Chapter 3

In a quiet moment late one Saturday morning at the end of August, Kyle resolved to do everything he could to disrupt anything and everything that might lead to intentional adultery on Peggy's part. He made the decision, after deliberating on the alternatives, because he knew he could never forgive a deliberate, cold-blooded act of deceit of that magnitude.

He'd already taken action to throw up a roadblock when she'd been planning on an out of town tryst. He'd kept her from going to a training conference in Chicago by pulling some strings, but he hadn't consciously adopted a policy of trying to convince her she had no need to stray from her wedding vows. Not until now, he hadn't.

It was only while he watched Mandy and Todd playing in a sandbox at the park that he realized he would do almost anything to keep his family together. If it took a lot more work than he should have to put into it, that was okay. There was no guideline he knew of saying Peggy had to meet him halfway. If he had to go farther than usual, so be it. He would work as hard as he could, and as long as he could to keep him, Peggy, Mandy, and Todd together as a family. He'd been trying before. Now he would redouble his efforts.

Peggy wasn't with them at the park. She was working overtime in her office downtown to get a high profile account audited and the report written. He was certain that was where she was and that was what she was doing. It was the third Saturday in a row she'd had to work though. It was becoming tiresome. He had an idea.

"KIDS! Hey, come here a minute." The pair in the sandbox jumped up and rushed to their father at the park bench from where he'd been sitting and watching them. They'd been playing a long while and, if the truth were told, they were a little tired of doing what they were doing. They were ready for something new. Kyle bent over to put his face on a level with theirs and spoke loud enough only for them to hear, as if he were speaking to them in confidence about something others should not know about. They crowed closer. Kyle put his arms around them.

"What do you say... we get all cleaned up," he began, "and go get a big ol' pizza..." He was interrupted by two toddlers squealing with delight. "AND... we take our pizza and go see mommy?" There was more cheering and gleeful dancing. The proposal was accepted, passed, and acted upon in moments.

When the three marched into Peggy's office at lunchtime, they were greeted with tired smiles from an office full of disenchanted accountants. Kyle had expanded on his earlier idea and brought enough pizza and soft drinks for everyone. When it became clear what he had done, the entire staff enthusiastically gathered round and companionably bumped shoulders with each other as they playfully struggled for the their share of the pies.

The morale in the office rose dramatically in a very few seconds. Expressions on their faces softened even more and a warm, happy mood filled the room when the little boy and girl presented their mother with Hallmark cards saying how much they missed her. When Kyle gathered them up half an hour later, each child had been hugged dozens of times and had sat on several laps while they happily tapped keys on keyboards to see the what would change on the monitor screens. The Windows solitaire game especially fascinated Mandy for some reason.

When they left, the smiles in the office lasted into late evening. They put on a big push to finish the project. Everyone complimented Peggy on having such a fine husband and family. Some of the unmarried girls wanted to know if Kyle had a brother who was available.

Already sensitive to such things, Kyle redoubled his efforts to ensure Peggy had no opportunity to find a lover to get her revenge. It had been ten months. He'd thought she'd have let it slide into the background of her mind by now but it had not. He pictured it as a festering sore in her mind and he was doing all he could to apply a salve to the wound, hoping a healing crust would form and then fade away.

He took to dropping in to her office at odd times. Occasionally it was to take her out to lunch. A couple of times he brought in "brown bag" lunches and sat with her at her desk laughing and chatting with her and everyone who passed by. At other times, he surprised her by picking her up from work and taking her to a show or something before going home. Every so often, a floral basket or a dozen roses would be delivered to her at work along with a heart-tugging card. On her birthday, a florist filled her cubicle with flowers, streamers, potted plants, and fruit baskets. An office lothario, recently transferred in from the office in the southeast suburb, took note and immediately aborted his initial interest in Peggy as a target. There were easier pickings up on the third floor.

The married women in the office began holding Kyle up as the standard by which they judged their own husbands. They demanded their men show them the same attention. All of the girls smiled when his name came up and they said how lucky Peggy was to have such a good man.

Few noticed how pinched her features got when they said that. Not many saw the look of irritation that came over her sometimes when Kyle appeared unexpectedly in her office.

They didn't understand, but quite a few noticed she was less enthusiastic as time went on whenever flowers or candy were delivered out of the blue. They wondered why this would be. None knew of Kyle's mistake so many months ago. Peggy never told anyone how she felt. She didn't think anyone was willing to appreciate her side of the issue.

"Hi, Mom," Peggy said. It was her regular Thursday evening call to her mother to check in.

"Hi, Hon," her mom replied. "What's up? Have you gotten Kyle to understand yet what he did to you?"

"No," Peggy muttered, "I don't think he ever will."

"Horse manure!" Denise shot back. "You have to stand up to him, Peggy. It's just not an option and you know it."

"But, Mom, I never get a chance to find some guy out there to have a little... a little fling with. Kyle is always popping up wherever I am--at work, the tennis club. Any day now, I expect to find him in the shower at the gym. I just can't get any distance from him to make things happen." Her mother made sympathetic noises for a bit.

"There's nobody at work?" she asked in a skeptical tone. Peggy snorted.

"He's got every woman in that place wrapped around his little finger," Peggy complained. If I even smile at another man, one of them will be on the phone calling my dear husband so fast... heck, he'll probably be standing behind me before I could say hello to the guy."

Denise made sympathetic noises for a time about her daughter being smothered by her husband. She lamented the fact he had managed to get everyone in the office on his side, but she couldn't suggest any way to change what had already happened.

"Well, honey... let's see," Denise said, tapping the mouthpiece with a long fingernail. It was something her mother did that irritated Peggy no end but she didn't say anything. She never did.

"I guess you're going to have to give up on the idea of a... little fling then," Denise said dispiritedly.

"No way!" Peggy returned vigorously. "Kyle let that slut suck his cock and I'm going to pay him back for that if it's the last thing I ever do. I am going to have a short little fling, period."

Neither Peggy nor her mother cared to explore the fact that the euphemism they kept using stood for an intensely intimate sex act with some faceless man. Denise's mind shied away from visualizing what she was actually encouraging her daughter to do. Neither woman thought of it as sex... not deep in their hearts. They knew it intellectually but they didn't feel it. It was just a way to get some retribution for the nasty business Kyle had so far gotten away with.

"That's my girl!" Denise replied happily. "You can't let him lord it over you like he has been. He's the one who should be unhappy, not you. He needs to feel a little bit of what you've been feeling."

The big fire truck's approach was announced by a shrieking siren that got louder and louder. Doppler effect made the noise rise in pitch to a shrill scream that penetrated the walls of the house and even into the bodies of the people inside. For a long eternity of a few seconds, the siren's wail was their universe. The truck passed, followed by the lesser sirens on an ambulance and a rescue wagon. The down Doppler made the noise drop in pitch and volume immediately after the emergency vehicles started moving down the street.

"Wow," Denise exclaimed. "For a second there, I thought that truck was in your bedroom." She chuckled a moment.

"Yeah... heck, I was wondering if it was coming in the window or something," Peggy laughed. "It was loud, I'm here to tell you," she told her mother.

"So where were we?" Denise asked.

"We were talking about me needing to find a way to get a little of my own back at my dear husband," Peggy reminded her mother.

"Yeah, that's right," Denise answered. "Listen, honey, if you want, I'm sure there are any number of men at your father's and my country club... at Hidden Hills. If you were to come with me for a little visit out there one afternoon, I could introduce you... ?

"No, Mom," Peggy said resentfully. "I told Kyle years ago how much I hated that place with all the stuffed shirts and stuff. He'd know something was up if I suddenly told him I was going to go out there.

"Yeah," Denise said dejectedly. "I understand." She was quiet for a small space.

"You know, I just do not understand why Kyle can't admit he was wrong to let that Ann woman do what she did and see that you need to get a little payback. It's the most natural thing in the world and he should realize that. It just doesn't make sense," she said in an irritated voice.

"I know," Peggy replied. "But he acts like he owns my body or something and he isn't about to let me find any peace."

"You can have all the peace you want," said the husky masculine voice. "You just can't go fucking around like some cock happy slut so you can tell yourself you got back at me."

Kyle had picked up on the extension in the den to make a phone call during the height of the racket from the now departed fire truck. In all the clamor, neither woman had heard the click on the line.

Peggy and Denise were both shocked into momentary silence.

"KYLE!" Peggy shrieked into the phone. She was almost hysterical. A blazing fury had ignited instantaneously. "Get off the phone! You can't listen in when I talk to mother, damn you! You don't have any damned right to spy on me. I'm not going to take this shit from you, you bastard!

"I wasn't spying on you, Peggy," Kyle said calmly. I picked up the phone to call Fred to see if he wanted to golf tomorrow. It was when the fire truck was passing by and then I heard what you and your mother were planning. But I have to say, dear, some people need to be spied on because their husbands can't trust them anymore."