Chapter 1

I looked at her on the other side of the table and realized that she had not changed a bit in the year since I had last seen her. I saw her looking me over and wondered what she was thinking. I had honestly never expected to see her again.

I had checked into the motel three hours before and then had gone to the attached restaurant to get a bite to eat. I was sitting in a booth going over my schedule for the coming week when someone slid onto the seat across from me and said:

"Hello stranger; long time no see."

I looked up and saw Connie. She had been the afternoon desk clerk at the motel for as long as I had been coming to Palm Springs.

"Hello yourself. How have you been?"

"Same old same old. Still working the desk, but now I have the day shift with Saturday and Sunday off. How's that for being in tall cotton? You alone or is the crew here."

I knew what she wanted to hear. She and Sam had a thing going every time he came to the Springs.

"Alone for two days and then Vern, Rick and Billy Bob will be here."

I saw her face start to fall and then said, "And Sam will be here too."

She smiled at me and said "Bastard."

I smiled back at her and said, "Yup, that's me."

"How long this time?"

"Supposed to be three weeks but you know how that goes. The last time was only supposed to be two weeks and we were here two and a half months."

"Been here long?"

"About three hours."

"Seen anyone else?"

"No. Checked in, called the office to let them know I was here and then came here."

She was silent for a second or two and then said, "She's working across the street. She tends bar in the afternoon at the Oasis. She's there now. She works three-thirty to midnight."

I shrugged and Connie said, "She finally got rid of Nick.

I looked at her as what she said hit home.

"No replacement either."

"Excuse me" I said and I went to the pay phone, opened the phone book and found what I was looking for and then made the call. A credit card number took care of it and a dozen red roses were on the way. I went back to the booth and asked Connie not to go over to the Oasis and say anything.

Her back was to me when I entered the Oasis at ten to twelve. I took a seat at the end of the bar and waited while she finished taking care of a customer. She turned and took a bill to the register and then took the guy his change. Then she turned and checked out the rest of the bar to see if anyone was ready for another drink and she saw me. Her face lit up in a smile and she headed for me. As she passed by the register she stopped and took a rose out of the vase sitting there and then came up to me.

"There was no card, but my heart told me who sent them."

She looked at her watch and said, "I get off at twelve."

"I'll be sitting right here waiting."

I'd met Kirby almost two years before when the company I worked for sent me to Palm Springs for an extended stay. My company handles specialty cars for a major automobile manufacturer and one of the things we did was haul their products to sunny locations so advertising agencies could take the photos and shoot the film that was used in advertising campaigns. Time was money to those people so their locations were almost always in places where you could count on sunshine three hundred and sixty days a year so we did a lot of work in southern California.

There were five of us in the crew on that trip and during our second week Vern hooked up with a cocktail waitress who worked at one of the night spots in Rancho Mirage. He would drive over there every night and wait for her to get off work and he kept after the rest of us to go with him so he wouldn't have to drink alone.

One night the entire crew decided to go. The place had a floor show that wasn't too bad and Vern's squeeze was a nice looking lady, but from the moment I walked through the door I only had eyes for Kirby. There was just something about her that grabbed me. We were seated in her section and when she came to take our drink order she smiled and I melted. The first thing I saw when I was able to tear my gaze away from her face was the wedding ring on her left hand. I had one too, but mine didn't mean anything. Kirby took our drink order and as she walked away Billy Bob nudged me with his elbow and told me to close my mouth.

"Was I that obvious?"

"Only to everyone in the building."

For the rest of the night I tried to keep up with the conversation as my eyes followed Kirby everywhere she went. The next night I was there with Vern again and again my eyes stayed on Kirby. It made no sense since I knew she was married and to me that meant that she was untouchable, but God did I love looking at her. Vern noticed and asked me if I was planning on taking a shot at her and I told him no.

"In all our years working road trips and locations together have you ever seen me cheat on my wife?"

"No, but there s always a first time for everything and it is obvious that Kirby has your undivided attention."

"She's married too Vern."

"Again hoss, a first time for everything."

The truth of the matter was that if Kirby wasn't married I would have been after her in a heartbeat and the fact that I had never cheated on my wife would have been history. My fidelity toward Carol was just something that I did because I was an old fashioned kind of guy. I took a vow when I married Carol and unlike some I held to those vows. I didn't have to because as far as I was concerned Carol had released me from those vows, but like I said, I was an old fashioned kind of guy and I had old fashion values.

I had been on a two week location with the Grey Advertising Agency at the Kentucky Derby where they were shooting an ad campaign for a new model. Things went smoothly and we finished two days early so I loaded the two cars into the trailer and headed for home.

I tried to call Carol and let her know I was on the way home, but got no answer. I didn't think anything of it because she had a whole host of things she did to keep her busy while I was away on location. In addition to working full time at a real estate agency she bowled two nights a week, belonged to a book discussion group at the library, sold Amway products and worked as a volunteer at a local church. No problem. If I couldn't reach her I would surprise her.

I dropped the truck at the shop, got into my pick up and headed for the house. I had to drive through town to get home and as I passed by Kelly's Bar I caught sight of Carol's Mustang. No mistaking her pony, it was the only Sea Mist Green Mustang in the county. I hung a u-turn to go back and just as I straightened out the truck I saw Carol come out of Kelly's arm in arm with some guy I had never seen before. I pulled to the curb and watched as they walked — still arm in arm — to the parking lot. They walked to Carol's car and the guy took her in his arms and kissed her and she put her arms around him and kissed him back. She got in her car, started it up and then sat there waiting until the guy got in his car and pulled out of the lot. Carol pulled out behind him and they headed east. Our house was to the west.

I pulled out and followed them. I wasn't worried about being noticed since there were thousands of black Ford F-250 pick up trucks around. About five minutes down the road they pulled into an apartment complex, got out of their cars and went into apartment 3B. I saw the lights come on and I sat there to see what would happen next. Forty-five minutes later the lights went off and when no one came out of the apartment during the next hour I knew all I needed to know.

I drove home and I could tell as soon as I walked into the house that there hadn't been anyone there in days. I took a look around and then I went to bed. Carol was sure going to be surprised when she got home.

Carol wasn't home when I got up in the morning. I ran around and did some errands before I went into work and as I drove through town I saw Carol's Mustang parked at the real estate agency where she worked. I went into work, turned in my expense reports and told my boss I needed to take the rest of the day off to take care of some personal business.

I called Carol at work and acted like nothing was wrong.

"I called you last night, but I guess you were out."

"Last night I was working with the group from church. Are you still going to be home tomorrow?"

"Probably not. It looks more like noon the day after."

"Damn it honey, you need to get home. I'm hurting."

"It is just as bad for me lover."

"Just hurry up and get home."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you too baby."

At five I was parked where I could see her car and when she came out of work she was walking with the same guy I'd seen her with the night before only this time they weren't walking arm in arm. Must not want to get the rest of the folks in the office talking.

I followed them and they went straight to the apartment. I sat there about and hour and no one came out. I left and went to get a bite to eat and when I came back both cars were still there. I watched for another two hours and no one came out. I went home and set the clock for five am. I didn't expect Carol to come home that night and I planned on being outside 3B when she and the guy came out. I tagged along behind them as they drove to the real estate office and then I headed on into work. I had a sit down with my boss and told him what was going on and that I needed one more day off.

I drove home and removed all traces of my having been there and then I drove over to the real estate office. I was behind them when they pulled up in front of 3B and after they went into the apartment I went over to the mail box cluster and found that 3B was occupied by Jason Monroe. I sat and watched and at eleven-thirty Carol came out, got in her car and drove to our house. I headed for a motel and checked in for the night.

At ten the next morning I went home and saw that Carol had set the scene for me. Dirty dishes in the sink, her clothes all over the place and the bathroom looking like fifteen people had used it for the last week. It must have taken her hours getting the place to look like she spent all of her time there.

I waited until noon and then called her and told her I was home. She told me to take a handful of vitamins and she would try and get off work early. She came rushing in the door at three and she was already pulling off her clothes when she saw me sitting on the couch.

"What? You aren't naked and waiting?"

"I didn't expect you for another hour."

"I told you I would try and get off early. Now come on baby and get with the program. We have a lot of catching up to do."

I was not at all happy with Carol, but she was a great piece of ass and now that I knew what I knew that is all she would ever be to me from that point on. I'd had two days to think on it and had decided to just turn my back on it. I needed someone to watch the house when I was gone and it was nice to have home cooked meals. I sucked at doing laundry. The last time I did it I didn't separate it right and everything white came out pink so what the hell I thought, I'd keep Carol as a live in maid while I was gone and a convenient cum depository when I was at home. It would be easier and cheaper than divorcing her cheating ass.

"Come on Rob" she cried, "Get with it."

I got up, undressed and she grabbed me by the hand and pulled me toward the bedroom.

I was home for two months and as far as I know — and I watched her like a hawk — she never played around on me. I saw no signs that she was unhappy with me and in fact she was very attentive to me and our sex life was great.

Then I was tagged for a shoot in Phoenix with the J. Walter Thompson agency and I told Carol I would be leaving on Tuesday. Actually I was leaving on Wednesday and Tuesday evening I was parked just up the street from the real estate office at quitting time and when she got off work at five she and Jason went straight to apartment 3B. I guess they had some catching up to do.

That set the pattern for the next year and a half. Carol was the perfect wife when I was home, but as soon as I was out the door she was with Monroe. I would tell her I was leaving a day earlier than I did and then watch as she went to 3B and I would tell her I would be home two days later than I actually got there and then watch as she spent her nights at 3B.

I don't guess that she ever worried about not being home when I called because I didn't call all that much. It was something that we had set up long before I found out about her and Monroe. I couldn't call her when I was working the location during the day and it was usually seven-thirty or eight before we lost daylight and packed up the shoot. Because of the three hour time difference between us I didn't want to call and wake her up so we set it up that I would call her every Friday night at ten o'clock her time. She was always there for the call, but whether or not she was alone or not I never knew.

I was surprised that she never did anything at our place — at least she never did when I was watching — but I don't know about other nights. What I did know was that our marriage was dead. I would continue to use her, but it would never be any more than that.

It was my habit when on trips to live off my per diem and bank my entire paycheck, but finding out about Carol's secret life changed that. I started banking my per diem in an account Carol didn't know about and started pulling my travel expenses out of my paycheck. A divorce would happen somewhere along down the line and since divorces were now mostly no-fault with assets being split fifty-fifty I intended to decrease the amount of cash Carol would get while increasing what I would end up with. Carol noticed the change in bank deposits and mentioned it and I explained it away by telling her that the cost of motel rooms and meals kept going up, but my per diem didn't so I had to make up the difference.

The other change was that I started volunteering for more trips. By the time I first laid eyes on Kirby my marriage was long gone even though Carol didn't know it. Probably the oddest part was that even though Carol had broken her vows to me and that should have freed me up to play I didn't. Those old fashioned values again. I had given my word when I said "I do" and I was stuck with it until the bands of matrimony were legally severed. That was my mind set.

Until I set eyes on Kirby.

But Kirby was married so all I could do was look and not touch. And look I did. Three or four nights a week I went to the club and sat with Vern while he waited for Linda to get off work and I pretended to watch the floor show while all the time watching Kirby move between tables and wait on customers.

I did talk to her occasionally. When things were slow she and Linda would come over to the table and we would talk, but it was mostly general conversation. I don't know how long it would have gone on like that if left up to me, but it wasn't left up to me.