I was watching TV when I heard the doorbell ring. I got up and went to the door and looked through the peephole. Fuck! I wondered how in the hell she had managed to find me. I considered just going back to the TV and ignoring the doorbell, but then figured if she had gone to the trouble to find me she wasn’t going to go away until she got whatever it was she came for.

I hooked up the safety chair and then opened the door just enough that we could see each other and then said:

“What the fuck do you want?”

“To talk to you.”

“Did not the way I left tell you that I had no interest in ever seeing you again let alone talk to you?”

“I have no idea why you left. I came home and you were gone. No note telling me why just all your things were gone.”

“You can’t be serious. How could you not know why? I know you heard me when I told you what would happen if you went through with what you were going to do.”

“May I come in?”

I figured I’d best get it over with and I undid the chain, stepped aside and she came in, sat down on the couch and asked me for a glass of water. As I went to get it my mind went back to the night that started it.

I’d just gotten home from work and I found my wife Alice all dressed up.

“I didn’t know we had plans to go out.”

“We don’t. I have a date tonight.”

“A date? with who?”

“You don’t know him.”

“Him?”

“I guy I work with. He’s new in the office and doesn’t know too many people yet. He wanted to go to Sylvia’s birthday party, but he didn’t want to go alone so he asked me to go with him.”

“He does know you are married doesn’t he?”

“It doesn’t matter. Nothing is going to happen between us. Besides, I don’t want to go to Sylvia’s party alone and you won’t go with me so I told him I’d go with him.”

“And you know why I won’t. I can’t stand to be around that round-heeled slut. And I don’t want you having anything to do with her either.”

“Get used to it Sam. She’s been my best friend since the first grade and I won’t turn my back on her just because you don’t like her.”

“I don’t like her because she has been divorced four times and each time it was because she got caught cheating on her husband. And I don’t like going to her parties because of all the drugs she has around.”

“So you think that just because she cheated I’m going to cheat too just because I’m around her?”

“Now that you mention it I think it is highly likely. Just look at you now. All dressed up in your ‘fuck me’ outfit. Little black dress, fuck me heels and getting ready to go out with another man. It is obvious you are dressed for him and I can only think of one reason why you would dress sexy for him.”

“That’s a rotten thing to say to me.”

“No it isn’t. What did you wear to the last two parties at Sylvia’s? I’ll tell you in case you have forgotten. You wore slacks and a blouse to one and jeans and a sweater to the other. There isn’t any doubt in my mind as to why you are dressed like you are for this party. Sylvia has finally talked you into trying someone else. I know from snippets of conversation I’ve overheard that she has been after you to join in her little orgies for years. I guess she has finally gotten what she’s been after.”

“You’re wrong! It isn’t like that.”

“Easy enough to prove me wrong. Don’t go. Stay here with me.”

“I can’t. Tom is counting on me.”

“And he is more important to you than I am? All I can say Alice is that if you go you are kissing your marriage goodbye.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This won’t hurt us at all. Don’t wait up” she said as she headed for the door.

“Goodbye Alice” I said as she walked out the door. I think she heard the finality in the way I said “Goodbye” and she hesitated for a second or two and then she was gone.

Did I overreact? I didn’t think so. I was good friends with a lot of the guys in Sylvia’s circle and from them I had learned all about what happened at Sylvia’s parties. After the people who didn’t care to participate had gone they turned into orgies. I leaned that while Alice didn’t take part she did stick around and watch. I also heard about Sylvia telling Alice to “Forget about that fuddy duddy you are married to and join in. You know you want to” and that Alice always answered that yes she did want to but wouldn’t unless I joined in. My joining in was never going to happen. I’d spent countless hours trying to talk Alice into breaking away from Sylvia and to stop going to her parties, but I could never make it happen because of that BFF relationship.

I spent a good part of the evening wondering what I should do. I was thinking divorce, but I really didn’t know that Alice would cheat on me, but could I live with her given her “To hell with you Sam; I’m going” attitude? I’d had seven of what I thought were great years with her. The only bad was her constantly spending time with Sylvia whom I just could not stand. She was trash as far as I was concerned and Alice knew it.

One might ask why, if I knew so much as I did about the goings on at Sylvia’s, I didn’t just confront Alice? The answer to that was simple, at least to me. I HAD to know if Alice would cheat on me. If she was of a mind to cheat and I confronted her about Sylvia’s parties and her stated desire to join in would she just pull back from Sylvia’s parties and do it somewhere else? At a different time and place? I might never know if she did it some other time and place, but if she did do it at Sylvia’s there were people I knew who would tell me. I still hadn’t made up my mind on what I was going to do when I went to bed.

The ringing of the bedside phone woke me up and as I sat up I saw the time on the alarm clock and I wondered who would be calling me at one in the morning.

“Hello?”

“Hello asshole. Did I wake you up?”

“What do you want Sylvia?”

“Just calling to let you know your wife has finally found herself a real man.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Just what I said. Alice has found herself a real man. A man who can give her what she really needs. Here; just listen” and I heard the sounds of people fucking. And then I heard:

“Oh God yes; fuck me, please fuck me.”

The voice was the voice of my wife. I hung up the phone. Thirty seconds later it rang again and I knew who it would be so I picked up the handset and dropped it on the floor.

One of the good thing about living in an apartment is that you don’t accumulate a lot of stuff because you have no place to put it. I had all that I wanted packed and out in the truck in just over an hour. I was in a motel by three and at the bank when the doors opened at nine. I cleaned out all the accounts and then drove over to my job, told Jake I was quitting without notice and why. He said he understood, cut me my final check, helped me load my tools, told me I could give him as a reference and wished me well.

My phone had been ringing since seven and all the calls were from Alice. I finally turned it off and made a mental note to get a new number. Then I changed my mind. I didn’t know if Alice could get the new number out of our cell phone provider or not. I decided to pitch the phone in the trash can and buy a TracFone at Walmart. I didn’t need to do anything with credit cards since Alice and I didn’t have any joint cards. She had two in her name and I had three in mine.

By ten I was on the road to a destination I hadn’t yet decided on. All I knew was that it had to be miles and miles away from Alice.

I finally landed up in Castle Rock, Colorado. I found a job in my field and settled in to start my new life.

If there was a divorce Alice would have to go for it. If went for it she would know where I was. After a year she could use abandonment as a reason. The only drawback to that is that I wouldn’t ever know, but then it really didn’t matter because I had no plans on ever getting married again.

The next two years went by and life was good. I had dated some and had a friend with benefits and now this.

“I know you heard me when I told you what would happen if you went on that date. You ignored me, left on that date and I did what I said I was going to do. How did you find me?”

“A very expensive private detective.”

“Why did you bother?”

“You are my husband. The wither thou goest thing and that kind of stuff.”

“How did you come up with the money to pay a very expensive private detective on a secretary’s wages?”

“I sold the house.”

“What house?”

“The one I was awarded in the suit.”

I started to ask what suit and what house, but caught myself. It just didn’t matter.

“Well you wasted your money and the time it took you to get here because we are done. You did just what I knew you were going to do when you walked out on me to go to that party and don’t bother wasting your time trying to tell me nothing happened. You cunt of a best friend called me at one in the morning and then held the phone to where I could listen to what was going on. Your “Oh God yes; fuck me, please fuck me” came through loud and clear and said it all.”