Aftermath of a Proper Divorce

Author's notes: This story compares and contrasts the lives of each of the two individuals post-divorce. Warning: No hot sex, no RIAA, No BTB, and it contains only my POV. All errors are mine. My last submission (Eve and Jerry's New Baby) netted me more readers and commenters than any other submission to date. Thank you. This submission should be classed as Adult Fiction if that were a category. Thanks to Literotica for this platform.

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Aftermath of a Proper Divorce

The mood of Jason and Jill Crawford was sombre as three occupants of his speeding car enroute to DFW sat in icy silence. Jason's thoughts were, "I have tried everything in my power to rekindle my wife's love, but nothing has worked. I do not have a good feeling about this day." Jill's thoughts were, "Oh boy! Jason's traveling to the branch office putting out fires has given me lots of time to be with my lover. Hot Dawg!"

Later the parents said goodbye to their youngest child at the airport. Their daughter perfunctorily hugged both parents' necks and rushed into the TSA line two hours before her flight. She had won a National Merit scholarship and was attending a denominational college in the East. As the parents stood beside her in line, Jason said to his Daughter, "Penney, you have a fall-back visa card for emergencies, and the rest of your finances should be manageable. Do you think you can handle being a stranger in that strange land?"

"Yes, Dad and Mom, it should present no problem," the youngster said, while inching her way forward in the TSA Line, barely concealing that she was bored and ready for the farewells to end. The daughter in time disappeared, and the couple made their way in silence walking to Central Parking.

Jason thought, "How are Jill and I going to stand each other day in and day out banging around like strangers in our four-bedroom home -- or, are we, in fact, going to 'stand each other?' Well, I have long suspected that she was fucking her piano teacher, and if that is the case, surely she will be brave enough to end our 22-year charade of a loveless marriage."

Jill said while the two were driving home later, "Jason, our youngest leaving home represents a milestone in our lives and our relationship. We both know we haven't been happy with each other for many years. I know we both have tried - especially you - to recapture what we once had, but it can not be. I would like a divorce."

Her husband was unfazed as he had long ago sensed that Jill was unhappy and had prepared himself mentally for this moment a year ago.

Jason Crawford, working on his second career, was a computer systems man and was responsible for keeping the Insurance offices in the region connected using high-speed communication.

Troubleshooting proprietary software used by both agents and salespersons and the accounting department installed in each of the twelve branch offices, was his nightmare de jure. The sophisticated software was developed in India by a firm now out of business, and the Kludge was his nemesis - but it did help to keep him employed. The branch offices had at least one trained and experienced Computer Science graduate. Top management was reluctant to turn the expensive boondoggle software over to another firm either domestic or foreign for budget reasons -- the standard argument at board meetings was, '...like throwing good money after bad.' So each branch limped along performing needed 'fixes' as problems arose themselves or summoning Jason Crawford from the home office. Users complained about 'trying to make the computer work' daily rather than focusing on their task at hand.

Jason flew intermittently to nine cities in the South and Southwest and drove from the Dallas home office to their Ft. Worth office. His presence was often needed before the work day could begin to 'patch the kludge to keep the software working.'

On this day in their car, Jason replied to his wife, "I know you have been unhappy for two years or more, Jill, so now is as good a time as any for a divorce. How do you propose this should go down?"

Jill was shocked and relieved that her husband gave her a 'BFD' attitude. She thought, "That Bastard doesn't care one way or the other. I wonder what his reaction would be if I told him about Harrison, my lover. There is no need to inform him because he would only say, 'It's your problem, Jill, not mine.' Damn that arrogant son-of-a-bitch, Jason. He is always so certain of himself compared to most men." She then said, "You wanted to size down so let's sell the house and split everything 50-50 and make equal contributions to our children's education expenses. O.K.?"

Jason said, "That sounds equitable to me. I am driving to Ft. Worth in the morning and I want to be at our office there at 8:00 A.M. Will you ask our attorney to draft our petition, and we will discuss it when I return late tomorrow afternoon?"

She cynically said, "Yes, Dear I will take care of it just like I take care of everything else."

Jill was an Actuary and hoped to make partner soon in the international firm who employed her. Both husband and wife had about the same amount of money in their respective 401(k) accounts and last year's joint AGI was just over $200K. The mid-40s woman with big boobs and a tiny waistline was still nice looking. Her ego demanded that 20- and 30-something men hit on her daily as they had always done to make her relax. However, only her 23-year-old Jazz piano protégé teacher and lover, Rolly Harrison, had managed to seduce her right after she first started lessons with him two years ago -- the teacher came to the Crawford house once or twice weekly to give lessons."

Jason was awakened by his alarm clock the early next beautiful fall morning. He felt and noticed that Jill was not in bed. The Techie prepped and grabbed his overnight bag and ran down the stairs. He heard his wife ask someone on the phone, "Can you come over after your last class is over today, as Jason will have one of those long days in Ft. Worth and will work late?" There was a pause, and she continued, "Good. Until about four O'Clock then."

Jason stood at the counter reviewing a technical document while making a cup of coffee. Jill, who had been surprised to find Jason out of bed so early, said, "I have a piano lesson today at 4:00."

He replied indifferently, "Have fun, Dear," as he pressed the cover on the paper coffee cup and picked up his day bag. "Be careful driving if you are going to your office to work," as he cynically touched his lips and blew a kiss to his estranged wife while walking towards the garage door.

For the first time, Jill felt a shiver that ran all over her body. Her introspective question was, "Are you ready for soloing? Does your husband of 22 years care so little until he doesn't even wonder what precipitated our breakup? You are 44 years old, and your age is beginning to show, and every day it shows more, and how long will a mid-twenties nightclub piano player remain interested in a woman like you with zero talent at the keyboard? And can you compete with his students as he gives lots of private lessons."

Jason Crawford, who was now backing out of his garage, was Doctor Crawford in that he had a Ph. D. In modern languages and had previously taught French verbal drills and literature at a local college for ten years. In the world of insurance, however, his peers had forgotten about his education and experience of living in France as a young man. But as a tenured college professor, he saw the 'print out' on the wall years ago that foreign languages were dying on campuses. Falling enrolments motivated him to pursue first an MS and then a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Both Jill and Jason worked together to get themselves educated and be good parents for their young children. But somewhere along the way theirs became a loveless but symbiotic marriage. As Jason was driving to Ft. Worth in the early morning he asked out loud to nobody, "Were Jill and I ever consumed with love or did we just provide mutual support for each other so we could succeed in making a living? I Suppose there was passion at one time, but love died, and I have no idea now when that happened or how it happened."

Jason arrived at the Ft. Worth Branch of his insurance company about ten minutes before 8:00 A.M. The door was still locked in the early morning but at exactly 8:00 the Branch Manager, Marvin Banks, who had worked his way up in the company through sales, walked up smiling and unlocked it.

Banks was a capable salesman and was a hand crusher and prided himself by repeatedly saying, 'Everyday is an up Day!" In Jason's opinion, Marvin's score wasn't so high managing a shop, but he was one slam-bang salesman -- the agents loved him, and the company sales force seemed to like him. He said, "Hey, we are honored with a visit from the home office today..., sometimes I wonder if you guys crash the fucking computers to ensure your job security. Come in. Come in. I will put on a pot of coffee first thing."

Reparteeing to Bank's joke, Jason said, "Marvin, you know I have to bug the computers weekly so that I can pay for my kid's college with all my overtime! Have a heart, Willya?"

Marvin chuckled and said, "Seriously, I suspect your and my OT pay is about equal. Pour yourself a cup and when it finishes have a seat as I have an 8:00 A.M. conference call." Banks left the break room.

About that time the IT Manager shuffled into the break room rubbing his eyes. Techie Harry Brown said, "Damn, that coffee smells good!" He poured himself a cup and sat down and looking at Jason and asked, "Hell it has been over three months since you were here, so why now?"

Jason smiled and cracked a couple of jokes and then said, "The CIO has noted that there are damn few complaints from the laptop or desktop users about your proprietary software installation. She wants me to find out what the hell you people are doing, fix it, document it, recompile it, and farm it out to each site."

Harry Brown exploded, "You tell that Chihuahua Bitch that if she would authorize each location to hire sufficient technical staff, then nobody would have significant problems."

Jason said, "Yeah, I will make a note to do that -- knowing that writing to my congressman and talking to her will achieve almost the same thing. But in the meantime, your system is up more than down in the workstations and the server. And, you use the same piece of shit software the Chihuahua, our celebrated CIO, farmed out to India for development that everybody else does. So what is the difference?"

At that moment, a stunningly beautiful Asian woman walked into the break room, smiled, at the two men and nodded 'hello' even to the man she didn't recognize. She approached the Tea and Coffee Machine and ignored the two men as she poured a cup. She then left the room nursing her hot tea."

Harry Brown said, "The 'difference' just left the room, Jason. In this building when she walks into a room all we men first admire her technical savvy and get into a seduction mode. Oh. Even though she is a temp agency clerical employee on a 90-day contract, she immediately began troubleshooting computers. Then Marvin Banks assigned her to work for me. I -- along half-dozen more men in this building -- have been in love/lust with her since she got here. Jason, I know you are an old married man, so keep your pants zipped -- besides that she is too young for you, at any rate."

"Harry, Let's go to your office and talk." Once in there, Jason said, "you and Banks are not authorized to hire technical staff."

The IT guy smiled condescendingly and replied, "I know that. As far as Dallas knows she is just typing and filing. Please don't tell the itty bitty Bitch, will you?"

The visiting IT manager said, "Damn it, Harry! Working a paper-shuffler as a tech doesn't compute at all. If the wind of what you are doing gets back to the Chihuahua, you are..."

Harry stood up angry and said, "So be it! We have a problem, and I solved it. Hey," suddenly sitting back down, "I just remembered something -- you are a French Speaker from your former life, aren't you?"

"Yeah I lived in France and taught French language and literature for many years while learning to hack computers. I finished my education and got this real job. So what?"

Harry smiled as if he had just solved the national debt problem and said, "Jason, her English is about as good as my French -- almost nil. But, you could understand her explanation of the problems in the code and her fixes, and you and Annie Ngo could document it and recompile it for use in all Branches. Then you could talk the Chihuahua into cutting her a fat bonus check. I've tried to talk to her but find it impossible except to use street language, but you and she could bullet-proof the boondoggle program."

Jason said, "I owe you, Harry. Would you mind introducing Ms. Annie Ngo to me? Afterward, could you work somewhere else for a while?" After nodding yes, the local IT guy left.

In about three minutes Harry and Annie Ngo walked through Brown's open office door. Jason popped to his feet like a popcorn kernel because she walked as if she were on a runway modelling clothes at a fashion show. While introductions were taking place, Jason's first shock was that she walked to Jason's side of the desk uninvited right up to the home office Guru and extended her hand in a greeting. The captivating smile never left her face. She displayed a warmness to Jason looking directly into his eyes while showing him her blindingly white teeth and said, "Thanks for talking to me, Mister Crawford."

Jason sat down while holding on to his desk and motioned for her to sit across from him as Harry politely excused himself and left the room. Jason smiled and began talking in French, "It's a pleasure to meet someone who sees a problem and solves it without being asked. This office is very lucky to have hired you from a temp agency. How long are you slated to work for us, Ms. Ngo?"

She replied, in French almost unaware that she was now speaking that Language and said, "It is a three-month open-ended contract, and I have been here about two months."

"What does Harry have you doing day-to-day now that our crippled software installations for our users at this location work most of the time?"

She chuckled and said, "Help Desk calls -- which means training the users - and in between those few calls I am teaching myself to program in more languages -- I think that being multi-platform capable is the future. I also work on my English because I am looking for a contract software development position in one of the four languages I use. Right now I would embarrass myself interviewing because of my English."

He then asked, "You obviously have examined the source code provided us by the defunct developer so what are a few of the major problems?"

There was a two-hour discussion of technical talks followed by Annie using a French version of an idiom, "The long and the short of it is that the Rapid Access Development software tool was not the right approach, and they created a kludge. Your company didn't get its money's worth, Mister Crawford. I have patched the code in three places so that at least it works most of the time in the Ft. Worth office."

Jason asked, "Wow. The CIO -- we call her the Chihuahua -- had a bad day when she signed the original contract with the Indian firm. And I may have a bad day after I explain to her what a screw-up she did - indirectly of course."

Annie smiled, warming to this older man, and said, "I don't envy you."

Jason said, "Can you take lunch early and let me treat you?"

Annie switched to English and said, "Well, thank you very much, sir, if you will help me practice my English. Did I say that correctly?"

Both laughed out loud, and Jason said also reverting to English, "I think that line is from 'Conversational English for Foreigners,' and you perfectly captured it." At this point, they began talking about current events in English for her benefit as a student. About an hour later it was lunch time, and he asked, "Are you ready for food and drink?"

Sitting across from Annie at lunch Jason said in French, "You are an extraordinary person, Annie, so how did you wind up sitting here with me?"

She felt glad immediately that this man was interested in her and answered, "I got a scholarship to the University of Strasbourg while a senior at a high school in Hanoi. Both parents were Vietnamese government bureaucrats, and my father also was a career employee of the U.S. Government at the same time. They provided travel and incidental expenses for my education in France. My ultimate goal was to go to either the U.S. or Canada. So, while in France, I met an American man?"

Jason asked, "What kind of man?"

Annie smiled and said, "He was a student in a Dallas denominational college and had traveled to France for the summer on a French Immersion Program. I met and seduced him, and we got married as he wanted to bring me back with him -- I was pregnant at the time."

Jason said, "He must have succeeded because here you are. Please go on."

She continued, "Yes, but I think his conscience was starting to bother him because here he was waking up every morning beside a sexy woman he couldn't talk to -- beyond the French conversational words he learned in his immersion program. He even began to believe that I got pregnant on purpose to trap him although I didn't. After we had settled in Arlington, I went to his church and two years later began having an affair with a deacon there. My ex- found out and divorced me, but he pays a generous child support and temporary alimony since I was unemployed and not yet a citizen at the time. I was for all practical purposes unemployable because of my English. So with my ex-'s checks and Mom's meager death benefit pension from the U.S. Government, and working as a temp, I manage to live. Oh. Let me explain. My Dad mysteriously died, and my mother moved here because she 'won' the immigration lottery slot."

Jason said, "Let me see if I can work that out. Your father was murdered by his government because they found out he was employed by our government and our government spirited your Mom out of Viet Nam."

Annie sat up straight with almost a look of alarm on her face. She then smiled broadly and for the first time and completely relaxed. There was silence for two minutes, and the waitress returned to check on their lunches. She looked warmly at Jason and said, reciting a quote from her conversational English lessons, "See no evil. Hear no evil. Do no evil." Switching back to French she continued, "You have more savvy than that of a standard Techie -- I am impressed. You have no idea how nice it is to befriend a man who understands complexity right down to the root -- both technical and social, in point of fact."

Jason suddenly felt an uncomfortable desire to hold this late 20s woman and said, "I am different from most men in that I have both a liberal arts and a technical education, so my vision is unlike others. But, it is getting late, and I have to get you back to the office. Where do you live, Annie?"

I commute 17 miles each way from Arlington as that is where my ex- settled so he could go to graduate school there."

Jason asked, "Would you mind commuting to Downtown Dallas if I could work it out with the Chief Information Officer -- it's approximately the same distance and you could either drive or ride the light rail to our office?"

Annie Ngo thought, "I have had zero experience meeting anyone interesting in North America before now. But suddenly here is the exception. Jason is old and not handsome by any stretch of my imagination but, he can help my career and be my fascinating companion. He also could be another male influence for my five-year-old if he hung out with me. I know that Mom will flip over him because the driven, focused type is her kind of man." She smiled broadly and said, "Say the word, Mister Regional Guru and I will show up in your office the very next Monday."