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Two Christmases

By: StangStar06



Hi folks. Those of you who really don't like long stories should probably pass on this one. Remember when we were younger and all of the comicbooks did those double or triple sized Christmas specials? Well that's what this is. My long corny and sometimes whimsical Christmas special. There are times when it will be very serious and other times when it will be very uhm...Christmassy. Once again it is very long so be warned. And from The incredible Mikothebaby who edited this story while juggling her move and all of her Christmas shopping, but also from Kat and me, Merry Christmas to all of you. 

* * * * * * 

Christmas has always been special to me. It's the one time of year where we can all just come together and celebrate something that's bigger than all of us. It's a time for getting together with old friends and new ones to lift a glass or just feel good about being alive. Families come together and exchange gifts and charities and the less fortunate make a large part of their yearly donations in one fell swoop.

People who would never ordinarily bother to look at that homeless man with the, "Will work for food," sign near the freeway off ramp actually roll down their windows and give him a few dollars instead of the finger.

This year, Christmas was especially great for me because of the weather. Normally here in Michigan, we start getting snow by the end of October or the middle of November at the latest. But things have changed some and for the past couple of years; Nada. If this is global warming, I'll take it.

Of course, I did have that pesky Mayan calendar thing looming over my head but shit, if the world ended, we'd all have a bad day.

Anyway, the coolest thing about the temperature shift was that I was able to drive my Mustang well into December, when normally I'd have put her up by the beginning of October. Not that I had anything against my Jeep, but my Mustang is, was and always will be my baby.

My name is Alan Taylor and I'm an investment broker. My wife, Elizabeth, is an office manager for a marketing firm. We're both twenty seven and have been married for five years. We have our lives planned out and are well on track to our goals. We both make very good money and live in a nice luxury condo.

Our life plan started out when we were in college. The plan called for me to get a job with a bank or an investment firm and for her to get a job where she could utilize her clerical and administrative skills. We'd both work until we hit our early thirties and then hopefully we'd be secure enough that we could make it on one income. Then we'd start issuing perfect children until we thought we had enough of them. After the perfect children were in college, I'd retire and we'd travel the world and see all kinds of exciting places for a few years and then come home to aid in the rearing of our nearly God-like grandchildren.

That was the way my parents did it, or at least they thought they did. And if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. Currently, my parents were living in their winter home in Florida. Yes, my parents, who'd always claimed that they loved Michigan because of its seasons, are among those most dreaded of creatures. My parents are snow birds.

My dad decided a few years ago that he'd seen enough Michigan winters. He was tired of ass deep snow and below zero temperatures. He no longer gave a flying fuck about the crunch of fresh snow or icicles glistening on the roof and trees. He and my mom decided to say goodbye to remote car starters and snow blowers, to say nothing of the possible heart attacks that stemmed from older people shoveling heavy, wet snow on a sometimes daily basis.

They bought a second home in inland Florida away from the hurricane belt that circled the coast but still warm enough that my dad could play golf in his shirt sleeves or a light jacket at the very worst.

We were all invited down every year for Christmas, but they never intended to spend another winter in the, "God forsaken," Midwest. My mom and dad spent roughly five months each year in sunny Florida and the rest of the year here in Michigan.

So Liz and I alternated our holidays. This year it was Christmas with Elizabeth's parents and family. Liz was decked out for the holidays in a tight red sweater that made even her moderate bust look good. She had on a matching tight red skirt that came just above her knees. Her stockings and belt were elf green and she had a Santa hat perched jauntily on top of her head. Her bright red lipstick set off her green eyes and she kept blowing me kisses all the way there.

Even among family, Liz attracted a lot of attention but she stayed firmly riveted to my side. I'd brought a few of our lesser Christmas gifts to open with her parents and siblings but most of our really nice gifts were still at home under our tree.

Besides the ones that we gave each other, we both had presents from our parents and families and a smattering of smaller and sometimes joke presents from friends and co-workers.

My biggie for Liz this year was going to knock her socks off. Her parents already knew about it. I had gotten Liz another wedding ring. The one I'd bought her when we first got married means a lot to her. But back then we were struggling college students and I'd wanted to buy her a ring without parental guidance or help. I'd done the best I could, but it wasn't the ring I thought she deserved.

So my intention this Christmas was to propose to her all over again in front of her parents and our families. We were going to renew our vows and take another honeymoon cruise. I'd bagged a few of the presents from non-family members that were under our tree and brought them with me. The last one I'd give her was the new ring and I'd kept that one in my pocket.

Right after the very early Christmas dinner, which was a tradition in Elizabeth's family, we started to open the presents. The kids got to open their presents first thing in the morning. We watched them rip through their presents and run around the house screaming at each new toy they unveiled. After Christmas dinner, with the kids tired out by all of the excitement and watching a movie, the adults opened their presents.

Elizabeth's mom got a seat on the couch right in front of the tree. I could tell she was excited, especially since she'd helped me pick out the ring. Elizabeth's dad had helped me to book the cruise and we made sure that all of our accommodations were first class. Their smiles were huge and everyone was buzzing with excitement.

Elizabeth's younger sister, Sarah, opened a couple of her presents first to start things out and then her brother took over opening his. To speed things along, Elizabeth's dad started opening presents for everyone. He'd pick a person and open one of their presents and read the cards telling them who the present was from.

I could tell he wanted to speed things up so he could get to Elizabeth. He'd go through a couple of her presents and then turn things over to me.

He finally went through everyone and got to Elizabeth. He started with one of the medium sized presents that she'd gotten. It was one of those, "not available in stores," items that were only sold on TV. The, "New Wave Oven," it was called. It was some kind of induction heating system that was used for quickly cooking food without needing to heat up your entire stove.

We all laughed because I think everyone there knew that Liz couldn't cook to save her ass. She was beautiful and brilliant, but domestic skills were simply not her strong point. Liz and I always said that she couldn't make a decent meal in the kitchen but she cooked in the bedroom.

After everyone had a laugh at the present, my father picked up another of Elizabeth's gifts. It was a very small box that had been delivered to the condo only yesterday. It had been delivered by Fed-Ex and I'd just thrown it under the tree. Several of Elizabeth's colleagues hadn't attended their Holiday party and had shipped her presents. Liz often said that they'd waited until the last minute and bought presents after seeing what everyone else gave.

I smiled expecting to see another ill-suited present but my smile turned to horror as my father opened the box and pulled out a lingerie set that had only a very tiny set of thong panties and a see through bra. Everyone looked at me and started oohing and aahing. That is until my father in law read the card.

"Can't wait to see you in this and out of it while we celebrate Christmas together," it was signed John. John was Elizabeth's boss. The asshole even had the gall to write. P.S. make sure you're alone when you open this one.

Elizabeth's dad's voice trailed off as he read the card. Her mother's mouth dropped open in surprise. Her sister wondered if it was some kind of joke. Her brother put his hands over the eyes of his kids. He looked at his sister with his mouth drawn and tight.

Liz started crying and everyone looked at me. After a pregnant pause, I stood up and excused myself. I told them that I needed to take a walk and that I'd be back in a few moments. I picked up my keys on the way out and got into my car and drove away.

I didn't know how long it would take them to realize that I wouldn't be back, but I was sure that they'd all understand.

I figured that I'd need about two hours to accomplish everything I needed to do in the short run. Knowing someone makes predicting their actions easy. I knew that Liz would be very embarrassed and not want to talk to anyone for a while. Her parents, while shocked, were still her parents. So it would take them the amount of time that Liz was too embarrassed to be around people, to decide that she needed their help to get through whatever she was going through.

At the same time, they'd be worried about me, so they'd want us to all sit down and talk about it. Two years ago at Thanksgiving, Liz and I watched as her brother's marriage melted down over the dinner table. Her brother didn't have a very good job and his wife had to stay at home to take care of their kids. They weren't making enough to save anything and they needed money to put down on a house. The money problems almost ruined their marriage.

The solution had been for Elizabeth's parents to co-sign for a mortgage for Don and his wife Sally. Once the initial purchase had been made, the monthly mortgage payments were actually cheaper than what they'd been paying in rent which took away a lot of their financial stress. Don had also changed jobs since then and was making a bit more money. I somehow doubted that Elizabeth's parents would be able to come up with a solution for this one.

Somehow, in all of the chaos and shock that had ensued after the present was opened, I'd grabbed the card and the panties. I was still clutching them in my fist as I drove away. I got on the freeway and headed west. As I'd gotten on the freeway, I'd intended to go home but realized that there was someplace I needed to go first.

Elizabeth's parents lived in Grosse Pointe, which was a very well to do suburb on the east side of Detroit's suburbs. Liz and I lived in Farmington Hills, which was on the west side. My goal was an adjacent suburb, West Bloomfield. I knew the area well since my parents lived there. But I wasn't going to my parents' home.

I left the freeway at North Western Highway and took that to fourteen mile road. I made the turn off into the first subdivision and pulled up to a house in the middle of the block. There were several cars in the long circular driveway. Some were pretty expensive cars and others looked like they'd barely survived the trip.

I walked up to the doorway and knocked. I'd been here two or three times over the past few years. An older, but still beautiful woman opened the door with a dazzling smile and a hearty, "Merry Christmas."

"Oh, Hi Alan, Merry Christmas," she smiled. She reached out and gave me a hug. "Let me guess you're here to ask John if there's any way they can cancel their trip until after the holidays, right?"

"Something like that Paula," I said.

"Well good luck," she said. "He claims that it's really important and I haven't been able to budge him on it. But they'll only be gone for two days and they'll be back before New Year's Eve."

Just as she got done speaking, the form of her husband loomed. He was bigger than me but at least thirty years older. He was balding and had a gut. He greeted me with a fake smile and I wondered at that moment why I hadn't always known that it was faked. For all of the years that I' known him, I really thought that John liked me. But now I could see that it was only my wife that he liked. And he liked her a bit too much for my taste.

"Alan," he said, making the smile a bit broader and even less genuine. He extended his hand for me to shake the way he always did and I think he noticed something in my eyes.

As he reached out to take my hand, I reached out too. Only my reach was with a closed fist and it was aimed at his face. My fist barreled into John's eye and sent him sprawling on the floor. He tried to get up and I punched him again. I hit him again and again until he stopped trying to get up and then I started kicking him.

The noise brought several of his guests and surprisingly, as one of the male guests, who must have been John's son, got ready to help him, Paula pulled her son back.

John kept moaning, "I'm sorry," over and over again as I pummeled him.

When I finally stopped and looked up there were about ten people just watching me, including three children and I realized then that my anger had been far greater than I'd thought.

I also then realized that I still had the panties clutched in my hand as I'd beaten John.

"Paula, I'm sorry to ruin your Christmas," I said. I had tears running down my face and could barely talk. She didn't look confused at all, although the people behind her were.

"He gave this to Liz for Christmas," I said. I reached into my jacket and found the card.

"Well, his taste in lingerie is improving," she deadpanned. "Don't blame Elizabeth," she said. "He can be pretty persuasive. She isn't the first woman to fall for his bullshit and she probably won't be the last. She will, however, be the last to fall for it while he's married to me. I'm done. Can I keep these? And may I have the card too? I'll use them as some kind of evidence in my divorce." I nodded and handed her the card.

"Wow," she said as she read it. "He should have written the part about making sure she was alone when she opened it on the outside of the box."

"Paula, I might need to borrow them," I said. "...Unless we use the same lawyer."

"How many times has she cheated on you?" she asked.

"This is the first time as far as I know," I said. "And I don't even know if they ever consummated their relationship, but it's enough for me. I'm done."

"You're smarter than I am," she said. "I'll give you a call and we can synchronize lawyers."

As I turned to go, I heard her talking to him. "After the last time, I made sure your suitcases were packed. I have several of your outfits and duplicates of your toiletries packed in the garage. Take a few moments to get yourself together. Stay here and I'll bring you a wet towel to wipe the blood off of your face. There's no need for you to bother coming back inside the house and ruining everyone's Christmas."

A few seconds after that, I was back in my car and heading home. I'd been expecting it since I'd left Elizabeth's parents' house. My phone rang. It wasn't Elizabeth's phone. I figured that she was too embarrassed to call or too afraid. I answered it.

"Alan, I thought you were going to take a walk," said my mother.

"Driving relaxes me," I said.

"Alan, Liz hasn't stopped crying since you left," she said. "She's just beside herself with worry. She went up to her old room and she hasn't come out since. She won't even open the door to let anyone in to talk to her."

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty bad myself," I said. I was driving up the ramp to exit the freeway in my neighborhood. I hoped that she couldn't hear the changes in my engine sound over the phone. Because the speeds on the freeway were supposed to be seventy mph and I'd been doing about 90. But once I got back on the side streets, I cut it down to forty. As I pulled into the parking lot that surrounded our condo, I stopped but let the engine run. I also didn't get out of the car because I was sure that she'd be able to pick up on that.

"I sent her sister up to talk to her but to tell you the truth, Sarah isn't trying to understand Liz's feelings about this. I think that our best chance to fix this would be for you to come back and talk to her. We all want the same things for you two. And what she did was very bad, but we don't even know what she did yet."

"I know that she planned to go off and spend two days in a motel screwing her boss," I said. "And if things have gotten to the point where they're going on little vacations together then they've already probably had sex and we all know that. Have you even once heard her say that nothing happened? If they hadn't done anything yet she'd be busting her ass trying to convince me that she hadn't," I said.

"Alan, lots of couples have survived this and even worse than this," she said.

"Mom, I love you and I don't hold you responsible for Elizabeth's actions, but I just need to think for a while," I said. "I'll call you in a little bit. I promise."

"Alan, you're not driving to quickly, are you?" she asked. The tone of concern in her voice made me love her even more.

"No ma'am," I laughed. "I never drive any faster than I can see." Then I hung up and went into the condo. I started out with electronics. I moved my iPad, IPod and all of their accessories to the Mustang. I moved my laptop and packed up my desktop computer from our office. Then I moved my game system and games. I moved my blu ray player and all of my movies. I moved my toiletries and personal grooming stuff. Then I went to the covered parking area and moved my Jeep out of my slot. I pulled it over next to my Mustang. I loaded as many items of clothing as I could get into the cargo area and backseat of my Jeep. I didn't need all of those clothes but the more I took, the less chance I'd have to come back. If I could get another trip in I'd probably get all of my camping gear since I was supposed to be heading up to our cabin for a couple of days of ice fishing with my Uncle Jeff the day after tomorrow. In the worst possible scenario, I'd ask Uncle Jeff to come and get my gear.

Once I finished packing, I went two units over and knocked on the door. My neighbor Melissa answered it.

"Hi Liss," I said sadly. "I need a really big favor."

"Spill it cowboy," she said. "We just got done with dinner. Do you want to come in for a while?"

"I wanted to borrow your husband for maybe an hour," I said.

"If you can get him off of the fucking couch, he's all yours," she smiled. "Alan, you don't seem happy. You seem out of it. You're not going to do anything illegal are you? Robbie doesn't need to go to jail."

"Liss, I promise you it's not illegal," I said. She tilted her head to the side. "Look Liss, Liz and I are breaking up. I'm just packing my stuff and moving out. I need someone to drive one of my cars because I can't drive them both at the same time."

"Does Liz know that you're moving out?" she asked.

"She probably has a good idea of it," I said.

"Is this about Christmas?" she asked. "Are you guys arguing about presents?"

"Nope, this isn't about Christmas," I said. "But in a way, I guess the presents; one in particular had something to do with it."

"So this will probably blow over in a couple of days and you'll just have to move back," she said. "I don't know how you could be heartless enough to move out on the poor girl on Christmas day anyway. That's just not like you Alan."


Two Christmases



"Liss, I found out in front of her parents that Liz is doing something that I just don't agree with. This won't blow over and we're probably going to get a divorce. Now is that enough gossip or do I have to tell you all of the details?" I asked.

"I'm really sorry Alan," she said. "It's just that I thought that maybe I could help. Shit, you and Liz are the only couple, besides us, who live around here that are under a hundred. You guys are our only friends."

"And we're still friends," I said. "You'll just have to drive a little further to come and visit me."

Robbie drove my jeep and followed me. During the trip to my parents', house my phone rang again. This time it was my father.

"Alan, do you know what time you'll be coming back?" he asked.

"Uhm, let me check," I said. "Holy Shit, I'm almost to Lansing. It's going to take me about an hour to seventy five minutes to make it back if I turned around now."

"Well, turn around now," he said. "I had to take Elizabeth's door off of the hinges to get to her. She's talking with her mother now. They're drinking some of that shitty stuff that passes for tea. Her mom is trying to calm her down. Having you come back here and talk to her before you guys go home would do wonders for her."

"What's going to do wonders for me?" I asked.

"Don't you start too Alan," he said. "You're the man here. We men are supposed to be tough and make sacrifices for our families. So you just shake it off and get back here. Seriously Alan, we all know how much you love her. You two can work this out. And the first step in that process is that you come back here and talk to her."

"What are we going to talk about?" I asked.

"Whatever it take to fix this, son," he said.

"So it's going to be a sci-fi talk, huh?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The only thing that could fix this is a time machine," I said. Then I hung up the phone. I realized thought that we did need to talk. So I kept driving towards my parents' house. Once we got there, we unloaded everything and I put my Mustang in the garage next to my mom's car. They'd driven my dad's Cadillac down to Florida.

I thanked Robbie for the help and then we drove back to the condo. I packed all of my camping gear that I'd need for the ice fishing trip and then loaded the Jeep with everything else that I could find that I wanted. I drove back to my parents' house alone this time and unloaded it. Then I got back on the freeway and headed back to talk to Elizabeth.

* * * * * *

Elizabeth

I could hear the sound of my mom and dad trying to convince my sister to be more supportive through the open doorway. It made me wish that I'd opened the door in the first place so my dad didn't take it off of the hinges.

"Jeezus Sarah, the least you to do would be to offer a kind word or two," said my dad. "She is your sister after all."

"Dad, you must have rocks in your head," spat Sarah. "Do you know how bad it is to be a young single woman out there now? I meet nothing but assholes and broken toys. They all act like there's something wrong with ME. And when you do meet a nice guy, most of them don't want a relationship with you because they're afraid of exactly what happened to Alan. They all have commitment issues because some slut did them wrong. That's how most of them got damaged in the first place."

"But that didn't happen to Elizabeth; nope...not our Liz. She's special. She goes to college and comes home after a couple of weeks with the sweetest kindest man I've ever met; except for you, Daddy. Look at what he was trying to do for her for Christmas? Look at how much money he spent on the ring. And the cruise. It's the most romantic thing I've ever heard of and he was going to waste it all on a whore."

"Sarah, I will not have you talk about your sister like that," snapped my father.

"Daddy, I applied for a job at Elizabeth's firm," said Sarah. "Have you ever seen her boss? He's almost as old as you are, and he's fat and losing his hair. The only thing he has to offer her is money. And woman who screw for money are..."

I wondered what they were talking about. What ring, what cruise, I had no idea about any of this. I pushed myself off of my bed and walked down the stairs and back into the living room. I felt my brother's gaze on me. His mouth was drawn and tight and from the way he looked at me and shook his head, I knew that he wasn't on my side.

"What ring?" I asked. Sarah rolled her eyes at me and before my dad could stop her she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. My brother decided that was a great time to leave too. He grabbed his wife and their kids and hugged my mom goodbye before bundling up their kids and making their escape.

At that moment, I was the world's best magician. I'd discovered my ability to make others disappear. If only I could do that to myself. Growing up, my siblings and I had our ups and downs but since we'd all grown up and were out of the house, we'd become closer. Today's incident seemed to have set us back years.

"What ring?" I asked again.

"Alan got you another wedding ring," said my mom. "He was going to ask you to marry him all over again. Then you guys were going on a cruise as a second honeymoon."

Even as my mom looked away from me, I started to cry all over again. My mother took me in her arms and rocked me until the tears stopped.

"He really loves you Lizzie," she said. "You'll get through this."

"He's on his way back now," said my dad. "Elizabeth, I really need to know the answer to one thing though."

I sat up and let go of my mother and looked at my dad.

"How bad is this? What exactly did you do and more to the point..." he looked at me as if he was still a news man and he was interviewing a witness for an article. "...Why?" he asked. "You have the perfect marriage to a really great guy. Why would you fuck that up and how far has this gone?"

I was saved from having to answer by the sound of my cell phone ringing. I looked at the screen and breathed out as I noticed that it wasn't Alan. In fact, I realized with dread that it was the only person I could think of other than my husband that I didn't want to speak to.

"Liz," said John's voice out of my phone. He sounded strange. He sounded as if he was having trouble talking.

"Hello," I said tentatively.

"He knows, Liz," he said. "He's already been here."

"What do you mean he's been there?" I asked. "Were you alone?"

"No such luck," said John. "My entire family was here. He beat me to a pulp in front of my wife, my kids, my grandkids and a few friends."

"He ruined your Christmas?" I asked.

"Fuck Christmas," he said. "He ruined my life. Paula wants a divorce. She kicked me out of the house and I'm sure that by now my kids know what a jackass she thinks I am. He and Paula stood over me, while I lay there bruised, bloodied and beaten and actually compared notes and talked about the possibility of sharing a divorce lawyer."

"Did you say divorce lawyer?" I asked.

"That's what they were talking about," he said. At that point, my dad snatched the phone out of my hands and started cursing at John and threatening him. I guess John hung up because my dad handed me the phone back and the line had been cut off.

Things were far worse than I'd ever expected. There was no way I was going to be able to face Alan now. Paula was a pussycat. The woman believed in family first and foremost. On the other hand, my husband was famous for telling his clients that when things weren't working for them, it was time to cut them loose. He often told them that it was stupid to fall in love with any investment or any company. They should only fall in love with the money that company made for them. When the profits dropped, they should likewise drop the company from their portfolio.

I wondered if Alan would be able to drop me like a non performing investment. God knows I've given him no reason not to. 

As I waited for Alan to come back, my parents nervously flitted around the house. It was strangely uncomfortable for them to be in the same room with me. But at the same time, they didn't want to be seen as being unsupportive, so they continued to come in and out of the room.

I tried to think about what I was going to say to him. What exactly do you say to your spouse when you've been caught cheating on them. I guess denial came to mind first, but that was already impossible. I didn't even know what my next step should be. How much should I tell him? The problem there was, that just from listening in on his conversations with my mom and dad and my brief conversation with John, hadn't yielded a lot of information either. All he'd said was that Alan knew. He wasn't specific. Did Alan know how long things with John had gone on? Did Alan know whether or not we'd had sex? Or did he only know that we'd been about to go away for two days?

Should I be totally honest with him and tell him everything, or should I just confirm the things he already knew in the hope of not hurting him further? It just seemed to me like everything in my life was falling apart and for no reason. I'd been having some issues with my life, but my marriage was the one bright spot in my existence. Why should I have to risk losing that?

"Have you figured out what you're going to say to him yet?" asked my dad.

"No Daddy, I have no idea," I said.

"I don't think he's coming honey," he said. "I hate to think about him out there driving around alone in that car in the mood he's in. He loves you a lot you know. I hope he doesn't do something stupid."

"You mean like showing up at John's house and beating the hell out of him in front of his family on Christmas?" I asked.

"Well, that was understandable," said my dad smiling. "I'm glad he did it so I don't have to." I looked at my dad curiously.

"Why does it seem like you think Alan acting like a cave man is a good thing?" I asked.

"Elizabeth, if Alan didn't still care about you, he wouldn't have been so upset. If he'd just let the whole thing slide it would have meant that you and your marriage weren't that important to him. The way that he reacted said that someone, namely that asshole boss of yours, did something to threaten something he cherished. And he made John pay for that. Maybe after he cools down, you guys can talk about it. I need you to know that this is not going to go away overnight. Alan will probably never forget what happened. It's going to take a long time for you to regain his trust if you ever can."

"Elizabeth, there's something else that you should know," he said slowly. "You're my daughter and I love you. I will stand beside you on this or anything else that happens to you because of that, but you're wrong as hell on this. You may have ruined your life and for no good reason that I can see."

Anger flooded me and I lashed out. "Daddy, do you know what my life is like?" I snapped. "Do you even begin to know what I go through on a daily basis? Don't judge me until you walk a mile in my shoes."

He just looked at me. I think that was one of those moments when he realized that I was a grown woman and not just his little girl.

"I've been to your office," he said. "I've seen what you do on a daily basis. They call you an office manager and you have a college degree. What you really are is a glorified secretary. In my day, most women could do that job with just a high school diploma. Unlike the good secretaries though, you don't have to prepare documents or write papers. You don't have to schedule calls or appointments. Shit, all you do is order supplies and give out schedules to make sure that the people who do the real work keep to a schedule. They have a manager for everything these days, don't they?"

"They actually have more managers than they have departments in some places. When you come home, what do you do Liz? You and Alan have one of those modern marriages where you share the house keeping. You have a cleaning lady who comes in a couple of times a week and from what I've seen she does most of your home cooking. She cooks a couple of meals and puts them in your refrigerator. You and Alan warm them up at dinner time. On the weekends you eat out or you grill."

"By your rules, your cleaning lady should be called your household manager, right? She should have a college degree and probably make three or four times what you pay her. You make pretty decent money for what you do, Liz. Alan gets paid pretty well too though. The two of you have never had to struggle during your lifetime. You're both from very good, relatively well-off families. You've never had to wonder where your next meal was coming from."

"The majority of the people you work with are women, Elizabeth. I do know that the creative people at your agency and the sales people and the account reps, all use the secretaries and stenos that you manage, but you don't have very much interaction with them. So you don't have a lot of temptation on the job. In fact, when I look at you young lady, your biggest problem seems to be that you don't have any fucking problems."

"Your husband on the other hand, I got to see him on the job a lot recently. I had to visit his office several times while we arranged this cruise. Elizabeth, has Alan ever talked to you about the pressure he's under at work?"

"Dad, he doesn't have any more on the job pressure than I do," I spat. "And he makes a lot more than I do."

He shook his head. "He just doesn't let you see it," he said. "That place is always busy. Their executives are constantly under pressure to bring in more accounts and to manage the ones they have more efficiently. If the market reacts in a certain way and a client loses money, he can simply ask for another account manager. Alan has to be able to balance entire portfolios for an untold amount of people. He has to make each and every one of those people feel like they're his most important client. Every day, billions of dollars go across his desk and he doesn't make anywhere near what a lot of those people have."

"There are literally hundreds of attractive young women running around that place all day long. I kind of wondered about it once or twice, so I asked. While I was waiting to be shown to Alan's office once, I asked one of the girls who brings coffee to people in the waiting room if there was a lot of flirting going in in that place. She just grinned at me and I could tell that meant there was."

"I saw Alan coming across the floor and asked the girl, "What about him?" She took one look at Alan and laughed at me. She told me that he was probably the least likely guy in the whole place to mess around. She even told me a few things to look out for. She told me that most of the girls there knew that Alan loved you and would probably never do anything like that. She told me that a good way to tell was the office. Men who were likely to cheat all had pictures of their wives in the office. A good way to tell if they were possible cheaters was where those pictures of their wife were placed in the office."

"By her theory, men who were less likely to cheat had the picture of their wife on their desk where they saw it often. If the pictures were on a shelf that was further away from the desk, they were more likely to cheat. If the picture was mounted on a wall; especially if it was mounted in a way that it could quickly be turned around, they were probably already cheating. She also told me that the size of the pictures factored in. The bigger the picture the less likely a man was to cheat."

"I kept all of that in mind when I went to Alan's office," he said. "Do you know that beside the fact that most of the women there know that your husband isn't likely to cheat on you, it's pretty obvious when you walk into his office."

I dropped my head then and started crying all over again. I'd been to Alan's office more times than I could even think about.

"Yeah," my dad said. "Alan has four pictures of you in his office at least. He has three of them on his desk and they're all big pictures. Elizabeth, did you ever notice that he has a picture of you on the door in his bathroom. I couldn't figure that one out at first. I just imagined him sitting there taking a dump with you looking at him and it grossed me out. Then I realized something."

"All of that pressure that he's under. All of that Sell, Sell, Sell, stuff. He needs the pictures of you to remind him of why he does it in the first place. So when all of those other guys, including your boss, might seek a distraction by screwing some bimbo at the office, your husband had his priorities straight."

We just stared at each other as the tears fell down my face. My dad looked at his watch.

"Elizabeth, it's after eight o clock. We've been expecting Alan since six. Do you want me to take you home?" he asked.

"I'll stay here," I said. "This is where he's going to come anyway, right?"

"Liz, Honey, I don't think he's coming," he said. "And let's look at this using the worst case scenario. You not going home could be considered as you leaving the marital home. That would give Alan the condo until the court could reach a decision on who got it."

"Daddy, what are you talking about?" I asked.

"I've seen a lot of divorces, Honey," he said. "Even in the easy ones, there are problems and conflicts. I've seen too many reasonable people get caught up and end up spending thousands of dollars in legal fees to settle who gets a really ugly coffee table that neither of them really wants. You just get pushed to the point where you dig in and argue over everything. And in a lot of those cases, you're not really arguing over the item. You're really arguing over your self-respect. You just feel like if you give in even one more time, you're giving up your soul."

"How exactly do you think Alan is going to feel about all of this? The woman he planned on living the rest of his God damned life with is going away on vacations with her boss. How much pride do you think he has right now? I mean, you're sitting here crying and wishing he'd never found out, but you did it. You caused all of this Elizabeth. You made a decision to do something, for whatever reasons they were, that affected not only your life and future but his as well. For the life of me, I just don't see it. Alan is younger and in better shape than your boss. He looks better, I guess. He clearly loves only you and your boss is some kind of horn dog. Alan makes more money than your boss does too. I just can't figure out why this even happened. All I can do is help you get ready for the fallout. So if you don't want to get kicked out of your condo, you need to go home. If Alan does end up here, we'll tell him that you went home."

I went and said goodbye to my mom. My dad and I got into his Lincoln MKZ and he drove me home.

* * * * * *

Alan

It was barely evening on Christmas day. I wondered why it felt so God damned late. Maybe it was because we'd eaten Christmas dinner at a time that would normally be considered perfect for brunch. The lack of snow and warmer temperatures still had no effect on the sun going down though, and during the winter months it started to get dark at about five o' clock. It was just after six and I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. I'd started out intending to go and talk to Elizabeth but I just couldn't seem to do it. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to see her. I just felt lost and alone. I'd gone to a bar and had a couple of drinks. I wasn't a big drinker and when I started to feel it, I'd cut myself off and started drinking coffee.

Being in a bar, alone on Christmas day is one of the worst feelings ever. How big a loser do you really have to be to spend Christmas alone? Sure, in my case, I was alone by choice. I just didn't want to be around anyone. I just felt like everyone who saw me would realize exactly what a loser I was. It was like every single person I ran into would take one look at me, realize that my wife was fucking a guy old enough to be her father and laugh at me. It just made me wonder even more things about the situation.




Two Christmases



I wondered when she'd started fucking John. I wondered what they did together and how often they did it. And more than anything else, I wondered why. What did John have that I didn't? In my mind, probably spurred on by the liquor, I saw them fucking in all kinds of bizarre positions like circus acrobats. I saw her sucking his dick like it was an ice cream cone and him spurting gallons of sperm all over her face and body that she willingly and joyfully licked off and begged for more. In a way, I was sure that she was glad that I'd finally found out. After all, her mom called me and her dad called me, but Elizabeth hadn't called me even once. Everything was working out in her favor.

Paula was divorcing John. If I divorced Liz that would leave them free to be together so she'd get everything she wanted. I needed to get the whole thing over so I could breathe. I decided to go to the office and look through my contacts. I knew quite a few lawyers and had a bunch of lawyers as clients. There had to be a divorce specialist among them.

I pulled into the parking structure that provided parking for my office and two of the surrounding buildings. I got out of the car and as the echo of my stereo and my exhaust system died, I swear I heard bells jingling. I left the parking structure and walked over to my building. I knocked on the glass door and one of the security guards came over to the door. I knew the guy, he'd let me in several times when I got to work before we were open. He shook his head this time.

"I just need to get something out of my desk," I yelled through the glass door.

"I can't let you in," he said. "The orders came down from up top. They want everyone to forget about work until the holidays are over. Go home and be with your family; Merry Christmas. No hard feelings, I hope."

I trudged back to my car and felt a crisper, cooler wind blow. The sound of those fucking bells was even closer now. It was almost as if they were following me. I stepped in a puddle of mud and got some of it on the bottom of my shoe. When I smelled it, I realized that it wasn't mud. There was a huge glob of shit on the grass adjacent to the sidewalk. I had never seen turd this big. I scraped my feet off on the grass, making sure that every trace of the manure was off of my shoes. I really didn't need that smell in my car.

As I finished cleaning my shoe and started back towards the parking lot, an older man fell into step with me. "Sorry about that," he said. His voice radiated so much joy that even when he was apologizing for something he just sounded happy.

"If I were you, I'd use some of those wet wipes that you keep in your trunk to clean your shoe a bit more," he said. "I keep telling them about that but they never seem to learn."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I took a look at the guy for the first time. His cheeks were rosy and he smiled a lot. His hair was all white including an impressive beard. He had on a light jacket in a bright shade of red. His pants were also red and he wore a white sweater under the jacket.

"The reindeer of course," he said smiling.

"Reindeer," I echoed. "Right." I knew then that the guy was probably one of those department-store Santas who'd been smoking too much weed before lying to the kids. He probably believed that he WAS Santa.

"I don't smoke weed," he said. "And it doesn't grow at the pole. If it did, there'd be a hell of a lot of happy teenagers who ask for it every year."

Then he pointed to the rooftop of the parking structure. I almost fell over. There on top of the roof I saw it. I slapped the side of my head.

"I know that I drank too much, now," I said. "I'm as drunk as a skunk."

"Probably," he said. "But your eyes are fine. I told you already that I was sorry about the reindeer shit, right?" I just nodded my head and kept walking as he steered me towards the parking structure and my car.

As we walked, I couldn't help looking up towards the roof and those reindeer. They were some big assed deer. And they didn't look nearly as friendly as they looked in the story-books and on TV. First off, if that first reindeer was supposed to be Rudolph, my kids, whenever I had some would not be watching that God damned cartoon. The only thing that glowed on that fucking reindeer was his eyes. They glowed as red as if he'd been drinking electric gin. To tell you the truth, Rudolph looked pissed and the other reindeer looked like they just didn't give a damn. Even as I watched, one of the other reindeer dropped an enormous turd on the top of the building. He turned his head as if he hadn't done it. I couldn't remember the names of all of the reindeer, but that one had to be called Shitter.

"I know that Christmas doesn't seem to be going well for you this year," said Santa. "But this is all going to work out. You're one of the guys on the "Nice," list. You didn't get to open any of your presents and you never really cared about what you got. All you wanted was to spread some joy around. You just wanted to make the person who is the most important to you happy. Unfortunately, while you were trying to spread joy, she was spreading her ass, so she's on my shit list. I know it's too late for right now but I promise you by next year, you'll be looking at this like it was a good thing, I promise."

"Yeah, but if you really know everything that's going on, why didn't you say something, or do something or at least warn me before it happened?" I asked, as we got close to my car.

"Uhm, who are you talking to?" asked a voice right beside me. I whipped my head around and started to say, "I'm talking to Santa," but my sanity returned. I didn't say that as I looked at the woman next to me. She had on a hoodie and some jeans and she was bouncing from foot to foot as if she had to pee.

"Do you remember what you told me about a week ago?" she asked.

I decided then and there to never drink again. I didn't drink very much or very often in the first place. And I'd only had two drinks tonight, but they had me seeing Santa Claus and women that I didn't know were claiming I'd spoken to them.

"I'm sorry but who are you?" I asked. She pushed back the hood and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen leaped out at me. A face that with just the tiniest bit of make-up would be really pretty followed the eyes. Right now that face had no make-up and her skin appeared washed out. The worry lines that crossed the face were very deep.

"About a week or two ago, you and your super model girlfriend ate lunch in the café that I wait tables at. You guys come in about twice a month or so. Sometimes you sit in my section, sometimes you don't. Any way, if you remember, she got pissed off because she hadn't told me that she wanted the sauce on the side of her steak and not on top of it. If she'd asked for it on the side, I'd have written it down. She went ballistic when the steak came out and you reminded her that she hadn't ordered it that way. She left in a huff and you apologized for her."

I nodded my head. "I remember," I said.

"Well, you told me that if I ever needed a favor...and I need one now," she said.

"How much do you need?" I asked.

"I don't need any money," she said as if I'd insulted her.

"I'm sorry again," I said. "Now I owe you two favors."

"I had to work today," she said. "Yep, I actually had to work on Christmas. My cheapskate boss also gave us our checks today to make sure that everyone would show up. Anyway, I had to go in today to get my check and to work, which also meant that I had to find someone to watch my kids. I got a friend who's into that whole church thing to take them to the Christmas celebration that her church has. I figured I'd kill two rats with one rock. The kids got a good Christmas dinner and it gave me someplace safe to leave them while I worked."

"She called me back a few moments ago and told me that her Christmas wish is coming true. Her boyfriend is taking her out tonight, so I have to go to the church and pick them up as soon as possible. I don't have a car. I was going to get a ride from another friend but she has to stay at the restaurant until closing. I really need to get the kids before that church closes in fifteen minutes. You're my last hope."

"Okay," I said. "A promise is a promise." I opened the door for her and she sat down. I quickly went to the trunk and wiped my shoe down thoroughly.

"No funny business," she said. "Or I'll tell your super model girlfriend next time she comes in."

"That's not an issue," I said.

"Man, this leather is soft and cushy," she said as we took off.

"Do you remember the address of the church?" I asked. She told me the street the church was on but not the exact address. I punched it into my GPS and off we went. We got to the church with a few moments to spare and I felt like a hero again, despite how shitty my day had been.

The church was in a bad neighborhood and it was already dark out. "Thank you so much," she said. She looked a lot prettier with the worry lines gone from her face. As she tried to get out of the car, her hoodie had risen up and I noticed how rounded her ass was even in her jeans. She turned and nodded at me and smiled. As she walked up to the doorway of the church, it swung open. Two bundles of energy leaped at her. "Aunt Cassie," the bigger bundle screamed. That one was obviously a girl. Like her aunt, she had jet black hair. But where the older version had short hair that formed an angular curtain across her face, the tiny one had her hair in two pony-tails. She looked back to see where her brother was before she walked down the steps.

I estimated their ages at around six for the girl and three or four for the boy. I'd also paid attention to the fact that even though she'd told me that they were her kids, the little girl had called her Aunt Cassie.

She quickly ran up the stairs and grabbed them both in a hug. She pulled the little girl's hood over her head and put a hat that she pulled out of her own pocket on the little boy. She looked around and spotted a bus stop near the end of the block. They started walking that way. I blew the horn. She turned around and looked at the car and then started walking again. I backed up until I was near them.

"I already told you thanks," she said.

"Get in," I said. "I owe you two favors remember."

She looked at me warily and then nodded her head. "I'm not usually out this late or in this area. Our area is a little rough but it's a war zone around here. Thanks," she said and a little bit more of that smile came out.

"It's Christmas," I said. And for the first time that day, I really did feel it.

"Isn't she going to be upset if you return to the castle later than normal?" she asked.

"Who?" I asked.

"Your super..." she began.

"She's not a super model and she WAS, my wife," I said.

"So what happened?" she asked. "You guys looked pretty happy two weeks ago."

"We all have our secrets, Aunt Cassie," I said.

"Touché," she smiled.

"Where do you live?" I asked. "We don't know each other. So you don't have to give me your address, just give me the nearest cross streets to the Bat Cave and I'll drop you off there." 

She laughed and doing so made her face even more pretty. I seemed to be constantly upgrading my opinion of her.

"Actually, if you don't mind, there's somewhere I'd like to go first," she said. She started giving me directions and before I knew it we were in front of a ValuMart superstore.

"Give me your driver's license," she said smiling. I looked at her as if she was crazy. "Yeah, you'd better make it the car keys too."

"Look this way you won't be able to drive off with my kids," she said. "I trust you, but I'm really not a good judge of character. If you try to steal my babies, not only will I know who to send the FBI after; you won't be able to drive off." I just looked at her again.

"Please," she said. I handed her my driver's license and the keys.

"You'll need to hurry," I said.

"Got a hot date?" she smirked.

"Actually no," I said. "But this is a really small car. It'll only take about twenty minutes with the heat off for it to start cooling off in here. Then they'll wake up and wonder where Aunt Cassie is." I pointed at the two sleeping kids in the back seat.

"Look, I just need to cash my check and grab a couple of toys for the kids so they have a Christmas too," she said. "I promise I won't be long. I don't have very much money to spend."

I watched her as she walked towards the store. She seemed so happy, though she had so little. 

I looked back at the two tiny sleeping forms in the back seat and smiled. Someday Liz and I would have kids of our own. The thought passed as swiftly as it had entered my mind. I remembered suddenly that Liz and I wouldn't have anything. Not now and at no time in the future. My life as I knew it was over. The only thing I had to look forward to was starting all over and hoping that someday the pain of her betrayal would fade.

I looked up as someone tapped on the window. I reached over and opened the door for her.

"Why didn't you just open the door? You have the keys," I asked.

"Just drive," she grumbled. I thought I saw tears. I started the car and felt it begin to warm up as the heat came back on.

"Where are your packages?" I asked.

"They closed the customer service desk an hour ago," she said. "They wouldn't cash my check in the checkout lane. All I wanted was a couple of toys. The bitch behind the counter made me leave them there. She wouldn't even put them aside so I could go back and get them tomorrow."

I got out of the car. "Where are you going?" she asked. "I need to get home."

"I'm just going in to get some smokes," I said. She closed the door to keep the heat inside of the car.

I ran into the store and walked over to the checkout lanes. I looked at the women who ran all of the lanes and looked at the bins near each one to see which of them had returns. At one line near the end, a woman who did look bitchy was ringing up customers. In a bin near her line, I noticed a huge yellow dump truck and a Baby Alive doll.

I walked up to the checkout and got in line. I smiled at the woman ahead of me as she looked around to see what I was buying. When I got up to the register, I pointed out the items in the return bin. The woman looked at me as if I'd fucked up her plans for world domination. "You can't have these," she said angrily. "They have to go back on the shelf."

"Listen Junie Anna," I said reading her name tag. "There are two ways that we can go here. One, you can ring me up for these toys and I can go and make a couple of nice little kids happy. Or we can call the manager over and I can find out why you don't want to sell them to me."

"Cash or charge sir," she said.

I walked out of the store and put the packages in the trunk. Cassie was sulking.

"Can you take us home now?" she said quietly.

I drove in silence with an inner glow growing inside of me. My Christmas joy was short lived as we drove down the street that Cassie lived on. "What an asshole," she spat. "One of these cheap assed slumlords actually evicted someone on Christmas. What a world," she said.

As we got closer to the address she gave me, I too could make out the pile of belongings in front of one of the buildings. "Hey, that's my building," she said. "I probably know the people who got put out. I feel bad for them."

I pulled in front of the building and tried to figure out a way to break it to her that I'd bought the presents she wanted.

"What the fuck is going on here," she screamed. "This is my shit piled in front of the building." Her scream caused a homeless woman who'd been looking through the pile to take off running, carrying a dress with her.

Even as Cassie started looking around, a disheveled looking man came out side carrying a box full of clothing that belonged to the kids.

I snatched the box and dropped it in the trunk along with the toys. "What the hell are you doing?" Cassie screamed at the guy who was moving her stuff.

"I evicted your ass, baby," he smirked. "I warned ya that the next time you were late with the rent, you were gone. Ya shoulda been nicer ta me."

"But I have the money," she said.

"It was due yesterday, Sweetie. Ya shoulda been nicer," he said.

"But it's Christmas," she said.

"So!" he said.

"What am I going to do now?" she asked. I walked over and spoke to the grimy little guy. I tore a hundred dollar bill in half and stuffed one half in his hand. He looked up at me instantly.

"If you want the other half, make sure all of her stuff is still here tomorrow when we come back with a bigger car. On the other hand, if anything is missing when we come back, I'll have my lawyer so far up your ass that you won't be able to breathe."

I pushed Cassie back into the car.

Cassie was quietly crying in the passenger seat as I got back in the car. As I closed the door, she looked at me through her tears. "It's not supposed to be like this on Christmas," she said. "I have no idea what I'm going to do."

"You're going to come home with me," I said. "And tomorrow we're going to go back with my jeep and get the rest of your stuff. I put a couple boxes worth of the kid's clothes and some of your stuff in the trunk. Sorry, I had to leave the boxes and just stuff the clothes back there. My trunk is pretty small and with the toys back there it didn't leave much room."

"I can't just go home with you," she said. "What's your..."

"Please don't say my super model girlfriend again," I said. "She isn't close to being a super model and she was my wife. She also won't be there because we broke things off."

"So when did that happen?" she asked, looking at me strangely.

"Today," I said. "And if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

"So she just walked out on you on Christmas day?" she asked.

"I walked out on her," I said. "But I thought that we weren't talking about this."

"If you walked out on her, then where are we going?" she asked.

"My parents' house," I said. "They're in their other house in Florida. They won't be home until April or May."

"So you guys just have houses all over the place?" she asked, looking at me as if I had three legs.

"It's really not a big deal," I said. "We just tend to work our asses off, save our money and then buy things when we retire."

"There's got to be more to it than that," she said. "I work my ass off six days a week and still have nothing to show for it. The check in my pocket is the sum of my earthly fortune."

"I can't tell," I mumbled.

"What?" she asked. "I do work hard. Do you know how hard a waitress works and what we have to put up with?"

"I'm sorry that came out the wrong way," I said. "It was a joke."

"I didn't hear a joke in there," she said. "It sounded like you didn't believe I work hard. Explain it to me."

"You said that you work your ass off," I said. "I just meant..."

"Oh it was some kind of fat joke," she spat and I started laughing. "All of us are built differently," she said. "Not every woman is tall and thin like your super..." She stopped talking for a second and folded her arms across her chest.

"There are a lot of guys who like the way I'm built," she huffed.

"And I'm one of them," I said. "It was stupid and I apologize for saying it. I actually meant it as a compliment."

We rode in silence for a few minutes and then she started talking again. "Where are we? These houses are big and they're nice. What do you do for a living?"

I got out of the car and opened the door. I told Cassie to wait in the car with the kids until I got the door open, so she'd stay warm. She looked at me as if I was crazy.

Once I got the door open, I went back to the car and she got out. I pulled the seat forward and each of us grabbed a sleeping child. She followed me into the house, looking around us as we went. She followed me up the stairs and looked at me then.




Two Christmases



"Cassie, how do you want to do this?" I asked.

"Do what?" she asked.

"You don't know me, so you have no reason to trust me yet," I said. "I can put all of you in the same room together, but you probably wouldn't be as comfortable. We could put the two kids together and..."

"No way Jose," she said acidly. "I'm not sharing a bed with you. There's..."

"Can I finish?" I asked. She just looked at me.

"We can put the two kids together so when they wake up in the morning in a strange place they'll be together so they'll be less afraid and put you in the room next to them. They'll have my old room. You'll have the guest room right next to it and I'll be in my parents' room on the other side of the house," I said.

She looked at me then and looked away. She just nodded her head. We carried the kids into the room and put them down on the bed. The little girl tossed a little bit as we put her down but the boy slept like a rock. As Cassie got their shoes off and loosened their clothes, I went back to the car. I started bringing armfuls of clothes up and put them in the room. Cassie just looked at me.

"Why'd you bring all of that stuff in?" she asked.

"You're probably going to be here for a few days, Cassie. At least until you find a new place. You may as well be as comfortable as possible. I've got a few new toothbrushes in one of the bathroom cabinets but I don't remember which one. I don't normally live here, but I'll find them," I said.

"Wait, where are you going?" she asked.

"Back to the car to bring in the rest of the stuff," I said.

When I got back she was pulling the blanket over the two sleeping kids. She leaned over and gave each of them a gentle kiss and I smiled watching it. She might be a bitch to me and probably everyone else but she clearly loved those kids. I put the huge dump truck down on the side of the bed where the little boy slept and then carried the doll around to the other side.

"Where'd you get those?" she asked. "You didn't have to...I'll pay you back when I cash my check."

"Why, they're from Santa and me," I said. "Not from you."

I reached into a drawer in the table beside the bed and pulled out a small chain with a key attached. "You can lock the room from the inside or the outside. We should probably leave the light in the bathroom on so they can find their way if they need to. If you lock the door though, they'll have to call you to get out. I'd also suggest leaving your door open, so you can hear it if anyone goes near their room. I'll be back in a little while," I said.

"Where are you going now?" she asked.

"I'm going out and finding 10 or 12 guys to help me gang bang you. Preferably a mix of rednecks and minorities, all of whom are smelly and over three hundred pounds," I smirked.

"Well, you'd probably better bring more than that because the guys you described wouldn't be able to find the hole because by this time of night they'd be too drunk to walk. But seriously, where are you going?"

"I'm going to check the fridge to see what we have and then pick up a few things for breakfast. I know for a fact that we don't have any milk or eggs or any kind of breakfast meats or bread. Those things don't last very long and my parents have been in Florida since the beginning of October. I know this is a strange place and you don't trust me. You have no reason to, but I'll be back. I'm just trying to make this as pleasant for you as possible," I said.

I could tell by looking at her that she wanted to say something. She bit her lip and then nodded her head. "Hurry back, okay," she said. I nodded my head and tried to smile.

"Your room is the one next door. Get comfortable and look around the house to get the lay of the land, okay." She smiled and nodded too and I left.

There was a small grocery store about a mile away from the house. I wanted to go there but it was after nine p.m. so I wasn't sure they'd still be open. If they weren't, there were numerous gas stations that also sold snacks and some food items. I could always grab milk, eggs and bread and buy everything else we'd need the following day. Luck was with me though and the market was still open. The old man who managed the store smiled at me and told me I only had a few moments before they closed. I started wondering about all of the people who worked in retail and in the service industry and had to work while the rest of us enjoyed our holidays. Those people made sure that the world continued to function while the rest of us ate turkey, watched football and spent time with our loved ones.

Just as I had that thought, my phone rang. It was Elizabeth so I didn't answer. I figured that she was still at her parents' house and had gotten herself together enough to call me. I wondered if she was ready to really talk or just wanted to tell me a bunch of lies. I ignored the call. I'd talk to her when I was ready for a change.

I grabbed bacon, eggs, bread, milk and a couple of different types of cereal. I also grabbed bologna, peanut butter, jelly and some chips and apple juice. At the last minute, I grabbed some strawberries and a bunch of bananas. Anything else we'd need would have to come later. At the counter, I thanked the old man for staying open for me and wished him a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

A few minutes later, I was back in the driveway. As I walked into the house carrying grocery bags, Cassie came into the kitchen. We put the food away without saying anything until she got to the cereal. "He's four," she said. "Do you know what will happen to a four year old kid who takes in this much sugar?"

"I guess I didn't think," I said.

"Oh you thought," she said. "And it was a nice thought, a very nice thought, but you can try to keep up with him while he's bouncing off of the walls."

I made two cups of coffee while she put the rest of the food up. After that I made a fire and we sat down in front of it to talk.

"Tomorrow, I'll go back to your old apartment to get the rest of your stuff," I said.

"We'll all go," she said. "I don't need you picking through my underwear and personal things."

"You're going to have to trust me with your panties," I said. "My Jeep is bigger than my car but it's not that big. My plan is to get as much stuff as possible and that means I'd need to fold the back seats up. That means that the kids couldn't come with us and they're too small to be left alone."

"We'll figure something out," she said. "I have to start looking for another place to stay until I can come with enough money for another apartment. Luckily for me the restaurant is closed until the day after the New Year's Holiday is over."

"Cassie, you can stay here for as long as you want," I said. "My parents won't be back until April at the earliest. I'm beginning to get sleepy. We can talk about the rest of this tomorrow."

"The TV remote is on the table over there. Turn off the lights when you go to bed," I said. "Good night."

"Good night Alan," she said. "I'm coming up with you."

"Oops," I never told you my name," I said.

"I looked at a lot of your pictures and your name is on everything in your room," she said. "You must have had a great childhood. You looked happy in all of those photos."

I walked up the steps with her right behind me. I walked into my parents' room and decided that I was too tired to change the sheets. Besides my mom had probably just done them before they left. I as sat down on the bed I noticed that Cassie had followed me into the room and was taking off her clothes.

"Uhm Cassie, you're in the room next door to the kids," I smiled.

"Unh uh," she said. "I don't normally do this, but you earned it. In fact, you more than earned it." She continued stripping and I gasped loudly when she dropped her bra on the floor and revealed two moderately large breasts. I wondered where she'd hidden them all the time that we'd been together. Her baggy clothes had disguised her body really well. Her granny panties didn't do much for her spectacular ass. She dropped them to the floor and stood there in front of me naked and self-conscious.

She didn't even look me in the eye.

"Cassie, you're beautiful," I said as I handed her my mom's robe. "Your room is next door to the kids."

"But..." she began. "Isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that why you're doing all of this? Trust me, I don't mind. Most guys would have expected me to fuck them just for the ride to the church. You actually even took me home. And you bought presents for my kids. You even gave us a place to stay and bought us food. I caught you looking at my ass earlier, but I guess you're just a guy and guys do that. It's not something you can help. So I really don't mind. I'll try to make this good, but I have to warn you that I don't have a lot of experience at this. I'm not a virgin but...well I haven't done this a lot so I'm not all hot and sexy. Can we just do it the regular way and not do anything weird?"

"Okay," I said. "Close your eyes." She closed her eyes tightly and I took the robe from her hands. I took her face in both of my hands and felt her tremble at my touch. I kissed her very gently on her forehead like she was a little girl and then swatted her on her magnificent ass and draped the robe around her shoulders. Then I pushed her towards the door and closed it behind her.

"But..." she began through the door.

"You should probably check on the kids before you go to sleep," I said. "It's been a while since they ate at the church. They might want a snack."

As I tried to get to sleep, all kinds of thought went through my mind. One moment I'd be thinking about my life with Elizabeth and what I wanted there and the next I'd remember exactly how soft Cassie's ass had felt when I'd gently swatted it. I got nothing done and made no decision towards anything. The next thing I knew I was asleep.

Dark and early the next morning, the sound of voices woke me.

"Timmy, leave that truck alone. It isn't yours," I heard. The voice sounded so much more mature than any six year old should have to be. I stumbled to my feet and went to correct her.

As I walked into the hallway, I saw that the door to the room they were in was open.

"Hi mister," she said politely as I walked in.

"Alan," I said, holding out my hand. She smiled and shook my hand in her tiny one.

"I'm Becca," she said. "My name isn't really Becca. It's Rebecca, but everyone calls me Becca. Some people try to call me Becky, but I don't like that. My name isn't Rebecky; it's Rebecca. I hate Becky."

"I'll never call you Becky ma'am," I said.

"Is this your house?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"It isn't now," I said. "My parents still live here, but it's the house I grew up in."

"There are pictures of you all over the place," she said. "And there are even a few toys left over. I made sure that Timmy didn't bother any of them. I didn't even let him touch them. He really wants to play with that truck though." I smiled. She was already campaigning to get her little brother access to the truck.

"It isn't my truck," I said.

"Oh," she said. Her mouth formed a perfect little "O."

"And I didn't think that doll was yours either," she said. "You used to be a boy didn't you? I mean you're still a boy now, but you're like a giant boy and boys, whether they're giant boys or not, don't like dolls much." I shook my head, trying to keep up with her.

"Whose doll is it?" she asked.

"It's yours Becca," I said and her eyes got huge. "It's from Santa."

"It's so pretty. It's just like the ones that my friends in school have," she said in tones that were almost a whisper. She hesitated and then asked me. "Do you think I could trade it for that truck?" I scooped her up into my arms and shook my head.

"You're stuck with it Becca," I said. "Grab it and let's go make breakfast. Timmy, bring your truck."

As we walked past the other bedroom, Becca grabbed my hand. "My Aunt Cassie is in there," she said. "She snores." I nodded my head.

Timmy was leaning over pushing the truck and making vroom sounds. As we got near the stairs I grabbed his hand and the truck.

"Timmy, no trucks near the stairs," I said.

"Noooo trucks," he repeated.

When we got into the kitchen, I asked them what they wanted for breakfast.

"Whatever you have is fine," said Becca. That little girl was growing on me at an impossible rate. I got out four plates and set them down on the table. I let Becca set the table as I got out a plastic bacon press. My mom liked the press because it made it a lot easier to cook bacon. You could just put several slices of bacon in it and throw the whole thing in the microwave. The bacon could cook while you made other things. I reached into the cabinet and pulled out my mom's electric griddle. While I waited for it to warm up, I helped Becca rescue her doll from the package. There were wires and staples all over the place. You almost had to be an engineer to get the doll out of the box.

Then we started pouring pancakes. The bacon smelled really good. Becca put the apple juice and the milk on the table and made sure that there was a glass and a fork at every seat.

"Becca, I have a secret mission for you," I said. "Go up the stairs and wake snoring beauty." She laughed and ran off. Timmy was pushing his truck around the floor and had somehow moved the bananas to the back of his truck. A few minutes later, when Becca came back towing a still sleepy and apparently pissed off Cassie behind her. Timmy ran over Cassie's foot with his banana filled truck.

"Timmy, give me your driver's license," said Cassie sternly.

"Don't have one, Aunt Cassie," he said.

"Don't worry about it Timmy," I said. "She took mine last night."

Cassie looked at me warily and then looked around the room. "I should have gotten up and..." she began.

"Becca helped," I said.

We all sat down at the table and started eating. Becca looked at Timmy and saw that Cassie was already cutting his food up. "Would you like bananas or strawberries on your pancakes, Miss Becca?" I asked.

"What are you having?" she asked.

"I'm a pig with a sweet tooth," I said. "I'll be having strawberries and bananas and syrup on mine."

"That's what I'd like too," she said.

"Me too," echoed Timmy. As we ate, I thought about all of those classic holiday movies where they had a large dinner around a huge table and they said a prayer to bless the food before they ate it. Everyone around the table thought pleasant thoughts and they passed food and were very polite.

This was nothing like that. This was four feral individuals cramming as much food as they could down their throats. We each guarded our plates jealously and watched for anyone reaching for anything within our selected areas.

Becca obviously loved the strawberries. When she reached for more of them, Timmy raised his hand and pointed at her, which made me laugh harder than I had in years. I looked at her and shoveled more strawberries on her plate.

After we were all done, Becca carried the dishes to me and I put them into the dishwasher. Becca played with her doll, keeping Timmy, who was doing laps of the living room, in sight.

"Alan, can I take a shower?" asked Cassie.

"Of course," I said.

"Can you come up here? I want to tell you something," she said. I followed her upstairs and into the bathroom.

"I think I have a possible solution to our problem...or one of them anyway," she said. I noticed that as she spoke she fluffed out her hair and then dropped the robe she was wearing and was naked under it. My reaction was immediate."

"Cassie," I said in shock.

She just shook her head. "Relax," she said. "You already saw all of me last night and turned me down. I just needed to know something. Anyway, do you trust me?"

"I did before you started flashing me," I said.

"Good, I have a way that I can help you pick up our things. I have a friend named Theresa who works with me. She isn't busy today so she could come over and watch the kids for an hour or so, while you and I go back and deal with my asshole building manager. That is if it's okay with you," she said.

"Fine," I laughed. "That way your panties are protected."

An hour later, someone rang the doorbell. I went to the door and let an older woman in. She was taller than Cassie and thin but she had a sizable rack. Her chest didn't seem to fit her body. She smiled a lot and introduced herself as Theresa. I told her the kids were in the living room and she could come and join us. We were watching one of those modern cartoons on the Disney channel. The kids were staring at the TV in awe and barely noticed us enter the room. She asked me where Cassie was and I told her to climb the stairs and call her.

I was actually amazed by the cartoon too. So a short time later when Cassie and Theresa came down the stairs, they found me and the kids all sitting on the couch together staring at the TV.

"Alan, we can leave now," said Cassie. I turned to look at her and my mouth dropped open. She'd done her hair and it was really nice. Cassie's formerly messy, collar length, straight hair was longer on one side. Her bangs were cut at an angle that obscured one eye almost like a modern version of Veronica Lake's peekaboo hair style during the forties. The other side of her hair was tucked back behind one ear.

She'd put on a little bit of makeup and her face looked completely different. She'd always been pretty but she was simply stunning now. Her T-shirt and hoodie were gone and she had on a nice white blouse that was tucked into her jeans and showed off her tiny waist. Those jeans showcased her incredible ass and she knew it. The blouse had three of four buttons undone and showed off both those rounded near mountains that stretched away from her ribcage but also more than a little bit of cleavage.

I loved the way she looked. It was classic and perfect. Theresa, with her large and obviously fake boobs would have come off looking slutty wearing the same outfit. But on Cassie it was sexy personified.

"Wow, when I went upstairs, I had two kids," she said. "Now it looks like I have three."

Theresa had watched my reaction to Cassie and shook her head.

Becca came over and gave her Aunt Cassie a hug before we left. She shocked me when she hugged me too.

As we drove, Cassie didn't say anything. Then she just erupted. "How exactly am I supposed to pay you back for all of this?" she asked.

"Cassie, can we just do what we have to do?" I said. "Can we just be people and live in the moment?"

"Hell no," she spat. "I woke up this morning in the most comfortable bed I've slept in that I can remember. My kids are happy and playing with new toys and eating and watching a television that probably cost more than I make in a month. Becca already loves you and Timmy is following you around like..." she sighed and hesitated.

"I know that all of this is adding up," she said. "And sooner or later it'll be time to pay for it. I don't have very much money and..." she just started crying then.

"Cassie," I said softly. I reached out and took her hand. "Have you ever thought that maybe, I just wanted to do something nice. And I know that this is out there but did you ever consider that maybe I'm already getting something out of this?"

"I don't have any money," she said again. "So whatever you're going to charge me, it's going to take a lot of time for me to pay you back. That's why I tried to offer you what I have, last night. But you turned that down quickly enough. You just slapped my fat ass and shut the door on me. I already told you, I know I'm not a super model like your wife, but..."

"Cassie, you're beautiful," I said. "And your ass isn't fat. I love your ass. I wish Elizabeth had an ass like yours..."

"Her name is Elizabeth?" she asked. I nodded. "You're married to Elizabeth Taylor?"




Two Christmases



She kept laughing for the next few minutes, and then went back to the subject. "Alan, you do know that if anything had happened between us last night, I would never have told anyone. It would have and will stay just between the two of us. It would be a total no strings thing...a gift from one person to another to repay them for their kindness and generosity. So if you're worried about losing your wife, you don't have to be."

"Cassie, you've already paid me back," I said. "So forget about it. If you hadn't come along, I might be dead already. I was so drunk when you found me yesterday that I thought I was having a conversation with fucking Santa Claus. The time that I've spent with you and your kids has taught me a lot but it also stopped me from becoming depressed and doing something stupid. As far as I'm concerned, we're even."

"What do you have to be depressed about?" she laughed. "You're a nice looking guy. You've got a great personality and even kids like you. You have a beautiful house. You have more than one car. And you make more than enough money to pay your bills. You also have a beautiful wife. You have the world on a string."

"Cassie, yesterday I WAS pretty happy. I was at a Christmas gathering with my wife's family. I was going to propose to her all over again and give her a bigger, better wedding ring. We were going to renew our wedding vows and go on a second honeymoon. We were supposed to leave just after the New Year holidays. When we started giving out the presents, one of her presents was some really sleazy lingerie. It came from her boss. The card told us that the business trip the two of them were going on just after Christmas; had nothing to do with business. My wife had been cheating on me. Her boss is an older fatter guy, who doesn't make as much money as I do and treats people like shit. So none of the nice things you said about me means anything."

She just looked shocked when I told her that.

"If I hadn't spent the evening and the morning with you and your kids, who knows what I might have done. So you saved me as much as I saved you. And as far as what you offered me, I was very interested, but I'm still married and the wounds are too raw. Even if some time had passed though, what you offered me was worth far more than what I've done for you. And you shouldn't give something that special to just anyone who does you a favor. If you do, sooner or later you've given away all of yourself and you may not like or recognize the person you've become."

"Me personally, I guess I'd only be able to enjoy something like that if it was given because the other person cared about me. Having to exchange something that personal is like giving away a piece of yourself, so be careful who you offer it to. But I'm probably old fashioned and out of touch. Elizabeth claims she loves me, but she's been fucking her boss."

"You found out on Christmas?" she asked. "Christmas is really fucked up this year."

We got to her old building and the landlord must really want the other half of that bill because every trace of Cassie's belongings were gone as if they'd never been there.

As I got ready to open the door, Cassie put her hand on my arm. "Alan, no matter what you said, you really are a nice guy. Most of the men I know would have taken what I offered you by force if given the chance. And if I offered it, they wouldn't have cared how it made me feel. Pussy is pussy, they say it every day. Your wife has to be the stupidest super model on the planet. Someday she's going to feel stupid for letting you get away."

Cassie and I loaded the jeep with all of her things. It was frightening how little they had. "It's going to be hard to get the furniture," I said. "I have a buddy with a bigger truck but..."

"Alan, the apartment was furnished," she said. "We're done."

We drove back to the house and started unloading. Anything that we didn't think there was room for we put in the garage. Theresa was asleep on the couch. She woke up and looked at us as we came in. The kids ran over to us and hugged us. Timmy wrapped his arms around my legs. I noticed a ring of red around his mouth. It was a very dark red and I thought it was blood.

"Cassie," I said sharply. "Look at his mouth." Cassie ran over to him and snatched him away from me. Timmy looked at both of us as if we were crazy.

"Becca what happened to Timmy?" she asked.

"Nothin' happened," said Becca. "We were hungry. Theresa was sleeping, so I made us lunch. Was I good?"

Cassie took her finger and wiped Timmy's mouth. "It's strawberry jelly," she said. We both breathed a sigh of relief. That is until we went into the kitchen. There was jelly smeared all over the kitchen table and counters. A cup of milk had spilled and the water was still turned on in the sink. It looked as if someone had set off a strawberry bomb in the kitchen."

"I've got it," said Cassie.

"Have fun," I said.

"Your phone rang a couple of times, well actually more than a couple of times," said Theresa. She went into the kitchen to help Cassie.

* * * * * *

Elizabeth

When I woke up the day after Christmas, nothing felt real. I had gone over in my mind all of the things I wanted to say to Alan but I was no longer even sure that I'd get the chance. The biggest shock had been last night. My dad had explained to me that I needed to go home. If I stayed away from home, a court might construe that as me abandoning the marital home and give temporary possession of the condo to Alan. My dad had driven me there. He'd come in for support not security. Even after hearing that Alan had badly beaten John, both my dad and I knew that Alan loved me far too much to ever hurt me.

On the drive over, my dad kept peppering me with questions about my affair with my boss. I wasn't even sure if I knew the answers to those questions, so I remained silent. 

"Make sure you let him know that you love HIM and not that asshole," said my father, as I fumbled with the key in the lock.

Even as the door opened, the condo just felt wrong. It wasn't messy and it didn't look as if anything was amiss, it just felt empty.

"Alan," I called out. "Are you home?"

"He's probably still driving around angry," said my dad.

"No Dad, there's something wrong," I said.

"Maybe he got into a car wreck," said my dad. "Maybe we should call the police."

I went into the bedroom and it hit me. The door to Alan's closet was wide open and the closet was empty. The only thing left in that entire walk-in closet was a few empty clothes hangers.

"Elizabeth, are you alright?" asked my dad from the floor below.

"No Daddy, I'm not," I said. "In fact, I may never be alright again."

I tried calling Alan several times. All of my calls went to voice mail. My dad took me back home with him. He tried to console me all the way, but I couldn't stop crying. I even cried myself to sleep. When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did before I even got out of bed was to check my phone to see if I had any voice mail or text messages from Alan. There were none.

My greatest hope was that he'd had time to think and cool down and had come home. I called the phone at the condo and let it ring until voice mail picked it up. Then I called Alan's cell. He still didn't pick up.

I called John then. His words were slurred and he also spoke very slowly. "Hullo," he said.

"Hey John," I said. I was sure that he could read the depression in my voice. "Alan left me. He took all of his things. I have no way of finding him."

"Oh fuck," he said. "Do you think he's going to put in a complaint with the company?"

"Fuck the company," I said. "I'm worried more about my marriage than the fucking job."

"Elizabeth, if this gets on our record, neither of us will be able to get a decent job anywhere. I'm about ready to retire but something like this could affect my pension and I'm going to need money to fight off Paula in the divorce."

"You're still young. You're not even thirty yet, so this will affect your career far worse than it will mine. You may be stuck as a secretary for the rest of your career. And all of your future bosses, every one of them who hears about this will think they can fuck you too."

"Well, they can't," I said. "You got inside of my guard because I thought of you as a friend, and besides that, as my boss, I thought you had my best interest in mind. You caught me at a time when I was vulnerable and stupid. That was the only reason you got anything out of me."

"Whatever, Liz," he sneered. "Both of us are still in this together. It's important that we work together. We both need for you to convince your husband to just let this go. Even if he decided to divorce you, we need for him to skip going to the company."

"Are you out of your fucking mind, John?" I asked. "The most important thing is trying to hold onto my marriage. If Alan wants to go to the company, I'll sign a paper in blood saying you and I fucked. If he wants to kick your ass again, I'll hold his coat and act as a lookout."

"Liz, you're very young," he said. "No judge is going to give you alimony forever. Even with a good judge, you were wrong. That will mitigate your settlement. Sooner or later you're going to have to work again and if we're both fired and have black marks on our employment history, we're toast."

"What you should probably do is tell him that you'll quit," he said. "That way you can work on your marriage and the temptation will be removed. Maybe you can change the plan and start making babies sooner than you originally planned."

"Don't count on any cooperation from me, John," I said. "Alan is in charge here. I'm willing to do anything he wants for a second chance."

After I hung up the phone, I tried calling Alan again and then I had an idea. If yesterday hadn't happened, I'd be getting ready to leave for my trip with John. Alan had decided to go ice fishing with his Uncle Jeff. Alan's uncle was about seventy years old. Alan loved that old man and he'd never want to disappoint him. Besides that, I knew that Alan was in a lot of pain right now. He was suffering because of me. He'd want to go somewhere quiet to think. He wouldn't want to be around a lot of people. I decided to try to call Jeff. I'd tell him that Alan and I were having problems and see if I could get him to get Alan to call me. I hoped that I could convince Jeff and I hoped that Alan didn't need very much time to realize that I really was very sorry for what I'd done.

I called Alan again. And once again, the call immediately went to voice mail. That bothered me because it meant that Alan had blocked my number. He wouldn't even know that I had called him. I'd have to hope that when he checked his messages that he'd bother to listen to it. As angry as he was, he'd probably just erase all of his messages without bothering to listen to them.

I scrolled through all of the numbers on my phone until I found the old guy's number. I called him and waited while the phone rang. After a few minutes he came on the line, sounding out of breath.

"What!" he said.

"Hi Uncle Jeff," I said as politely and cheerfully as I could.

"You've got the wrong number," he snarled. "I don't have any nieces."

"Uncle Jeff, it's Elizabeth, Alan's wife," I said.

"Oh, shit!" he said. "I just woke up. Is he already on his way? I thought we were leaving tomorrow. He isn't sick is he? You do know that he can still fish if he's sick, right?"

"Uncle Jeff, I need your help," I said.

"I never loan money to friends or family," he snapped. "It just fucks everything up. Besides isn't Alan like a gazillionaire by now? Maybe you should get a job. I don't know what you could do though. You're too skinny to be a good waitress."

"Uncle Jeff, I don't need any money. I need a favor," I said.

"We don't live in the same city, so how can I do you a favor. And they won't let me drive anymore, the bastards. How can they take away a man's license just because there's a little snow on the roof?"

"Uncle Jeff, you don't have to drive," I said. "Alan and I are having a few problems of a personal nature. When you see him, can you just ask him to call me?"

"Why can't you ask him yourself?" he asked. "You live in the same box. You guys still didn't buy a house yet did you. You still live in that little box, right?"

"Uncle Jeff, I'm not at home. I'm at my parents' house and..."

"He kicked your skinny ass out, did he? What did you do?" he asked.

"Uncle Jeff, it doesn't matter who did what. Jeff didn't kick me out. He left, and I'm dying without him," I said.

"Why don't you just call HIM and tell HIM that instead of me?" he asked.

"Because he won't take my calls," I sobbed.

"Oh God, please quit blubbering," he snapped. "That shit don't work on me Barbie. I'll tell him that you want him to call you as soon as I see him, but only as long as it don't interfere with my fishing."

Then he abruptly hung up the phone.

I heard a light knock on the door and my sister, Sarah, stepped into the room. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Awful," I said. "I miss him so much, Sarah." I couldn't believe that my sister was being so supportive. Then I looked at her and the movements she was making with her lips. She was trying to avoid smiling. I stared at her and she couldn't hold it anymore. She just started laughing.

"Why the hell did you come up here Sarah?" I asked her angrily.

"Mom and Dad made me," she said. "I just wanted to spend the day after Christmas with my family so I came over hoping Mom had made breakfast and they told me to come up here and be nice. I tried Liz. I really did. And I'm not happy that you're miserable, but on the other hand you fucking deserve it. Of everyone I know; you lead a charmed life. You are fucking Cinderella. You fell in love with a prince. But instead of living happily ever after you go off and start fucking a frog. Now you're here doing the dying swan routine. You deserve it. So forgive me if I'm not sympathetic. Actually I am, though. I hope things work out for Alan, because right now that man has to be suffering."

"And I'm not suffering?" I screeched. "I barely slept last night. I can't eat. I just feel like shit. Believe me little sister, I am suffering too."

"But you caused it," she said, just as loudly. "And you were STUPID. Your husband is nicer, better looking, makes more money than that troll and there's two even more important distinctions. Number one; Alan loves you more than anything on earth. This just gets even more stupid as I think about it. Most husbands go out at the last minute and buy you golf clubs for Christmas. That man planned your Christmas for months. Did you even get to see that fucking ring he bought you? Did you see the pictures of the ship for the cruise? You are his entire world. Does John care about you even a tenth of that? Nope, you're just fuck buddies right? You're just some whore he can screw whenever he wants to. Number two; Alan is yours. You are his number one priority. You two are legally married. John's number one priority is or was his own wife. You were just the slut he snuck around with."

"Tell me about all of the fun things that you and John did," she said. "Tell me about how he was always there for you when you were sick. Tell me about how he put up with your family and how he shared your dreams. What about all of those talks you had about your future together? Go on I'm listening."

I noticed my parents standing in the doorway with their mouths open. "It wasn't like that," I said. "I knew there was no future with John. My future is with my husband."

"Your future WAS with Alan," she snapped. "As of now, your future is alone, like all of the other divorced sluts."

"I'm going to get him back," I said. She just smiled.

"No you're not," she said. "He's too smart for that. Right now, he's out there somewhere and he's probably feeling pretty bad. He'll want to go somewhere and think. But the longer that he's away from you, the weaker your hold on him will be. Then he'll start to get over you. But I doubt that he'll date anyone for a while. He'll be like the rest of those broken toys out there. One stupid bitch did him wrong and he blames every other woman on the planet. Hopefully, he'll find someone eventually who awakens all of the love he has to give and he'll make her the luckiest woman on earth. I just hope that A; it doesn't take him too long to find her and B; that she's smarter than you are and appreciates what she has."

"Sorry, Dad," she said, seeing our parents for the first time. "I just can't put up with this bullshit. I'm going home."

My dad came over and sat down on the bed. "Liz, your sister is just angry because we kind of made her come up here."

"She's also right, Daddy," I said. "Everything she said was the truth. I've been such a fool. I had one tiny aspect of my life that I wasn't happy with and I let it ruin everything."

* * * * * *

Alan

"You were the one who decided that you wanted to go," I said. "Now how does it feel?"

"Puffy," she said. "I'm fat enough. Do I need to have a puffy jacket too?"

"Cassie, you're nowhere near fat. You're curvy, most men like that. Now put your arms down," I told her.

"I'm not even going to ask you the two questions that came to mind when you said that," she smirked.

"Okay, I like the jacket," I said. "Now we have to get you some boots. And as much as I'll hate doing it we have to get you some pants that you can wear too."

"You don't have to buy me pants if you can't afford them," she said. "I'll be fine. Why do I need any other pants anyway? It doesn't matter if my jeans don't match the jacket."

"Cassie," I began, and then I started to laugh. She did that thing she does when she'd pissed and her mouth gets tight and straightens out.

"What's so God damned funny?" she asked. Then she started to take the jacket off. "We're not going."

"Cassie, we already talked about this," I said. "We decided together. The kids wanted to go. I'm sorry for laughing. I wasn't laughing at you."

"Then what was so funny?" she asked.

"I was just thinking that I hate to buy you pants because they're going to be puffy too and I won't be able to see your..."

Then she started laughing too. "I'll bet you wish you hadn't handed me that robe the other night don't you?"

Becca and Timmy clumped over in their new snowsuits and boots, wondering what we were laughing about.

"What's so funny Uncle Alan?" asked Becca. "I want to laugh too."

"We were all going to go to McDonald's for dinner," I said. "But your Aunt Cassie is taking so long to get her clothes that we may have to go to Burger King."

"I think she's just taking so long because she likes talking to you," said Becca. "At home she puts her clothes on in like two minutes. She just throws her hair in a pony-tail, brushes her teeth and heads out the door. But now she's acting like a girl. She even put that red stuff on her mouth and was making kissing noises at the mirror."

"That's it, I'm wearing my jeans," said Cassie. "Let's get out of here, "Uncle Alan."

"Are you sure you don't need to get some red stuff for your mouth?" I asked. She balled up her new jacket and threw it at me.

"That's the way ya do it girl," said some old lady passing by. "Don't take any lip from him. I used to put my husband in his place every time he got uppity."

"Where is he?" I asked. "Maybe we can get together and start an abused husband's union or something."

"He left me years ago. Went out for smokes in the middle of the night and never came back. He did leave me a note though. It said that he was tired of my shit. Who'd a thunk it?"

The old woman wandered off and Cassie and I just looked at each other and then burst out laughing again.

Twenty minutes later, we were back in my jeep and looking for a McDonalds on our way home. "We're getting up very early in the morning, so we have to go to bed early," I said. As we got close to the house I slowed down at the Burger King.