As Jack maneuvered his car onto the freeway, his mind was certainly not on where he was headed. As his small car reached the speed limit he pressed harder on the accelerator. He flew by other cars on the road one after the other as he gained even more speed... then not sure how long he had driven like this, as if waking, he glanced down at the speedometer and saw he was doing 95. Muttering under his breath, he lifted his foot off of the pedal. The car slowed, passing fewer and fewer others, and then took the first off ramp. He recognized where he was and unthinking, turned down a country lane, soon stopping, overlooking a small lake.

"What the hell am I going to do?" he said out loud to no one.

His mind refocused on the problem as he rethought. I can't believe it, yet I know it's true. Jill is messing around with someone else. For the first time since I met Jill, and married her, I am feeling jealous... suspicious... no... knowing that my lovely wife of 8 years is having an affair.

Jack Cartwright stared unseeing over the lake before him. The evidence had been there for weeks. Jill getting home late from work, the phone calls he had overheard her part in, with the soft voice, the tender tone, the words that could be interpreted several ways. The new clothes, more mod, certainly sexier. The many nights she had said she was out with his sister shopping as he lay tormented. His gut wrenched as he lay his head on the steering wheel and wept.

Soon he asked himself, "Why?" again out loud.

But he knew why. He had been ignoring his wife... badly. The job had consumed him for the last six months. And everything with his darling Jill had been "put off". The long walks, the long talks, the dating they had continued even after they had been married for some time. Even the sex had become less and less and he couldn't remember when he had been there for that even. Lately he just dragged himself home late and collapsed after a warmed over dinner. Day after day, week after week...

"No damn wonder you dummy." he thought. He knew Jill needed to be loved in all of the many ways they had come to enjoy, Not just the sex, although that had been so good. Jill had been eager to experiment with him and they had tried about everything two people could do. Every fantasy either of them could think of had been acted out... too many to list... But more than sex, Jill needed to be held and loved. To be talked to and listened too and courted, So many ways he had let her down.

"OK... you screwed up big time... but now what? What the hell can you do now?" he voiced

Was it too late? Had she fallen in love with someone else? Was it over for them? He fervently hoped not. He truly adored his wife. And he knew that she too, at one point, had loved him just as much. Did she still? How could she and do this?

Then he thought, How could I do this? Love her so and ignore her so? No job is worth losing her. But too late? Knowing she has been unfaithful, that she has "known" another man, let another man do to her, all the special things they had discovered together. Do I still want her after that, want what we had? Can I ignore what she has done?

And he knew the answer. He knew he still wanted her. He would always love her. No one could ever take her place. No one could come close to satisfying him at everything in his life like Jill. He had found his perfect soul mate and treated her badly. And she had strayed. Ok he could deal with that... , maybe,. if it had just been the attention... the sex. But what if she loved him whoever it was? NO... that can't be... please say it can't be... and what if she refuses to stop seeing him?

Later he drove slowly back to their home. It was now mid afternoon. He had left his office abruptly after reading the typewritten note and had just wandered around the city aimlessly. The note Jill had dropped out of her briefcase that morning as she left for work. He had been on his way out too and he scooped it up and stuck it in his pocket without thought. She had hugged and kissed him as always and they climbed in their separate cars and left. At his office he had read it. On top of his other present suspicions, any doubt was now gone as he read the flowing message:

My Darling Jill,

I can't begin to tell you what the hours we have spent together mean to me. I just want more and more of you. You have been so wonderful to me.

I will love you forever

Now as he read it again in their home his reaction was different. The feeling he was about to throw up was gone. Now he was analytical. There was no signature. There didn't have to be. Did it really matter who she was seeing behind his back? His thoughts were now, how do I win her back. He had won her love once before, could he again?

He picked up the phone and ordered a dozen long stemmed yellow roses, her favorite, sent to her office and another dozen to their home, to be delivered within the hour. He looked at his watch and knew she would be in the staff meeting at that moment and left the message on her phone mail,

"Hi darling... I know I have been too damned occupied with my office lately but no more. If you are free tonight I will pick you up at home at 6 for dinner at Antoines. If I don't hear from you at my office I will see you then."

Antoines was a very upscale restaurant, also Jill's favorite. He showered and put on his dark blue suit, another of her favorites. He checked his messages, knowing if she had called it would be there by now. After making his way through a dozen business calls the ending beep sounded, she hadn't called.

He left hurriedly right after the roses were delivered to the house, wanting to be gone when she got home. As he drove around, there was an hour to kill, a new thought hit him. He spun the car around and headed to the new destination. Parked now, he was glad they were still open. The ring Jill had been admiring was still in the window. A solitaire diamond dinner ring.

When he drove off he patted his coat to feel the ring box. It had taken a few minutes to size it. She would love it. But was it all too late? What if she needed the new him the way Jack needed her?

It was time. He pulled into the drive of their home and walked to the front door, ringing the bell. This was how their dates started. Now he stood there nervous as a kid on his first date.

She opened the door shortly and when he saw her he felt his breath stop. She stood there and posed just like she always did. She had on a long cocktail dress that almost reached the floor. It was a second skin over her delicious form, his favorite dress. Low cut in front, it exposed a large expanse of rounded flesh. Jack knew if she moved just right her tan areola would peek up at him. It was so damned sexy. No wonder other men wanted her. How could they not?

Bowing from the waist and smiling at this beauty, Jack offered his arm. She slid hers into his and he felt her large breast brush his arm. He felt the familiar stir and he wanted her so bad. Again he asked myself how he could have let things go so far? He opened the car door for her and she slid in. As she did the slit in her skirt revealed her long delightful legs. He glanced at them as if he had never seen them before.

As he got in the car she slid over close and kissed his cheek and said, "I loved the roses... both at the office and at home? Have you been naughty?"

He smiled at his love. At that moment nothing seemed different. He tortured myself wondering what she looked like in bed with "him"? Wondered how she could be so duplicitous? She seemed to act as if nothing had happened. He started the car and backed out answering her question,

"Only in that I have treated my love badly, that damned job just ate me up... for awhile... but no more darling."

Her eyes glistened and twinkled and seemed to return the love he felt for her.

Antoines was magic as usual. The food was superb, the service elegant. After dinner the music was soft and slow and as he held her on the dance floor, he knew she could feel his excitement. Feel him grow against her as he anticipated what lay ahead. At least what he hoped for.

She snuggled closer in his arms as the song continued. Her body melted into his at every possible place and he could feel her excitement match his own. Her head on his shoulder, her lips on his neck, and she kissed him as he squeezed her tighter. He wanted to somehow absorb her now.