The Gamble

"Are you having a party at the house?"

"I'm at a bar Jules. I've spent the evening chatting to a beautiful girl."

"What the fuck Dave, who said you could do that?"

"Are you saying that you are the only one free to date? Are you saying I'm not free as well?"

"Well you aren't. While you are married to me, I expect you to behave appropriately."

"So you're saying you didn't ring me from a bar earlier?"

"Well, yes."

"And I suppose those guys from last time didn't show up did they."

"No, yes, maybe. Look Dave, I told you I'm not dating."

It was good to see that I wasn't the only one confused.

"Look Julie, can we please cut this crap and go back to how it was before. Come home now, I'll meet you there."

There was a pause, then.

"No, I'm sorry Dave. I'm just not ready."

"OK, just come for the night then."

"No, sorry Dave, I'll call you later."

An hour later, I was almost asleep when I heard the garage door open. I leapt out of bed, hoping against hope that Julie had changed her mind. From the window I saw Julie's car across the street. Then the garage door closed. Thus assured that I was home, she drove off. I went back to pondering what everything meant that I'd learnt this evening. With no clear idea, I got the impression things were spiraling out of control.

This time Freda came over Saturday afternoon. I asked her what the hell her friend was playing at, but she denied all knowledge. Not very convincingly though. This time when she tried to smooch up to me I was expecting.it. I kept her at arm's length.

"What the hell are you playing at Freda? I'm married to your best friend for Christ's sake."

"For the moment Dave. I just wanted to know if after Julie leaves you, I have a chance at you."

This sounded so contrived as to be laughable. But it did solidify the first of my suspicions.

"Don't you mean, if Julie leaves me Freda?"

"Of course Dave. I really hope you make it."

Being vague and telling her I felt really uncomfortable with the situation, I bundled her out the door. Freda really didn't want to go. She'd gone to the trouble of packing a picnic for us. In the end I really had to be blunt and tell her how inappropriate her behaviour was before she got the hint.

"Are you and Julie going out again tonight?"

"Yes, probably."

Was our parting conversation.

Fuck it. I rang Sarah. She seemed pleased to hear from me but said it was impossible for her to get away tonight. She suggested Tuesday. I felt honour bound to remind her.

"Look, it will be as just friends Sarah. I'm still in the middle of a very messy personal situation at the moment. I just really enjoyed your company last night. I promise to treat you with the greatest of respect until it is all sorted out."

After saying that she'd enjoyed our chat and her situation was a little complicated as well, she rang off, saying she was looking forwards to Tuesday.

Monday morning marked the start of a new pattern with Julie. She began ringing me at 6AM every work day, about 6PM when I usually got home from work and again just before bedtime. Ostensibly it was because she missed me, but my entreaties for her to come back were rebuffed. It was fairly clear I was being checked on. Wednesday I noticed a message on the home phone answering machine. It was only from a marketing company but was significant as it hadn't diverted to my mobile. Checking the home phone, I found the diversion gone. So I'd had a visitor had I?

Tuesday Sarah met me at the front door of her apartment and we left straight away. She looked gorgeous. Once we were seated in the restaurant, I opened the conversation.

"So, would you like to tell me why your personal life is a bit complicated?"

"Yes, her name is Hannah."

It turns out Hannah was Sarah's three year old daughter. The father did a bunk after he decided family life was too serious. Sarah's mother was looking after her tonight. Keen to distract her from asking me about my personal troubles, I changed the topic of conversation.

"The other night when we talked at the bar, you said the conversation at your table was bloody awful. What was all that about?"

"Oh, that. Awful conversation and stupid people. There was a woman there called Julie. She has just temporarily separated from her husband. But the stupid woman fully intends going back to him. They are just about to start a family and she separated from him to try to force him to fight for her, you know, spoil her more, be more romantic and things like that. The sad thing was though, that when she described what he did, he sounded pretty good already. He took her flowers every week, took her on date nights every month and always seemed to be spoiling her. Despite the fact that he works late every Saturday, he gets up early on Sundays and makes her breakfast. He even took her on a surprise cruise last year. Gee, I would have been happy with half of that from my ex. It made my friend Deb sad as well. She doesn't get anything like that."

"Some girls just don't know when they're well off I suppose."

"Believe me it gets stupider. Even before they separated she was doing all sorts of things to try to make him jealous."

"Like what?"

"Well apparently she used to come home from girl's nights out later and later, having deliberately put men's cologne on her. Bloody hell, once she even got a pair of panties from her friend Freda. She'd just been laid so you can imagine how they were. She put them on the floor of the bedroom till the next day. The guy didn't notice a thing."

"Her husband sounds pretty naïve to me."

"Or just loved her so much that he never saw those things. When all that didn't work, she and her friend cooked up the trial separation thing. The idea is that he was supposed to get desperate and fight like hell for her. But the guy is doing nothing. Good for him. When he didn't react like he was supposed to they decided to escalate the whole thing. She stopped ringing him. He ignored her. Then she got her friend to put the idea in his head that she was out dating. With all they've done, the poor guy is just not responding. To tell you the truth, I have to admire him. It's exactly what I would do if someone treated me that way. What was really sad though, was when Deb asked how much effort she put into the marriage. I think Julie realised at that point just how one sided her relationship was. You would think that would spur her to stop all the nonsense but it didn't. They've really painted themselves into a corner now. They're stuck and have no idea what to do. All because a proud man isn't playing the game by their rules."

"Well, she could go back to him, lay it all out and get back to normal."

"Yes, that's what I would do and I think that's what she really wants to do. Except, I think her friend is keeping her on track. Freda gave her a couple of real funny looks Friday. Sort of hungry."

"Could it be that the friend is trying to drive in a wedge between them to steal the husband for herself?"

"You know, you may be right. That would certainly fit what I saw. That would sure make her one cold, evil bitch though."

"If you were the husband what would you do?"

"Well I don't know how their relationship has been till now, but my reflex would be to dump the stupid, ditzy bitch. Move on to someone who would really appreciate him."

At that point our meals arrived and we changed to more neutral topics. I couldn't believe how comfortable I felt with Sarah. When the waitress cleared the empties away, my conscience wouldn't allow me to continue this charade.

"You know Sarah. All that you've said has impressed me that you are a very decent person with very healthy values."

"Why thank you kind sir."

"Do you think I'm a decent person?"

With no hesitation, Sarah replied, "Yes. I pride myself on being a good judge of character and I would stake money on you being a very nice person."

Oh dear, this was going to be difficult. I reached across the table and grabbed her hands, I suppose in a vain attempt to stop her escaping. Taking a deep breath, I plunged straight in.

"Please forgive me Sarah, but I've been a bit deceptive. My justification is that I am really confused at the moment and would do just about anything to ease the turmoil I feel. I want you to know I really respect you, so I will tell you the whole truth. Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Dave and I have been married for six years to a girl called Julie. Four weeks ago she announced, over my objections, that she wanted a trial separation. A new friend advised me tonight that I should ditch the bitch. Due to the extreme disrespect she has shown me, plus the awful pain she has caused, I was thinking along the same lines. You were right, I did treat her like a queen but only now realise how little she gave back."

I watched a cavalcade of emotions cross Sarah's face before settling on horror. She put her clenched fist across her mouth.

"Oh my god. Did I call your wife a stupid bitch?"

"Actually, I was deeply offended that you called the stupid bitch a stupid bitch."

That broke the ice a little but I could see Sarah was still conflicted. I hurriedly added.

"Do you realise that the first words out of your mouth weren't how I'd insulted you but how you may have insulted me? That just confirms what a lovely person you are. Can you forgive me?"

"Yes. You did use me a little, but I can see where you were coming from. Is that why you talked to me Friday night? Were you looking for a spy?"

"Hey, you chatted me up remember? Can I count on your friendship until this thing is resolved one way or another?"

"Sure Dave. But friendship is all I can offer. I don't want anything to do with killing your marriage."

"Thanks. Your friendship is all I want at the moment. From my point of view, I thought we had a perfectly happy marriage with no hint that Julie was dissatisfied. I came home from work one Thursday and she sprang the trial separation on me. She was just going to leave but I forced her to give me some explanation. Not enough to stop me being really confused though. Because I put all my effort into either work or Julie I don't actually have any close friends."

"Is there any chance you can patch things up?"

"I dunno, Sarah, a big part of me thinks I would feel like a complete wimp taking her back after the way she has treated me. Plus, after talking to you I realise how one sided my marriage was, romantically. I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you the truth."

By mutual, unspoken agreement we changed to more neutral topics from there. We ended up having a lovely evening, which ended when Sarah wanted to relieve her mother. It was my suggestion that she thought through things and contacted me when she'd processed it all. I said I would understand if I never heard from her again.

On the following day I was walking towards the grocery store when I was hailed from the coffee shop just down the street. I turned to see Julie, Freda and another girl with her back to me. When I got to the table my heart sank as I recognised Debra. She gave the game away by exploding with, "You", as she recognised me. The implications quickly unfolded to me. Julie would soon know I was spying on her. She would also know that I'd seen there were no men involved in her Friday night bar trip. Depending on what Debra said, Julie might even deduce that Sarah had given the whole game away. I should have been worried, but interestingly, realised I wasn't. I'd have to analyse that later. After a brief, polite conversation I left them to it, explaining it was time to get home and cook. I watched Julie's face to see if this elicited any guilt but it went right over her head.

The expected phone call didn't come until 9.30 that night. I was almost asleep and no one is at their best in that state.

"Dave, didn't I warn you not to spy on me? The fact that you did just shows me your lack of trust in me. Not only that, it shows an extreme lack of respect."

"Look at it from my point of view Julie. You pull this stunt on me and refuse to tell me what it is all about. Don't you think I may want to try to find out for myself?"

"It was a clear violation of our rules Dave."

"Your rules Julie."

I waited for this to sink in. What a waste of valuable brain time. Her next comments were strangely philosophical.

"Dave dear, I just don't know what to make of all this. This trial separation just isn't working out as I thought it would. I'm not sure if I love you as much as I need to. I think we need to extend by another month or two, see what happens."

She paused, obviously waiting for me to explode. I stayed silent. Unless she'd had a sudden change of heart since last Friday, then this was just an escalation to get me to try harder. What was the old saying? 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again'. Personally I preferred the mining variant of this. 'If at first you don't succeed, try more explosives next time.' It wasn't much of an escalation though. Simply extending the separation and confirming her reduced opinion of me was pretty lame I thought. Of course there was more to come.

"All right Dave, I didn't want to do this, but I think it's only fair. I think I should be able to date other guys. Maybe if I do that, I will realise how good you are and regain my old feelings."

Again she paused for the inevitable explosion. This time my silence wasn't deliberate. I was just speechless. When I could speak, I chose not to. I knew I couldn't control what I would say but knew it was very unlikely to solve any problems,

"Are you still there Dave?"

I still didn't answer. I briefly considered telling her that I knew exactly what she was up to, but it seemed to me that she had to decide to do the right thing for the right reason. If I laid all my cards on the table she would probably come back but the underlying problem would still be there.

"Dave?"

"I think you dating would be a really bad move Julie. In fact, let me be quite clear on this. If you do date or in any way behave in a manner that is inappropriate as a married woman, then I will consider that you have opted out of our marriage. By inappropriate I mean, meeting a guy more than once, dancing with, touching or kissing another guy. Am I being clear enough? I really don't know if we can salvage this marriage even if you come back today, but I'm willing to try. Will you please come back where you belong Julie?

This time the silence was hers.

"Well I don't think you are in a position to dictate terms Dave. You don't own me. I think I'm free to find a bit of the romance and companionship I've missed out on for the last month."

This was the point I seriously began to think Julie was deranged. Should I point out that the reason she was missing romance was that she'd run out on the romancer?

"So Julie, you still insist on opening up this marriage do you? Look you never did give me a reason for this separation that I could understand. The closest theory I could think of was that you were trying to make me work harder, put more effort into our marriage. I dismissed that as being too disrespectful. One advantage of having you gone is that it gives me time to think. I realise now that I appear to have put much more effort into our relationship than you have. Now I'm back to being totally bewildered."

Again the silence. When she broke it this time, it was in a voice one beat away from a sob. Like she was slavishly following a plan that she suddenly realised was seriously flawed.

"I'm sorry Dave, my mind is made up."

The dial tone announced the end of the conversation and I suspected, our marriage.

Bizarrely when I came home Thursday and Friday nights Julie's car was parked 100m along the street in the opposite direction from the one I approached from. I watched her drive away five minutes later.

Sarah rang Thursday night. She told me I was totally forgiven. I was more relieved than I can describe. She asked for an update, after assuring me that she was only asking as a friend. I described my latest conversations with Julie adding my analysis or her probable motive.

"What are you going to do now Dave?"

"Just sit back and wait for her to give our marriage the coup de gras I suppose."

"Do you want me to spy on her this weekend Dave?"

"No, don't soil yourself with this one Sarah,"

"How about we find out where they are and you take me on a date to the same place?"

"No, I won't stoop to her level. Good thinking though. I would like to see you this weekend."

We negotiated easily for a few minutes and finally decided on a Sunday afternoon picnic. She didn't push me on why I wasn't available Friday or Saturday. She knew. We must have talked for about two hours.

Friday it took no time at all to find Julie and Freda. The fact they were at the same old bar told me one of two possibilities were in play. Either Julie was really confident that I was too scared to spy on her or more likely she was relying on me spying on her. This time I observed all the action through the windows, slightly ashamed of myself for my actions.

This night Julie was well behaved. There was just her, Freda and Debra. They just chatted until about 10PM. Freda accepted several dance offers but the other two declined several. Eventually two persistent guys moved in, obviously zeroing in on Julie and Freda. Debra left shortly afterwards leaving the foursome sitting at the table. All night the two girls furtively checked out all the dark corners of the bar. I was pleasantly surprised when Freda and Julie left alone at 11.30. I followed the taxi to their place and stayed watching until the lights went out.

Saturday was a different story. Again it was the same bar. This time the same two guys were waiting and moved in straight away. At 8.05PM my marriage ended. After Freda left the table to dance with her chosen half of the dynamic duo, the other guy made his move. He shuffled up closer to Julie and I could see from my vantage point that he had his hand on her leg. In the five minutes I gave her to get him to remove it she must have scanned the bar at least six times.

I walked into the bar. When she saw me coming at least she had the decency to push the guys hand away. The expression on her face could only be described as smug, as she delivered her opening gambit.

"Dave, I warned you not to spy on me again."

Her unfortunate victim, sensing my mood, stood up. Whether to confront me or escape I will never know. Ignoring all socially acceptable behaviour, I stepped in real close to him, accentuating his diminutive size next to my 6' 1". In a low growl I delivered the shortest sentence in the English language.

"Go!"

He ran.

I kept my eye on Julie's face as I sat down in his vacated seat and pulled a roll of papers from my breast pocket.

"These are papers for a mutually agreed divorce. I've already filled them out. All you have to do is sign them. I've included a separate agreement on splitting our assets, I can't see any reason not to split everything 50/50. It makes sense if I keep the house as you have already moved out."

I watched the smug expression turn to one closer akin to horror. I didn't wait to see the rest of the show. I desperately wanted to avoid Julie seeing my watering eyes. She didn't say a word as I escaped. Curious I went back to watching through the window. Julie was crying freely. Within two minutes Freda returned confused. Once she glanced at the papers lying on the table a huge grin spread across her face. Over the next hour I watched Freda do most of the talking. Fifteen minutes in, Julie stopped crying. An hour later she looked quite relaxed. Shit this friend was good. It appeared she'd managed somehow to convince Julie that their plot was on track.