A Park Affair: Part 3

By R A Wallace. Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories.

Chapter 6: Second Thoughts

Wendy

We talked for almost an hour and I found myself laughing at his lame jokes. Though he did a pretty good job at laughing at mine too. After we hung up I felt wonderful. He had laughed at my favorite lawyer joke: How many lawyers does it take to shingle a roof? He had made a few guesses, and when I gave him the punch line: It depends on how thin you slice them. He laughed, then continued to chuckle as we talked. I felt so good knowing I had entertained him. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time.

“Well, you look like you’re in a good mood, Clara grinned as I walked out into the living room and sat down. Who was that you were talking to?”

“How well do you know him? It sounded as if he has a good sense of humor to make you laugh like that.”

The question jolted me and my mind tried to parse the question.

How well did I know him? I didn’t know him that well, I mean we… I had him…

“Come on, it can’t be that difficult to answer,” Clara chided with a smile.

“I’ve seen him one time, he gave me his number, and I accidently dialed it instead of my mother’s.”

“And you talked with him for how long?”

“I don’t know, a while. He asked me out for coffee and I told him no.”

“So, once things are settled with your husband are you going to call him again and see if he’ll take you out?”

“Really, I don’t know, I haven’t given it any thought.” Then I realized I hadn’t deleted his contact information as I had planned to do. I didn’t want to second guess myself as I had enjoyed talking with him– I decided to leave him in my contacts.

“You know you could ask him out, you’re not that old fashioned are you? I mean you could have him over to hang out.”

“I suppose I could once I have my own apartment and my husband is history.”

“You know I don’t mind having you here.”

“I know, thank you. But, I will have to move on with my life and getting my own apartment seems important in that respect.”

Robb

After ending my talk with Wendy I took a root beer out of the fridge and sat down with a bag of pretzels. I was surprised when the first call came, then disappointed it had been by mistake. She had been honest about it and… well… it was nice to hear her voice. I was engaged in reading when the second call came and after talking for a while it seemed as if she had taken my advice and sought a divorce.

The longer we talked the more relaxed she seemed to be. Making her laugh was delightful as I could see her eyes sparkle while those sweet lips showed a white smile in my mind. The surprise was she had a wonderful sense of humor herself, and I found myself laughing more than I had in a long while. That was when I suggested we have coffee together. When she declined the air went out of the balloon in a whoosh.

When she explained the reason I felt better, she was right of course, she was married. The situation was thankfully different than before and I couldn’t help but feel good about it. We kind of ended our talk without really saying goodbye, it was as if she were leaving the door open. I hoped she was and this time my feelings were less than altruistic– I wanted to feel her body naked against mine again.

Chapter 7: Caving In

Wendy

I was at work two days later having lunch with several of my coworkers and found my mind wandering. It was the second time in as many days Robb had come to mind– the sound of his laugh in particular.

“Well, that was some smile,” Ruby said, bringing me out of my reveille, “I haven’t seen you smile like that in weeks, it’s nice to see.” The others nodded their agreement.

I returned to my desk with a few minutes left before my lunch break was over. I took my phone out and sent a text message to Robb suggesting we meet in the park, then go for coffee if he wasn’t busy. I pressed send, my heart beating a little faster. Sure, I was still married, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t meet a friend, did it?

I was working on a document when my phone vibrated on my desktop. I picked it up hoping it was a response from Robb accepting my proposition. It was! So much for my ability to concentrate for the rest of the afternoon. Though a few minutes later there was another reason too– my husband had left a message with the receptionist saying he wanted to see me today. I didn’t call him back, continuing to take my lawyer’s advice. Damn, it seemed as if the day had turned into a mixed bag as my lawyer had called to tell me my husband’s lawyer was trying to slow things down.

Robb

I was surprised when I saw the text from Wendy since she had said she was still married and it wasn’t a good idea. I wondered now if she were having a problem of some kind. Our last phone call had been comfortable enough until the very end. I hesitated for a few minutes before responding, what did I have to lose? I was already involved with her and once she was divorced there was the chance of continuing our relationship in some fashion– besides, I wasn’t seeing anyone else. I sent a ‘yes’ and provided a time I would be there. I had to admit I was surprised she wanted to meet at the park, though maybe it was a way for her to deal with what had transpired there– a way of getting past it.

Wendy

I strolled out of the lobby to my car with a smile of anticipation, surprised at how much I was looking forward to seeing Robb again. It was a fifteen minute drive to the park from work and when I arrived I got out and stretched, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. I elected to take the bench in the shade of a tree rather than the one in the distance where Robb and I had met first. I didn’t need for him to remember the wretched woman he had found that day. I could have suggested another location, but I had to deal with my demons too.

I was sitting watching as people walked, biked, and roller-bladed on the paved path not far away. I closed my eyes and took in the whisper of the leaves in the tree as a gentle breeze hit my skin. It was then I heard a voice and felt myself stiffen– it was my husband. I had no choice, I turned to face him.

“You didn’t make it easy for me to talk to you,” he said in a stern voice.

“That’s because I don’t see a need for us to talk. What I saw was enough to tell me our trial separation hadn’t worked; at least not for me. You had your chance and didn’t use it. So, just leave me alone, I’m not changing my mind.”

“Pastor Davis has agreed to meet with us. I’ve been praying for our marriage to work, and the Lord has told me I’ve been forgiven. But, he had to teach me a hard lesson. Wendy, I want you to come home, so we can start over. You’re my wife and I want you to honor your commitment.”

I just stared at him, honor my commitment to him! I guess it doesn’t work in reverse. Maybe I should have prayed to the Lord harder, so he could make me understand, and be forgiving.

“Wendy, I’ll give you a few days to pray for us, for our marriage. I’m sure if you ask for guidance he will grant it to you.”

I looked at him, trying to project calmness and confidence. “I’m not interested in prayer, Pastor Davis, or you. Tell your lawyer to move forward on the divorce, so we can both move on with our lives. That’s all I want. I want this to be finished.”

“I just want one thing from you right now, just share a kiss with me so you’ll see there is still something between us, that the love given to us by the Lord remains.”

Before I could protest he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. I resisted, trying to back away knowing I didn’t want him touching me. I found the thought of a kiss revolting– my lips on his wasn’t going to happen. I felt a hand come to my other arm and grasp it firmly, then saw him leaning toward me.

“No! Let me go!” I shouted as he closed the distance.

Robb

I was walking into the park looking for Wendy and was certain I saw her sitting on a bench under a tree. Continuing on, I saw a man approach, stand for a moment, then sit down next to her. I was sure I was mistaken now, and turned my gaze to the other benches around the park. I didn’t see a lone women sitting anywhere and was thinking she’d been held-up by traffic and hadn’t arrived yet. I looked back to where I saw the man and woman sitting just as I heard a shout. I was close enough now I could tell it was Wendy– she was struggling with the man.

I rushed up to the bench yelling. “Leave her alone, get the hell away from her.”

I saw him stop, still holding her arms, to look at me,as I stopped a few feet away. He looked at me surprised.

“This is my wife, get lost. We have things to talk about.”

“It doesn’t look to me like she wants to talk, or whatever it is you’re trying to get out of her.”

“I told you, get lost. We’ll work this out.”

“Okay, here’s the way it’s going to work. You let go of her, she tells me she wants to talk with you, and I leave. If you don’t, I call 911 and get the cops here to sort things out. I don’t leave until they get here. Your choice.”

I watched as he slowly released her and turned to me with a glare. “This woman is mine, she is my wife, and she knows what it means. She had better understand I deserve another chance and I’m not giving up just because her lawyer talks to mine.”

I watched as he turned to Wendy. “I want to talk with you right now, I’m tired of the run arounds. I won’t do anything else other than talk.”

I looked at Wendy and saw she wasn’t happy. Then she nodded.

Wendy

I heard a voice and looked to where it came from and saw it was Robb. My husband released his grip on my arms and I moved to the far end of the bench. I knew my husband wouldn’t be aggressive with Robb, I’d seen him back down too often. Still, I was happy to have Robb there as his grip on my arms had been painful. This was the second time he had tried to force himself upon me and I was more fearful than ever before of how he viewed me.

I decided to talk with him now. Robb would be near and would come to my rescue if my husband tried to take me with him by force– a real possibility I felt now.

I watched as Robb moved to a bench nearby and sat down as we looked at one another.

“You know that guy?” my husband asked.

“I’ve talked with him once, now what is it you want to talk about?” My stomach clenched at not having told the truth.

“I want you to come home, meet with Pastor Davis, and agree to meet with some of the Christian women to learn more about how you should behave at home. I know you were raised in a different religion, but you need to practice what our church teaches. I want you to be ready to start a family, so it means getting off birth control– which you know is against what our church teaches.”

I looked him straight in the eye. “Let me get straight to the point. I don’t want to be married to you anymore, and I certainly don’t want to have your children. If you bother me again I’ll seek a restraining order against you. I don’t want to do that, so if you agree to the divorce this whole thing will end and we can go our separate ways. I hope you understand I’m not coming back to you.”

“You can’t mean that, you can’t. We have a lot invested in our marriage. No other man will know you the way I have known you.”

I laughed. “I wasn’t a virgin when I married you. You knew that, now you want to make sure after you there will never be another? You get a little bit stranger each time we talk. I can’t help but wonder if you’re not reading and talking to the wrong people in your church. I didn’t sign up for your brand of religion and version of marriage, at least not the kind you represent now.”

“If you seek the comfort of another man while we are married you’ll be condemned to hell, you know that. Think about it, I’ll give you three days to let me know and if I ever see you with that guy again he’ll pay.”

I knew my husband was a wuss, he always backed down when it looked as if another guy would touch him.

“Well, make him start paying now. We’re going to have coffee together, that’s what friends do in the real world.”

“So, you admit you were going to meet him here?”

“Why should I lie about it? We have coffee and talk, that’s more than I care to do with you. One thing I do know, if you mess with him he’ll beat your ass. So, I suggest you get up and walk away and not use your mouth in a way that will get you into trouble– the cops may have to come to save you otherwise.”

My husband glanced towards Robb, then back to me. “He’d better not touch you while you’re married.”

“He won’t touch me unless I want him to, I can trust him. It’s too bad I can’t say the same thing about you anymore. Do you think it would make any difference to me now anyway?”

“You wouldn’t,” he glared.

I smiled wickedly, got up from the park bench, and walked toward Robb without a word. I was finished talking, at least with him. It was time for coffee with someone I wanted to spend time with. Let the bastard think whatever he wanted. I would do what felt right for me for a change.

No dating until after the divorce was final was what the lawyers touted–don’t leave your home, you remain living there. Bullshit, there was legal and there was common sense. I’d removed myself from the pain living there caused me each and every day– the only mistake I had made was in not leaving sooner.

I no longer felt connected to my faith. Not that it hadn’t been building for a long time, but recent events had simply proven it was all so much hogwash. I could never accept everything from my own religious upbringing and my marriage had simply amplified what I had found difficult to believe.

Pray, pray, and pray some more, the Lord will show you the way. I prayed with my fellow parishioners and the result didn’t change what happened. That individual, or those people suffered, and when it didn’t change for the better everyone said it was the Lord’s will. Have faith, and we would go on to pray again for something else with the same, horrible, result. Not that the Moslems didn’t do the same damn thing, they were as screwed up as the Jews I had concluded.

Robb

I watched as Wendy talked with her husband. He glanced over to me several times and when Wendy got up and started walking towards me he stood up, glared hard, then walked away. When Wendy was within a few steps I saw she seemed calm, not upset at all, as if it had been cathartic for her.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. As you might have guessed I wasn’t expecting him to be here. He stopped at my office and left a message he wanted to see me today. I didn’t see him, or his car when I left the parking lot. I guess he must have followed me. Thank you for coming to my aid again. I’m afraid I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”

“Wendy, don’t put yourself down, there’s no reason for it as far as I can tell. I don’t know you well, but I want to have the chance to.”

“You don’t believe you’ll go to hell for spending time with a married woman?” she asked half joking.

“No. I don’t believe in things like that as I’m not religious. I guess if I were I wouldn’t have helped you in the way you wanted me to when we first met. Does that bother you?” I mean, that I’m not invested in some all-knowing deity?“

"No, in fact, right now I consider it plus. Would you mind if I pay for our coffees? I think I owe you at least that this time,” she offered.

“Coffee, no sex?” I smiled with a mischievous look on my face as we started walking toward the coffee shop.

“Would that be a deal breaker, the sex I mean?” she asked earnestly.

“Not at all, I want you to know that what we did the first time isn’t what I expected to happen this time. You wanted something to throw in his face when you saw him, but you didn’t do it did you?”

Wendy

I was surprised that he would be so perceptive, but he was right. I decided not to use my tryst against him. Not that it didn’t come to mind as I sat with my husband. I felt it would reflect more on me in a negative way than him. I also didn’t need to provide him with ammunition to use against me if he wanted to contest the divorce. Even meeting Robb this time may have given him something if that was his intention.

“No, but I didn’t want to get you involved in this either.”

“I’m a big boy, and frankly, I can be stubborn about some things.”

We spent over two hours talking after getting coffee. I told him I was going to get my own apartment when I found something I liked. Then I would move the rest of my belongings from home before the divorce was final. I told him I hoped my husband was convinced after our little talk I wasn’t coming back to him, and that I wouldn’t have to be so careful about seeing him.

We stood next to each other after throwing our paper cups into the trash bin and walked across the street to my parked car. I stood looking at him and felt his hand come to take mine and hold it. The thrill I felt warmed me, my heart beat as if I were a young girl again. Looking up at him I was sure my face flushed red– but it wore a smile. I so much wanted to kiss him for making me feel so grand.

“Okay if I call you?”

“Any time you want. Thank you for being here for me, good night.”

Chapter 8: More Husband Problems

Wendy

I had to admit my husband was being far more aggressive than I had ever seen him before. I hadn’t been able to understand his behavior over the past year. He had started to quote Scripture to me more than he had before. I had attempted to talk to him about it and he got defensive, telling me I should pray for guidance. At first, his time with Joanne had seemed innocent enough. I trusted him, I trusted her as far as that went. She was always educating me about my responsibilities as a wife, and after a while I thought they were tag-teaming me.

I didn’t expect him to be so persistent in trying to get me to counseling after having ignored me for so long. His behavior was erratic, but not dangerous until our last two encounters. It was like he couldn’t accept I was rejecting him like he had rejected me. I hoped he would finally see the light and sign the papers to end our marriage.

Despite my husband’s appearance I was in a good mood after spending time with Robb. We had talked about our childhood, relating our most embarrassing moments. Laughing at what we’d done and now considered just plain stupid. It was liberating to be so honest with him. He didn’t hold much back, he had a self-deprecating sense of humor that showed how confident he was in himself.

That night I slipped into bed and felt perhaps something good would come out the day after all. I would call my lawyer tomorrow and tell him about my husband’s statement I had three days to return home to him. He hadn’t said it in a threatening way and I took it as applying more pressure to get me home where he would have more control over me. I knew what my lawyer was going to say– I should have stayed in the house.

Robb

I left Wendy and headed home thinking she had a lot on her plate and I didn’t need to add to it. I stayed as positive as I could and really liked seeing her laugh– she had this cute dimple that appeared when she did. I pulled into my parking space, got out, and walked into my apartment to relax for the rest of the evening. I was sitting watching a program on TV when I remembered I had left my lunch containers in the front seat of the car.

I got up knowing if I didn’t wash them out they would be really funky by morning. I opened the door to my apartment and saw someone bending down near the rear of my car. I stepped out thinking one of my neighbors had dropped something and was picking it up. It didn’t take but a few seconds for me to recognize the shirt the guy was wearing; it was Wendy’s husband. I walked down the sidewalk and approached my car without saying anything, and he didn’t see me.

I got closer and it must have been the air escaping from the v