Zero, Fifty, or One Hundred - The Conclusion

"Zero, fifty, or one hundred Sharon, What is it going to be?"

The question hung in the air for almost a minute. It looked like my wife was trying not to vomit when she looked up at me.

"Bob, I am SO sorry about everything and I desperately need to talk to you. In answer to your question though. Do you want to drive or do you want me to?"

Well that was unexpected. I really didn't think she would walk out on us to lover boy. I thought for sure she would sit here all night trying to make excuses for her behavior. Bringing me to see her asshole really did win her some points. She was still in the red though.

I picked up my keys and followed her out to my car. I opened the door for her out of force of habit and she almost started to cry.

As I was pulling out of the driveway she looked over at me.

"I really fucked us up didn't I?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yes Sharon, you really did." I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.

"What can I do to fix it?" She asked.

I thought for a bit. I had a couple plans I was formulating.

"Well first thing, complete honesty from here on out. I shouldn't have to say this but apparently you think it is ok to not mention things I should know or out and out lie to me. Along with that you are going to have to find way to make me believe what you are saying. I don't know how you plan to do that but frankly, I am not the one who ruined our trust."

"Another thing I don't feel I should have to mention but am going to. He is dead to you. If we stay together, you do not talk to him during work. You do not ask him how his day is going. If he shows up at a bar you are at, you leave. If you cannot leave you call me immediately. You do not accept drinks or gifts from him no matter what he says. He receives NO interaction from you."

"Next thing. When we get back from tonight you are going to tell me everything. Even stuff you don't think I want to hear. I understand that I have been consumed by this project so I will take some blame. If you have hard feelings for me then let me know."

"And the last thing for now. Plan on making time for marriage counseling sessions. If you want to pick the counselor feel free to do so. Maybe Ron can suggest someone. This is contingent upon certain information however." As I finished talking her phone beeped that she had a text.

She looked down and got even more pale.

"It's him, he is wondering where I am." she said softly.

I held out my hand for her phone. Wordlessly she passed it to me. I scrolled back through her texts. There were a couple new ones from earlier today.

Him: Hey! I got a room with a jacuzzi, maybe after dinner can relax. bring your bikini :)

Her: You are not going to be able to get me drunk enough to get into a hot tub with you. I am not bringing a bikini.

Him: We will have to see. You know how you get when you are drunk:) maybe you won't need a bikini ;)

And then just now

Him: Where u at? I got a glass of wine waiting for u.

I texted back. Running a little late. I got a surprise for you.

Him: Ooh you brought your bikini!! excellent!

I handed the phone back to my wife. She read the texts and just hung her head.

"You know he is not helping your cause right? Just the texts from today make it sound like you are going to hook up with him tonight. How bad will it look if I scroll back farther?" I said. Of course I knew exactly how bad it looked.

"I guess I should ask. Do you think that your text messages today were inappropriate flirting? Can you see how these exchanges have killed all the trust I have in you?"

I heard her sob.

"Bob I swear I only planned on having dinner tonight. I never planned to sleep with him."

I couldn't help it. I looked at her like she was a moron.

"Did you plan on giving him your panties after getting wasted and bumping and grinding with him a few weeks ago?"

I didn't think it was possible for her to get any more pale. I was wrong.

"Sharon we are almost there. you should probably do something with your makeup and think about what you are going to say to Luke. Oh and don't drink the wine."

She pulled the visor down and got a tissue from the glove box. She started pulling herself together and stopped sobbing. As she started putting on her mascara she asked in a more normal tone of voice.

"Bob, I can see why you think Luke was playing me. Hearing you talk about it makes me think he was. But Bob, how could I have not seen it? I know my recent decisions don't show it but I am not a dumb little girl. I have fended off better looking and more sophisticated guys than Luke. So why did he get to me?"

"That right there is one of the reasons I have a tough time believing anything you say Sharon. You are a beautiful, intelligent woman who should be able to see this shit for what it is. That is why I HAVE to wonder if you are going along with it willingly." I replied.

"Suck! Add to that the fact that I got slutty at a bar with this guy and lied to you about going to dinner with him tonight. No wonder you are so angry and hurt." her color looked to be coming back and her voice got a little stronger.

"Ok I screwed this up and now I have to find a way to fix it. Thank you for giving me a chance." She went to give me a kiss but I turned my head at the last minute and let it land on my cheek. I am still not over this, not by a long shot.

She looked at me almost in shock. We are normally pretty affectionate, I hope we can get back to that.

"What do you want me to say to him?" she asked me as we turned into the parking lot of the restaurant.

I found a parking spot and killed the engine after pulling in. I looked over at her and let some of my anger boil over.

"What do I want you to say? Sharon our relationship is on life support here because of your actions with this fuck face. The two of you have destroyed a central pillar of our marriage. Our daughter could be spending Thanksgiving with you and Christmas with me. I want this fact to sink in. Then tell him whatever the hell you want."

She sat there quietly for a minute then drew in a shuddering breath and opened the car door. As we walked up to the restaurant portion of the hotel she made a move as if to grab my arm. I didn't pull away but neither did I welcome her touch.We walked in.

There was a pretty auburn haired girl standing behind a small kiosk.

"Welcome to T.G.I. Friday's! Are there two in your party?" she asked.

I was about to respond when my wife spoke up.

"We are are supposed to meet someone here. They have already been seated." she said, very business like.

"Oh, Okay feel free to look around." the hostess replied.

I didn't know what the guy looked like so I followed my wife's lead. She elbowed me gently and nodded to the back of the restaurant. There was a man sitting at the back of the restaurant, close to the door entering the hotel. It looked like he was doing something with his phone.

She walked with a determined step toward the table. She stopped and didn't bother sitting down. He looked up and saw her and gave a big grin. It took him a second to realize that she was with the guy behind her. When he noticed me his grin slipped and his eyes narrowed a bit.

"Luke this is my husband Robert Morgen. He has concerns about our relationship and after talking to him I have to agree. For the first time in our marriage I have given my husband reason to doubt my fidelity. I will be working hard to repair the breach of trust I caused by my relationship with you. From this point on I want nothing to do you. You have no reason to call me, text me, or otherwise try to communicate with me. I acknowledge my part in letting our relationship get to this point. Now I choose to end it. My husband knows about my reprehensible actions at the Red Horse Saloon. I will be doing everything I can to save my relationship with my husband, including informing HR first thing tomorrow about the entire situation. I will tell them that any attempt to talk to me about anything not directly related to our work will be considered unwanted attention. Now I am going to sit at the bar while my husband has a chat with you." AS she turned away she planted a huge kiss right on me before I could react. She looked into my eyes for a second.

"I am so sorry" she whispered.

I couldn't help but check out her ass as she walked over to the bar. That went better than I expected.

As I slid into the booth across from the disconcerted playboy, I couldn't help but size him up a bit. Dark hair, thin build, and dressed to perfection. I guess he would be considered attractive but I have never been good at looking at guys. He was probably about as tall as me although it was tough to tell because he was seated. I couldn't help but notice that he kept glancing at the glass of wine that was sitting across the table from him. This almost confirmed my suspicions.

This was the time to play it cool. I knew roughly what I wanted to have happen but I was having to make some of this up as I went along. Thinking on my feet was not one of my strengths.

"And here you thought that your surprise was her in a bikini." I said with a half smile.

"You really think she told you everything?" he replied with a smirk.

Now that dickhead was in front of me I felt calm. This was a problem I could handle.

"Actually I do, I have known that woman for ten years and I have been married to her for eight. I think I have a better handle on her than some pretty boy who has been taking a run at her for three months." I kept the smile on my face.

The waiter came by and asked for my drink order. I ordered a double Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks.

"She gives a great blowjob." he said still trying to smirk. He glanced at the glass of wine he had ordered for her again.

"Yes she does." I gave him a full smile this time. "But I don't think you are talking from experience."

"You want pictures?" he asked half laughing.

This guy was trying to get under my skin. I realized I should be reaching across the bar for him but instead I ended up chuckling.

"You don't have pictures. If she had gone that far with you there would be no need for you to spike her drink. What are wannabe rapists using these days? GHB, Rohypnol, or just good old X?"

I was working on a hunch but his shocked look removed all doubt. He shrank back as I leaned across the table from him. NOW I was pissed.

"You little son of a bitch. I should kick the shit out of you right here and now but I am not sure I wouldn't kill you. I don't need to go to jail right now. I gave my wife three choices and I am now giving you three choices."

I put one finger under his nose.

"One, you go bye bye. You go and apologize to my wife now and quit your job tomorrow. I promise not to come after you. Then you leave town."

I raised another finger.

"Two, you go to the cops and admit to spiking my wife's drink. Serve your sentence and leave my wife alone. I will be watching you but I won't come after you. Then you leave town."

I raised the third finger.

"Three, I sign us up for boxing classes. In four weeks you and I step into the ring. Personal injury waivers will be signed and neither one of us leaves until they are unconscious. And when you wake up you still leave my wife alone. Then you leave town."

The waiter dropped off my scotch just as I finished up. I took a long drink and appreciated the burn. Time to get back to cool.

"You must think I am an idiot. Why would I go along with any of those options?" he sneered.

I gave him what I hoped was a menacing grin.

"Because you don't want to be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your miserable existence. Every time you walk to your car in the dark you will wonder if me or one of my friends will be waiting with a ball bat to crush your knees and stomp on your balls. Every time you go to open your door at home you won't know if I or one of my friends is going to jump in and tie you to a chair and cut off your balls. Everytime you go out to a bar you won't know if me or one of my buddies is going to slip something in your drink and arrange for some backdoor lovin' then stomp your balls."

"You wouldn't do any of that. Your a teddy bear, at least that is what your wife told me after I got done fucking her the other night." His face was gaining some color back.

I took another sip of my scotch. I reached reached into my pocket and hit the button that started the voice record function on my phone. Hopefully it would pick these next few sentences of dialogue up. I really should have planned this better.

"You were planning on drugging and raping my wife tonight mother fucker, are you willing to bet a lifetime of pain and suffering that I wouldn't do exactly what I said?" It was time to go fishing.

"The drugs were just to get her in the mood for when I brought my friends over. We were gonna make her airtight tonight."

My cool evaporated.

I was able to grab his collar with my left hand and haul him toward me. I couldn't get much power behind the punch with my right fist because I was sitting down. I did hear a satisfying crunch and felt his nose give.

"You bastard! I am gonna call the cops!" he shrieked as he held his nose.

"Go for it asshat. I would love for them to test the remaining wine in that glass for drugs and then listen to the recording I have of you admitting to it." I shouted.

Within ten minutes the cops were investigating the disturbance. Apparently two state troopers were taking a lunch break at the Subway across the street. They took my statement and bagged the remaining wine and wineglass for testing. They searched Luke and found a packet of white powder. He asked for a lawyer and refused to say anything else. They listened to my recording and took my cell phone as evidence. It was difficult but you could just make out Luke talking about the drugs and the planned gangbang.

It was almost 4 in the morning before Sharon and I were able to leave the Police station. After she was done giving her statement one of the cops spent almost 15 minutes telling her what a great guy I was and how I had saved her from a drug induced rape. She was a basket case by the end of it all. Luke stayed in police custody. We were able to use her cell phone to give a quick explanation to my parents. They were understanding and promised to take care of Casey. They decided to take her to the zoo. She was going to love that.

After pulling in the garage and shutting the car off, both of us just looked at each other. She unbuckled her seatbelt and gave me a hug over the console. I let her cry into my shoulder for about a minute then pushed her gently away.

"Sharon we still need to talk but it is late and we need to go to bed. Tomorrow we are both calling into work and spending the day together to figure out how to move forward. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes Bob, bed sounds wonderful."

In a small voice she asked, "Can I please sleep in the bed with you?"

"Of course baby."

I woke up the next morning spooned up to my woman. I thought about how we got to where we were last night and I felt that things might be able to be okay. We still had a couple conversations to go before I would commit to anything however.

My hand was resting on her belly and she moved it up to her breast. I absently rubbed her nipple and felt my morning erection get stronger. I had to stop this. I wasn't quite ready yet. Getting up in bed I gave one of those perfect butt cheeks a slap.

"Get up and get around. We aren't having a heavy conversation on an empty stomach." I said.

We ended up taking a shower together and kept it from being anything more than a way to speed up our getting ready. Barely. I wasn't ready to be intimate yet until we had cleared the air.

We grabbed breakfast at IHOP and chatted about Grace and the fun her and my parents must be having. We managed to keep everything nice and light. After a final cup of coffee we paid the bill and headed home.

We sat down at the kitchen table and looked at each other.

"OK I guess I will start this." I said, "I think you can see what a bad person Luke is now so I am not going to beat that dead horse. He said you gave a good blowjob and that you called me a teddy bear after fucking him a few days ago. Is any of that true?"

"NO!, the farthest I went with him was that awful night at the Red Horse. I understand how bad my actions were that night but it never went ANY farther than that." she replied.

"How can you make me believe that? You lied about going to see him last night and you lied by omission about that night at the bar and your entire relationship with him." I felt it was time to get all the cards on the table.

"I have been racking my brain trying to figure that one out and I think I might have something. What about a polymer test?" she asked.

Polymer test? Did she mean polygraph? I had to smile a little bit

"You mean a polygraph test? A lie detector test?"

She nodded her head.

"YES! Make an appointment and ask me any questions you want. Just tell me the time and the place." The sincere look on her face was so adorable.

I know that those tests are not 100% accurate but I would feel alot better if she came up telling the truth.

"I will see what I can do. It might take some time to get it set up but that is a good idea, actually more than I would have thought." I replied

She smiled.

"OK that is a good start and we will revisit the extent of your affair later. I guess my next question is the biggest one. This is the one that hurts me the most AND the one that has the biggest impact on our relationship. How do we go forward? You being ashamed and not telling me about the panty incident I can understand. I don't like it but I can understand it. I have a tough time dealing with the fact that you got real close with another guy without telling me but IF you thought it was just a work friendship I can kind of see that. What I can't understand and what makes want to just walk away before I get hurt again is when you told me you were going out with the girls and you were going to meet him for dinner. A 100% direct lie. Forget about the consequences, you broke my heart when you told me you were going out with the girls." I know my eyes were watering. I couldn't help it.

"Bob all I can do is tell you my mindset at the time. First let me say that I am so sorry for lying to you about everything. When you took this project, for the first time since we have been together I felt like I was in second place. I am NOT blaming you or your work. I know why you took it and why it was so important to you. I am just telling you how I felt. I started feeling down and then Vicki's sister said something I couldn't get out of my head. She said to look for romance someplace else. I never took that to mean that I should cheat on you. I took it to mean that while you were preoccupied with this project it would be okay to find what I was looking for somewhere else. Enter Luke. I didn't realize it fully but he was filling the desire I had to be special. He asked me about my day, he asked me about my kid and family. We talked about hobbies I thought were cool. Basically when we were talking it was about ME."

She took a breath and studied my face for a reaction. I don't think I gave her one.

"When Vicki took me to task for how it looked at lunchtime I realized what I was doing. I was using Luke to get what I felt I couldn't get from you. And honestly I did cool it off. At the time I thought he was just being a friend but I wanted to get things right with you. The night that things got crazy I didn't invite him or his friends. I got there early and they showed up before the rest of the girls. Luke was buying drinks for everyone including me. I ended up getting as drunk as I have been since we have been together. I did some stupid and shameful things of which you are aware. But then we had some pretty mind blowing sex and that confused me even more. How could I be such a slut without you there and then have it turn out to be so fucking wonderful with you later?"