You have to wonder sometimes if it is worth it. You go to work and you bust ass to provide for your family, you see to it that they want for nothing and do they appreciate it? Not a fucking bit. They look on it as their just due.

I had gone out of town to work with a customer on a bid for work he wanted my company to do. I finished the bid and called my boss to let him know I was done and would be heading home a day early. He asked me to stop by the office and see him before going home. I called home to let my wife know that I was coming home early, but no one was home. I flew home, got my car out of satellite parking and headed for the office. I tried the house one more time on my cell, but still no answer. When I got to the office the boss said we could talk over dinner and that he was buying. I followed Dale to Carl's Chop House and we spent the next half-hour talking about my project and sipping martinis. Just as the meal was being served I saw a couple come in, arm in arm, and head for a table. Even with her back to me she looked familiar and I saw why when she turned and sat down. It was my wife. I saw the man she was with turn and kiss her as he sat down in the booth beside her and I saw her turn her face so that their lips met. Suddenly it was clear to me why no one was answering the phone at the house. Mae couldn't because she wasn't there and because she was here that meant one of the kids couldn't because Mae had parked them someplace. I wondered if this was what happened every time I had a business trip.

Mae was facing away from me when Dale and I got up to leave so she wasn't aware of the fact that I had seen her. When we got outside I told Dale goodnight and that I would see him in the morning and then I got in my car and parked where I could watch the door to the restaurant. When Mae came out I watched her get in a car with the guy and when they drove off I followed. They didn't go five blocks before pulling into the parking lot of a motel and I sat across the street and watched as they registered and went to a room. I guess that explained why Mae's and my sex life had slowed way down. I wanted to go over and kick the door down, but I didn't. I just started my car and drove home and parked a block away and went into the house to wait for Mae.

The house was empty when I got home so I had guessed right about her dumping the kids on some one. In a way it was a good thing because they didn't need to hear what was going to happen when Mae got home. It was almost four in the morning when Mae walked into the house and found me sitting on the couch waiting.

"Oh hi honey. When did you get home? I didn't expect you until tomorrow."

"So I gathered when you weren't here to take my phone calls or here when I got home."

"I know baby and I'm sorry, but Elise Johnson was in an accident and I've been at the hospital most of the day and night. Your folks were kind enough to take the kids."

"I've heard that there was a shortage of hospital beds, but I hadn't heard that hospitals were sending their overflow to local motels."

Mae's face lost a little of its color and she said, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I guess that it means that I almost made a terrible mistake and accused you of something that you obviously didn't do. When you left Carl's Chop House tonight and went to that motel with the man you had dinner with I thought for sure that you were cheating on me. But hey, now that I know you were just visiting Elise I feel so much better."

Mae got a determined look on her face and sat down on the chair opposite me. "I'm not really cheating on you Harold. I love John and I intend to divorce you and marry him. I'm just waiting until the end of the school year so things won't be so disruptive for the children."

I just sat there and looked at her until she became uncomfortable and said, "It's not like it should matter to you Harold. You don't spend any time with me anyway. All you do is work, work, work."

Yes I did put in a lot of hours on the job, but then that is what you are supposed to do to make good money as opposed to just making a living. I looked around the room at the expensive furniture that Mae just had to have and the original artist art work on the walls that she just had to have and I wondered why I had bothered.

Until Mae hit me with her divorce plans I hadn't known what I was going to do about her infidelity, but as I listened to her my anger grew and took form and a plan began to grow in my mind.

"Well, if that is how you feel about it I can't see where I can do much except step aside and let you go. However I insist on keeping up appearances for the time being. That is my price for not fighting you on it."

Mae said was acceptable to her and we went off to bed. The next day I called an old friend of mine from college and asked him to do me a favor.

The following Thursday was the regular poker game that was held at our house. Mae had always served as hostess to the affair and per our agreement she greeted the players when they arrived and acted like the loving wife that she wasn't. As the evening progressed I kept a close eye on Mae and finally she gave me the opening that I was waiting for. She put her drink down and went to the bathroom. I threw my hand in, got up from the table, took Mae's glass and went into the kitchen and made her a fresh drink. I took a small bottle out of my pocket and using the bottles eye dropper I put a drop of the bottle's contents in Mae's glass. The favor that my friend from college had done for me was to ask his younger brother, who was in college, to score some date rape drug. According to the directions I was given I wasn't to do more than one drop unless I wanted Mae out for hours. One drop was suppose to disorient her, but not knock her all the way out and for what I had planned I did not want Mae completely out of it.

I got back into the game and waited to see how long it would take. Mae came down from the bathroom, took a sip of her drink and then walked around the table seeing if the guys wanted fresh drinks and then she went off to fill the orders. We were playing seven card stud and I got my third card, the up card, just as Mae headed for the kitchen. It was the Ace of Spades and when I looked at my hole cards I saw that I had the Ace of Diamonds and the Ace of Clubs to go with it. Yes indeed, this was going to be my night.

It took a little over twenty minutes before Mae said she wasn't feeling well and was going to go up and lie down. I finished out the hand and then called a time out.

"I've know you guys for almost what - ten years now?' I got a general nod of heads. "Every one of you, at one time or another, has told me how lucky I was to have a beautiful wife like Mae and how much you envied me. Human nature being what it is means that everyone of you has wished that you could take her to bed."