My wife kept telling me that I had a drinking problem. I do drink a lot, but I am not an alcoholic and I never have been. I am not a "drunk" drunk, that is I don't start drinking the first thing in the morning and sneak drinks all day and then sit in a bar and get sloshed at night. Well, maybe the last part, but it wasn't because I couldn't leave alcohol alone, it was because I had to be sociable. It was part of my job.

Most of my customers flew in from out of town and they would always expect me to meet them at the airport, take them to the hotel and have a dinner meeting with them. We would invariably end up in the hotel bar or lounge and I would drink with him until he called it quits and went up to his room. Then I would go home and face my wife's hostility.

I could never figure out why Jesse was the way she was. She knew it was my job to entertain customers and she knew that it meant late nights for me and she never seemed to mind the large commission and bonus checks that I brought home. But she was always busting my chops over the fact that I was always leaving her home alone with the kids and that when I came home I'd had too much to drink and on and on and on. Like I was suppose to take the kids to work with me?

"Don't mind the kids playing under the table J.B. Now, what can my company do for you?"

Yeah, I could see that happening. So what I did was make a major effort on the weekends to take the kids off her hands and give Jesse some time alone. I'd ask Jesse if she wanted to go with us and she always said no. I'd take them to the movies, to the zoo or Water World and then I'd bring them home. After the kids were in bed Jesse would light into me about leaving her home alone. I got to where I couldn't win for losing so I just stopped trying to please her.

The Fall is my busiest time of the year and it is not uncommon during September and October for me not to get home until midnight on Monday through Friday. Again, it is my job to entertain customers and I'm not going to apologize to Jesse because of it. I bought her the house she picked, I bought her the car she wanted, the furniture, the appliances, the clothes - you name it - the commission checks and the bonus checks paid for it, but all I got was bitch, bitch, bitch from her. And then suddenly one day it stopped. No more bitching, no more whining, no more mentioning it at all. A month passed by and nothing was said then two months and I began to think that finally Jesse had accepted the fact that I had to do what I did to keep her in the style she had become accustomed to.

One day at work I got a call from one of my better customers. He was due in on a three-thirty flight and I was supposed to meet him at the airport and then it would be the usual - take care of business, and then take him out for dinner and drinks. He called to say that something had come up and he had to cancel, but he would call me in a couple of days and reschedule. I called Jesse to let her know that I would be home for dinner, but got a busy signal. I made a mental note to try later then got busy and forgot all about it.

It was six-thirty when I left my office and headed for home. I turned onto my street at seven-ten and saw a man I didn't know at my front door. It opened, Jesse leaned out and kissed him and he went inside. I drove by the house without stopping. My mind was in turmoil as I made a U-turn at the end of the block and then pulled over and parked. I didn't know what to do. Maybe there was a simple explanation for what I had seen, at least I hoped there was, and I debated on just going on home and seeing what was going on. But the more I thought about it the more sure that I was that there was no reasonable explanation. Strange man kissed by my wife as he entered my house plus Jesse no longer bitching at me equaled, at least to me, a cheating wife. Should I storm in or should I wait and gather more information? I decided to wait.

It was nine-thirty before the man came out and drove off. I was going to wait ten minutes and then go in the house, but five minutes after the man came out Jesse came out, got in her Suburban and drove off. Curious, I followed her. She drove to her parent's house and ten minutes later she came out with the kids. Well, at least she wasn't doing it with the kids around. I waited until after eleven and then I went home.

The next day was Saturday and the Barnum and Bailey Circus was in town so I took the kids and headed on out. As I drove I asked the kids if they had had fun at Grandma's last night. Little by little I got from them that they had been spending a lot of time at Grandma's. In fact, for the last two weeks they had been visiting her almost every night. I wondered what Jesse was telling her mom. I bet it wasn't that she needed a babysitter for the kids while she fucked her lover. I spent the rest of the weekend wondering how best to handle the problem and finally decided that confrontation would be as good a way to go as any - confrontation following being caught in the act.

Monday at work I told my boss that I needed to leave work early to take care of some personal business. He asked me what kind of personal business could be more important that taking care of John Cormack who was in town for the day. I don't know why I did it because I usually try to keep my business and home life separate, but for some reason I was just pissed off enough to tell Travis what was going on. Travis laughed and said as long as Jesse was fucking other men I should have her do my customers. "That kind of personal service would cause your numbers to go way up."

At first I was pissed at Travis for making light of my situation, but as the day went by I began to think more and more that he was onto something. That afternoon as John and I were discussing contracts I asked him if he would like to help me with a personal problem. He asked what it was and I told him.

We were sitting in his rental car at the end of my street when Jesse came out of the house with the kids and headed off to her mother's house. Her lover was in the driveway waiting when she got back and they went into the house hand in hand. We gave them fifteen minutes and then we followed them in. I had John wait in the living room and undress while I headed for the bedroom. The man had Jesse's legs up on his shoulders and he was pounding away at her pussy while she cried out, "Oh yes, oh God yes, fuck me baby, fuck me." They didn't notice me and I watched for a minute or two before clearing my throat and saying, "I guess that this means I've been replaced."