Chapter 5

The Golf Course

“As I live and breathe, as sight I never would have thought to see.” I looked over and saw Craig.

“Looks can be deceiving,” I replied with a smile.

“I thought that was your car when I was in the lot earlier.”

“That is my car.”

“There’s a story here behind all of this, I imagine.”

“Lunch at the 19th hole?” I replied.

“Works for me,” he replied.

“What’s happening with you being a range ram?”

“Range Ram?” I questioned.

“You get to the range but you head off like a ram to see a ewe somewhere else.” He laughed.

“A take-off of the lot lizards as truck stops?”

“Same idea” he laughed.

“Have a table where we can eat without prying ears?”

We won’t have table service in the corner of the patio but it’s out of the way” he replied.

We walked in to order our lunch and drinks to take to the patio and I did a double take. There if I was not mistaken and I wasn’t, was Alice’s husband with a younger woman. Now, it could have been a golf outing to the club, the giveaway was they were both dressed in work attire and not golf. I saw him look at me and then it registered that he had met me at school functions. He looked back at her and then kept his head down as I turned and ordered my lunch with Craig.

We grabbed our drinks and headed out to the table; I stopped and looked back at them one last time before I opened the door. He had stopped looking down and looked at me and we made eye contact. Alice’s issues were real, it appeared.

“What was that about in the restaurant?” Craig asked as we sat down.

“One of the parents from school out to lunch” I replied.

“Was that the wife?”

“Not exactly” I replied.

“So, lunch at the club where there are fewer prying eyes around?” He inquired.

“If you say so.”

Craig laughed, “Not all the rams are loose on the course.”

“That might be the case. I don’t know,” I replied.

“So, you going to tell me about this, or do I have to ask all of the questions?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Seems I have a couple to keep if your friend was not with his wife.”

“In the broadest terms in my marriage, I have an opening along with my wife.”

“I never would have imagined that.” He replied.

“Thought I would cheat on her instead?” I asked.

“I guess that was what was going on in my head, yeah.”

“We made some new vows and agreed to set aside the old ones for a while.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Old story, every wife wants to be a virgin for her mother on her wedding night and then she wonders what she missed by being one.”

“That makes sense and the double standard that man should have experience for inexperienced wives.”

“Works in our favor” I chuckled.

“That it does, that it does.”

“Do you need any more information or are we good?”

“We golden, if the wife asks me about how to go about doing this, I’ll ask some more questions.”

“I owe you, so sure. I expect she would talk with mine before she had you ask me.”

“That is much more likely. We plan better they scheme better.”

The speaker called for Craig, and he got up to go get the food. He returned and we had lunch together, catching up on the rest of our lives. Towards the end, when we finished he stopped and looked at me.

“No way to put this but direct. Can I hit on your wife, and see?”

“It’s a bit close to home for you to ask me. What I can say is she makes her choices and decides. I am not in the loop just as she isn’t with me.”

“That was damn difficult to ask. And thanks for the honest answer. I don’t know if I could do that but if we open too. Who knows?”

“I don’t want to know other than to chase after your wife.” I laughed out loud.

“Touché” he replied with a laugh.

We shook hands; I headed off to my car and was back at the office working on the myriad of issues that come along with managing properties.

I was sitting at my desk just about caught up at four o’clock when it opened, and Tommy’s dad walked in. I had been so busy all afternoon that seeing him at lunch was just going to be a passing comment to my wife to confirm that the rumors might well be true. Having him walk into the office confirmed them.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello,” he replied.

“Help you with something?”

“I believe you can. Saw you when I was at lunch today.”

“Yeah, was there with an old friend who is the assistant manager.”

“Figured you know him as you guys were there ordering your lunches.”

I just waited for him to tell me what was on his mind.

“So, you saw the woman I was there with and that we were not dressed for golf.”

“Yep, didn’t look like you were” I replied.

“Can I trust you to keep your mouth shut about seeing us there?” He looked at me.