Chapter 3

Sunday proved to be extremely stressful. Jenny's flight was due back around four, and I wanted no contact with her that was not necessary, so I spent the morning packing my clothes and a few essentials into suitcases and leaving them in my car. After that I found time to give Morgana the cell phone I had purchased a couple days before and I showed her how to use it. I explained that I had purchased it so that she and Lance could contact me anytime, but that showing it to her mother might cause problems. She nodded solemnly and went to hide it in her bedroom.

Four thirty found the kids getting out of my chair as I walked to the window to start watching for Jenny's car. I had just completed another day from the Arabian Nights, and watched Morgana and Lance giggle and laugh as they wandered into the TV room.

Jenny finally arrived around five. I had been prepared for this and just as her car came to a halt in the driveway I was out the door and striding to my car. She was still struggling to get her seatbelt off, and was shouting at me to wait as I jumped into my car, and started it up. I had deliberately parked it in the street facing the wrong way, so that I did not have to walk around it to get in, and I did not bother with the seatbelt. I was already halfway down the street when Jenny ran out and tried to wave me down.

I had found a small hotel, and spent a surprisingly restful night in their bed. Once again my cell phone rang several times during the night, but as not one had the caller ID for Morgana's new phone, I allowed them to go to voice mail.

Monday dawned and I decided to see what voice mails the night had brought me. I could see that Bill had not called again, but Shirley left another voice mail begging me to talk to Jenny, and Jenny had left a pair of tearful ones, although her belief that there would be no divorce persisted throughout. The only surprise was a short message from Kimber, thanking me for the family day at the zoo. She made it perfectly clear that she wanted to meet in the future.

I ended up eating quickly at an IHOP while planning out my day. I knew I needed to check with my bank on a loan for the house I saw, but Bill's threat to sue me had me a bit worried so I decided to go to Debra's office first and check on my legal vulnerabilities. I arrived to find the main door unlocked, but the receptionist missing from her desk.

Before I could leave or knock on Debra's office door, her receptionist came out and looked at me. She blushed and then turned back to call inside. "Miss Debra, your divorce case Roger just stopped by, should I send him in?"

I could not hear the reply, but Maria smiled and then walked over to her disk, smoothing out her skirt. I was about to take a seat, when the intercom crackled. "Okay, you can send him in."

Maria smiled at me and I nodded before whispering to her that her blouse was misbuttoned, and then turning to walk to the office.

Debra was fighting a bit with her hair, trying to get it into a bun of some kind, but waved to me as I entered. "Sorry, we did not exactly expect anyone this early. The courts start late on Monday."

I smiled. "Not a problem. I just wanted to check a couple things this morning before I work on a new place to live."

Debra nodded. "So you'll leave her the current house and get a new one. Wise. But right now we are just waiting for your wife's response to the petition. She has thirty days to file a response if she wants to fight it."

"She will," I muttered. "However, today I'm here because my former business partner is upset and threatening to sue because I sold my ownership to someone who he doesn't' like."

Debra laughed. "Did you have any formal paperwork on who you could sell to?"

"No"

"Did you offer it to him?"

"No, I sold it to who I did because my slimy former friend finally did something too slimy even for me," I hissed.

I could see a bit of sadness in Debra's eyes. "Well, if you get sued, I can help fight it, but I doubt he'll actually sue you. Without a formal written contract saying you had to sell to him first, it's very hard to win that kind of case."

I nodded and stood up. As I did, I looked more closely at Debra and found myself shaking my head.

"What?" Debra snapped.

"Sorry," I said as I realized what I was doing. "Just thinking about how nice you are and regretting that you are my lawyer."

Debra seemed to blush ever so slightly. "Get out," she said with a smile.

I gave her a mocking bow and turned to leave as Debra laughed in her chair. Maria in the outer office blushed at me, but also smiled and waved as I left.

The visit to the bank to deal with a mortgage proved to be extremely simple. Thanks to the recent large deposit, the bank was quite happy to demand minimal paperwork, and still offer me a solid rate. I detailed what kind of offer I hoped to make on the house and had an approval for it before one o'clock.

Audrey was ecstatic when I called and told her about the offer I was making. It was a bit lower than the asking price, but I pointed out that the walls and grounds were going to need a considerable amount of work. Audrey stated that she would check with the sellers, but my offer was solid and she could imagine them accepting the offer if I could close quickly.

The call back from Audrey arrived right at two p.m. to say that the sellers were willing to accept my offer if I could close by the end of the week. I was still sitting at the bank and reviewing the accounts with the bank manager, so he immediately set to work on getting the formal closing in the works, saying that with my current deposits he would be able to close the purchase by Friday, even if the main office gave him trouble over the loan.

The firm handshake from the bank manager was pleasant, and I told Audrey to come to the bank so that we could complete the paperwork. She arrived about forty minutes later, and the three of us spent the next hour signing, reviewing and editing the various sales papers and cost sheets. It was nearing four when we finally finished and I was walking to my car when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I said without checking the caller ID.

"Daddy!" Morgana's voice replied. "You need to come and read to us again."

"You home already?" I asked jokingly.

"Of course silly. But mom is in the bedroom crying again. She did that all last night too.

I assured Morgana that I would arrive shortly, and got in the car, carefully placing my copies of all the purchase paperwork in my briefcase. I found my hands shaking a bit at the prospect of having to face Jenny, but started the car and drove over to my former home.

Lance must have been watching from the window because he opened the door shortly before I reached it and dashed out, giving my legs a hug. Morgana stood in the doorway smiling and grabbed my hand to lead me to the chair. A moment later I was again spinning a tale of kings, princesses and magic. Morgana tried to follow along, although the poetry tended to puzzle her. I finally had to admit that the poems probably made a lot more sense in the original Persian, but that I did not know the language.

We had been sitting like that for about fifteen minutes when Jenny appeared in the doorway to the room. Her eyes were red from crying and she wore a threadbare robe of mine that I had left behind when I packed up to move out. She made no attempt to break up the storytelling, and leaned against the doorway silently watching until I reached the point where Scherezade ended the story for the night, promising the king more tales if he did not have her executed that morning.

Morgana and Lance jumped up and dashed off, obviously heading for the TV room. Once they had both passed Jenny, I stood to leave, but she finally spoke. "Are you going to run away like a coward? Or will you talk to me?"

I glared at Jenny. "Talking to you is not going to suddenly make your weekend go away. Nor will it erase the fact that you called me while you were with another man."

Jenny gasped. "Oh? And you are pure as driven snow? What about that emergency trip to San Francisco? I tried to call you and there was some girl in your room. Or how about that supplier visit you staged three months ago. I call and there are three women's voices in the background. They sounded like they were awfully familiar with you. I'm supposed to believe that you didn't have your fingers in their cunts?"

"Jenny," I sighed. "That right there is why we are done. Yes, there was a woman in my room when you called me in San Francisco. I had gone out there because my uncle had a heart attack. No other member of the family could get free that fast. When you called, my aunt was resting in the room while I grabbed a quick shower before we returned to the hospital. She's still happily married to my uncle. As for the supplier visit, Justin surprised me when he told me that his wife had cooked a special meal for me. The voices you heard were Justin's two daughters and his wife. His wife dotes on him and would never stray. His daughters are both teenagers and love to try out flirting, but I'd never do anything. The whole reason I made that trip is that Justin refuses to meet with Bill because of his reputation."

"So you admit that Bill has affairs," Jenny hissed.

I looked at Jenny for a moment and shrugged. "I never knew I had denied it. I told you from the start that Bill was more than a bit of a jerk and had been even back in high school. But the opportunity was too good to pass up, so I took it. Honestly, I had hoped to move on before now, but hadn't found the right opportunity."

"You didn't want to give up all the free pussy you were snatching!" Jenny raved.

"Jenny, I never once cheated on you!" I snapped. "I made a vow in front of you and all our friends that I'd forsake all others. Right now I'm thinking the second part of 'til death do us part' sounds pretty nice, if it happens today. Leave it alone. You decided to play, and I have said I won't go along. It's over."

"It's not over!" Jenny screamed as I stood and walked to the door. "You'll never get a divorce! You promised me that you'd stay married forever, and I'm going to make you keep that promise!"

Jenny followed me out of the house and down the walk to my car. Her loud screams about not going along with the divorce and the pain she was going to cause me continued as I got into my car and buckled in. She even started banging on the window once the door was closed. I finally had enough and rolled the window down once I'd started the car. "Jenny, just accept it. Right now, all you can do is upset Morgana and Lance, and they don't deserve that."

I drove off and headed back to my hotel. The emotional backlash that Jenny had thrown at me shocked and dismayed me. It was like she was no longer the woman I had married ten years before. Nothing seemed to have gone right in our meeting. She made accusations that made absolutely no sense, and then demanded that I accept her actions without showing any remorse at all.

I was still pondering this as I entered my room and sat down, looking over the room and trying to decide how I should attack the rest of the week. I was thinking that I could use the room's small table as a desk while I wrote up some kind of introductory letter to some small businesses I knew of offering my marketing skill when there was a knock on the door.

I walked up and opened the door to find Kimber standing there wearing a very tight t-shirt and blue jeans. Her hair was once again in a ponytail and she smiled as I stood there stunned. "I hear you aren't with Jenny anymore," she said.

I found myself looking her body up and down, but snapped out of it and looked her in the eyes. "It's not final for a few months, and Jenny is going to fight it."

Kimber laughed. "If you have filed, it's all over except for bayoneting the wounded. You wouldn't be staying here if you thought there was any hope."

"Maybe," I muttered.

"Besides," Kimber continued. "You aren't the type to accept used goods, and that's what Jenny is now."

I glared at Kimber as she smiled at me serenely. "What do you mean?" I finally hissed.

"You know that my family is part of the rich crowd. They might have cut me off, but I still have contacts, so I get to hear most of the gossip. Victor has been a little less than discrete about his latest score."

I groaned and sat down on the bed. Kimber sat down next to me and put an arm over my shoulder. I had covered my face with my hands and was trying to fight back tears. Fortunately, Kimber knew enough to stay quiet for the long minutes it took me to bring my emotions back under control.

My emotions were still raw and unsteady, when I looked back at Kimber. Suddenly I had a thought, and asked. "Wait. How did you find me?"

Kimber gave a laugh and hugged me for a moment, fraying my already uncertain nerves. "You need to look more closely in your mirrors. I was watching when you walked out of your house with Jenny screaming at you and followed you here."

"You did what?" I said and stood up. Kimber just leaned back on the bed and smiled at me.

"I got this call from a wonderful little girl who seems to think I should audition to be her new mommy. She even suggested that I follow you," Kimber said with a wink.

"That little witch," I said admiringly. "She's not going to let it go."

Kimber laughed and then stood up, standing close to me. "I didn't lie. Saturday was the best date I've ever had, even if it wasn't a real date. So how about a dinner tonight, just for the two of us?"

I looked around the room, trying to avoid Kimber's eyes, but finally gave up. Her whole face showed uncertainty, but hope and I gave in, asking her to join me for dinner at the Olive Garden nearby. It was as if her greatest dream had come true because she threw herself into my arms and planted a kiss right on my lips before rushing out the door to her car.

Throughout the meal I worried about what was happening. I had only decided to divorce Jenny the week before, and had no idea how my life was going to charge, and a beautiful young lady was throwing herself at me. The fact that Morgana liked and trusted her counted for a lot, but I also knew that I was not ready for any commitment.

Kimber seemed to have no reservations. She laughingly told me stories about her time at college, and the fact that she had only one more semester until graduation. I listened closely for any mention of boys, and tried to suggest that they might be the one for her, but she dismissed them as weak or cruel. I felt like a deer during hunting season, and ended up silently eating while listening to Kimber talk about her sorority and the friends she made there.

I had half expected Kimber to try to follow me back to the hotel after dinner, but she gave me a kiss on the cheek and then said she needed to get back to school to study. I watched her once again walk away with a definite wiggle in her ass as she strolled over to her car and drove off. It was only once her car had left the parking lot that I realized that I did not have her phone number.

Tuesday found me sitting at the hotel's little table, reviewing my introduction letter and coming up with a list of stores that might benefit from my expertise. I was trying to be thorough and included the owner's name and past relation to me when I remembered. I even tried to note which ones might react more favorably to a phone call or meeting rather than an unsolicited letter. The process was surprisingly arduous as I struggled to find the right words for the letter while coming up with enough companies to make the idea work.

My work was interrupted about two by a call on my cell phone. At first I looked at the clock and realized that I had worked far past my usual lunch before the ringing penetrated my concentration completely and I grabbed the phone. "Hello."

I could hear Debra's voice. "Roger, I just got a call from your wife's lawyer. He tells me that she's going to fight the divorce and plans on countersuing. This could cause trouble."

"She seems to think I used my business trips to engage in affairs," I replied. "But as I said last week, my main concern is Morgana and Lance. Where possible I'd like them protected and my ability to have a relation with them kept. Beyond that, I don't want trouble."

Debra gave a snort. "No retribution for her affair? No worry about the money? I can't believe that."

"Not interested in ending up in jail because I hurt someone over this and money can't buy happiness. Besides didn't a wise man once say that the best revenge is a life lived well? I figure that I'll get the divorce and concentrate on living life with my kids." I replied.

There was a pause, and I could hear papers being shuffled on a desk. "Okay, I guess that makes sense, even if it's rare in my business. Now we don't have the official response, but should get it soon. After that there will be at least one court appearance to start the process. Are you going to want to attend?"

"Won't kill me," I mused. "But I've already found out that spending time with my wife is not fun, and in a courtroom will probably be nasty. How about we see what response she comes up with and go from there?"

Debra agreed and then covered a couple minor points regarding paperwork before hanging up. I found myself to be no longer interested in work, and with the time for school to end rapidly approaching, headed out so that I might spend time with the kids.

The days started to blur at this point. I spent time with an accountant on Wednesday, to insure that the taxes on my fourteen million dollar sale were properly paid, and to set up separate accounts in anticipation of the divorce. I had started to make phone calls to build up and promote my new marketing consultancy and found that more than a few stores were interested if I could keep the rates down. I had a series of meetings set up for the next week to try to sell my skills to various owners and shopkeepers in the coming two weeks.

The homefront was a disaster though. Morgana and Lance obviously relished the time we had, and resented Jenny, blaming her for the breakup of the family. I was greeted with hugs and kisses when I arrived and the kids happily showed me all the little projects they completed. Jenny would stand and watch and more than once I could see a tear when Morgana or Lance displayed a new piece of artwork. The reading had also continued every night, and Morgana was threatening to make me read for her next birthday party. "My friends can't believe that I like having stories read to me, and I have to show them why."

The only wise thing Jenny did was staying silent after that first fight. She would stand and watch, but made no move to speak to me, and wore clothing that appeared dowdy and unattractive every time I stopped by. Soon, I found myself wondering if she was still going to work, but I could not think of a way to begin the conversation.