Chapter 51: Cindi’s Story

January 20, 1992, Natick, Massachusetts

There was a knock on the adjoining door that led to Cindi’s room. I pulled on my black and purple robe over my silk pajamas and opened my side of the door to find Cindi standing there in a blue satin robe over what appeared to be a long sleep shirt. She was holding a full bottle of Jack Daniel’s and two plastic cups.

“Buy you a drink, Sailor?” she asked.

I wondered what was up, but decided she probably wanted to talk. I was sure Cindi would understand, and accept, ‘no’ if I was misreading the situation.

“Come on in. I see you made a trip out.”

“The bellman did. The liquor store was too far to walk. But it still cost less than those stupid bottles in our mini fridges.”

“Gold costs less per ounce!” I chuckled.

“But not printer ink!” Cindi said.

“No kidding. I thought laser cartridges were bad. Grab a seat.”

She pulled out a chair by the table, opened the bottle, and poured some for each of us. I sat down across from her, picked up the plastic cup, tipped it towards her and sipped.

“You won’t get drunk that way!” she laughed, gulping down her drink.

“I probably shouldn’t,” I said. “And neither should you.”

“Hey, this is my party, not yours!” she said pouring more for herself and gulping it down.

I put my hand on the bottle and stopped her from picking it up again.

“Enough!” I ordered. “Let’s hear it. From the beginning. Then I’ll let you have another drink.”

“It’s that obvious?”

“Yes. Before you start, who’s watching William? You didn’t leave him at the house like last time.”

“He’s with my parents in Madison. Mom came down to get him yesterday.”

“I suppose there are worse places than Wisconsin, but continue.”

“Flatlander!”

“Cheesehead! You know why they have artificial turf at all the football stadia in Wisconsin, right?”

“So the cheerleaders won’t graze!” she giggled. “Stadia?”

“The correct plural for the Latin ‘stadium’, which is one. No surprise a Cheesehead didn’t know that! Do you know the difference between trash and girls from Wisconsin?” I grinned.

“Trash gets taken out once a week!” Cindi smirked.

We both laughed and I removed my hand. She poured herself another glass but only sipped.

“Better,” I said.

“I suppose the whole thing started when I broke up with Dave. He’s a really good guy, but man, I could not stomach church. Just no way! Speaking of which, do you still go?”

“We haven’t for some time. We’ll probably go for Pascha, and Jesse wants to go, but his moms have the same view of church as you do.”

“Following rules made by old men and found in dusty books is no way to live your life.”

“Exactly. So?”

“You know I kind of bounced around from guy to guy, and you and I flirted a lot.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Then I met Chris in the spring of ‘83. He seemed to be a nice guy, was fun, you know, the usual stuff. He was super busy with studying and drawing.”

I nodded, “I remember how it was with Jackie Phelan-Ferguson. Crazy. A five-year program and they studied and worked harder than any of us in four-year programs.”

“Exactly. He started coming to our Sunday group at your old apartment. I have to say, living in the building next door now, those are nice.”

“Elyse and I both loved the bay windows. She liked to sit there with me and cuddle and just watch the street and sky.”

“My cat, my son, and me,” Cindi smiled. “Not the same, but yes. Anyway, if you remember, Chris had some pretty differing views.”

“Sure, but he was always reasonable and thoughtful. Even when he disagreed, he made good arguments, and often he moved towards our positions. Well, towards mine. You and I don’t see eye to eye on everything.”

“No shit,” she laughed. “Anyway, you remember things were going along well enough, and he was, hmm, how to put this, entertaining enough that I kept seeing him.”

I laughed, “Cindi Spanos, when did YOU become coy about sex?”

“OK, he was competent and conventional, like Dave. You know me, though; I’m a bit on the crazy side.”

I smirked, “So you’ve said. Go on.”

“Well, you remember he took the job in Dallas. Well, rather, he had to because of the scholarship. I had thought we might develop into something at that point, but I was a Sophomore, and that meant two more years of school. Not long after that, you bought the house, and after we moved in, you and Stephie met Jorge.”

“Man, that seems like ancient history now! Kara and I were split, Stephie was about to decide to move to Georgia to be with Red, I was seeing Tatyana, and Jennifer and I were trying to figure things out.”

“It IS ancient history! Eight years! We were all barely 20! And Jorge was 17, I think!”

“Yes, he was at IIT a year early from our perspective.”

“A babe in the woods,” Cindi laughed. “But he’s a sweetheart. He knew just how to hold me in his arms, and the man could dance!”

“Vertical AND horizontal?” I teased her, based on what she’d said at the Rap Session.

“Well not at first, but Cindi is a good and patient teacher when the student is attentive and does A+ work!”

I chuckled, “I got the impression from a few young ladies that Mr. González is someone worth taking to bed. If you’re a woman, that is! I suppose you get the credit?”

“Only for the education! He had some natural skills which I hear you have as well. But anyway. That turned out to be, in effect, like your dalliances - a relationship of convenience, but it was a LOT of fun and I love him a bunch. He just wasn’t the guy for me, or so I thought at the time.”

“Hmm. And now?”

“No,” she said with a smile of fond remembrance. “We’ve gone different directions. I’d say we’re more like brother and sister now, kind of like he is with Jennifer and Josie, though he’s closer to them. Maybe cousins. Whatever. But then Chris moved back to Chicago and we started seeing each other seriously and eventually got engaged.”

“Yes, and he was at the house often enough and it seemed like he was doing OK.”

“He was. Well, I thought he was. Once I graduated and started working, things slowly began to change. Then we got married and you saw a bit less of us. And then less over time.”

“Sure. I assumed it was wanting time as a couple. I’ve seen that with others. Jamie and Jackie are perfect examples. I still don’t see as much of her as I used to, but that’s normal, I think.”

“Yes, I suppose it is, but they don’t stay away because they don’t like the zoo!”

I chuckled, “Cirque du Steve is the usual term!”

She laughed, “Jorge always did call it a circus. And with seven kids? It’s worse than a three-ring circus! But anyway, I started noticing changes. Chris became more and more conservative. You know my politics; Chris and I had a few clashes, but nothing terrible. But the social conservatism was grating on me. I knew we were having trouble, so I suggested marriage counseling. We found someone and started seeing him as a couple. He had some good advice and good suggestions, but Chris didn’t seem to want to cooperate.”

I nodded, “In fourteen years of counseling, I’ve discovered one thing - it all depends on me. All the counselor can do is nudge me in the right direction and give advice and strategies and techniques. If I use them, I can be successful. But it’s all on me.”

“I think I agree with you, though there are cases where that’s not true.”

“Yes, of course. Severe mental illness or some physiological problem which requires drugs or intense treatment. But none of us are clinically insane.”

“I’m glad you added the qualifier ‘clinically’!” Cindi laughed. “Only crazy people start a company on a wing and a prayer right out of college.”

“And $100,000 from two people who had faith in us.”

“No,” Cindi said, shaking her head. “Who had faith in YOU. YOU had faith in us.”

“A reasonable point. Go on.”

“Well, fast forward a bit and I decided we should have a baby. Chris agreed, because he wanted an heir, if you will. I love William with all my heart, but believe me, having a baby will NOT fix your relationship problems.”

“I can’t imagine it would, given what I know about parenting and about relationship problems. Remember, Jess was pregnant when she had her meltdown.”

“I know. I felt so bad for you, but there really wasn’t much I could do. Chris didn’t want me around you except for work. He came to Guys’ Night because I insisted on going out with the girls. And he went to breakfast because I insisted he needed to get out of the apartment. He had more or less reverted to his college form where he spent ALL of his time working, even at home.

“When I was about four months pregnant, I got the first clue that Chris might have been unfaithful to me. In hindsight, it should have been obvious. He started working late in the office instead of coming home, and there were odd calls now and again from someone at work. Female. I thought she was an architect, but it turned out she was a secretary. Anyway, I didn’t KNOW anything at that point, and I kept on my ‘game face’ at work.

“Then, right before William was born, I got the slap in the face. He came home from what he’d called a ‘business dinner’ with a client. Well, he smelled like wine and cheap perfume, and I even caught a hint of a smoky room.”

I couldn’t help but laugh and hum a few bars of Don’t Stop Believin’.

Cindi smiled, and took a big gulp of her Jack Daniels, “Yeah. So I confronted him and he denied everything. But it was too damned obvious. I didn’t say anything to anyone then, either. After William was born, I talked to Gwen Meyer, and hired a private dick to catch Chris in the act. The PI got photos of him with the secretary in a bar, and the client, who actually WAS a client, in a restaurant. I held on to those and didn’t say anything.

“That gets us to a few months ago. I left him and told him I wanted a divorce. He claimed to be surprised, but at that point, there was no way in hell he was surprised. That’s when he quit showing up to stuff. I was going to ask him to sign the waiver, but decided I’d wait a bit and see if he came to his senses. I did love him, and even with the cheating, I could have forgiven him. You do recall what I had planned to do, right?”

I nodded, “I do. I looked over my shoulder for a month. I was afraid you’d put a hit out on me!”

“I thought about it!” she said with a soft laugh. “But I’m Greek, not Italian! I just put the moutza on you!”

“The what?”

“A curse. You hold your hand like this,” she held up her hand with fingers spread and held it close to my face, “and speak a curse!”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” I chuckled.

“I don’t think it worked. Not the way the one that was put on the Cubs seems to have!”

“Go on,” I said nervously.

“That your dick would shrivel up and your balls recede into your body!” she giggled.

“Nice, Cindi!” I chuckled. “Very nice. My wives would’ve KILLED you!”

“So I HAD planned to wait the two years. Then two weeks ago I found out he had some nineteen-year-old move in with him. That was the last straw, obviously. I asked Gwen to file the papers on Friday, charging him with adultery.”

“You do know that’s a misdemeanor in Illinois. He could even go to jail!”

“Gwen told me it’s not enforced. I guess you had some trouble along those lines not too long ago.”

“Yes, before Jeri’s mom decided I was much more valuable as an ally than an enemy. When will Chris be served?”

“Probably tomorrow. I signed everything on Saturday.”

“And then got out of town?” I grinned.

“It’s not like that. My boss ORDERED me to Boston, if you recall.”

“Yes, he did. So now what?”

“Now we fight, I suspect. I don’t want anything from him, but I don’t want my son around his floozies. I make more than he does, so he might come after me for money. The stock worries me.”

“Those are restricted shares,” I said. “He can’t get them, nor can he force you to sell them to anyone. I have the right to buy them back at the declared value which, if I remember the last official valuation, is about $6,000. That’s not real, because 3% of the company is worth WAY more than that, but until the restrictions are lifted, which requires a vote of the Board, you can only get the value we set each year.”

“I’d hate to lose them,” she said.

“Fuck him. If it comes to that, pay him the $6,000 and keep the shares. If he’s a REAL asshole about it, and demands they be sold, I’ll buy them personally and sell them back to you as soon as the ink is dry on the decree. And if he tries to take them, he’ll deal with MY lawyers. And you know we have more lawyers than we know what to do with right now!”

Cindi laughed, “With our customers and contacts, anyone who would sue us has to be nuts or desperate! Like BLS. And I’m not sure which they were.”

“Both!”

“I’m surprised you were so civil to Jefferson when we were here the first time.”

“He’s made his bed,” I said. “Nothing I can do at this point will do anything but create even more bad blood. They RIF’d him on Friday. And denied him the bonus based on him causing the counter-suit. Personally, I’d have paid him and just let it go, but Art Drake was livid, because once we found out what Jefferson had done, it forced the issue. They thought they would get a few hundred grand from us, and then a BIG settlement from Nelson, Reed, and Pulver. And it was close to working.”

“That little shit is lucky you didn’t bring Penny to Boston.”

“Why do you think I didn’t bring her along,” I chuckled. “So what’s next?”

“According to Gwen, it could be as short as four months or as much as a couple of years, depending on how bad the fight is. My request was we simply each take what we brought into the marriage, divide the marital property equally, and move on. That actually is to his benefit, because he gets half our savings and investment and well more than half of that came from my bonuses and commissions. I asked for sole custody as well, with him having generous visitation, BUT without his floozy girlfriend around.”

“What does Gwen think?”

“I’ll win the sole custody, he’ll get visitation but without the restriction I want, and he’ll get half the marital assets. Divorce in Illinois is rigged in women’s and mothers’ favors. Because I’m not asking for alimony, it’s a slam dunk on the other stuff. I could get child support, but fuck him. I don’t want him holding THAT over me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Steve, you know how much I make! To the penny, I bet! Do you think I need his money? Fuck him!”

She took a sip, not a gulp of the Jack Daniels.

“I hear you. Just remember, there are statutory amounts he has to pay on penalty of jail time.”

“Gwen told me. She actually put it in the paperwork, but I don’t care.”

I nodded, “OK. So are we going to see more of you now?”

“You saw ALL of me yesterday! There isn’t any more!”

I chuckled, “You KNOW what I meant!”