Chapter 10

Amanda had always been tolerant of Rob's shortcomings. They didn't really hurt her, although she had to admit that his shortcomings in bed deprived her of a reasonable amount of sexual satisfaction. She tolerated him, his wandering eyes and his bragging attitude because he provided an excellent living for Cindy and her and he had never done anything to hurt either of them. Until this weekend.

About two hours before Rob returned from his outing, Amanda received a telephone call from Stephanie, her old college friend. Stephanie had just returned from a golf resort where she had been involved with a special outing for customers and friends of her employer. When she was about to go to the first event, she opened the door to her room. Directly across the hall, Rob was standing in the door to that room, and another woman was in the room, standing next to him in her underwear, saying good bye and wishing him good luck at golf. Stephanie told Amanda that she was certain that Rob did not recognize her because he did not say anything other than "Good Morning" to her. Stephanie managed to get several snapshots of the two of them, at the bar, the pool and going into the room again.

Amanda asked her to email the photos to her immediately, and when she saw them, she recognized Rob's secretary as the other woman. Still in shock from this news, Amanda and Stephanie discussed a strategy on how to deal with this. They agreed to not mention the existence of the photos, or the knowledge of the affair just yet.

The next morning, Amanda sat down with Cindy and told her that she had made her dad leave the house, and that they would be getting a divorce. Of course, Cindy was shocked and upset by this news, and cried most of the morning. Amanda promised to explain it all to her later in the day, but felt it important to get to the lawyer's office immediately. On instructions from her attorney, Amanda cancelled their joint credit cards, opened two in her own name, and then transferred almost all of the available cash from their joint account to a new one that she opened at a different bank. She called a locksmith to have the locks on the house changed and then changed all of the life insurance policies that were on her life to name Cindy as sole beneficiary.

At four o'clock that afternoon, Robert Andrews was served with papers pleading for the dissolution of marriage between himself and Amanda Andrews. In addition, his secretary, as well as the bank where they both worked, received papers naming her as defendant in a suit claiming alienation of affection. When confronted with the photos Rob quickly conceded to every demand from Amanda's attorney. To keep everything else quiet, the bank bought off the suit against the secretary. Amanda received the house, three cars, the Florida condo and a large cash settlement from Rob, along with substantial child support and house maintenance funds until Cindy finished college. The bank settlement was in the mid seven figures. Such is the world of high flying banking executives.