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Warren Butterfield Pt. 01

By: K.K.



Author's Note: Once again I want to thank Techsan for taking time from his busy schedule to edit this story for me. This is a lengthy story so I have divided it into four parts. All four parts were submitted at the same time but may not be posted the same day.

Please provide feedback. It is the only payback we authors get for our efforts. Thanks

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

On February 17, 1970, Catherine Butterfield, with her mother Jean at her side, gave birth to a healthy baby boy. There was no birth announcement in the Lexington newspaper and there was no celebration when Catherine and her baby came home from the hospital. Catherine, better know as Kate by her family, had been in a car accident when she was fifteen years old and had suffered a head injury that left her with some minor physical impairments and some not so minor mental problems. Basically, Kate was left with the mental maturity of a ten year old and was never able to progress beyond that. Kate was able to keep up in school but she just wasn't very wise in the ways of the world and when she was seventeen years old one of her classmates took advantage of her and got her pregnant. It was at the end of the school year and the boy that had impregnated Kate had joined the Army and was gone before anyone knew that she was pregnant.

My name is Warren Butterfield and I am Kate Butterfield's son. I was named after my grandfather who had died in the car accident that had caused my mother's injuries. Kate was not capable of being a mother so my grandmother had to take care of both of us. For Grandma Jean it was like having two young kids in the house. I loved Kate but she was more like a sister to me than a mother. 

When I was in the fifth grade some of the kids at my school found out about my mother and began to tease me about her. 

"Was that your baby sister I saw you with last night? Oh, no. That was your mother, wasn't it?" 

I heard something like that almost every day, along with many other stupid comments. I tried to act like it didn't bother me but it did. 

Bill McCarty and Craig Mason were in my class at the time and they lived in my neighborhood but I didn't know them very well. Bill was the biggest kid in my class and Craig wasn't much smaller. I was a big kid too but I was a little intimidated by them so I avoided them as much as possible. On my way home from school one afternoon I saw Bill and Craig standing in front of Grandma Jean's house talking to Kate but they left before I reached them. When I asked Kate what they wanted she told me that they were her friends but I didn't trust them. I figured they were making fun of Kate and she just didn't realize it. The next day at school I confronted Bill and Craig. I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to fight Bill because I knew he would kick my ass but I would stand up to him if I had to.

"Stay away from Kate," I said.

"What if I don't, what will you do about it?" Bill McCarty asked.

"Whatever I have to," I said.

Bill just smiled and said, "Don't worry, we're not hurting your mother. She's kinda cool." 

"What do you mean by that?" I said.

"She's what? Twenty-eight years old but she acts like one of us. That's cool." Bill said.

"We aren't making fun of her, if that's what you're worried about." Craig said.

"You better not be," I said.

"We better get out of here before he kicks our ass," Bill said and the two of them walked off and left me standing there with my heart pounding so hard that I could feel it in my throat.

A few days after my confrontation with Bill and Craig I finally lost my temper when three other boys from my class started calling me, "the bastard child of a retarded whore."

I lit into them and was able to land several punches before I found myself on the ground with all three boys punching and kicking me. I had curled up into the fetal position to protect myself as best I could when suddenly the attack stopped. When I looked up I saw Bill McCarty and Craig Mason slapping two of my tormentors around and the third was running down the street as fast as he could. When Bill and Craig let the other two go, they were both crying as they ran away. 

Bill extended his hand and helped me up and said, "Nice try but maybe you should have tried fighting them one at a time."

I was grateful for their assistance but when I asked them why they came to my aid Craig said, "How would it look if we let those punks beat up a kid from the neighborhood?"

That was the last that was ever said about it except for when Bill or Craig occasionally teased me about my strange fighting style of falling to the ground and rolling into a ball. They never once acted like I owed them anything for their assistance and from that day on the three of us were inseparable

Every night after school and on the weekends we would get together at one of our houses to play. Bill and Craig both had very nice parents, who accepted me as if I was a member of their families. My Grandma Jean treated my friends as their parents treated me, so we all felt welcome in whichever house we happened to find ourselves. 

Often on Saturday afternoons in the summer Bill's father would play baseball with us. One day he was hitting fly balls to us and I made a pretty nice diving catch. Bill's father yelled "Nice catch, Butter," and from that moment on my nickname was Butter. Soon after that Craig's nickname became Mace and Bill's became Buck. Those names have stayed with us all these years.

*****

When I was seventeen Grandma Jean's health began to fail and she was having a difficult time taking care of Kate who had developed some slightly more severe mental problems. I wanted to help more but Grandma Jean insisted that I concentrate on my schoolwork so that I would be able to go to college. In the end we had to have Kate institutionalized. It broke Grandma Jean's heart to have to send her daughter away but she just couldn't take care of her anymore. 

I didn't know how to feel about my mother being sent away like that. I was relieved that I didn't have to worry about her anymore but I felt guilty at the same time. I hated the idea of visiting her at that mental hospital but I forced myself to go and I always felt better afterward. Kate was perfectly happy with her new surroundings. The drug therapy they were using on Kate had relieved the anxiety that had been the cause of her recent problems. Seeing that Kate was well taken care of and seemed to be happy relieved my guilt and I was sure it eased Grandma Jean's mind.

I tried to visit Kate at least once a week at 'The Home,' as most people referred to the mental hospital, and often either Buck or Mace or both would go with me. Kate thought of Mace and Buck as her friends so their visits always made her happy.

*****

In May of 1988 Buck, Mace and I graduated from high school. We had talked a lot during our senior year about what we wanted to do but I was the only one of the three of us that had a definite plan. I was going to attend the University of Kentucky to study Marketing. The only thing I knew for sure was that Buck and Mace were not planning on going to college.

On graduation night the three of us were at an all night party at the Radisson Hotel with several other friends. We were drinking beer and having a pretty good time when Buck suddenly became serious.

"Guys, I have decided what I am going to do now that I am out of school."

"I know, drive a truck for the sanitation department," Mace said.

"Come on, I'm serious. I am going to join the army," Buck said. 

Mace and I were stunned. Buck had never mentioned joining the army before. "Are you shitting me?" Mace said.

"No. I have been thinking about this for more than a year but I never wanted to tell you guys because I knew that you would try to talk me out of it," Buck said.

"Of course we would, you asshole," I said. "You can't run off and join the army. You belong here with us."

"Yeah, right," Buck said. "You're going to college and who the hell knows what Mace is planning. School's out and it's time for us to become men. Besides, I already signed up. I leave for basic training in two weeks."

We were all quiet for a few minutes.

"Listen, you jerk," I said. "If you go off and get yourself killed in some far off place, I'll come over there and kick your ass."

"How you going to kick my ass when you are rolling around on the ground like a big ball?" Buck replied.

We all laughed at that memory. 

"All right, so our man is going off to join the army," Mace said as he stood up and climbed onto the bed. "Could I have everyone's attention," Mace shouted.

The rest of the partiers in the room turned to see what Mace was shouting about. When everyone was looking at him he lifted his beer bottle into the air.

"A toast," he said. "Our good friend Buck is going off to join the army. Let's all wish him well and ask that he return to us with lots of medals and no battle scars. Buck, keep your head down low and your ass lower and come back to us in one piece."

Everyone drank to Buck and then went back to their previous conversations. 

"Okay, Mace," Buck said. "It's your turn. What are your plans?"

"Long term? I don't know. For now I am going to work for my uncle," Mace said.

Mace's uncle owned a small but growing trucking company and had offered Mace a job in their dispatch office up in Covington. To Mace it was just a job so he wasn't very excited about it.

"Maybe in a couple of years I'll go to Lexington Community College but for now I'll just work for my uncle.

*****

That June, Buck left for the army and Mace moved to his uncle's house in Covington and started working at Bluegrass Transport. I ended up getting a job waiting tables at Applebee's working six to closing. It felt strange not having the guys to hang out with on those long summer days and nights. 

When classes started that fall I quickly got into a routine. I attended classes during the day and studied at night except when I was working at Applebee's on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday afternoons I visited Kate at the home but in spite of my busy schedule I managed to keep up with my schoolwork and get good grades.  

In the fall of 1990, just after I started my junior year at UK, Grandma Jean died of cancer. The cancer had been discovered when I was a senior in high school and she had fought for her life for nearly three years. Living at home, I helped Grandma Jean around the house as much as I could. The hardest part for me was trying to explain to Kate why her mother was no longer able to visit her. I got Kate out of the home and took her to the funeral. She cried the whole time. 

After Grandma Jean's death my time was taken up by my schoolwork, my job and my visits with Kate. The doctors at the home told me that Kate was stable now and that she could leave the institution if there was someone to take care of her. As often as I could I would take Kate out to a movie, for a picnic or for dinner at Applebee's but I wasn't in a position to take the responsibility to care for her full time. Grandma Jean had left me the house and enough money to cover the cost of Kate's care for as long as she needed it. I felt bad about leaving Kate in the home but she seemed to be happy there so that relieved some of my guilt. 

*****

Chapter 2 - Megan Forester

It was on my twenty-first birthday that I ran across Megan Forester and I mean that literally. It was February 17 and we had one of those rare Lexington snowstorms over night. The storm had left only three or four inches of snow on the ground but it made everything slippery. I was running across campus trying not to be late for my nine o'clock class when suddenly there was someone wrapped in a big brown coat right in front of me. I tried to slow down and change directions but I lost my footing and took both of us down. 

It wasn't bad enough that I had knocked someone down but when she turned to look at the idiot that had knocked her off her feet all I could see were her beautiful, big blue eyes. It was obvious that she was in some pain but didn't want anyone to notice.

"I... I am so sorry," I said. "My feet slipped out from under me on the ice and ... I really am sorry."

Luckily, when I slid into her she fell on top of me. This kept her from getting hurt badly but now I had to get her off me before I could get up and I didn't dare move her until I was sure she wasn't injured by the fall.

"Are you all right?" I asked. "Can you stand up?"

She seemed to be stunned by the shock of the sudden impact. After a minute I was able to get out from under her and stand and then I helped her to her feet. I tried to apologize again but she just turned and walked away.

I felt really bad for the rest of the morning. I wanted to find her and apologize again but I didn't know who she was and I didn't get a good enough look at her face to be able to recognize her if I saw her again. All I could remember were those big blue eyes.

Later that day I was sitting in the student union having a cup of coffee. I had only been there about fifteen minutes when a group of girls sat down behind me.

"He just knocked you down?" I heard one of them say.

"Yes."

"Do you think he did it on purpose?" It was the first voice again.

"I don't think... No, I am sure he didn't do it on purpose. You should have seen his face. He was so embarrassed. He kept trying to apologize."

"What did you say to him?"

"I didn't say anything. When we fell I landed on top of him but I hit hard on my tailbone and it hurt quite a bit. I was afraid that I might cry and I didn't want to embarrass myself. I just walked away trying to act like I was okay."

"You should have told him what an asshole he was."

"Maybe."

"Well, when you see him again, make sure you tell him he is an asshole."

"I don't know who he is and I don't think I would recognize him if I ever saw him again."

I felt terrible knowing that she had been in that much pain. I thought, "at least she doesn't know who I am," but that didn't help my feelings of guilt. 

I don't know what made me do it but I got up and walked around to where the girls were sitting. There were four of them in the group but I had no problem identifying the one I had run down that morning. She had dark brown hair and a very pretty face with the most beautiful blue eyes. The other three girls had brown eyes. 

I stood directly in front of her and when she looked up at me I said, "My name is Warren Butterfield and I am the asshole that knocked you down this morning. Now that you are feeling a little better, perhaps you would like to tell me exactly what you think of me and my careless behavior."

Her face began to flush and then she laughed. "You heard us?" she said. "Well, if you heard us I guess I don't have to tell you what I think of you, do I?"

"No, I guess you don't," I said. "But if you would like to tell me off to my face I am at your disposal."

All four of them were laughing but I didn't know if they were laughing at me or with me.

"I would like to make this up to you if I could," I said. "Could I buy you dinner?"

I knew as soon as I said it how stupid I sounded.

"Is this how you go about getting dates. You knock girls over and then ask them to dinner?" She was smiling as she said this, which gave me hope.

"Not usually," I said, "but in your case I am making an exception."

Her smile got bigger. "I am Megan Forester, your victim for the day."

"Well, Megan, can I buy you dinner?"

"When?"

"When ever you like," I said. "How about tonight?"

Megan looked at her friends who were all laughing and said, "Okay. Tonight."

*****

I took Megan to Applebee's of course. I got an employee discount there. When I told Megan that it was my birthday she kissed me on the cheek and said, "Happy birthday, but don't expect a present later."

During dinner I found out that Megan was from Frankfort, Kentucky and she was studying to become a nurse. I told her about my mother and what I was studying and by the time we were finished eating Megan and I had become very comfortable with each other. After dinner I took Megan back to her apartment and asked her for a second date. She said yes.

At one point during our second date I mentioned to Megan that I knew how to cook. I told her that when Grandma Jean got very sick toward the end I did all of the cooking. I could roast a chicken; broil a steak, steam fish and many other meals. From the expression on her face I wasn't sure if Megan was impressed or skeptical. 

Apparently she was skeptical. When I asked her what she wanted to do on our third date she said, "I want to come over to your house and watch you cook dinner."

For our third date I made baked salmon with green beans and almonds and scallop potatoes. To say that Megan was impressed would be an understatement.

"If I hadn't seen you do this with my own eyes I would never have believed it," she said. "I have never met a guy that could cook, let alone prepare a meal like this. You are definitely a keeper."

After dinner I poured us each a glass of wine and we sat on the sofa. As we sipped our wine I looked into Megan's eyes and saw something unexpected. It seemed to me that her eyes were telling me that she wanted me. I already knew that I wanted her. I took the wine glass from Megan's hand and set it aside. Then I took Megan in my arms and kissed her. Having sex with Megan on our third date was something that I was not expecting. I had gotten as far as feeling her breasts on our second date but that was with her clothes on. Just the thought of what we were about to do was getting me so hard it was making me uncomfortable.

We kissed and fondled each other as I began to slowly remove her blouse. When I had her blouse opened and her bra unhooked I looked at her naked breasts for the first time. They weren't large, maybe the size of a large apple but they were beautifully shaped with big hard nipples. I put my hand on her breast and Megan took a deep breath and closed her eyes as I bent down to take her right nipple in my mouth. 

While I sucked and teased her nipple with my mouth and tongue Megan made little sounds of pleasure as she lay against the back of the sofa with her eyes still closed. After I paid homage to both of her breasts for several minutes, Megan pulled me up and kissed me. 

"Can we go to your room?" she whispered.

I took her hand and led her into my bedroom where I quickly stripped down to my underwear. While I was undressing Megan had finished removing her blouse and bra. She had also taken off her skirt and was now standing in front of me in just a pair of white cotton panties. The panties weren't very sexy but Megan sure was. 

Megan looked down at herself and laughed. "If I had known that I would be taking my clothes off in front of you tonight I would have worn some sexier panties." 

"They look plenty sexy to me," I said.

"I can see that," Megan said as she looked at the tent in the front of my jockey shorts.

I pulled Megan to me and held her for a moment, enjoying the feeling of her breasts pressing against my chest.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" I asked.

"No... Yes. I mean I am not sure if this is the right thing to do. I know I have very strong feelings for you but I barely know you. I am willing to take the risk here because I think you have strong feelings about me too," Megan replied.

"I do. I just don't want to rush you into anything that you will regret later."

"I don't think I will ever regret anything I do with you," Megan responded.

I guided Megan to the bed and she lay down and held her arms out to me in invitation for me to join her. I climbed onto the bed next to her and our kisses went to a whole new level of passion. It felt as though we were trying to become one person. While we kissed I slid my hand inside her panties and slipped a finger inside her. As I rubbed my finger on her clitoris Megan tried to stick her tongue down my throat. 


Warren Butterfield Pt. 01



When she broke off that kiss she whispered, "I think you better do it now before I explode."

I retrieved a condom from my bedside table and quickly slipped it on over my erect cock. Megan lifted her legs as I pulled her panties off then she spread them so that I could get between her thighs. I positioned the head of my cock at the opening between Megan's labia. Megan was tight and I proceeded slowly so that I wouldn't hurt her but when I was all of the way in, Megan bit my ear and whispered, "It feels wonderful." 

Then she wrapped her arms around me and held me so tight that I couldn't move for a couple of minutes. When she relaxed her grip I began pumping my cock into her slowly and she started lifting her hips to meet each thrust. We soon had a rhythm going that allowed us to pick up the pace. Suddenly Megan dropped her hands to grab a hold of the sheets and then pushed her hips up into me as hard as she could. 

She had her eyes closed tightly and licking her lips and quietly whispering, "Oh... Oh... Yes... Oh." 

When her orgasm passed, Megan put her arms around me again and pulled me down and mashed her mouth against mine. While our tongues wrestled with each other I picked up the pace and finally climaxed. 

As I lay on top of her with my shrinking member still inside her, Megan began kissing me all over my face. "That was wonderful!" she said, nearly out of breath.

I pulled out of Megan and slipped off the bed to dispose of the used condom in the bathroom. When I got back into bed Megan began to play with my limp cock and asked, "Can we do that again?"

"In a few minutes," I said. "I need a little time to recover."

For the next several minutes we talked about what we had just done and then Megan asked, "Have you had a lot of girlfriends? I mean have you had sex with a lot of girls?"

"I have only dated two girls that I had sex with before this," I said. "And it has been a long time since the last time. What about you?"

"There was only one guy. I dated him for most of my freshman year. We broke up before the end of the spring semester. I think we only stayed together because we had both been virgins and the sex was something new and exciting," Megan said. "Tonight was much better for me than any time with him."

I was quiet for a minute while I digested what she had just said. Was she just trying to make me feel good or did she mean it?

"Warren, when you were with those other girls, did you always use a condom?"

"Yes. I didn't want to take any chances," I said.

"I always made my old boyfriend use a condom," Megan said. 

Megan look at me and then down at my nearly fully recovered erection. 

"Warren, I'm on the pill," she said. "This time I'd like to do it without the condom. I want to feel you cum inside me."

So we made love again, without a condom and it was even better than the first time.  

***** By the end of the spring semester Megan and I were definitely in love. When we were together we couldn't keep our hands off each other and when we were apart we spent a lot of time talking on the phone. I started taking Megan with me when I visited Kate and the two of them hit it off. Megan became Kate's new best friend.

By exam time I was already thinking that Megan was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I wasn't sure if Megan felt the same way until a week after we finished exams and she invited me to come to Frankfort and spend the weekend at her parents' house.

I picked Megan up at four o'clock on Friday afternoon and we headed to Frankfort. The drive was less than thirty miles and I could feel the butterflies in my stomach getting more active the closer we got to her parents' house. I had never been this nervous about meeting the parents of a girl I was dating. Of course, before Megan I had never been this serious about a girl I was dating.

Megan had told me about her parents and there didn't seem to be any reason for me to be worried about meeting them but I was. Megan's mother was forty-two years old. She had been a schoolteacher but gave up teaching five years earlier when Megan's little brother Brandon was born. Her father was forty-three and he owned an appliance store in Frankfort. 

The house was on the northwest side of Frankfort overlooking the Kentucky River. The house wasn't a mansion but it was pretty big. It was a large two-story brick home with a circular driveway in front and a three-car garage around to the left side of the house. As I pulled to a stop in front of the house I saw the view of the river beyond the house. I remember thinking at the time that the view of the river was beautiful and how nice it would be to have a house with that kind of view.

As Megan and I started to get out of the car the front door opened and a small red and blue rocket with a brush cut flew down the steps and into Megan's arms.

Megan scooped up the fast moving object and turned to me with a big smile on her face.

"I guess this must be Brandon," I said.

The small boy with the blue shorts and red tee shirt looked at me.

"How do you know my name?" he asked indignantly.

"Oh, I know all about you," I said. "Your name is Brandon, you are five years old and you like to collect Hot Wheels cars."

Brandon's brown eyes got real big and he looked at Megan.

"How does he know all that?"

"He is very smart, Brandon," Megan said as she put him down.

Brandon stared at me for a moment as if he was trying to make his mind up about something and then he came over to me.

"What's your name?"

"Warren."

"You want to see my Hot Wheels collection?"

"Sure. Right after I meet your parents, okay?"

"Great." Then like a flash Brandon was headed back into the house yelling, "They're here, they're here."

As Megan and I got to the front door Brandon was back with his mother. Megan's mother was built a lot like Megan. They were both tall, about five feet seven inches. They both had trim figures although Megan's mother had a little more meat on her bones than Megan. Both women had the same dark brown hair although Megan's mother had some gray showing. Other than age the biggest difference between the two women was the color of their eyes. While Megan's eyes were blue her mother's were green.

If you can judge a woman's future looks by her mother, Megan would be an attractive woman for a long time.

"Warren, this is my mother, Trish," Megan said. "Mom this is my boyfriend Warren.

Trish gave me a hug and began to pull me into the house as she talked to me.

"We have heard so much about you from Megan," she said. "It is great to finally meet you. Megan tells me you're from Lexington and you are going to be a senior at UK this fall..."

The conversation or rather Trisha's monologue went on like that for almost twenty minutes until Megan's father came home from work. As soon as he saw Megan his face lit up. Megan ran to him and they hugged each other. Megan's father lifted her off her feet and swung her around.

"How's my little angel?" 

"I am great, dad."

Megan turned to me and signaled for me to come over. 

"Dad, this is my boyfriend Warren. This is Harold, my dad."

Harold's handshake was firm and his welcome was sincere. Harold Forester was a big man: six feet two inches tall and about 205 pounds. His hair was brown but thinning on top. The most remarkable thing about him, as far as I was concerned, were his eyes. They were the same size, shape and color as Megan's.

I think Harold was just about to ask me something when Brandon took my hand.

"Come and see my cars. You said you wanted to see my cars as soon as you met my parents."

I felt like I had no choice.

Brandon had more than 100 cars and he seemed to have a story to go with each one. Megan finally came to rescue me and to say that dinner was ready.

It was funny. I felt very welcome in the home and the conversation at the dinner table was mostly directed at Megan and me but I sensed something odd even though I couldn't put my finger on it at the time. 

After dinner, Trish put Megan to work in the kitchen and I followed Harold into his den. It had become obvious to me that Megan and her father had a very close relationship and his opinion of me was going to be important so I wanted to make sure I got on his good side.

"Mr. Forester..."

"Please call me Harold. We are not that formal in this house."

"Okay, Harold. I don't know if Megan told you but I am studying marketing," I said.

"She mentioned that."

"I was wondering if you would mind if I asked you some business related questions?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Megan told me that you own an appliance store. Now I don't mean to bring up a sour subject but I was hoping to get some first hand feedback on this. How much have the big new discount stores like Best Buy and Circuit City hurt your business?"

For the next hour Harold explained his business. He said that while it was hard to be price competitive with the big chains he was able to make up for that with his services. He said that he had a second business that helped offset his losses to the big chains. Harold said that he had a second hand appliance store. 

He said, "People buying new appliances were often replacing products that still had a lot of life in them. We fix these up and resell them. It might surprise you to know that we make almost as much from our used appliance sales as we do from the new products."

On Saturday, Harold took me on a tour of his two stores. I was surprised to see more people shopping in his second hand store than there were looking at new appliances.

By Saturday evening I had started to recognize what it was that had bothered me on Friday. While Trish and Harold were very attentive to Megan and extremely friendly toward me I didn't really see them talking to each other very much. I also noticed that Brandon was never very far from his mother and didn't seem to pay any attention to Harold. 

I was going to wait until Megan and I had a chance to be alone that night and ask her about my observation but something else came up first. I didn't get a chance to be alone with Megan that evening until I was getting ready for bed. I went into the upstairs bathroom to brush my teeth and suddenly Megan was in there with me. She locked the door behind her and then gave me a kiss that ended any idea I might have had for having a discussion about her parents.

"It was driving me crazy all day to be so close to you and not be able to touch you," Megan said.

"I felt the same way,' I said as I lifted her tee shirt over her head and began to kiss her breasts. 

Megan opened my pants and pushed them down my legs so I could step out of them. Megan told me to sit on the toilet seat while she removed her shorts and panties. Then Megan straddled my legs and lowered herself onto me while I guided my cock into her wet hot sex. Megan started moving slowly up and down, causing the toilet seat to make a squeak with each movement.

At the time I wasn't sure which was stronger, my fear of being caught by Megan's parents or my desire to make Megan scream out in orgasmic delight. I settled for a muffled moan from Megan as I climaxed inside her.

When it was over, Megan slipped her tee shirt and shorts back on and then gave me a quick kiss before she snuck out to the bathroom leaving me still sitting on the toilet.  

*****

Over the next year Megan and I often drove over to Frankfort for Sunday dinners but there were no more long weekends. At Christmas I proposed to Megan and in May we both graduated. Megan got her degree in nursing and I got my degree in marketing. We got married that July. 

For the next two years Megan worked at the UK hospital while I worked on getting my master's degree. The two years were difficult but we were happy. When it was over and I had my degree in hand I felt like it was time for us to really start living.

***** Chapter 3 - The Job June 1993 

It was only a week after I completed my master's program that I was offered a job at Clifton Digital Services in Cincinnati. I was going to be working in the proposal department. The proposal department was responsible for putting together responses to bid requests from potential clients. 

Megan and I managed to find a nice apartment only a few miles from my new office and she landed a job at Cincinnati Memorial Hospital.

The first day on my new job a member of the human resources department introduced me to my new boss. 

"Thad, this is Warren Butterfield, your new proposal writer."

"Butterman? Right. Glad you're here."

"It's Butterfield, sir." 

"What's that?"

"My name. It's Butterfield, not Butterman."

"Oh? Okay. I am Thad Acksole. Just call me Thad."

Thad Achsole had a chubby face that seemed to always be a little red, which made it look like he was perpetually embarrassed. He was six feet tall 220 pounds and always had a snack on his desk. His hair, what little there was of it, looked as if he had just washed it two weeks ago. 

"What should I call you? Butterman or Warren?"

"It's Butter... Just call me Warren."

"Good. All you have to know about this job is that you have to be fast and accurate. We often don't get much time to respond to these bids. There are six other writers out there so if you need help talk to them. If you work hard you can do quite well for yourself."

Thad was just sitting behind his desk staring at me as if he expected me to say something when my discomfort was relieved by the arrival of Thad's boss, John Harris.

"Ah, John, just in time," Thad said. "This is our new employee, Warren Butterman."

"That's Butterfield..."

"Welcome aboard, Butterman," were John Harris' first words to me.

"Thank you."

"Okay Warren, John and I have a meeting right now so why don't you go find an empty cubicle out there and I'll come out and introduce you to the rest of the team when we're finished here," Thad said.

I was about to say something but Thad and John had already turned their backs to me and were talking about an upcoming project.

I sat in an empty cubicle for half an hour before Thad came out to get me. Thad then called the other six-team members over and introduced me as - you guessed it - Warren Butterman.

"It's Butterfield," I said.

"Oh, right, Butterfield," Thad said.

Then he introduced the other team members to me. Afterward Thad told Leon Crain, the department senior, to help me get the set up and to explain the office procedures to me. Leon was a black man, about forty years old with only a few flecks of gray in his full head of hair. He had tired eyes but a friendly smile. 

"Okay, Warren, let's start by getting you a computer and some office supplies," Leon said and then led me down to the supply room.

*****

An hour later I was ready to start work. Leon explained the office procedure. He led me to a table in the front of the room and pointed to a metal tray on the left side of the table that was marked as an In-Basket. There was a similar metal tray on the right marked as an Out-Basket. 

"When the sales staff bring in Requests for Proposals or RFPs, they will put them in the In-Basket on this table. If you are not currently working on a proposal you will take a proposal out of the in-basket, always taking the one off the bottom, and start working that proposal. Your job is to put the proposal together. To do that you will need to get engineering and design teams to provide their solution for the customer's requirements along with an estimate of the length of the project. You will need procurement to get you material costs for the project and then get pricing to put the numbers together and come up with a total price. Once you have all that information you will put the final proposal together with an executive overview and enough flowery language to make the client feel that our bid has to be the best. When you're done, put the completed proposal in the out-basket. Thad will review it and if there are no glaring problems, he will pass it back to sales. Our quarterly bonuses are determined by how many of our proposals result in signed contracts."

Leon said all that without any inflection in his voice then he slapped me on the back and said, "Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds."

Leon was right. All I had to do was put together the input I received from the other departments and do a little word smithing. By the end of the first week I had completed two proposals.

During this time Megan and I were happy with our life with the exception that she had to work a revolving shift at the hospital. She would work four days and be off two and then work three nights and be off for three days. It was an inconvenience but we learned to live with it.

*****

One morning I was sitting at my desk. I had just sent requests for information out to engineering and design and could do nothing more on that proposal when it occurred to me that I could start another proposal while I waited. Duh! I actually felt foolish that this hadn't occurred to me sooner. It had taken me almost three months to figure that out. That week I managed to submit four completed proposals and had three more on my desk that were more than half done. On Friday evening as I was getting ready to leave the office I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had just shut down my computer when Leon stuck his head into my cube.

"We are stopping across the street at 'The Post' for a drink. Why don't you join us?" Leon asked.

"Great, I'll be right with you."

That worked out great because it was one of Megan's nights to work so my stopping for a drink would be no problem.

Leon and I and the other five writers sat around a large round table and ordered two pitchers of Hudepohl. Frank Carson was the first to bring up work at the table. Frank was someone I had pegged early on as the department whiner. He was the one guy in the department that I couldn't remember ever seeing smile.

"Hey, Jack, how many proposals you submit this week?"

"Two, why?"

" 'Cause our rookie here turned in four," Frank said.

I could tell by the tone of his voice that he didn't see my performance as a positive thing.

"You might want to slow down some so you don't make too many mistakes," Frank directed to me.

"Haven't had any of my proposals turned back yet and since we get bonuses based on customer accepts I figure the more proposals we put out the more will be accepted," I said. I was a little pissed that he insinuated that I might sacrifice accuracy for speed.

"The volume of RFPs in the in-basket is what keeps us all employed, not the volume in the out-basket," Frank said, showing some anger of his own. "If we ever get to the point where the in-basket is empty our jobs will be in jeopardy."

"Hey, give the kid a break," Leon said. 'He's still new here and right now there is plenty of work. If we all do four a week we still won't get caught up."

One of the other guys then changed the subject to baseball and the Reds' season.

Later as we were leaving, Leon took me aside.

"Don't pay any attention to Frank. He's the weakest link in the department chain and he knows that if layoffs come he will be the first to go. Personally I think he'll be long gone before we have to worry about layoffs."

The following week, I thought about what Frank had said as I put four more proposals in the out-box.

*****

The next two years were very good for Megan and me. Megan was doing very well in her job and she loved the people that worked with her. My quarterly bonuses kept getting bigger thanks in part to Leon's prediction coming true. Frank was fired for poor performance and soon the whole team was turning out more completed proposals each week than they ever had before. 

Megan and I had been discussing buying a house for about a year and finally decided to take the plunge. We looked for six months before I found something I really liked. When I first saw the house I didn't think much of it until I looked out the windows in the back of the house. Although the house was nothing like Megan's parents' house, that is what I thought of when I looked out the window. The view from the back of the house was of the Ohio River. It was about two miles away and far below the house but the view was beautiful.




Warren Butterfield Pt. 01



It was a four-bedroom house with 2700 square feet of living space. The bedrooms were all on the second floor with a dining room, living room and kitchen on the first floor. The house needed some work, as it was already twenty years old but I could see the possibilities; however it was the view of the river that sold me.

We moved into the house in August and for the next year we spent most of our evenings, when Megan wasn't working, and just about every weekend fixing, cleaning and painting the house but we always made time on the weekends to drive down to Lexington to visit Kate. 

Megan and I had even discussed the possibility of having Kate come live with us but decided that having Kate with us might be a problem when we decided to have kids. It wasn't that we had ruled it out but we didn't want to bring her to live with us and then have to put her back in the institution if things didn't work out. 

***** Chapter 4 - Old Friends

We had been in the house about three years when I got a surprise visit. It was a Saturday afternoon. Megan was out shopping and I was refinishing an old dresser on the deck when I heard the doorbell.

As I walked through the house going to the front door I could see two Cincinnati Police cars parked in front of the house. I knew this couldn't be good and I could feel my stomach knotting up. I took a deep breath before I opened the door. 

There were two police officers standing on my porch. One of them was facing me and the other was standing with his back to me. The officer facing me said, "Are you Mr. Warren Butterfield? Formerly of Lexington, Kentucky?"

"Yes. What is this about?"

"You are under arrest for associating with a known criminal," the officer said.

"What? Who? I don't understand."

"Do you know Buck McCarty?"

"Yes, but I haven't seen him in several years," I said as I started to worry. What the hell had Buck gotten himself, and seemingly me also, into?

"Don't lie to me Mr. Butterfield. I happen to know for a fact that you have seen Buck McCarty today."

"I have not," I said as my anger began to build. I hadn't seen Buck since my wedding how could this officer be saying that I saw him that day?

"You haven't?"

"NO!"

Then the second officer turned to face me. "Then who the hell are you looking at right now, Butter?" 

"Buck?" 

"Who else?"

"Jesus Christ, Buck, you scared the shit out of me."

"It's nice to see you too," Buck said. Buck then turned to the other officer and said, "Thanks, Brownie, I'll see you back at the station."

I invited Buck into the house and offered him a cup of coffee.

"I can only stay a minute. I just wanted to stop by and let you know I live here now."

"When did you become a Cincinnati cop? Last I knew you were down in Raleigh." 

Buck had been an MP at Fort Bragg while he was in the army. When he got out of the service he became a cop in Raleigh. 

"Raleigh was great but I wanted to come up closer to home. The only opening I could find was in Cincinnati. I've been up here for a week trying to get settled in."

"Why didn't you let us know you were moving up here? We would have helped you. Anyway, I am glad you are here. I feel much safer now," I said.

"You asshole. You know I have always had your back."

"That's true."

"No kids yet?" Buck asked.

"No. You?"

"Not married yet. I am living with the woman of my dreams but I haven't asked her to marry me yet."

"Bring her over here and I'll ask her for you."

"I'll bet you would too." Buck said. "I would like you and Megan to meet Paula though."

"Megan's off this weekend.  Why don't you bring her over for a cook out tonight so I can tell her why she should get as far away from you as possible."

"I'll bring her over as long as you promise not to scare her off."

"I promise," I said. "I wonder if we could get Mace to come up with Georgia."

"Is Mace married?" Buck asked.

"No. Georgia's his girlfriend. They have been living together for about a year now. They're just over the river in Covington."

"I'd really like to see Mace. You think he would come?"

I picked up the phone and punched in Mace's number.

"Hey, Butter. What's up?"

"I am sitting in my living room looking at a big ugly Cincinnati police officer that says he wants to talk to you?" I said.

"A Cincinnati cop wants to talk to me? Why?"

"Better ask him," I said, and pushed the button for speakerphone.  "Mr. Mason?" Buck said.

"Yes."

"This is Officer McCarty."

"McCarty?"

"Yes. I have some questions I would like to ask you. Could you come to Mr. Butterfield's house this evening so we can talk?"

"What's this about?" Mace asked.

"I just want to know what you have been up to the last few years."

It was then that Mace finally caught on. "Buck? Damn, man, you had me going there. What's this Officer McCarty BS?"

"I am a sergeant on the Cincinnati police force now."

"You're back in the area. That's terrific. Is tonight just for the guys or should I bring Georgia with me?"

"Bring Georgia," I said. "Or send her by herself. We'd rather see her than you anyway."

"I can believe that," Mace said.

*****

The cook out was great. Megan and Georgia were already friends and Buck's girlfriend, Paula, fit right in. Five minutes after they arrived, Buck, Mace and I went out onto the deck with cold beers and the three women sat in the kitchen, I'm sure, to complain about us. 

Buck told us stories about his life in the army and his experiences on the Raleigh Police force. Then Mace announced that he and Georgia were planning to get married in the fall and he wanted Buck and me to share the duties of Best Man. 

Later, after Buck and Mace had gone home and while Megan was putting some dishes away in the kitchen I sat by myself out on my deck looking down at a slow moving barge on the river. I remember thinking about how lucky I was. Megan and I had good jobs, we had a house I loved and I had my two best friends close to me again. My life had reached a plateau that I didn't think could get any better and unfortunately I was right.

***** Chapter 5 - The Long Slippery Slope

It was in the fall of 1998 that things began to change for me. I was tired of being a proposal writer and wanted to try sales. It seemed that sales would be more challenging and I could make more money in sales than proposal writing. That October I went to see Thad to talk about the possibility for moving into sales.

"Come on in, Butterman," Thad said.

"It's Butterfield, sir."

"Oh, right. What did you want to see me about?" Thad asked.

"I heard that the sales department is looking for some people and I would like to put in for one of the open positions," I said.

Thad sat back in his chair and look up at the ceiling for a moment before speaking.

"Butterman, why don't you let me have a chat with the sales manager, Brad Martin. I wouldn't want you to put in an official request for the job unless you have a real chance of getting the position."

"When will you talk to him?" I asked. 

"I'll see him tomorrow and I will tell him about you and see what he has to say. I know that Brad likes to hire his sales reps right out of college so I wouldn't get my hopes up." 

I was disappointed. "Well, let me know what he says."

"I will."

As I left his office to return to my desk, Thad said, "Thanks for coming to me with this, Butterman."

"It's Butterfield, Mr. Asshole," I mumbled under my breath.

"What did you say?" Thad asked.

"I said, you're welcome, Mr. Achsole."

The next day Thad called me into his office and told me that Brad Martin told him that he didn't think I was right for the sales position but he would keep me in mind.

After that I had the sinking feeling that I would never get out of the proposal department. In spite of that feeling I continued to work hard. I began to hate my job and it started to affect my home life. I finally had to tell Megan what was bothering me.


"Warren, if you are so unhappy with your job, just quit," she said.

If only it were so easy. I wasn't the kind of person to quit something just because I wasn't happy. There were other factors to consider too. I was well paid for what I did and I wasn't sure that I would be able to find another job that paid that well. 

For the next six months nothing changed. Thad told me I was doing a good job but he couldn't get Brad Martin interested in making me one of his salesmen. 

"You're the best of my proposal writers and I have made sure that is reflected in your paycheck. It's because of you that everyone in the department has increased the number of proposals they're completing. Just try and be happy with what you have."

By April of 1999 I had resigned myself to the fact that I was stuck as a proposal writer and that my career would go no farther. 

Chapter 6 - Where Did Harold Go?

I still remember the moment that my life went into the toilet although at the time I had no idea what was coming. It was April 15, 1999. Tax day. I was in my study at home working on our joint tax return when the phone rang. It was Trish, Megan's mother and she asked to speak with Megan.

An hour later when I had finished the tax forms, Megan was still on the phone with her mother. I took the tax returns to the post office to mail them and when I returned Megan was just putting the phone down. Megan looked at me and I could see the tears beginning to fill her eyes. 

I went to her and asked what was wrong. Megan put her arms around me and began to cry.

"What's wrong?" I asked again.

"I'll tell you later, just hold me now."

I held Megan tightly and rocked gently for about ten minutes before she pulled away from me.

"Are you ready to tell me what's wrong?" I asked.

"Harold walked out on my mom and Brandon?"

"He what?"

"He walked out on them."

"When?"

"Last month," Megan said.

"And you're just finding out?"

"My mother said she just couldn't bring herself to tell me until now."

"Wow. This is really hard to believe," I said.

"Tell me about it. I would never in a million years believe that my father would do that."

"I am sorry, babe."

"Mom said that his business went under and he was broke. He left Mom and Brandon with nothing. She doesn't have enough money to keep up the house payments and when she checked to see how much she could get selling the house she found out that he had borrowed against the equity to keep his business going and now there is no equity in the house. When she sells the house she'll only get enough to pay off the mortgages."

"That son-of-a-bitch. How the hell can a man desert his family that way?" I asked.

Megan began to cry again. "I am sorry. Megan, I know how close you and your dad were."

"Why would he do this to us?"

"I don't know, babe," I said. "Maybe losing his business was just too much for him to handle. You should talk to him and ask him why he did it?"

"After what he did, I'll never speak to him again," Megan said. 

"What's your Mom going to do now?"

"I told her that she and Brandon could come stay with us until she figures out what she wants to do," Megan said. "I hope that was all right."

"Of course. We'll help as much as we can.

Three days later Trish and Brandon moved in. The only thing Trish had managed to keep were the furnishings from her house in Frankfort and she had to put them into storage.

*****

The following week I walked into the house to hear the following conversation between Megan and her mother.

"Do you really like this furniture?" asked Trish.

"Yes, I do. Warren and I picked it out together. Why?"

"I just think that it's kind of tacky."

"I don't think it's tacky, mom," Megan said. "It's a contemporary style. You always had furniture that was more traditional."

"You liked my furniture, didn't you?"

"Yes, mom. It was nice furniture," Megan said.

When I walked into the kitchen the furniture conversation ended.

"So, what big contracts did you sell today?" Trish asked me.

"I just write proposals, I don't do the selling," I said. I wondered why she asked me that.

"Isn't there more money in sales than in writing proposals?" she asked.

I was beginning to get annoyed when Megan stepped in. "Mom! Warren is doing the best he can. I told you that they will make him a salesman when there's an opening."

Not exactly the level of support I would hope for from my wife but I could tell by the expression on her face that she already regretted what she had said. Megan came over to me and kissed me on the cheek and whispered, "I'm sorry."

I grabbed a beer from the fridge and left the room trying to keep my anger under control. I never remembered Trish acting that way before. She had always been friendly and supportive. The worst part was that she was now living in my house and treating me like I wasn't good enough for her daughter, or maybe I was being too sensitive. It could simply be that being abandoned by her husband the way she was may have warped her opinion of men in general.

I decided that the best course of action would be to try to ignore the insult and just avoid Trish all together until she was able to adjust to her new situation. Suddenly finding yourself out of your home and having to live with someone else had to be hard for her so I was willing to make some allowances for her.

***** Over the next couple of weeks the subject of my job performance seemed to be a favorite topic of Trish's. Sometimes she managed to hide the insult in a compliment. "It's great that they pay you as much as they do to write proposals. You must be doing something right."

I learned to not rise to the bait. I knew that if I responded Megan would be pissed at me so I would just leave the room when Trish started on me.

The first time I lost control with Trish was the night I came home from work and noticed that the furniture in the living room had been changed.

I looked at Megan and asked, "Where's our living room furniture?"

Before Megan could respond Trish said, "Oh, I had my furniture brought out of storage and had yours put in."

"You did what?" I yelled at her.

Megan grabbed my arm and said, "Don't yell at her."

"Did you tell her she could do that? Trade our living room furniture for hers?"

"Actually it was all of your furniture," Trish said, "not just the living room furniture."

"Why would you do that without discussing it with us first?" I shouted.

"It was obvious that you don't have very good taste in furniture. The stuff you had in here was tacky and cheap looking. My furniture looks much better in here, don't you think, Megan?" Trish said.

I looked at Megan and saw the fear in her eyes so I didn't even wait to hear her answer. I went into the kitchen and got a beer and walked outside onto my deck. I sat and watched the barge traffic on the Ohio River while my heart beat slowed back to its normal rate.

For the next few weeks Trish and I seemed to have a truce. She didn't belittle my job and I didn't punch her in the face.

Somehow, over the next several months we managed to find a way to coexist in the house. There were still a lot of things that annoyed me, like the fact that I was paying for storing my furniture as well as all of the other costs of having Trish and Brandon living with us.

Trish had no money and I knew that but she never made any attempt to find a job so she could help out with the expenses. I suggested to Megan that Trish should get a teaching job. She was fully qualified. 

"I talked to her about that and mom said that she would look into a teaching position but she is just too depressed right now to think about teaching," Megan told me.

I haven't mentioned Brandon for a while. That cute little five year old I had met on my first visit to Megan's parents house was now fourteen and was a spoiled brat. Trish made sure that whatever we were having for dinner it was something that Brandon liked and he didn't like variety. Brandon had to have all of the latest styles in clothes and guess who had to pay for them? Most days I found myself torn between my desire to kick Brandon in the ass or slap his mother across the face.

My sex life with Megan was also suffering as most nights I was either too angry about something Brandon or Trish had done to be interested in making love or Megan was mad at me for something I had said to her mother. Another problem was that Trish thought nothing of just walking into our bedroom any time she felt like it. I was sure that she was intentionally trying to make it impossible for Megan and me to have any time for intimacy. The bitch.

Trish did go out once or twice a week to some group she had joined. She never told us anything about the group, what they did or where they met and I never cared enough to ask. Sometimes she even took Brandon with her. Trish's nights out were the only chance that Megan and I had to be alone in the house together. Unfortunately, Trish seemed to schedule most of her nights out on the nights that Megan worked the second shift. This all worked out so that Megan and I were only able to have sex once or twice a month.

To be continued.



Warren Butterfield Pt. 02



Chapter 7 - The House

Having Trish and Brandon living in our house complicated our lives considerably but Megan never complained and I just kept my mouth shut, so it was a real surprise when it was Trish that started complaining that our house wasn't big enough for the four of us. I didn't know what Trish expected me to do about that but I soon found out.

One afternoon I stopped by the house for lunch because it was one of Megan's days off. I was pleased to find that Trish wasn't home.

"Where's that sweet mother of yours?" I said. 

"Don't start that," Megan said. "Trish is out with a real estate agent looking at houses."

"Is she planning to buy a house?" I asked. "Where the hell would she get the money?"

"I don't know what she is doing," Megan said. "She didn't tell me her plans."

"She doesn't have any money. How can she buy a house? I hope she doesn't expect me to buy it for her," I said.

"Maybe she's ready to go back to work. Wouldn't it be worth helping her with a down payment so that she could move into a house of her own."

"That would be nice," I said, "but I don't think we can afford to give her enough money for a down payment."

That wasn't exactly true. Ever since my first day on the job at Clifton Digital Services, I had been buying company stock every chance I got.  I usually spent half of my quarterly bonus to purchase more CDS stock. The price of the stock when I first started buying was $12 a share and remained in the mid-teens to the low twenties until two years ago when it took off and was now selling for just over $85 a share. Over the pervious six years I had accumulated 1,835 shares of CDS worth almost $156,000. I really didn't want to cash out my stock to buy a house for Trish.

This conversation went on all through lunch with Megan trying to convince me that it would be a good idea to help Trish buy a house. By the time I headed back to the office I was starting to see things from Megan's point of view. It might be worth loaning Trish twenty or thirty thousand to have our house back and be rid of Trish and Brandon.

When I got home from work that evening Trish and Megan were waiting for me in the kitchen. They both appeared to be excited about something.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Trish found a house," Megan said.

"I want us all to go over and see it right after dinner," Trish said.

I was still worried about what this would cost me but I was also excited about the idea that we might be getting Trish out of the house.

After dinner Trish went to her room to change clothes and while Megan and I were alone in the kitchen I asked her, "What do you know about this house?"

"Nothing. Mom wouldn't tell me anything. She said she wants it to be a big surprise," Megan replied.

I started to get an uneasy feeling although I had no idea why. 

The four of us got into Megan's car, Megan and I in the front with Brandon and Trish in the back. Trish was leaning forward with her head between us as she gave me directions to her mystery house. Knowing that Trish wasn't wearing her seat belt made me want to crash the car into a tree and launch her through the windshield, but I resisted that urge.

As I followed Trish's directions I began to notice that the houses we were passing were getting bigger and more expensive. Trish couldn't possibly be thinking of buying a house in such and expensive neighborhood, or could she? After all, it was Trish who found this house.

After making a right hand turn at Trish's direction I could see the Tudor style clubhouse of the Kenwood Country Club up the street about a quarter mile. Suddenly Trish yelled, "Here, stop right here."

At first I thought she had to be joking but then I saw the "For Sale' sign in the yard. The house was a white colonial with black shutters and looked to be about 4,000 square feet. 

"You can't be serious. You can't afford a house like this," I said.

"Mother, is this really the house you wanted us to look at?" Megan asked.

"Wow, this is great," Brandon said.

"Come on, you have to see the inside," Trish said as she climbed out of the car and headed up the sidewalk.

"Has your mother lost her mind?" I asked Megan. "She can't possibly believe that she can afford to live here." 

That's when the bad feeling I had earlier came back. I suddenly knew what Trish was up to. She expected me to sell my house and buy this one so we could all live there. I just hoped that Megan would be strong enough to stand with me against her mother in this matter.

I followed the others into the house. I have to admit that the house was beautiful but it was way beyond anything I would ever have considered. I could see the excitement in Trish's eyes as she led Megan around the house. I think it was when Trish told Megan that the house had a master bedroom suite on the first floor and four bedrooms and three full bathrooms on the second floor that Megan finally caught on to what Trish had in mind.

"You want us to buy this house?" Megan asked her mother.

"Yes. It would be wonderful. It's in a much better neighborhood than our current house," Trish said.

"Our current house?" I thought to myself.  "Since when does this bag of wind get to call my house 'our house'?"

"I don't think we can afford a house like this," Megan said.

Trish didn't say anything for a moment. She just led Megan and Brandon to the windows at the back of the family room and then opened the drapes. Outside the window was a twenty-foot by forty-foot swimming pool complete with diving board.

"Isn't that beautiful? Can't you see yourself lying out by the pool with a cold drink?"

Megan didn't seem to be able to respond but Brandon had no problem voicing his opinion.

"This is great, mom. Let's get rid of that old dump and move in here," Brandon yelled much louder than necessary for all of us to hear him.

I wanted very much to give Brandon a tour of the bottom of the pool at that moment. I would even have taken his mother with us.

I looked over at Megan and said, "We can't possibly afford this."

"Sure we can," Trish butted in. "Between the two of you, you have over sixty thousand in savings and Warren has over 150 thousand in CDS stock. Our real estate agent said that we could get at least 370 thousand for our house and 230 thousand of that is equity. That would give us 440 thousand for a down payment. This house is only 760 thousand.

"That would mean you would have to get a mortgage loan for 320 thousand at the current rate of 5.7 percent, which would make the payments on the house about $1,860 a month. With your combined incomes we can afford to do that."

I could not believe my ears. We can? Where does she get this we shit? She hadn't contributed one damn dime to help with our expenses. She talks about our house as if she helps make the payments and our real estate agent? I didn't hire an agent so her agent isn't ours. And how in hell did she know so much about our finances. She had to have gone through all of my files and bank statements. I was pissed but I didn't say anything because I could see that Megan was pissed too, but she was pissed at me.

"Why didn't I know about that $150,000 in CDS stock?" Megan asked.

"I was saving that so we could start a family," I said.

"I think you already have a family that you need to be taking care of right here," Trish said.

"Mom! This is between Warren and me," Megan said as she stood up to her mother for the first time I could remember.

"I am sorry, sweetie. I just thought that the four of us are a family and we should discuss this as a family," Trish said.

Knowing Megan was angry that I had kept my company stock holdings a secret from her, I decided to remain silent for a while and hopefully Megan would tell Trish that buying the house was out of the question.

"Just think about it Megan. Wouldn't you love to live in this neighborhood?" Trish asked. "Just think of the great parties you could have here. The country club is just down the street. We could join the club and meet all the right people in Cincinnati."

"There is no way we are joining the country club," I said when I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.

"We don't have to join right away," Trish said. "We can wait till next year and use one of your bonus checks for the initiation fee."

I looked to Megan for help but she was looking out the window at the pool with a smile on her lips and a far away look in her eyes. I knew then that Trish had won again.

We actually did better on the sale of our old house and got the seller to come down ten thousand on the new house. 

Chapter 8 - Special Assignments

At work I had noticed a strange trend in the way work assignments were being handled. Most of the RFPs that were placed in the In Basket were for contracts ranging in value from $100 thousand to nearly one million dollars. During the last six months of 1999. Thad Asshole, as I like to call Thad, began giving me special assignments. Three or four times a month he would call me into his office and hand me an RFP he wanted me to work on. The interesting thing about the RFPs he gave me was that the contract values for these RFPs were much higher than the usually RFPs in the In Basket. Over that six-month period, Thad gave me seven RFPs with contract values of over ten million dollars each. There were six others that were in the five million dollar range. 

I was curious as to why Thad was giving me all of the important RFPs to work. When I approached him about this Thad said, "I give you these high value RFPs because I know you will get them done faster than anyone else in the department. I also give them to you to help you get some recognition for the work you do. It might help you get that sales position you want."

Thad's answer made sense but he was such a sleaze ball that I wasn't sure if I should believe him. 

One thing I didn't tell Thad during our meeting was that I wasn't sure if I was still interested in trying to get a sales position. I had come to the conclusion that it was never going to happen and although I hated my job I could not complain about the money I was making. Thad managed to get me a nice raise each year and he gave me some incentive awards during the year. On top of that the bonuses were very nice. I had learned to accept that what I was doing was not a career but just a job, a well paying job but still just a job. I went to work everyday, did the best I could and went home at night, just like any other assembly line worker.

Chapter 9 - The Country Club

It was early December 1999 when Trish made her next winning move against me. We had just sat down to dinner when Trish said, "I was over at the country club today. I talked to the head of the membership committee. I told him we might be interested in joining. He told me they would be glad to have us as members but that we would have to act fast as they only had two memberships available. If we didn't get one of those before someone else did we would have to wait until another member decided to sell their membership before we would be able to join."

Once again Trish acted precipitously. Talking action without discussing things with me first was so common for Trish that I was no longer surprised by her actions. I was just about to say that there was no way we were joining the country club when Megan said, "Honey, I think we should do it. If we miss out on those memberships that are available, who knows how long it will be before we get another chance to join.

So two days later I found myself sitting with Bob Haversham, head of the membership committee.

"Are there any memberships available?" I asked.

"There's just one left," he replied.

I really didn't want to buy the membership but I knew there would be hell to pay if I went home without the membership card.

"The initiation fee is $10,000. The monthly membership dues for a family membership are $225 a month. You also have to buy $150 in restaurant chits each month," Haversham said.

"What happens to your initiation fee if you decide to give up your membership later on?" I asked as I signed the membership agreement.

"If you decide to quit, you can sell your membership," Haversham said.

"How do you do that?"

"We would help you do that. How much you could get for your membership would depend on how much someone is willing to pay for it. Depending on demand you might get all of your money back or even make a small profit," Haversham replied.

"That's good to know."

"Why? Are you already planning to quit?" Haversham asked with a laugh.

"Only if someone offers me more than I paid," I said.

Chapter 10 - The Beginning of the End

The year 2000 started off as a good year. Megan had taken a new job at an out patient surgery center and was permanently on the day shift working four ten hour days Monday through Thursday making every weekend a three day weekend for her. With the bigger house came more privacy for Megan and me, which equated to us having more opportunities to be intimate. Now that Megan had weekends off she was able to go to Lexington with me to visit Kate every weekend. Trish had stopped making negative comments about my job and me, although she didn't have anything positive to say about either topic. It also helped that Trish was still going out at least two nights a week but she had still not looked into getting a job. Life wasn't what I wanted it to be but it was more tolerable than it had been.

The first blow up of 2000 was on Brandon. Brandon, at fifteen years old, was now a full-grown pain in my ass. Trish had spoiled him rotten and in her eyes he could do no wrong. It was obvious to me even if it wasn't to Megan that Trish loved Brandon more than Megan. 

Returning home from work one evening I was greeted by the sound of someone playing an electric guitar in Brandon's room. It was loud and being played very badly.

"Who is making that noise?" I asked.

"Brandon is playing guitar," Trish said proudly.

"You call that playing a guitar. It sounds more like he is strangling a cat," I said. "When did he get a guitar?"

"It came today," Trish said.

I didn't say anything but I was once again pissed. Now I was going to have to listen to Brandon playing guitar in my house. Where did he get the money to buy a guitar in the first place?

That night in bed I asked Megan about the guitar.

"I don't know. Maybe he bought it from a friend at school," she said.

"I hope he didn't pay much because he isn't very good," I said.

"Give him a chance to learn."

"I hope it doesn't take too long. I don't know how long my nerves can stand that noise he's making."

The blow up came three days later when I got my Visa bill and found a $550 charge paid to an online musical instrument store. I called the 800 number listed on my Visa statement and spoke to a sales operator at Guitarworld.com. I gave him the date of the charge, the amount and the charge card number and he told me that Warren Butterfield placed the order for a guitar and an amplifier.

When I got off the phone I was livid. Brandon had taken my credit card and used it to buy his guitar. I was ready to call the police on him. When I told Trish what Brandon had done she said, "My Brandon isn't a thief."

"Well, what do you call it when a person uses someone else's credit card to buy something without the permission of the owner of the credit card?" I asked.

"Brandon had permission to buy the guitar," Trish said.

Megan heard the loud discussion and came into the kitchen where Trish and I were talking.

"Did you tell Brandon he could use my credit card to buy that guitar?" I asked Megan. 

"No. What are you talking about?"

"Brandon took my credit card from my wallet and bought that guitar and amp online. He charged $550 on my credit card. Trish said he had permission to use my card to buy the guitar. Did you give him permission?"

"No."

"I did," Trish said.

"You told Brandon that he could take my credit card and buy a guitar? Don't you think you should have discussed it with me first?" I asked. Stupid question, I know.

"What's the big deal? Brandon really wanted that guitar and it was only $550."

I looked at Megan and could see that she was torn. She didn't know whose side to be on.

"Look, Brandon is a good boy and he deserves to have a guitar if he wants one. I didn't have the money to buy it for him so he used your credit card," Trish said.

I looked back at Megan and she made a small gesture indicating that I should just let it go. To keep peace in the house I let it drop but decided that from that moment on my credit cards would be locked in my safe when not in my pocket. I didn't believe Trish. I was sure that Brandon had just decided on his own to steal from me and I wasn't going to let it happen again.

The next blow up was on Trish. Megan had started taking tennis lessons at the club and had dragged me down there one night to play tennis with her. While we were away from the house Buck and Mace stopped by to see if I wanted to go out for a beer with them. I found out a few days later that Trish had told them that they should leave me alone. She told them that I was moving up in the world and I was making contacts at the country club that could help me in the future and that Buck and Mace were holding me back. 

She actually told them, "Warren is too polite to tell you to go away, but it is what he really wants." 

When Buck told me what she had said I went ballistic. When I got home that night Trish and I had a big fight about what she had told Buck and Mace. I told her if she ever spoke to my friends that way again I would kick her ass out of the house.

"Megan! Are you going to let him talk to me that way?" Trish said as she put a hurt expression on her face.

"You shouldn't have said that to Buck and Mace. They're our friends," Megan said.

I was glad to see she was talking my side but then she turned on me. "Warren, don't ever speak to my mother in that tone again." When Megan called me Warren I knew she was serious.

The next evening when I got home from work I found Megan in the kitchen getting dinner started.

"Where's Trish?" 

"She's out by the pool," Megan replied.

"Good. We need to talk about her. Don't you think it's about time that she and Brandon get a place of their own?"

"Butter, you know she doesn't have any money. My father left her with nothing. I can't push my mother and brother out into the street."

"God damn Harold. He dodges his responsibilities and I get stuck with them. If I ever get my hands on him I'll kick his spine up through his hat."

"Calm down, honey. Things aren't really that bad are they?" Megan said.

"Not that bad? I am living in a house that I didn't want; I belong to a country club that I never wanted to belong to. I have no peace or privacy in my own home and it's all because we have the wicked witch of the west and her son, the Artful Dodger, living with us."

"Warren, I will not have you talk about my mother that way. She is just having a hard time right now." 

"Okay, I'll give this a little more time but there has to be an end to this. I am only doing this for you. I have put up with your mother and Brandon for long enough. I'll give Trish till the end of this year to get a job and find a place of her own. You mother should be able to get a teaching job by then and Brandon can get a job so I don't have to give him the spending money that he hasn't already stolen from me."

Megan looked at me but didn't respond.

"The end of this year," I said and turned and walked out of the kitchen. 

When I walked into the family room I found Trish standing at the door that leads out to the pool deck. The expression on her face was the same as it always was when she looked at me; she looked like she was sucking on a lemon. As I left the room I wonder how much, if any, of the conversation I just had with Megan had Trish heard? I wasn't sure if I even cared.




Warren Butterfield Pt. 02



Chapter 11 - The Grind

I was very busy at work handling the normal day-to-day proposals as well as the bigger RFPs that Thad had assigned me. At work I felt numb. It was as if I was a robot. I followed my programming and did the jobs as I was instructed to do them. I didn't think about things that were going on outside of work; in fact, I seemed to do very little thinking when I was at work. That can't be a good thing, can it? 

Thad Asshole called me in for my appraisal. He told me that I consistently exceeded requirements and he was very happy with my job performance.

"I am pleased that you are doing so well. Brad Martin has taken a new post so there will be a new sales manager soon. When the new manager is named I will talk to him about you," Thad said.

I smiled and said, "Thanks, Thad. That would be great. I can't wait to get home and tell Megan that I got such a good appraisal."

Of course, that was the robot talking. Saying the words that were expected of him. There was one upside to this: Thad managed to get me a pretty nice pay raise to go along with my appraisal. I did like the money but the rest was bullshit.

Chapter 12 - Trish Stirs the Pot

When I told Megan about my appraisal and the associated pay raise she got a lot more excited than expected. Before I could stop her she started bragging to Trish about how well I was doing at work and what a nice raise I got.  I guess Megan felt that she needed to say something positive about me to counter all the negative comments her mother had been making about me.

"Good, now maybe he can buy you a decent car to drive," was Trish's response.

"What's wrong with the car she's driving?" I asked. I immediately wished I had kept my mouth shut.

"You make her drive a ten year old Toyota..."

"It's only seven years old," I interrupted.

"It's still an old car," Trish said. "Megan should be driving a new car. She should have a Lexus, like mine only new."

"A Lexus?" I said. "Her Toyota runs good. Why does she need a new car?"

Megan was very quiet during this exchange with Trish.

"Megan needs to improve her image," Trish said. "She lives in an upscale neighborhood and belongs to an exclusive country club. The car she drives should reflect her social status. Driving a ten year old Toyota is bad for her image."

"It's only seven years old," I said.

"Whatever. It's just doesn't fit the image of someone of our social status," Trish said.

I looked at Megan for some help but she wouldn't even look at me.

"Just what social status are you talking about?" I said. "Megan and I aren't millionaires. We are just ordinary working people."

"You may consider yourself ordinary, and you're probably right, but my daughter is better than that. I think you owe it to her to help her fit in and to be accepted by neighbors and the members of the country club."

"Is that what you want, Megan? To fit in with the stuffed shirts at the club?" I said.

"I would like to have a new car. Mine is getting old and we can afford to replace it now," was Megan's response.

I was pissed but I knew that I had lost so I left the room. Two days later I signed the lease agreement for a 2000 Lexus. As I looked over the terms of the lease agreement I wonder how in the hell I had lost complete control of my life.

Once a month the country club had a dinner dance. These dances were one of the few events at the club that I really enjoyed. I always enjoyed dancing with Megan. The way she seemed to melt into my arms and lean her head against my chest as we danced made me feel that all was right with the world. It also helped that Trish wasn't there to spoil my mood.

On the Saturday afternoon of the April dinner dance Megan asked me to play tennis with her. Megan had been taking lessons for a few months and her game was much better than mine. I was doing my best to provide her with some competition but I was nearing exhaustion when I went after a shot that landed just inside the right sideline. As I stretched to reach the ball with my racket I stumbled and rolled over my right ankle.

My ankle started to swell even before I made it off the court. Megan got me a bag of ice and we used an ace bandage to secure it to my ankle. Megan then helped me to the car and we drove home. It was obvious to me that Megan felt bad about what happened. She kept telling me how sorry she was that I got hurt but I knew it was my own fault. I was the one who fell. Megan didn't trip me.

When we got home I lay down on the sofa in the family room with the ice bag still on my ankle. A few minutes later Trish came into the room and looked at me and then without speaking to me she went into the kitchen where Megan was fixing me a drink.

"So what happened to him?" I heard Trish say to Megan.

"He sprained his ankle playing tennis."

"How convenient. Now he can get out of taking you to the dinner dance tonight."

"He didn't do it on purpose. It was more my fault than his. He isn't a good tennis player and I pushed him a little too hard. He got tired and that's when he fell," Megan said.

"He should know his limitations," Trish said. "He should let you play with the guys at the club that are better players than him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Megan said.

"The only reason he plays tennis with you is because he doesn't want you playing with the other guys at the club. He's afraid one of them might seduce you."

"That's ridiculous."

"Don't tell me, tell your husband." Trish said.

Trish was trying to make Megan think that I didn't trust her but why? I had never acted like a jealous husband and there was no reason for Trish to think I was. Why would she want to plant that seed in Megan's head?

I painfully got to my feet and hobbled out to the kitchen to defend myself before Trish could do any real damage to my marriage.

"I guess you won't be going to the dinner dance tonight then," Trish was saying just as I reached the kitchen door.

"Warren can't walk on that..." Megan was saying as I entered and cut her off.

"Who said anything about not going to the dinner dance," I said. "I may not be able to dance but we are still going."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Megan asked. 

"Of course," I said as I struggled to keep the pain from showing in my face. "We'll have a nice dinner and listen to the music."

I think I knew what Trish had been trying to do. She wanted me to tell Megan she should go to the dance without me. I am not sure what she hoped to accomplish by doing that but I wasn't about to let things go the way Trish wanted them to go. I didn't wait to hear what Trish was going to say next. I turned and headed for my bedroom as fast as I could hop on one leg.

Chapter 13 - Carl Tredwell

I was walking around the house on the crutches Megan had picked up that afternoon, trying to get used to them when Megan came out of the bedroom. She was wearing her little black cocktail dress and she looked beautiful. I felt bad that I wouldn't be able to dance with her but I hoped that we would be able to make love when we got back home. 

I was still thinking about this when I heard Trish coming down the stairs. I was surprised to see her all dressed up for an evening out.

"Got a date tonight, Trish?" I said.

"No. I am going to the dance with you and Megan," Trish said. "Maybe I'll meet someone there."

Now my evening was completely ruined. I couldn't dance with Megan and the devil's evil sister was going to the dance with us. She apparently was not satisfied that my ankle was causing me enough pain.

Dinner was as pleasant as it could be with the dragon lady sitting across the table from me. Things improved greatly after dinner, at least for a short while. When the dishes were cleared from the table Trish got up and wandered off somewhere leaving me alone with Megan. Megan sat close to me and leaned her head on my shoulder as we listened to the music. It wasn't quite as good as dancing with her but having her close to me like that was nice.

Trish gave us about an hour of peace before she came back to the table. With her was a guy I recognized from the club. His name was Carl Tredwell. He was about my age and I knew that he was divorced but that is about all I knew about him.

"You know Carl Tredwell, don't you?" Trish said, more to Megan than me. "I found him sitting at the bar all by himself so I invited him to come sit with us."

I knew that Trish was up to something. Trish is fifty years old and Tredwell was in his early thirties. I was sure that Trish wasn't making a play for him so why did she bring him over to our table. I had my suspicions but I didn't say anything.

Carl sat down across from Megan and thanked us for letting him join us at our table. For the next twenty minutes we talked and listened to the music. Carl seemed like a nice guy but I still wondered why he was at our table. I soon found out.

"Carl, since Warren has a sprained ankle, maybe you could dance with Megan. She loves to dance and it would be a shame if she had to sit here all night and only listen to the music when she really would like to be out dancing," Trish said.

What ensued would have been comical if I hadn't been so pissed off. Trish looked at me and smiled and I gave her my best 'I'd love to feed you to a crocodile' look. Then I looked at Megan who gave me an embarrassed looked that said tell me what I should do. Then Carl looked at me to see if I would give him permission to dance with Megan and I acted as if I didn't care so he looked at Megan and changed his expression to one that expressed the question "would you like to dance?" 

To anyone watching us we must have looked like a group of mimes practicing all of our facial expressions. Trish finally broke the silent negotiations.

"Megan, why don't you go dance with Carl?" Trish said. "You don't mind, do you, Warren?"

I had to admire the way Trish maneuvered us all. I knew that the only way Megan could say no was if I said I didn't want her to dance with Carl. I couldn't object without sounding like I was jealous and didn't trust Megan. What ever I would say or do didn't matter; Trish was going to win anyway. I could see that Trish was waiting for me to say something so I took my lead from 'Forest Gump.'

"I've got to pee," I said and got up from the table, grabbed my crutches and hobbled off to the men's room. 

When I got to the doorway that led to the restrooms I turned and looked back toward our table in time to see Megan getting up and heading out to the dance floor with Carl. I was beginning to feel that I was no match for Trish and never would be.

When I returned from the men's room Megan and Carl were still on the dance floor. There was nothing in the way they were dancing that was worrisome. The only thing bothering me was the way Trish had directed this whole scene.

"They look good out there, don't they?" Trish said. 

I ignored Trish's attempt to make me lose my temper.

"Yes, Megan looks great tonight," I said and turned my back to Trish as I tried to flag down our waiter so I could order another drink.

Megan and Carl returned to the table after a third dance. Megan sat close to me and kissed me on the cheek. 

"Are you all right?" Megan asked. "We don't have to stay if you're uncomfortable."

I was very uncomfortable but I wasn't about to leave. I wanted to see what else Trish might try to pull. I felt like I was in a boxing match. I was way behind on points but I couldn't quit till the final bell sounded. The only way I could win the fight now would be by knock out. 

For the next hour Megan leaned against me and just listened to the music. Carl sat across from us and didn't say a word. Even Trish remained quiet. I was beginning to think the excitement was over so I told Megan I was ready to go home if she was.

"I'm ready," Megan responded. Just then the band started to play a slow song.

"Megan, you and Carl should dance one more time before you leave. I'm sure Warren wouldn't mind," Trish said.

As Carl escorted Megan out to the dance floor, I wondered if anyone would notice if I tipped Trish upside down and pushed a wine bottle up her ass.

I have to say here that Carl did nothing during the slow dance he shared with Megan that upset me - that is, anymore than I was already upset. They kept a proper distance apart for the circumstances. Nothing there to make me jealous or lose my temper which, I am sure, is what Trish wanted me to do.

On the ride home Megan said, "Mom, why did you put me on the spot like that. I didn't want to dance with Carl. That made me very uncomfortable."

"I know how much you love to dance. I just thought that you shouldn't let Warren's clumsy accident keep you from having a good time," another dig by the queen of the underworld.

"I do love to dance, with my husband," Megan said. Once in a while Megan stood up to Trish and it made me happy when she did. I didn't say anything on the ride home.

Chapter 14 - Suspicion 

After the April dinner dance I knew that Trish was trying to break up my marriage. I believed that Trish had heard me tell Megan that I wanted her out of the house within a year and her goal was to get me out of the house before that.

I tried to tell Megan what I thought Trish was up to but she refused to believe me. Somehow Trish was blinding Megan to what was obvious to me. The worst part was that every time I tried to discuss this with Megan we ended up in a fight. 

At the beginning of May, Megan had started going to the club twice a week after work to play tennis and workout in the gym. This didn't bother me until I overheard a conversation Megan had with Trish one evening. Trish asked Megan whom she had played tennis with that day and Megan said she had played with Carl Tredwell.

"Oh, you played with Carl again, huh?" Trish said.

"Don't try to make something out of that. It was just tennis. Carl is very good and he asked me to be his partner for mixed doubles. He thinks we could win the club tournament in August," Megan said.

"Well, does Warren know how much time you are spending with Carl?"

"He never asks me about it," Megan said.

"So, he doesn't know?"

"No. I guess he doesn't."

"Why don't you tell him?" Trish said.

"I don't know. It shouldn't matter anyway. It's just tennis."

"If that were true you would have told Warren."

"Mom, stop trying to make an issue out of something that is not an issue."

"If it isn't an issue, why haven't you told your husband?" Trish asked.

Trish was right. If it wasn't an issue, why hadn't she told me? The problem was that Trish didn't disapprove of Megan not telling me. The only reason she brought the subject up was that she knew I was in the next room listening to their conversation. Another round to Trish.

I wasn't sure how to deal with what I had heard but I sure as hell wasn't going to discuss this with Megan when Trish was around. It was on the following Thursday night that I got a chance to talk to Megan alone. Megan had gone to the club from work and got home around 7:30 that evening. Trish and Brandon were out on their semiweekly activity.

I handed Megan a beer and got one for myself and as we sat down on the pool deck I asked, "So, with whom did you play tennis today?"

I saw Megan's body tense up for a moment. "I played with Carl Tredwell. He's a very good player and he asked me to be his partner for mixed doubles," Megan said.

"Oh, so that's why you didn't ask me to be your partner. I'm not good enough."

"You don't like to play that much and Carl and I are going to enter the club tournament in August. Carl thinks we have a good chance of winning." 

"So that's what you do twice a week? Play mixed doubles with Tredwell?"

"We need the practice. Carl says I am a pretty good player."

As calmly as I could I said, "I am surprised that you never mentioned that you were playing tennis with Carl so often."

Megan seemed to think a long time before she decided to respond. "To tell you the truth, I worried that you might overreact. I thought you might get jealous of me spending so much time playing tennis with Carl."

"Is there any reason I should be jealous?"

"No, of course not. It's this conversation that I didn't want to have. That's why I never told you I was playing with Carl."

"Have I ever acted as if I didn't trust you?"

"No.'

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe by not telling me what you were doing that you might make me more suspicious than if you had told me?" I said.

"I guess I didn't think about it. It won't happen again."

I didn't say anything more. I didn't want Megan to know how angry I really was. After all she didn't lie to me when I asked her who she played tennis with. But I now wondered if she had told me the truth about everything else.

Chapter 15 - Take this Job

It was June and from experience I knew that the next two months were going to be extremely busy at work. In June and July we get inundated with RFPs from schools and school districts that have work they want done before the next school year starts in August or September. That means I have to work lots of late nights, most nights not getting home until after midnight. 

This was the time of year when I truly hated my job. Things hadn't been good between Megan and me since our conversation about her playing tennis with Carl Tredwell. We didn't argue but there was tension between us that seemed to interfere with our ability to communicate. I knew that part of the problem was that my main topic of conversation was about the witch and the warlock that were sharing our house and those conversations usually ended badly. 

I had just finished a particularly hard day at work and when I got home I told Megan how much I hated my job. She just looked at me without commenting.

"I am thinking of quitting," I said.

"Quitting? Do you really think that's a good idea?" Megan said.

"You think I should continue doing a job that I hate?"

"I didn't mean that. I just meant that I just don't think it would be a good idea for you to quit your job right now. Where would you find another job that pays as well and has such good benefits? You certainly wouldn't get a good recommendation from Thad if you quit."

Unfortunately, Trish came in just in time to hear the end of our conversation. 

"I told you he would do something stupid like that," Trish said.

This time I didn't wait to see if Megan would defend me. "I am sick and tired of you and your nasty comments. If you expect to continue living in this house you had better learn to keep your mouth shut."

Trish left the room without saying another word. After Trish left Megan said, "Why can't you get along with her?"

I thought about all of the possible responses to what Megan had asked and chose the one that suited my mood the best. 

"Give me a fuckin break," I said and then went to my study to read.

After that evening Trish seldom spoke to me. When she talked to Megan I would hear her say things like, "Warren is as useless as your father," and Megan wouldn't defend me.

When Brandon was around, which wasn't often, he was surly. He didn't seem to like or respect me very much. Unlike Brandon's feelings about me, my feelings about him were very well defined. I despised him. To me he was a waste of a good pair of jockey shorts and he was probably destined for a career in telemarketing. 

I was beginning to hate my home life as much as my job.

Chapter 16 - The Bottom is in Sight

It was a Monday afternoon in the middle of June and there were sixty RFPs in the in basket and I was looking through them to see which ones we should no bid so we could concentrate on those RFPs that we had a chance to win. At five o'clock Megan called.

"I was just getting ready to leave work and decided to give you a call to see what time you think you'll get home tonight." she said.




Warren Butterfield Pt. 02



"Not till after midnight. Why?"

"Just wondered if you would be home before I went to bed," Megan replied. "Do you want me to fix you something to eat for when you get home?"

"Just make me a sandwich and leave it in the fridge. What are your plans for tonight? You going to the club?"

"No. I am going straight home. I'm going to take a nice long bath and curl up in bed with a book."

"Wish I could join you," I said.

"I do too."

After that we had a pleasant conversation ending with Megan saying, "I love you." 

After I put the phone down I wondered why Megan had called. That was the first time I could remember her calling to ask when I was going to get home. I decided it was probably nothing so I went back to what I was doing.

I got home at 12:15 AM and I pulled my car - actually I was driving Megan's old Toyota Camry - into the garage next to Megan's Lexus. When I got out of the car I could hear the ticks and pings engines make as they cool down. What caught my attention was that Megan's car was making the same noises. I put my hand on the hood of her car and it was hot. It appeared that Megan had gone out and she must have gotten home just before me.

Megan was in bed asleep or pretending to be asleep when I looked into the bedroom so I headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. I got a beer and the roast beef sandwich Megan had made for me out of the refrigerator and took them to the kitchen table. As I ate I thought about what Megan may have been up to that evening and decided to ask her about it in the morning.

Although I didn't get to bed until after one o'clock I was up drinking coffee at 6:30 in the morning. I had showered and dressed without waking Megan and was on my second cup of coffee when she came out to the kitchen.

Megan poured herself a cup of coffee and joined me at the table. "What time did you get home last night?" she asked. I was pretty sure she already knew but I played along.

"About 12:30," I said.

"Was the sandwich I left for you okay?"

"It was very good, thanks," I said. "What did you do last night?"

"I told you what I was going to do when I called you," Megan said.

"Oh, right. Take a long bath and curl up with a book. Is that what you did?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just wondered if you changed your mind and did something else."

"Well, I didn't. Why are you acting so strange?" Megan said.

My mind was buzzing. What the hell was going on? Megan had just lied to me. I decided not to confront her about the lie right then. I sensed that whatever was going on it wouldn't be good for our marriage and I just wasn't ready to deal with that yet.

Megan called me again that evening before she left work. We just chatted about things in general and then she asked what I would like her to fix me for my dinner. I was worried. Why was it suddenly so important for her to know when I would be home?

I managed to make that night a short night and got home at 11:15 PM. Megan's car was in the garage and the engine was cold.

The next day the pattern repeated itself. Megan told me she was going to stop at the club to play tennis but she would be home by seven o'clock. When I got home at midnight her car was in the garage and the engine was cold. I began to wonder if I could have been mistaken about her car on Monday night.

On Thursday Megan call at five o'clock to chat. She told me what was going on around the medical center where she worked and I asked her if she was playing tennis that night. 

"No. I am going to stop on the way home to buy groceries and then I am going to stay in and watch some television tonight."

When I got home just after midnight I found Megan's car ticking and pinging as if it had just been shut off. I didn't even bother checking on Megan. I knew she would be in bed pretending to be asleep. I was so angry as I ate my sandwich that I had a difficult time swallowing. 

When I got into bed Megan rolled toward me and in a sleepy voice asked, "What time is it?"

"One o'clock. What time did you get home?" I said.

"I got home at six."

"You didn't go out tonight?"

"No. Why?"

"Just curious," I said

I was now convinced that Megan was having an affair. Was it Carl Tredwell or had she found someone else. Whoever it was I was willing to bet that Trish had somehow instigated the whole thing.

I was going to have to find out for sure what Megan was up to before I confronted her. The only evidence I had of her doing anything was her lying about being out on Monday and Thursday nights and the only proof I had was that her car engine was still hot when I got home. She could make up all kinds of lies to cover that up. Could my life get any worse? That was a question I didn't even want to think about.

Chapter 17 - It's Not the Fall That Hurts, It's the Landing

The following week was a repeat of the previous week. Megan called me each day around five o'clock to ask what I wanted to eat when I got home and just like the week before, on Monday and Thursday her car engine was still hot when I arrived home.

The following Sunday afternoon I played golf at the club with Mace and Buck. After we completed our round we sat in the bar and had a few beers. 

"What's that matter with you, Butter?" Mace asked. "You look kind of down."

I hadn't been planning on telling them about my problems but I tried to answer Mace and it all just came out. 

"You can't really believe that Megan is cheating on you," Mace said.

"What else am I supposed to think?" I said. "Four times now I have come home to find her car engine still hot and each time she has claimed that she stayed in all night."

"What did she say when you asked her about the car?" Buck said.

"I never asked her."

"Why not?" Buck said.

"I don't have any other evidence yet. I don't want her to know how much or how little I know until I have more proof," I said. "I don't want her to be able to deny anything when I do confront her." 

"What are you going to do?" Mace said.

"I don't know. I can't get away from work so I can't follow her. I have to find a way to see where she goes on those nights."

"You know I would love to help you, Butter, but I can't," Buck said. "I'm a cop. If I followed her and someone found out I would be up shit creek."

"I know and I would never ask you to do anything that would put your career at risk," I said. "This is my problem and I have to figure it out myself. Sorry I'm not better company today. I think I'll head home and see what the women in my house have come up with to make my life a living hell tonight."

The three of us walked out to the parking lot and put our clubs into our cars. We stood and talked for a few more minutes and then Buck said he had to go pick Paula up from her girl friends house.

When Buck was gone Mace said, "Can you get out for a while tonight?"

"Why?"

"I have something I would like to show you. Can you meet me at the Blue Grass Transport office in Covington around seven tonight?"

"I'll be there but can you give me a hint as to what this is about?"

"I might have a solution for your problem," Mace said.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"I'm not sure this is legal so I didn't want to get Buck involved."

"You certainly have my curiosity piqued," I said. "I'll see you at seven."

I arrived home from the country club at three o'clock to find Megan, Trish, Brandon and Carl Tredwell sitting out by the pool. That isn't exactly right. Megan, my monster and Tredwell were sitting by the pool and Brandon was doing cannon balls into the pool trying to get everyone wet.

I studied the scene outside to see what I could learn. The pool chairs were lined up so that Trish was sitting between Tredwell and my wife. I wondered who arranged the seating, Trish or Megan?

I watched the quartet outside for about twenty minutes before I decided to go out and join them. I wasn't happy about finding Tredwell at my home but they were doing nothing that was obviously inappropriate.

"Oh, good, you're home," Megan said as soon as she saw me coming out of the house."

I forced a smile onto my face and said, "What's going on out here?"

Megan started to say something but Trish cut her off. "Megan was playing tennis with Carl this afternoon so we invited him over for dinner."

Megan looked uncomfortable and Carl just smiled and said, "Good to see you again, Warren," as he stood to shake my hand. 

I was just about to say something nasty when I got drenched by one of Brandon's cannon balls. Instead of apologizing, the little shit just laughed while Trish looked at him lovingly. 

I don't know about the other three but I was sure that Megan knew that I was pissed by the expression on my face. I managed to count to ten before I said anything. Actually I counted ten horribly painful things I would like to do to Brandon before I was able to speak without shouting.

"Nice one, Brandon, maybe I can do the same for you one day," I said through gritted teeth. "Megan, I am not going to be able to stay for dinner. I told Mace that I would give him a hand on a project he is working on tonight."

"Why don't you tell Mace that you can't help him tonight because you have a dinner guest," Trish said.

"I promised Mace I would help him before I found out we were going to have company for dinner."

I turned and went back into the house followed close behind by Megan. As soon as the door closed behind her, Megan said, "Do you rally have to go?"

"Megan, why is he here?"

"Trish asked Carl to come over. She feels sorry for him because he is alone all of the time since his wife left him," Megan said.

"Trish didn't invite him over because she feels sorry for him. She invited him over to cause trouble between you and me."

"Don't be ridiculous. I know that you and Trish don't get along very well but she would never do anything to harm our marriage."

"You believe that and you tell me I am being ridiculous?" I said. "I am going to take a shower.

After showering and getting dressed I got a cold beer and joined my stress providers out by the pool. For the next eternity I listened to Carl Tredwell go on and on about how much Megan's tennis game had improved and how, with Megan as his teammate, they were almost sure to win the club tournament in August. 

I couldn't understand why Tredwell was playing Megan so hard if he, as I suspected, was the one she was having an affair with. Maybe Carl was just nervous and didn't know what else to talk about or maybe it was all a show for my benefit. I was beginning to not care. 

At six o'clock I decided that I had as much of their company as I could stand. 

"Gotta go," I said as I stood up. "Mace is waiting for me. I shouldn't be too late. Megan, will you wait up for me?"

Megan said that she would but I really didn't care if she did or not. Our marriage was falling apart and I no longer felt the need to save it. 

"Nice seeing you again, Tredwell," I said.

Chapter 18 - Mace's Idea

It was only 6:30 when I crossed the river into Kentucky. I still had a half hour before I was supposed to meet Mace so I went to Burger King for dinner. I knew I could have had a much better dinner at home but the company is much better at Burger King.

I arrived at the offices of Blue Grass Transport just before seven o'clock and Mace was there, waiting for me.

"You've never been in our dispatch center, have you?" Mace said.

"No. You've never invited me in until now."

"Well, technically no unauthorized personnel are allowed into the dispatch center but since I am the director of the center and I'm the one who made that rule, I am making an exception for you," Mace said.

The dispatch center was not at all what I expected. I was expecting it to be a small office in a warehouse with a couple of desks cluttered with papers and clipboards. The dispatch center was more like what I would expect to find at the Houston Space Center. The room was about fifteen feet by thirty feet with a twenty-foot long control console that ran down the middle of the room. There were three desktop computers built into the console with a chair at each workstation. Three small desk lamps, one at each workstation, provided the only light in the room along with six large flat screen LCD monitors mounted on the wall in front of the console. 

The center LCD screen displayed a map of the US interstate highway system. The other five screens displayed maps of Lincoln, Nebraska, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Miami.

"What do you think?" Mace asked.

"Pretty impressive," I said. "Why are those city maps the ones on display?"

Mace went to the nearest workstation and started typing something and suddenly five different city maps were displayed.

"We can bring up any city we want," Mace said.

"What do you do with all of this?" I asked.

"This is how we keep track of where our trucks are and the status of our shipments."

I could tell that Mace was proud of the center and I told him so.

"This was my baby. I went to an industry convention in Vegas a few years ago and saw a demonstration of a center like this. I came back and talked my uncle into letting me build this center."

"I am impressed."

"From here I can locate any truck in our fleet at any moment in time twenty four hours a day." 

Mace punched a few keys and little red and green numbers appeared all over the interstate map.

"The red numbers are trucks from our fleet that are not on the road at the moment. This being Sunday, most of the fleet is not moving. The green numbers are the trucks that are currently in transit."

Mace used the mouse and highlighted green number forty-seven in Colorado. When he clicked on the number the US map disappeared and was replaced by a map of Colorado. Using the scale at the side of the map, Mace was able to zoom into the exact location of the truck.  

"Truck forty-seven is on I-70 thirty-five miles west of Denver. The truck is currently headed east," Mace said.

"How does that work?" I asked.

"GPS. Global positioning satellite."

"I know what GPS is but how does all this work?" I said pointing at the maps and the console.

"All of our trucks have a GPS transceiver installed in the cab. Every fifteen minutes my computer automatically sends out a broadcast through our satellite uplink to query the transceivers in each truck to find its location. The GPS then determines the location of the trucks and that information is transmitted back here via satellite again. The software in the computers does the rest.

"In addition to the automatic queries, I can query any truck at any time just like I did truck forty-seven."

"So how many trucks do you have?"

"We currently have 235 trucks. At any one time only about fifteen to twenty of them are here at the warehouse. The rest are scattered around the country."

"Pretty neat. I guess I never realized how hi-tech dispatching trucks had become."

"I know. It's hard to believe that it wasn't that long ago that tracking our trucks was done using routing sheets on a clipboard. They had to use CB radios to communicate with the drivers. I am glad I never had to deal with that."

"I enjoyed the tour and all, but that's not why we are here, is it?"

"Actually, this is why we are here," Mace said. "Remember I told you that we have 235 trucks in the fleet. Well, as of last Tuesday we have 234 trucks on the road. Truck number 137 was in an accident Tuesday and is in the shop down in Lexington waiting for repairs to be made. It looks like it will be off the road for at least two weeks."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked.

Mace turned back to his workstation, brought up a map of the Cincinnati area, then he brought up the numbers of all of the Bluegrass Transport trucks in the area. When Mace clicked on truck number 137 the address of the building we were in popped up on the screen.

"Truck 137 is in the repair center in Lexington but what is more important to you is that the transceiver for truck number 137 is right here in my desk," Mace said. "My idea is to have you put the transceiver into Megan's car. Then I can loan you my laptop so that you can link through the Internet to my computer here in the dispatch center. You will have authorization to monitor transceiver 137 from the laptop but I can only let you use it until truck 137 is ready to go back on the road. What do you think?"

"I'll be able to see where she goes using your laptop?"

"Right."

"That would be great but if Megan finds out I put a tracking device in her car the shit will hit the fan."

"That is a risk but I think you can put the transceiver under the hood of her car where she is unlikely to find it. You'll have to decide if you want to take the risk," Mace said.

"Given what I expect to find out, the risk of Megan discovering the transceiver is not important."

Mace explained how to install the transceiver in Megan's car and then he showed me how to access the tracking computer using his laptop. Feeling a little uneasy about what I was planning to do, I picked up the transceiver and Mace's laptop and headed home.

Chapter 19 - Laying the Groundwork

I arrived home around 9:30 PM and I slipped quietly into the house to see where Megan was. Seeing that she was in the bedroom watching television I went back out to the garage and installed the GPS transceiver in her car. 

As soon as I walked into the bedroom Megan turned on me.

"Why were you so rude to Carl?" Megan said.

"When was I rude to him?"

"It was your whole demeanor. You barely spoke to him and then when you left you called him Tredwell instead of Carl," Megan said.

"So? What's the big deal?"

"Calling him by his last name like that is disrespectful."

"I happen to think that his coming to my house to flirt with my wife shows a lack of respect for me."

"What the hell are you talking about? He wasn't flirting with me. We were just talking. Friends do that, you know?"

"Just talking, huh?" I said. Then a falsetto voice I continued. "Oh, Megan is such a good tennis player... Megan gets better everyday... Megan will be the best tennis player at the club... Megan can walk on water..." Then back to my normal voice. "Don't you think he was pouring on the compliments just a little too thick?"

I waited for Megan to respond but she didn't. It looked like she was actually thinking about what I had just said. 

"A word to the wise, Megan. You had better pay closer attention to what Trish is up to before it's too late. That is if it is not already too late."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Megan asked.

"Just think about it and in time you will understand," I said. "I am going to my study to read for a while."

"I thought we were going to...ah... Didn't you ask me to wait up for you when you left?" Megan said.

"It's hard to think of making love when you are being eaten up by other worries," I said.

"What other worries?" Megan said.

I said, "We'll talk tomorrow," as I walked out of the bedroom closing the door behind me.

To be continued.



Warren Butterfield Pt. 03



Chapter 19 - Laying the Groundwork

I arrived home around 9:30 PM and I slipped quietly into the house to see where Megan was. Seeing that she was in the bedroom watching television I went back out to the garage and installed the GPS transceiver in her car. 

As soon as I walked into the bedroom Megan turned on me.

"Why were you so rude to Carl?" Megan said.

"When was I rude to him?"

"It was your whole demeanor. You barely spoke to him and then when you left you called him Tredwell instead of Carl," Megan said.

"So? What's the big deal?"

"Calling him by his last name like that is disrespectful."

"I happen to think that his coming to my house to flirt with my wife shows a lack of respect for me."

"What the hell are you talking about? He wasn't flirting with me. We were just talking. Friends do that, you know?"

"Just talking, huh?" I said. Then a falsetto voice I continued. "Oh, Megan is such a good tennis player... Megan gets better everyday... Megan will be the best tennis player at the club... Megan can walk on water..." Then back to my normal voice. "Don't you think he was pouring on the compliments just a little too thick?"

I waited for Megan to respond but she didn't. It looked like she was actually thinking about what I had just said. 

"A word to the wise, Megan. You had better pay closer attention to what Trish is up to before it's too late. That is if it is not already too late."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Megan asked.

"Just think about it and in time you will understand," I said. "I am going to my study to read for a while."

"I thought we were going to...ah... Didn't you ask me to wait up for you when you left?" Megan said.

"It's hard to think of making love when you are being eaten up by other worries," I said.

"What other worries?" Megan said.

I said, "We'll talk tomorrow," as I walked out of the bedroom closing the door behind me.

Chapter 20 - Jacobs and Stargill

Monday morning I was up and out of the house before Megan got out of bed. I just didn't know what to say to her anymore. Until I was ready to confront her I planned to avoid her as much as possible. 

I got to work at 7:30 AM and started working on two of the RFPs that were on my desk. The next time I looked at the clock it was lunchtime. I picked up the sandwich I brought from home and went to the break room. Leon Crain and Betty Arnold, Thad's secretary, were sitting in the break room talking when I got there.

"Hey, Warren," Leon said. "Betty and I were just talking about Thad's meeting with Mr. Harris this morning."

Betty looked at me with a big smile on her face. "Mr. Harris gave Mr. Achsole an RFP for Jacobs and Stargill. I heard Mr. Harris tell Mr. Achsole that the contract could be worth over 100 million dollars over the next ten years."

"I don't think I have ever seen an RFP that big come through here before," Leon said.

"I heard Mr. Harris telling Mr. Achsole how important winning this contract would be for the company," Betty continued, "so Mr. Achsole had to make sure that the proposal was done right."

"Get this," Leon said. "Thad told Mr. Harris that he would do it himself to make sure that it was done right."

"I didn't know that Thad ever actually wrote proposals," I said. 

Betty started to laugh. "Every time an important RFP comes in Mr. Achsole tells Mr. Harris he will take care of it personally," she said.

"So, what you are saying is that Thad handles all of the important proposals himself?" I asked.

"No. What I am saying is that Mr. Achsole tells Mr. Harris he is writing those proposals but what he is doing is having his proposal writing superstar write the proposals and then Mr. Achsole takes credit for them," Betty said.

"I always knew Thad was an asshole but this proves it beyond any doubt," I said. "So, who is this proposal writing superstar?"

Betty and Leon were both looking at me. "You're kidding, right?" Leon said.

"No. Should I know who it is? Is it you?" I said.

"You must be kidding," Betty said. "You have to know that you're his proposal writing superstar."

"Me?"

"Yes, you," Leon said. "You can't tell me you didn't know. You are the one he is always giving the high value opportunities to. He has been living off your talent ever since you got here."

"That fucking son-of-a bitch," I said. "Pardon my language, Betty."

"You really didn't know?" Leon asked.

"I had no idea. I just put my head down and worked," I said. "I guess I've been a little naïve."

"I guess. Jesus, I should have talked to you about this a long time ago," Leon said.

"It's not your fault that I am an idiot. I let this happen. I just wanted to do a good job. I never considered the possibility that Thad Asshole would take advantage of me like that." I said.

"What are you going to do about it?" Betty asked.

"I don't know. I guess I will have to use this to get some leverage over Thad," I said.

When I got back to my desk I logged onto Mace's computer and check the location of Megan's car. It was at the medical center as it should have been. As I stared at the map on my screen I thought about what I had learned at lunch. Thad Asshole had been taking credit for my work. It made me wonder what else he was doing to me. Had he really ever talked to the sales manager about giving me a job? He may not have wanted me promoted out of his department as long as he could take advantage of me. I felt so stupid. How could I not have figured that out myself?

I was still angry over my own stupidity when Betty called me.

"Mr. Achsole wants to see you," she said.

When I got to Thad's office, Betty winked at me as I walked past her desk.

"Oh, good, Butterman you are here," Thad said.

"The name is Butterfield, Thad, but I would prefer that you call me, Warren. Try and get that right from now on."

I almost laughed out loud when I saw the shocked look on Thad's face. I had never before spoken up to him like that. I had always been afraid to say anything because I was worried about losing my job, but not anymore. He wouldn't dare fire me now. He needed me too much.

"Okay, Warren, whatever you want," Thad stuttered. "I have an RFP I need you to work on. This is a big one and I need you to have it back to me by next Wednesday. That gives you a little more than a week to complete the bid."

I took a quick look at the Jacobs and Stargill RFP and asked, "This looks pretty important. Are you sure you want me to work on this?" 

"I am giving this to you because I know that you will get it done quickly. I need it back by next Wednesday so I have a couple of days to review it before I submit it to the client on Friday," Thad said. "This is a good opportunity for you, Warren. If we win this proposal it could go a long way toward getting you promoted."

I wanted to reach across the desk and grab the grubby little bastard by his greasy hair and throw him against the wall a few times but instead, I picked up the J&S RFP and said, "I'll do the best I can with it, sir."

"I know you will, Warren."

Back at my desk I quickly read through the RFP. J&S was asking for a ten-year ongoing services contract to cover 600 service stations / convenience stores J&S operated in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. There was nothing complicated about the request other than its size. I quickly broke the RFP into is component parts and sent them out to get costing information. Once that was underway I went back to working on the other proposals that were sitting on my desk. I quickly realized that I was no longer working because I felt pressure to perform. I was now just working to kill time.

At five o'clock Megan called me. I don't know why her call surprised me that day; after all she had called me at work every night at the same time for the last two weeks. Megan actually sounded cheerful on the phone as she told me about her day. Then she asked me if I would like her to get me some Chinese takeout for dinner.

"You can zap it in the microwave when you get home," she said.

"That sounds good. Thanks."

"Warren? You do know that I love you, don't you?"

The question surprised me and I really didn't know what to say. Could she love me if she was having an affair? I guess that is possible, but did I know that she loved me? No, I didn't, but I was not ready to have that conversation yet.

"Of course I do and I love you too," I said.

As soon as I put the phone down I linked to Mace's computer and started tracking Megan's car. It was just after 5:15 PM that Megan's car left the medical center and headed toward home. At 5:35 PM the car stopped at an address on Montgomery Road. The Chinese restaurant we usually go to for take out is located in that area. The car began moving again at 5:55 and arrived at our house at 6:10 PM. 

Then, at 7:05 Megan left the house and drove to the southwestern section of Cincinnati to an address on Southacres Drive. I wondered whom Megan could possibly know in that part of town. Southacres was at least twenty miles from our house and I knew that Tredwell lived just a few miles from us. I wrote the address down and kept the link to Mace's computer open as I tried to concentrate on the school RFPs I had on my desk. At 10:30 Megan left the Southacres address and headed home. I had found out where Megan had gone but I still didn't know whom she had gone there to see or what she did while she was there.

When I got home that night I didn't even bother to ask Megan what she had done that evening. I just didn't want to hear any more lies.

Chapter 21 - Life Begins to Change

Tuesday morning I was up and out of the house again before Megan got out of bed. I was the first one in the office so I made a pot of coffee. When the coffee was ready I poured myself a cup and sat at my desk. I tried to get into my work but couldn't. I just kept thinking about how my life had turned into the basket of shit. 

I could pinpoint the exact day when my marriage started to fall apart. It was the day that Trish and Brandon moved in with us. Trish the bitch was doing everything she could to drive a wedge between Megan and me but Megan didn't even seem to notice. Had Trish somehow brainwashed her? Then there was that spoiled shit Brandon. His mother allowed him to steal from me and then acted like I was being an ogre when I got upset about it. 

Since Trish and Brandon came to live with us I had sold the house I loved, moved into a house I didn't want and didn't think we could afford. We joined a country club that I didn't care to belong to and leased a new Lexus for Megan because Trish said that Megan needed to have the proper car to be seen in our neighborhood and at the country club. In addition to all that Trish had already picked out a new man for Megan. 

Things had progressed to the point that my marriage was about over. Megan had taken to sneaking around behind my back and lying to me about it and I couldn't help but think that Trish was behind all of my problems. For a brief moment I had a happy fantasy of the good old days when they burned witches at the stake.

I was getting so depressed that I started to think about my career to take my mind off of my marriage. That wasn't much help. My career had turned into just a routine job. I busted my ass trying to get ahead and all the while Thad Asshole was taking credit for my work. One thing Thad did do was to make sure I was well paid. He made sure I wouldn't get promoted out from under him and he also made sure I wouldn't leave thinking I could get more money somewhere else.

Could I really be that stupid? I wondered if I was just too stupid to live. Now that was an interesting thought. For a brief moment I actually considered suicide but then realized that I really didn't want to die, I just wanted to get back control of my life. Once I started thinking about how I would do that I started to feel better. 

By noon I had cleared up the RFPs I had on my desk, except for the Jacobs and Stargill request. I was still waiting for the cost information to come back from engineering, procurement, and our subcontractors. I figured to have everything I needed to write the final proposal by Friday. Before going to lunch I called Buck on his cell phone.

"Hey, Butter, how ya doin?" 

"If I was doing any better I would have to shoot myself," I said. "Have you got a minute to talk?"

"Sure. I was just heading to the station to file an accident report," Buck said. "What's up?

"Can you check out an address for me? Find out who lives there?"

"So you found out where Megan has been going?"

"Yes."

"Okay, what's the address?"

I gave Buck the Southacres address and he told me he would give me a call when he had the information.

Somehow I managed to keep busy the rest of the day without doing any real work. When Megan called at five o'clock I told her I would be home for dinner. She was surprised but she seemed to be happy that I would be home which puzzled me. If I didn't know that Megan was sneaking out on me while I was working late I would still believe that she loved me as much as she ever did. 

When I got home Megan was already there fixing dinner for us and I noticed that there were only two places set at the table. 

"We're dining alone tonight?" I said.

"Yes. Trish is at a school function with Brandon tonight."

I wanted to ask if they were both in detention but decided to let it go. Why ruin what might actually be a pleasant evening with Megan. 

We had a porterhouse steak with a baked potato and a garden salad. Megan served this with a nice Cabernet and for a while I was able to put all of my problems and concerns away and just enjoy being with my wife. 

After dinner Megan put on some music and asked me to dance with her. Holding her in my arms as we danced, I realized that I was still in love with this woman and for the first time in the last few weeks I began to pray that I would be able to save my marriage.

I think it may have been during the third song we were dancing to that I began kissing Megan. There was no reluctance on her part and our passion built quickly. After a few more minutes of dancing and kissing I took Megan's hand and led her into the bedroom. 

While Megan was standing by the bed I noticed the stockings she was wearing. I was sure that they were part of a set that included panties and a bra that I bought for her for Valentine's Day a year earlier. 

"Are those the stockings I bought for you?"

"Yes."

Are you wearing the panties too?"

Megan took hold of the hem of her skirt and slowly raised it until I could see matching panties. I moved closer to her and dropped to my knees and began to remove her panties. As I slid the panties down her legs I stared at the thick triangle of dark hair that pointed the way to her most intimate area. By the time Megan stepped out of her panties my cock was rock hard. The anger and distrust I had for Megan earlier in the day was gone, replaced by lust. All I wanted was to make love to her. I got up and took her head gently in my hands and pulled her toward me and kissed her softly on the lips. Megan responded by slightly parting her lips and allowing my tongue to touch the inside of her lips. As the kisses became more passionate Megan seemed to melt into my arms. 

I picked Megan up and laid her on the bed and then opened her blouse. I opened her bra and began kissing and licking her breasts. As I began to suck on her nipples Megan let out a soft moan and pulled my head tighter against her chest. I slowly worked my way down over her stomach until I reached the top of her skirt. I lifted my head then pulled her skirt up over her hips. I felt the soft, smooth flesh of her thighs against my cheeks as I pressed my face into her pubic hair and inhaled her scent. 

I slowly moved down and began running my tongue lightly over her vulva. Starting on the soft flesh just below her mound and going up over her clitoris and onto her pubic mound. As I did this the lips of her pussy separated allowing me to run my tongue around her lips and then pushing it inside her aroused pussy. She tasted fantastic. I couldn't get enough of her sweetness. I continued pleasuring her orally until she had a shuddering orgasm. 

After her orgasm I climbed on top of her and slid my cock head between the dripping lips of her excited pussy. As I pushed myself all of the way inside Megan, she said, "I love you."

After that she just made mewing sounds in her throat until she started her second orgasm. Then she started pushing her pelvis up to meet my thrusts. 

"Oh, God, that's so good. Ahhhh... Ohoooo... Oh yes..." she moaned.

Then as she peaked she just made a deep guttural sound in her throat. No sooner had she finished than my climax began. I emptied a rather large load inside her and rolled onto my back. We didn't speak for a few minutes as we lay there enjoying the afterglow.

The beauty of the moment didn't last very long. 

"Warren, I was thinking that maybe it's time for us to start thinking about having a baby," Megan said.

It wasn't that I was against having children; it was just that Megan's timing sucked. She was asking me to consider having a baby with her while I was trying to find out if she was cheating on me. To make matters worse, before I could even begin to respond to Megan's statement the bedroom door opened and Trish just walked in and before she even noticed that we were both laying naked on the bed, she started talking.

"Megan, would it be all right if I borrowed... Oh, my God." 

As Megan and I scrambled to cover up Trish just stood at the door.

"Mom, didn't you think to knock when you saw the door was closed?"

"I didn't think Warren was home," Trish stammered.

"What did you want, mom?"

"It's not important," she said. "I have to go out for a while, I shouldn't be too late."

The door closed and Trish disappeared and along with her the good mood I had been in since I got home from work also disappeared. I certainly wasn't in any mood to be talking about having a baby. 

"I have some work to do," I said. 

Without another word I got dressed and went to my study and Megan was asleep before I came back to bed.

Chapter 22 - Another Long Day

Wednesday morning I went back to my usual routine and had breakfast with Megan. One thing I didn't understand was why Megan always seemed to be happy when I was with her, that is, except when we argued about Trish and Brandon. Thinking back over the last few years, Megan and I didn't really have many arguments and the ones we did have were almost always generated by something Trish or Brandon did. So, why would Megan want to cheat on me? Talking about having a baby doesn't sound like a woman getting ready to dump her husband does it? Something wasn't right about this whole mess. I couldn't figure it out but I was sure I would have the answer very soon.

At work I dug into the pile of school RFPs again and spent the day working on them. At four o'clock that afternoon Buck called me.

"Did you find out who lives at that address?" I asked.

"Sort of."

"What do you mean by sort of?" I said.

"I need to talk to you about this," Buck said. "But it will have to wait till tomorrow. Can you get out of work at five tomorrow?"

"Yes, I can get out at five o'clock. If Asshole doesn't want me to leave, tough shit," I said.

"I'll pick you up in front of your building at five."

"Aren't you going to tell me who lives at that address?"

"Not till we talk. See you tomorrow."

After the call I wondered why Buck wouldn't tell me who lived at the Southacres address. Was it someone we knew? I tried to get back to work but I kept thinking about Buck's call. I was still thinking about the call when Megan called me at five o'clock. 

"Any chance you can come home early again tonight. Maybe we could have a repeat of last night," Megan said.




Warren Butterfield Pt. 03



I really didn't feel like working but I didn't feel up to spending an evening with Megan while pretending everything was all right.

"No. We are buried with these school RFPs. I need to stay and work tonight, I said.

"How much longer will this go on?" Megan said.

Given the circumstances, her question struck me as being ironic.

"Not much longer," I said. "It will all be over soon."

"Okay, I'll see you at home then. I love you." Megan said.

I felt my anger build at those words but I held it in. 

"Love you too," I said.

I spent the rest of the evening distracting myself with work. It was a little after nine o'clock that I clicked on the link to Mace's computer and checked to see if Megan was at home. The map that appeared on the screen showed that Megan was once again at the Southacres address. For the next few minutes I had difficulty breathing. My stomach was burning and I could hear my pulse throbbing. I had to go to the men's room and splash cold water on my face and do a deep breathing exercise until I calmed down.


When I got back to my desk I tried to get back to work but I couldn't concentrate. Why would Megan hint that she wanted to make love to me and then sneak off to meet her lover? How cold blooded had she become? I thought briefly about not going home at all that night but I ended up going home. The ticking and pinging of Megan's car as I walked through the garage was just a confirmation of what I already knew. 

Chapter 23 - The House on Southacres Drive

At work, Thursday was a do nothing day. I just wasn't motivated to work. I did get back most of the information I needed for the J&S proposal and I put it in the file for that account and sat at my computer pretending to be busy. 

At three o'clock Thad called me.

"How's the J&S proposal coming," he asked.

"No problem. I'll have it done in plenty of time."

"You will you be working late tonight, won't you?" he said

"No."

"No? What do you mean by no?" Thad said. "Everyone in this department is working long hours to clear out the backlog of school RFPs. What makes you special?"

"I haven't been feeling well lately and I am trying to make sure I get enough rest so that I don't come down with something serious. I need to be ready to put the rest of the J&S proposal together."

I could tell this upset Thad but he let it go. "Just make sure you have the J&S proposal on my desk next Wednesday before the end of the day."

"No problem," I said.

At five o'clock I shut down my computer, slipped the J&S file into my briefcase and headed for the door. I noticed that several people looked at me as if I was abandoning the ship but I didn't let that bother me. I knew that I had already submitted twice as many proposals as anyone else in the department so I wasn't about to feel guilty about leaving early. Besides, these people all seemed to know that Thad was screwing me over and no one had bothered to tell me.

Buck was waiting for me at the front door in his squad car. I climbed into the front seat and noticed the serious look on Buck's face.

"Gees, am I under arrest?" I asked, trying to get Buck to smile.

"No, but this is serious business," he said. 

Buck pulled out of the parking lot and headed for I-71. 

"Where we going?"

"That depends on you," Buck said.

I didn't like the sound of that.

"What's going on Buck? All I want is the name of the person that lives in the house on Southacres," I said. 

"Before I tell you what I found out I want to know what you are going to do with this information," he said.

"I don't know," I said. "I haven't thought that far ahead."

"Well, start thinking ahead then."

"Jesus, why are you so pissed at me? What did I do to you?" I said.

"Nothing. You're my best friend and I am just looking out for you. I have to know that you won't do something stupid with the information I give you," Buck said.

"Do something stupid? Like what?"

"Like trying to hurt or kill someone."

I felt as though Buck had punched me in the stomach.

"God damn it, Buck. How long have you known me? Do you really believe I would do something like that?"

"Butter, I know you to be a fair minded and even tempered guy but I have seen a lot of these domestic disputes get way out of hand. People in emotional distress do all sorts of things no one would ever expect them to do. I don't want you to end up dead or in jail because of this."

I was beginning to understand what he was telling me.

"Buck, I promise you that I won't do anything stupid. I already have enough problems without destroying the rest of my life. I just need to find out the truth about what is going on so that I can move on with my life, with or without Megan."

We drove south on I-71 and then went west on 562 to I-75 South. From I-75 we merged onto I-74. We must have driven twenty miles, Buck lecturing me the whole time about keeping my cool no matter what I found out. When we finally stopped I had no idea where we were.

"Where are we?"

"We are on Southacres Drive and that house is the one you are looking for," Buck said as he pointed at a large brick ranch style house on the other side of the street. 

"The house belongs to a guy named Preston Matthews. Does that ring a bell?" Buck said.

"No. Never heard the name before. Is that who lives here?"

"Not sure yet. It seems that there is also a Preston Matthews that has a home fifty miles north of Cincinnati. That home is listed in the names of Preston and Karen Matthews. If this is the same Preston Matthews this might be a rental property. Let me go up and see if anyone is in the house. You stay here."

"Okay."

Buck got out of the car and put his hat on. I had seen Buck in uniform several times but this was the first time I had seen him in his cop persona. I watched from the car as Buck rang the doorbell and then knocked on the door. No one answered. Buck peeked in the window and then walked around behind the house before returning to the car. 

I got out of the car and waited for Buck on the sidewalk.

"Someone is living there. Today's newspaper was on the porch and the house is furnished. There's patio furniture in the back yard and the lawn was mowed recently. There's a large two-car garage on the side of the house. I looked in through a window. No cars in the garage." 

As I stood waiting to hear what Buck suggested we do next a man came out of the house behind us and walked over to where we were standing.

"Looking for Preston?" the man asked.

'Yes, I was hoping to speak with him," Buck said. 

"Well, Preston doesn't live here. He has a place up in Springboro. He usually spends a couple of nights a week here, the rest of the time he stays up in Springboro," The man said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Buck said.

"Henry. Henry Midland."

"Well, Mr. Midland, do you know Mr. Matthews?" Buck asked.

"Not very well. He keeps to himself when he's down here. Is he in some kind of trouble?"

"No. I am just following up on an accident report. Mr. Matthews was a witness and this was the only address I had for him," Buck said. "So, you say he comes here a couple of times a week. That's kind of strange isn't it? I mean keeping two houses." 

"Preston bought this house about five years ago," Henry said. "When he first moved in I went over and introduced myself. He wasn't real friendly but he told me that he and his wife lived up in Springboro and that he bought this place so he would have a place to stay when he had to work late or when he had an early meeting in the morning."

"I would think a condo in the city would make more sense," Buck said.

"Preston is loaded. I don't know what his house in Springboro is like but he paid 750K for this house. He has a cleaning service and a lawn service that come in every week."

"What kind of job does he have that he can throw money around like that?" Buck said.

"I don't know. I think he is the CEO of some corporation in Cincinnati. Between you and me, I think he bought this house so he would have some place to bring his girlfriends," Henry said.

Buck gave me a quick look and then turned back to Henry.

"Really? What makes you think that?"

"Well, Just about every time he spends the night here he has company," Henry said.

"Does he have a lot of girl friends?"

"I don't know how many girl friends he has. I have only noticed one lately," Henry said.

"Oh, so you have seen his girlfriend?"

"No, only her car. She drives a Lexus but the windows are tinted so I have never seen her face. When she comes she pulls right into the garage," Henry said.

Buck gave me another look. 

"Does she spend the night?"

"I don't think so, at least not very often. I usually see her arrive between 7:30 and 8:00 and leave between ten and eleven."

"Maybe it isn't his girlfriend. Maybe it's his accountant," Buck said.

"Yeah, she's his accountant and I am President Bush," Henry said.

"I kind of wish you were President Bush," I said.

Henry looked at me, not understanding what I meant. 

"Well, we have to leave. It was nice meeting you, Henry," Buck said.

Buck and I got back in the car and left. As we pulled away from the curb Buck said, "Talkative little guy, wasn't he?"

"You managed to get him to say a lot without acting like you were interested," I said.

"That's easy with a guy like Henry. He wanted to talk."

Buck and I were both silent for most of the ride back to my office. As we drove I became more aware of how far it was from my house to the Southacres house. 

"How the hell does she expect to keep me from finding out?" I said.

"What?"

"Megan. It's more than a forty mile round trip from our house to Southacres and back.  How can she be so sure she will be able to get home before me every time she goes over there?" I said. "And what is she going to do when this work load bubble from the schools ends in the next couple of weeks? Is she going to break things off with him or try and find some other way to carry on her affair."

"Are you going to be able to keep your anger under control?" Buck asked.

"It's under control. I am more depressed than anything else."

"What are you going to do now?" Buck said. "I think you should take some time and decide how you want this to turn out. If you want to have any chance of saving your marriage you need to stay calm when you talk to Megan about all of this."

"I think I'll call in sick tomorrow and drive down to Lexington and spend some time with Kate. I haven't been down to see her in a few weeks. I'll stay at Grandma Jean's house and come back on Sunday. That should be enough time to make some decisions about what I want to do," I said.

"Good idea. Call me when you get back. Let me know if I can do anything to help."

"What does Paula say about this mess?" I asked.

"I haven't told her anything yet. I am still hoping that you and Megan can work things out." 

Buck dropped me off at my car and I thanked him for his help.

***** Chapter 24 - Kate Butterfield

Friday morning I left the house before Megan was up. Thursday night I had avoided Megan by going into my office and working on the J&S Proposal. I was able to stay busy doing that until after eleven o'clock. Megan was asleep by the time I went to bed.

By 6:15 AM I was already crossing the Ohio River on I-75 headed for Lexington. I made the eighty miles in just about an hour and fifteen minutes. I went directly to my Grandma Jean's house and set up my computer so I could work from there. The house was mine but I still called it Grandma Jean's because it made me feel like she was still with me. It was comforting. I had kept the house furnished and used it as a rental property but I hadn't had a tenant in the house for the last two months. It was good to know that I would have a place to live if or when my marriage ended.

I remotely logged onto the network at my office and pulled up my e-mail. I was pleased to find that all of the cost information I needed for the J&S proposal was in my reader. I worked on the proposal until nearly three o'clock that afternoon. The proposal was nearly complete when I filed the document and closed my computer. Just as I was shutting down my cell phone rang.

"Butterman! Where the hell are you?" It was Thad.

"It's Butterfield," I said and then hung up on him.

Less than a minute later my phone rang again.

"Warren, why aren't you in the office today?"

"I have the flu so I stayed home."

"The flu? It's June, for Christ's sake. How the hell can you get the flu in June?"

"I really don't know but I do have the flu."

"What about the J&S proposal?"

"I'll get to it. I'll do my best to have it for you by Wednesday," I said.

"That proposal had better be on my desk by noon on Wednesday or else," Thad said.

I could hear the panic in his voice, which gave me a small amount of satisfaction.

"Or else what?" I asked.

"I'll fire your ass."

"Okay then, I will definitely try to have it ready for you by end of day Wednesday."

"I just told you I wanted it on my desk by noon."

"I know but you originally told me I had till the end of day Wednesday to turn it in and that's the schedule I am working to."

Thad was quiet for a few moments and then he said, "Okay, I did say end of day so you have until end of day Wednesday."

"Good. Gotta go," I said and disconnected.

I enjoyed getting Thad all twisted up in his shorts. I expected that by end of day Wednesday Thad would find that his underwear was a lot tighter because I planned to give him a virtual weggie. 

After I put my computer away I shaved and took a quick shower. Then I drove over to the home and went to see Kate. 

"I missed you so much," Kate said as I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm sorry it has been so long since my last visit. How about I take you out to dinner to make it up to you?"

"Really, go out to dinner? That would be great."

I checked Kate out at the nurse's station and we went over to the new Bone Fish restaurant at Hamburg Place. Kate always got excited about going to eat in a nice restaurant but she knew how to behave like an adult in public. 

Kate was forty-seven years old but her head injury left her to view the world through the eyes of a ten year old. Kate was not retarded in any other way. She could read and write and understand what she was told. It was just that she would react to things as a typical ten year old would and like most ten year old girls, she would try to act much older when she was in a situation that called for mature behavior. At dinner I allowed Kate to have a glass of wine because it made her feel like an adult. 

Occasionally Kate would surprise me by acting like a mother. Whenever she did this I would recognize that she was imitating Grandma Jean. On that evening Kate almost blew me away. She had just taken a sip of her wine and set the glass down.

"Warren, I can see that something is troubling you. Now what is it?"

It sounded so motherly and so much like Grandma Jean that I almost laughed but I knew better than to laugh at Kate. I would never hurt her feelings by not taking her seriously.

"I have a few problems to work out but I'll be okay," I said.

"Study the problem, think about the solution and then take action and remember, that which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger," Kate said. 

There was nothing original in what Kate said. Grandma Jean had said those exact words to me on a number of occasions and I guess Kate had memorized them. What made the moment so special to me was that she had said those words at the exact right moment. I felt as though Grandma Jean was watching over me and speaking to me through Kate.

"That is good advice, mother. Thank you," I said.

I seldom called Kate mother but whenever she acted the part I acknowledged it. Kate sat there beaming, obviously very proud of herself. 

When I dropped Kate off back at the home I told her I would come by on Saturday and take her shopping and then out to lunch. Kate was back to being a ten year old again. The idea of going shopping excited her very much.

As I drove back to Grandma Jean's house I felt bad. I might let two or three weeks go by without visiting Kate but she never got mad at me for not coming more often. It took so little to make Kate happy but I hadn't been making enough of an effort lately. I swore to myself that I would change that.

Chapter 25 - Harold Forester

Saturday morning I worked on the J&S proposal and had it nearly complete. I just needed to proof read it again and double-check the numbers and it would be ready for Thad.

I picked Kate up at noon and we went to lunch at Rafferty's and then over to Fayette Mall. I helped Kate pick out a new dress and some jeans and I let her go by herself to buy some new underwear and then we went into the food court and had a frozen yogurt. 

After I took Kate back to the home I went over to the Applebee's I used to work at and had a beer. I was tempted to have several more beers but decided that I should probably just buy some beer and take it back to the house. 

I was driving out Richmond Road on my way to Kroger's when I spotted Harold Forester getting out of his car and heading into the Bob Evan's restaurant. It was time for a show down. Harold had ruined my life when he dumped Trish leaving her broke and seemingly full of hate for men, especially me.

By the time I was able to turn around and get back to the restaurant Harold was already seated with a cup of coffee in front of him. He was studying the menu and never saw me approach the booth he was sitting in. When I slid into the seat across from Harold it took a moment for him to recognize me. 

"Warren, what are you doing here? It's good to see you," Harold said.

"You won't be so happy that I'm here when I get through with you," I said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You ruined my life and I want an explanation."

"How did I ruin your life?" Harold said.

"When you walked out on your wife and kid, leaving them penniless they moved in with me and my life has been hell ever since."

"I don't understand what you're talking about. What did Trish tell you?"

"Trish said that you walked out on her and Brandon after your business went under. She said that you had borrowed against the equity you had in your house to try and save the business so that when you left there was nothing left for her. Megan and I took Trish and Brandon in with the hope that Trish would recover from the depression you caused when you abandoned her and get back to teaching so she could live on her own, but so far that hasn't happened. Instead of leaving Trish has managed to take control of every aspect of our lives and has managed to destroy our marriage." 

"I am sorry about what Trish has done to you but this is not my fault. I didn't just walk out on Trish. She knew our divorce was coming years ago, when Megan was still in high school."

"I don't understand," I said. 

"It started when Megan was fifteen. I was working long hours in the store while at the same time I was trying to get my second hand appliance store going. I was working six and seven days a week. After a few months of my working every Saturday, Trish started driving up to Cincinnati to visit her sister Tracy. At first she was going to Cincinnati twice a month but soon it became every Saturday. Then she started staying overnight and coming home Sunday morning. She told me that she and Tracy would go to the movies on Saturday night. I never thought much about it. Frankly I was just too busy.

"Then one Saturday I stopped by the house for lunch and while I was eating Tracy called looking for Trish. I didn't let on that I thought Trish was supposed to be with her. I told Tracy that Trish was out and asked her if there was a message. 





Warren Butterfield Pt. 03



"Tracy said that it had been a long time since we had all been together and she wanted to invite us to come up the next weekend for a cookout. She said that she hadn't seen Trish in a couple of months and she couldn't remember the last time she saw Megan and me. I was pretty sure what that meant. Trish was having an affair. 

"I was already pissed when Trish arrived home around eleven o'clock Sunday morning. I was sitting in the kitchen waiting for her but before I could say anything Trish told me she was pregnant.

"That hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't know what to say for a moment. I did a quick review of the past several weeks. I knew that Trish and I had not had sex for at least six weeks and I remembered that Trish had her period about a week after the last time we had sex. I wasn't the father. 

"Trish was staring at me waiting for my response to her news so I said, 'Your sister called. She wants us to come up next week. Make up an excuse and tell her we can't make it.' 

"I didn't say anything else to Trish. I thought about what I should do about Trish for a couple of days and finally decided not to do anything. I just didn't want to hurt Megan so I pretended nothing was wrong.

"Of course, Trish knew that I knew but we just didn't talk about it. I had decided that I would stay with Trish at least until Megan finished college. I don't know why I waited so long but after you and Megan got married and moved up to Cincinnati I decided it was time to end our shame of a marriage."

I was stunned. All this time Trish had us convinced that Harold had abandoned her and Brandon. Knowing Trish as I did then I had little difficulty believing what Harold had just told me.

"Trish claimed that you left them penniless."

"When we finalized the divorce, I sold my appliance store in Frankfort and we sold the house. We also liquidated our investments and then split everything evenly. Trish walked out of the lawyer's office with a check for more than $600,000. 

"Can you prove that?" I asked.

"Yes. I have a copy of the settlement papers at home."

"That bitch. Can I get a copy of the settlement?"

"Absolutely."

"I can't wait to shove that in her face and ask her to explain her lies."

"I'd like to see that myself," Harold said.

"Harold, if you didn't do anything wrong, why didn't you contact Megan after the divorce."

"I tried. She wouldn't take my calls and I never got an answer to any of the letters I wrote to her. Now I know why."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Megan never even saw any letters you might have written. Trish always seemed to get to the mailbox first. I'll bet she threw your letters away," I said.

"Probably."

"What I don't understand is why she was so determined to destroy my marriage. I didn't do anything to her," I said.

"I don't think it was about you. It was about Megan. Trish is jealous of her," Harold said.

"Jealous of her? Why?"

"It always bothered her that Megan and I were so close. Trish wasn't able to get that close to Megan. When Brandon was born Trish quit working and did everything she could to spoil him rotten, and she succeeded. The problem was that Brandon loved Megan. When Megan would came home from school Brandon would stop anything he was doing and run to her. Sometimes he would jump out of his mother's lap and run to Megan. I know that bothered Trish. For some warped reason she doesn't want Megan to be happy. At least that would be my guess. Then again, maybe she really doesn't like you.

"Are you and Megan going to be all right?" Harold asked.

"Don't think so, Harold. Megan seems to have found herself another man," I said.

"I don't believe that. I can't believe Megan would cheat on you."

"I guess it's a case of 'like mother, like daughter.' Anyway, I will make sure Megan finds out the truth and that she talks to you."

"I am sorry, Warren. I hope that you and Megan can work things out."

"So what ever happened to Trish's lover? Did she stop seeing him?" I asked.

"Trish managed to get up to Cincinnati at least once every couple of weeks while Megan was still in school and then more often after Megan left for college. She always took Brandon with her when she went to see him," Harold said.

"Did you every find who he is?"

"Yes. His name is Preston Matthews. He dated Trish in college just before we met. He's a multi-millionaire. Mostly family money, I've heard."

"Preston Matthews?"

"Yeah. You heard of him?"

"Sort of," I said while trying to hide the shock that name gave me.

I thought Megan was having an affair with Preston Matthews but Matthews was her mother's lover. Why would Megan be visiting him? I thought I was starting to get a handle on things but I had no idea what this new information meant. I can't believe that Megan would condone what her mother had done and that she would actually visit the man's house. Was she there with her mother or worse yet, alone? 

I put those thoughts aside to be dealt with later and continued talking with Harold. We talked for another two hours. Harold told me that after the divorce he bought a house in Lexington where he lives with his girlfriend. He opened another second hand store in Lexington and in addition to that he had been buying and fixing up houses for resale or as rental properties. 

He listened intently as I told him about my career problems and then he helped me make some decisions on how to handle my situation. Before we parted, I promised Harold that I would make sure that Megan called him and that I would get back in touch with him about some of the things we discussed. 

When I left the restaurant I picked up a twelve pack of beer and headed back to Grandma Jean's house. I spent the rest of that Saturday drinking beer and trying to make sense out of the relationships between Megan and Trish, Trish and Preston Matthews and between Megan and Preston Matthews. When I finally gave up trying to make any sense out of it I went to bed.

***** Chapter 26 - Megan Calls

Sunday morning I was debating whether I should go back to Cincinnati or stay in Lexington for another day when Megan called.

"How was your visit with Kate?" she asked.

"It was very nice. We went out to dinner Friday night and I took her shopping Saturday."

"I bet she loved that," Megan said.

"She did. I let her buy her own underwear."

"You let her go alone?"

"I didn't want to embarrass her by watching what she was buying," I said.

"You should let me go with her when she is buying underwear," Megan said.

"You weren't here."

"You didn't invite me along."

The conversation struck me as odd. I was having trouble seeing past our problems. The only thing I could see on the horizon was the end of our marriage but Megan acted as if nothing had changed. I decided it was time to rattle her cage a little.

"Do you know a guy named Preston Matthews?" I asked.

There was no delay in Megan's response and I didn't sense any attempt at deception.

"No. Should I?

She had been to his house at least twice that I was sure of, the other four nights she may have been at his house but I had no proof. I pressed on.

"He lives over on Southacres Drive. That's about twenty miles for our house."

"What's this about?" Megan asked.

"I happen to know that you were at that house twice last week," I said.

"Have you gone crazy? I don't know anyone named Preston Matthews and I have never been to his house and I have no idea where Southacres Drive is. Who told you I was there and when was I supposed to be there?" 

"Monday night and Wednesday night last week. Your car was seen there both of those nights."

"Monday and Wednesday? Wait, my mother used my car those nights."

"Trish used your car? Has she done that before?"

"The last month and a half she has been using my car to go to her club meetings or what ever they are."

"Why is she using your car instead of her own?"

"She said that the 'check engine' light on her car keeps coming on and she didn't want to drive it until she could have it fixed," Megan said.

My head was spinning. Trish had been driving Megan's car. So Megan hadn't been at Preston Matthews' house. What did this mean to me? If Megan was telling me the truth then maybe all wasn't lost. I was going to have to think about that some more.

"When are you coming home?"

"I'll be back by two o'clock. Will you be home?" I said.

"I will probably be at the club playing tennis."

"With Tredwell?"

"Yes."

"I wish you would stay away from him."

"Don't start this again. He's just my mixed doubles partner," Megan said.

"Megan, he's playing a game and you're the prize. If he wins, I lose."

"Stop it. You're acting just the way my mother said you would."

"I am acting the way Trish said I would? We need to talk about Trish when I get home. I want you to cancel your tennis date and be home when I get there." 

"I don't want to listen to another one of your attacks on my mother," Megan said.

"Just be there when I get home."

***** Chapter 27 - No One Home

After talking to Megan I pulled up the J&S proposal and proofed the whole document and made a back up on a CD. Then I opened my e-mail and found the note from Harold waiting for me. He had attached the divorce settlement file he had promised to send me. I printed the file and read it. According the settlement agreement, Trish walked away from the marriage with a check for $632,595. 

I could feel my blood pressure rising. That bitch had lived with us for free and she had never offered even a penny to help out and had all that money sitting in a bank somewhere earning interest. How devious could one woman be? 

I shut down my computer and packed up my things and twenty minutes later I was headed north on I-75.

It was just after two o'clock when I got to the house and found no one home. I thought that I had made it clear that I expected Megan to be home when I got there but she ignored my wishes, perhaps for the last time.

Megan didn't get home until four o'clock that afternoon. 

"I asked you to be here when I got home," I said.

"I told you I had a tennis date."

"With Tredwell, yes. I remember, but I expected you to break that date so we could talk."

"I don't need to listen to another attack on my mother. I know you two aren't getting along but there is no reason for you to constantly complain about her," Megan said.

"Is that what you think this is about, just me complaining about Trish? I give up."

"Okay, I'm here now. What did you want to talk about?" Megan said.

"It's too late now, Megan. You've taken Trish's side against me again, so there's nothing more for me to say except that this will all be over soon," I said.

"What do you mean? I am not taking anyone's side. Why do you have to always put me in the middle of your battles with my mother? Why can't you just try to get along with her?"

"Get along with her? Right! You'll find out soon, very soon," I said.

To be continued.  



Warren Butterfield Pt. 04



Chapter 28 - Preparations

I called in sick again on Monday and didn't answer any phone calls so I wouldn't have to talk to Thad. I spent the day taking care of some personal business and ended the day at the country club. 

As I was leaving the club, I spotted Tredwell's car in the parking lot. "I need to talk to that pecker wad," I thought. I was about to go looking for him when it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have some kind of record of my conversation with him. 

I drove home and got to the house just as Megan was getting a bag of groceries out of her car.

"What are you doing home so early?" Megan said.

"I had some errands to run," I said.

Megan gave me a questioning look but I didn't elaborate. On the way into the house, Megan asked me what I wanted for dinner.

"I have to go back out and I may not be back in time for dinner."

"Are you going back to work?" Megan said.

"No, but there is something I have to do and I don't know how long it will take," I said.

While Megan went into the kitchen to put the groceries away I went to the bedroom and got my digital video camera from my closet and without speaking to Megan I headed back to the country club in search of Carl Tredwell.

I spotted Tredwell sitting at the bar exchanging his empty glass for a fresh drink. 

"Hey Carl. Just the man I wanted to see."

I sat down next to Tredwell and ordered a beer. Carl looked a little uncomfortable but he managed to smile at me.

"You wanted to see me?" Tredwell said.

I didn't say anything until the bartender delivered my beer. I knew my silence would make Tredwell uncomfortable and that was part of my plan. 

"I was just curious, Carl. what are your intentions toward Megan?" I said.

Carl almost choked on his drink.

"I don't know what you mean," Tredwell said.

"I was just wondering if your interest in Megan was for more than just tennis."

"It's just tennis, really. We're just friends."

Tredwell was visibly nervous and although it would have been fun to continue questioning him, I had other plans so I let him off the hook.

"Have you been following the Reds this year?" I asked.

Tredwell, glad for the change of subjects, immediately dove into the new topic. Tredwell finished his drink and I offered to buy him another. It turned out that he was drinking double Manhattans. For the next two hours Tredwell and I discussed the Cincinnati Reds, local politics and other meaningless topics. During that same period of time I drank two beers and managed to get Tredwell to polish off three double Manhattans in addition to however many he may have had before I arrived. 

It was 7:30 in the evening when the two of us left the bar and headed out to the parking lot. 

"Before you leave," I said, "I want to show you something."

"What?"

"Come over to my car and I'll show you."

Tredwell was a little unsteady as he followed me over to my car, which I had parked in a far corner of the parking lot where it was blocked from the view of the clubhouse by a tall hedgerow. Tredwell was looking over my shoulder as I reached inside the car and retrieved my video camera.

"You wanted to show me your camera?" Tredwell said.

I said, "No." Then I turned the camera on and set it on top of the car and pointed it toward Tredwell.

"What are you doing?" Tredwell said.

"I want to ask you a few questions and I want to record your answers," I said. 

"Are you fucking crazy or something?" Tredwell said as he laughed at me.

"I am not crazy but you are if you think I am kidding," I said.

Tredwell was pretty intoxicated from all the Manhattans he had consumed but my last comment seemed to get him to focus on what I was saying.

"Now, Carl, I want you to tell me what kind of game you're playing with my wife."

"I told you, we're just friends," Tredwell said, as he looked around for a way to get away from me.

"Come on, Carl, do I really look that stupid to you? I know you are hoping to be more than just friends with Megan," I said. 

"No, no. Just friends," Tredwell said as he took a step away from me and almost fell down.

"Now, Carl, you better listen to me," I said. "Unless you want to end up wearing your knee caps as ear muffs you had better start telling me the truth."

Tredwell looked as though he was about to lose his lunch.

"What are you doing with my wife?"

"Nothing, just playing tennis," he said.

I took a step toward him and Tredwell held his hand up to stop me. "Wait. Don't hurt me, please."

"You pathetic bastard, you had better start telling me the truth right now," I said.

"I am. Let me finish. I have only been playing tennis with Megan. That's all I have been able to get her to do," Tredwell said.

"So you admit that you had other plans?"

"Yes. I was supposed to seduce her but I haven't been able to get past playing tennis with her."

"What do you mean when you say you were supposed to seduce her?" I said.

"It was your mother's idea. She paid me five thousand dollars to flirt with Megan and she said she would pay me another five thousand if I was able to get her into bed," Tredwell said.

"Trish paid you to try and seduce my wife? She hired you to seduce her own daughter?"

"Yes."

"Why would you even get involved in something like this?"

"I need the money. When my wife divorced me she almost cleaned me out. Trish's money allowed me to keep my membership in the club. When I couldn't even get Megan to stop in the bar for a drink with me after tennis I was ready to give up but Trish gave me another two thousand to keep trying and she said she would give me ten grand if I managed to get her into bed. I couldn't afford not to keep trying."

If Trish had appeared in the parking lot at that moment I would have snapped her neck like a twig.

"Okay, Carl. I don't want you playing tennis with Megan anymore."

"That's fine with me. I am tired of telling her how great she is doing. She really isn't that good."

"So you were just stringing her along for the money?"

"Yes."

"You really are a worthless piece of shit, aren't you?" I said.

Tredwell didn't respond. He just stood looking down at his feet.

"I don't want you to go anywhere near Megan again. I don't care what you tell her but I want you to stay away from her, otherwise I will remove your testicles with a corkscrew. Do you understand me?"

"You're not going to hurt me?"

"If you remember what I said and leave right now before I change my mind, I won't hurt you," I said.

I stepped aside and let Tredwell pass. As Tredwell stumbled toward his car I turned off my camera and dropped it onto the front seat of my car and picked up my cell phone.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"A very drunk man just drove out of the Kenwood Country Club. He is driving a Blue 2000 BMW; license number 'CTRED 1.' He is headed west on Kenwood Drive."

I gave the dispatcher my name and number so they would take the call seriously. Tredwell would have to be a complete fool to think I would allow him to walk away from this mess with no punishment.

I had to sit in my car for twenty minutes before I headed home so that I could calm down. I knew that Trish had to be behind a lot of the problems I was having at home but I was still shocked that she would actually pay someone to try and seduce her own daughter. I wanted to run home and throw Trish out on her ass but I wasn't ready for that yet.

***** Chapter 29 - Pleasant Chat with Thad Asshole

Tuesday I didn't even bother to call the office. I just took the day off to drive down to Lexington and drop some things off at Grandma Jean's house. 

Wednesday morning I told Megan that I needed to use her car and told her to take the old Toyota to work. Megan asked me what I needed her car for and I told her I just needed it to run an errand. I was still eating my breakfast when Megan left for work and I was drinking my third cup of coffee when Trish walked into the kitchen.

"I didn't know you were still home. Shouldn't you be a work?" Trish said.

"I have some things to do before I go into work. By the way, we are having a family meeting this evening. Be here at eight o'clock."

"I have an engagement this evening..."

"Trish, it is extremely important that you be here tonight so I think that you had better postpone your engagement."

"What's this about?" Trish said.

"You'll have to wait till tonight. You need to make sure Brandon is here also."

"Okay. We'll be here, but this better be good," Trish said.

I waited until one o'clock Wednesday afternoon before I went to the office. I spent an hour with personnel before going to my cubical. Leon spotted me as soon as I entered the room and came over to my cube.

"Jesus, Warren. Thad's pissed. He has been trying to get a hold of you all morning," Leon said.

I smiled at Leon.

"Good. I need you to do me a favor," I said.

"What?"

I handed Leon the J&S proposal.

"Don't tell anyone you have this proposal. I want you to hold onto this until Friday afternoon and then deliver it to Jacobs and Stargill before three o'clock," I said.

"What are you up too?" Leon asked.

"I am giving Mr. Thad Asshole a major case of heartburn," I said.

"You could get yourself fired for this," Leon said.

"You're probably right," I said. 

"You don't care?"

"No. I just wish I could be here when Thad has to tell Mr. Harris that he doesn't have the J&S proposal that he said he would take care of personally," I said.

Leon smiled at me. "I'll be sure to tell you how it goes down."

Just then we saw Thad coming out of his office.

"Leon, I think you should be somewhere else when Thad gets over here."

"I think you're right," Leon said.

Leon quickly headed back to his cubicle before Thad arrived at mine.

"Where the hell have you been?" Thad said.

"I told you, I was sick."

"Yeah, right. You had the flu. Where is the J&S proposal?" Thad said.

"Don't have it."

"You don't have it? Where the hell is it?"

"I didn't get it done," I said.

"How much more do you have to do?"

"All of it."

"You didn't do any of the proposal yet?" Thad shouted, his red face turning crimson.

"I didn't get around to it," I said.

"I should fire you right now," Thad said.

"You should but you can't," I said.

"What do you mean I can't fire you?" Thad said.

"You can't fire me because I already quit. I am only here to pack up my personal things."

Thad was so angry that spittle was flying from his mouth as he shouted.

"You just walk away from your responsibilities? You owe it to this company to finish the work that was assigned to you," he screamed.

"I have always completed my work," I said.

"The J&S proposal was your work and you didn't complete that."

"The J&S proposal was not my work, it was yours. You were just trying to get me to do it so you could take the credit."

Thad was beginning to have trouble breathing and had to sit down. I picked up the phone on my desk and dialed the number for the first aid station and told them that someone should come check on Thad. I waited until a paramedic showed up and then I left. 

On my way out the door I waved to Leon.

*****

After I left the office I took care of some bank business and headed home. I was home by three o'clock and used the rest of the afternoon to plan for the family meeting. Megan had planned to play tennis after work but I expected that she would be home early when she didn't find Tredwell waiting for her at the club. I didn't know when Trish might show up. I never knew what she did with herself during the day but I suspected that she spent her days hanging upside down in a cave somewhere. I didn't know what Brandon did during the day either. The big dope probably just hung around the country club pool trying to look less of a dork than he was.

Megan was the first to arrive home at 6:45, much earlier than expected. 

Megan gave me an angry look and said, "What did you do to Carl?" 

"What makes you think I did something to Carl?"

"He said that he can't play tennis with me anymore." 

"Carl and I had a chat the other day and I reasoned with him," I said. "I like reasonable people."

"Carl said that you threatened him."

"Well, your Mr. Tredwell is not a reasonable person."

"Why would you do that?" Megan said.

"We'll discuss this later, during the family meeting," I said.

"What family meeting?"

"I called a family meeting for tonight at eight."

"What's the meeting about?"

"It's a family meeting. You'll have to wait until the family is here to find out what the meeting is about," I said.

"What has gotten into you? Lately I don't know what you are going on about."

"You'll find out tonight at eight," I said and then I went to my study.

***** Chapter 30 - Family Meeting

I heard Trish and Brandon come into the house around 7:45. I was glad she was there but a little surprised that she showed up for a meeting that I had called.

When I came out of my study Trish stopped me.

"Can we get this meeting over with? I have somewhere else I need to be tonight."

"All right, if Megan is ready we can start now," I said.

"Brandon, go get your sister," Trish said.

Brandon and Megan returned a minute later.

"Okay, now what is this all about?" Trish asked.

"A lot of things have happened in the last few days that have forced me to make some changes. First of all, I lost my job. Actually I didn't lose my job. I mean, I know where it is, I'm just not going there to do that job anymore," I said.

"Oh, great, the genius got fired so the rest of us have to suffer," Trish said.

Megan just stared at me with wide-eyed concern.

"I didn't get fired, I quit. Anyway the affect is the same. Some belt tightening needs to be done, so I sold our country club membership effective the first of July. I returned the Lexus and canceled the lease. The dealer wasn't very happy but when I told him I couldn't pay for it he had no choice but to take the car back. "I also sold Brandon's guitar and amp on 'Craig's List' yesterday."

My audience had become very quiet. 

"Tomorrow, our real estate agent will be putting this house on the market so we will all have to find somewhere else to live. Well, actually you will all have to find somewhere else to live. I already have a place. I am moving back to Lexington."

Megan finally reacted with a gasp. "You're leaving me?"

"It looks that way. You chose sides against me with you mother so the three of you are on your own now," I said.

"I don't make enough to support the three of us. What am I supposed to do?" Megan asked.

"Why don't you ask Trish for help?" I said.

"How can she help? She doesn't have any money," Megan said.

"Is that right, Trish? You don't have any money?" I said.

"You already know that Harold left me broke," Trish said.

"That's funny because I talked to Harold last Saturday and that's not what he told me," I said.

The color drained from Trish's face and Megan just looked at me waiting for me to say more.

"It seems that Trish got a nice little settlement from the divorce that she decided to keep for herself," I said.

"Is that true, mom?" Megan said.

"Are you going to believe him? You know he has been trying to get rid of me since the day I moved in. He will say anything to come between us."

So that was the line that Trish has been feeding Megan. I was trying to come between them. Destroying her was going to be more fun than I thought.

"Megan, why don't you call your father and ask him about it?" I said.

"Your father is just as bad. You know he would lie to support Warren's story. They both want to ruin me," Trish said.

"Brandon, what is your father's name?" I asked.

Brandon hesitated a moment and looked at his mother before saying, "Harold Forester."

"No. I mean your real father, your biological father," I said. "I know the truth so don't lie. Don't look at your mother, just answer my question. Who is your real father?"

"Preston Matthews," Brandon said.

Megan turned to Trish, who had just collapsed onto the sofa.

"Is that true?" Megan asked.

"It's true," I said. "Trish has been having an ongoing affair with Brandon's father for about sixteen years. That's where she goes twice a week. Good ole Preston has a house over on Southacres Drive and that's where Trish goes to be with him."

Megan could tell by the expression on Trish's face that it was true. 

"Now back to the money," I said. "Trish got more than $600 thousand from the divorce settlement. She and Brandon have been living with us free of charge and good ole Preston has been paying all of Brandon's expenses. So where is all of Trish's money?" 

"Six hundred thousand dollars?" Megan said. 

"I handed Megan the printout of the divorce settlement. "Your father gave me this. I wrote his phone number on the upper right hand corner. You need to call him."

Megan was staring at her mother, anger written on her face, Brandon was trying to catch a moth that somehow had gotten in the house and I was observing the whole scene with a smile on my face.

"Mother, is all of this true?" Megan said.

Trish began to cry and said, "I was going to tell you everything when I first moved in but Warren immediately started trying to put a wedge between us so I was waiting, hoping things would get better between Warren and me before I told you."

I wondered if Trish's lie was as obvious to Megan as it was to me. 

"Trish, perhaps you can explain this," I said as I hit the play button on my camera. There on the large screen TV was the image of Carl Tredwell as he explained how Trish had paid him to try and seduce Megan. I had edited out the parts of the video where I had threatened Tredwell with the reconstructive surgery I proposed to perform on him if he didn't tell me the truth. 

Tears were streaming down Megan's face as she screamed at her mother. "How could you do that to me? I am your daughter. Why would you want to hurt me that way?"

Trish seemed to be in shock as she sat without speaking. Brandon? I think he had wandered out to the kitchen looking for something to eat.

"Warren?" Megan said. "Please don't leave me."

"I am sorry, Megan but I just can't be with you right now," I said. "You wouldn't listen to me. My life became a living hell and you couldn't see that. You were too busy enjoying the high society life your mother wanted to notice that it was ruining our marriage. I may get over this someday but for now I have to leave."

Megan stood silently as she watched me leave. I sat in my old pick up truck for a moment before pulling out of the driveway. I had thought that I would feel a greater satisfaction after the confrontation but all I felt was sadness.

***** Chapter 31 - My New Life

By September I had settled into my new life in Lexington. We had a buyer for the house on Kenwood Drive in less than a week. I didn't even bother to go to Cincinnati for the closing. I told the real estate agent to send me any papers that I needed to sign and then to send me a check for half of the proceeds from the house and give the other half to Megan. 

My life wasn't what I had wanted it to be. I wasn't sleeping well and I missed Megan terribly but I couldn't be with her. I felt as though a part of me was missing. On the bright side, I did manage to land a job in sales working for a large printer manufacturer in Lexington. 

One thing that I felt good about was that I was able to spend more time with Kate. I was able to bring her home to Grandma Jean's house to spend weekends in her old bedroom. I wanted to bring her home for good but I couldn't leave her by herself while I was at work. Kate didn't mind. She was happy to spend the weekends with me and seeing Kate happy made me feel that I was less of a shit for walking out on Megan the way I did.




Warren Butterfield Pt. 04



The first month we were apart, Megan had tried to call me three of four times a week but I wouldn't talk to her. I thought long and hard about everything that had happened over the last few years and although I knew that it wasn't Megan that had created the problems in our marriage, she is the one who refused to see the damage her mother was doing and had constantly taken Trish's side in disputes.

Buck and Mace came to visit but they made it clear that they thought that I should try to work things out with Megan. 

One Saturday afternoon in late September I had been out mowing the lawn and when I finished I went into the house and found Kate talking on the phone. Kate was laughing and chatting away like she was talking to an old friend. 

I walked over to ask her who she was talking to and she just handed me the phone.

"Hello?" 

"Warren?"

It was Megan. I didn't want to talk to her but I couldn't hang up on her either.

"Hi."

"How have you been?"

"I'd rather not talk about that," I said.

"I understand," Megan said.

Then for the next ten minutes we talked about my new job and how Kate was doing. Megan started to say something about Trish and I stopped her. 

"Don't mention that woman to me... Ever."

"Sorry. Did you know that I went to see my father?"

"Yes. I talked to him last week," I said.

After that we were both silent for a minute.

"Would it be all right if I called Kate again?" Megan asked.

"Yes. I think Kate would like that," I said.

"When I call, would you talk to me too?"

"I guess," I said.

"Next week then?"

"Okay," I said and then Megan hung up.

That became the pattern for the next few months. Megan would usually call on Saturday or Sunday and I would let Kate answer that phone. Somehow that made it seem that Megan was calling to talk to her instead of me and that was the way I wanted it even though I had started looking forward to her calls.

***** Chapter 32 - Shrinkage

It was in November that I finally decided that I had a problem and I needed help. I couldn't seem to get past what had happened to my marriage. I hadn't been able to sleep well since before the break up. While I couldn't bring myself to go see Megan it would bother me if she didn't call when I expected her to call. I tried to tell myself that I was disappointed if Megan didn't call Kate but part of me knew that I wanted to talk to her too. 

I just couldn't make myself move on. So, in November I went to see a psychologist and for the next two and half months he frustrated the hell out of me. I went to Dr. Snyder hoping he would tell me what I needed to do to get on with my life. Instead of giving me answers he just gave me questions, often the same questions over and over.

My last session with Dr. Snyder was mid-January.

"Warren, how are you feeling today?"

"Same as always."

"What would you like to talk about today?" Dr. Snyder said.

"I want to know what I should do to make myself feel better," I said.

"What do you want to feel better about?"

"The same thing as always. The breakup of my marriage," I said.

"Have you filed for a divorce yet?"

"You know that I haven't. Why do you keep asking that question?" I said.

"I think it is important. Why haven't you filed?"

"Why should I have to do that? Let Megan file," I said.

"Why did your marriage break up? Was your wife unfaithful to you?"

"I told you before, Megan was not unfaithful. She never cheated on me. But she let her mother ruin my life."

"So you blame Megan for her mother's actions."

"No... Yes... I don't know. That fucking bitch ruined my life," I said.

"Megan ruined your life?"

"No. Not Megan, her mother."

"But you blame Megan."

"Yes."

"When Megan's mother first moved in with you, did you see any reason Megan shouldn't trust her mother?"

"No."

"When she first moved in, did you trust Megan's mother?"

"Yes."

"When did you start to distrust Megan's mother?"

"I don't know exactly when I started to distrust Trish. It was kind of a gradual thing."

"And you think that Megan should have noticed the same things you did?"

"Yes."

"So you felt that Megan should have distrusted her mother?"

"She should have seen what Trish was up to. She should have listened to me," I said.

"Where you aware of anything that Trish had done prior to moving in with you that made you not trust her?" Dr. Snyder asked.

"No. She always seemed nice."

"Did Megan ever say anything about her childhood that made you think her mother was a bad person?"

"No."

"But you believe that Megan should have picked up on her mother's evil ways as quickly as you did?"

"Maybe not as quickly but she should have eventually seen that something was wrong."

"You said before that you were having problems at work during this time," Dr. Snyder said.

"Yes."

"Were these problems caused by Megan?"

"My problems at work? No. Of course not."

"Was Megan's mother responsible for your problems at work?"

"No. My problem at work was my boss. He and the fact that I hated my job," I said.

"So, your job and your marriage problems were completely separate issues that were happening at the same time?"

"Yes."

"I guess you were pretty angry all of the time."

"Not all of the time but I was angry a lot of the time."

"Do you think that anger affected the way you saw things?"

"How the hell should I know? Maybe it did."

"Do you want a divorce?" Dr. Snyder said.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" 

"Because you never give me a straight answer. Let's say that Megan never files for a divorce, will you file?"

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about that."

"You should think about it. Do you think that if your wife wanted a divorce she would have filed already?"

"I guess so." 

"So what do you want to do?" Dr. Snyder said.

"Why can't you just tell me what to do?" I said.

"Warren, you are not sick; you are just confused about your feelings. I can't tell you how to feel or what to do. All I can do is help you clear the cobwebs from your mind so that you can make your own decisions. Let me ask you this? Do you hate your wife?"

"No."

"Are you so angry with her that you want to hurt her?"

"No."

"Do you wish she would just go away and leave you alone?"

"Yes... No... Shit, I don't know."

"I think you do know, Warren. You don't need to answer this one, Warren, just think about it until our next meeting. If Megan were here right now, would you want to hug her or scream at her?"

"If Megan were here right now?" The first image that came to my mind was the way she was looking at me with her big blue eyes full of tears as I walked out of the house. I didn't want to think about that. 

"I don't want to hurt Megan."

I couldn't get that image of Megan out of my head as I drove home after the session. 

***** Chapter 33 The Ambush

Later that week I got a call from Mace telling me that he and Buck were going to come down to see me on Sunday. I hadn't seen them in about a month so I was happy that they were coming to visit. 

When Buck and Mace arrived Paula and Georgia were with them. I hadn't expected to see the girls but I invited them all into the house. We talked for a few minutes about nothing important and then during a lull in the conversation I saw Paula jab Buck with her elbow and then she tilted her head toward me.

"Hey, why don't I go pick up a pizza?" Buck suggested.

"Good idea, I'll go with you," Mace said.

I somehow knew what was coming next. I tried to suggest that we just order a pizza and have it delivered but Buck and Mace insisted that they would have to go pick it up. On the way out the door Mace whispered, "Sorry, man."

As soon as the door closed, Georgia asked me to come back and sit with them. The two women were sitting on the sofa so I sat in a chair facing them.

"Do you have any idea how much pain you have caused Megan?" Georgia asked.

"This isn't my fault," I said in my defense.

"It wasn't Megan's fault either. It was that evil mother of hers," Paula said. "Megan is miserable. You have to go see her. She still loves you."

"If she loves me why didn't she see what her mother was doing to me?" I said.

"Her mother was doing it to both of you," Paula said. 

"Why are you being so stubborn?" Georgia said. "It's obvious that you aren't happy without her. Just talk to her."

"I do talk to her almost every weekend," I said

"Oh, wow. You speak to her on the phone for about ten minutes but you won't let her talk about what happened with her mother," Georgia said.

"Don't get us wrong, Butter, we are not taking sides," Paula said. "We care a lot about both of you and we know that the two of you belong together. Go see Megan."

"I know, I know... I am going to have to talk to her sometime but I am not sure that I am ready yet," I said.

"It's time to pull yourself together and get ready," Georgia said. "Megan loves you and she wants to be with you. It's up to you. You're the only one that can make this better."

The beating lasted another twenty minutes, until Mace and Buck finally came back and pulled their women off me. Figuratively speaking, that is. 

There was no more talk of Megan until the four of them were leaving. On their way out the door, Paula kissed me on the cheek and said, "Go see her." 

***** Chapter 34 - Could I Forgive Megan?

The following Saturday Megan called Kate and talked for a while and then asked to speak with me as usual. 

"Butter, I need to ask you something important," she said.

I felt my stomach tighten up. "Okay, ask."

"Do you think you can ever forgive me?" Megan said.

I don't know where the answer came from because I don't remember even thinking about it.

"I think so."

There seemed to be a catch in Megan's voice when she spoke again. 

"Can we meet to talk about this face to face?"

"I guess it's about time we talked," I said. "When do you want to do this?"

"Can you come up Saturday?" I could hear the hope in her voice.

I thought about that for a moment. "I guess so. Where would you like to meet?"

"Why don't you come to my apartment?"

"I'd rather meet somewhere neutral."

"Okay, how about the Stonewood Café over by Embshoff Woods Park?" Megan said.

"That's a few blocks from our old house, isn't it?"

"Yes. Is that all right?" Megan said.

"That's fine. I'll meet you there Saturday afternoon at two o'clock," I said.

"Thanks. Butter?"

"What?"

"I miss you," Megan said.

I almost told her that I missed her too but I said, "See you Saturday," instead.

Chapter 35 - Under the Weather

I went to the home to see Kate on Friday evening and took her out for dinner. I told her I wouldn't be able to bring her home with me that night because I had to go to Cincinnati to see Megan the next day.

"That's all right, Warren. Can I go with you the next time you go to see Megan?" Kate said.

"Yes. I am sure that Megan would love to see you," I said.

It was thirty-four degrees and raining when I dropped Kate back at the home. As I drove home I was beginning to feel a little queasy. Apparently I was more nervous about seeing Megan the next day than I expected. By the time I got home my stomach was in real turmoil and I felt weak legged when I got out of my car to walk into the house. I began to wonder if something I had eaten disagreed with me. 

I went straight to bed and fell into a restless sleep only to wake at 2:00 AM with stomach cramps. I spent the next forty-five minutes in the bathroom with the most severe case of diarrhea I could ever remember having. When it ended my stomach hurt and I was covered with sweat. 

I finally got back to bed but only slept for an hour before I had to return to the bathroom this time to vomit. I won't describe this other than to say that when it was over I didn't have the strength to go all the way back to my bedroom so I collapsed on the sofa.

In the morning I didn't feel much better. I tried to eat some toast for breakfast but ended up depositing it in the toilet just minutes after swallowing it. I didn't try to eat anything else after that. I couldn't have, even if I wanted to. 

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered Grandma Jean saying that ginger brandy was good for settling an upset stomach so I went to the pantry to find the ginger brandy. There wasn't any so I grabbed a bottle of bourbon and took it back to the living room with me. I can tell you that that was a very bad idea. As soon as I removed the cap from the bottle and I smelled the bourbon I was headed back to the bathroom to chant 'BUICK' at the porcelain temple. I must have fallen asleep for a while because the next thing I was aware of was my phone ringing. It took me a moment to realize what the noise was and then I jumped up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"If you didn't want to see me why didn't you just tell me? You got my hopes up and then you stood me up. That was cruel."

"Megan?"

"Why didn't you come?" Megan said.

I must have stood up too quickly because all of a sudden my head was spinning. 

"Megan, I'm... Oh, shit," was all I managed to say before I fell to the floor. I tried to reach for the phone again but my stomach had other ideas and I had to crawl back to the bathroom again.

After ten minutes of dry heaves I managed to walk back to the sofa, where I collapsed, and then fell asleep. 

The next thing I remember was someone banging on the door. The lights were on in the house and it was dark outside so I couldn't see who was at the door.

"Damn it, Warren, open this door," I heard some one yelling. 

I couldn't seem to make myself move. I tried to get up and I almost knocked over the bourbon bottle over. To keep it from falling I grabbed the bottle around the neck and picked it up then the pounding started again. 

"Don't ignore me, Warren, open the door."

I managed to push myself into a standing position and I staggered toward the door. My head was spinning again and I was having trouble concentrating on what I was doing. When I opened the door I found Megan standing on the porch. She looked at me and then looked into the living room were I had been sleeping.

"You're drunk. You stood me up so you could get drunk?" Megan said.

"No... I..." I started to say but then I heard a loud bang and I fell to the floor.

"What the fuck? Megan, you shot me," I tried to say but my words didn't sound right.

Why would she shoot me? Just because I didn't drive up to see her, was I going to die because I didn't go to see her?

Megan bent down over me and started talking but I couldn't understand anything she was saying. She put her fingers on my neck and I heard her say, "Oh, my God." 

I guessed that she was checking to see if I was dead yet and was disappointed to find me still alive. Megan got up and ran from the room and it sounded like she went into the kitchen.  I could hear her talking but I don't think she was talking to me. I could only make out two words. "Please hurry."  

Then I heard her open the refrigerator. Could she really be so cold that she would shoot me and then go looking for something to eat? 

I must have passed out for a few minutes but when I woke up I felt cold and my back and sides felt wet. I figured that I was lying in a pool of my own blood and I wondered if Megan was really going to let me die. Megan came back into the room and knelt next to me and tried to push something down over my face. It appeared that she was trying to suffocate me and I fought her off as best I could. 

I couldn't seem to stay conscious. I was fading in and out and at one point I woke to find a man trying to stick a needle in my arm. I pulled my arm away from him and tried to push him away from me. Apparently Megan found someone to help her finish me off? 

"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked, but no one responded.

Suddenly a second man appeared and he held my arm down and strapped it to something so that the first guy could stick me with his needle. After that I don't remember anything until I woke later in an unfamiliar room. 

***** Chapter 36 - My Confusion

I felt dizzy and confused and I wondered for a moment if I was dead.  It took me several minutes to realize that somebody must have saved me and that I was in a hospital room.  I tried to move and nearly panicked when I couldn't move my arms or legs. I must have made some noise because a nurse appeared next to my bed. I tried to speak to her but my mouth was so dry that I couldn't form any words. The nurse stuck a thermometer in my mouth and held it there until it beeped. When she looked at the thermometer the nurse said, "That's a little better," and then she wrote something on the clipboard hanging at the end of my bed.

"The doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes," she said as she left the room. She returned a few moments later with a cup of ice. She gently put a spoonful of the ice in my mouth. 

"Just let it melt before you swallow," she said. 

I did as she instructed and then opened my mouth for more.

The cold water felt good as it went down my sore throat. I had finished about half of the ice in the cup before I tried to speak. It was difficult but I did manage to get the words out and I could almost understand was I was saying.

"Am I going to die?" I asked.

"No. You should be fine in a couple of days," the nurse said.

"Did I lose a lot of blood?" I said.

Instead of answering me she looked over toward the door. I turned to look in the same direction and saw a man dressed in hospital scrubs entering the room.

"Mr. Butterfield, I'm Doctor Burnside," he said as he approached and picked up the chart hanging at the end of the bed. Dr. Burnside studied the chart for a minute and then said, "Now what was your question about blood loss?"

"Did I lose a lot of blood?"

The doctor looked puzzled. "You didn't lose any blood," he said. "Why would you think you lost blood?"

"Don't you usually lose blood when you get shot?" I said.

"But you weren't shot," he said.

"What are you talking about?" I said. "My wife shot me."

"No one shot you, Mr. Butterfield," Dr. Burnside said. "You have the flu. My understanding is that your wife saved your life."

"Saved my life? You don't understand," I said. "Megan shot me"

"I wasn't on duty last night when you came in so I don't know all of the details. All I have to go on is your chart and according to that you were brought into the hospital suffering from a high fever and dehydration."

I tried to remember exactly what happened and what the doctor was telling me didn't make sense. Had Megan managed to get the hospital staff to help her cover up her attempt to kill me? I thought that must be it. I began to wonder if I would be allowed to leave the hospital alive. 

"Would you like to see your wife now?" the nurse asked. "I think she is in the cafeteria. She has been here all night but she went to get a cup of coffee about ten minutes ago."

I worried that Megan would try to finish me off as soon as she was alone with me but suddenly that didn't make sense to me either. If she wanted me dead why didn't she finish me off at Grandma Jean's house? I tried again to remember everything that happened. I remembered opening the front door and finding Megan standing there. I remembered that she yelled at me but I could no longer remember what she said and then she shot me. 

Where was the gun? I never saw a gun. I just heard a bang and then I fell to the floor. The rest of my memories were just a jumble of visions of strange things happening.

"Mr. Butterfield? Would you like me to go find your wife?" The nurse said.

"I guess so," I said. I hoped that things would become clearer to me if I confronted Megan about what happened.

***** Chapter 37 - Why Did You Shoot Me?




Warren Butterfield Pt. 04



When Megan came into the room she immediately came over to me and kissed me on the forehead. 

"You're still hot," she said.

"What does that mean?" I said.

"You still have a fever," she said.

The doctor had already left the room but the nurse was still there when Megan came in so I waited until she left before I confronted Megan.

"So why didn't you finish what you started last night?" I said.

"Finish what?

"You tried to kill me but for some reason you didn't finish the job. Why?"

"What are you talking about?" Megan said.

"Come on. We both know what you did. I just don't know how you got the hospital to help you cover up the fact that you shot me," I said.

I don't know what reaction I was expecting from Megan but the one I got was a surprise. She laughed. Not long or hard but she laughed. She tried to hide it by covering her mouth with her hand but I saw her laugh. 

Megan quickly regained her composure and said, "I'm sorry. I know this isn't funny to you but why on earth would you think that I shot you?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're still mad at me for leaving you the way I did or maybe because I stood you up for our meeting Saturday afternoon. You were certainly angry when you came to Grandma Jean's last night. My memory of what happened isn't real clear but I do remember that when I opened the door you yelled at me and then you shot me," I said.

"What else do you remember?" Megan asked.

I took a moment to get what I remembered straight in my head and then I recounted the story to Megan.

"After you shot me I heard you in the kitchen. It sounded like you were talking to someone and looking for something to eat in the refrigerator. I remember feeling cold and wet from the pool of blood I was lying in and then seeing you trying to put something over my face to suffocate me. I figure you must have called some friends for help because two guys showed up and one of them tied me down while the other stuck a needle in my arm. That was the last thing I remembered before I woke up here." 

"And you really think I shot you?" Megan said.

"Yes."

"And what you remember about last night fits with the idea that I shot you?"

"Yes... I think. I don't know. Things are still a little cloudy to me."

"Your fever is making your thinking a little fuzzy. Try thinking about this: if I shot you, where is the bullet wound?" Megan said.

"I don't know. They have my hands tied to the bed so I can't examine myself." I said.

"They strapped your arms and legs down to keep you from pulling out your IV," Megan said and then she removed my arm and leg restraints. "See if you can find your bullet wound now."

I lowered the sheet that was covering me and pulled my hospital gown up until I could see my chest. To my surprise I found no bandages or any other sign of a wound. 

"Do you feel any pain?" Megan asked.

"Yes. I have a bad headache and a very sore throat," I said.

"That's right. One of the first things we learned in nursing school was that headache and sore throat are definite symptoms of a gunshot wound. I almost forgot," Megan said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"I am glad that you think this is so funny," I said. "I am becoming more confused by the minute and nothing seems to make sense to me. So why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Do you really think I find it funny that only man I have ever loved almost died and now he thinks that I tried to kill him. I laughed only because I think I know why you think I shot you, not because I think it's funny that you think that. Do you understand?"

"What the hell did you just say?"

"When you didn't show up for our meeting yesterday afternoon I called to ask you why. Do you remember that?"

"Vaguely," I said.

"When I called I asked you why you didn't come to see me and all you said was, 'Oh, Shit' and then it sounded like you dropped the phone. I could still hear you but you didn't come back on the line. I was angry about being stood up and concerned about the way you dropped the phone and didn't pick it up again. I was worried about what might have happened so I got in the car and drove down to Lexington. 

"When I finally got to your door I could see you lying on the sofa in the living room but you didn't respond to my knocking on the door right away. I almost gave up and left but then I saw the telephone lying on the floor near the sofa and that worried me, so I kept banging on the door.

"Try to imagine what I thought when I saw you get up and stagger to the door. Then when you opened the door you had to hang onto the doorcase with your right hand to stay on your feet and you were carrying a bottle of bourbon in your left hand. I was pissed. I thought you had decided to skip our meeting and get drunk instead. I had just started to tell you what I thought when the bottle dropped from your hand and smashed on the floor and you collapsed backwards and fell to the floor.

"I reached down to check your pulse and as soon as I touched your neck I could tell that you were burning up with a fever. I got a thermometer out of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and took your temperature. It was over 105 degrees. A fever that high can be fatal. What you heard me doing in the kitchen was getting ice out of the freezer and calling 911 to get an ambulance.

"I put the ice behind your neck and in your armpits. That cold and wet feeling you had was the ice melting around you, not a pool of blood. When you thought I was trying to suffocate you I was trying to put a cold compress on your head. The two men you saw were the paramedics that responded to my call. They had to strap you to the gurney so that they could start an IV because you kept fighting them."

"Is that true?" I said. I was getting more confused by the minute.

"Of course. If you were thinking clearer you would know that it was," Megan said.

"If I wasn't shot then what is wrong with me?"

"You have a very severe case of the flu," Megan said. "When I found you, you had a dangerously high fever, you were delirious and you were extremely dehydrated. They have been pushing fluids into you since last night and your hydration is getting back to normal but your fever is still higher than we want but you are going to recover."

I was still having a problem making sense out of things but what Megan told me did seem to fit the facts and made more sense than what I had originally believed happened. 

I looked up into Megan's big blue eyes and I couldn't think of anything to say to her. I tried but no words would come to me so I started to cry. My tears felt hot as they ran down my cheeks. I could see the tears starting to form in Megan's eyes just before she turned away from me to pick up a cold compress, which she then placed on my forehead.

"Why don't you get some sleep now, Butter?" Megan said. "I'll be here if you need anything."

Then Megan kissed me on the cheek and said, "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

I tried to blink back my tears but they didn't cooperate. I tried to speak but the lump in my throat wouldn't allow it so I just smiled at her.

***** Chapter 38 - The Darkness, Then the Dawn

I must have slept for a few hours because when I woke up I could see that it was dark outside. Megan was sitting in a chair by the window reading a magazine and didn't notice that I was looking at her. She looked so beautiful sitting there that it made my heart ache. 

When Megan finally looked over at me and saw that I was awake she jumped out of her chair and came over to the bed. 

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty much like a pile of crap," I said.

"Well, that should be an improvement over the way you felt yesterday," Megan said and then she held a cup of cold water so that I could get the straw into my mouth and I took a long swallow. 

The rest of that night I spent in a restless sleep. Every time I woke up I found Megan sitting in the same chair by the window. The first couple of times she was reading, the last time she was asleep. Watching her was both a pleasure and a pain. My thinking was getting clearer and I was beginning to realize how crazy it was for me to think that Megan had shot me. Then I began thinking about how great things had been between us before Trish came to live with us. Even while Trish was trying to destroy our marriage I felt that Megan loved me. That is until I had become suspicious that she was having an affair. But Megan didn't have an affair, so why was I living by myself in Grandma Jean's house instead of being with Megan?

As much as I loved Megan I still hadn't been able to forgive her for not seeing what her mother was up to. If Megan and I were ever going to be together I was going to have to be able to get past that. Such were my thoughts as I tried to sleep that night. 

When morning finally arrived I awoke to find Megan wiping my face with a cool cloth. 

"Do you feel up to eating some breakfast?" Megan asked. 

"I am hungry but I am afraid that I won't be able to keep it down," I said. 

"You should be all right now. Your fever broke last night."

My breakfast arrived about twenty minutes later. It consisted of something white, something brown and a glass of something that was either apple juice or a urine specimen. I found out later that the white stuff was an egg and the brown stuff was a sausage patty although I never would have known that by tasting them.

After eating, I asked Megan when I would be released from the hospital.

"I think that since your fever broke the doctor will probably let you go home today," Megan said. "If he does, I would like to come stay with you at least until you feel well enough to go back to work."

I looked into those big blue eyes and responded the only way I could. "That would be nice."

The doctor came in at ten o'clock and checked me over and told me I could go home. Of course it was another hour and a half before I was finally on my way home in Megan's eight-year old Toyota.

We didn't talk much on the ride home. When we walked into the house the first thing I noticed was the strong smell of bourbon and then I saw the broken bottle on the floor.

"I need to clean up that mess," I said.

"You are going straight to bed. I'll clean that up while you get some sleep," Megan said.

"All I have done for the last twenty-four hours is sleep."

"It's what your body needs right now," Megan said. "Tomorrow, if you are feeling up to it, we'll talk."

***** Chapter 38 - The Talk

Tuesday morning I was feeling much better. I still felt a bit weak but my head didn't hurt and my throat wasn't sore and my appetite had returned. After I ate a large breakfast and drank two cups of coffee, Megan joined me in the living room to talk. I still felt that I was the wronged party so I waited for Megan to begin the conversation. I could tell she was nervous by the way she kept pacing around the room before she started to speak. 

"Warren, I am sorry for what happened," Megan started, "but keep in mind that what my mother did, she did to both of us, not just you. You have to know that if I had any clue as to what Trish was up to I would have thrown her out of the house myself. What she did hurt me terribly but what you did was even worse."

"What I did? How does that compare to what Trish did?" I said.

"You found out what Trish was up to and never said a word to me until you decided to drop your little bomb on us," Megan said. "How do you think it made me feel to find out that my own mother hated me so much that she was trying to ruin my life? I needed you more then than I had ever needed you and you just walked away from me. You blamed me for everything and left me with nobody I could turn to for support."

This was not what I expect Megan to say to me. I expected her to be contrite and apologetic. I never expected that she would attack me.

"What did you expect me to do?" I said. "Trish and Brandon invaded our home and turned my life upside down. It seemed to me that Trish made it very obvious that she didn't think I was good enough for you and I didn't see you defending me. Trish made decisions about how we should furnish our house, where we should live, what clubs we should join, and what car you should drive. In the end she even tried to pick the man you should have an affair with and you never doubted her but you sure seemed to doubt me. Any time I tried to tell you about her you didn't want to hear it."

"I just thought that you and Trish were having problems getting along. I felt like I was stuck in the middle, trying to keep the peace. I would never in my life have thought that my mother would want to hurt me. I believed that she loved me and just wanted what was best for me. I just thought that her problems with you were trust issues caused by my father walking out on her. I'm sorry. I am truly sorry. By believing her lies I let both of us down but you have to know that I never stopped loving you. I never did anything that I thought would hurt you or our marriage. I guess I was wrong about a few things but so were you. You actually believed that I was having an affair. The thought of cheating on you never entered my mind but you didn't trust me enough to talk to me about your suspicions. I was always trying to find a way to make things better for you." 

As I listened to her I started to see her side of things. Maybe I should have confronted her when I thought she was having an affair and maybe I should have told her what I found out about Trish and stood beside her while she dealt with it. I let my anger blind me to Megan's needs. I began to realize that while I was trying to find a way to forgive Megan, she was also going to have to find a way to forgive me too.

"It may interest you to know," Megan said, "that Trish moved out of the house that night. I think she moved into the house that Brandon's father owns over on the west side of town. When she left I told her that she owed me for the time she and Brandon spent living with us and, if she didn't pay up, I would sue her. I was so angry that I called Mrs. Preston Matthews and told her about her husband's affair with my mother and that Brandon was his son. She didn't say much on the phone and I have no idea what happened after that. Trish sent me a check for 250 thousand dollars and a note that only said, 'I'm sorry.'  I haven't heard from her since and I have no intention of trying to contact her. As far as I am concerned she is dead to me."

'The last time we talked on the phone you asked me if I thought that I could ever forgive you," I said. "After what you have said I wonder if you will ever forgive me."

"I've already forgiven you. I was hurt and angry when you left me but I love you too much to stay angry at you," Megan said. "I just think that it is important for you to understand that this wasn't easy for me either. I know you were hurting when you left me. You felt that I had betrayed you by not standing beside you. It was painful to you because you thought that you had lost me. You may not believe this but for me it was worse. I lost you and my mother the same day. I am not trying to blame you for anything that happened. I just want you to understand that I am hurting too."

Suddenly I didn't want to argue with Megan.  The anger and hurt I had felt didn't seem important anymore. The only thing that mattered to me was Megan.

"Where do we go from here?" I said. "Have you thought about that?"

"That is all I have thought about for the last five months," Megan said.

"So, what do you see happening here?

"I see us getting back together," Megan said. "I've found a job at an outpatient surgery center here in Lexington. I was already planning on moving down here next week. That was one of the things that I had wanted to talk about with you on Saturday. Now it's up to you whether I move in here with you or if I have to find somewhere else to live."

"I guess I have no choice," I said. "I almost died without you, literally and figuratively. I need you and I want you to be with me for the rest of my life."

Megan came and sat with me on the sofa and we held each other without speaking for a long time.

"I love you, Warren Butterfield," Megan whispered and then she kissed me on the mouth. 

"Be careful," I said. "I have the flu."

"You're forgetting that I'm a nurse," Megan said, "I have had my flu shot." Then she kissed me again and this time I kissed her back.

The End