Chapter 57

Later that morning, we were back down in the restaurant eating breakfast, when Michelle brought up something I’d completely forgotten about, “You remember I said there was something I left out of my story from that night?” she asked me.

I’d just stuffed a bite of ham in my mouth, so I nodded. I’d forgotten about it but now remembered it clearly.

“After we dressed, and Jeremy and I were ready to go, we started talking. They’d noticed my wedding ring and someone asked me about my husband, how you felt about me doing the things we’d done earlier...” She went on, “I told them about originally telling you about Mike, and how you encouraged me to have that weekend with him.”

I knew she wasn’t finished, so I sat quietly waiting for her to go on with what was obviously on her mind. “Being in the college setting we were in ... I got a little nostalgic about Mike ... and, I guess to make a long story short, I’ve been really curious about him.”

She was obviously getting nervous telling me this story. “What I’ve been trying to say, is that I’d like to call him sometime, see how he’s doing, if he’s married yet?”

I processed that for a minute, remembering why she’d left him that last time. She’d had an affair with him for several months until he wanted more, all of her. He’d insisted that she leave me and move in with him. I’d been really afraid then but was much more secure with her now. I thought that if she wanted to meet him one more time, to see how he was doing, it’d be fine with me.

“Why don’t you call him then. Invite him to dinner with you, so you could have a good visit with him.”

“I don’t know about that, I don’t think I want to start something with him again.”

I hate to admit it here, but I was starting to get an evil thought in my mind, “You wouldn’t have to. You could just visit and reminisce. Find out what’s been happening in his life.” Then I suggested, “Why don’t you call him now, see if he’s available to go to dinner with you tonight?”

“Honey, are you sure? I just got back. I should be with you this weekend. Besides, I don’t have anything to wear. We’d have to go shopping and I have something else I want to do this afternoon.”

Now, my evil thought was coming to the forefront. “You could wear what you wore last night. In fact, I’d love it if you did. You’d have to make it clear to him beforehand, though, that it would only be for dinner.”

She looked at me for a long moment. “You want me to wear that dress ... with my ex-lover, the man I’ve never been able to say ‘no’ to?”

I reminded her, “You said no to him once, a pretty big no as I recall. And yeah, I’d love for you to wear that on a dinner date with him.”

She sat, looking into my face for several minutes, until she picked up her phone, scrolled through some numbers, clicked on one, and put the phone to her ear. I hadn’t realized she still had his number in her phone but wasn’t surprised. I waited, listening.

Shortly she said into the phone, “Hi ... Mike, it’s Michelle.” I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, only hers. “No, I’ve been thinking about you a little lately, and was wondering how you’re doing?” There was another long pause, then, “That’s too bad. I was hoping you’d found someone by now.” “Uhh, yeah, I am in Seattle right now ... That’d be great, I’d love to have dinner with you. Why don’t you meet me here at my hotel, the Four Seasons, say about eight?” Then she added, “But Mike, it’s just for dinner, okay? Nothing else ... Great, I’ll be looking forward to it, see you this evening.”

She clicked to end the call. “I hope you’re really okay with it because he’s meeting me here tonight,” she told me.

I reassured her, “I’m fine.” Then I smiled at her, “I get you the rest of the night!”

I remembered something she’d said before she called. “You said you had something you wanted to do this afternoon?”

“A little surprise, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Let’s finish eating and go for a ride.”

I was more than a little perplexed but we did as she suggested and finished our meal. After breakfast, we jumped in my Corolla and she directed me to Renton, still not telling me where we were going. She had an address, though, that she put into our GPS. When we found the address, I was surprised that it was a Mazda dealership. She directed me into their parking lot and after parking, told me, “Sweetheart, we are going to trade your Corolla in for a new car.”

I looked at her with what had to be a dumb, shit-eating grin on my face, “We’re what? But, but, but...”

We got out and a salesman greeted us as soon as we were in the dealership. I let Michelle do the talking since I hadn’t a clue what we were doing. “Hi,” she said, “We’re looking for a Miata, a convertible.”

She told him very specifically what “we” were looking for, a bright red Miata convertible, leather seats, navigation system, everything. He smiled and said he was sure he had exactly the one we were looking for. When he was leading us to it, I whispered in Michelle’s ear, “Sweetheart, how are we paying for this?”

“Trust me,” she said, “We’re okay.”

Okay, I’ll trust her, I thought, as I tagged along. They actually had a row of several Miatas. The one he was looking for was near the end of the line, bright red, tan leather interior, convertible Grand Touring. It was only a two-seater, so Michelle took it on a test drive with the salesman. They returned a half-hour later and we went into a sales room to negotiate. Again, I let Michelle handle it completely. They were asking a little over $32,000. She negotiated it down about fifteen-hundred dollars.

While this was going on, they had been assessing our trade-in, my 2006 Corolla. The salesman showed us the Kelly Blue Book value of $2,940 and offered $3,000. Michelle told him we’d take it, but we’d need to get them the title later.

After going through all their after-market add-ons; extended warranty, clear-coat, licensing, sales tax (ugh, another $3,000), and so on with the sales manager, we owed them $32,200 plus some change. Michelle pulled a card out of her purse, handed it to the sales manager and told him to take it from the card. When he’d left with her card, I looked at her inquisitively. “A little bonus from Brett,” she told me with a huge grin on her face, “fifty-thousand dollars to get home.”

My jaw must have dropped to the floor! Then she added, with a little flourish to her voice, “You might want to check our bank account too.” I pulled up our US Bank app on my phone and looked at our checking account balance, There’d been a deposit the day before of, THREE. HUNDRED. THOUSAND. DOLLARS! And that was on top of what he’d deposited earlier when she’d first left home after our thirty days of abstinence. No wonder she thought she could afford this car. Altogether, Brett had given her $400,000 for that little trip!

We’d been at the dealership most of the afternoon but drove back to the hotel with the top down on our new Miata convertible. She told me that from then on, the Accord would be my car, but she’d let me borrow hers occasionally.

That evening, I watched Michelle get ready for her date with Mike, the first time she’s seen him in nearly two years. She sat at the hotel dressing table carefully getting ready: putting on her makeup; eyeliner, blush, bright red lipstick; she sprayed the perfume I’d fallen in love with between her breasts and on her neck; then pulling on a fresh pair of thong panties, her silk stockings, and the black boots. Then she pulled that white leather, form-fitting dress down over her body, and asked me to please button it behind her neck. That huge cut-out bare back was even sexier than I remembered from the night before. It went from the two-inch wide strap around her neck to just above where a thong would be if she was wearing one.

When all else was done, she brushed out her beautiful hair into the tendrils and golden waves that were so beautiful the night before. It was about a quarter till eight when she was satisfied, and asked me how she looked.

My God, she was so beautiful ... and sexy, she was literally Aphrodite re-incarnated! I thought I had to be crazy, out of my fricken mind, to let her go to dinner with her ex-lover looking like that! Like I’d said from the night before, her dress showed every curve of her body without a single wrinkle to mar the sexy effect.