34 comments/ 25907 views/ 26 favorites The Guy Who Came in From the Cold By: Rhein1 This story contains no sex and is not a revenge story. It is in fact the story of a man who is doing what he can in an unusual situation. I thank you in advance for constructive criticism and for the rest of you that write the derogatory and thoughtless comments I feel sorry for you. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this submission and remember it is after all a work of fiction. I apologize for any weirdness in the layout of the story but every time I try to upload it, somehow the format is changed. So much for word perfect. _____________________________________ The office was cold when he arrived, but that was not so strange as the snow was falling heavily outside creating the illusion of an untarnished world. He loved the solitude of the office at this time of the day, everything was so peaceful. He turned up the heat in the office and began making coffee so that his co-workers would have something to take the edge off of the cold when they started to arrive in an hour or so. This had been his delegated task during every working day for the last twenty years of his employment. In the summer the office was hot so he would turn on the AC and in the winter he would take care of the heat. Over the years this had become his favorite time of the workday. As he went about his appointed tasks he thought about the ritual in accomplishing them, a ritual he had established during twenty years of preparing the office to greet its workers. Now that he was quickly approaching thirty years with the company he marveled at how fast the time had gone. He also thought about the fact that in a few months he would be deprived of this morning detail as he had put in his paperwork to retire. He knew it was time, he felt it in his bones and in every ache of his arthritic hands. He also understood the fact that he would be retiring alone, a fact that still ate at his soul. Finishing all his tasks in preparing the office to accept the daily influx of workers, he grabbed a cup of freshly brewed coffee and sat heavily at his desk. This was the concluding part of his ritual when he got to bask in the enjoyment of his coffee and the quiet reflections on his life before the organized pandemonium of the new workday began. Sitting comfortably, he considered the photograph on his desk once again. The picture never changed, but his perceptions of it often did. Sometimes he was sad thinking about what he had lost. Other times, he was incensed thinking of what had been his but now wasn't. Today was unlike either of those types of days; today he just felt muddled by the events of the last eighteen months of his life. No matter how many times he had looked at the picture and observed the way she held both man's hands, a deep aching, borne of the awareness that even on that happy occasion she was already another man's woman would come over him as sure as the tide reaching the shore. The photograph itself was in a beautiful oaken frame, a gift to him by his lifelong best friend, Gary Gwatarski. As he focused on the photo for the millionth time he took it all in again, reliving in his memory the time they had all flown down to St. Augustine Florida for a small winter vacation, just the three of them, his wife, himself and his best friend. Gary had been living with them for the last few months after his last wife threw him out. As he had no place to go we offered him a place to stay until he could get back on his feet. This little mini-vacation to Florida was his idea and Janey had fallen in love with the idea. So, there we were, in Florida for a long weekend break. The setting of the picture was a quaint beachside restaurant where the three of us were sitting at a table all clasping hands and smiling at the camera. Recalling the moment from his memory once again, they had been drinking and all of them were a bit tipsy. When another tourist passed by our table Janey had asked the man to take a picture of us all and had handed him Gary's camera to perform the task. Looking back on it, I should have been tipped by the way she just appropriated the camera without even asking. You see, Gary was really attached to his camera and nobody touched it without his express permission. On that day Janey grabbed it and handed it over as If it was hers. Gary never said a word, which I thought was strange at the time, but I put it down to his just being polite and avoiding any unpleasantness. The photograph itself showed the three of them sitting from left to the right at a bar's high top table. On the far left of the photo was yours truly, Dan Whitforth, with an actual smile on my face. It had been so long since he had really smiled that he now often wondered if he still had any left in him. Next to Dan was his wife Janey. In the picture his wife wore a smile which clearly showed her pleasure at being the focal point of the two men next to her. Sitting at the far right was his ex-best friend, Gary. He picked up the frame and absorbed the details of the picture in the same way a military officer would study the photos from a bombing mission in an effort to determine the damage inflicted on the enemy. Janey, his wife and the love of his life was beautiful. Outside of that statement nothing else really needed to be said. He had loved her since the first day he met her and no matter what age or time had done to change her countenance he never saw it because to him she was as beautiful as the first time he had laid eyes on her. As he looked at her face he noted that her head was turned to her left towards Gary, not to her right to share the moment with her husband. He also noted again the way she was holding his hand. Janey was clasping his hand in a sterile fashion, barley holding on to it. In the previous months he had examined that detail a hundred times and he had determined that the way she held his hand was symbolic; she was only nominally holding on to him as she focused on her true love sitting to her left. Now, for the millionth time he again focused on her left hand, noting how her fingers were intertwined with Gary's, clasping his hand so firmly you could see the white of her knuckles. Her grip was almost as if she was staking her claim on him and insuring that he would not get away from her. Dan shook his head in dismay as he wondered when it was that he had lost her love. Finally, Dan now looked to the last person in the photo, his former best friend, and someone he had trusted since they were kids. Gary had been my best friend since grade school. In fact he was the guy who had actually introduced me to my wife. I thought that I knew Gary better than any other person in my life and still had a hard time believing that he would really have slept with Janey. However, realizing that Gary was Gary, it was in retrospect not all that surprising. In high school Gary was on the weightlifting team and developed a terrific physique. To say he was popular with the girls would have been an understatement. The standing joke in our school was to call Gary "Tarzan". The name really seemed to fit because just like the king of the jungle he seemed to control just about every woman he went after. However, by our senior year the name Tarzan had taken on an insulting connotation as Gary had broken up so many relationships. Gary really came to hate the nickname but he never saw the harm in stealing other men's girls. During the whole time we were in school I stood by Gary even though it sickened me to watch him take girl after girl and use them for his pleasure. The amount of collateral damage he did was really immense and by the end of high school I was about the only friend he had left. I think that the problem with Gary was that while he could get women, he just never seemed to be able to keep them and this prompted him to keep taking them away from other guys. He once told me he liked the challenge. I guess that the reason I backed him during that time was that throughout school Gary had never done anything but good for me. I always knew that whatever happened he would always have my back. After high school I joined the Navy and when I came back on leave it was Gary who set me up with Janey. After she and I met we were inseparable. Even though we had a long distance relationship we both lived for those precious moments when I could return home on leave. When I went back to my ship she wrote religiously and I knew that she was a keeper. Finally, my enlistment ended and I was discharged. As soon as I got home we were married and I went to school on the GI Bill. Gary was actually the best man at my wedding even though Janey's parents hated him with a passion. I asked her why her parents did not like Gary but neither she nor mys would ever discuss him. Unfortunately, it took thirty three years to find out what Janey's parents had readily discerned about Gary so many years ago. He was not an honorable man. Invariably, I began to make comparisons between Gary and myself. Even pushing sixty, Gary was still well proportioned and muscular. A product of the daily workouts he had practiced since high school. In addition to his physical prowess, which was emphasized by a tee shirt that showed off his muscles for effect, Gary just looked good. He had kept all his hair which was now highlighted by the gray streaks that made him look distinguished. I on the other hand was almost his opposite, I never developed the six pack abs or the huge cannons on my arms, my hair had thinned out quite a bit and I carried a spare tire around my gut for emergencies. If the truth be told, as painful as it is, I could see why Janey was more impressed by my old friend than me. The only area that I had surpassed Gary was in reliability and fidelity. Whereas I had kept my wife and job for thirty years and have never strayed he had gone through four wives. At least two of his marriages had ended up in divorce court because of affairs. Add to that he was in danger of losing the automotive repair garage his father had left him because he cut corners and utilized sub-standard parts in his repairs. Since his father's death he had managed to run a proud business once known for honesty and integrity into a cut rate, fly by night operation. The only reason that I found out about the two of them was due to a disgruntled employee of Gary who tracked me down to tell me about his boss and my wife. With the information he gave me I f confronted them and found out that indeed it was all true. The thing that hurt the most was when Janey held onto him when I confronted them over the depth of their affair. Seeing that, I realized how much she cared for him, so I simply left my marriage with all the dignity I could muster. I would like to say that justice prevailed but the divorce really went badly for me. Janey got the house and a chunk of my retirement. I, on the other hand, got the satisfaction of knowing that I had always been square with her and had taken care of her right up to the end. From my initial discovery of their affair to the present day was a total of eighteen months. Since the divorce became final it was now approaching a year in just a few more days. I felt the anger rising again in my guts over the injustice of what they and the courts had done to me, but then I forced myself to regain my composure and returned the picture to its place on my desk. As I was replacing it my eyes read the words on the little brass plaque at the bottom of the frame that Gary had inscribed, "Friends forever". Even in that he had lied. The first employees began to arrive at work and I turned myself away from personal issues and began to do my job. Work always seemed to be a tonic for me and soon I had forgotten all about the two of them. The day went quickly and about fifteen minutes to quitting time my phone rang. Picking it up I smartly answered, "Welcome to Worker's Assurance Company, this is Dan Whitforth speaking. How may I be of service to you? The line remained silent for a few seconds and I was about to hang up when her voice tentatively spoke, "Dan, its Janey, please don't hang up." You could have knocked me over with a feather but I kept it together and with as much composure as I could muster simply answered, "What do you want Janey?" The phone was again silent for another awkward few seconds before her voice once again came on the line, "Dan, it's been nearly a year since the divorce and I really need to see you. Could you come for dinner tonight?" I was shocked and in a nasty tone that was unheard by her in my old life, I replied, "I don't think I really want to break bread with the man who stole my wife and the woman who so willingly became his concubine, however, I do thank you for your offer." Janey shot back in an almost panicky voice, "Gary will not be here, I promise! I really need to see you! Please Dan!" I took a deep breath and asked the inevitable question, "Why Janey? What could possibly be so important that after a year you need to suddenly talk with me?" She hurriedly interjected, "I need to set the record straight on us Dan. I also truly miss you and want to see you again. Please Dan, I've even made your favorite dinner, Pot Roast and all the trimmings. I swear it will be just us and no strings attached. What do you say Dan?" When I did not answer immediately she rejoined, "I remember that you used to be pretty daring, have you changed that much?" I thought for a moment, "When you say we will be alone, where will he be? She quizzically replied, "You mean Gary?" My voice sounded hollow even to me as I said, "Yes". Her voice sounded sad as she began to speak again "It's hard to believe that you still can't even speak his name Dan, but don't worry; he won't be home till very late. He is having trouble at the shop so he has been working late.....a lot." I was displeased, just listening to her talk about him with such a protective domestic attitude and it got to me. I decided that I really didn't need the aggravation anymore so I began, "Gee Janey, as much as I love your pot roast I just don't..." She cut me off sensing my refusal, "Dan, please, I'm sorry but I need to speak to you, give me a chance!" Listening to the emotion in her voice I decided against my better judgment to take her up on her offer. "Ok, Janey, you win. What time do you want me to come over?" I could almost feel the relief in her voice as she hurriedly rejoined, "Come home at your regular time alright? I'll see you then and thank you Dan." What could I say but "You're welcome" and a quick "Good bye." When I got out of work the snow was still falling pretty good. I almost enjoyed the ride to my old home as it felt comfortable and brought me back to better times. I was surprised at how little things had changed in the old neighborhood. Somehow I just assumed that since my life had changed so much over the last year and a half that everything else must have changed too. The house looked good clothed in the white of snow. It gave it an unsoiled look although I felt that its occupants now were as morally unclean as could be. The sun was going down early as it always did this time of year and the lights were on inside giving the house a warm glow. I noticed that there were no tire tracks in the snow on the driveway so I concluded that my wife had taken the day off for this meeting. She must have been pretty sure that I was going to accept her offer. I shut the car off and had opened the car door when the porch light came on. There in the doorway stood my former wife and I felt my heart involuntarily do a flip in my chest. No matter how much she had hurt me there was no denying that I still loved her. As I got closer her face seemed to glow and she was smiling with genuine happiness. "Thank God you came Dan, I was worried that you might have changed you mind! Come on in sweetheart and get out of the cold." I was confused as to why she was being so familiar with me. After all we were divorced and she was now living openly with my ex-best friend in the house I had bought. Sometimes I can't figure people out; nonetheless, I followed her orders and entered into my old home. Again, I was surprised as things had not changed in the year and a half since I left. There were the same pictures on the wall, the same furniture and even the same television set. Janey came up and hugged me like it was the best moment of her life but when she moved in to kiss me on the lips I turned my face leaving her only the opportunity to kiss my cheek. She stood back from me and gave me a look that told me she was hurt. However, she rebounded quickly and with realistic concern in her voice proclaimed "My God Dan you are skin and bone! You need to eat honey and put some meat back on those bones!" I was sarcastic but then again I wanted to be, "Well losing weight just seems to go hand in hand with losing your home, your marriage and your life. But I might be wrong on that." Her face again reflected the disappointment she was experiencing at this first meeting in a year but she was a trooper and plodded on, "I am sorry about what happened between us Dan; you must believe that I never wanted to hurt you, but things just got out of control. I was hoping in the year we have been apart that your anger might have abated a little so that we might try to make amends, but I can see I was wrong on that point. Listen, let's just have a good dinner and see if we can pack some food into you, alright?" I looked at her and surprised myself for feeling sorry for her distress. By now I was also awkwardly wondering why I had accepted her invitation, but as I was here, I decided to make the best of it and with sincerity responded, "I am sorry for my actions Janey, please accept my apology for making this meeting uncomfortable. I would like to hear what you have to say but can I freshen up first?" The light seemed to come back on in her eyes and with almost a glee she responded, "Sure Dan, you know where the bathroom is. I have to go and attend to our dinner anyway." I smiled and then headed down the hall to the guest bathroom. Gary had moved in with us about six months before my marital collapse. He had been staying in our guest room and therefore utilized the guest bathroom. When I went in, I mentally made a quick check of things to ascertain his personal belongings were there but then left to use the master bathroom located in what used to be our bedroom. Returning to that room made me feel sadness for all the good years we shared but I drove those thoughts from my mind as I entered the bathroom. Just like the guest bathroom it was impeccable. Janey had cleaned both of them from top to bottom to insure any inspection would yield just what she wanted me to believe, and that was Gary was still residing in the guest room. As I opened the medicine cabinet it struck me, the left half of it was empty. That could be because after I moved out she never utilized my space or it could mean that she recently cleaned out one half and forgot to spread her things out again. I found the idea of her not moving into the space formally occupied by my toiletries for over a year to be rather far-fetched. The most logical explanation was that Janey had moved Gary's things out for tonight. After using the facilities and checking the beds in both rooms I couldn't help but notice that they too were recently cleaned and changed. I then returned back to Janey and dinner. I was surprised to find that she had set the dining room table instead of using the kitchen. As I noted this, she came out with a bottle of my favorite beer in hand and then she spoke with a lilt in her voice, "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes Dan. I thought you might like one of these while I'm getting everything out." I accepted the beer from her and wondered what she was setting me up for but with a nonchalance I did not feel replied in kind, "Thank you Janey, this will do very nicely." As she began to turn and move to the kitchen I spoke again, "Where is Gary staying these days?" The Guy Who Came in From the Cold She seemed to flinch momentarily but quickly recovered as she lightly replied, "He still stays in the guest room Dan. We are just friends these days and that is it." With that she was gone heading into the kitchen. Dinner was soon served and as the first beer had gone down easily, Janey quickly replaced it with a second one. True to her word, we did not speak of us or the troubles we have had over the last year and a half but still managed to cover a respectable number of neutral subjects like work, health, food and friends we used to share together when we were a couple. All in all the supper went well as did the next two beers that she supplied me as well as a second helping of pot roast which made my taste buds miss my marriage all over again. After tonight it would take a while to consume the frozen dinners which had become my lot in life with any relish. Finally, with the neutral subjects exhausted and feeling full and content for the first time in a year she chose to initiate her real agenda, "Dan, it has been a year now honey and I was hoping that you might have gotten over it enough so that we might talk about us." I felt the relaxing effect of the beers begin to wear off as I retorted, "Getting over the trauma of the two people you loved the most in the world betraying you is a little tough to do. This isn't like I caught a cold or broke a bone. For what you two did to me there is no cure and I doubt, short of having my memory destroyed by a surgical procedure that I will never get over it as you so blithely put it. However, we are here so please say what you have to say." She seemed a little put off by my attitude and looked uncomfortable as she continued on. "Alright Dan, I will. I don't know where to start this so I guess an apology is the right place. I am sorry Dan, truly and regretfully for ruining our marriage and hurting the best thing that ever came into my life, and that is you! I am not sure why I did what I did, but if I could go back and change things so that the affair never happened, you can rest assured that I would." She stopped suddenly and looked into my eyes as she spoke with firmness that I had only seen in her a few times in our entire marriage, "Dan, I know I screwed up, and I know that it was my entire fault, but I need you back in my life. I dream about us every night, I think about us all the time and I miss you in my life!" She paused a second before she implored, "Dan, I want another chance and if you can see your way clear to granting it I would do anything, sign anything and take any type of test or counseling you want. I realize I have lost your trust and respect but if there is any love left in you for me I want to be your wife again! Please honey, I want us back!" She seemed drained and her face was tight with tension as she wrapped up her speech. To say I wasn't moved would be a lie and to say that at some level I didn't want exactly what she was proposing would've been a bigger lie. But the pain and humiliation of the last year still weighed heavily on me. I noticed that she was gripping the table and her knuckles were white just like they were in the picture on my desk. I took a swig of my beer as I took a few seconds to think about what she said and how I wanted to respond. Finally, I spoke. "Janey, first off let me just say that you are not solely to blame for the affair, you had help in the form of a well-practiced seducer I trusted since grade school. I knew him as a kid and even then he loved to move in on girls who were going steady and take them from their boyfriends. It is like a big game for him. He earned the name Tarzan in school because he was the king of the jungle and would take his "Jane" wherever he and whenever he wanted. I had even stood by him in those days in a dozen fights from jilted boyfriends seeking revenge. He grew to hate the nickname Tarzan and would fight anyone who called him that to his face. Then he was my friend and I felt that I had to stand by him even though he was in the wrong. Now, forty years later, I am brutally aware of just how wrong I was and how twisted he is inside to go after those women he can't have. Maybe my marriage being ruined by him was some form of cosmic karma come back to repay me for the mistakes of my youth." I paused as I looked into her eyes, the same eyes I had loved since I first saw them, "The one thing about Gwatarski that I truly believed was that he would never try to steal my girl like he did with all the others. Boy was I wrong on that one." I paused and realized that I wanted to hold her so badly it hurt, " So you see, while it is noble of you to take the blame you can in reality only take half of the responsibility he must take his share of the blame also. Also, I think that you need to realize that he cannot and will not remain faithful to you." Her face showed a glimmer of hope as I continued, "let me ask you this. If, and that is a big if, I agreed to your request, how will you end it with the slug?" She fired her reply back rapidly as if she was prepared for this one, "I have told Gary already that I want you back and if you allow me back in your life then he is out of mine totally." I knew her and I believed her. However I knew Gary too and he could be very persuasive in getting what he wanted and if he was like me then he would still want her and do whatever he needed to do to get her back. As Janey stared hopefully at me I suddenly had a question for her that I had never asked her since we first met. Throughout our years together it just seemed unimportant but now I needed to know. "Janey, when Gary introduced us how well did you know him?" I noticed that she looked away as I asked the question avoiding looking into my eyes. She recovered and looked directly at me as she hesitantly began, "Are you sure you really want to know Dan?" I nodded my head yes and she took a deep breath and began, "Alight Dan, I guess you deserve to know the whole truth. I met Gary at a party. He was good looking and funny and I fell for him like a ton of bricks. I was a young girl and he really did it for me. We had a relationship that lasted a total of three glorious weeks. That was about the span of his girlfriend's back then." Her face looked sad as she pushed on, "I was in love with him by that time and even though he told me we should see other people I kept bugging him. After a while he promised to fix me up with someone who he said I would really love and was a better man for me than himself. Well, to be truthful I only went along simply because I thought that once he saw me with another guy he would realize his mistake and want me back. Well, that guy he was talking about was you and he was right, I fell in love with you almost from the first date. I was also right that he would want me back but it took thirty three years for that to happen. Back then we both decided that you really never needed to know our past and we kept it that way until now." She finished and looked utterly overcome. I wasn't sure if I was angry or just supremely disappointed, "So you two were lovers before we met and then you both colluded to keep that bit of information from me since the day we met." I looked at her now sitting with a downcast look, "I have to give you credit for at least being able to keep a secret." I needed to ask her the next question as it was the one that had been gnawing at me for over a year but it would not come out. I started and stopped a few times before Janey noticed my indecision and with the clarity of a wife for over thirty years correctly read and interpreted my body language. She spoke with a sarcastic temerity, "I know what you want to ask Dan and don't you think I have asked myself the same question a million times since you found out. I don't know why we became lovers again, I could blame it on the fact you weren't there or that the booze got to me or that Gary was irresistible, or maybe it was the fact that I remember how good a lover he was, or maybe it was a combination of all of these or none of these. To be truthful with you I don't know. I'm sorry, that's all I can really tell you, but it's true." Well that was at least an answer to what had been eating at me for over a year, but I would still always wonder if she was just trying to spare my feelings because she just felt that I was inadequate. Now I took a deep breath and started into painful territory, "Are you still sleeping with him?" Her face broadcast her feelings and as I interpreted them she was afraid of hurting me but didn't want to lie. With trepidation she responded, "Yes." Even though I already instinctively knew the answer it still hurt. I looked at her eyes and probed, "Why Janey? If I meant so much to you and you still want me back why are you still sleeping with him? Frankly, after all the pain he has caused, why is the jerk still living here?" She looked a little wild as she retorted fast and loudly, "Because I need someone Dan! I am so alone I can't stand it. I miss you so much that I needed a substitute and he was here! That's why!" With that she broke down and began to sob with her head cradled in her hands and her body wracked by the fury of her tears. I felt exhausted and knew that it was time to go home. I stood and walked around the table to help Janey to her feet. Her tears were falling freely and a part of me still wanted to ease her pain. I don't know why but I tentatively reached out and wiped them away with my finger. She sniffled and stopped and then reading me again, she threw her arms around me as if trying to keep me with her. I finally broke the hug and spoke, "I have to go home now Janey. Will you be alright?" She nodded knowing what my words really meant and then went quickly went into her protective wife mode, "Wait! Before you go let me get you some of the leftover pot roast to take home with you." She went to turn and I held on to her hand, 'Never mind Janey, its fine." I got my coat and was walking to the front door when it opened up and in walked Gary. His face showed apprehension and hope when he saw me and he spoke as if we were still friends, "Dan! How have you been?" I gazed at him with a look of shock, "Why would you give a damn how I have been? You ruin my life, destroy our friendship and steal my wife and you ask me how I am! Are you insane?" To his credit he looked repentant, "I'm sorry Dan, I never planned it, well, it just seemed to happen and then take on a life of its own." He paused and then continued, "Dan, we both miss you in our lives. Is there any way we could forget what happened between us and just try to rebuild our friendship?" I no longer cared whether Janey would get hurt in this as I had to ask, "Sure, however let me ask you a question alright?" He actually had a hopeful look on his face and nodded his assent when I fired off my question, "When was the last time you screwed her?" Hope faded from his face and he hemmed and hawed before he answered me, "I don't remember Dan honest!" I knew Gary from the old days and I also knew when he was lying so I pushed forth again, "C'mon Tarzan you must remember the last time you put the "meat" to her. Isn't that what you use to say in high school after you scored some poor dumb schmucks girlfriend wasn't it?" The word Tarzan hit home and I could see anger flush his face which is what I wanted. He puffed himself up and looked me straight in the eye as he coldly replied, "Yeah Dan that's what I used to say and if you really want to know I put the meat to her this morning, just like I do every morning! And she loved it screaming for more of me inside her!" He said it in anger and I heard Janey's inrush of breath as she realized what he had just spoken. He stopped talking and looked from me to Janey and then tried to cover his tracks, "Dan I'm sorry! Janey and I are through; we haven't had sex for months! Really! I just said that because you used that stupid name and you know how much I hate it!" I looked from him to her and in that moment it became abundantly clear, there was no hope for a reconciliation of my marriage or my friendship. Both were liars and always had been. I no longer wanted to see either one but I had something to say, "Look, both of you were my family for more years than I care to count but it's over." I looked at Janey, "As my wife you should have been more honest about Gary when we first met, if you had we might not be here now. You lied to me by omission!" She looked panicked and started to reply but I held up my hand and she stopped. "Tonight you gave me a convoluted reason for the why of it but you never answered the big question of how." I turned to look at Gary and could see his immature mind trying to make a joke about the mechanics of the sex act when I stopped him short when our eyes connected, "You were my friend and I had your back for many years. If I meant so much to you how could you have stolen something from me that was my most precious treasure?" His eyes looked away from mine and I could almost see the shame written on his face as he began to apologize once again until I told him to stop. Turning once again to my ex-wife I spoke more gently than I felt, "You were my wife. You promised to be faithful until death do us part. How could you have traded my love and devotion to you for a tawdry affair with a two timing ape like Tarzan here? You told me that you loved me, but I don't see it. When you love someone you work at keeping them in your life. You threw me away like a piece of unwanted trash. You lied when we got married and you continued to lie right through until tonight." Janey began to speak in a rush, "Dan you're wrong! I do love you and I want to work this out! Gary was a huge mistake but I can make it right again. Please!" She began to move towards me with her arms out to embrace me but I moved back out of her reach. I pushed past Gary who looked like a poleaxed mule and opened the front door. Janey looked distraught while Gary had recovered enough to just look sad. Before stepping out into the cold again I looked at my ex and spoke in a formal tone, "Thank you for a lovely dinner, I truly enjoyed it. Have a good life as I doubt that we will be seeing each other again." I looked at Gary and it looked like he was going to say something but I cut him off, "Well Tarzan looks like you got another Jane, or should I say a Janey. I just hope the price you paid was worth it." Before either could respond, I stepped out into the cold shutting the door behind me. Reaching the car I turned to see the front door fly open and Janey in a determined voice call out, "It's not over for us Dan! I want you back and I will get you back no matter how long it takes. Gary is gone tomorrow! You are my man and we still belong together!" She was still calling out some nonsense as I started my car and backed out from the driveway. Tomorrow was another day and I had to get up early for work. The office was cold when he arrived but that was not unusual as the snow was falling outside creating the illusion of a clean world. He loved the solitude of the office at this time of the day, everything was so peaceful. He turned up the heat in the office and began making coffee. Today however, his ritual was going to be different. As soon as he finished turning up the heat and putting the coffee on, he sat at his desk and picked up the picture he had fixated on over the last eighteen months. He looked at it one last time and then he muttered one word, "Enough!" With that word he set to work dismantling the frame and removing its contents. Looking at the loose picture one last time he tore it into small pieces and disposed of it in his trash can. Looking at the frame he pondered on throwing it out too but then rethought that idea. Instead of throwing it away he put it back on the desk empty. Looking at it he thought, "Enough grieving for what was; now it's time to start living again. Fill that frame with new memories and forget the old ones." Thinking about it, he remembered that one of the secretaries had tried to set him up with a widow who was a friend of hers a month or so back. He decided then and there that he would ask her if that offer was still good when she arrived for work. He smiled to himself for the first time in a long time and savored the peace of the empty office and the smell and flavor of a fresh cup of coffee.