Chapter 9

It was Saturday afternoon and Guy was in his office. He had told his wife that he was behind on a problem as a result of all the excitement earlier in the week. That was actually the truth. He was behind in his work. Maggie hadn’t believed him and followed him to the office. She had called him on the office phone every forty-five minutes after he had arrived, just to see if everything was okay. Like he actually believed that excuse.

After spending half of the afternoon trying to figure out why a hydraulic system at a factory kept blowing its seal, he was now watching a video of his wife cheating on him with tears rolling down his cheeks. It had only taken one day to get a video catching her in the act. He wasn’t sure if she was just that busy or if his timing had been fortuitous.

He watched the action on the computer monitor with a sick feeling in his stomach. Knowing that she was cheating on him and seeing it were two different things. This hurt. This really hurt! He thanked God that no one was in the office to see him crying like a baby.

He mumbled, “She’s going to pay for this.”

He thought about the suggestion of opening a website documenting her cheating. He could see how it could make some money. With so much interest in reality shows on television, an uncensored reality show on the internet could really rake in some money. He wouldn’t go that far.

In thinking about his problems, he thought about the other three people he had met the day of the robbery. Cody had disappeared. He doubted anyone would ever hear from him again. Cody had looked like a broken man when he had last seen him.

Selena was seriously depressed. Since their offices were in the same part of town, he had gone to lunch with her a couple of times. He enjoyed her company, but it was clear that she wasn’t handling the breakup with her boyfriend very well. He wasn’t in much of a position to talk. He wasn’t dealing with his wife’s infidelity very well either.

He hadn’t heard from Max in a while and wondered how things were going in terms of finding a job. The last time they had talked, Max and his wife seemed more concerned about their daughter than his lack of employment. Of course, hearing Cody’s stories about his daughter had probably made them fear for their daughter.

He could understand that. He had a daughter and two boys. He wasn’t worried about them. His daughter was sharp, but well behaved. His sons were doing well in school and helped around the house. It had all seemed like a perfect family. He marveled at how appearances could be very deceiving.

He had come up with the excuse of kidney stones, as a reason for not being too interested in sex. He didn’t know what effect kidney stones would have on a man’s sex drive, but neither did she. It did help explain his discomfort when urinating and his general grumpiness. The net result was that his wife wasn’t pressuring him for sex.

His eyes drifted back to the video playing on the computer monitor. He thought about the website. He kept wondering how his kids would react if he were to create one and they learned about it. He couldn’t kid himself. They would find out about it. If he didn’t have kids, he would have charged ahead with the website and be damned with the consequences.

He removed the CD from the computer and put it in his desk drawer. He headed home with a heavy heart. It dawned on him that he had been dreading going home for months now. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed that before now.

He pulled up in front of the house. His oldest son, Sean, was outside shooting hoops. Guy walked over and asked, “How’s it going?”

“Not so good. Mom’s on the warpath,” Sean said.

“What happened?” Guy asked.

“I don’t know. She keeps saying that she’s tired of being trapped in the house with nothing to do,” Sean said.

That had become an increasingly more frequent complaint. The kids were pretty self-sufficient and she was bored. She didn’t want to be a housewife and she didn’t want to have a job. Life was passing her by and she was tired of it. Guy wondered how he had missed the signs.

“I’ll talk to her,” Guy said tiredly.

He was trying to keep things low key until he decided what he was going to do and how he was going to proceed with the divorce. He didn’t want the kids to have to deal with a lot of drama. Based on the expression on Sean’s face, that wasn’t likely. There was plenty of drama all ready.

He entered the house. Maggie said, “Take me out tonight.”

“Where?” Guy asked.

“I don’t care. Just take me somewhere,” she replied.

Guy said, “We went out last night.”

“So?”

“I’m tired,” Guy said.

Maggie said, “I don’t care. You aren’t stuck in this house all day. You get to go out and do interesting things while I”m stuck here.”

“I wouldn’t say spending the whole day at work is interesting,” Guy said.

To hear her description of what he did for a living, one would think that he was some sort of super spy. She talked about his job like it involved traveling to exotic locations, embassy parties, visits to the casinos of Monte Carlo, and car chases through the hills of San Francisco.

That he was a troubleshooter for a hydraulics’s company was an inconvenient counter to her fantasy. It was his job to figure out why some pieces of equipment suffered repeated failures while others lasted forever. When he traveled, it was to some pretty cruddy locations. At times it was a dirty nasty job involving equipment that was filthy with grease and oil.

“How about a movie after dinner?” Guy asked.

“No.”

Guy asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. Something exciting,” Maggie answered.

“I’ll see if there is someplace where we can go skydiving. Jumping out of an airplane with parachutes would be exciting,” Guy said sarcastically.

He was thinking that he’d like to pack her parachute.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Maggie growled.

Guy said, “You wanted exciting. That’s the most exciting thing I can come up with.”

“You’re making fun of me,” Maggie shouted.

“Give me a clue. What in the hell do you want to do?” Guy asked finding that his patience was coming to an end.

“I don’t know! You come up with something,” Maggie said.

Guy said, “I’m not the one who is bored.”

“If that’s the way you’re going to be, I’m going out alone,” Maggie said.

“Fine,” Guy said.

When Maggie left, Sean came into the house. He looked at his father and shook his head.

“What?” Guy asked.

“Something is wrong with Mom,” Sean said.

“I know,” Guy said.

His daughter, Ellie, and his youngest son, Bill, came into the living room. Ellie said, “Mom has been a total bitch all day.”

“I’m sorry about that kids,” Guy said.

Bill asked, “Have you been having an affair?”

“No,” Guy answered sharply.

“If you are, Mom will take you to the cleaners,” Ellie said.

“I’m not having an affair,” Guy said.

He was dismayed that he would even be asked that question. His wife was the one cheating and he was having to defend himself? That didn’t set well with him at all.