Chapter 1: Discovery

Things are seldom what they seem. Take this scene for example. Two elderly women are sitting at a restaurant enjoying what looks like a quiet lunch between two friends. One gets the other’s attention by motioning at a car arriving at the Crossroads Motel across the street.

“There they are. Right on time.”

“I can’t believe this. I would have never suspected.”

“It happens all the time these days. Who knows what either of them are thinking. Both are married and have kids!”

“Well I’m going to tell Jack (That’s me, her son) he will not put up with his wife cheating on him.”

“You’ll do no such thing. You have no idea what would happen if you did. This is a no fault state. Meaning it does not matter what the cause of the divorce is, the husband loses. He will pay alimony, child support and all the bills. Including the mortgage on the house while she continues doing what she is doing today. He does not have to know. You and I will take care of it.”

I should tell you who these people are.

The woman meeting her lover at the motel is Suzy, my wife of six years and the mother of our two kids.

The guy she is meeting is an attorney with the only law firm in our small town. He is married to the local district attorney and her father is owner of that law firm.

The lady who suggested not telling me is Martha, the other lady’s (my mother Fran) best friend since childhood. Those two had met and become friends before they even started school. Their parents went to the same church, Primitive Baptist in town. Both families had ancestors buried in the cemetery behind that church going back to before the War Between the States. These two were the only girls in their family so it was only natural that they grew close. Close like sisters. Forget those thoughts you perverts! She’s my mother!

They went to school together and married their high school sweethearts upon graduation. Yes, they were virgins on their wedding night! (Remember this is my mother we’re talking about!) Soon after the wedding the boys were drafted into the army. Both served in Viet Nam. Both were lucky and returned home un-harmed. Marth’s husband got on with the State Highway patrol and would retire in 25 years. They had bought a motorhome and planned to travel and see the country. Never happened. He had a heart attack within a month of retiring and died. Martha sold the motorhome.

My father had gotten into something called Agent Orange when he was in Viet Nam. He had died when I was a senior in High school.

So what are these two widow women doing spying on my cheating wife and her lover? Well Becky (Martha’s daughter) is an accountant for the law firm where Paul works. That idiot put the motel bill on a company credit card one day when he was short of cash. Becky, being the nosy type, started her own investigation. His car was leased thru the firm so it had a GPS. She tracked it to a restaurant. The same restaurant every Thursday! But she could not find a receipt from that restaurant, odd she thought. Paul always wrote off his lunches. Two hours later the car was back at the office. She tracked his company phone. It arrived at the restaurant then went to the motel! She told her mother about what she had found out. Can’t keep that tidbit of juicy gossip secret!

This happened to be the second time Martha had eaten lunch at that restaurant across form the motel at noon on a Thursday! This time she invited her best friend, my mother.

“I have an idea of how to handle this. Under no circumstances do you tell Jack, understand?

“Okay but I hate this!”

“Don’t worry Fran it’ll all be over soon.

They paid the check and hugged when Martha dropped mother off at her house.

“I’ll see you at choir practice tomorrow night. Remember not a word.”

“I promise.