Jumping Ship

Her paradise was only disturbed by frequent calls and texts from Ralph. Rejecting those almost felt like flicking a fly. She had changed his name in her contact list quickly from "Hubby" to "Ralph". That was a deliberate decision about his future status in her life. She took his calls from time to time or answered his texts, but was resolved to set him free as soon as she saw him in person again. Life with Frank was just so much better.

Amazingly, things got even better after just a few days. A large suitcase was waiting for her in the middle of their bedroom.

"Ah..." Anna looked at her new man with a puzzled expression.

"Pack whatever you need, but don't overthink it. We can always buy anything we need wherever we are."

"Oh, wow," she squealed. "Where are we going?"

"What about European capitals for starters? Rome, Paris, Vienna..."

He was interrupted by her whooping while he was smiling contently at her. This was a nice moment for both of them.

*****

The following weeks saw them sightseeing, shopping and having awesome sex in Rome and Paris, followed by a trip to a luxury resort on the Maldives. If Anna could get any happier than she was, she would probably explode, she thought, while she was purring contentedly after yet another great session of sex. She had her man back, having corrected a severe mistake, and she was living her dream life, better than she ever had expected, better than she had been able to imagine even in her wildest dreams.

Neither of them had shown any interest in talking about the past, and to her surprise, his growing company didn't seem to require his presence at all. He was able to spend all of his time with her and that was exactly what he did.

*****

After a few weeks in complete bliss, Anna found herself in their luxurious home again. Their home, that's how she thought about it, though she intended to add a female touch to the place as soon as possible. By now, she was more in love with Frank than she ever had been with anyone. This life, this man, was all she wanted and needed.

Her responses to Ralph's annoying attempts to contact her had dwindled away, unfortunately leading to even more messages, pleas and promises. She was quite aware how much she was torturing him and was resolved to set him free as soon as they met in person again. She was finally Frank's woman again, like she should have been all the time. Ralph was just a mistake, a brief aberration.

*****

She was lounging on the deck, catching some rays and perfecting her already nice tan when she heard the doorbell. She hadn't expected any visitors, but she didn't care much, either. Frank would handle this, like he handled everything for her. She was his woman through and through and she trusted him completely.

A shadow blocked the sun and she finally was forced to open her eyes. Damn. Ralph. She didn't really want to see him, she had no use for him in her life anymore, yet she knew she had to get this over with sooner or later.

"Anna," was all he said. He definitely looked profoundly unhappy, but his feelings didn't really matter anymore. She failed to see the analogy to her own attitude upon leaving Frank four years earlier.

"Oh. Ralph." Okay, not the most brilliant thing to say. The problem was, there wasn't much she wanted to tell him. He was a part of her past, she just hadn't told him yet.

"You could have answered a few of my calls or texts, you know?"

"Ralph, things are different now."

Ouch, that hurt, that was plain to see on his already worried face. He obviously had suspected what was coming and would take it as hard as Frank had, four years earlier. Why did men have to be such pussies when it came to the important moments in life?

"What do you mean?" he croaked. Damn, she hoped he wouldn't disgrace himself by pleading or crying. Her respect for this loser was already quite low, even without an embarrassing scene.

"Well, Frank and I have kind of reconnected. I plan to stay with him. Let's make this as quick and painless as possible, okay?"

"Anna..." Shit, he was indeed about to cry. Even the old Frank four years ago had shown more dignity than the male wreck in front of her.

"You can keep almost everything in the divorce. I just want some personal effects."

"Anna, you can't do that. I love you. We... Anna... please..."

Damn, this was about to get ugly.

"Says the man who was willing to pimp me out for a few thousand Euro?" she asked in a hard tone.

"Anna, we both decided to do this. You can't hold that against me," Ralph pleaded.

"Ralph," she said, changing strategy and trying to sound compassionate. "Frank and I have realized that we still love each other and..."

"And he has more money," he interrupted her.

"Yes, he has more money, but that's not what this is about."

"Right, you bitch. You left him for me when I had more cash than he did. Now the roles are reversed and you jump ship again."

"Well, I..." She didn't have a good reply for that. It was true. It wasn't the whole story, but it was true.

She saw that Frank had watched the whole scene with an amused smile on his handsome face. She was relieved to see him, he would take care of her again and handle this unfortunate situation. She was eager to get rid of Ralph and to continue her new dream life. "Frank, could you please give Ralph his money? I think we need to resolve this as quickly as possible."

"You're right, of course. Ralph, here is your 25.000. I'm sure it will help you tremendously."

"Seriously?" Ralph asked, suddenly sounding a bit furious. "You think I'd trade the woman I love for lousy 50K?"

"No, but you would lease her."

"Then what's this about her staying with you?"

"She isn't. We have a deal and I'm keeping my part of it. I've had Anna for the stipulated four weeks and you get your money. She's yours again. Enjoy."

"Ah, Frank..." Anna said, suddenly a bit unsettled. Frank would surely not let her go after they had spent the time of their lives together?

"The four weeks are up, I want to thank both of you for the deal," Frank calmly said.

To say Anna was shocked would have been a serious understatement. "Frank, honey, you can't be serious? You surely won't toss me out after four fantastic weeks just because of some silly deal with Ralph?"

"Yes, I will. I gave Ralph my word, and I will keep it."

"Frank, we're back together now, like we always should have been. Please, honey..." This couldn't really be happening, could it? She had dropped from cloud nine to misery in just a few minutes.

"Did I ever say one word about wanting to get back together with you? No. I wanted to restore my male confidence and I think the sex helped a lot. You said all the time it was the best sex of your life and you certainly meant it." Ralph winced a bit upon hearing this. "But you never realized that you contributed almost nothing to that. I did what made it good, you just received. I know now that I can have sex this good with other women. Of course, I also like the ego boost from the fact that you decided to kick Ralph to the curb for me. I don't think it will help your future relationship, but I don't care much about that. It sure will help mine, with whom ever that may be."

"Ah..." was all she had to contribute, still having trouble coping with the new situation.

"Maybe I also wanted to show you what you could have had if you'd decided to stay four years ago. I'm sure the four weeks we've had will give you some nice memories as you're living with Ralph in some low-rent apartment, barely scraping by. I also wanted to show both of you how quickly you were willing to jump ship yet again as soon as some better opportunity came along."

"I can't believe..." she stammered.

"Ralph, would you mind helping her pack her stuff?" He turned to his ex-wife.

"You can keep the clothes I bought for you. Not all is lost, you see? You have a new phone and a new wardrobe, a taste of the good life you could have had and Ralph has 50.000 to burn on silly business plans."

Frank was not surprised that Ralph wasn't overly happy with the situation. Yes, he had his woman back, but she had clearly declared that he was her second choice. She had also demonstrated how quickly she would abandon him for someone else, just as she'd abandoned Frank for him. The future of their relationship was shaky, at best. It surely didn't help that Anna had said how much better sex with Frank had been. Both Ralph and Anna realized that their relationship was doomed.

Anna didn't want to disgrace herself like her men had and was determined to handle the reversed roles with dignity and without useless pleading. Wordlessly, and with an impassive face, she stood up, took Ralph's hand and led him to the bedroom she had shared with Frank for a short wonderful time. She was resolved not to cry and she didn't, although her life had turned into a stinking pile of horseshit in no time. Ralph helped her pack her stuff into one of the suitcases that still showed the airline sticker for the return flight from the Maldives. It seemed to mock her: yet another reminder of her failure.

Ralph carried the suitcase silently to his car as Anna took a last look at Frank. He stood there expressionless. Wow, she thought. I can't say I blame him after what I did to him. He had the chance to get even and he did it gracefully and intelligently. She envied the woman that would snatch up this dreamboat. She just nodded, smiled briefly and followed her soon to be ex to his car.

The trip home was silent. Ralph concentrated grimly on his driving, afraid that the slender thread by which his self-control was hanging would snap. He remembered all too well how superior and smug he had felt four years ago when he had taken this beautiful woman from an inferior man. The wheel had spun, and now he was the loser: in business, in love, and in life.

Anna stared out the window. She saw Frank: as she had left him today and as she had left him four years ago. In so many ways, he was not the same man. His financial situation, his body, his confidence and assertiveness, all were completely different. He could still make her body sing with pleasure, but then he had done it out of love for her. Now he did it, what had he said: to build his confidence. He had once loved her with everything he had; now he didn't love her at all.

She looked at Ralph's grim face. Written clearly on his features was the fact that she had destroyed him, as well. Suddenly, Anna didn't like herself very much. Was she really that shallow? Would she destroy her next man, too, if he didn't live up to her exacting financial standards? Twice now, she'd jumped ship for what she thought were better options. That wasn't working well for her. Maybe it was time to try something different.

Frank realized he was finally and truly free. This had been not so much about revenge as about restoring his self-confidence, and he felt like it was a full success.

He would finally be able to accept the dating requests that had flooded in recently. There were much hotter and friendlier woman among those than Anna ever would be. He wasn't concerned about gold diggers. He didn't think about long term relationships, it was just his turn to have fun, enjoy life and that's what was about to happen.