Chapter 7

I came home from work to find Sarah sitting at the kitchen table drinking a beer. That alone told me something was up because she was normally a wine drinker. I bent down to kiss her and she jerked her head away and said:

"Don't you dare touch me you fucking asshole."

I stood up and went to the fridge and got myself a beer and then sat down across from her and said:

"And just why am I a fucking asshole?"

She picked up a manila envelope from the table in front of her and threw it at me.

"Read that!!" she snarled.

It was a report from a detective agency and it covered my last two meetings with Vangie.

"What have you got to say to that?"

I looked at her for a couple of seconds as she stared back at me and then I stood up and said:

"Don't go away. I'll be right back."

I went to the bedroom that I had made into a home office/den and opened the safe I'd never told Sarah about. It was hidden behind a removable panel inside the closet. I removed two envelopes and went back into the kitchen. I sat down and tossed one of the envelopes to Sarah and said:

"I'll see your report" and then I flipped the other envelope to her and said, "and I'll raise you one."

One report covered one of her visits to Larry's place and the other covered a visit to John's.

"And I have more. Want me to dig them out?"

She had opened the first one and her face had gone pale and I knew she was wondering if I had one of her and Russ. I went on.

"Remember back to that company Christmas party where we got back together and I made the "two best looking women in the place" comment? Remember your response and then what I said to you? I expected you to get the message, but you apparently missed it. You lied to me then when you said you were done with Larry. Of course I didn't know about John then, but I do now."

Then I paused for a moment and then said in a harsh tone of voice, "So where the fuck do you get off getting all belligerent with me?!! At least with your mother I'm keeping it in the family."

She was already pale, but when I said "keeping it in the family" she went totally white-faced.

"I'm going out for a while and while I'm gone I want you to get your shit out of our bedroom and move into one of the spare bedrooms" and I got up and left.

I hadn't even started the car and I had Vangie on her cell phone. I told her what had gone down and she asked me what I was going to do.

"It will depend on Sarah. I'm in attack mode so I'll be going after her. I need to find out why she put a PI on me and what she intended to do when she found out whatever she was trying to find out. I've burned Larry and John and I will of course keep Russ out of it, but I'm going to hint at knowing a lot more than what I've hit her with. Right now I have the edge because she didn't expect me to come firing back at her. I will not let her know that I let you know and in fact I will tell her that I have no intention of you ever finding out that she knows."

"You going to divorce her?"

"That will depend on her. I won't go for one, but if that is what she had in mind when she hired the detective it might end up in a divorce."

"What are you going to do right now?"

"I'm going down to Riley's Tavern, have a few and let her sit home and stew for a while."

"Should we cool it for a bit?"

"No. She knows about us so there is no reason to stop. Unless you want to?"

"No lover, I don't. See you Wednesday?"

"You bet."

I had three beers at Riley's and shot a game of eight ball with Billy Holbrook and then headed on home. Sarah was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a beer when I walked in. I got myself a beer and leaned on the kitchen counter. I took a pull on the Bud and then said:

"Why in the hell did you put a detective on me?"

"I thought you were cheating on me."

"What made you think that?"

"I smelled perfume on you and one night I saw a trace of lipstick on your neck."

I almost laughed at her, but held it in. "Let me see if I understand this. You come home and smell perfume on me, right?"

She nodded her head yes.

"Since the only nights I spend with your mom are the nights you lie to me and say you are working late or playing cards you are saying that you came home after rolling around on one of your lover's beds getting all sweaty and smelly, ready and willing to give me sloppy seconds if I wanted to make love to you and you smelled perfume on me and got upset? That about sum it up?"

She looked away and down at the floor. "And just what were you going to do if you found out that I was doing what you were doing?"

She didn't look at me and she didn't answer. "Speak up Sarah. What is going to happen is going to be decided in this kitchen right now. When I leave the room I will have decided what I'm going to do. You want any say in the matter you had better speak up right now. It is the only chance you will get."

She looked up at me and said, "I was going to threaten you with divorce if you didn't stop seeing whoever it was you were seeing."

"Basically you are saying you would be giving me a second chance, but I would be under your thumb from then on. In other words I was to stay home and behave while you kept on cheating on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. That about right?"