The constant ringing of the doorbell slowly pulled me from my deep sleep. I crawled out of bed before I even managed to unglue my eyelids. I accomplished that feat just as I opened the front door, somehow knowing that opening it would finally end the pealing of those damn bells. I was beginning to understand what the hell Edgar Allen Poe was trying to say. All I needed now was a goddamn crow on the windowsill!

"If you'd leave your cell phone on, I wouldn't have to torture you with that doorbell, Jeff. I see you still get your morning wood," chuckled my ex-wife, Janice, as she focused on the little guy standing at attention for morning inspection. "It's considered polite to wear clothes when you answer your front door, although I personally have no objections to your new, casual style."

I looked down and realized I wasn't wearing my boxers. That seemed odd to me. Why would I forget to wear my boxers to bed? Why was Janice ringing my bell so damn early in the morning?

"I hate to get you out of bed so early, Jeff, but I thought you would be getting up to eat ... lunch," she chuckled. "I promised Kendra that I'd pick up her cell phone and drop it off at her dorm as long as I was going in that direction anyway. She said she left it in your bathroom."

With that, Janice started toward the bathroom, which was across the room from where we stood. She took a quick glance through the open doorway to my bedroom and then did a quick double take.

"You Bastard!" she yelled over her shoulder as she turned toward my bedroom. "You're fucking Amber? She was one of my bridesmaids!"

Suddenly I remembered why I wasn't wearing boxers! I had run into Amber at a local watering hole the previous evening. Somehow we wound up back at my condo after the bar had closed for the night. Unless my memory was way off, I had spent the better part of the night fucking her brains out.

"She looks like you fucked her brains out!" exclaimed Janice. "Her pussy looks like ground beef. Those tits can't be real, are they?"

I looked over Janice's shoulder to see Amber spread eagle on my bed, wearing nothing but a smile. Her little kitty did show a bit of wear, I noticed proudly. Janice's loud speech must have roused Amber from her dreams.

"Shit! I feel like I've had my brains fucked out!" she moaned as she stretched cat-like across my bed and rubbed her eyes slowly. "What the hell are you doing here, Janice?"

"I stopped in to pick up my daughter's cell phone, if it's any of your business, Slut!" snapped Janice. "How can you sleep with my husband and still claim to be my friend?"

"For one thing, he's no longer your husband, Janice. For another thing, if it bothers you so much, we'll have to stop being friends. I sure don't want to stop sleeping with Jeff. How could you cheat on a guy like him? He's got great stamina and a very disturbing imagination," grinned Amber. "In short, he's my dream lover. My pussy feels like he used a jackhammer on it."

"It just seems like you would be more supportive of me in a difficult time like this," whined Janice. "Think about someone besides yourself for a change."

"That's great advice from a slut wife that carried on with her husband's best friend ... for about a year, wasn't it? Who the hell were you thinking about, Janice, when you slept with Mike? It sure wasn't Mike's wife, or his kids, was it?" questioned Amber as she pulled a shirt over her chest. "I don't think you're in any position to lecture me about friendship, or selfishness. And, "she added, "these tits are real and Jeff told me they're spectacular!"

"That's so like you, Amber. Your "holier than thou" act won't work with me. I remember the night you went home with that college kid while you were still married to Ralph," retorted Janice. "You cheated on your husband!"

"Yeah, and I'm divorced because of it, just like you are," admitted Amber. "The difference is that I don't piss and moan every time Ralph manages to get a little pussy. I screwed up, but then Ralph lacked Jeff's sexual appetite, to put it mildly. If he had been even close to the lover Jeff was last night, I never would have been unfaithful. I've moved on, and you should, too."

"Unlike you, I realize my mistake and want to make it up to my husband," sniffled Janice. "We might get back together and you sure as hell aren't helping matters. I think you need to get dressed and go home!"

We might get back together? Where did that come? This was only the second time I had seen Janice since our divorce had been finalized six months prior. Apparently she was feeling some regret for her actions.

"Janice, you have no right to speak to a guest of mine like that. Why don't you just find Kendra's phone and leave?" I suggested less than gently.

"Thanks, Jeff," smiled Amber as she gazed at my still hard cock. "It looks like we'll have to take care of that "problem" as soon as Janice gets out the door."

I almost felt sorry for Janice as she stomped into the bathroom and quickly returned carrying our daughter's cell. I could see the tears running down her cheeks as she passed me. The door slammed and she was gone. Amber grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the bedroom. She was true to her word.

It had been a spur of the moment thing. A friend from work had called on a Saturday morning and asked me to be the fourth in a golf tournament at a nice resort on the Delaware, about three hours from home. Janice was at a seminar in Pittsburgh, so I readily agreed.

I had played pretty well, for me, and had a great time. Before we went inside for the dinner and awards, I stopped off to use the men's room. As I worked my way from the rest room toward the banquet hall, I suddenly saw Janice and Mike Reed, my former best friend, sitting close together in a smaller dining room off to the side. They were making a toast and laughing when Janice's eyes looked up and met mine!

The look of surprise and shame on her face told me everything I needed to know. I quickly turned around and raced back to the bathroom. What was left of the hotdog I ate at the turn, as well as several beers, made a forceful exit from my knotted stomach. I was rinsing my face when Mike came into the bathroom. I have no idea what he had planned to say. I left him lying in some piss under the urinals.

Janice was waiting for me when I exited the bathroom. She appeared quite distraught.

"Jeff! Please talk with me! We need to work this out. Mike means nothing to me. I love you!" she pleaded.

"Well, that's a shame, Janice," I replied viciously. "That dumb fuck just got his jaw broken for nothing! We'll be getting divorced over nothing!"

I left her standing there. I had a tremendous urge to hurt her and I knew I would regret it if I did. I had never raised my hand to a woman, but then no woman had ever shit on me the way Janice had just done. I quickly found my car and hurried home.

It must have taken some time for Mike to recover well enough to travel. I was pulling out of the driveway with my last load of clothes and personal shit when I passed him and Janice coming down our street. I flipped them the finger as we passed each other. Janice was driving Mike's car and she visibly blanched when she saw me make that gesture. Her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes were swollen and red. I wondered how she had managed to drive back in that condition.

The divorce decree came four months later. I had been a single man for six months to the day when Janice rang my doorbell that morning. It had been as amicable as possible, given the circumstances. I never told anyone that Janice and Mike were lovers, but the word spread like wildfire through our small town. The last I heard. Mike and his wife were separated. I made it a point to not travel in the same circles as Mike, or Janice, so everything I heard was little more than rumor.

I went through all the usual-self evaluations and condemnations for a few months. I felt betrayed. I felt humiliated. Often, I just felt sick. Was I that inadequate as a husband? Hadn't I been getting the job done? Did Janice turn to Mike in desperation? I was feeling pretty low about the time the divorce was granted. Then things began to change.

More than a few women seemed to find me acceptable, adequate even. Pretty soon I began to realize I was more than adequate. At least my lady friends told me so. The anger was still there, but it was beginning to dissipate. The feelings of failure and inadequacy were slowly replaced with confidence. I was dating a number of women and having more sex than I had in the last year of my marriage. The silver lining had begun to show.

I still had a problem, however. I couldn't just forget Janice. I was reminded of her everyday, in hundreds of little ways. She had been my partner, my friend, my lover, and my confidant. Now I had to regard her as my enemy and it made me uncomfortable. It's hard to just switch off your love and devotion after twenty years.

Kendra had been furious at her mother, but never really turned her away. Her love for her mother was possibly more pure than my husbandly love, but then Kendra's love didn't require fidelity. That alone was a huge difference!

About a week after the little scene with Amber, Janice called me shortly after I returned home from work. She made some small talk about our daughter for a few minutes. I realized I was enjoying the conversation. My anger seemed to have been greatly reduced. I guess a fire can only burn so long and then dies at it runs out of fuel.