There is no sex in this story.

“Are you going to be able to keep yourself busy while I am gone?”

“Don’t I always? Karen and I are planning on hitting Readinger’s and Green Dragon this week. I hope you have enough on the credit card to handle it.”

“As long as you stay away from diamonds, emeralds, and rubies we should be all right.” We got a little laugh at that.

Both of our kids were gone and, as empty-nesters, we were doing pretty well. Marsha had never worked. We discussed the possibility of her working after the kids left and came up empty-handed. She was happy with just keeping the house up and going to yard sales and flea markets. Her kindle was full of thousands of ebooks.

Her friend, Karen, collected cookie cutters, trivets, and flat irons. Marsha was only interested in old jewelry. She had a large hand-carved walnut chest that she kept all her treasures in. The value was not in the gemstones but the design and craftsmanship of the pieces. She did a lot of research and knew what she was doing. The chest was the most important thing in her life. Each piece had its history.

This week I was in Albuquerque. It was a routine trip and everything was on schedule. It was Tuesday evening and I was waiting for a table at the Holiday Inn Express.

“Excuse me! Are you eating alone?” It was another clone. He dressed like me, he looked like me, and he acted like me. All traveling businessmen are clones.

“Yeah! As usual. Would you care to join me?”

“Absolutely. Kevin Martin, Kelso Plastics.”

I took his hand. “John Terrell, Neilson Machine.”

We chatted lightly while perusing the menu. “How long are you here for Kevin?”

“Short trip this time. I fly back to Philly in the morning. I like it when I can get finished early.”

“Interesting. I am out of Philly also, but I am afraid I will have to finish out the week.”

“What do you do, John?.”

“I sell, install, and maintain candy-making equipment. I work out of King of Prussia for a company in the Netherlands.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah. I make a good living. Put two kids through school and have a nice place in West Chester.”

“Damn. What a coincidence. I live in Downingtown. Hell, we’re neighbors and I had to go to New Mexico to meet you.”

“You married, Kevin?” “No. I’ve been widowed for about ten years, but I do have a steady girlfriend. Your self?

“Married twenty-three years and looking for twenty-three more.”

“Oh, John. Let me show you what I found today. My girl collects fancy jewelry. Every trip I make I bring something back for her. I went a little overboard this time, but it is quite nice.”

I suddenly became very interested in what he had to show me. He pulled a purple Crown Royal bag from his jacket pocket and carefully dumped a silver squash blossom necklace on the table.

“It is Cerrillos turquoise, which fairly unique. She is going to go nuts over this. It was a bit pricey, but she is worth it.”

“Must be a pretty special lady. How long have you been with her?”

“Almost three years now.”

“Is marriage on the table here?”

“No! That’s the sad part. She is already married and doesn’t seem to be interested in changing that. I am still working on her and maybe if I keep trying I will get lucky.”

“I assume you two have been intimate.” “Yeah. For two years now. We are even able to squeeze in a few overnighters occasionally.”

“Her husband is okay with this?”

“Heavens no! She is scared to death that he is going to find out. I guess that is what makes the relationship so exciting.”

“Kevin, you are a braver man than I am. I could never do something like that.”

“Believe me, she is worth it.”

Kevin and I finished our meals and said our goodbyes. He never made the connection between me and his girlfriend. I didn’t ask for his card because I didn’t want to give him mine.

I flew the red-eye home Friday. Marsha did the grocery shopping Saturday mornings so she wasn’t there when I got in. I unpacked from my trip and just on a whim, I decided to check the jewelry box. It had three drawers in the front and a lift-up lid. Underneath the bottom drawer was a false bottom. The squash blossom necklace was still wrapped in the Crown Royal bag, carefully tucked into the secret place. Along with it was a beautiful emerald cut ruby ring that I had never seen before. I put everything back just as Marsha walked in the door.

There was no doubt that as soon as Marsha saw me, she knew. Neither one of us said anything other than the usual glad to be home, glad to have you home, banter. I spent the morning catching up with yard work, and the afternoon catching up with my sleep. Marsha stayed out of my way the whole day.

Supper was Chinese take out. I ask her how her flea market hunting went and she asks how my New Mexico trip was. We both lied to each other. It was an uneventful evening in front of the TV. Sunday morning Marsha said she was going to visit our eldest daughter, Claire, in Allentown. I was going to clean the garage.

I didn’t get the garage cleaned, but I did get all of the finances straightened out. To keep the girls from having to burden themselves with too many college loans, we refinanced the house. It was now underwater. Arranging everything else was no problem. I spend the evening inspecting and reevaluating my wardrobe. I was mentally preparing for something, but I didn’t know what.

Before going to bed, I checked the jewelry chest again. The necklace and the ring were gone.

I was asleep in front of the TV when Marsha got home. She covered me with a quilt and went to bed by her self.

I made the drive to King of Prussia in a daze. Luckily I had driven it so many times over the last fifteen years that it was like I was on autopilot. I finished all my paperwork concerning the Albuquerque trip and headed up to the main office. Thirty minutes later, I had a reassignment to Scheveningen. The home office was anxious to get me. I would be heading up the manuals and publications division. I probably could have done the job here in the states, but I could do it better there. I had a week before I would leave.

My actual workload for the rest of the week was light. All I had to do was bring my replacement up to speed and close out all my old projects. At home, I spend most of the evenings on my computer. Normally I would have to justify overtime work to the wife, but now she didn’t seem to care. It was not commented on. On a few nights, we did watch TV together, but that was about it. I was dreading a confrontation of some type, but it never came.

It was an interesting situation. She knew that I knew what she was doing. I knew what she was doing and knew that she knew I knew. And yet, neither of us would talk about it. Oddly enough, I didn’t care. I wasn’t angry.

I spent Wednesday afternoon at the lawyers’ office. I was giving Marsha the house, and half of the savings and checking accounts. The total of everything was just over twenty thousand. If she sold the house the real estate commission would eat up all of the equity. I figured that she could keep the house if she could get Kevin to move in with her. If he didn’t move in with her, it would probably go back to the bank. I would not let her have any of my IRA or any claim to my company retirement plan.