Author’s Note:
This story is dedicated to Harddezenite, who was the first to suggest that I start writing and posting some stories on this site. Thanks for the encouragement friend. I am really grateful for it.
Preface
The week before Christmas:
Steve Curtis had a smile on his face, but he wasn’t exactly happy. He had come to the party with his wife Barbara to celebrate the holidays and hope that the indifference between him and Barbara was about to end. It had been a few months since he had first noticed it, but he still had no idea why.
Tonight should have been a warm Christmas evening with Barbara’s co-workers and friends. Steve had connected with some of them at previous gatherings, but he thought this would be a good time to make amends. Instead, her smile became more forced.
For some reason, the boss’s nephew – that’s how he introduced himself – headed toward the table as soon as he came in. He grabbed a chair from a nearby table and walked into the small space on the other side of Barbara.
This annoyed Steve and the man so much that they had to move their chairs aside to accommodate the intruder.
To make matters even worse, Barbara calls him “Jimmy,” and he does whatever it takes to get Barbara’s full attention. Incredibly, Barbara seems to enjoy all of this, welcoming each new shameless and sometimes surprisingly personal compliment.
Jimmy and Barbara laughed, tilted their heads toward each other, and shared a joke about “trailer trash.” Steve dropped all pretense. He let the fake smile fade. Of the nine people at the table, only Steve’s wife and Jimmy saw the humor in the joke. Steve cleared his throat, a sour expression on his face expressing his opinion.
Jimmy looked at Steve and smiled.
“Hey, Stevie, relax? It was just a joke.” Barbara told her husband.
” Steve ,” he warned, “don’t take it so seriously. Jimmy was just trying to make a point about people having low standards and stuff. For God’s sake.”
“Yeah,” Jimmy joined in, “what did he say!” His raucous laughter echoed around, joined half a beat later by Barbara’s giggles.
“Actually,” Jimmy quipped, “I didn’t expect you to get the joke like that. It’s not your fault… it’s just that there are a lot of nuances to a construction worker.” He smiled at everyone at the table and invited them to work together to put Steve in his place.
Barbara laughed again. She looked impatiently at her husband.
Steve had to struggle to control his anger. It’s not easy. He took a moment, deliberately sitting down in the straight-backed chair, trying to relax. He fiddled with the bottom of his glass, trying to find something to do with his hands instead of wrapping them around Jimmy’s neck.
“Honey, the point he was trying to make, besides calling me stupid, was that some people don’t have enough money to buy a big house, or rent luxury apartments in high-rise buildings. Jimmy Boy thinks those people are stupid, lazy drunks, they should be laughed at.” Steve struggled to control his anger and failed.
“It just so happens that, you know, I work out of a converted mobile home ,” Steve continued lazily, but with precision. To those who knew him, this was a warning sign. When Steve gets really formal and his voice softens to just a whisper…that’s when people need to back off. This had been the case ever since their first confrontation on campus.
“That’s what we do on construction projects,” Steve continued. “We moved a trailer to the site so we had low-cost office space immediately available and somewhere to handle administrative issues.” He looked up and found Barbara looking at him.
“Right now…many of the people at the construction sites I work at and even their families are living in mobile homes because that’s what they can afford. You see, they want – what do they call it? The American Dream? Yes, they want their own home but times have been tough for them…This is nothing new…these people haven’t saved enough for a bigger home.
“And he wasn’t born to a rich uncle,” Steve said. No one noticed the sarcasm in his voice.
“Jimmy Boy” looked at Steve with his mouth wide open. Jimmy’s uncle owned the company, and no one had ever dared to speak to Jimmy with such naked contempt . Jimmy began to get angry.
“As for me,” Steve said, “I would never be so rude as to make fun of honest, hard-working men and women who are doing the best they can with what they have. That’s not something I can do while you still call yourself a man.”
After saying the last word, he raised his head from the wine glass and looked carefully into Jimmy’s eyes. Steve no longer wanted to hide his anger. In fact, he expected Jimmy to be angry. Two of the three other husbands around the table were silently preparing to intervene in their wives and the impending physical altercation.
Jimmy stood up, his face grim. He’s not much younger than Steve, and he works out four afternoons a week. Jimmy didn’t know the difference between work-hardened muscle and barbell muscle. He was about to find out.
“I couldn’t agree more, young man,” came the booming voice. Steve looked around and saw a short, bald man in an expensive suit standing over his shoulder. Although he was middle-aged, his slender body was still stiff and erect.
The unidentified man insisted, “My parents lived in a little trailer when I was born, and my fondest memories are of when we lived there.” His eyes were fixed on young Jimmy. He was not satisfied with the young man . Jimmy looked as if he had suddenly tasted something bad. He sat down heavily.
“Jonas Reynolds,” the older man introduced.
He extended his hand to Steve. They shook hands; their grip was firm but not confrontational. Steve appreciated that. Too many men try to make it a challenge. It was a game he often won, but he never enjoyed doing it.
“Steve Curtis,” he introduced himself. Reynolds nodded.
“Is that your wife…dear Barbara?” he asked. He extended his hand to Barbara. She stopped getting up; she didn’t have enough room to push the chair back and stand up without bumping into Jonas. My throat began to turn red with nervousness.
Steve’s anger towards Jimmy has changed. After a while he began to feel uncomfortable. Since the company his wife worked for was “Reynolds and Sons”, he assumed the man standing next to him was an experienced Reynolds man. Steve wonders if his impatience will cause Barbara to lose a lucrative job. He looks at Barbara just in time to see anger flash in her eyes, and she turns away.
“Jimmy?” Mr. Reynolds said softly. “I think you should find your Aunt Jenny and see if she needs anything.” Jimmy’s face changed. There was a hint of frustration and protest.
” Now , Jimmy .” The whip-like authority in Jonas Reynolds’ voice was clear.
Jimmy stood up, pushed his chair back with a loud yell, then turned and walked away. The tips of his ears turned red and he headed for the opposite corner of the ballroom. Jonas and everyone else at the table watched him walk away.
“I’m afraid Jimmy won’t be with us much longer,” Jonas said. He thought, “A man tries to do everything he can for his family…but sometimes it just doesn’t work.” Jonas extended his hand toward Steve again. This time, Steve stood up. At just over six feet tall, he towered over the younger executive.
“I hope you all don’t judge Reno for a rude puppy,” Jonas said. “Barbara is a valuable member of our team and we don’t want to lose her because of Jimmy’s… indiscretion.” He glanced at Barbara. Her face was pale and unreadable. Jonas turned around so he could see all the partygoers around the table.
“Ladies…gentlemen…I hope you can forgive me for interrupting your party. Please enjoy the rest of your evening.” He smiled warmly, touched Steve’s forearm affectionately, and then walked away quietly.
It took a few minutes for the conversation to resume at the table, but now the atmosphere was much calmer and there was more laughter between the words. Before the party ended, everyone had a chance to shake Steve’s hand. Two of the women patted Steve on the shoulder as they passed him on the way to the bathroom. One touched his cheek and smiled warmly.
They all noticed, but no one commented on the fact that Barbara had nothing to say for the rest of the evening. Jimmy did not show up all evening.
******
There was silence until they reached their home. Barbara’s disappointment grew when the front door closed behind them.
“You ‘re embarrassing me in front of all my friends , aren’t you?” she said bitterly.
“That’s all you’re doing now. You don’t like my friends and you put them down every chance you get. That…that manly thing you did to Jimmy…why do you always have to do that? Jimmy’s good.
Steve looked at him in surprise. It took a few seconds, but the anger replaced the disbelief on his face.
“Excuse me?” he said. “ You ’re the one who’s embarrassing yourself. I’ve done nothing but watch you make a fool of yourself. You think you’re hung up on that ass, giggling like a school girl every time he does it. “Smile, what do you think you’re doing?” His stupid jokes? Damn it… you’re following him around like he’s a movie star or something.”
Barbara was shocked. Steve rarely retaliated so strongly in his arguments. When he did, it was because he took what was being discussed very seriously. When he asserted himself, he rarely gained the upper hand in discussions.
“I…he just wanted to talk,” she defended. “I don’t know why you’re being so mean to me. Jimmy’s a really nice guy who tries to come up to me and talk sometimes. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with him being my friend?”
“It’s nothing in the world,” Steve replied, “unless you hang on to every word he says… unless you bother to talk to your husband all night… or unless you start talking to someone else.” So personal that no one could ignore it, he stared at her for a long time.
“What on earth are you going to do next… climb onto his lap and play kissing games with him? You almost did it. God, I can’t see under the table, but I don’t doubt you’re kicking ass.” Barbara’s face turned pale, and then red within two beats.
“Well, maybe I am,” she said sarcastically. “Maybe next time I ‘ll sit on his lap ,” she cooed. “Jimmy knows how to treat the ladies well… he’s not just a wandering construction worker!”
Steve’s lips tightened. He stared at his wife. Suddenly he didn’t recognize this woman.
“Barbara,” he said softly. “You sat there tonight and let other people disrespect me in front of you. You let it happen and laughed at it. Everyone at the table saw it. I thought I was being very gentlemanly about it…..That’s because if it were any other time, I would have grabbed “Jimmy” by the scruff of his neck, dragged him away, taken him behind the garbage cans, and taught him a little respect.”
He walked slowly towards where his wife was standing, in the hallway leading to their bedroom.
“But if I did that,” he said softly, “it wouldn’t be fair to him, would it?”
His wife looked at him in surprise.
“Barbara,” he said softly, “if I beat that little ant to a pulp for what he did to me, I would have to leave you lying in the dust beside him, wouldn’t I? After all, you are both disrespecting your husbands, aren’t you?” He stared at her for a long time without saying anything.
“But we both know I can’t do that, right?” he growled. “My father may not have much, but he told me that a man who beats a woman is worth less than cow dung.”
They are all quiet. The conversation seemed long because silence is usually absent in their conversations.
“Barbara?” Steve said softly. “Do you want a divorce?” Barbara widened her eyes.
“I…no…uh…how is that possible…I think you’re overreacting, don’t you?”
She stuttered at first but soon recovered. She spoke her last words triumphantly, waiting for her husband to back away. Instead, he stared at her darkly.
“Woman,” he said, “overreacting or not, the next time you take another man’s side against me, as you did tonight… the next time you laugh when another man insults me and puts me down… the next time you go against other men… ‘He is everything in the world to you and nothing to me… That is the day I think this marriage is over and I will divorce you before you can whistle Dixie, believe me, Barbara !
Barbara turned and ran down the hallway. Steve followed slowly, almost exhausted. He had been so optimistic about tonight’s performance. All his hopes were dashed and he felt more depressed than he had in weeks. The bedroom door slammed shut. The sound echoed in the quiet room.
When Steve got there, he turned the doorknob and found the door locked. He had expected that. He almost turned around and headed for the hall closet, grabbing a few blankets and an extra pillow. He could sleep on the couch in the living room tonight. At least he could keep the Christmas tree lights up. Great. They would provide some support throughout the evening.
Suddenly the anger he had felt earlier came back with a vengeance. Without thinking, he leaned his back against the wall opposite the door, took a quick step, and put his shoulder against the door, just a few feet from the door handle. The door flew open and crashed into the wall behind it. Pieces of the broken door and door frame flew across the room.
Barbara’s screams continued for a long time. The surprise was complete. The violence disturbed her. She drew away from her husband, spreading her arms in an unconscious protective posture. Steve leaned the remains of the door against the outside wall and looked at his wife with disgust.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “If I didn’t do anything to you earlier tonight, you know I won’t touch you now.” He walked into the walk-in closet and began undressing, hanging his blazer and slacks on the shelves using the clothes hangers I had brought in just an hour earlier.
“I don’t want to sleep with you,” Barbara said. Her voice was raspy and shaky. Steve snored.
“Then don’t !” she replied. “But I didn’t do anything terribly wrong tonight. You did. If you don’t want to sleep with me, that’s fine. But tonight I’m going to sleep in my own bed. If you don’t want to, you know where the extra sheets and blankets are.
Barbara said nothing. After a while, Steve continued getting ready for bed. He ignored his wife standing in the corner. He didn’t stop her as she slipped past him and walked out the door.
Lying in bed alone is lonely. It took him a long time to soothe himself to sleep. Shortly before dawn, he woke up when Barbara lay down in bed with him. She stayed as far away from him as possible. Steve grunted and rolled away from her and fell asleep before she could complete her move.
Chapter 1 – Mid June
Cheaters are exposed in many ways. Sometimes it’s a phone call that goes overheard, an email that appears on your computer monitor, or a text message that hasn’t been deleted from your phone’s memory. There’s always the possibility that a friend, business associate, or family member might spot a manipulative wife or husband with another man. Sometimes cheaters are caught—for example, when a spouse comes home early. God bless those who lie in their sleep.
If you think about it, there are thousands of ways to uncover an affair. For example, Steve Curtis read about his wife’s infidelity in the newspaper.
******
He doesn’t usually read the newspaper. He gets all his news from the Internet or the occasional evening news broadcast. His brother didn’t try to hide his disgust at the way Steve reported things. John was the news director of the local Fox station, and when Steve refused to watch the local news, he took it as a personal insult.
A man, on the other hand, would do anything to distract himself in a dentist’s waiting room. He would read every magazine on the shelf, count the holes in the ceiling – heck, he would do anything to distract himself from the loud sound of a drill coming from the hidden treatment room. He would even read two days’ worth of the newspaper if he had to.
When Steve actually read the newspaper, it wasn’t the society section. Sure, he read the national news and jumped into the sports section, but he had no interest in the affairs of the city’s powerful socialites. Steve began reading every job ad he could find that might be accepted. He even found a bass boat he thought was interesting and wrote down the phone number so he could contact it when he had time. The wheezing of the dentist’s drill turned into a scream in the back. He hoped it was a drill.
Steve had to find something to do. Against his will, he picked up the section marked with a big “C” at the top. Below the fold on the first page of the inside section is a series of photographs taken on the property of local socialites. The first photograph of an overweight presenter on the programme was remarkable. Steve decided that rather than gaining ten pounds in the photo, he had gained fifty or sixty pounds. He decided to give to charity.
In the second photo of the obese host, Steve’s wife is beside and behind him, walking away from the photographer’s vantage point. Her head turned toward the man she was with. Her face was filled with happiness, almost adoration. Steve gritted his teeth and tried to control his rising anger. He took a closer look.
There is another problem – a very big one. The man’s left hand in the photo is extended downwards at a certain angle. It looks like the photo has been edited. If it hadn’t been cropped, it would have looked like the man’s hand was in the right place to caress Barbara’s ass. His wife’s smile showed that she was enjoying the illicit contact.
Steve’s world goes dark. Without warning, he is plunged into a darkness he has never experienced before. He is numb; he cannot feel his hands. They are lifeless. The newspaper falls from fingers that are no longer strong. Everything around him becomes blurry and tears well up in his eyes.
He couldn’t think. Nothing would be processed. He was disoriented and could only see a portion of the room directly in front of him. He was on autopilot and could only feel the twisting in his chest.
When the dental assistant called his name, he answered. He smiled at her comment as she walked in, sat in his chair and quietly waited for her to tie the paper bib around his neck. He seemed alert and cooperative with the clinic staff, but he wasn’t really there.
This was the least painful filling he had ever known. In fact he felt nothing at all. As Dr. Willis pulled his chair back into an upright position, it became apparent that ice had taken up permanent residence in his intestines.
