I watched her dress for the party and thought for the thousandth time how fortunate I had been to have her say yes when I asked her to marry me. 

As I watched her I knew that the party was going to be special.  She was going all out to showcase what she had.  Black lacy shelf bra that lifted her breasts so the low cut blouse could display the creamy upper slopes and the enticing cleavage.  An almost non-existent black thong that I had never seen before.  Her long tanned legs were stockingless as she put on a pair of strappy sandals with four inch heels.  She stepped into a short black skirt that came down to mid-thigh and displayed her legs to the fullest.  As a finishing touch she put an ankle chain on her right ankle and a gold chain with a locket around her neck.  Still more things I’d never seen before.  She spun around in front of me and asked:

“How do I look?”

“Good enough to eat.”

“Good.  That’s the look I am going for.  Come on; we don’t want to be late.”

As she headed for the bedroom door I rolled her comment over in my mind.

 “That’s the look I am going for.”

 Too bad the look wasn’t for me.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I met Patricia Ann Cummings on our first day at Longview High School.  I had gone to middle school on the north side of the county and Patty had attended middle school on the south side.  We ended up sitting next to each other in that first day’s first class and I was smitten.  I thought that she was the loveliest thing I’d ever seen and before the day was over I asked her if she would like to go the movies with me.  She said she would love to and that date led to a second which led to a third and then a fourth.  We dated for a couple of months and then I asked her to go steady with me and she said no.  She said she really liked me a lot, but that there were a lot of other boys that she thought were cute and that she might like to go out with.

For the next two years I asked her out at least once a week and maybe one time in four she would say yes.  I thought since she kept saying yes to me that I would sooner or later have the inside track with her.  That all changed in the twelfth grade.  One day I asked her out and she told me that she wouldn’t be able to date me any more because she was going steady with Brad Metzler.

Through senior year I dated a couple of other girls, but my heart wasn’t really in it.  I would end up comparing them to Patty Ann and they never measured up.  I didn’t even go to the senior prom because I couldn’t bear to see Patty in Brad’s arms as they danced.

Patty was still friendly with me and would sit with me at lunch from time to time in the school cafeteria.  We would talk about things going on with our classmates, what we were going to do when we went to college and the like.  I was pretty good in math, but Patty was only so so and she would occasionally ask if she could study with me and I of course never said no.

She and Brad got into an argument about mid-way through our senior year and they broke up.  I moved in and for about a month Patty and I were a couple and then one day I asked her what she wanted to do on the coming weekend and she told me that she was going to a party with Brad.  From then on they were back together.  Graduation came and Patty and Brad took off on a trip with Brad’s parents and I didn’t see them again until the fall.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “de-ja vu all over again.”  It was the first day of class at the local college and I was sitting in the auditorium waiting for freshman indoctrination to begin when someone sat down in the seat next to me.  I looked over and saw that it was Patty Ann.  I looked around and didn’t see Brad and Patty read my mind.

  “He won’t be here until next week.  He had something that he had to do with his father.”

“Since he isn’t around would this be a good time to ask you to go to Jane’s party with me Friday night?”

“Why do you keep trying Rob?  You know I’m Brad’s girl.”

“A guy can only hope.”

“But why?”

“I can’t tell you, but I like to think that if I hang in there it will some day be to my benefit.”

“What do you mean you can’t tell me why?  Does that mean you don’t know yourself or is it something that you don’t think you can tell me?”

“Let’s just say that I know when to keep my mouth shut.”

“Okay then, be that way.  But Brad will be back in time to take me to the party so no, I can’t go with you.”

“At least save me a dance.”

“We’ll see.”

As we sat there and listened to the parade of people telling us what to expect, what not to expect and explaining the rules and regulations that would govern our lives for the next four years I thought about Patty and her question - “Is it something that you don’t think you can tell me?”  That was it in a nutshell.  I knew better than to bad mouth Brad to her, but the plain and simple fact was that Brad was an asshole and sooner or later he was going to hurt her.  I couldn’t tell her that because she wouldn’t believe me and all it would accomplish is that I would poison her against me.  All I could do was hang around and hope to be there to help pick up the pieces when the time came.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I wanted Patty, but I finally accepted that I might never get her so I started dating and stopped trying to compare my dates to Patty.  I dated half a dozen, necked with most of them, but it wasn’t until I met Bonnie that I found one I wanted to date often.  She was a hot kisser and liked grinding her body into mine when we danced.

It was our third date and we were necking hot and heavy in front of her dorm.  We had been to a party and had done some dirty dancing and I mean some “real get down and dirty dancing” and I had a very hard and aching cock and the necking wasn’t making things easier.  I needed to get home to the privacy of my bedroom and take care of it.  Suddenly Bonnie broke the kiss and said:

“I’ll suck your dick if you will eat my pussy.”

The look on my face must have been priceless.  Bonnie said, “What?  You’ve never had your dick sucked before?”

The fact of the matter was that I hadn’t.  I was a stone assed virgin, but I wasn’t going to tell Bonnie that so what I did say was:

“I’ve never eaten a pussy.  I don’t know how.”

Bonnie broke out in a big smile and said, “Oh goody!  I get to be your first and I get to teach you to do it the way I like.  Have you got enough to spring for a motel room?”

That night opened my eyes.  I could have cried over all the times I never even tried to do things with other girls because I was so hung up on Patty.  As soon as we were in the hotel room Bonnie said:

“Come here lover so I can unwrap my present” and then she undressed me.  When she had me naked I returned the favor and I think by the way I fumbled with her bra hooks she got an idea of just how inexperienced I was.  When I had her naked she pushed me back on the bed and said:

“I’ll do you first and then we can concentrate on teaching you how to make the girls want to chase after you.”

How do you describe your first blow job?  I can’t describe mine because I was so buried in sensations that all I could think about was how totally awesome it was.  I didn’t want it to end, but it did and all too quickly.  I spurted and Bonnie kept sucking until I went soft.

“First blow job?” Bonnie asked and I sheepishly nodded yes.  “The right way to do it is that you are supposed to tell the girl when you are ready to cum.  Not all of us like to swallow.  Be honest with me sweetie; you are a virgin aren’t you?”

Again I sheepishly nodded a yes.

Nothing to be ashamed of sweetie; we all have to have a first time.  I love it that I get to be yours.”

We didn’t leave that motel room until seven the next morning and by the time the motel door closed behind me I knew how to eat pussy the way that Bonnie liked having it done, I knew I loved blow jobs (and pussy); I found out how much fun a sixty-nine could be and I had lost my virginity three times over.  As we dressed Bonnie said:

“Next time we will do some anal.”

“Then there will be a next time?”

“Oh yes sweetie, most definitely yes.  I still have a ton to teach you.”

I can’t say that Bonnie and I became a couple because we didn’t.  Bonnie still dated other guys and I wasn’t silly enough to believe that I was the only guy she had sex with, but she still managed to fit me in (no pun intended) two or three times a week.  So she was seeing other guys, so what?  I was still having more fun that the law should allow.  And Bonnie did make me feel like a stud because a lot of times she would call me and ask me if I was up (again, no pun intended) for a night with her.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I would occasionally run across Patty and Brad at parties and dances and I began to notice something.  If I was alone or with some girl other than Bonnie Patty always seemed to have a smile for me, but if I was with Bonnie Patty would look away when I caught her eye.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where Patty might have known Bonnie from or what Bonnie could have done to piss off Patty.  I just filed it away as one of those questions that you would never know the answer to.

I found out that certain girls talk as much about guys as guys talk about girls.  I couldn’t begin to count the number of times that some guy I know bragged about how he and _________(fill in the blank) had fucked all night and what a great cock sucker she was.  Girls must do the same.  I was at a party one night and I had come stag.  While I was there Sue Wilson came up to me and said:

“Bonnie says you are a fun date.  Why don’t you give me a call sometime?”

The next time I saw Bonnie I asked her about it.

“Why that little whore!  I thought the bitch was my friend and now she’s trying to cut in on my action.”

“Cut in on your action?”

“I told the slut how good you were at eating pussy and I guess she wants to try you out to see if I know what I’m talking about.”

“And just how many others did you share that little tidbit with?”

“Don’t go getting all pissy with me over this baby.  I won’t be around forever and when I’m gone there will be a good half dozen girls who are going to try and get you to ask them out.”

I did start paying attention to the girls that Bonnie seemed to spend time with and on nights I wanted to go out but Bonnie said she was busy I started calling a few of them and I did surprisingly well.  Anyway, Bonnie and her friends set the stage for my next meaningful encounter with Patty Ann.

I was with Bonnie at a party and we were on the dance floor and dancing pretty close to each other when Patty and Brad came in.  I caught Patty’s eye and she gave me what I can only call a look of pure disgust.  “What’s up with that” I wondered and then forgot about it.  About an hour into the party I was at the make-shift bar making myself a drink and watching Bonnie ‘dirty dance’ with some guy when Patty came up to me.

May I ask you a very personal question?”

“I think we know each other well enough for that.”

“Why are you with that tramp?”

“Tramp?”

“Oh come on Rob; she is intimately acquainted with the back seats of at least half of the guys here at this party.”

“And your point?”

She gave me that look of disgust again and turned and walked away.  Five minutes later Patty came up to me and said:

“I saw you talking to Patty.  What did she want?”

“Nothing.  Just saying hello.”

“She wants you.”

I laughed at that.  “She wants me?  That’s a crock.  I’ve been trying to give myself to her since the ninth grade and she won’t have me.”

“I don’t know why you haven’t connected, but trust me on this - she wants you.  A girl can tell about these things.”

I just shook my head, took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor.

The following Monday I was sitting in the student cafeteria picking at a chicken-pot-pie and reviewing my notes for Business Law when Patty sat down across from me.

“I want to apologize Rob.  I was out of line the other night.  I had no business sticking my nose into your personal life.”

“So why did you?”

“I care about you Rob and I hated seeing you throw your life away on that piece of trash and her girlfriends.  You deserve better Rob.”

“Better wouldn’t have me Patty Ann.  God knows I’ve tried.”

She looked at me blankly for a couple of seconds until she realized what it was that I had really just said.

“You don’t give up do you?”

“I’m not dead yet.”

“What am I going to do with you Rob; you know that I’m spoken for.”

“It isn’t over until I see the wedding rings on your finger Patty and even then I’ll probably be around somewhere.”

She shrugged her shoulders and apologized again and as she got up to leave I thought about what Bonnie had said:

“She wants you.”

If Bonnie was right Patty Ann hid it well.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Summer vacation was both good and bad for me.  The good part was that I had landed an internship at a local company and I was doing well and getting good reviews.  The bad part was that my maternal grandparents died in an auto accident.  I had been very close to Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Harry and their deaths shook me terribly.

I received a registered letter from their attorney requesting my presence at the reading of their will and that is when I found out for the first time that they had set up a trust fund for me when I was born.  I would get the entire amount when I turned twenty-five.  One of the provisions was that once I turned eighteen, if I went to college, I could draw against the trust for up to ten thousand a year for educational expenses.  My parents had never told me about that since they had set up my college fund when I was still young.  My grandparents also left me a cash bequest of twenty thousand.  It bothered me that I never knew about the trust and was never able to properly thank them.

I used part of the twenty thousand to set me up in an off campus apartment, but other than that sophomore year was more of the same.  I still saw Bonnie two or three times a week and when I wasn’t seeing her I could usually be seen with one of the girls that Bonnie had talked me up to.  Life was good, but every once in a while I would be brought down in the dumps when I’d see Patty Ann with Brad.  Patty and I would run across each other every once in a while and we would talk.  Always light, general conversation.  She never mentioned my “tramp” and I never asked about Brad. 

The year flew by and then we were into our junior year.  Bonnie never came back to school after summer vacation so I was spending most of my time with Pauline French, one of the girls that Bonnie had told about my pussy eating prowess.  I was having a good time with Pauline, but it was a ‘nervous’ good time.  Pauline wanted a ring and she kept hinting that we really needed to start planning “our future” but the truth of the matter was that I didn’t see a future with Pauline.  She was a fun bed partner, but that is all she was as far as I was concerned.  I suppose I should have done the right thing and told her straight out that marriage was not in the cards for us, but that might have caused her to drop me and I wasn’t about to give up having sex four and five times a week.

Things bumped along until spring break.  Two weeks after classes resumed I went into the student cafeteria for lunch and I saw Patty Ann sitting at a table in the back.  I carried my tray over and sat down with her.  Her face was tear streaked and she looked like hell.  I asked her what was the matter and she said:

“My life sucks!”

“Oh come on Patty; things can’t be that bad.”

“Oh yes they can.”

“So what is the problem?  Uncle Rob is here to give you a shoulder to cry on.”

“There isn’t anything that you can do to help.”

“Try me.”

“I’m pregnant.”

“So when is the big day?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t been to the doctor yet.”

“Not that big day.  When are you and Brad going to tie the knot?”

“We aren’t.  We had a big argument just before spring break and he took off.  He didn’t come back to school after the break and when I didn’t hear from him I called his mother.  She told me that he had moved to California to work for his uncle.  I asked her how I could get in touch with him and she told me that he didn’t want anything more to do with me and he didn’t want her to give me his number.”

“So he doesn’t know?”

“I didn’t know myself until I took the self test yesterday.”

“Any chance it was a bad test?”

“I retook it again this morning and it was positive again.”

“Well I wouldn’t worry until a doctor confirms it.”

“I have an appointment at three this afternoon, but I know it is only a formality.  Oh God Rob, what am I going to do?  This will just kill my mother.  The shame of having an unwed mother for a daughter will just kill her.  Hell!  It will upset my entire family.”

“It won’t be that bad.”

“Oh yes it will.   My mother has harped on me for the last five or six years about going down the aisle as a virgin.  I can’t even remember how many times she told me that only sluts and whores have sex before marriage.  Just to get her off my back I promised her I would be a virgin at my wedding.  I am so screwed.”

“Maybe not.  Maybe there is a way out.”

“How?”

“See the doctor first.  No sense in going off half-cocked.  Let’s just make sure that we really have a problem.”

“We?”

“You don’t think I’d let you go through this alone do you?”

I drove her to the doctor’s office and the doctor said, “Congratulations, you are going to be a mommy.”

Patty kept a stiff upper lip until we were out of the doctor’s office and then she broke down and sobbed into my shoulder until she was all cried out.  As I drove her back to her car I told her that she needed to find some way to get in touch with Brad.

“Can I come to your place and call his mom from there?  I can’t go home to my mother in the shape I’m in right now.”

“No problem.  You can stay there as long as you need to.”

She called Brad’s mother and got the bad news.  Brad had specifically told his mother that he did not want to hear from Patty under any circumstances.  Patty told Brad’s mother that she was pregnant and desperately needed to get in touch with Brad and Brad’s mother said that Brad had told her that Patty might try something like that and to ignore Patty.  Patty hung up the phone and looked at the floor.

“I am cooked Rob; I am just so absolutely screwed.”

I sat there looking at her and then knowing that it was stupid of me and that it could not turn out well I bit the bullet and said:

“There is a way.”

“A way to what?”

“Take care of the problem of upsetting your family and giving the baby a name so that it won’t be born a bastard.”

“How can that happen?”

I told her and she was stunned.  “No way” she said.  “It can’t work.  It would be wrong.  I love Brad and we will get back together; I know we will.”

“Maybe, but that is in the future.  This is the here and now and now is when you need to do something.”

“How can you do it knowing how I feel about Brad?”

“I can do it because I’ve always felt the same way about you.”

“What happens when Brad comes back?”

“We end it and he can legally adopt the child.  No one will ever need to know.”

She argued against it and I tried my best to convince her and fear of what her mother and the rest of her family would do finally swung her over and the next morning we flew to Vegas and were married by Elvis.

I loved Patty Ann, but I knew that our marriage was just a sham.  I loved her enough to do what I was doing to help her, but I knew that she didn’t love me.  I knew she really liked me, but that was all and I made sure that the hotel where we spent the night had double beds.  I was in one, under the covers, and I had turned the other one down for Patty and when she came out of the bathroom she saw the set-up.  She looked from me to the other bed and then back to me and then she came and got into bed with me.  I started to ask her if she knew what she was doing and she put a finger to my lips.

“I’ve thought about this ever since I agreed to your plan.  You know that my heart belongs to Brad, but you are my husband now and I am your wife.  Regardless of why we got married we are married and I intend that for as long as it lasts it will be a real marriage.”

Her hand slipped down my body to my erect cock and as she wrapped her fingers around it she said:

“I guess the idea doesn’t displease you.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was a shock to both of our families to find out that we had eloped, but for the most part they got over it.  Patty’s parents told her that since she was married now they would no longer pay for her college and that upset her greatly as she was so set on getting her degree.  I drew against my trust for the money to pay her tuition and books.

As far as marriages go it was so so.  I loved Patty and she liked me so we got along fine, but the passion wasn’t there.  Most couples just married (or so I’d heard) made love anywhere and everywhere six and seven days a week until the novelty wore off, but I was getting less sex married than I was getting when I was single.  Patty and I made love twice a week and I honestly believed that it was only because she thought it was her duty as a wife.  But even though I seemed to be coming out on the short end I considered it the price I had to pay to have Patty.

We lived the life of married students and things seemed smooth enough.  We had been married four months when I got a call from Patty’s mother.  Patty had been by to visit and had tripped and fallen down some stairs.  She had started bleeding and they had rushed her to the hospital and Patty was in the emergency room.  I hurried to the hospital and when I got there I found out that the fall had caused a miscarriage. 

A few weeks after Patty had come home and recovered I sat down with her and asked her if she wanted the divorce then or wanted to wait until after graduation.

“What divorce Rob?  Are you tired of me already?”

“We only got married because you were pregnant and Brad wasn’t available.”

“Yes we did, but we are married and I see no reason to change things.”

She took me by the hand and led me to the bedroom and for the first time since Elvis joined us in holy matrimony Patty reduced me to a quivering ruin.  Nothing was said by either of us, but our marriage changed that night.  It was gradual at first.  Our love making went to a couple of times a night on our two nights a week.  Then it was three times a week.  Then four.  Patty Ann was more attentive and seemed to want to snuggle and cuddle more than she had in the past and our marriage started to look like the marriage that some of our friends had.

Graduation came and Patty and I found jobs and started out on our careers and while things seemed to be good I still felt a little ill at ease.  I was looking over my shoulder knowing that it would all come to an end as soon as Brad came back.  But Brad didn’t come back and Patty never mentioned him so I gradually forgot about him.

I made arrangements to take Patty out to celebrate our first our first anniversary.  It was on a Friday and I rushed home from work so I could change and be ready to go on time for our reservations at Duke’s Steak House.  I walked into the apartment and found Patty waiting for me in nothing but a pair of high heels.

“I took the liberty of cancelling our dinner reservations.  I have my own idea of how we should celebrate our anniversary.”

It was a long night and when she finally couldn’t get me to respond any more she snuggled in next to me and said:

“Thank you for being mine.”

I put my arm around her, pulled her close and prayed that I could keep on being hers.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We had been married a little over eighteen months when we tired of apartment living and went house hunting.  We found a very nice three bedroom with an in ground pool and made an offer.  It was accepted and we moved in.  The next three years flew by and I honestly believe that there wasn’t anyone in the world who could possibly be happier than I was.

And then my world turned to shit!

Patty worked for the state and got a shit load of days off during the year.  Martin Luther King Day, Veteran’s Day, President’s Day and Columbus day were just a few of them.  I only got the regular six plus my birthday so Patty had a lot of time off that I couldn’t share with her.  It was Columbus Day and Patty was off.

I left work early so I could go home and spend some time with her and maybe take her out to dinner.  When I got home there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway and I wondered who Patty’s visitor was.  I called out, “Honey, I’m home” when I came in through the door, but I got no answer.  I walked into the kitchen to get a Coke from the ice box and through the kitchen window I saw Patty sitting in a chair next to the pool talking to a man sitting in another chair. 

The man was Brad!

They were both fully dressed and they were sitting across from each other and not close so I didn’t think they had been up to anything, but human nature being what it is I went upstairs and checked the bedrooms and the dirty clothes hamper in the master bedroom.  I even checked the laundry room, but found no sign that anything untoward had happened in the house.  But I was not due home for another four hours and maybe Brad had just arrived and they just had not got around to doing anything yet.  Who knew what might happen in those four hours.

I went outside and moved my car down the block and then went back into the house.  The two of them were still sitting beside the pool so I went to the upstairs bedroom that overlooked the pool and settled in to watch. 

They talked for another half hour and I noticed that Patty smiled and laughed a lot and then Brad said something that made Patty frown and cast a quick glance toward the house.  She shook her head no and Brad said something else and Patty again shook her head no.  Brad said something else and then they both stood up and headed for the house.  I moved to the bedroom door and opened it a crack and put my ear to it.

“….tomorow for sure?” I heard Brad say and then I heard Patty say, “Tomorrow.”

I thought I heard the sound of a kiss, but it could very well have been my imagination, and then the front door opened and then closed and I heard Patty humming to herself as she moved back through the house.  I heard the patio door slide open and I moved back to the window and looked out.  Patty was picking up the glasses that she and Brad had been drinking out of and while she was out by the pool I got out of the house.  I drove to the public library and tried to kill time until it was my regular time to go home.

I pulled the days paper from the rack and sat there trying to read it, but I couldn’t concentrate. My mind was full of questions that I had no answers for.  How long had Brad been back in town?  How long had Patty known it?  Why hadn’t she mentioned it to me?  Did he just stop by the house and knock on the door?  If so how did he know Patty had the day off?  If he knew she had the day off how did he know she would be at home?  The alternative to that was that he was invited over.  If so why during the day when I wouldn’t be there?  And then back to an earlier question.  If invited meant Patty knew he was back so why hadn’t she mentioned it to me?  She knew that I would find out sooner or later so why hide it from me?  And what was the “Tomorrow for sure” all about?  Would Patty mention that he was at the house when I got home?  And the biggie:

Was my worst fear, that I would eventually lose Patty back to Brad about to be realized?

I tried to act normal when I got home and I guess I was successful because Patty didn’t seem to notice any change in me.  I did get the answer to one of my questions though.  I asked her how her day off had been and if she had done anything with her free time.

“No baby, just a lazy day for me.  I lay by the pool, read a book and worked on my tan.”

We made love once that night and then I tried, with only limited success, to get some sleep.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I stopped at an IHOP when I left the house and called work.  I told them that I was sick and wouldn’t be in.  I was parked where I could see the both the door to patty’s office and her car in the parking lot when her lunch hour came around.  At five to twelve the car that had been in my driveway the previous day pulled up outside Patty’s office and parked at the curb.  I could see that the driver was Brad.  Patty came out, got in the car and they drove off.  I didn’t bother to follow them because it didn’t matter.  I already knew all I needed to know.

 Brad was back and Patty was seeing him and hiding it from me.  The handwriting was on the wall.  Brad was not the distant memory that I hoped he would be and it was obvious that Patty had not put him out of her mind.  Regardless of my feelings for Patty it was understood when we married that I would step aside when Brad came back.  I had hoped that it would never happen, but I told her then that I understood and now I was going to have to honor my agreement.  The only question left was when was she going to drop the bomb on me.

Nothing was mentioned that night about her seeing Brad that afternoon, but when we went to bed that night Patty was insatiable and she sucked and fucked me into exhaustion.  I couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t out of guilt for what she had done that day.

The next three weeks were hell on me.  Patty had always stopped after work to have a drink with her co-workers, but it was usually only about once every two weeks or so.  Suddenly she was stopping with them twice a week.  I could count on the thumbs of one hand the number of Mary Kay, Tupperware and Avon parties that Patty had attended over the past three years, but she had gone to two of them since I first saw her with Brad out by the pool.

 I knew what was going on and I finally couldn’t take it any more and I made the decision to confront Patty and get it over with.  I was all set to do it after dinner, but then Patty took it out of my hands.

“Don’t make any plans for Friday night.”

“Why?  What’s up?”

“We are going to a party at the Roadhouse.  Brad’s back in town and Bev got a bunch of us together and we are going to throw him a Welcome Home party.”

I looked at her and waited for her to lay the second part on me; the part where she would tell me that we were over and it was time for her to get on with her life with Brad.  Instead she ran through who would be there and how much fun it was going to be to see a lot of the people we had lost touch with over the years.

That night and for the next two she destroyed me in the bedroom and again it left me wondering if she was being so good to me out of guilt for what she had been doing or if she was just giving me something so I would have good memories when she was gone.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We were not the first to arrive at the bar and when we got there we found that the first arrivals had put several tables together.  We sat down, ordered drinks and made some general conversation with the others at the table.  After a bit Patty led me out onto the dance floor and we danced to the music furnished by the juke box.

It would get a little livelier when the live band started at seven, but I relished dancing with Patty to the slow tunes from the box.  She felt good in my arms and I wanted to make the most of what I figured was going to be my last night with her.

We were back at the table when Brad came in.  He came over to the tables and remembering the manners my parents taught me I stood up as he approached and when he offered me his hand I took it and said:

“Welcome home.”

“It’s good to be back.”

Patty had also stood and Brad hugged her and then stepped back, looked at her, and like he hadn’t seen her in years said:

“God, but don’t you look good.”

The smile she gave him would have melted a stone statue.  The band had set up and as they played their first number Brad asked me if I would mind if he danced with my wife.  Both he and Patty looked at me like maybe they expected me to say no, but I said:

“Sure, but remember - I know your past history and I’ll be expecting you to bring her back.”

Brad just gave me a wolfish grin and lead Patty out onto the dance floor.

 More people showed up and soon there was a good party atmosphere going.  I tried to treat it as any other party.  I danced with some of the other girls there and Patty danced with one or two other guys, but aside from an occasional dance with me most of her dances were with Brad.

As the night progressed and the alcohol took effect things loosened up. I noticed, and I’m sure that others did also, that Brad’s hands had moved down and were on Patty’s ass as he pulled her into him on the slow numbers and Patty made no effort to stop him.  I noticed one or two glances in my direction from some of the other people at the table, but I pretended both not to notice the glances or what was taking place on the dance floor.

During one slow number I saw Brad and Patty move to the darkest part of the dance floor and while slowly swaying to the music they kissed.  I almost got up and left at that point, but at the last second I said “Bullshit!  I’m not going to make it easy on them.  Patty is going to have to tell me.”

Almost as if my thoughts had crossed the space between us Brad pulled away from Patty and walked over to me.

“Look Rob, I don’t want any hard feelings over this, but Patty is mine and she always has been.  I just wanted to be up front about this.  Patty is leaving with me tonight.”

I looked past him to Patty who was still standing on the other side of the dance floor looking toward us and the smile on her face damn near killed me.  I just shrugged, turned away from him and took a sip of my drink.  Everyone at the table had heard what Brad said and most of them looked away out of embarrassment and I saw pity in the eyes of the few that did look my way.  I’d finish my drink and then leave.  I WOULD NOT just get up and walk away with my tail between my legs.

Brad walked back to Patty, kissed her and then Patty took him by the hand and led him back to the table.  I was just getting ready to stand up and leave when I saw Patty take off the gold chain with the locket on it and drop it in Brad’s beer.  She put her right foot up on a chair, took off the ankle chain and dropped it in his beer on top of the locket.  He looked at her astonished as she walked over to me and said:

“Come on lover, I’m ready to leave.”

I looked at her dumbfounded and said, “With me?”

“Who else lover?  Come on. I’ve got an itch that I need you to scratch.”

I looked from her to Brad who was sitting there with a stunned look on his face and then back to Patty who said:

“Well come on lover, let’s go.”

As I was pulling out of the parking lot Patty asked, “What was with that lame ass “with me?” when I said I was ready to go.”

“I was expecting you to leave with Brad and in fact he had just finished telling me that you would be leaving with him.”

“I know.  I stood there and watched him do it.”

“And I noticed that you were smiling when he did it.”

“I was.  I was smiling because I knew he was making an ass of himself in front of everyone at the table and that he was in for a big surprise when it was time for me to leave.”

She saw the look on my face and she said, “You honestly thought I would leave with him?”

“Yes I did.”

“You don’t know me any better than that?”

“I guess maybe I don’t at that.  With everything I did know I was almost sure that you would be leaving with him.”

“With everything you knew?”

“Come on Patricia Ann, don’t go and play stupid on me here.  You know full well that the reason we got married wasn’t because of any deep passion that you had for me.  True, I was, and still am, hung up on you, but you were up front with me about the fact that your heart was Brad’s and when he came back you would be going back to him.  Well, he is back and he has been back for a while and you have been seeing him for at least three weeks and hiding it from me.  So tonight he tells me that you are leaving with him and while he is telling me that you are watching and smiling.  Just what the hell else would I think?”

“Oh shit!  You knew?”

I told her about stopping by the house and what I’d seen and heard; about following her the next day and what I had thought about her stopping with her co-workers and her Avon parties.

“And you’ve spent three weeks living with it.  Oh God baby, I’m so sorry.  I wish you would have said something.  It must have been an absolute hell for you.”

“It was.  I went to that party tonight just knowing that it was over for us and then Brad pounded the last nail in the coffin lid.  It was only pride that kept me from getting up and walking out as soon as he finished talking.  I just would not let all those people at the table see me slinking off.”

“I really made a mess of things didn’t I?  What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Maybe a start would be to tell me what the hell you have been up to these last three weeks and what was the deal with the necklace and ankle bracelet.  And what about that sexy black thong that I’ve never seen before?  Well, maybe not everything about the last three weeks.  If you were fucking him I’d rather not hear about that.”

“Ouch!  I guess I deserved that.  He never got to me baby, I promise you that.  He tried; he tried hard and I led him on but he never got what belongs to you and only you.  I swear.  He gave me the necklace and ankle bracelet to wear so that they would mark me as his.  The thong was to light your fire when we got home.”

“So just what were you doing?”

“I was screwing with his mind.  He had been back in town for a couple of weeks and apparently had asked around and found out where we lived and where we worked.  He gambled that I would be home and that you would be at work on Columbus Day.  When he rang the doorbell and I opened the door he threw open his arms, stepped forward hugged me and then kissed me.  He said, “I’m back baby” and then he tried to kiss me again.  I pushed him away.  Then he started sweet talking me.

  “The asshole had honestly thought he was going to walk into our home and I was going to rush off to bed with him.   I asked him where he got off thinking I would be happy to see him after he split, told his mother not to tell me where he was and then hadn’t once tried to contact me in over four years.  He told me that it was all a gigantic misunderstanding and if I would just let him explain I would see that I was always on his mind and realize that he always meant to come back to me.

“Quite frankly, I did want to hear all about why he had dumped me so I invited him in and we sat out by the pool and talked.  He gave me a song and dance about how he had told his mother what he had because he was still pissed at me because of our argument and he was going to let me stew for a couple of weeks.  He called her back after a couple of weeks and told her she could tell me where he was and then he told her he was going to send me the money so I could join him and that is when his mother told him that we had gotten married.  Then he told me that he knew that I’d only married you out of spite.  But now he was back.  He really thought that I would be overjoyed and he really did expect to be back between my legs before the day was over.

“That is when I decided to screw over him.  I told him that he was right, that I had only married you to spite him, but that didn’t change the fact that I was married and that I was not going to cheat on you.  I told him that I couldn’t get back with him until I ended it with you.  Then I told him that he needed to leave before you got home and he got me to agree to have lunch with him the next day.

“I did meet him for lunch and told him that I wanted to be with him but that I would not do anything until you and I were legally separated.  I did meet him after work for drinks and I did let him kiss me a couple of times, but every time he tried to get fresh with his hands I slapped them away and told him he would just have to wait.  I kept telling him that I had to make sure that I would be okay financially when we broke up and it was taking me time to move some things and arrange some others.

“Then Bev told me she was going to do the welcome home party for Brad and I told Brad that I was finally ready and that I would let you know at the party and then I’d leave with him.  He gave me the locket and the ankle bracelet and asked me to wear them at the party as a sign that I was his.  Then at the party I told him that I had chickened out and that I couldn’t face you and I asked him to tell you that I would be going home with him.  I knew he would do it in front of everyone and then I would come over and make him look like a total dumb shit.

“I didn’t know that you knew he was back and that I was talking to him.  I thought you would be too stunned by what he said and you would sit there and stare at him like he was from another planet and then I would come up and make him look like a fool.  It never occurred to me that you might just get up and leave.  I’m sorry baby; I never meant to put you through what I put you through.”

“Forget that I came home and saw you.  Did it never occur to you that Bev or someone else we know might say to me that Brad was back and given your past history with him ask me how I felt about your spending time with him?  Or maybe say something like “Brad is back.  Are you and Patty going to be all right?”  There are a hundred different ways I could have found out and all of them would have had the same bad effect on me because the bottom line would always be that way back you told that you were Brad’s and that you would go back to him when he came back.  And in the last four years you never told me any different.  I’ve spent our entire married life looking over my shoulder and praying that I would never see him again.  Oh yes Patty, the last three weeks have indeed been a hell for me.”

“I guess wasn’t thinking too clearly about other possibilities.  I just wanted to shove it up that arrogant asshole’s ass.  Can you forgive me?”

“What about the big increase in our sex life?  Was it because you were feeling guilty?”

“Oh God no baby, it was because I’d just left a complete asshole and I was so glad to be home with you.  I guess I screwed up there too.  I don’t think I’ve ever told you just how damned glad I am that I am yours.  When I lost the baby and you started talking divorce to set me free I looked at what we had and realized that I had accidentally ended up with the right guy.

“I don’t think I ever told you what my argument with Brad was about.  He wanted to go down to Florida on spring break and I told him I wasn’t going to go and so he took off in a snit.  So there I was.  On the one hand a guy who took off after a stupid thing like an argument over what to do over spring break and on the other a guy who put his life on hold to help out a friend and who did it fully expecting to be eventually dumped.  It was a no-brainer lover; I wasn’t about to let you get away.  I guess I could have done a better job of letting you know that.  I’ll make it up to you baby; I promise you that.”

As I pulled into the driveway Patty said, “I meant what I said about having an itch that I need you to scratch.  Are you going to help me out with that lover?”

I parked and shut off the ignition and then looked at her.  After several seconds I smiled and said:

“Race you to the bedroom.”