My boss, Jim Wright, told me to do a quick tour of the hotel so I could see how extensive the electrical upgrades would need to be. Meanwhile, he was meeting with the hotel owners in their office. I strolled across the pool area, cleverly not letting anyone know I was trying my damnedest to take in all the cleavage I possibly could. That was when I saw a forty-something redheaded fox chatting with a man obviously several years younger than she.

They had pulled their lounge chairs together and the man had his hand on her left knee. In so doing, his elbow was in constant contact with the lady’s generously formed left breast. I immediately hurried away from the pool area, relaxing only when I was well out of sight of the pool.

I mulled over my options for all of twenty seconds. I instinctively knew what I had to do, but briefly considered the ramifications. I saw only one honorable course of action.

I took out my cell phone and texted a short message to my boss. I carefully made my way back to the pool area, remaining as inconspicuous as possible. I stood in the shade of an overhead balcony with my phone’s camera function displayed. I counted slowly to twenty-five and began filming the couple I had noticed earlier.

The woman was now lying on her lounge chair with her top undone as the man slowly applied sunscreen to her back, paying particular attention to her impressive side-boobage area that was forced out from under her torso and was on spectacular display.

I had only been videoing for a few seconds when an obviously enraged man rushed up to the couple. He grabbed a handful of the lotion applier’s hair and ruthlessly jerked his head back. Doing so exposed the man’s chin and throat. I easily heard the ‘whack’ as the angry man’s fist met Romeo’s throat. It was followed immediately by a second blow, this time to the man’s chin.

The man who had been attending to the voluptuous redhead a few short seconds ago was now lying on the pool’s apron making horrible retching sounds as blood oozed from his mouth and onto the pool deck.

It had all happened so fast that the woman barely had time to look back to see the very angry man rubbing his fist as he stood over her. That lasted a few seconds before he grabbed her red tresses.

“Jim!” was all she managed to blurt before he pulled her to her feet by the hair on her head. I was still recording so I captured her unfettered but rather firm tits bouncing as the man swung her around to face him.

“You fucking slut!” was all he managed as he glared at his wife’s panic stricken face and then down at her unencumbered breasts. I briefly worried that he was going to strike her, but luckily, he reined in his temper and simply pushed her backwards into the pool. He proceeded to throw a few chairs and plastic tables across the deck before seeing me standing off to the side. He slumped noticeably before lumbering my way.

“Mike, get me to the fucking truck before I wind up in jail,” was all he managed as tears began streaking down his cheeks.

I led Jim to the parking lot and directed him into the company truck. By this time, he was an actual zombie, showing little emotion and staring straight ahead as I drove to the interstate.

The two hour ride home was eerily silent, except for the occasional guttural sound emanating from Jim’s throat. I parked in his driveway and walked him into the house. Jim sat at the kitchen table as I pulled two beers from the refrigerator. I placed one in front of him and popped the other open for myself. I dropped into a chair across from him. His unwavering stare made me more than a little uncomfortable.

Finally, I looked him in the eyes for several seconds before asking, “Did we get the contract?”

Jim blinked at my question before suddenly breaking into gales of laughter. “You dumb fuck,” was all he muttered as he opened his beer and took a long pull.

My question may have been stupid, but it broke Jim out of his trance. “That lying bitch told me she was going to spend a few days with her mother at her parents’ lake cabin. She left yesterday morning. She’s probably been fucking that damned Harris since yesterday afternoon.

“Hell! I called her mom’s cabin this morning and asked to speak to Callie. Her mom told me she was in the shower, but she’d have her call me in a few minutes. Callie called me about ten minutes later. If she was in her mother’s bathroom at the lake at ten o’clock this morning, there’s no way in hell she could have driven to the Timberbrook by the time you found her with that fucker, One-Nut Harris.”

“Which would indicate her mother was covering for her,” I reasoned.

“That means that her mother knew what the hell Callie was doing and covered for her,” Jim reiterated my sentiments. “Hell, she’s been visiting her mother at the cabin every summer since we’ve been married. Now I have to wonder how long this shit’s been going on and if Numb Nut was the first, or just one of many.”

Jim had a good point and I considered it from every possible angle as I drove home. It seemed possible, and even likely, that Jim’s wife was aided and abetted in her cheating by her own mother. Could it be an inherited trait, or simply some sort of weakness that has been nurtured for generations?

When I pulled into my driveway, I saw my mother-in-law’s car. I didn’t feel like listening to her bullshit, so I parked and walked around to the back door, knowing my wife, Traci, would be sitting at the kitchen table drinking a wine with her mother.

I was correct, as usual. The only thing I hadn’t expected was the volume of the conversation. Well, to be honest, the volume and the content were both a bit of a shock.

“Holy shit, Mom!” Traci practically yelled at her mother. “You know how Dad hates One Nut. What in hell were you thinking?”

I couldn’t help but feel some pride in Traci’s indignation over her mother’s actions. She and I had pledged to remain faithful throughout our married lives. Traci and I definitely saw eye to eye on that point.

“Please don’t refer to Bentley as ‘One Nut.’ That was an unfortunate accident. Besides, he’s still able to perform quite well,” Callie insisted.

“That’s hardly the point here,” Traci replied. “You were out in broad daylight with a man other than Dad, and only about two hours from home. I’ve warned you about letting your guard down, but you did it anyway.”

“I thought we were far enough away from home to be safe. I don’t know why your father was there, or how he found us by the pool. He never goes to hotels and certainly not to their pools. Do you think he’s cheating on me?”

“No, I don’t,” Traci responded. “Dad adores you. He’d never cheat and I’m sure he had no any idea that you’d put the horns on him. That’s why his reaction was so violent. He must have been shocked to see One Nut rubbing lotion on your big boobs.”

“Bentley was only rubbing lotion on the sides of my breasts,” Callie stated. “He was a perfect gentleman.”

“I’m sure he was. Dad throat punched him and then broke his jaw for no good reason. How are you going to handle this, Mom? It sounds like Dad is really pissed.”

“I’d like to stay with you for a few days until your father calms down, if you don’t mind. You know how Jim adores me. He’ll get over this little mistake.”

“Maybe, as long as he doesn’t find out about any of your other mistakes,” Traci suggested. “You know that they wouldn’t go over well.”

Callie had made ‘other mistakes’ as Traci called them? My wife knew about them? She didn’t seem very surprised that her mom had been with One Nut. This information was disturbing.

Not wanting them to know I was in the house and overhearing their conversation, I went quietly out the back door and around to the front. Both mother and daughter stopped speaking as I opened the door.

I nodded to the now silent duo as I moved to the refrigerator and took out a beer. It occurred to me that they had no idea how much I knew about the day’s activities and were waiting for me to give some indication of my knowledge. I turned and went upstairs to take a shower.

They had to be wondering how much I knew, how I would react, what I would say and who I would tell. I decided to keep them guessing. The entire situation was distasteful as hell and Traci’s role in it was disturbing, to say the least. It boggled my mind that Traci apparently knew her mom slutted around, yet never mentioned it to her father, or me. Keeping a secret like that was the same as lying as far as I was concerned.

I had just finished putting on some fresh clothes when Traci came into the bedroom. “Mom and Dad had a little argument today. Mom wants to stay with us for a few days until they can work out their disagreement. I told her she could. I hope you don’t mind.”

“What kind of husband would I be if I objected to my wife’s mother staying a few days?” I asked rhetorically. “Your parents deserve special consideration. Look how good your dad has been to me. He’s really a great guy.”

Traci seemed to study my face for any clues about my feelings. When I mentioned her father, she seemed to flinch a little, but that could have been my imagination.

“That’s one of the reasons I love you so much, Mike. You always treat me and my family like we’re special,” Traci replied.

“I’ve been working with your father for five years. I knew him before I met you and he is special. He gave me my first real job. He’s a good boss, a great father-in-law and the best dad a girl could ever have.”

For some reason, my praise of her father didn’t seem to please Traci as much as it should have. I never noticed it before, but it now appeared to me that Traci carried some feelings of guilt about her mother’s extramarital escapades. Had I just been oblivious before this?

Callie spent half the dinner asking me questions about work. She wanted to know what projects we had going, what we were bidding on and where I had been working that day. It was apparent she was fishing to find out how much I knew and how Jim came to be at the same hotel where she had been getting a ‘One Nut special’ the previous evening.

I avoided any mention of Jim being asked to bid on an upgrade at Hotel Fornication or my part in the swimming pool denouement. I had decided that my wife and her mother weren’t the only people who could have secrets.

After dinner, I announced I was going to mow the lawn. Because my suspicions were dominating my thoughts, I carefully left my phone in record mode behind a banana on the kitchen counter well away from the dishwasher.

It was getting dark when I finished putting the mower away. Both women were watching ‘Survivor’ on the TV in the living room. I pocketed my phone and bid them good night before going upstairs to the master bedroom.

I listened to the recorded conversation my wife had with her mother after I left the house. It was eye opening, to put it mildly. The two women plotted on how to gain Jim’s forgiveness. They kicked around a few ideas, but it mostly boiled down to Callie fucking Jim stupid for as long as it took for him to totally forgive and trust his wayward wife.