Chapter 3

Sixth Appointment Wednesday, November 17

"Hello Barry. How are you today?" Dr. Haverty said as I entered her office and sat on the couch.

"I'm doing better Dr. Haverty."

"Have things gotten better for you?" She asked.

"I am feeling a little better. Not so depressed but I haven't been able to get a date yet. I am almost afraid to even try to talk to women I meet. I have no confidence that my charms still work."

"It may take some time for you to feel good again. When you do you may find that you are not the same person you were before."

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"I can't say now, we will just have to wait and see about that," was the less than satisfying answer she gave me.

"Barry, before you tell me about your meeting with Mrs. Harris I'd like to ask you a few questions," Dr Haverty said.

"Mrs. Harris? Oh, right. Tracy. I still think of her as Tracy Fowler."

"Over the last few weeks you have told me about many of the relationships you have had," she said. "I would like to know why you always went after married women."

"Single women don't want the kind of relationship I offer," I said. "What single woman is looking for a long term sexual relationship with a man she only sees once or twice a month? For a married woman who needs some excitement in her life this kind of relationship works fine."

"Is that the only reason?"

"No. It's the conspiratorial element of the relationship that makes it exciting for both the woman and me. The secret phone calls or e-mails, and secretly meeting in hotel rooms behind the husband's back make this exciting for the woman," I said.

"You obviously have been successful at this. How do you talk married woman into engaging in a long term sexual relationship with you?" Dr. Haverty asked.

I was glad she asked that because it would give me a chance to brag about my ability to seduce these women.

"The first one, Tammy, was a fluke. I just fell into that. As I gained experience I honed my seduction skills. The seduction would start the moment I saw a woman that interested me. What I looked for was an attractive, married woman out socially without her husband. When I approached her I would use an obvious pick up line that was based on flattery. I might say something like 'I can't believe a woman as beautiful as you is sitting her alone.' Women who have been married for a while like any kind of compliment even in the form of a pick up line. They know it's just BS but the fact that you are showing an interest in them is a boost to their egos."

"What if the woman is insulted by being approached that way?" Dr. Haverty asked.

"If she is insulted then she isn't the kind of woman I am looking for. The line works on the woman because that is why she is there in the first place. I don't mean she was looking for someone to have an affair with. She is married, happily or otherwise, but is at the point in her marriage where she is bored. So she goes out hoping that someone will make her feel special even if it's just for a few minutes. I try to make that few minutes last for months or years."

"Okay, after your opening line, what's next?"

"I use alcohol and charm to get her interested in me. I buy her drinks and spend a lot of time complimenting her. I also ask her a lot of questions about herself. Women like to talk about themselves but their husbands probably don't listen to them anymore. Sometimes the woman is hot to go to bed with me that night and that's great but I like the women that are a little harder to get into bed."

"Why?"

"From my experience, the woman who is ready to have sex with me the first time we meet probably does that sort of thing all the time. I usually only have a one night-stand with these women. I enjoy the challenge presented by a woman that isn't ready to throw herself at me. During that first meeting I try to keep the woman talking for as long as I can and try to find out some things that interest her. The kind of books she reads or movies she likes. That sort of thing. At some point during our conversation I let the woman know that I am in town on business and that I come there once or twice a month. When I feel that the woman is very comfortable talking to me I tell her that I have to go because I have customer meetings in the morning. Then before I leave I say something like, 'I really have enjoyed talking to you tonight. I spend so much time on the road that it gets pretty lonely. It's nice when I can spend an evening talking to someone as interesting as you.' Then as kind of an afterthought I say, 'Would it be possible for me to call you sometime, just to talk?' The women seldom say no."

"Are you saying these women simply agree to let you call them?" Dr. Haverty asked.

"No. They usually say something like, 'I don't know. My husband might get the wrong idea.'

"My response to that would be to ask her if she had a cell phone or how about an e-mail address? I would really enjoy talking to you again or swapping notes over the Internet."

"And this works?" The doctor asked.

"I'd say it worked about ninety percent of the time. Once I have a phone number or e-mail address I wait about two weeks and then contact her. In that first contact I would tell her that I had seen something that reminded me of her and I just had to call her or write to tell her about it. I would come up with the topic of conversation based on information she gave me in our first meeting. Once I was sure she would take my calls or answer my notes I would start to contact her more frequently. There was never any sexual innuendo in these calls or notes. I wanted her to feel comfortable with me. When I got to the point when we were talking or exchanging notes more than twice a week I would tell her I was going to be in town in a week and ask if we could get together for coffee or a drink. If she agreed to that, I would try to see if I could change that to a dinner. Wherever we planned to meet I would make sure I showed up five or ten minutes late. I did this to make her a little more anxious. If she began to worry that I might not show up she would be happier to see me when I did arrive.

"Once we had met for coffee, drinks or dinner I would step up the frequency of my calls or notes. Still no talk of sex, only of how much I enjoy her company until eventually on one of my visits she ends up in my bed. After that the tone of my calls or notes changes. I start telling her how great she was in bed and how no one had ever made me climax that hard before. Over time our calls or notes would become very explicit. My women loved talking in explicit detail about what we did in bed. I would question them about things she did in bed with her husband. I would ask her if there were things that her husband would not do that she would like to try or if there were things she wouldn't let her husband do. I would then incorporate these into our lovemaking. This kept her coming back for more."

"Why do you think these women would be willing to behave this way with you?" Dr. Haverty asked.

"It is the nature of marriage. In the beginning of the marriage the couple are madly in love and a big part of their love is tied up in their love making. They not only make love often, they talk about it often. Later, after ten or twelve years of marriage sex isn't as big a part of the marriage. The couple no longer talks about sex because they have too many other things to talk about; the kids, their jobs, the bills that need to be paid, cars that need repairs, vacations they need to plan, etc. Then I come along and bring hot sex back to the woman and because our relationship is based only on sex and we are not together all of the time it stays exciting for her. At least that's my theory. It worked for me until those bitches ruined everything."

"So you never saw anything wrong with the way you manipulated these women?" Dr. Haverty asked.

"So I manipulated them. I gave them a fantasy and helped them live it out. They had great sex while they were with me and I'll bet it made them better wives too." I said.

"How do you think that made them better wives?"

"The guilt that they felt for cheating would make them be nicer to the husbands to make up for their screwing around with me." I said.

"That's an interesting idea. We may come back to that later," Dr. Haverty said. "What about the marriages that broke up because of your affairs?"

"There weren't that many and it was usually the woman's fault she got caught. I was always very careful to make sure I didn't do anything that would raise the suspicions of the husbands," I said.

"Did any of these women leave their husbands because they were dissatisfied with their marriages after they got involved with you?" She asked.

"Perhaps two or three," I said. "That's not my fault if their husbands couldn't satisfy them. I will admit that it would be hard for the husbands to compete with me."

"Why don't you tell me about Mrs. Harris now?" Dr. Haverty said.

So once again I began my narrative.

Once I had told Tracy that I wanted her to meet me in the bar at the Marriott at seven o'clock Tuesday evening I didn't contact her again. I had told her that I was going to get there Monday but I drove up from Paducah on Tuesday.

After I checked into my room I called room service and had them send up a bottle of Champagne on ice and then I went down to the bar. There was only one other person in the bar when I got there so I ordered a beer and walked around the room. I found a table that looked like it would give us some privacy so I could start warming Tracy up before dinner. I went over to the bartender and asked if he could put a reserved sign on the table and then told him that I was meeting a woman here at seven o'clock.

I said, "If I am not here and a woman asks you if Barry Fox has been in, send her over to the table and tell her I will be there shortly."

The bartender said he would take care of it and I gave him a ten-dollar tip. Then I walked around to the far side of the bar where the only other patron was sitting. He was sitting there nursing a drink and he gave me a strange look as I sat down next to him. I ordered another beer and just to kill time, I struck up a conversation with the guy.

We mostly talked about baseball and then at 6:45 I ended the conversation. I said, "I have to run up to my room and get cleaned up for my date. I have a hot one meeting me here in fifteen minutes." I couldn't help bragging a little.

I went up to the room and made sure there was enough ice in the Champagne bucket. Then I shaved for the second time that day and put on a clean shirt. At seven o'clock I left my room and headed for the elevators.

I got to the bar just a few minutes after seven and I could see Tracy sitting at the table I had reserved. I knew from the way she was dressed that I was going to get laid. She was dressed in a short black cocktail dress with black stockings. The top of the dress showed enough cleavage to make my mouth water. She looked really hot.

I waited a couple more minutes before entering the bar. I walked to the table and leaned over to kiss Tracy but she turned her head at the last second and I had to be satisfied kissing her cheek. Tracy seemed more nervous than I expected.

"It's great to see you again Tracy," I said as I sat down.

"Barry, I'm sorry but there has been a change in my plans for this evening," Tracy said. I can't have dinner with you tonight."

This was a shock to me. I asked, "Why not?"

"I have to meet my husband for dinner at eight o'clock." She said just as a waitress came to ask for our drink order.

We ordered drinks and as soon as the waitress left the table I said, "Tracy. How could you let your husband screw up our plans for tonight?"

"My husband didn't plan this dinner, I did. I should never have agreed to me you in the first place. I don't know what I was thinking," she said.

I couldn't believe that all my planning was falling apart. I wasn't about to give up that easy. Her statement was a bit of a shock to my system and I suddenly had to pee.

"Tracy, I have to make a visit to the men's room. You will be here when I get back won't you?"

"I can stay another half hour but then I have to leave."

I was washing my hands and looking at myself in the mirror and said out loud, "What the fuck just happened?" When I couldn't answer that question myself I decided to go back and ask Tracy that question.

When I walked into the bar I saw a guy leaning over the table talking to Tracy. I thought, "What the hell is this? I leave the table for two minutes and some other guy starts hitting on her?'

I walked over to the table and said, "Hey man, she's with me... Is he bothering you, Tracy?"

The guy turned to face me and I recognized him as the guy I had been talking with at the bar earlier.

"Oh, it's you," I said. "Sorry but she is already taken. I told you I had a hot date tonight."

"That you did, Barry," he said.

I was sure I had never told him my name.

"How did you know my name?" I asked.

"Let me introduce myself," He said. "I am Allen Harris as in the Mr. Harris to her Mrs. Harris."

I thought, 'Oh shit, ' and I stepped back from the table in case he took a swing at me.

"I am sorry, man. I didn't know," I said.

"Didn't know what?" He said. "That she was married or that I was the wimp that was supposed to be at home talking care of our children while you were seducing my wife?"

He looked over at Tracy and back at me.

"Why don't we sit down and have a little conversation," he said. I couldn't believe how calm he sounded.

I had encounters with jealous husbands before but none of them ever scared me the way this guy did. He seemed so calm but there was a fire in his eyes. It was like the fire from a gas torch, extremely hot but totally under control. I knew just by looking that this guy could kick the shit out of me, so I decide not to piss him off anymore than he already was.

"Listen, I don't want any trouble," I said. "I'll just leave and let you two work this out."

"Barry, stop worrying so much," he said. "There isn't going to be any trouble tonight so just sit down."

I sat down and he pulled a chair over from another table.

"Allen, this isn't what you think," Tracy almost shouted.

He stopped Tracy and said, "Tracy, I don't know what to think this is. I only know that it is not proper for a married woman to be on a date with a former lover."

He stopped Tracy from speaking again.

"I know what you want to say, that this was just going to be dinner between two old friends. I just can't accept that explanation. If that were true, I would have been invited to have dinner with the two of you and you would not have lied and told me you were going out with your girlfriends and if this was truly just dinner and conversation, you certainly would not have dressed like this. I have to say that you do look beautiful, which is very upsetting for me to think that you would dress this way for another man," he said.

I butted in and said, "That is all it was. I was just in town for the night and I didn't want to dine alone. There was nothing else to this."

He laughed at me. "There is no way you drove all the way from Paducah to Cincinnati and paid two hundred dollars for a hotel room just to have dinner with my wife," he said.