Chapter 1

What to say. I was lonely and paid the price. Life was so good and my marriage was great. We had two nearly grown children and were living a rather normal life. Then, she had to go and die. God, how I miss her! Women of forty don't die of heart attacks. At least I didn't think they did. Now I was all alone.

Mary and I were good together, really good. She and her twin sister Barb, and me and my best friend Bill hung together all through school. Damn, those were the days. It actually took Bill and me a while to make sure we were with the right girl when we all went out. There were many times they fooled us.

Bill told me about a little red birth mark on Barb's behind. It was just above her right butt cheek. Whenever they tried to fool us we would ask one of them to show us her ass. It was funny, all of us wrestling around trying to look at the girls' butts. We used to have so much fun together. We all made sexual advances to one another but to the best of my knowledge we didn't have sex with the other's girl or wife.

I say best of my knowledge because in our earlier years Bill and I used to get a buzz on pretty often. The girls always said they could pull a switcharoo on us and we would never know. We really were the best of friends.

We actually had a double wedding ceremony. We even went on our honeymoon together. I know that might sound weird to some people but it wasn't. We were able to share our days with our best friends and our nights alone making love; kind of the best of everything.

I know you've heard about two peas in a pod; we were four peas. Barb and Bill had two kids about the same age as ours. They even hung around together, till they were older and each went their own way, but sill remained friends. We each had a son and a daughter.

Life was good. I was a truck driver, and Bill worked as a dispatcher in a major shipping office. Both Mary and Barb were teachers. What a surprise, them both being teachers! Good thing they taught in different schools or they would have driven the kids nuts since they looked so much alike. They only taught part-time till our kids were old enough to enter school. Then they taught full time.

Mary wanted to be there for our kids and she always was. Nice part about being a teacher, she was always there for them since she had the same days off they had. Of course I was there for them too whenever I wasn't on the road. Throughout my truck driving career I did my best to plan around family events. When I would go across country, I would do my best not to be gone more than five days.

I think you get the picture here. We were a close loving family and Bill and Barb were our closest friends as well as relatives.

The day I was coming back from a run to the west coast was the worst day of my life. My cell phone rang and it was my son Ryan. He was crying.

"Dad, they came and took Mom to the hospital. I think she was dead."

"What? What happened? I can't believe this." I pulled to the side of the road listening to what my son was saying.

Ryan continued, "I got up this morning and was getting ready to head to college. Mom hadn't got up yet. I walked into her room and called to her. She didn't move. Dad, she just laid there. I shook her and she still didn't move. I kind of went crazy crying and yelling at her, then I called 911. They were here in less than five minutes. I heard the paramedics talking. They didn't know I was in the other room listening to them. I guess they just thought I was in shock. I heard them say there wasn't a heartbeat. I asked them if Mom was dead and they said the doctor at the hospital would let us know."

"Where are you now, Ryan? I don't think you should be driving."

"I'm still at the house. I called Aunt Barb and she said she will be here in a few minutes. I told her what I told you and we are going to the hospital together." I could hear my son crying again.

"Ryan, I'll drive straight through. I should be home in about seven hours. If you're able, you should call your sister right away and let her know."

"Dad, Aunt Barb just walked in. Do you want to talk to her?"

He must have handed the phone to Barb who was crying also.

"Jerry, I can't believe this. She is too young to die. She wasn't only my sister but was also my best friend," cried Barb.

"Barb, I need you to be strong for the kids." I was crying too at this time. "I'll be there in about seven hours. I asked Ryan to call Sheila and let her know. God, this is so hard. I guess we all say it will never happen to us," I said through my tears.

"Jerry, I told Bill and he said he would meet Ryan and me at the hospital. I'll stay there with your kids until you get back." She started crying again. "I can't believe this is happening. Why, God? She was such a good person."