February Sucks - For Them

What, just a little while earlier had been an experience she'd never forget, was at that moment, completely ruined. Now, all she wanted to do was forget the whole damn thing and get out of there.

They both dressed in silence and made their way to the front door. The night before, LaValliere didn't even want to take the time to park in the garage and left his SUV in the drive. They hadn't quite reached the end of the porch yet when he looked up and saw half-a-dozen photographers just off his property line. They all had telephoto lenses and they were all pointed at the two of them. He immediately grabbed Linda's arm and started pulling her back.

"Hey, what are you doing," she screamed, "let me go!"

"Get back in the house," he snarled, "we're being photographed."

Her eyes got big as saucers when she all the cameras, and followed Mr. Football back in. "What the hell is going? Why are they photographing us?"

"I don't know," he answered. As he pulled his phone out, he realized he hadn't turned it back on yet. He pressed the button and impatiently waited for it to boot back up. Linda did the same with hers. As soon as he could, LaValliere speed-dialed one of his buddies that was with him at the dance club. "Kevin, what's going on? I got a bunch of paparazzi outside my door."

"You've got more than that," Kevin replied with a cynical chuckle. "I told you, you were going to get into trouble someday with all that, what'd you call it, 'cuckold' bullshit. That broads husband went crazy last night. Shit, man, you're an internet sensation. You're all over YouTube, Instagram, and who knows what else."

"Shit, I'll kill the motherfucker."

"Oh yeah, that'd be real smart. I was going to try and calm him down last night and half the people turned their phones on me. I wasn't about to go anywhere near him after that. Shit, Chuck and I had everyone in the place leering at us while we sat at the table and waited several minutes after the guy left before we could leave. Check out YouTube, man, you'll see what I mean."

"Okay, I'll do it now," he said as he hit disconnect. Meanwhile, Linda was listening to his side of the conversation.

"What?" she asked. "What's going on?"

He ignored her and swiped his YouTube app. Linda heard Jim's angry voice. "Oh my God," she exclaimed as LaValliere held up his phone for her to see.

"Your asshole husband, that's what's going on," he yelled.

She immediately dialed Dee. "Thank heaven you called," roared Dee. "I've been trying to get you since last night. Are you home?"

"No, I'm still at Marc's house. The place is surrounded by photographers."

"Oh, fuck! Jim went off the deep end last night. I tried to tell him that you still love him, but he said he was going to file for divorce. I think he's planning on move out of the house, too. You got to get home right away and see if you can stop him. I did the best I could last night, but honey, he is really pissed."

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving right now." She frantically hung up and looked at Marc. "I've got to get home right away," she told him.

"I'm not going back out there with you, are you kidding? Call a cab or an Uber or something."

"Marc," she beseeched, but he turned his back on her and walked away. She could hardly see through the tears as she Googled, "Uber near me." She called the nearest one and was told it'd be twenty minutes. She slid down the wall to the tile floor of the foyer and cried until she heard a horn. She pulled her coat over her head and tried hiding her face as the cameras snapped away.

The Uber driver had no idea of what was going on. He stared at her in his rearview mirror, trying to see if he recognized her. "You famous or something?"

"No, I'm not famous, I'm stupid. Please, just get me there as soon as you can."

She checked her phone again to see if Jim had tried contacting her. When she saw the text she was terrified to open it but knew she had to. She could almost hear her heart shatter when she saw the lingerie neatly placed on the bed with the note. The driver checked on her in the rearview mirror again when he heard her mournful sob. He had no idea what she did, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

After paying the Uber driver, she ran into the house calling Jim's name, but was met with only silence. Briefly, she wondered if he could still be at the hotel, but that hope was dashed when she checked the closet. She collapsed on the bed in tears.

It was almost an hour later before she was cried out. She wiped her eyes and decided to go down to the kitchen and make coffee so she could try and clear her head and think. It was then that she saw his ring and the note. She knew instantly, her marriage was over. She flopped down in a chair and thought back to the night before and how deeply she must have hurt him. Why she couldn't see it at the time was a question she'd ask herself for the rest of her life.

*****

Jim had a hard time falling asleep, but once he did, he was out for the count. He was so emotionally drained he slept for a solid nine hours and didn't wake up until ten-thirty, Saturday morning. The fog in his brain didn't start to lift until he was in the shower. While getting dressed, he was about to turn his phone on, but decided he still wasn't ready to start dealing with the fallout from the previous night. He needed a good breakfast, he needed coffee, he needed time to prepare. He asked the desk clerk about restaurants and learned of three within walking distance. He picked the Denny's in the next block.

It was a little past noon by the time he returned to his room. He took a deep breath to steel himself and turned on his phone. There were at least a dozen missed calls from his so-called friends. He ignored them all. He saw that Linda had returned his text. That one he opened.

My dearest husband, I can't even imagine how badly I hurt you last night. Saying I'm sorry doesn't come close to the shame and regret I feel. All I can do is beg your forgiveness and plead with you, if there is any love for me left in your heart, please give me a chance to somehow make it up to you.

He wrote her back. You're right about the hurt. Never in my life have I had someone who professed to love me, so blatantly plunge a dagger into my heart and twist it for good measure.

I'm sure my anger will eventually go away and I'll find I do still love you, but if we stayed together I would be on pins and needles waiting for the next time it happened. I'm not going to live my life like that, Linda. I will see a lawyer as soon as possible and will file for divorce. In the meantime, let's keep things as equitable as we can for the sake of the children. I want to come over tomorrow so we can hopefully sit down together and calmly explain things to them. After that, I'll spend the rest of the day with them. Let me know if you have any problems with that.

When he was done, he sat down at the little desk in the room and turned his laptop on. He had emails from all four of the tabloids who took him up on his challenge. The first two had very similar pictures of LaValliere and his wife in front of the house. They were fairly far apart and had their coats on. It showed them together but there was certainly no way to tell they'd just spent the night together from the pictures.

He kind of figured the pictures would be like that, but he was hoping he would at least have his arm around her. He checked the email from the The National Enquirer next.

"How the hell..." he mumbled to himself. He clicked on the other pictures. Each one was just as astonishing. The first few shots showed LaValliere and his wife in bed together. It looked like they had a camera in the ceiling over the bed. The next ones showed them walking outside to a building that looked like a military Quonset hut. She was in a white robe, but he was naked. He should have stopped there because the next few shots broke his heart all over again. It looked like two naughty teenagers having a great time. They were both naked as she ran in front of Mr. Football while he playfully snapped a towel at her. It hit him like a ton of bricks, and it was the first time he cried.

Jim had never faced anything as painfull as the dissolusion of his marriage. It took him a while to gather himself again. He washed his face and made some coffee with the motel's single cup machine. It was almost two before he felt confident enough to make the call. He looked the number up on his phone and asked for Darrel, but was informed he was a part-timer who only worked a few hours late at night. When he told the voice on the other end of the phone who he was, they connected him to a reporter. His name was Paul.

"Sir, may I call you Jim?"

"Yeah, that's fine," he replied.

"Jim, are you up to giving me your story?"

"Now? I was just calling to let you guys know you won. Those pictures you got blew all the others away big-time. Do you have hidden cameras around there or something?"

"No," Paul replied with a slight chuckle, "You just happen to live in the same city as our secret weapon."

"Secret weapon?"

"Yeah, we can't give out his name, but he's the best paparazzi in the business. Not only is he a hell-of-a-photographer, but he's a genius with electronics. Last year he went out and bought a drone strictly for the camera. It has the most powerful zoom and best resolution of any of them out there, then he modified it. He put some kind of muffler on it. They're usually pretty noisy, but he can fly his ten feet from you and you won't hear a thing.

"Then he rigged the camera with a polarizing filter. It reduces glare from the sun, like a pair of polaroid sunglasses. He can park it outside somebody's window and adjust the filter with his phone until you don't see any reflections in the glass; everything's clear as a bell. That's how he got those pictures of your wife and LaValliere in bed together.

"As fast as he got the call last night, he found the address and went out there to scout around. It was still dark when he sent the drone up and discovered the skylight. He figured it was over LaValliere's bed but he couldn't see until it got lighter out. He also has some super long telephoto lenses for his regular camera, so he found a spot in the back where he could perch just in case they tried to slip out that way. He wasn't expecting to get them naked like that though. That building back there is an enclosed pool so evidently, they went skinny-dipping together."

That was another piece of information Jim didn't need to hear.

"Anyway," Paul continued, "As soon as the sun came up, he could see them from overhead and got those shots through the skylight. We had another guy out front so he stayed in the back. He couldn't believe his luck when he saw them come out naked and head for the pool. In addition to the shots you saw, he got more with the drone, but the ones from ground level are better."

Jim and Paul spent the next two hours on the phone while Jim told his story in detail, answering a multitude of Paul's questions along the way.

He was exhausted by the time they were done. As he hung up, Jim questioned if it was even worth it. Would it really have any effect on LaValliere's career? Probably not. People like that get away with anything they want, he told himself. That's when he remembered all the people at the club with their phones out and wondered if anything made it to the internet. He emailed the other tabloids to inform them of their loss, then clicked on YouTube and typed, "LaValliere" in the search bar.

"Holy Cripe!" he exclaimed out loud. The entire first page was of him. He clicked on the first video and watched the replay of his pain and humiliation. With cloudy eyes, he started to read the comments. There were more than three hundred. A couple were derogatory remarks aimed at him, 'He was a wimp,' type comments, but the others were destroying LaValliere, and to some extent, Linda.

He watched a few more and was becoming more encouraged as he read the comments from each one. Shit, he thought, he might have not even needed the tabloid story.

His thoughts were disturbed by his phone buzzing with a text. It was from his former friend, Dave. He wasn't going to open it, but his curiosity got the better or him.

Jim, Dee just got off the phone with Linda. She says you've moved out. Please, don't do this! It was one night. It's not worth tossing a ten year marriage. Please, reconsider.

Jim returned the text. I told you last night, don't call, don't text, don't contact me in any way. Not one of you came to get me when you knew what Linda was going to do, not even you, my so-called, buddy. Had I been able to get to her before she left, I would have most likely been able to stop her and probably save my marriage. Of course, we'll never know now, will we!

Don't contact me again. I will NOT accept any more calls or text messages from you, Dee, or anyone else who was sitting at that table last night. As far as I'm concerned, you can all GO TO HELL!

Another wave of sadness washed over him as he hit the send button. More tears broke free from the corners of his eyes as he thought of losing his wife, his marriage, and to an extent, his children. He thought about staying married for the sake of the kids but it was a no-starter. He'd never be able to show the love and affection for Linda like he once had, and having the kids grow up in loveless environment wouldn't be good for them, either. It was not an easy decision, but he made the only one he could make.

Linda was ready for him, Sunday morning. She was already showered, nicely dressed, and had make-up on when he came to the door. He accepted her invitation for coffee and followed her to the kitchen.

"Where're the kids?"

"They're outside playing in the back already."

He acknowledged with a nod of his head and sat down at the table. He knew she wanted to talk and wasn't going to deprive her. He was actually hoping she'd find a way to talk him into staying, although he knew it wouldn't happen.

"Jim, I'm so very, very sorry for what I did. I can't imagine how you felt when you found out I left. I honestly don't know what I was thinking."

"I agree," he replied, "there's no way anyone could possibly imagine how I felt unless it happened to them."

"I don't know what came over me. I'd never been with anyone famous like that before. It made me feel so special. Then, when he asked me to go home with him, I... I don't know, I was just so surprised. I wasn't even thinking about anything like that, but..." She was starting to cry and was having a hard time continuing. "I'm so sorry, Jim. I kept telling myself, it was only one night; a night that will never come around again," she wept.

"One night, that's what everyone keeps saying. Let me tell you how I feel."

"Okay," she acceded. She was angry with herself for breaking down. She was desparate to save her marriage and wanted to get down and beg if that's what it took, but maybe it was better to know what he was thinking, first.

"You know," he started, "when I found out you had left the other night, everyone at the table was saying, it's just one night, give her this one night, you can't divorce her over one night, you, yourself said it again just now, but that was the whole point, it was just one night."

He could see she didn't understand. "If you had come to me and said, I've fallen in love with another man and I'm leaving you to spend the rest of my life with him, I'd understand. I obviously wouldn't like it, but I would understand it. I've seen it happen, two people get too close in the workplace and fall in love, it happens.

"If you told me you were out with the girls one night, got drunk, and wound up in bed with some lothario, I'd understand it. Again, I sure as hell wouldn't like it, but things like that happen. None of us are perfect.

"If you were in sales and traveled extensively, were lonely on a long trip and desperate for company one night, I'd understand it, but none of those things apply here.

"You had just met him so I know you weren't in love, you'd only had a couple of drinks, so you weren't drunk, and I was right there, so you sure as hell weren't lonely. Shit, we had a wonderful romantic evening all planned and you threw it all away for oonne niiight," he said, emphasizing the last two words by stretching them out.

"You can't imagine how insignificant I felt to know my wife cared so little for me that she'd purposely drive a stake through my heart for one night of sex with another man, I don't care who it was. Do you see my point?

"The fact that it was only one night doesn't make it better, it makes it a thousand times worse. You threw it all away... our marriage, our home life, our future, the future of our kids, for ONE NIGHT. You knew how I would feel, you knew how devastated I would be and yet you totally disregarded my feelings for ONE FUCKING NIGHT with that guy!" He was getting emotional and didn't want the kids to see him that way. He calmed himself down and lowered the volume. "Do you understand? Do you see what you did? You didn't leave me for a life-time of happiness with someone else, you left me for one night of sex with another man."

Linda was wiping a wave of tears from her eyes. She did understand. Until then, she'd thought about it like everyone else: it was just one night; he wouldn't throw the marriage away over one night, but now she realized it was her who threw it away over a single night, not him. He was right, totally right, and there was no sense even trying to fight him on it. There were no counterpoints she could debate, nothing she could say; their marriage was over, she had to accept it.

She asked for a few minutes to get cleaned up before talking to the children. When she was ready they called the kids in. They, of course, jumped all over their dad and asked him where'd he been. Linda was instrumental in helping to explain that daddy was going to get a second home. Only the idea of spending the day with their dad kept them from crying, but they made up for it that night after he dropped them off. Never in her entire life had Linda felt so low as when she heard her kids crying in their beds and knew she was the cause.

True to his word, Jim filed for divorce the following week. Linda, knowing her soon to be ex would be very fair, used the same lawyer. It was agreed she'd stayed in the house for the sake of the children, so Jim got a three-bedroom apartment only four miles away where the kids spent almost half their time.

As for the fall-out? It turned out better than Jim could have ever hoped. In an effort to stop the hemorrhaging of customers due to all the YouTube videos from that night, the owner of The Down Beat put his own video on YouTube, saying the place was under new management. Without stating any names, he also informed the public of a new policy concerning certain 'former customers.' Jim took that to mean that LaValliere was no longer welcome there.

The shit really hit the fan when the new issue of The National Enquirer hit the stands. Jim and Linda were both thankful that the kids were too young to be impacted by the story.

Thankfully, they blacked out Linda's face, but the picture of her and LaValliere in bed with his arm around her made the front page along with other censored nudes of them on the inside.

A month after the original story hit the grocery store check-out racks, The National Enquirer offered Linda five thousand dollars for her side. Although Linda didn't believe she should be rewarded for what she did, she took the money and started college funds for Emma and Tommy. In the article, she deeply apologized to her husband and admitted to the entire episode being the dumbest thing she'd ever done.