Disco Nights Ch. 02

Wanting to hurt her I said harshly, "You know what a married woman is called who sleeps with other men?" She just looked at me blankly, "A slut!"

Lisa paled and put her hands in front of her face. "Not only a slut but a slut who screwed my best friends and my business partner!"

"Please Alan, don't say that. That happened almost two years ago and I regretted it"

"So, that was then and this was now? That's your excuse for John and Craig? What about Dan Burris? Do you regret that relationship too?"

Lisa looked down at the table and whispered, "It was more than just sex with Dan. We… we are friends. Please Alan. Dan and I share a lot, music, dancing, things you were not part of and didn't seem to care about."

I just stared at her in disbelief, "That's your reason for betraying me and our marriage vows? Of course by the time you met Dan the point was moot." I drummed my fingers on the table thinking about what she had just said. "You want to continue your relationship with him? Is that what you are saying?" She didn't say anything just kept staring at the table. "And you think I should just sit back and accept it?"

Finally, she looked up at me hopefully, "Listen Alan, we could have an open marriage too, an open marriage like Dan and his wife. We would still have each other but we both could see other people!"

My God! This was just so surreal. "And whose idea was this?" I said slowly.

Again she wouldn't look at me, "Dan and I talked about it a couple of times but it never seemed to be the right time to bring it up."

I couldn't help myself then, I started shouting, "You have been screwing around on me for our entire marriage and when you get busted your solution is to turn me into a cheater too!

If that is what you wanted you should have told me before the very first time you fucked up! Then I could have made my own decision about what kind of marriage I wanted and how I wanted to live my life!"

Lisa just sat there shaking her head, tears running down her face.

I slumped back into my chair, "Everything that I believed to be true about you and our relationship has been destroyed. Everything I thought I learned over the last six years took just six days to be exposed as a lie! Either you have been incredibly clever or I have been incredibly stupid." I said in disgust. I suspected I knew which one it was.

I shook my head and sat up straight. "Lisa, you made the choices, but all of us will face the consequences, you, me, and Maddy. But you were too busy taking care of yourself to think about us weren't you? It was all about you."

"No, no, it wasn't like that," Lisa whimpered.

"Lisa, I don't know who you are. I still love the women I thought I married." I shook my head. "But maybe she existed only in my mind. I certainly don't love the women you have become."

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I gathered my thoughts and the courage to say what I had to say next.

"I intend to file for divorce. I have consulted an attorney. There should not be any issues on division of property or with alimony. I intend to file for joint custody. If you contest it, I will drag out everything you have done for the last six years for everyone to see. At the very least you have proven yourself not to be a fit role model for our daughter."

Lisa collapsed into the chair, crying. I just sat there staring at the wall, lost in my own thoughts, thinking about the last six years. Where we were going now and how everything was going to change. I had been in my comfort zone for too long. I had forgotten the first lesson in life, nothing stays the same.

I waited for Lisa to get herself together. Her crying finally slowed and I looked at her, "This can happen one of two ways Lisa."

She looked up at me in despair.

"I can walk out that door tonight and ask my parents to let me stay with them for awhile. Of course I would have to tell them everything. And tomorrow one of us would have to tell Maddy I no longer live here."

Lisa shuddered when I said that.

"The other option is to wait until after the holidays. It is three weeks until Christmas. We can give our daughter as normal a Christmas as we can make it. It gives us some time to prepare her for what is going to happen. And we can try to keep this from your family and mine until after the New Year."

I saw some hope come into Lisa's eyes. I knew she was thinking if she could delay my leaving anything could happen. I decided not to disabuse her of the notion for now.

"Please stay Alan. I don't want you to leave!"

"That decision has been made. The only question is when."

Lisa looked away from me and whispered, "Please, please let's wait until after the holidays."

With that decided, I had a bad taste in my mouth and an overwhelming desire to get away. I didn't want to look at her anymore and I certainly didn't want to talk to her.

Abruptly I stood up, "That's settled then. I am going out. I won't be home until late."

Without a backward glance I went to the closet, got my coat and walked out the door.

I drove to the mall and wandered around awhile. I finally ducked into the movie theatre to kill a few hours and to occupy my mind. When it was over I couldn't tell you what I watched. I decided to stop at a bar for awhile to consider my next steps.

As I sat there eating a greasy hamburger and fries, I decided the first thing I had to do was to quit eating like this and take better care of myself. After that, end my marriage and get out of the construction business. And finishing school would now get a higher priority.

I got home after midnight and the house was dark. Going down the hallway I could her Lisa in our bedroom tossing and turning. No way was I going to sleep with her anymore. I would use Maddy's bed tonight and tomorrow set something else up.

I woke up early and just stared at the ceiling in Maddy's room. With a pang I remembered Sunday mornings Lisa and I usually made love. Shaking my head I started going over the things in my mind I needed to accomplish. Finally with a groan I hauled myself out of bed and into the bathroom.

After cleaning up and getting dressed I sat down at the kitchen table to finish my paperwork. I figured I needed about six more hours to finish it all. Then I would call John and arrange to bring it over to him on Monday. Lisa got up and wandered into the kitchen. I simply ignored her and continued to work while she got some breakfast and sat down across from me.

Finally she said, "Where did you go last night?"

I shrugged, "Does it matter?"

She asked, "Where did you sleep?"

"In Maddy's room. Today I will set up that extra twin bed in the basement. I will move my clothes and my dresser down there. I will sleep in the basement until I move out. That would be best for both of us."

Lisa just looked down at her cereal, got up and went back to the bedroom and closed the door. She didn't come out for the rest of the morning.

Later that day I set up the bed, moved my clothes and other stuff I needed downstairs. I cleaned up the basement and tried to make it somewhat livable. We had an old area rug and a beat up old television that I set up. I spliced into the cable and connected the TV. I also had an old telephone around so hooked that up too. I disconnected the ringer and put the phone behind the bed.

Lisa tiptoed around me and didn't say anything which suited me just fine. I went out to return the car and the camera to my brother. I told him I was going to hang onto the roll of film for now and we would talk about it later. I swung by Mom and Dad's and picked up Maddy on the way home.

When Maddy burst into the house she went right to her mom to tell her all about her weekend. Apparently Lisa was prepared since she acted like nothing was wrong and made all the appropriate responses to Maddy's chattering. I followed Lisa's cue and we both acted like we would have any other Sunday. Lisa had dinner prepared and we all sat down to eat as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

That set the pattern that was to last for as long as I was to be in our home. When Maddy was home and awake I stayed upstairs. We did all the things we normally did, watched TV, read the paper, played with Maddy, prepared meals and cleaned up afterwards. But when Maddy went to bed for the night I would spend the rest of the evening in the basement or leave the house. Needless to say there weren't any displays of affection between us.

Monday morning we got around like any other weekday. Lisa had made a comment about not feeling like going to work. I told her bluntly she was going to need her job and not to screw it up. I called John and told him I wanted to drop over with the end of year tax forms for signature.

I stopped at the bank and took care of the things I needed to do. I finally pulled into John's driveway around noon. I knew his wife would be at work and his son at day care. John and I usually got together a couple of days a week during the winter months to work on job bids or finish up paperwork. And sometimes just to hang out.

I walked into his house with a big file box with all the business files and forms that we had accumulated in two years. John met me with a big smile and said, "Hey Alan, why did you leave so early Friday night? You know the fun doesn't really begin until late!"

Then he noticed all the files I had with me, "What the hell? Why did you bring all this stuff with you?" I set everything down on the kitchen table and started pulling out files.

"Listen up John. Here's the completed Workman's Comp Insurance Forms, the quarterly liability insurance forms, the IRS quarterly withholding statements, the end-of-year tax forms and all the W-2s to be mailed after the first of the year. I've kept mine. I wrote the checks for the premiums and the withholding. You will have to sign them."

I hesitated for a moment and looked John in the eye, "Also, and this is important. Here is a notarized letter of resignation, from me, as an officer of the company, effective today. Here is a signed receipt, again from me, for the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars, received from the company in exchange for any and all interests in the company. That includes common stock, accumulated equity and goodwill.

I signed the check myself and cashed it this morning. It might leave you a little short of funds to start up in the spring but I'm sure you will come up with something. But you might want to get down to the bank today and have my name removed from the bank accounts."

John just stared at me, speechless. Finally he got all red in the face and started waving his arms and shouting, "What the hell are you doing? You can't do this!"

"Oh I can John, and I did. And unless you want the reasons for my impending divorce to become very public you won't make an issue of it."

As it sunk in what I had just said, John closed his mouth and got very pale. "But, but, I don't know what you are talking about!"

I just glared at him, "Don't insult me any further. I know where all the bodies are buried now. I don't want to see you or talk to you ever again. And that goes for Craig too. If I ever see either of you again, well, I think I could kick both your asses!"

As I walked out the door I made one last parting shot, "Tell your wife I won't be coming to your Christmas party, I will leave it to you to come up with a good reason."

As I drove away I felt better about myself. Finally it was a first step to closing out the past and start looking to the future. The money took a little of the financial pressure off as well. But I had one more piece of personal retribution left to accomplish.

I waited until about four thirty and called the Burris residence. I remember from my surveillance that it appeared that Patricia Burris arrived home quite awhile before Dan. I hoped this was the case everyday.

A woman answered the phone, "The Burris Residence." I asked if this was Pat Burris. She said it was. Remembering what a shock it was when I received my anonymous phone call, I resolved to be as gentle as I could be. I said, "My name is Alan Baxter. You don't know me but my wife is a friend of your husband."

I could hear the suspicion in her voice when she said, "What is this about?"

"Your husband has told my wife that you have an open marriage so this probably means nothing to you. I recently found out they have been having an affair for over six months now and I am filing for divorce because of it. I wanted you to know the consequences of his behavior." And Lisa's I thought to myself.

There was a minute of dead silence, then, "Son-of-a-bitch, that son-of-a-bitch! Alan, you said your name was?" I said yes.

"Well we don't have an open marriage. He probably said that because he got away with it once and I forgave him. I have suspected him a couple of other times since then but with my work I have been too busy to keep tabs on him. I see that was a mistake!"

"Well Pat, I am both glad and sorry to hear that. When Lisa, my wife was busted, she tried to sell me on having an open marriage like Dan said you two had. I couldn't imagine living like that."

"What proof do you have of this affair?" She asked.

"I have her admission on tape. And I have some photos of them together at the disco. Not very explicit but it shows them, hugging, kissing and having a very intimate time together. I also have the names and phone numbers of others in their group that were aware of their affair."

I could hear her cussing and swearing under her breath, "Alan, can we get together and talk? I would like very much to hear the tape and see the pictures." I said that would be alright, but I needed a day to get the photos developed. We agreed to get together for lunch on Wednesday.

I called my brother and he gave me the name of a photo shop who would do a rush order job. I called them and arranged to drop off the film in the morning and they would have it done before closing. I ordered two copies of everything and asked for at least 5x7's if they could be printed that large in focus.

After dropping the film off, I decided to go down to the university and see if my advisor was available. He had some time so we went over my transcript and determined I only needed three classes to get my degree. All of them were being offered winter term during the day. Since I now had enough money to cover the tuition, I made plans to register right after the holidays.

With that taken care off, I had been thinking I needed a source of additional income. Things were going to get tight financially. During the four years since I had come of off active duty the Army Reserve and National Guard had been bombarding me with letters and calls trying to recruit me.

I called a recruiter from each to see what they had to offer. The Guard offered me a one year trial enlistment at my old rank and since I was prior service, I would qualify for a five hundred dollar bonus. Half paid on signing and the other half at the end of the year. Five hundred bucks would probably cover at least half of the divorce cost so I thought that was a good deal. The one weekend a month would pay almost two hundred dollars.

The position they offered me was in admin in the state headquarters which was less than ten miles away. I thought 'what the hell,' one weekend a month and two weeks next summer was worth it. I accepted the offer that afternoon and made an appointment for later in the week to get processed in.

With things coming together I started to feel a little more in control of my life. The next day was my lunch appointment with Pat Burris. I picked up the pictures and headed over to the restaurant. When I entered I saw a lady standing by the cash register watching the door. I figured it had to be her so I walked over and said "Pat?" She smiled grimly and said, "You must be Alan." I just nodded and suggested we get a table.

As we walked to the table I observed that she was about 5'8", blond, attractive and very trim. She was dressed very business like and she appeared to be probably older than Dan, maybe in her mid thirties.

As we sat down, we studied each other carefully. Finally I suggested we order something and then we could talk. As we waited for our food I gave her some background about myself, Lisa and Maddy. She shook her head when she heard we had a daughter. She told me about herself and Dan. They met when they were both at college. She was two years ahead of him. After she graduated they got married and she started her own business. He eventually went into sales. They decided early on they didn't want kids. They had been married over ten years now.

After the food arrived I started to tell her the story from the time I got the phone call until the morning of our confrontation. I gave her a copy of the names and phone numbers out of our address book. I then got out the tape recorder and started the tape.

She listened intently while the tape went through Lisa's confession of the affair with Dan. Her face tightened when she heard the part about them going to her house. When the part about Dan was done I shut off the tape. I didn't feel there was any need for her to know the rest.

I got out the pictures and I talked about what I saw at the club. The pictures were clear enough to show the two of them holding hands, kissing and caressing each other. The looks on their faces were the look of two lovers totally absorbed.

Pat had tears in her eyes when she finally put the pictures down, "Thanks Alan, can I have copies of these?" I said they were hers to keep. Pat dried her eyes and was quite composed as she said, "Dan had an affair about five years ago that I found out about. We almost divorced over it but he convinced me it was over and it would never happen again. With my business I am gone most weekends so he has a lot of opportunities. I have suspected that something was going on a couple of times since then but it always blew over."

She finally looked down at the table and sighed, "This time it's the final straw. I don't need this or him." She looked up at me, "I'm sorry about your marriage and about your daughter."

I could tell she was hurting and trying to hold it in. I knew exactly what she was feeling. "It's not your fault. They are adults and made their choices. Now it's up to us to pick up the pieces and move on."

We felt we had said everything that needed to be said and got up to leave. I gave her my phone number and told her to call if she needed anything or just to let me know how things were going. She smiled and said, "Thanks, sometimes it's good to know there is someone who understands what you are going through."

As I went through the week getting my life rearranged, in public we would pretend we were a happy family. Lisa tried to put a smile on her face when she was around Maddy but when she was out of the room she had this haunted look. At night I could hear her crying in the bedroom after she went to bed. I felt a certain guilty satisfaction that maybe she was feeling some of the same pain I was feeling.

Several times Lisa tried to get me to talk about us and the divorce and I would just walk away from her. Finally she gave up. I would talk to her about Maddy, paying bills, household chores or Christmas. I did shock her when I told her I had enlisted in the National Guard. I also told her I was done with the construction business and she didn't ask any questions.

I called the attorney and instructed him to proceed with the divorce petition with 'irreconcilable differences' as the grounds. And I would drop a check off for the retainer before the end of the week. He said he would call me when the papers were ready to be served and I could decide how I wanted it done.

Before I went downstairs for the night on Thursday I asked Lisa if she was planning on me babysitting for Maddy on Friday night. Lisa looked away from me and said, "No, that's over with Alan. I'm not doing that anymore." I just looked at her and shrugged my shoulders and said, "Whatever," and turned to go down the stairs.