Part 4

Chapter 28: Preparations

I called in sick again on Monday and didn't answer any phone calls so I wouldn't have to talk to Thad. I spent the day taking care of some personal business and ended the day at the country club.

As I was leaving the club, I spotted Tredwell's car in the parking lot. "I need to talk to that pecker wad," I thought. I was about to go looking for him when it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have some kind of record of my conversation with him.

I drove home and got to the house just as Megan was getting a bag of groceries out of her car.

"What are you doing home so early?" Megan said.

"I had some errands to run," I said.

Megan gave me a questioning look but I didn't elaborate. On the way into the house, Megan asked me what I wanted for dinner.

"I have to go back out and I may not be back in time for dinner."

"Are you going back to work?" Megan said.

"No, but there is something I have to do and I don't know how long it will take," I said.

While Megan went into the kitchen to put the groceries away I went to the bedroom and got my digital video camera from my closet and without speaking to Megan I headed back to the country club in search of Carl Tredwell.

I spotted Tredwell sitting at the bar exchanging his empty glass for a fresh drink.

"Hey Carl. Just the man I wanted to see."

I sat down next to Tredwell and ordered a beer. Carl looked a little uncomfortable but he managed to smile at me.

"You wanted to see me?" Tredwell said.

I didn't say anything until the bartender delivered my beer. I knew my silence would make Tredwell uncomfortable and that was part of my plan.

"I was just curious, Carl. what are your intentions toward Megan?" I said.

Carl almost choked on his drink.

"I don't know what you mean," Tredwell said.

"I was just wondering if your interest in Megan was for more than just tennis."

"It's just tennis, really. We're just friends."

Tredwell was visibly nervous and although it would have been fun to continue questioning him, I had other plans so I let him off the hook.

"Have you been following the Reds this year?" I asked.

Tredwell, glad for the change of subjects, immediately dove into the new topic. Tredwell finished his drink and I offered to buy him another. It turned out that he was drinking double Manhattans. For the next two hours Tredwell and I discussed the Cincinnati Reds, local politics and other meaningless topics. During that same period of time I drank two beers and managed to get Tredwell to polish off three double Manhattans in addition to however many he may have had before I arrived.

It was 7:30 in the evening when the two of us left the bar and headed out to the parking lot.

"Before you leave," I said, "I want to show you something."

"What?"

"Come over to my car and I'll show you."

Tredwell was a little unsteady as he followed me over to my car, which I had parked in a far corner of the parking lot where it was blocked from the view of the clubhouse by a tall hedgerow. Tredwell was looking over my shoulder as I reached inside the car and retrieved my video camera.

"You wanted to show me your camera?" Tredwell said.

I said, "No." Then I turned the camera on and set it on top of the car and pointed it toward Tredwell.

"What are you doing?" Tredwell said.

"I want to ask you a few questions and I want to record your answers," I said.

"Are you fucking crazy or something?" Tredwell said as he laughed at me.

"I am not crazy but you are if you think I am kidding," I said.

Tredwell was pretty intoxicated from all the Manhattans he had consumed but my last comment seemed to get him to focus on what I was saying.

"Now, Carl, I want you to tell me what kind of game you're playing with my wife."

"I told you, we're just friends," Tredwell said, as he looked around for a way to get away from me.

"Come on, Carl, do I really look that stupid to you? I know you are hoping to be more than just friends with Megan," I said.

"No, no. Just friends," Tredwell said as he took a step away from me and almost fell down.

"Now, Carl, you better listen to me," I said. "Unless you want to end up wearing your knee caps as ear muffs you had better start telling me the truth."

Tredwell looked as though he was about to lose his lunch.

"What are you doing with my wife?"

"Nothing, just playing tennis," he said.

I took a step toward him and Tredwell held his hand up to stop me. "Wait. Don't hurt me, please."

"You pathetic bastard, you had better start telling me the truth right now," I said.

"I am. Let me finish. I have only been playing tennis with Megan. That's all I have been able to get her to do," Tredwell said.

"So you admit that you had other plans?"

"Yes. I was supposed to seduce her but I haven't been able to get past playing tennis with her."

"What do you mean when you say you were supposed to seduce her?" I said.

"It was your mother-in-law's idea. She paid me five thousand dollars to flirt with Megan and she said she would pay me another five thousand if I was able to get her into bed," Tredwell said.

"Trish paid you to try and seduce my wife? She hired you to seduce her own daughter?"

"Yes."

"Why would you even get involved in something like this?"

"I need the money. When my wife divorced me she almost cleaned me out. Trish's money allowed me to keep my membership in the club. When I couldn't even get Megan to stop in the bar for a drink with me after tennis I was ready to give up but Trish gave me another two thousand to keep trying and she said she would give me ten grand if I managed to get her into bed. I couldn't afford not to keep trying."

If Trish had appeared in the parking lot at that moment I would have snapped her neck like a twig.

"Okay, Carl. I don't want you playing tennis with Megan anymore."

"That's fine with me. I am tired of telling her how great she is doing. She really isn't that good."

"So you were just stringing her along for the money?"

"Yes."

"You really are a worthless piece of shit, aren't you?" I said.

Tredwell didn't respond. He just stood looking down at his feet.

"I don't want you to go anywhere near Megan again. I don't care what you tell her but I want you to stay away from her, otherwise I will remove your testicles with a corkscrew. Do you understand me?"

"You're not going to hurt me?"

"If you remember what I said and leave right now before I change my mind, I won't hurt you," I said.

I stepped aside and let Tredwell pass. As Tredwell stumbled toward his car I turned off my camera and dropped it onto the front seat of my car and picked up my cell phone.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"A very drunk man just drove out of the Kenwood Country Club. He is driving a Blue 2000 BMW; license number 'CTRED 1.' He is headed west on Kenwood Drive."

I gave the dispatcher my name and number so they would take the call seriously. Tredwell would have to be a complete fool to think I would allow him to walk away from this mess with no punishment.

I had to sit in my car for twenty minutes before I headed home so that I could calm down. I knew that Trish had to be behind a lot of the problems I was having at home but I was still shocked that she would actually pay someone to try and seduce her own daughter. I wanted to run home and throw Trish out on her ass but I wasn't ready for that yet.

Chapter 29: Pleasant Chat with Thad Asshole

Tuesday I didn't even bother to call the office. I just took the day off to drive down to Lexington and drop some things off at Grandma Jean's house.

Wednesday morning I told Megan that I needed to use her car and told her to take the old Toyota to work. Megan asked me what I needed her car for and I told her I just needed it to run an errand. I was still eating my breakfast when Megan left for work and I was drinking my third cup of coffee when Trish walked into the kitchen.

"I didn't know you were still home. Shouldn't you be a work?" Trish said.

"I have some things to do before I go into work. By the way, we are having a family meeting this evening. Be here at eight o'clock."

"I have an engagement this evening..."

"Trish, it is extremely important that you be here tonight so I think that you had better postpone your engagement."

"What's this about?" Trish said.

"You'll have to wait till tonight. You need to make sure Brandon is here also."

"Okay. We'll be here, but this better be good," Trish said.

I waited until one o'clock Wednesday afternoon before I went to the office. I spent an hour with personnel before going to my cubical. Leon spotted me as soon as I entered the room and came over to my cube.

"Jesus, Warren. Thad's pissed. He has been trying to get a hold of you all morning," Leon said.

I smiled at Leon.

"Good. I need you to do me a favor," I said.

"What?"

I handed Leon the J&S proposal.

"Don't tell anyone you have this proposal. I want you to hold onto this until Friday afternoon and then deliver it to Jacobs and Stargill before three o'clock," I said.

"What are you up too?" Leon asked.

"I am giving Mr. Thad Asshole a major case of heartburn," I said.

"You could get yourself fired for this," Leon said.

"You're probably right," I said.

"You don't care?"

"No. I just wish I could be here when Thad has to tell Mr. Harris that he doesn't have the J&S proposal that he said he would take care of personally," I said.

Leon smiled at me. "I'll be sure to tell you how it goes down."

Just then we saw Thad coming out of his office.

"Leon, I think you should be somewhere else when Thad gets over here."

"I think you're right," Leon said.

Leon quickly headed back to his cubicle before Thad arrived at mine.

"Where the hell have you been?" Thad said.

"I told you, I was sick."

"Yeah, right. You had the flu. Where is the J&S proposal?" Thad said.

"Don't have it."

"You don't have it? Where the hell is it?"

"I didn't get it done," I said.

"How much more do you have to do?"

"All of it."

"You didn't do any of the proposal yet?" Thad shouted, his red face turning crimson.

"I didn't get around to it," I said.

"I should fire you right now," Thad said.

"You should but you can't," I said.

"What do you mean I can't fire you?" Thad said.

"You can't fire me because I already quit. I am only here to pack up my personal things."

Thad was so angry that spittle was flying from his mouth as he shouted.

"You just walk away from your responsibilities? You owe it to this company to finish the work that was assigned to you," he screamed.

"I have always completed my work," I said.

"The J&S proposal was your work and you didn't complete that."

"The J&S proposal was not my work, it was yours. You were just trying to get me to do it so you could take the credit."

Thad was beginning to have trouble breathing and had to sit down. I picked up the phone on my desk and dialed the number for the first aid station and told them that someone should come check on Thad. I waited until a paramedic showed up and then I left.

On my way out the door I waved to Leon.

After I left the office I took care of some bank business and headed home. I was home by three o'clock and used the rest of the afternoon to plan for the family meeting. Megan had planned to play tennis after work but I expected that she would be home early when she didn't find Tredwell waiting for her at the club. I didn't know when Trish might show up. I never knew what she did with herself during the day but I suspected that she spent her days hanging upside down in a cave somewhere. I didn't know what Brandon did during the day either. The big dope probably just hung around the country club pool trying to look less of a dork than he was.

Megan was the first to arrive home at 6:45, much earlier than expected.

Megan gave me an angry look and said, "What did you do to Carl?"

"What makes you think I did something to Carl?"

"He said that he can't play tennis with me anymore."

"Carl and I had a chat the other day and I reasoned with him," I said. "I like reasonable people."

"Carl said that you threatened him."

"Well, your Mr. Tredwell is not a reasonable person."

"Why would you do that?" Megan said.

"We'll discuss this later, during the family meeting," I said.

"What family meeting?"

"I called a family meeting for tonight at eight."

"What's the meeting about?"

"It's a family meeting. You'll have to wait until the family is here to find out what the meeting is about," I said.

"What has gotten into you? Lately I don't know what you are going on about."

"You'll find out tonight at eight," I said and then I went to my study.

Chapter 30: Family Meeting

I heard Trish and Brandon come into the house around 7:45. I was glad she was there but a little surprised that she showed up for a meeting that I had called.

When I came out of my study Trish stopped me.

"Can we get this meeting over with? I have somewhere else I need to be tonight."

"All right, if Megan is ready we can start now," I said.

"Brandon, go get your sister," Trish said.

Brandon and Megan returned a minute later.

"Okay, now what is this all about?" Trish asked.

"A lot of things have happened in the last few days that have forced me to make some changes. First of all, I lost my job. Actually I didn't lose my job. I mean, I know where it is, I'm just not going there to do that job anymore," I said.

"Oh, great, the genius got fired so the rest of us have to suffer," Trish said.

Megan just stared at me with wide-eyed concern.

"I didn't get fired, I quit. Anyway the affect is the same. Some belt tightening needs to be done, so I sold our country club membership effective the first of July. I returned the Lexus and canceled the lease. The dealer wasn't very happy but when I told him I couldn't pay for it he had no choice but to take the car back. "I also sold Brandon's guitar and amp on 'Craig's List' yesterday."

My audience had become very quiet.

"Tomorrow, our real estate agent will be putting this house on the market so we will all have to find somewhere else to live. Well, actually you will all have to find somewhere else to live. I already have a place. I am moving back to Lexington."

Megan finally reacted with a gasp. "You're leaving me?"

"It looks that way. You chose sides against me with you mother so the three of you are on your own now," I said.

"I don't make enough to support the three of us. What am I supposed to do?" Megan asked.

"Why don't you ask Trish for help?" I said.

"How can she help? She doesn't have any money," Megan said.

"Is that right, Trish? You don't have any money?" I said.

"You already know that Harold left me broke," Trish said.

"That's funny because I talked to Harold last Saturday and that's not what he told me," I said.

The color drained from Trish's face and Megan just looked at me waiting for me to say more.

"It seems that Trish got a nice little settlement from the divorce that she decided to keep for herself," I said.

"Is that true, mom?" Megan said.

"Are you going to believe him? You know he has been trying to get rid of me since the day I moved in. He will say anything to come between us."

So that was the line that Trish has been feeding Megan. I was trying to come between them. Destroying her was going to be more fun than I thought.

"Megan, why don't you call your father and ask him about it?" I said.

"Your father is just as bad. You know he would lie to support Warren's story. They both want to ruin me," Trish said.

"Brandon, what is your father's name?" I asked.

Brandon hesitated a moment and looked at his mother before saying, "Harold Forester."

"No. I mean your real father, your biological father," I said. "I know the truth so don't lie. Don't look at your mother, just answer my question. Who is your real father?"

"Preston Matthews," Brandon said.

Megan turned to Trish, who had just collapsed onto the sofa.

"Is that true?" Megan asked.

"It's true," I said. "Trish has been having an ongoing affair with Brandon's father for about sixteen years. That's where she goes twice a week. Good ole Preston has a house over on Southacres Drive and that's where Trish goes to be with him."

Megan could tell by the expression on Trish's face that it was true.

"Now back to the money," I said. "Trish got more than $600 thousand from the divorce settlement. She and Brandon have been living with us free of charge and good ole Preston has been paying all of Brandon's expenses. So where is all of Trish's money?"

"Six hundred thousand dollars?" Megan said.

"I handed Megan the printout of the divorce settlement. "Your father gave me this. I wrote his phone number on the upper right hand corner. You need to call him."

Megan was staring at her mother, anger written on her face, Brandon was trying to catch a moth that somehow had gotten in the house and I was observing the whole scene with a smile on my face.

"Mother, is all of this true?" Megan said.

Trish began to cry and said, "I was going to tell you everything when I first moved in but Warren immediately started trying to put a wedge between us so I was waiting, hoping things would get better between Warren and me before I told you."

I wondered if Trish's lie was as obvious to Megan as it was to me.

"Trish, perhaps you can explain this," I said as I hit the play button on my camera. There on the large screen TV was the image of Carl Tredwell as he explained how Trish had paid him to try and seduce Megan. I had edited out the parts of the video where I had threatened Tredwell with the reconstructive surgery I proposed to perform on him if he didn't tell me the truth.

Tears were streaming down Megan's face as she screamed at her mother. "How could you do that to me? I am your daughter. Why would you want to hurt me that way?"

Trish seemed to be in shock as she sat without speaking. Brandon? I think he had wandered out to the kitchen looking for something to eat.

"Warren?" Megan said. "Please don't leave me."

"I am sorry, Megan but I just can't be with you right now," I said. "You wouldn't listen to me. My life became a living hell and you couldn't see that. You were too busy enjoying the high society life your mother wanted to notice that it was ruining our marriage. I may get over this someday but for now I have to leave."

Megan stood silently as she watched me leave. I sat in my old pick up truck for a moment before pulling out of the driveway. I had thought that I would feel a greater satisfaction after the confrontation but all I felt was sadness.

Chapter 31: My New Life

By September I had settled into my new life in Lexington. We had a buyer for the house on Kenwood Drive in less than a week. I didn't even bother to go to Cincinnati for the closing. I told the real estate agent to send me any papers that I needed to sign and then to send me a check for half of the proceeds from the house and give the other half to Megan.

My life wasn't what I had wanted it to be. I wasn't sleeping well and I missed Megan terribly but I couldn't be with her. I felt as though a part of me was missing. On the bright side, I did manage to land a job in sales working for a large printer manufacturer in Lexington.

One thing that I felt good about was that I was able to spend more time with Kate. I was able to bring her home to Grandma Jean's house to spend weekends in her old bedroom. I wanted to bring her home for good but I couldn't leave her by herself while I was at work. Kate didn't mind. She was happy to spend the weekends with me and seeing Kate happy made me feel that I was less of a shit for walking out on Megan the way I did.

The first month we were apart, Megan had tried to call me three of four times a week but I wouldn't talk to her. I thought long and hard about everything that had happened over the last few years and although I knew that it wasn't Megan that had created the problems in our marriage, she is the one who refused to see the damage her mother was doing and had constantly taken Trish's side in disputes.

Buck and Mace came to visit but they made it clear that they thought that I should try to work things out with Megan.

One Saturday afternoon in late September I had been out mowing the lawn and when I finished I went into the house and found Kate talking on the phone. Kate was laughing and chatting away like she was talking to an old friend.

I walked over to ask her who she was talking to and she just handed me the phone.

"Hello?"

"Warren?"

It was Megan. I didn't want to talk to her but I couldn't hang up on her either.

"Hi."

"How have you been?"

"I'd rather not talk about that," I said.

"I understand," Megan said.

Then for the next ten minutes we talked about my new job and how Kate was doing. Megan started to say something about Trish and I stopped her.

"Don't mention that woman to me ... Ever."

"Sorry. Did you know that I went to see my father?"

"Yes. I talked to him last week," I said.

After that we were both silent for a minute.

"Would it be all right if I called Kate again?" Megan asked.

"Yes. I think Kate would like that," I said.

"When I call, would you talk to me too?"

"I guess," I said.

"Next week then?"

"Okay," I said and then Megan hung up.

That became the pattern for the next few months. Megan would usually call on Saturday or Sunday and I would let Kate answer that phone. Somehow that made it seem that Megan was calling to talk to her instead of me and that was the way I wanted it even though I had started looking forward to her calls.

Chapter 32: Shrinkage

It was in November that I finally decided that I had a problem and I needed help. I couldn't seem to get past what had happened to my marriage. I hadn't been able to sleep well since before the break up. While I couldn't bring myself to go see Megan it would bother me if she didn't call when I expected her to call. I tried to tell myself that I was disappointed if Megan didn't call Kate but part of me knew that I wanted to talk to her too.

I just couldn't make myself move on. So, in November I went to see a psychologist and for the next two and half months he frustrated the hell out of me. I went to Dr. Snyder hoping he would tell me what I needed to do to get on with my life. Instead of giving me answers he just gave me questions, often the same questions over and over.

My last session with Dr. Snyder was mid-January.

"Warren, how are you feeling today?"

"Same as always."

"What would you like to talk about today?" Dr. Snyder said.

"I want to know what I should do to make myself feel better," I said.

"What do you want to feel better about?"

"The same thing as always. The breakup of my marriage," I said.

"Have you filed for a divorce yet?"

"You know that I haven't. Why do you keep asking that question?" I said.

"I think it is important. Why haven't you filed?"

"Why should I have to do that? Let Megan file," I said.

"Why did your marriage break up? Was your wife unfaithful to you?"

"I told you before, Megan was not unfaithful. She never cheated on me. But she let her mother ruin my life."

"So you blame Megan for her mother's actions."

"No ... Yes ... I don't know. That fucking bitch ruined my life," I said.

"Megan ruined your life?"

"No. Not Megan, her mother."

"But you blame Megan."

"Yes."

"When Megan's mother first moved in with you, did you see any reason Megan shouldn't trust her mother?"

"No."

"When she first moved in, did you trust Megan's mother?"

"Yes."

"When did you start to distrust Megan's mother?"

"I don't know exactly when I started to distrust Trish. It was kind of a gradual thing."

"And you think that Megan should have noticed the same things you did?"

"Yes."

"So you felt that Megan should have distrusted her mother?"

"She should have seen what Trish was up to. She should have listened to me," I said.

"Where you aware of anything that Trish had done prior to moving in with you that made you not trust her?" Dr. Snyder asked.

"No. She always seemed nice."

"Did Megan ever say anything about her childhood that made you think her mother was a bad person?"

"No."

"But you believe that Megan should have picked up on her mother's evil ways as quickly as you did?"

"Maybe not as quickly but she should have eventually seen that something was wrong."

"You said before that you were having problems at work during this time," Dr. Snyder said.

"Yes."

"Were these problems caused by Megan?"

"My problems at work? No. Of course not."

"Was Megan's mother responsible for your problems at work?"

"No. My problem at work was my boss. He and the fact that I hated my job," I said.

"So, your job and your marriage problems were completely separate issues that were happening at the same time?"

"Yes."

"I guess you were pretty angry all of the time."

"Not all of the time but I was angry a lot of the time."

"Do you think that anger affected the way you saw things?"

"How the hell should I know? Maybe it did."

"Do you want a divorce?" Dr. Snyder said.

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because you never give me a straight answer. Let's say that Megan never files for a divorce, will you file?"

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about that."

"You should think about it. Do you think that if your wife wanted a divorce she would have filed already?"

"I guess so."

"So what do you want to do?" Dr. Snyder said.

"Why can't you just tell me what to do?" I said.

"Warren, you are not sick; you are just confused about your feelings. I can't tell you how to feel or what to do. All I can do is help you clear the cobwebs from your mind so that you can make your own decisions. Let me ask you this? Do you hate your wife?"

"No."

"Are you so angry with her that you want to hurt her?"

"No."

"Do you wish she would just go away and leave you alone?"

"Yes ... No ... Shit, I don't know."

"I think you do know, Warren. You don't need to answer this one, Warren, just think about it until our next meeting. If Megan were here right now, would you want to hug her or scream at her?"

"If Megan were here right now?" The first image that came to my mind was the way she was looking at me with her big blue eyes full of tears as I walked out of the house. I didn't want to think about that.

"I don't want to hurt Megan."

I couldn't get that image of Megan out of my head as I drove home after the session.

Chapter 33 The Ambush

Later that week I got a call from Mace telling me that he and Buck were going to come down to see me on Sunday. I hadn't seen them in about a month so I was happy that they were coming to visit.

When Buck and Mace arrived Paula and Georgia were with them. I hadn't expected to see the girls but I invited them all into the house. We talked for a few minutes about nothing important and then during a lull in the conversation I saw Paula jab Buck with her elbow and then she tilted her head toward me.

"Hey, why don't I go pick up a pizza?" Buck suggested.

"Good idea, I'll go with you," Mace said.

I somehow knew what was coming next. I tried to suggest that we just order a pizza and have it delivered but Buck and Mace insisted that they would have to go pick it up. On the way out the door Mace whispered, "Sorry, man."

As soon as the door closed, Georgia asked me to come back and sit with them. The two women were sitting on the sofa so I sat in a chair facing them.

"Do you have any idea how much pain you have caused Megan?" Georgia asked.

"This isn't my fault," I said in my defense.

"It wasn't Megan's fault either. It was that evil mother of hers," Paula said. "Megan is miserable. You have to go see her. She still loves you."

"If she loves me why didn't she see what her mother was doing to me?" I said.

"Her mother was doing it to both of you," Paula said.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" Georgia said. "It's obvious that you aren't happy without her. Just talk to her."