February Consequences

"Go away." She heard through the door. She turned the knob and walked in. "Ready to talk?"

"No. You don't understand. You think 'Girl's Night' is bad, but it's not. It's fun and we deserve it."

"Do you now?'" Her mother looked at her . "And what exactly do you deserve?"

"To have fun. Feel alive. Feel sexy."

Her mother stood directly in front of her. "So you don't have fun with Jim and your family?" She turned her head like she was looking for something. "So your husband and children don't make you feel alive? And I'm guessing that Jim never tells you that you're sexy and desirable?"

"It's different. We have fun as a family, but it's not the same kind of fun. Jim says that I'm beautiful and sexy but he has to because he's my husband."

Rebecca grimaced. "No, he doesn't have to tell you that. He does it because he loves you. When men at the clubs tell you that, it's to screw you."

"So?!"

"What exactly do you girl's do, wait..... what do you do at the club?" she carefully asked.

Linda was getting huffy. "We dance..."

"With men other than your husband."

"Yes, mother." Linda rolled her eyes. "We have drinks, and do stuff."

"Who buys these drinks? Do men other than your husband buy you drinks?"

"Sometimes."

She looked sternly at her daughter. "You forget that I've seen the video and pictures of you kissing, feeling up, and sucking off men other than your husband. That's CHEATING, Linda."

Linda tried to jump up but her mother pushed her back down onto the bed. "NO, IT'S NOT, MOTHER!"

She kept her hands on Linda's shoulder reducing the pressure to a light touch. "That's your problem, baby girl. You don't think it is. That's Dee talking. What if your husband was out dancing, kissing, drinking, getting blow jobs, and screwing women at clubs that would not be cheating?"

"Jim wouldn't do that."

"That's not an answer."

Rebecca took a deep breath as she sat down on the bed beside her daughter. "You think that I don't understand the urges that you feel. I do, but it's you that has made the choice to act upon those urges. There are consequences to those actions. You will reap what you sow.' She paused. "It was that many years ago, that I felt unhappy and unfulfilled. Your father had a friend. Everyone knew that he was quite the player. He had screwed so many women, and his exploits were legendary. Real or imagined, who knows. He would come over to see your father, and we would flirt. Harmless flirting, or so I thought."

Linda looked at her mother strangely.

"Well, you may remember when we always had BBQs here at the house. Our friends and relatives would come. It was fun until it wasn't. For a few weeks before our last BBQ, your father's friend and I had shared a kiss. No touching, just some kissing, and then over a few weeks, it became passionate kissing. I will always remember what I was wearing when my life almost went to hell. I was wearing my favorite sundress, it was red with small flowers. I loved it, and I remember it fondly. I was in the kitchen plating food when he came up behind, and touch my bottom while leaving light kisses on my neck. I spun around expecting your father, but found his friend. We kissed passionately. His hands touched me where he shouldn't have. Before I could ask him to stop, your father came in the backdoor for some more ice."

She looked down in sadness. "I will never forget the look of betrayal on your father's face. He pushed his friend off of me, then knocked him across the room. He slid across the dining room table, pushing all the food onto the floor. Before his friend could react, your dad began to hit him. I thought he would kill him. There was blood everywhere. Dad drug him out the front door, across the gravel driveway, then kicked him in the balls. Told him to never come back."

Rebecca stood up. "That's my story. I violated Jeff's trust in me. I disrespected him, and it took probably twenty years for him to trust me again.. Anytime I was late, he would wonder where I was and who I was with. Is that what you want?"

"Right now, your dad is with Jim trying to keep him from divorcing you."

"Mom, dad was wrong, you weren't cheating on him. It was only fooling around."

No, Linda. It is cheating. You don't have to have physical sex for it to be cheating. There's emotional cheating, too." She started to walk out. "I have made an appointment for counseling for you this week."

"Jim, too."

Jeff loved his son-in-law, and he was shocked as he got to Jim and Linda's house and found news vans parked in front. He drove around the block and walked through the neighbors backyard , and hopped the fence.

He came through the backdoor. "Boy, you sure got fifteen minutes of fame outside." Jim laughed.

"I know, and I have LW setting up an interview with someone local, so we can get our story out first before LaValliere's team can spin it."

"Jim, I don't want to lose you as a member of this family, but I understand. I've been where you are." With that said, he told his story of Rebecca's almost affair. He wanted Jim to know that it could happen to anyone. Sometimes good people fall under the influence of people who do not have their best interests at heart.

The front door opened and LK and Jon walked in. "Son, I want you to know that you're children's college fund is paid in full. SEN wants the rights to interview you. It's set up tonight at Channel 15, downtown. Get cleaned up, and I'll sneak you out of here."

The SEN interview went off without a hitch. Jim came off as the perfect husband protecting his wife and family from a sexual predator. The on-air host even brought up how Jim had single-handed shipped supplies to business in trouble during the recent snowstorm. Jim told the anchor how he was going to therapy next week that his father-in-law set up to help him get over the incident. The announcer asked how things were at home. Jim smiled uneasily, said that it was going to be a slow process of recovery for everyone involved.

LW was pleased, and so was Jeff. They each praised Jim off camera.

Monday came, and with it back to work. The weekend is over.

While Jim returned to work a hero and high fives, the opposite was true for Linda.

She walked to her cubicle, where she found a LaValliere jersey on her chair. Unused condoms, dildos, lube, KY, lingerie, and numerous men's phone numbers. Men who wouldn't pursue her before because she was married, now wouldn't leave her alone. In their eyes, she was a cheater. Dee and Jane thought it was funny. By lunch, Linda blew her top. She curses any and everyone that came within her eyesight. Her supervisor, Mr Thomas, sent Linda home on a two week leave without pay.

When she arrived at her parents, she told her mother what happened. She was not sympathetic. "Well, baby girl, when you hang out with whores, everybody assumes you're a whore too. Before you had the fear of Jim, that kept the wolves at bay, and now you don't."

Linda was so pissed at her mother's flippant statement.

Her mother picked her phone up and dialed someone. "She has some unexpected leave time from work. Can we come today instead of later this week?" There was a pause. "Good. We'll see you at four."

"Doctor Gwen can see you today at four. She had a cancellation."

Linda asks, "Who's Dr. Gwen?"

"Your Counselor, baby girl."

Rebecca stayed with Linda in the waiting room until she was called into the doctor's office.

Once called in the office, she noticed that it was very relaxing. There wasn't a desk, but it looked and felt like someone's home. Comfortable couch and love-seat with a soft floral pattern, a smart coffee table with a teapot and cups, and a leather armchair with a side table and lamp.

A side door opened and an attractive woman with short blondish hair, and medium build entered. Dressed casually, she looked her mother's age, early fifties. "Hello, I am Gwen. Some call me, Doctor or Dr Gwen or just Gwen. Whatever makes you feel comfortable."

"OK?." replied Linda.

Dr Gwen sat in the armchair, and opened a new notebook in her lap. Linda could see that she had notes already scribbled. Gwen motioned for Linda to sit. She chose the love-seat across the table from Dr Gwen.

Dr Gwen started. "I have some notes from your parents about your situation. I have background information as well. Yes, I watched every Utube video from that night. I have also seen the photographs and videos from your 'Girl's Night Out's. In case, you are wondering, there are other videos and pictures that you do not know about."

Linda was perturbed. "So, you already think you know what I need. You already decided?"

"No. Information gives me context about your situation. I would also like to advise you that your husband is seeing my husband, Dr Franklin. Franklin feels that Jim will make superb progress."

She motioned to the table. "Let's have some tea." Dr Gwen poured each of them a cup of tea. Linda put two sugar cubes in her cup while Dr Gwen added only milk.

"Before we begin, when was the last time you spoke to or text messaged your husband?"

" I'm not calling him. This is his fault that I'm a prisoner at my parent's house, and suspended at work today." She started to get up. "Jim will have to beg me to come home!"

"Linda, in an effort to be honest with each other. Jim doesn't have to beg you to be his loving wife. I am sure after his Utube stardom, he has dozens of women courting him. He is a Unicorn. A good looking man that has a great job, and will do anything to protect his family. That, my dear, is hard to come by. So you should keep that in mind."

Who was this bitch to tell me that other women want my husband? He's mine, once he gets over this little pissy mood of his, we'll be back together. She thought.

"Tell me what happened today at work" Dr Gwen spoke lightly.

She related her version of the story as Dr Gwen took notes. She told how the men started grabbing her ass and touching her breasts, like she was their plaything. That's what caused her outburst.

"What are your plans?" Dr Gwen asked.

"Plans?"

"What are your plans for the long term? Let's start with what do you plan to get out of these sessions?"

"Probably nothing but a waste of my time."

"How do you see your life continuing?"

"Jim will get over this like Dave did, I'll move back home, and it will be fine."

Dr Gwen sipped her tea, then placed the teacup down, and wrote Linda's statement down.

"You seem sure that Jim will, as you said, get over it. What if he doesn't? What if he finds another woman to love him, and raise your children? As I said earlier, he is quite the catch for someone."

Linda sat proudly. "My Jim would never cheat on me."

"Oh, Linda, you poor thing. You, you know that Jim would never cheat on you even though you cheated on him?"

Linda stood up and pointed at the doctor. "I didn't cheat and have sex with other men!"

Dr Gwen looked at her firmly. "The evidence says otherwise."

Dr Gwen stood and walked to the door and opened it. "That is enough for today. Since you are not working this week, I want to see you again tomorrow. I will see you after my last appointment ends at 6 pm. Be here promptly at 6. Do not make me wait."

Jim was washing the dinner dishes before giving the kids bath time. He was surprised when the doorbell rang. He looked through the peephole and saw that it wasn't Linda.

"Hey Bill, and Hey Trisha." He welcomed his friend inside.

"How's March treating you so far?" asked Bob.

"Good. You?"

Bill nodded yes.

Trish started. "We wanted to check on you and the kids. I wanted you to know what happened at work this morning."

Trish related the story of Linda's fit and angry rant. "Thomas suspended her for two weeks, but he's also been blocking my transfer of her to my department. After today, he wants to be rid of her. Tomorrow, I will officially transfer to my department, and I will let her cool off a couple more days before I have her come in on Friday for training. I wanted to keep you in the loop."

"Thanks for getting Linda back to work. And for checking on me. No one else has besides Jeff and Rebecca."

Jeff came home from work, and found out that Linda was not working. "How are you going to pay us rent this week? "

"Dad, I'll still have a paycheck direct deposited on Friday from two weeks ago."

Jeff looked at his daughter. "That money is for my grandkids. Since you're not working, you can come to work with me starting tomorrow."

"I am not crawling under houses doing ac work with you, dad."

"Oh, baby girl, you too good to do manual labor. That manual labor put you through that fancy college of yours."

"I can't. I have an appointment with Dr Gwen tomorrow."

"Yeah, at six." He already knew everything.

When she got to Dr Gwen's office at 5:55 pm, she was exhausted and dirty. Dad wouldn't let her go home and clean up. Dr Gwen got a towel for Linda to sit on.

"Look at me. I am a mess. I'm dirty and nasty from crawling around an attic today helping Dad run ac conduit. I am so tired. I broke three fingernails." cried Linda. "Can I reschedule?"

"No, but today, I would like to start with your family history. Not your parents, but your and Jim's."

She poured the tea for each of them, and added two sugar cubes for Linda. "From Franklin's sessions with Jim, Jim feels that your problems started when you went to work with your old friend Dee, and she got you going to her 'Girls Night Outs'. What were Jim and Your life like before 'Girl's Nights?"

She looked at Dr Gwen. "It was fine, we had this little happy family. When Tommy got to be two, Dee started talking to me to come back to work so I could be fulfilled. I was lonely for adult conversations."

"How often did you make love to Jim during those times?"

"I don't remember exactly, but maybe three or four times a week."

"Did Jim take you out for date nights?"

"Yes, every Friday was date night. Either my parents or his brother would watch the kids."

"When did you start Girls Night?"

"About a month or so after I went back to work. Dee kept at me. Told me that I needed to get out there and experience the rush that I was still desirable."

"I see. Did Jim not tell you that you were desirable? Pretty? Beautiful, Sexy?"

"He did, but he has too, he's my husband." She squirmed on the love-seat. "But Dee said, no, I need to know that other men desired me , too."

"Why is that so important to you?"

"I don't know. Because I like the attention."

"You should understand that it is destructive to your relationships when you pursue such things as a married woman. If you desire to be the attention of other men, would it be easier to divorce Jim so you can embrace that desire?"

"I don't know, but I love Jim. I know that."

Dr Gwen leaned in as she spoke." How does the attention you receive from other men feel to you."

"Exciting, in a way. Carefree, and I feel desirable, and sexy. I feel younger inside."

"You seem to be acting in way that suggests that you forget that you're a wife and a mother when you are carrying on with other men." As she paused, she sipped her tea. "You want to forget that you have responsibilities."

"Maybe."

"Did you carry on this way, when you danced with men as a single woman?"

"No. My mother told me that a lady doesn't act like that."

Dr Gwen reached out with, "Then why would a married woman act the way you have with men other than your husband?"

Gwen picked up her pen and made notes. "Have you always allowed men to touch you and treat you the way that I have seen in the video and pictures? Did you do that on the first Girl's Night?"

Linda thought for a moment. "No, not at first. I remember the first time, a man rubbed his thing on me. It scared me. I wasn't expecting that, but Dee said to embrace it. I'm sexy, and men should want me." A smile came over her face. "When I quit being scared of it happening, I became aroused. That intensified my feelings."

"Before we end this session, I have a question. It is my understanding that you have Girl's Night every Friday, on the night that used to be your husband's date night, is that correct?"

Linda replied, "Yes".

Dr Gwen stood to walk Linda to the door. "When does Jim get his 'Boy's Night Out'?"

"Jim doesn't do things like that." Linda says.

At the doorway, Dr Gwen points out. "So you believe that you Deserve a Girl's Night Out, but your husband doesn't deserve a night out. I want you to think about that. Shouldn't your husband have the opportunity to rub his equipment onto other women, married and single. So he can feel desirable as well. He is an attractive man, Linda. He has needs as well. "

"Let's get together tomorrow at 5 pm. I am sitting in on Jim's 2 pm session with Dr Franklin as an observer."

Linda cried Wednesday evening when she returned home with her father. He worked her so hard. She was a mess. SO dirty, and filthy with cuts and scratches on her face and arms. She noticed a call on her phone when got out of the shower. It was Trisha.

She played the voicemail. "Hello, little sister, I have good news. I got Thomas to transfer you to my department yesterday. It's cleared for you to start training with me Friday morning. See you then, don't be late. Bye."

She called Trisha back to thank her. "Oh, thank God, Trish. My dad is working me to death. I am so scratched up and I've broke almost all my fingernails. I'm not cut out for this."

"It's my pleasure. Look, I'm going to be honest with you. I promised Jim at Thanksgiving that I would chose you to be my next hire when My budget got raised in February, but Thomas has been stalling on it. Anyway, it's cleared corporate now. Welcome to Loss Prevention."

"Does Jim know?"

"Yes, I informed him earlier. Actually Bill and I stopped by and saw him. "

"How was he? Did you see my kids?"

"Yes. Jim looks great. Physically, anyway. You did a lot of damage, girl."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like my daddy always said, your life is the sum of your life choices. And you made your choices. I tried to warn you about partying with Dee and Janie."

"Trish, it's not like that."

Trisha responded with, "Yeah, let's agree to disagree. I am putting my ass on the line for you with the company and your husband. I will see you Friday."

Friday morning, Trisha met Linda in the Lobby as she entered. "Let's get you over to HR and make it official." Linda smiled'

An hour later, the ladies walked by the room where Linda had recently worked. Several men leered into the hallway, and made rude comments to Linda as she walked past them. They stopped their taunting when Trisha turned toward them. "Don't worry, it'll stop soon unless you give them more to talk about."

When they entered Trisha's small office area, Dee and Jane waited with coffees and donuts. "Welcome back!" The girls hugged Linda tightly. "Can't wait to catch up at lunch. Usual Friday place."

"No." Trisha interjected. "Linda, has to start her training, and we will probably have a working lunch today." She waved toward the door. "You should get to work, too."

Dee paused at the door, "See you at Girls Night, then."

At their lunch break, Linda wanted Trisha to know that she appreciated the opportunity. "I appreciate you giving me this job. It's funny that when I started here, you trained me in the old job, and now you're training me in a new job. I didn't realize there was so much to do with loss prevention in our company."

"Linda, when I met you, I saw myself in you. You are a lovely woman with a lot to offer the world. When Jim brought you lunch on your first day, I knew that he was a wonderful man that really loved and cared about you. You should have been promoted before now, but by associating with Dee and Jane, it has held you back."

"How?"

"Guilt by association. Those two spend more company hours socializing than working, and do minimum work while here. That's stealing time as you will learn in Loss Prevention. I have always believed that they give favors to Thomas to keep their jobs"