I understand that now and I am ready to do whatever it takes to save our marriage."

"Good," I said. "Can I ask you why you told Julie that Tony was hitting on you?"

Sonya said, "I told her that he was making unwanted advances and I couldn't make him stop. I told her I didn't want to file a complaint but I wanted him to stop. When I got ready to leave I told Julie that I was worried that Tony would follow me."

"I don't understand," I said. "Why did you tell her that?"

"You know Julie. I'll bet that as soon as Tony followed me out of the room she went and told Mr. Stanley what I had told her. I think Tony will be history very soon."

"Wow."

Sonya said, "If I come over there and sit in your lap are you going to vomit on me."

"I don't think so. I am feeling much better now."

Sonya sat on my lap and kissed me.

"You know there will still be a full moon tonight? Would you care to meet me in the garage after dark?" I said.

Sonya said, "It's a date."

This all happened five years ago. Sonya and I spent a year in marriage counseling and are doing great now. We have two wonderful children and we are thinking about having a third. There is going to be a full moon tonight.