88 comments/ 11416 views/ 9 favorites Words: The Conclusion By: c1992w Thanks to Jezzaz's O.K. for my conclusion to his original submission entitled, "Words." This submission, like his original, has no hot sex. The reader might re-read or review Jezzaz's thought provoking work about the Mediator, Mike. In it, the wife Kristi and her secret lover, James, plead with Mike, Kristi's husband, to accept an open triangular marriage. Mike rejected her plea, and In his anger, violently threw both his wife and her lover out of his apartment. The action picks up below just outside the cuckolded husband's apartment. All the mistakes are mine in that I do not use an Editor. ***** Words: The Sequel Kristi and James were now outside her and her husband's apartment, and she limped James towards his car. James' first thought was that her husband, Mike, had broken his finger and possibly his nose, and his immediate need was to have medical attention in an emergency, 24-hour clinic, like right now. For the first time, he asked himself, "Is pussy from a scatterbrain's worth an injured finger and a bloody nose - and it could have been our death? He turned toward his previously secret lover and said, "Kristi, you damned sure underestimated your husband's response to your open marriage proposal - sometimes I think you are stupid, Woman. You obviously don't know your husband. You don't know me either, for that matter. Hell, you can't even predict the public's response to a new museum piece you purchase with the allocation of scarce donated funds." James sat down carefully in his car, protecting his injured finger and dabbing at his still bleeding nose. After Kristi had sat down beside him, she looked at her lover feeling dizzy while a knot formed in her stomach. Her thoughts at that moment were, "James is fighting mad because I guessed wrong about what my husband's reaction to my open marriage proposal would be. Hell, maybe I don't know my husband even after 11 years. For that matter, James, who should have been fully supportive, has questioned my competence as a Curator. If I were more than just a pussy to him, he surely would use only supportive language. Damn, do I even know James, either? Well, to give him credit, he conducts excellent tours for the museum visitors while the other tour guide doesn't make the displays come alive the way his does. But, that doesn't mean my acquisitions are the wrong ones. Damn it, I do know what I am doing there. Or do I? The museum board keeps harping that the annual budget assumes that ticket sales plus museum store profits should cover daily operating expenses. Is it possible that hubris, rather than ability, is my thing - and maybe James, like my husband, will not go to the ends of the earth to gain and keep my love as well. But, whatever the case, I must get past this and go on with my life." Later Kristi sat in the waiting room of the Emergency Medical Clinic and awaited James to come out of the examination area. The magazines were outdated and were mostly children's publications. Bored, she cursed because she didn't have her iPad and tried to kill time reading her cell phone. The more she read the news stories, the more distraught she became just reading the crap, and, worse, soon her contact lenses started to fog. Then she remembered that she didn't get a chance to pack solvent for her lenses before Mike had abruptly kicked her and James out. She almost lost it when she recalled that Mike had flushed her wonderful wedding rings down the toilet. This moment was her first where she had a pointed, introspective thought: "What have I done?" In what seemed like hours later, James and a lady in white came out laughing at something humorous that one of them had said. Kristi spotted his plaster cast finger as James came into the waiting room. The two were walking beside each other, when she touched him on his shoulder and said, "Don't forget to call me, James, especially if that finger gives you trouble," and then turned to re-enter the treatment area. James ignored Kristi and walked straight to the cashier with a smile still on his face. Kristi had a moment of panic watching the whole scene and thinking, "That was an example of the 'touching' that Mike referred to, and it is obvious to me that the woman was hitting on my man right in front of me out in public. Damn it!" Once the two lovers were back in his car, James began rapidly talking about unimportant things. For example, his nervous talk was about things like the Latin names of the small finger bones including the delicate structure of one broken. He complained about the wait time while the doctor mostly ignored him as he worked several exam rooms. James even complimented the staff physician's skill in casting the finger, and how the physician assistant made a neat looking plaster cast for his finger. She had even cracked a joke while busy working on his finger. At this feel-good moment, his interest in replaying what had happened in the Absalom apartment struck him as distasteful, and not worth discussing or thinking about further. He thought, "Damn! Monday morning quarterbacking about her performance in front of her husband is very depressing and left a bad taste in my mouth. I will connect with Sandra, that physician's assistant, as he glanced at the phone number she had indelibly penciled on his plaster cast." Unable to help himself, a large grin broke out on his face at this somber moment. Breaking his exciting thoughts, he became aware the Kristi was talking to him, and then he focused on her words. "...Intervention didn't work like I thought it would. I am sorry he was violent, but I was so certain Mike would accept my proposal. But, we still have each other. Honey, we will get through this rough spot, and enjoy each other's company 24/7, right, dear James?" James glanced at her briefly and lied, "Yeah." The driver navigated the stop-and-go thoroughfare, and for the first time, he spoke of the incident in her apartment. "Kristi, we both were naive to go through with your planned, so-called intervention - especially you, when you thought he loved you so much until he would shrug and go along with your proposal. Why couldn't we have just continued balling on the side? Every fucking body was happy with that arrangement we had except you. You know, I didn't think about this before, but now we will hang out together 24/7 since we are at work together all day, and you will be shacked up with me until you find an apartment. Is that seeing too much of each other? Will we get on each other's nerves? That degree of 'togetherness' does not work for couples. Damn! Damn! Damn! How could we both be that stupid and confront Mike," as he pounded the steering wheel with his good hand?" Kristi was frightened and quiet for a moment. She finally blasted, "Maybe my husband was not the only one I didn't know as it seems that I didn't know you either. Yes, I thought he would acquiesce and accept a three-some, and I also thought you loved me unconditionally and would just be happy to have me to yourself just in case he didn't agree. You don't support my effort and something is wrong with this picture, James." Her lover was quiet and thought, "What is she saying? Damn, I even got a hard on back there when the Physician Assistant, Sandra, sporting an ostentatious diamond on her finger, acted as if she wanted my body. Damn, the truth is I have a fucked up mind, and I like fucking married women... But, I must play the game with Kristi for a while and gradually ease her out of my life - she could cause trouble for my career." He looked at his lover with a smile and lied, "Hey! We will get through this, Sweetheart. We both are upset right now. Let's go to my apartment and enjoy the best of a bad situation." -- Mike Absalom finished his two shots of Peach Vodka and shook himself awake. He canceled their one joint credit card with the intention of using only his corporate card for personal daily use. He made a note in his day planner to inform the Comptroller what and why he was doing this, and then reasoned out loud, "This a 50-50 divorce state so I will just file using the nonsense, 'incompatible.' clause. So, he made another note to ask company counsel to recommend an out-of-work domestic relations attorney. He then called Kristi's parents, he asked, "Is my brother, John, home on leave by any chance right now." After being told, "John's current assignment is at Fort McCord, just down the highway." Kristi's Mom gave him John's cell phone number. At that point, Mike felt himself cooling down his anger as he started to mediate between the two opinions he held about Kristi. Mike's internal dialog for the first opinion was "Well, you and Kristi are unsuited for each other, to be sure, but eleven years of adjusting has to count for something. The second was, Yes, you do love her, and there is now a huge void but, she fucks around, and there is no happy ending for that kind of relationship. Biochemistry is such that being in love with a man while fucking someone else can not happen. But, as much as I already miss her, I must breathe 'thanks' to her for coming clean before I was an old man. Enough of this shit: go out and eat some spaghetti to shore up your energy - at least Kristi could have cooked dinner before the Intervention." At that moment, tears gushed from his eyes and his internal struggle made it almost impossible to muster his business-as-usual face and get ready to go out to eat. He washed his face thoroughly with soap and felt measurably better. Mike Absalom decided on Hooters for dinner since it was close by, his ex certainly would not be there, and the famous big honkers just might start to renew his interest in the female of the species. He had finished dinner and had gone outside to enjoy a cigar and an Amaretto-coffee. The number one reason for sitting on their patio was, however, to get away from the brain numbing music that pounded on the inside. The Mediator had been known to like some of that music but not after his guts had just been ripped out of his body. His cell rang and after identifying the caller as Lieutenant Colonel John Fenton, Mike said, "Greetings John Fenton, my favorite brother. How ya doing nowadays?" For five minutes they both swapped minutia about Army life and mediating between principals who hate each other, and then Mike said, "John, Kristi and I are not together anymore. She will be served with a divorce petition probably Tuesday. Her key will no longer fit the lock after tomorrow, but the elderly couple in apartment 245 will have the spare, and they never go anywhere. Would you escort Kristi to get her personal things and help her move them out of the apartment? As for dividing up furniture and similar things, please don't let her go there because the divorce court will address that." John said, "Damn Mike, this is unbelievable. I won't pry, but the odds are that the wild girl she once was, before your stint with her, surfaced again. You know, I think we have had this conversation in future-tense before, haven't we, Guy?" He replied, "Well, sort of. At any rate, I am flying Tuesday morning, and she may need clean underwear, etc. - uh, as she left rather abruptly. So I would appreciate it if you did this little task for me, and I will buy dinner the next time we meet for a drink. Will you do that for an old friend?" "Yeah, Mike. I will plan on a personal business day off and drive up either Tuesday or Wednesday after I work it out with her. Hey, Buddy, I am sorry but what can I say? Just take care of yourself. I will make try to make sure my mixed up sister doesn't do anything illegal." -- Mike stood in a very long TSA security line, occupied by coach passengers, rolling his overhead bag. Reading his digital day-planner, he was pleased that the 'gaining independence' process had worked smoothly. New locks were on the apartment door, updates had been made to the beneficiary, etc. in Personnel, Kristi would be served with a no-fault divorce petition this afternoon at her museum office, and he felt pretty good, all things considered. In fact, the lawyer said that they would probably never see each other again after his previous 'weekend from hell.' That prediction sometimes horrified him and at other times pleased him. He kept saying to himself, "All you need, Mike, is time." He got the 14-page case outline of the labor-management mediation their company had been hired to manage, and as the principal, he was on his way to sit down with both the union president and the CEO. He had started re-reading the document when unexpectedly he heard Kristi call his name, "Mike Absalom over here!" The Passenger ignored her but thought to himself, "Shit! I forgot! The Travel Clerk emailed my itinerary last Friday." He kept reading the case and then she spoke very loudly this time, "If you don't get out of that line and talk to me, I am going to scream bloody murder in front of all these people." Mike said, "Oh Shit!" He looked at his watch and noted that he had 75 minutes to flight time. After excusing himself while rolling his luggage and himself through two lines of passengers, he was in the corridor and standing in front of Kristi. Forcing his anger down, he said, "You have five minutes, Christi, because I have to get back in that long line to catch my flight." She said, "Mike, five months ago Doctor Kenner diagnosed me as having Multiple Personality Disorder. I knew that something was terribly wrong ever since just before then when I took up with James six months ago." She pulled out a pill box to show him and continued, "I began seeking professional health about that time. He even prescribed these at once, but I did not have the prescription filled until yesterday. I didn't act earlier because I was enjoying my affair with James and the probability was slight that I was aborting my relationship with you by doing it. I am sorry now that I ignored the results of my previous sessions with Kenner." Mike took a snapshot of the prescription label which gave the spelling of the drug and then said, "Kristi, a divorce is in our future, but I will communicate with you from time to time even afterward. This could be serious. I do hope things work out for the best. Heads up! A deputy will serve the divorce petition this afternoon, and I plead: just let it happen, and that will save us both some money and heartache. I will be checking on your progress from time to time." She was crying profusely and said, "Thank you, Mike." The husband said, "Now, I need to earn a living and must get back in that TSA line. Please, Kristi, chin up. You will get through this, right?" Almost inaudibly she said, "Thank you for talking to me." -- Kristi stood in place watching the progress of her soon to be ex-husband until he disappeared behind the TSA barrier. She then rushed to her car before she got an expired meter ticket. Parking in her reserved spot at the museum Kristi noticed that James' car was missing from the employee parking lot, yet his lunch hour was not until fifty minutes from now. She hurried inside and saw a queue of two dozen or so people awaiting the tour that Mike was supposed to have conducted starting at 11:00. She secured her purse and went back out to the waiting customers. Kristi announced, "I am sorry for the delay, ladies, and gentlemen. We can start now if you form a line on me. She made the welcoming overture remarks, and the group went into the exhibition hall. In front of the first exhibit, she called out, "This is a working copy of an IBM 029 Card Punch and it..." She finished the tour at about 12:15 feeling exhausted for some reason. She checked with the other staff and then went to her office. She pulled up the online ticket and museum store sales totals and started reviewing a fundraiser proposal an outside firm had proposed and felt pretty good about their plan - and especially attention-getting because their commission would only be 15% of receipts. James came into her office without knocking, as he usually did, and lied, "Hey, before you scream at me my finger was bothering me, and I went back to the clinic for the physician assistant to look at it. I forgot all about my scheduled 11:00 tour. Please don't be mad at me." The first thought in her mind was, "God, how I hate liars! For the first time, I understand why Mike grimaced after I gave a cock-n-bull story after having been out with this Randy - My husband should have suspected I was lying but loved me so much until he just couldn't see it. Maybe I should buy some arsenic oxide on the Black web market and just end my misery." She said to James, "The only job you have around here is to conduct the scheduled tours and to maintain the digital equipment and demos. A record of this will go into your file - and no, I will not make a notation for you previously disregarding your primary functions in this museum." James shut the office door securely and then hurriedly moved toward her side of the desk to embrace Kristi. His thinking was that she had previously let him slide and a couple of times he even wound up with a blow job right there in her office after such a session. But not today, she stood up and pushed the chair between them and said, "This museum is a business, James, please conduct yourself accordingly! On your way out, the Univac demonstration did not work during today's tour. Please make that the first thing you work on." Kristi found her assistant manager and said, "I am taking one of my admin days tomorrow. I will be spending some time with my Army brother, so will you hold down the fort? I want to know every time that James is not available to conduct his scheduled tours, O.K.?" He replied, "For sure on both counts, enjoy your day, Kristi." Later, in her office again, a uniformed deputy was shown inside. She gave Kristi the You-have-been-served speech, to which the Curator only managed to look up at her pretending indifference. The Curator placed the envelope in her inbox without even looking at it and continued working. -- It was bedtime for Kristi in James' apartment, but the man had not come home after work. Staying out all evening was a first for her previously secret lover, but she had resigned herself that everything Mike had predicted was happening. Going outside her body and observing herself, she thought, "Maybe he and the young lady in white in the clinic will spend the night rabbiting. Big deal, anymore, because Mike talked to me today, and I will fix my problem and will be back with him." Confirming that James had spent the whole night out upon awakening the next morning, Kristi frowned but was out of bed to answer the front door bell. It was her brother, John Fenton. They hugged each other's neck, and she said, "Thank you so much for coming, John." They walked into James' kitchen, and she started the prefixed coffee pot. She said, "The cups are up there so treat yourself to black coffee when it beeps. In the meantime, I will be putting yard sacks containing my stuff that has accumulated over here by the front door - if you would be kind enough to load them. Hey, I will treat us to an upscale breakfast, if that will work for you for doing all this work." John laughed and said, "Now THAT is what I call motivation!" Once their scrumptious brunch was in front of them, Kristi said, "John, I have been secretly fucking a subordinate for six months - yes, the one who lives here. I even thought I was madly in love with both him and my husband, and imagined that I didn't want to let either go. I naively asked my husband to accept the triangle." At first, John dropped his fork and mulled over what she had just said. He then looked at her with surprise, bordering on contempt, and said, "Whaaa? Sis, never mind the six months, what about during the rest of the eleven years of marriage. You know, I always thought that you were just too wild for a sedate, hard-working nice guy like Mike, and now you have proven it." Words: The Conclusion She replied, "I can truthfully say not once did I fuck around until I started this nonsense six months ago. There was only one dude for whom I felt a compelling lust a year after we married, but I didn't follow through. I just buried my head in new career track work then, and the desire passed. Those who hit on me after that very wealthy and handsome museum donor never got my serious attention - and there were many hits over the years." John said, "So why after eleven years did you go out wantonly rabbiting?" "I don't know all the details, but I went to a Shrink - again. He diagnosed me as having Multiple Personality Disorder five months ago, but I only had the tranquilizing prescription filled yesterday. " "You know, Sis, my ex-wife who was a Psychology Counselor, as you might recall, said at your wedding reception, that she was suspicious that you had that disorder even then. Assuming she was correct, any idea what made you start being that other personality after all those years?" "John, I don't know yet, but Dr. Kenner made me an appointment for an MRI brain scan next Wednesday. If there is a tumor, then fucking around is the least of my problems. What I am hoping is that the goddamn coworker Randy just talked me into it after years of daily pressing my buttons - Mike even suggested that possibility. The good news is that I embarrassed Mike into listening to this new revelation this morning, and he promised to check on me from time to time." John and Kristi high-fived their hands, and he said, "That is great news. I hope you two land on your feet, Sis. I wonder if Mike will forgive your perfidy, though. For what it's worth, I haven't forgiven my first wife under vaguely similar circumstances during a deployment." After Kristi and John had set her up in the newly leased Apartment- Hotel later, John said, "Mike previously called me, Sis, and told me to please accompany you to pick up your personal effects in his apartment - I have access to the new door key. Want to go over there to get the remainder of your underwear and things like that before we call it a day?" His sister looked at him and said, "Really! God almighty I love that man! Let's go and get them." -- It was late afternoon Thursday when Mike Absalom sunk into his first class seat - his company didn't pay for that, but he upgraded with his frequent flyer miles. He had gone to dinner with the President of the Local on Tuesday night and had breakfast with the CEO on Wednesday morning. The serious negotiations started just after lunch on Wednesday, and the two parties initialed a draft of the results today about 3:00 p.m. Mike felt crappy about this one because no one was happy with the outcome. The CEO understood that some wage increase was necessary to keep the workers on the job, and the Local president grasped that the percent raise that his steering committee insisted on, could not happen without bankrupting the company. This Mediator understood both positions and that the initialed comprimise was the stuff from which tense, unsafe, and unhappy workplaces came. Mike felt a kind of job satisfaction in that there would not be a strike and both principals respected him. As the airplane lifted off from Ohara, Mike's mind turned to Kristi. He had vivid memories of them racing their new mountain bikes along a very rough mountainous trail, chiding each other to push harder. He then remembered when they both collapsed at the same time onto the prickly grass, 99% exhausted. He vividly recalled the pattern the clouds then made as they lazily gazed together up at the sky. The two even had a playful nonsense argument about what the thunderheads said about Mike and Kristi's future together. At that time, neither could comprehend that a day would come when they were not together. He adjusted his comfort collar and said to himself, "That day is here as I am going home to an empty apartment. He mused, "Kristi is gone." And then he suddenly set up in his seat and said, "But I will see her from time to time." At that point, he remembered the three's confrontation and then grimaced. He lay back down, then placed his Quiet headphones on his head and drifted off to sleep doing his meditation exercise. On Friday evening after a day of debriefing in the office, he went with a group to Happy hour at a Micro-Brewery. It was noisy and the place smelled like beer, but Mike enjoyed the salted peanuts, and a few funny jokes circulated. He was happy to be around associates he had come to know over the years - and two he liked. One was a junior Mediator, who was a happily married mother of two. She and Mike talked shop and driving home later Absalom congratulated himself for being so caught up in a conversation that he didn't think about Kristi once - until he was alone driving home. He heard his cell phone beep and pulled over to read it in hopes that it was from Kristi. But it was from her brother: "Mike, I got Kristi moved into the ... After she told me what she did and the result, I can only say good luck in the future, and I am sorry. I will be in your neighborhood a week from Wednesday -how about a burger and a beer at Charley's about 8:00 p.m. so I can return your door key?" He replied: "See you there." At home, he saw that all her clothes and cosmetics were gone. He sat down to regroup after the shock of seeing the empty spaces. He then bought a porn download with the intention of masturbating but was unable to get past the opening credits before he turned off the TV and looked for a book. The lonely man then began reading a W.E.B. Griffin historical war novel about a U.S. Marine Corporal stationed in Shanghai in the late 1930s. Mike became so caught up in the masterpiece until he couldn't put it down until he finished it at 3:45 a.m. For one make-believe, but a seemingly real moment, WEBG's book told of the corporal and a woman falling madly in love with each other at their first meeting. He visualized the woman as looking like Kristi and 'fell in love' with her. And then he collapsed back into the real world and fell into a sound sleep with a smile on his face. -- It was the Wednesday night Kristi knew that Mike would be at Charlie's Pub. She had gotten her MRI Scan results back, and it showed a healthy brain. Kristi entertained the idea of going over to where John had told her that he was meeting Mike for a burger and beer, but decided against it. She texted her ex-husband: "Scan showed no biological problem in my brain - what I did was obviously my decision. I am taking my meds, and feel changes happening in my head. I love only you. K" Mike looked up the name on the medicine on the internet and found that it was, indeed, for personality disorders after reading her email. His response in his head was simply an audible, "hmmm." John Fenton and Mike Absalom sat at a table in Charley's, and both were eating a burger. The subject of John's sister had yet to come up. John finally said, "Kristi told me that she signed and returned your divorce petition to your attorney yesterday. After it's filed in the courthouse, want me to come over and referee while you guys divvy your assets?" "No, John. My tortured mind vacillates back and forth about your sister. For example, right this moment I find myself looking for reasons to communicate with her - because, dammit, I miss her! This morning I had blown the whole subject of Kristi out my mind. But, a replacement woman could never give me the joy she has given me because we were an item for ten plus years. And then again, I want to take my chances on a new person from an Internet dating site, but people, in general, are so screwed up nowadays. The probability of finding a two-way love affair - and by extension, happiness - for a thirty-something would not be zero - but close. Remember, 'Mizz You'll do' won't work for me. So I am in limbo until I decide what to do." Fenton replied, "Yes, I agree - my recommendation is to think long and lucidly without your feelings being in control. Society is now a sorry mess, and it's made messier every day by people out to fix it. I can see your dilemma out on the 'Meet' market - 'been there and done that.' You could find another 'you'll do love' and face the same odds of her fucking around as they would be if you and Kristi were back together. But there are compatible gems out there in the world, somewhere. Hey, Buddy, get it through your head. My sister fucks around and did a whole lot of it before you two were married. That is a given: Ask yourself if you seriously think you would like to have her back in your life?" Mike shrugged his shoulder and said, "Yeah, I guess I would, but for the moment, you have talked me out of it. He put his apartment key that John had handed him in a pocket and said, "Many thanks for your assistance here, John, and it won't be necessary for you to referee the property split of the furniture items if and when it comes to that." The two finished their beer and making small talk and parted as friends with plans to get together at least once a month. One month after the attorney had filed the brief, Kristi came over to meet her ex-husband on a Saturday morning. She brought a box of yard bags. Mike greeted her at the door and smiled, "Come in, Dear ex-wife. You're looking good - I presume your hotel-apartment has a gym, and you apparently use it." "Thank you, Mike, and yes, I do. I also see you have been also hitting healthy food and going to the gym, and it goes without saying that it is an overwhelming pleasure to see you again. In fact, I am elated since a deputy sheriff was not required to be present while we divvy up our stuff." Mike said, "I have fresh coffee and some small bran muffins, care to sit down and discuss the distribution while we enjoy the pastry?" She smiled and grasped his hand and said, "Wonderful. May I lead the way?" "Certainly." Mike thought, "Oh hell! Is she role playing again like its normal for her to be in charge when in this apartment? I wonder why I don't resent that? Probably it's because I am very dizzy being this close to her yet can not touch her." Kristi thought, "So far, so good. I must be very careful that he doesn't learn from me that all I think about is him. Damn it! There has been one internet date and when I saw the guy I just went up to him and said, 'I should not have agreed to a first date, but you should understand that this coffee with me would be a complete waste of both your and my time.' Strange, but the dude looked as if he read her pain and said, 'Time is a great healer, Kristigirl - please keep my ID on file, if you would.'" The negotiations between Kristi and Mike drug on and soon there was some laughter as they agreed and compromised in several cases. When she began bagging the small articles that she would take, her arms felt like they were moving in wet cement. Mike helped his ex-wife load the bags of Cds, kitchen utensils, linen, etc. into her car. Then they sat down and Mike made them both a PBJ sandwich and poured each a beverage. Kristi took a drink and said, "My next task is to rent a storage room and then hire movers to come over and deliver the tagged furniture items there until I move to something permanent. I spend long hours at the museum now, for reasons you can imagine, Mike." There was a silence, and her Ex said, "Is is possible that you and James will patch up your relationship?" Her one-word reply was, "No," and did not elaborate initially and then after a silence added, James is on probation at work, and I hope he is looking for something else." Mike then talked about his increased travel he had volunteered for and other minutia going on in the office and concluded by saying, "When I get some time, I will probably join eHarmony to look for companionship." She raised her eyebrows but said nothing on that topic. She finally said, "I had an internet 'one date,' and walked into Starbucks but gave up before trying to talk to him." She suppressed a yawn and continued, "It's getting late, and I need to say goodbye before I fall asleep after all that physical work we did," as she offered her hand to shake his, "Thanks for helping me load the car, Mike." -- While driving to her apartment-hotel, Kristi's thoughts were streaming from different parts of her brain. Part one said, "Well, I guess it's over. I remember my grandpa's words of wisdom: 'You are responsible for every single decision you make, Kristi, and will be so for the rest of your life." Wow, Pop made that statement when I entered senior high school. My, why did that man not win a Nobel prize?" Another part chimed in, "Oh God! If only Mike would call.." Part one screamed again, "Stop saying that, you stupid Bitch, and find someone else!" and then another part said, "You can forget someone else, just look for a big cock who wants to use your body as a masturbation toy." Then the original Part one replied, "No, there must be more to life than that, and I for sure will not lower myself to being a Randy's fuck toy!" At the same time, Mike sat at his home office desk trying to read the Denver case essentials handed him Friday. He dreaded the upcoming flight Wednesday and said, "Damn, I don't want to leave the Bay area for a reason I can not define - I wonder why?" He logged into two dating sites and browsed around until his eyes were forcing themselves closed into sleep and then crashed into his bed with a novel. -- It was just over three months later. Mikes employer was growing, and the Mediation services they provided were humming with activity. He did buy one Escort date for an evening, and the two even had a good time at Sea World before she spent the night with him. His thoughts on Sunday morning after she had left were "That was nice, but I didn't get value for my money - but damn! What a delectable Ass that invited touching!" Kristi had given up on dating after her first failed attempt and focused on telephone solicitation of funds. She worked late in the office rather than taking it home to work, and she often solicited donations from previous donors. One such benefactor, with whom she had been friends for many years, and who lived alone in a Penthouse, and Kristi became an item. The gentleman was 82 years old and still did winter hunting in B. Columbia backwoods. He had made his fortune by building up a fleet of fishing vessels. One evening he took her to a $$$$ restaurant for dinner. She cut into a filet mignon with her fork, as he talked in this very plush and almost secret restaurant. He said, "Kristi thank you for all the attention you have been giving me because you are good for me, and I like your company - in fact if hanging out with me in the evenings are enjoyable, you are welcome here anytime. You are very relaxed and talkative about your life when you visit, and I love it. Not one of my progeny ever visits to just sit and chat the way you do." Well, Fred, I enjoy looking out over the city and ask myself(s) introspective questions since it appears my ex-husband will not forgive me, and that makes reconciliation impossible. I am lonely for love and don't know how to win it again - if, in fact, I can ever win it again." "I am sorry, Kristi. My opinion is that you should go on with your life and love will come. If later you and Mike want to get back together, good, and if not, that is also good. You have no other choice." She smiled and said, "Yes, I have concluded that as well. But, Mike has ruined me for another man and wanton sex day-to-day is out of the question, So I bury my head in work and focus on meaningful friendships - like yours - another Prince comes to my life." "Well, the most painful thing I ever did was push my bride's corpse into the crematorium and say my final goodbye after 68 years. I asked myself then, 'Just how I fill the void she left?' I was too old for productive work and sat on a pile of money and decided to make friendships. I make annual donations to five 301(c)'s like yours, but you, uniquely, never had your hand out when we talked. Moreover, your hard knocks have taught you enough about life until your conversations are never proforma solicitations, boring and trite. So you are welcome here while you sort out your future." Kristi smiled at her aging friend and said, "Our weekly get together evenings are the big event for me, Fred. I enjoy holding your hand and am grateful that you sense it's not a solicitation gesture." Fred asked, "Changing subjects, what exactly do you hear from Mike?" She sadly smiled and says, "He texts and asks me how I am doing, and how my job is going and things like that. He travels more than he did when we were together as their company has grown geographically and have entered some new markets. It has been, what, a Year since you last saw Mike at a fun raiser award ceremony, right?" Fred smiled and said, "Yeah. His ability to make us senior citizen donors feel at ease with his jokes that were funny to us, though they may not have been funny for the younger people, impressed me." There was silence for a moment as if something were on his mind, and he continued, "Will you call Uber, Kristi, as I need to be getting home?" When the van stopped outside his high-rise building, Kristi held tightly to him as he feebly walked into the lobby and then the elevator and then to his top floor unit. Once inside his Penthouse, she said, "Well, your LVN has your cover turned back and you are ready to fall in bed at your leisure." His guest was at the front door thanking him for the dinner and he ask, "Do you suppose that Mike would have a catered dinner up here with you and me? And would that do any good, because I hate to see you so unhappy. Why not ask him, he just might, if you would like - all I need is a two-day notice to arrange for the catering." She said, with not much hope, "I will try, Fred. Thanks for the invitation, and thank you for caring for a mixed up woman." As soon as Kristi sat in her car, she emailed Mike: Museum's largest donor, Fred Epstein - you should remember the spry old gentleman - has invited you and me to be his guests for dinner in his Penthouse atop the Galaxy High-rise. Interested? Mike, FYI. I won't lie so there is no larger than usual chunk of money for the museum if you accept. But it would make me happy, and you and I could eat the best food available while overlooking the city and Bay area." The next morning his response was: "It's tempting, but I had better not until... When I am an old man, I will remember this passed over opportunity." Kristi sobbed reading his response and asked herself, "dare I hope that the 'unil...' means he is pondering on our getting back together again? It was nine o'clock five days later after a trying work day, but Kristi had a smile on her face though because James had resigned. She then hurriedly placed an employment ad and alerted the usual headhunters to replace him. The increasing store and ticket sales were music to her ears. With her new enthusiasm, she conducted more of the tours. Exhaustion racked her body and sleeping were on her mind daily, but especially today as she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment-hotel. In the lobby, there stood Mike Absalom with a dozen red roses in his hands. She stopped, and they smiled at each other. "He walked up to her and said, "Greetings ex-wife. How are you?" "A lot better, since I saw you here, Mike. Come on up, as I think the apartment is not too messy for a gentleman caller and I have a bottle of wine that is open." She smelled the roses that Mike had handed her and had a momentary illusion that her tiredness had evaporated. Once in her apartment, she got a bottle out of the frig and two glasses. She said, make yourself at home while I refresh myself - fancy that I managed to look like Witch Hazel on the one day you visited." Words: The Conclusion When she returned from the toilet and sat down across from him in an uncomfortable chair that was part of her 'furnished' apartment. He raised his glass and said, "A warm hello to someone I think about every day." She smiled and was choked up at first but finally said, "Same here, Mike." He then said, "I came over here to propose something. The ID tags you placed on the property that is your furniture items since the split are still there while I have been using the furniture while I await your hired moving company to get them. Heaven forbid, Looking around here, you have not unloaded most of those bags you brought over. Kristi, you need a better place to live!" She smiled at Mike and said, "I agree. Just what do you propose?" He looked into her eyes and said, "Let's do again what we did 13 years ago, and share my apartment on a 60-day trial. If the past nine months doesn't become history for you and me both, you move out in two months and take your property with you. Otherwise, we go on together. Kristi, we would not be putting back together what we had; rather, we would be attempting to build a new relationship - and it might not work. If that becomes the case, we will continue to be friends because we have shared too many good times together not to be friends forever." Kristi breathed out, "Whew! I have to think about this, Mike." Reaching again into his coat pocket he pulled out three legal-size sheets and offered them. He said, "I agree, you should think about it. So you can think it over, I am flying to Salt Lake in the morning returning in four days on the listed flight on the third sheet of paper. Please think about all the positive and negative things concerning my proposal. The other two sheets are a state-recognized rental agreement. If you decide our future together is for you and are awaiting me at baggage claim, every day of my life will find me trying to make you happy. But if you decide not to, there are no hard feelings anymore, and I wish you well. I do ask that you remove your furniture ASAP if that is the case. I am not a praying man, but, Kristi, I want this to happen so badly until..." She took the paper and moved toward Mike with open arms, but he blocked her advance and said, "Not yet, Kristi. If you feel this way in four days, then please be at the airport waiting. " Trying to be lighter and humorous, he continued, "Besides that, I have an early morning flight tomorrow and will be taking Super Shuttle - and I only have a one-way ticket on the shuttle. So, because of that, I will need a ride home. Heh heh. I am depending on you." It was late Thursday afternoon, and the 'The board's representative versus the majority share owner was the most tedious case he could remember. Mike felt drained of energy but he couldn't relax for hoping against hope Kristi would be waiting for him. The 737 finally sat down after a record-breaking turbulent flight as well - the passengers even cheered the pilots for a job well done after the airplane was safely on the ground. As soon as the arrival bell dinged Mike shot to his feet all of a sudden boiling with energy. He closed his eyes when he walked through the rotating door leading to baggage claim. On the other side, he stood still and cautiously opened his eyes. Kristi was wearing her skinny jeans and long, pointed nipple outlines faintly showed on her blouse. The last time he had seen this hairdo was when she was a bridesmaid a year ago - she called it her 'Neiman Marcus hairdo.' Her dazzling white teeth caught the reflected light just as the sight of her body caught the attention of most of the men awaiting their baggage. Both started crying profusely as they just held each other. She finally kissed him chastely on the cheek and said, "May I give you a ride to our new home, Mister Absalom?" The End. ***** Epilogue: Three years later they both flew to Malaysia and journeyed by rail to an orphanage. They then returned home with each holding a twin baby they had adopted.