New Year's Grieve

She walked away then, and a car that I knew all too well drove up to get her. My heart broke as I watched my husband's Mustang carry the woman who had just destroyed me, away into the night.

* * * * * *

Gary

"Gary why did you want me to wear this dress to deliver the divorce papers," asked Misti.

"Because you look stunningly beautiful in it," I said. "I hope that giving a little bit of what you got, back to Carol makes you feel better. I know the pain probably won't completely go away, but I hope this makes it better."

"It does," she said. "More than you know. What do you mean I'm beautiful? I have no tits."

"Misti, a woman is more than two lumps of flesh attached to her breast bone. And that dress is perfect for the party we're going to," I said.

We pulled up in my driveway and walked around the block to Chris and Emily's house. "Gary, I can't go in there," she said.

"Misti, we'll just go in for a while," I told her. "Whenever you're ready to leave, we will."

Emily met us at the door. She was pleased to see us. Misti was shy at first, but I held her hand, and she gradually relaxed. About an hour before midnight, Emily came over and got her. The two of them went into the kitchen and had a long talk. I could see them from the living room, where I sat waiting my turn on the Xbox and talking to some of my friends. No one in town knew what had happened to Carol yet.

There were couples and groups, leaving the living room to go off to one room or another on the second floor, but no one cared. Most of the time those people weren't going up there with the people they came to the party with. However, it was no big deal.

The biggest surprise came a little while after Misti and Emily left. A woman that I vaguely knew came over and spoke to me.

"Gary, you aren't here with Carol, tonight," she said. "Does that mean you're available to play?"

"I guess everyone will know soon enough," I said. "Carol and I are getting a divorce."

"Then you probably shouldn't be alone," she said.

"And he isn't, Helen," said Misti. She came out from behind me and took hold of my arm possessively. "And he isn't available, but thanks for being woman enough just to come out and ask instead of sneaking around like some whore."

It was the longest thing anyone had heard Misti say since she divorced Steve.

Across the room, I saw Emily giving her the thumbs-up sign. For the rest of the party, we were joined at the hip. There were all kinds of people asking questions about us. We constantly told them that we were only friends, helping each other get over bad relationships.

Men kept coming over to ask Misti to dance, and she kept refusing politely. I did the same, but I did dance with Misti. Our dances were very demure with a lot of space between us.

At midnight, while we watched the big ball drop on the big screen TV everyone there kissed the person next to them, whether they had come together or not. Helen was next to me until Misti stepped forcibly between us.

"Don't even think about it," she said. As the countdown started I felt awkward.

"We don't have to," I began.

"I haven't been kissed in more than a year," she said.

"Misti, I don't want to mess things up betwee ..." I began.

"Shut up Gary," she said. She grabbed me behind my head and pulled me down to her gently. Our lips melted together, and everything stopped. I was actually dizzy when we stopped kissing. I couldn't believe that less than an hour after shipping my cheating soon to be ex-wife out of town, I was kissing another woman.

News of my divorce as well as the divorces of Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp spread like wildfire through the town. Both, Carol and Peggy got six months in jail and a year on probation. The DA wanted to send a message about convictions for any type of crimes in our town. It didn't help. He lost his re-election bid.

Because of her conviction, my evidence, and her involvement in Misti's divorce, the judge gave me our house, fifty percent of our current assets and minimal alimony for two years. I put it all her money into an account for Carol and gave it to her through her parents when she got out of jail.

For some reason, Misti and I stayed close. We were supposedly just helping each other through the pain of our divorces. We spent a lot of time together. The weekends were really busy for us. She came over to help me clean my large house, and then we went to her house to do yard work. After that we went out for dinner or walks. In the winter, we stayed in and watched movies.

We never had any problems, and Misti was the hands-down sweetest woman I have ever known. Even my kids accepted her. My God some guy is going to be lucky to end up with her someday I told my daughter. I think Misti heard me because her smile lit up my backyard.

Guys were always asking me about her, and I told them that we were only friends. I got so tired of watching guys hitting on her and interrupting our time together that I finally told her she was over her divorce, and she should probably think about dating one of those guys who were constantly hitting on her.

"So, I have your permission to date," she asked. I just nodded.

"You're okay with me doing things with him and maybe spending the night with him," she asked.

I was pissed, but I knew that I should start dating too. It had been a year since my own divorce by then and almost three years since hers.

"Misti you're thirty-five years old," I snapped. "You don't need my permission."

"Gary, you saved me," she said seriously. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd still be alone and never leave my house. I wouldn't have any friends, and everyone in town would still be calling me that weird woman. I owe you so much that I don't want to offend you. But even so, like you said it's time. I haven't had sex in years and...."

"Shit, Misti, you don't have to just jump out there and start ..." I began. She laughed.

"So daddy, I can date, but I can't have sex huh?" she laughed. "Well I've been talking to Emily and she..."

"Do whatever you want!" I said. She grabbed my arm as I tried to walk away.

"Gary, I'm not a whore," she said seriously. "I'm not going to just jump into bed with someone. I'd need to date him first and get to know him. I'd need to make sure that we have the same ideas about romance and love. I'm not into one-night stands and recreational sex. I'm not Carol."

"I'm sorry Misti," I said. "You have the right to be happy. I guess I was a little bit jealous." She smirked.

"YOU were jealous?" she laughed. "We can't even go to a party without four or five women hitting on you. Do you want to meet him?"

"Meet who," I asked.

"The guy I've been dating, silly," she said.

"Not really," I said.

"Why," she asked. "Don't tell me that we won't be friends anymore because I want to start dating."

"Misti, the guy isn't going to want me around; I guarantee it," I told her.

"He'll just have to deal with it," she said firmly. She grabbed my arm and led me over to her sofa. She pulled out her iPad and went to her photos. There was a big folder called my favorite dates. I looked at the pictures, and most of them were pictures of places around town, there were a lot of pictures of her alone.

"Where's your date," I asked.

"He took the pictures," she said. "At the end, there's a really hot picture of the two of us together."

"Hey, you and I have been there," I said.

"Yep, I loved it so much that I had him take me there too," she said.

"Hey, I know that picture," I said. "I took it. I felt bad about it, so I deleted it."

"You took it on my iPhone, not yours," she said. "My phone sends every picture taken on it to the cloud and to my iPad and computer. Why did you feel guilty about it?"

"Because, it shows off your ass and your legs in those tiny shorts," I said. "I didn't want anyone seeing...."

"That's weird," she said. "He loves my ass too. I always wear those shorts for him. Steve didn't like my ass."

"Steve was an idiot," I said. I put the iPad down.

"Come on Gary; I love looking at the pictures," she said.

"I can't," I said. "I don't want to look at pictures of you and some fucking jerk. He hasn't even known you for that long, and he's already got you showing off my ... I mean your ass for him. I have never asked you to wear those shorts and...."

"Gary obviously, we can't be friends anymore," she said. "I guess there are unresolved issues between us. Emily thought that might be the case."

"You're probably right," I said. "I'll see my way out." She seemed happy to see me leave. My heart was in my throat.

"Gary, Steve likes him," she said.

"What," I asked.

"Steve approves of the guy I'm dating. I ran into Steve about a month ago. He saw us out together, and he thought we were happy together," she said.

"Good for both of you," I said. "I'm happy for you. I'm just...."

"Jealous...?" she said. "And you're not a good friend. A good friend would have at least taken a look at the guy to make sure I'm not hooking up with an axe murderer."

"Maybe there's a reason for that," I said. "Maybe you're not a good friend either. A good friend would realize how hard this is for me. I was already betrayed by one woman I loved ... I guess I expected you to be diff...."

All of a sudden, she was crying, and I was on the verge of tears too. It was all too God damned sudden. I headed for the door.

"Gary, my God you're stupid," she said. She leaped between me and the door. "Gary look at this God damned picture," she yelled. It was the first time we had ever been angry at each other. She jammed her iPad in my face.

"It's the wrong picture, Misti," I said. "I know you think I'm stupid but that's a picture of you and me, not you and Mr. Ass Shorts Loving Wonderful."

"It's the right picture, Gary, why would you give yourself such a stupid nickname," she said.

"ME!" I said. "He's me? I'm him?" She just nodded.

"So you like my ass, huh?" I just nodded. "Gary did you mean what you said?"

"Which part, I said a lot of dumb things," I told her.

"Well you didn't really say the words, but you implied that you uhm ... Love me," she said.

"I kind of do," I said. And then suddenly her iPad hit the floor, and she was in my arms."

"Holy Crap, I've been waiting for another kiss like that since New Year's Eve at Emily's house," she said. "That's been over a year."

"I wanted to take things really slow because we'd both been through some awful things," I said.

"Jeezus, Gary, glaciers move faster than you do," she said. "That's why I had to pull this whole dating thing on you. Emily said that if I didn't give you a little push, we might never break out of the friend zone. It was your daughter who gave me the idea of how to do it," she kissed me again.

* * * * *

Carol

That bitch Emily was so good at giving parties, that she was now running the holiday parties for the whole God damned town. It was truly bizarre that a woman who held swingers parties in her own home was highly regarded in a town where Peggy and I were looked down on.

For the past year and a half, I had been working my ass off trying to fix my marriage. Hell I had actually started while I was still in jail. I had written a couple of letters to Gary and gave them to my kids to deliver.

Once I got out, I went to see him. I wanted to talk to him and try to explain things to him. I at least wanted to apologize. I walked up to MY house on a Saturday morning, only hours after I had been released.

I knocked on my own door and was totally gobsmacked when that little bitch answered it.

"Carol," she said.

"Misti," I replied.

"Escaped from prison?" she asked.

"Released," I said.

"Restraining order?" she said.

"Expired," I told her.

"Oh," she said.

"And you're?" I asked.

"Helping with the housework," she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"He sucks at cleaning," she said. "This place really needs a woman in it."

"Why you?" I asked more insistently.

"We're friends," she said. "Helping each other get over the divorces."

"Bullshit," I said. "You want him."

"I've kind of got him," she smirked.

"My ass," I snapped.

"Is huge," she quipped. "Which is why he likes mine sooo much better."

Before I could think of a comeback, the bitch closed the door in my face.

I had been expecting to breeze in and start talking. I expected him to call me a few choice names, and then I would become very contrite and apologize repeatedly. Then we would start to really talk. The talking would lead to fucking and my marriage would be back on track.

I walked away from the house confused, horny, tired, and pissed off. But I was determined to get him back. Over the past year and a half, I have tried more plans than Wile E. Coyote did on the Road Runner. None of them has worked.

The closest I came was my hospital stay. I got a case of food poisoning. I must've eaten something I was allergic to. Anyway, I woke up in the hospital and Gary was there. For three days in a row, he sat with me all during visiting hours. We got to talk. He even volunteered to let me stay in the house for a while after I was released.

The whole thing told me that there was still a chance for us. It never happened. The little blond smurf showed up. She actually told me she hoped I felt better and brought me a card, flowers and some magazines. While Gary went to ask for something to put my flowers in, we talked.

"It won't work," she said.

"What," I asked.

"I told him it was okay for you to stay with him for a while," she said. "He's moved on. He's forgotten about you. That's why he even forgot that you're allergic to shellfish."

"How the hell did you ...?" I began.

"Maryanne told me during a barbecue at the lake. She wondered if any of her kids would inherit your allergies. They tend to skip a generation. So you go ahead and try it. He won't bite. Gary isn't a cheater. He loves me. So your big old sagging titties and that fat flabby ass will just make him appreciate what he has even more," she said. "At least try to go out with some class. You guys have kids together. Your scheming to cheat on him cost you your marriage. Don't let further conniving turn you into someone that he can't stand to be in the same room with."

Gary came back with what had to be some nurse's idea of a joke. It was the ugliest piece of pottery I had ever seen. "I'll see you later, Honey," she said. "She got up on her tip toes and kissed him. And it wasn't just her. He melted into the kiss too. Their bodies just seemed to mash together like they were meant to.

Just watching them kiss made me feel like I was watching someone fuck. My husband really had moved on. It also made me see that Gary, and I were just different. We had different ways of loving. Gary and that midget loved only one person, and they loved that one person with their entire being. They were simply incapable of having sex or even kissing anyone else. Sex didn't just go along with love to them. It literally was love.

Steve and I had no chance of getting back with them. Neither of them would ever forgive someone who betrayed them. If she died, I would still have no shot with Gary.

I left the hospital and have been trying to live my life ever since. It's a small God Damned town, so I run into them frequently. They are so sweet together that they make my teeth hurt.

She actually moved into my fucking house with him and gave Steve his house back. Yep, that's right. She didn't sell the house and keep the money. She gave it to Steve. She also allowed him to cut back on the amount of his alimony. She said that she was happy, and she thought that Steve had paid enough.

Peggy and I are pariahs in the town that we were born in. It bothers me, but Peggy could give a shit. Peggy always seems to land on her back ... nope not her feet, her back. And that's the way she likes it.

I realized when we were in jail that Peggy is the truth. The woman is so comfortable in her skin that it amazes me. Within two days, no one in the prison would touch us. No one harassed us. We ate well and had no duties. Prison was just a chance for me to think about my life and my mistakes.

Why did we have it so easy? Peggy! The woman fucked our way through prison. Within two weeks, it was like a country club for us, while everyone else was at war.

Peggy was fucking all the male guards. However, it didn't matter because she was also fucking the therapists and the career counselors. Then she started fucking the female guards and even some of the female prisoners.

It finally dawned on me that my rumination about Peggy at the motel had been spot on. The woman was a quadrasexual. She would do anything sexual for a quarter. And she was willing to loan you the quarter.

I realized we were in trouble when we got out of jail, and she put up a poster of a donkey in our apartment. She stared at that poster the same way Gary used to stare at posters of Mustangs when we were married. She just got that glazed over, fR away look in her eyes.

She's been acting really weird lately. She thinks we need to move to a different town. There simply aren't enough men in this one who are still willing to have sex with her.

And now I find myself at this boring party watching the nightmare happening right in front of me.

It's just before midnight and the beginning of a new year that will be full of possibilities. However, there is no possibility for what I want. And then, Gary does it. He goes down on one knee, and as everyone gasps and holds their breath, he says something to her. Time stands still, and no one breathes. They're all waiting.

She looks across the floor and sees me. For only an instant, our eyes lock. What the hell? I give her the nod. And in that tiny, squeaky, smurf-like voice tells him, "Hell yes. It's about time." They kiss then and everyone in town exhales as one. The countdown reaches midnight, and everyone around us is happy.

I need to get out of there. "Let's go Peggy," I said to no one. I look around and notice her feet sticking out from underneath one of the tables close to us. The man at the table near those feet is acting really funny and can't seem to be still."

"Hey, Carol. Wanna dance?" someone asks from behind me.

I turn and see Steve standing in front of me.

"I'd rather fuck," I said.

"No strings," he said.

"No romance," I said.

"No emotions," he said.

"No relationships," I said.

"Can we just go and do it already," asked Peggy, who popped up at the mention of the word fuck.

"A three way," gasps Steve?

"Of course," said Peggy. "We are so much more fun than those two. They aren't really even dancing. She's just rubbing her pussy on him." She pointed across the room at Gary and Misti, who were still kissing, oblivious to everyone around them. Misti was only thirty five. I wondered how she would like motherhood.

"Yeah," said Steve with no enthusiasm. He couldn't take his eyes off of them.

"Yep," I echoed, wishing with all of my heart that I was where she was.

The end.