Chapter 2

I got up at 6:45AM and looked at my phone. No calls, texts or e-mails. I turned off the alarm that was set for 6:50, went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet while I laid out the day’s duties. When I was done, I took a quick shower before I put on deodorant and the clothes I had worn for only a few minutes last night. I opened my door to find Renee standing there at exactly 7AM.

“A punctual woman. That is a novelty.”

“A man who keeps his word, an even greater novelty.”

“Breakfast?”

“And coffee. Lots of coffee.”

I closed the door and walked with Renee to the stairs.

“No elevator?”

“I’ll do that when I get old. Right now, my legs work just fine.”

We walked down the two flights of stairs to the dining area and while Renee was inspecting the coffee, I loaded up on the breakfast potatoes with green peppers and onions, and the scrambled eggs. I took a table for two and put down my plate, returning to the buffet area for napkins, a plastic knife and fork, and a cup of cranberry juice.

Renee came over and set down two cups of coffee and then attacked the fresh fruit and yogurt, returning with a plate full of bananas, orange slices, apple slices, and blue berries.

“Ok, Mick. What is the plan?”

“First, breakfast. Most important meal of the day.”

“I love a big breakfast.”

“Is that all you are having? You aren’t a vegetarian, are you?”

“You were too busy cooking last night to notice the three burgers and the one fish sandwich I put away.”

“What? Well I guess I was too busy to see a lot of things last night.”

“Don’t do that. This was obviously something they had planned for a long time.”

“It was Helen’s idea to have the party. Maybe you’re right.”

“Anyway, that’s old news. What’s on.”

“How do you not get real fat eating like that?”

“I work out or run every day.”

“Really?”

“Really. I was a distance runner in college but got away from it when I started to show signs of an eating disorder. At one point I was down to 98 pounds.”

“Wow, what are you now, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I was 136 last time I looked.”

“136! My God, you must have looked like a skeleton at 98, because at 136 you look pretty slim.”

“Thank you, Mick. Stan never seemed to notice. Anyway, back to the day ahead of us.”

“Yeah, I was going to pull out my laptop and do some banking. Then at noon see my friend who is a realtor.”

“Realtor? You are selling the house?”

“It’s mine. I bought it. It’s in my name only”

“If Helen thought that she would get half in the divorce, she is going to be pissed.”

“What divorce?”

“Aren’t you going to divorce her?”

“Nope. If she wants one let her get one, assuming that she can find me. After 5 years she can file under abandonment. But there will be no house. No bank accounts, nothing for her to split. If she wants to marry Stan, you will have to decide what to do there.”

“Not much I can do. Everything is in Stan’s name, or rather the name of his company. Technically he doesn’t own anything. Everything is purchased through the company and is on their books for taxes and all.”

“Reeeeeeally. What do you do for spending money?”

“I get a personal allowance of $500 per week. But all of the household expenses are paid through a company account.”

“Can he get his hands on your money?”

“No, the account is in my name only. I am going to get some potatoes and eggs.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Renee piled her plate with potatoes and several sausage patties, while I got more eggs and some patties as well. I also picked up a couple of bananas. After setting down the plate I got two more glasses of cranberry juice.

“After this I am going to need to run. Do they have two treadmills in the work out room?”

“I don’t know, but we can look. Do you have the right clothes?”

“Mick, I don’t have any clothes, remember?”

“What about Helen’s stuff?”

“Mick, did Helen work out?”

“Nope.”

“Nuff said.”

I looked at Renee a little differently after she dropped that phrase.

“Wal-Mart should be open, let’s make a clothing run.”

“Ok.”

We finished, and I took Renee to the Wal-Mart where she bought shoes, socks, a couple pairs of cotton panties and a box of panty liners, running shorts and a couple of t-shirts. As we were walking to the checkout, she stopped like the light bulb had turned on and ran back down an aisle returning with a pair of sun glasses.

At the hotel we found the workout room only had one treadmill, so we chose to run outside. It was still cool, and the run was perfect. I didn’t keep track of the distance, but we went for 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back.

“That was nice. You run well for an old guy.”

“I am only 38 and I have run much longer.”

“Shower and then I want to come to your room and do some banking of my own, ok?”

I am a guy.

“You can shower in my room.”

Renee smiled.

“I don’t shower with married men.”

“Stan?”

“Never. He has rarely seen me naked.”

“Sex?”

“Get in, get done, get out.”

“Helen IS going to be a little surprised.”

Renee looked at me like she had just had a revelation.

“So, shower and I will be at the connecting door in 20 minutes.”

“Deal. See you in twenty Renee.”

We went to our rooms and I hit the shower wondering why I had asked Renee to my shower. What was I thinking? I was thinking of sex. Of fucking. Of banging. Of holding her naked body against me. Of having her take my body from Helen. Oh well. No plan survives first contact with the enemy.

20 minutes later there was a knock on the room’s door. I opened it with a smile to find housekeeping and a giggling Renee behind her. The small Latina came in and I just watched.

“Come on, we can go down to the lobby and work down there. It’s Saturday and most people will be checking out to travel and the dining area should be fairly private.”

“Ok.”

I grabbed my laptop bag and smiled at the housekeeping lady as she set about stripping the bed. In the dining area I set up and went online. I went to my credit union site and opened a new account, transferred all but $500 of my money into it. I had prepaid the room, so $500 should tide me over until Monday morning when I could get to the credit union office and have them print out a new ATM/debit card for me and totally close the old account.

Helen now had not a dime to her name other than the $500. But if she was fucking Stan all weekend, she wouldn’t need the money yet. I called my lawyer and removed Helen from all my insurance accounts, effective Tuesday. I did the same for my will.

While I was doing this, Renee was watching and when I was done, she went online to her bank and looked at me with surprise.

“Mick! Look at this.”

“Wow. You don’t spend much of that $500 per week, do you?”

“No, but there is no way that there should be six figures in there.”

“Is good old Stan skimming cash from the company?”

“I don’t know. It’s in my account so it is mine!”

Renee set up a new account and moved all but $2500 into the new account.

“When we get to where we are going I’ll transfer it to a new bank and have them send me a debit card.”

“I bet he won’t be looking until Monday morning, unless Helen is a sorry fuck.”

“Actually, Stan eats great pussy. She might overlook his other shortcomings because of that.”

“It is almost time. Let’s get our bags and head to the realtor, and then it’s road time.”

I closed out the laptop and we went to our rooms, packed up and left, leaving the card key at the desk. Once in the SUV I aimed it towards my realtor’s office and 35 minutes later we were waiting in the parking lot. At 1:10 my realtor pulled in, jumped out of his car, and waved us in.

“Hi Wildman, sorry I’m late, we got done at temple a little late.”

“It’s not a problem. Who’s the hot babe?”

“Recon! Be nice. This lady is the other half of my story. Her name is Renee DuBois.”

“Hello Ms. DuBois. I am Jimmy Dumbrowsky, with a ‘y’.”

“Call me Renee.”

“Will do. And if I may ask, what are you doing associating with Wildman?”

“Wildman?” Renee looked at me with a smile.

“Well that tells me that you two aren’t sleeping together. What is going on, Bro?”

I told Recon the whole story, sometimes using code from our old days and when I was done, he smiled and patted my shoulder.