Prologue to a Problem - Vignette

This story picks up early on Sunday morning the day after Karen laid bare her soul and sins to her ex-husband Richard in Vignette 2. The main characters are Susan and Bob, briefly introduced in the original 750 wordPrologue to a Problem. They are the remaining two characters in this sad, sex-fueled, family-wrecking, sordid tale. They are also the last of the three couples standing, as their marriage is still intact.

Many of you, I am sure, will wonder why I posted this story over so much time. Admittedly, I would have increased reader engagement (and maybe the scores) if I had written all pieces closer together. However, in my defense, the story took time to unfold in my mind.

After reading it, I believe you will agree with me that this is the final chapter.

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Bob heard the garage door chime as it opened. He glanced down at his watch.

6:30 a.m.

He was drinking coffee alone in the kitchen.

There was nothing alarming in the hour or his wife's arrival. It was planned. He knew Karen, their friend and house guest for the past two nights, had an early flight back to Salt Lake City.

"Hey Honey. When did you get up?" Susan casually asked as she came in from the garage and saw her husband sitting at the breakfast table.

"About 45 minutes ago," Bob replied. "I was dead to the world. I didn't hear you get up or leave. I hope you told Karen goodbye for me."

Susan smiled. She had been up since 2:00 a.m. and, not for the first time, wondered how Bob slept so well.

"What about you? How'd you sleep?" Bob asked.

"Not great. I couldn't get settled. I tossed and turned. I was worried about Karen, so I just got up, made some tea and waited for her to get home. She finally came in around 2:30."

"Damn. That's late. I thought she was just going to Richard's for a few hours. They didn't...," Bob hesitated, "reconnect, did they?"

Susan chuckled at her husband's suggestion. "No dear. They did not. It was, in fact, the opposite. They finally had it out. It was awful."

"Yikes. Grab some coffee and tell me about it."

Susan did as Bob suggested and sat down and took a big sip reflecting on what she had learned.

"So, what happened?" Bob prodded once she was settled.

"Well, like I said, she got in late. I heard a car pull up and so I went to the door. Karen and a young woman, I didn't know, were coming up the walk. Karen was a mess. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and I think a little drunk as she was leaning on the woman."

"That's odd. Who was it? Did you recognize her?"

"No. I didn't know her. She introduced herself and said her name was Valerie Bhatti. She said she drove Karen home and wanted to make sure she got in safely."

"Damn. You know who Valerie Bhatti is, don't you?" Richard replied.

Susan stopped the retelling of her story for a second and looked up quizzically at Bob. "No. Should I?"

"She's Anish Bhatti's daughter. Anish used to work for Warren Buffet. He was the number three at Berkshire Hathaway. He left about 10 years ago to start his own private equity firm. Mega rich and devout Catholic. He's very involved in the Diocese here in Omaha. Valerie, if I'm not mistaken, is his youngest daughter and an up-and-coming young lawyer in town. I think she graduated from Princeton undergrad and Yale law school. Wicked smart from what I hear."

"Well, I didn't know any of that, but I do know she is very pretty and was very sweet to drive Karen home and, more importantly, she is Jeremy's fiancé."

"What?" an amused Bob answered. "So, let me get this straight, drunk Karen somehow got a ride home at 2:30 a.m. from her former lover's fiancé? The same asshole that wrecked her marriage and fired her husband? Wow. That's some shit. I can't wait to tell Richard this story."

"What? Wait. No! You can't breathe a word of this to anyone. Especially Richard!" Susan interjected quickly. "Karen is already embarrassed enough. Please don't tell anyone."

"Okay. Geez. Relax," Bob replied with his hands up in a defensive position. "But trust me this is going to blow up and get back to him."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, for one, Bhatti's private equity firm, Select Capital, is the sole investor in Jeremy's company. Anish, Valerie's dad, is Jeremy's Board Chair, so, in effect, his boss. So, what the hell happened? What did Karen do?"

Susan began to tell the story as she thought back to earlier that morning as she led Karen inside...

"Thank you so much," Susan said to the young woman that was standing at the bottom of the front stoop as she wrapped her arm around Karen and began to lead her into the house.

"You're welcome. I sincerely hope your friend is okay," Valerie responded as she turned back to her car.

"Oh my god Karen are you alright?" Susan asked as she closed the door and coaxed her to the couch.

"No," Karen whispered as she clung tighter to Susan.

"Here. Have a seat and talk to me."

The two old friends sat on the couch. Karen leaned over and wrapped her arms around Susan's neck and sobbed.

Susan, for her part, just sat there and let her friend cry while she held her. No judgement. No questions about what was wrong. No attempt to fix her or solve her problems. No empty reassurances that everything would be alright.

Just comforting presence.

Susan had seen grief before in her life. She had experienced the death of both parents and her mother-in-law, but nothing prepared her for the deep anguish Karen exhibited. Karen's sadness seemed to radiate from within, vibrating from her very being, while simultaneously enveloping her from without in palpable despair. It was heartbreaking for Susan to witness.

Eventually Karen's sobs subsided. She had, at least for the moment, cried herself out. She let go of Susan's neck and straightened up. Sniffled and wiped her nose with a tissue offered up by her friend.

"God I'm a wreck," she said as she wiped away tears and saw the mascara smeared on the tissue. "I should let you get back to bed," she added attempting to resurrect her brave persona and crawl back into her protective shell.

But Susan was having none of it.

"Absolutely not," Susan replied quietly, yet firmly, leaving no doubt that she was not abandoning her friend. "Please tell me what happened."

Karen took a moment to collect herself. She could not hold it in. She had no real girlfriends in Salt Lake City. At least not like the deep friendships she had had here in Omaha with Susan and Ann. She was close to her sister with whom she lived but not close-girlfriend-close, not share all my secrets close.

So, Susan's genuine invitation, based on love and concern, not judgement, to listen was just what she needed.

For up to now she had kept it all inside, telling herself it was for the best. Her friends had their own problems, they didn't want to be burdened with hers. That personal narrative was what she repeated over and over again inside her head until it became her truth.

But deep down she knew "her truth" was a lie. The real truth was she was deeply embarrassed. She was extremely self-conscious thinking everyone knew about her affair and was talking about her. Mostly, she was profoundly ashamed. She assumed the worst. She thought, and projected, that her neighbors, her church, the other mothers at the kid's school and even Ann and Susan were judging her just like she was judging herself.

The result was an emotional prison where she was left all alone to deal with her heartache and the carnage of her life by herself, putting on a brave persona for her kids, her mom and dad, her sister, her new employer, her occasional dates and her dear, dear friends Susan and Ann.

Karen finally took a deep breath and continued.

"Oh Susan, I did something terrible. I really fucked things up."

"Slow down. What happened? What did you do?"

"I confronted Jeremy.

"Or at least that's what I set out to do."

Susan remained silent.

Susan, of course, knew the name. She knew Jeremy was Richard's old boss. She had even been introduced to him by her husband at some boring civic Gala. She remembered that her initial impression was that he was charming and cute. She also came to know that he was the one that had engaged in a yearlong affair with her friend Karen and had, in effect, destroyed her life.

"I left the party around 8:30. Eric and his friends had already taken off. I was the last to leave. I wandered around for a few hours and then I got so mad and so sad," Karen paused as if unsure if she could go on.

Susan did not say anything but through her silence encouraged her to continue.

"I decided to go see Jeremy."

Susan kept her arm around her friend and rubbed her back but didn't say a word.

"I knew where he lived so I went over to his condo. The doorman called up and instead of Jeremy coming down, it was that young woman that you met that brought me home. Her name is Valerie and she is Jeremy's fiancé.

"Oh fuck. I should have never gone there. I screwed things up."

"It's okay. Go on. What happened? You must have spent some time there."

"Yes. She asked me who I was and what I wanted. I apologized for the late hour and said I was there to talk to Jeremy. She said he was out of town. So, I just stood there with a dumb look on my face for a few seconds trying to figure out what to do and where to go. I think she saw my red eyes and knew I had been crying. Anyway, pity, curiosity or sensing a scene, or all of the above, she invited me up.

"Once there I spilled my guts. I told her everything. I don't know why. It just came pouring out of me. I told her Jeremy was my husband's old boss. How I always admired him for the successful company that he built and the security he provided us. How he, completely out of the blue, came on to me. How I succumbed. How we kept it going. Kept it hidden. How we lived a complex double life. How eventually it all came crashing down when my husband caught us in the act. How it cost him his job. How it ruined my life then and how it continues to suffocate me like some thick, heavy black blanket under which I can't move or breathe.

"Once I started talking, I couldn't stop. It all came out. The whole sordid, vile story from start to end. She now knows more about our sickening affair than anyone on the planet, except Jeremy and me."

"How did she react?" Susan asked with genuine curiosity as she tried to take in the scene Karen was describing.

Karen thought for a moment before looking up and answering.

"She didn't. Now that I think about it," Karen said.

"She sat there listening and the more I talked, the more still she got. I'm sure some of it was the shock of the news I was sharing. But there was something else."

"What do you mean?" Susan asked.

"I don't know. Some hardening of her features, tension maybe, resolve. I don't know. But her demeanor definitely changed. But not to me," Karen quickly added. "To me she was sweet. Me a complete stranger that barged in on her. She didn't rush me or seem impatient.

"She let me confess.

"You probably don't know this but today was my first time back in the house since Richard kicked me out," Karen continued. "No. That's not fair. Since I ran away," Karen softly corrected. "Hard to believe, right? During all this time and all the drama and all the shit after being caught, the back and forth of the divorce, and the move to Salt Lake, I never once set foot back in the house after he walked in on us, until yesterday."

At this confession, Susan's mind immediately, albeit involuntarily, brought up mortifying, yet searing, images to match her friend's confession. She imagined the "walked in on us" scene, or at least the scene as she conceived it, in her head.

Yet, as quickly as the unwelcomed, disturbing imagines jumped in and played out across her consciousness, they just as quickly disappeared. She needed to stay in the moment. Karen, her friend, needed her. The despair in front of her required her full attention.

And for this involuntary reaction she was unknowingly very fortunate.

Because the graphic scene Susan conjured up in her mind, paled in comparison to the vivid technicolor sights and unmistakable sounds that Richard actually encountered that fateful afternoon as he innocently walked into his house and stumbled into a secret so dark, so personal, so unexpected, and so utterly life shattering...

Richard, dropping the keys on the island, looking around the empty downstairs, thinking her car is in the garage so she must be home, casually, then cautiously, then frantically coming up the stairs to the scent of a lavender candle, and the sounds of a squeaking bedframe, loud female moans, slapping flesh, and the guttural noise a man makes on the verge of an epic climax when consumed with lust as he drives his cock as far into a woman as it will go.

Karen, visible through a partially open guest bedroom door, doggy style on the bed, collapsed on her forearms, naked, ass raised, eyes closed, fists clenched, pretty pedicured feet pushed wide apart, nipples erect, breasts bouncing, moaning, lost in amazing sensations provided by another man's unprotected, engorged, rock hard cock, as it slammed mercilessly and repeatedly into her causing ripples to wave across her ass as their bodies collided.

Jeremy, Richard's trusted boss and mentor, on his knees, between her legs, fit, sweating, red-faced, back ramrod straight, hands firmly clasping Karen's tiny waist, positioned on the bed at an ill-fated angle to the door allowing Richard to see the entirety of Jeremy's cock as it penetrated along the whole of its length, in and out of Richard's precious, petite, beloved wife over and over and over again.

Richard, standing mouth agape, heart rate rising, traumatized, as numbness and confusion overwhelmed him, unable to speak, as Jeremy eventually peaked, ejaculating stream after stream of his warm cum deep inside his wife's recently trimmed, quivering, stretched, wet, and now very satisfied and very sticky pussy.

Luckily, Richard did not remember any of these paralyzing details, as he suffered severe emotional trauma that day and his body went into protective mode, logging incomplete and blurry memories which allowed him to function in the months that followed.

Luckily, Susan did not know any of these paralyzing details which allowed her to white wash her friend's past deeds and refocus on the here and now as she cautiously tried to unravel the remaining story.

"Karen what happened at Richard's? Why were you so upset? Was there a scene?"

"No. Nothing like that. It was nice. At least it started out that way. As you know, I was nervous about going, but I got to see some old friends, hang out with Eric and his buddies a little and was surprisingly enjoying myself, much more than I thought I would."

"Was Crystal there?" Susan tentatively probed wondering if that was the source of the night's drama.

"No. She couldn't make it. In the end it was just Richard and me.

"Like I said, it was nice. Even after everyone left. It was nice," Karen repeated as her voice trailed off. She was quiet for a long time.

Susan again said nothing, letting her friend process the memory and decide what, if anything, she wanted share.

Finally, Karen looked up, having come to the conclusion to keep going.

"After everyone was gone, we visited for a while. Had another drink. He eventually asked me what he did to make me cheat. Not me, but him. He blamed himself.

"Oh Susan it was heartbreaking. For all this time he thought it was his fault. All this time he has been torturing himself, and carrying around enormous self-doubt and guilt that somehow he had screwed up our marriage. It was terrible," Karen eked out as her sobs returned.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him the truth," Karen replied as she looked up from her lap. "He didn't do anything. It was all me. I allowed myself to be seduced and then I didn't have the courage to end it. Actually, that's not right. Saying I lacked courage makes me sound weak like some victim. Susan, I wasn't a victim. I was a willing participant. For twelve months, with a small break towards the beginning, I was there for Jeremy. I obsessed about him. I pampered myself for him. I restlessly waited until I could see him again. We had sex wherever and whenever he wanted. It was so wrong and so sordid, but I didn't end it. I let it continue right up until he caught us.

"I shared it all with him. As hard as it was to admit, he deserved to hear it."

The two women sat in silence, alone with their thoughts.

A few moments later, Karen collected herself once again. "He's such a sweet, conscientious, good man who did absolutely nothing wrong," except marry a vile bitch, Karen silently, but honestly added to herself.

"I didn't deserve him, and he's better off without me," she assertively concluded, as she stood.

"I'm going to go upstairs to shower and pack. Do you mind driving me to the airport a little early?"

"Not at all," Susan quietly replied, struggling to find the right words. "Are you going to be okay?" she finally managed.

Karen paused for a long, long time, looking down on her friend.

"Time heals...Right?" Karen said softly, and yet unconvincingly, as she turned and went upstairs to the guest room leaving Susan all alone in the quiet of the house to hurt for her dear lost friend.

Bob had been listening intently as Susan retold the story. "So now what?" he asked.

"She's turning right around and flying back Friday night for Eric's graduation on Saturday. She insisted on staying at a hotel, although I did offer her the guest room again. She said she didn't want to impose, but I think she's embarrassed. Omaha is so painful for her."

Susan paused. Set her coffee on the table and began to softly weep.

"Hey honey," Bob said as he got up and wrapped his arm around his crying wife. "I know this has been hard on you. You lost your two closest friends. Mine are still here. But you know who else is still here? Me. I haven't gone anywhere. We've got a great marriage and wonderful kids. In a few years we'll be empty nesters. Think of all the extra food and great sex we can have once we get those two eating machines out of the house," Bob said with a twinkle in his eye and a goofy grin on his face.

Susan smiled and looked up at her husband with real love. Her heart swelled as she took in the man she married. Great sense of humor. Well liked. A hard worker. Successful. A good Christian man. A great dad. Steady in all things.

"Just don't go and screw it up," Bob teased.

"You wouldn't cheat, would you?" Bob asked, unaware that he was asking Susan the exact same question that his friend Phil had asked Ann 18 months ago on the way home from that fateful dinner.

But, unlike Ann, Susan didn't hesitate. She wasn't distracted thinking about sex with a stranger wondering about how the seduction would play out. She didn't imagine the thrill or the imposing physical attributes of a new man or all the glorious ways he might defile her. She didn't anchor her answer in the practical, citing a lack of time to sneak around and engage in an affair, or in self-preservation worried about being caught. No. She didn't think or say any of the things that Ann had brought up all those months ago to Phil.

Rather, she turned in her chair, reached up to Bob, grabbed his chin in her hands and forced him to look at her.

"Bob Stafford, I love you with every fiber of my being. Even more today than when we took our vows. I have absolutely no desire to share my life with anyone but you."

THREE MONTHS LATER

Bob glanced down at his phone on his desk and saw an incoming call from Richard.

"Hey buddy. Welcome back. How was Cancun? Did you and Crystal enjoy the honeymoon?"

"Oh my gosh, yes. It was a blast. So much fun."

"Cool. Glad to hear it and glad you're back. You up for dinner on Friday? It'd be fun to catch up. I know Susan is anxious to see Crystal and hear about your trip. I could call Phill."