The Third Swing at Bat

Women think we are all promiscuous sots when the guard is down and I suppose many are but promiscuity robs one of the intimacies that are to be desired in such relationships. That's where Jeanette was and where I stood so when she coyly told me she wanted me to fuck her I had to raise the brow.

"You know what I mean, Nathan. We are both living in solitude, not loneliness and I want to fuck. I want to fuck you until the sun comes up and then have you make breakfast for me. You are one of the few men I respect enough to be with and I know how you feel about me."

So we did just that; I made her breakfast in bed and now, every once in a while we spend the night together and enjoy each other's desires.

The fallout from the 'Burning' was rather anticlimactic. Michelle still lives in her prized possession home and works for a competing firm not far from my office although at considerably less compensation. As the subordinate in her office dalliance Hawthorne Financials paid her six months of severance and she signed off any rights to challenge her dismissal.

Dan Mosey didn't do so well. He was a third strike loser in his marriage and Caroline burned his ass in the divorce. She got their house to live in until their daughters reached eighteen or finished college, whichever came later. He pays child support, alimony and had to give up half his retirement. As for work, he ended up with an assistant branch VP position at a regional bank in a shopping center making about half what Hawthorne was paying him.

I actually run into Caroline once in a while. She took a job with one of my engineering clients running their back office accounting and bookkeeping. We went out to dinner a couple of times but it's a platonic thing. It would be too much of a cliché to fuck Dan's ex-wife although I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it on occasion...

Jeanette was in the kitchen making cappuccinos the morning after one of our pleasant evenings together when my doorbell rang.

"Hello, Daddy."

She stood there with a hesitant smile waiting to be invited in. Her mother and I named her Rose after Janet's mother even though the dominant red haired gene on her side of the family never showed up. She had my hair and complexion, dark and tanned. I hugged her and welcomed her inside.

We hadn't seen each other for several months and even then there was a tension that I couldn't put a finger on.

"How are you doing, Rose, and what a pleasant surprise this morning."

At that moment Jeanette walked in the living room and introduced herself. If I thought it was going to be awkward I needn't have minded. The two of them seemed at ease but after a few minutes Jeanette excused herself and let me know she was going to go down to the Pub for a while to get caught up on some things.

"Daddy, I know I haven't been around as much as I should have and for that I'm truly sorry. I'd like to change that if I can."

"Honey, there is nothing you need to change. You are welcome here at any time, you know that."

We chatted a while longer before she became much more serious. She seemed to be hesitant before blurting out.

"Mom had a nervous breakdown and they have put her in a hospital to get well."

A part of me wanted to burst out with 'Why to hell should I care? She hasn't said a word to me since the day before she served me with divorce papers when you were still 13 years old!' but I didn't. In eight years the woman I was married to for fourteen years hasn't so much as acknowledged that blood still courses through my veins.

"Rose, I'm sorry to hear that. What would you want me to do?"

I didn't know what to expect for a reply and what she said next was unsettling.

"Mom wants you to visit her in the hospital."

The last time I tried to speak a word to her was at Rose's high school graduation and I wasn't sure what I would actually talk to her about. That's not all together true. There is a LOT I would have talked to her about years ago. For example, why couldn't she have at least sat down with me and talked about what happened that night she found me in that hotel room?

I found out long afterwards that another couple steered two very sloshed partiers into that hotel room and left us to our own devices. Unfortunately neither I nor the femme fatale in question could ever remember entering the room or what we did once we got there. When we woke the next morning, both of us completely nude in the same bed and suffering the ill effects of the excessive imbibing of the previous night; we were both utterly surprised. She did tell me later that she didn't think we had sex that night but couldn't say for certain.

"Rose, if you think it would help for me to go see her I will do it for your benefit. I can't imagine why she would want to see me at all."

"Daddy, I think it has been building up for a while. When Carl died Mom pretty much kept to herself and other than going to work every day she never went anywhere other than visiting me at school on occasion.

"Then a couple months ago I came home and found her drunk and crying terribly and she wouldn't tell me what was going on other than to keep saying everything was all a mistake. Last week, the neighbor lady found her walking in the road at night with just her underwear on and drinking heavily.

"The police had her admitted at the hospital and they have kept her there with her permission all this week. A couple of days ago she asked me to come to you and see if you would come and see her."

I assured Rose that I would and I then bought her lunch at a nearby café and got caught up in the comings and goings in her life. She was about to graduate from college with a degree in marketing and still hadn't secured a job. Until then she was going to keep her waitressing gig downtown.

After we parted company with my reassurance that I would indeed visit with her mother, I crossed the street and planted myself at the bar. Before I could order, a tall IPA was in front of me.

"So, you and the daughter, everything OK there?" Jeanette asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Damn'd thing though; her mom wants me to go see her. She's sitting up on the crazy ward at the hospital downtown."

"The same one that wrung your balls out and tried to put you in the poor house?"

"The one and only."

"Lucky you." She grinned and walked down the bar to wait on a couple customers.

Sunday afternoon, I was as ready as I was going to be. I always dress up well but it was a casual appearance for me, jeans and a pullover. As I reached for the door knob my mouth was dry and I felt for the mints in my pocket.

It was a ten minute ride to the hospital and it felt like half a life time or at least eight years of peering up from the abyss. I don't know why I felt like that. I'd moved on well into a second marriage, flushed that and grown comfortable in my own skin for the past year.

The dryness was back as the elevator came into view and I chewed the soft mint hoping for the advertised burst of flavor to wipe the cotton away. It was one of those outside glass elevators with the ground sweeping away from you as you rose up the stories. Eventually it slowed and then a full stop and the door opened.

I was quite surprised. It wasn't at all like a hospital ward and certainly not some cuckoo's nest. Instead it felt more like a comfortable home with overstuffed furniture and artwork on the walls. I signed in and a rotund nurse walked me down to the 'residence' that Janet was staying in.

The nurse didn't know the history or the adventure between the patient and the visitor other than I was on the visitors list and all was well. I can hardly describe the feeling of approaching her and seeing her before she saw me. Four years ago she was the dedicated wife of another man and wished not a word from me; that was the last I saw of her until then.

She still looked attractive although the hospital garb didn't accent her figure. She had lightened her hair from her natural strawberry blond and had cut it much shorter.

"Hello, Nathan. Thank you for coming." There was a smile but also sorrow in her eyes or pain; I couldn't tell.

"Hello, Janet. It's good to see you."

I didn't know if that was true or not but it seemed the right thing to say at the moment. We didn't hug and I didn't greet her like a long lost friend. Hell, I shook her hand like a business associate; fucking odd.

"This is a hell of a place to meet after all these years, isn't it?" She said with a ting of forlorn angst. I could tell she was fighting to keep up a strong front.

"It isn't a spot I'd look for if I wanted a beer and a chat I guess." I attempted to break the shroud over the conversation.

"Well, they make a good iced tea and not the long island variety." Her smile was back and a spark of life escaped from her eyes.

"I asked Rose to see if she could get you to see me and I know it probably seems odd after all the silence over these years but it was necessary. Both my doctor and I agree on that."

She paused for a while after that and then continued.

"I guess you know already that I completely lost it otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here would I? Rose saw it coming but I let it get out of control. There is a reason for it I suppose but no excuse.

"Nathan, the first thing I need to do is to apologize to you for how I handled things. I know I will need to explain the circumstances at some point for why I reacted as I did but this really isn't the place for it. I would like to do that later in a better setting than this. But I want you to know I am terribly sorry for not sitting down and talking with you at the end.

"I nearly killed myself last week. I couldn't carry the guilt of it all. Instead I drank myself into a stupor and hoped somebody else would do it with a vehicle or something. How utterly stupid of me; It would have devastated Rose."

"Janet, the important thing is you got help before that could happen and I know Rose is awfully concerned right now. She came by yesterday morning and we talked for a good while and then went to lunch. She's a good girl. You got her through the teen years remarkably well, I'd add."

She thanked me for that with a warm smile.

"Yes, she's a great kid; hell, she's a woman now but I sure fucked with her life. I think being your spitting image didn't help. You know, Carl tried to tell me all along I was in the wrong with how I acted but he was ever the gentleman; he never interfered."

Janet looked away quickly as tears filled her eyes and she hastily composed herself before turning back.

"Carl was a good guy, Janet. I was real sorry when I heard what happened at the plant."

"Yes, I know, Nathan. Rose told me you offered anything we needed and still I stood cold as always. I'll regret that forever. And I'm sorry about your divorce too, Nathan. I know that was painful."

We talked for a few minutes longer about Rose and what was going on in her life for a while and I made ready to leave.

"So what's next for you, Janet?"

"I'm going to stay in here for a few more days as my doctor has advised. When I get back home I'm going to take it slow for a bit. If you are willing, I'd like to meet with you sometime to maybe talk some more about what happened to us, Nathan. I need to get it off my chest and you have a right to hear it even after all these years. Could we do that?"

She looked at me hopefully and I didn't really know what I wanted out of it if anything so I compromised.

"We'll see. Let's get you better first and make sure Rose is OK and then let's take it from there, OK?"

As I went down the elevator I realized the whole afternoon was really anticlimactic. She was sorry for how it ended and it drove her nuts and she's on the crazy ward. I think I burst out in laughter before I ever got to the ground floor. It sounds callous but it really was funny. I had to wipe tears out of my eyes by the time I got to my car...

Later that night I got rhythm. It came right at that moment when the hot squishy sounds of loins slapping together gelled with her small breasts pressing against my hairy chest; our lips locked in an embrace. Kegel muscles she calls them, rhythmically milking my prick on every upstroke. She knows she can pull my trigger whenever she wishes doing that but she likes the edging too.

We lay back on the bed listening to the street sounds below while relishing in the afterglow of what is always a delightful encounter. The ceiling fan pushed a soft breeze across each sweaty torso.

"So which one is your favorite Ex now, the lunatic or the whore?"

Jeanette thought that was funny as hell and I playfully slapped her naked bottom.

"I don't have a favorite. Both of them set the bridge on fire."

"Yeah, but one of them seems sorry for it."

"Perhaps but it doesn't change anything does it?"

It didn't change anything but it gnawed at my conscience for a while. Jeanette and I were getting a bit closer over the past couple months and I liked being around her. She had become my sounding board and me likewise with her. She was wiser than her 35 years would indicate and I valued the input. Besides, having a frisky and naked 35 year old erotic barkeep giving relationship advice just seemed natural.

I made her breakfast in the morning; blueberry pancakes and English sausages and she headed out to her Pub about the same time I walked to the office. I needed to travel out of town for a few days on business so I asked Rose to keep me up to date on her mom's progress.

By the time I returned at the end of the week Janet had been discharged and Rose was spending a lot of time at the house tending to any recuperation needs if there were any at all. I think she just wanted to be around her mother for a while.

"So Daddy, are you coming to my graduation?"

I hadn't forgotten about it but I hadn't given it much thought either; it would also entail another appearance with her mother.

"Of course not, sweetie, and when you are ready I want to talk to you about a job. You OK with that?"

"Yeah, I'm OK with that but you know what I want to do, right? Also, Mom will be there too, just so you know."

What Rose wanted was to run with a start-up and we usually had one or two ventures in the planning stage, maybe kicking off. It would give her quick training and experience and if she was willing to burn the clock it would be a good way to jump into the business world.

What Janet wanted was something else altogether and I don't know if I was ready for that...

"Listen, what's the worst that could happen? She tells you she's sorry, she should have talked to you and now you all can be great friends again!" Jeanette burst out in boisterous laughter. "I mean, seriously, aren't you just a bit interested in why you got kicked like a sick mule?"

I guess she had me there. I had wondered for eight years why she went deep end on me like that but a whole lot of water had passed under the bridge she set on fire. I also knew I might, just might have fucked that Spanish beauty too but that wouldn't have justified the nuclear meltdown lacking at least some sit down time to understand just what happened or didn't.

The graduation went off without a hitch and the three of us even had a drink together when it was over. Janet looked a whole lot better than she did when I saw her in the hospital but there was still a sense of edginess about her that she worked to keep hidden. That might have passed with a stranger but I knew better even after all this time. Nonetheless it led to the next steps...

It had been a long eight years since I had turned up the walkway to the old two stories colonial I used to call home. Old Mr. Green Jeans still lived across the street. Rose had given him that name when she was little because he looked like that character on the old Captain Kangaroo reruns. The widow Mrs. Wilson still lived next door although I'd heard she was getting a bit feeble minded.

The lawn was manicured and somebody had been doing a good bit of garden work around the sides of the house but otherwise it still looked pretty much like it did when I last left the place even down to the forest green shutters. I pressed the doorbell with its long familiar chimes sounding in the foyer.

Janet opened the front door to her home and we paused awkwardly for a moment before I pushed my foot across the threshold. I almost didn't do it; all I could think of was my last step in the opposite direction.

"Thank you, Nathan, for coming to see me." She said as she invited me into the inside of the home. Jesus, I could still see the markings we carved on the doorframe leading into the kitchen to measure Rose's spurts of growth. This was going to be harder than I thought.

Most of the décor had changed but the familiarity of the house overshadowed any alterations our busted lives might have imposed on what was our first and only home together. I had to keep reminding myself that this had been another's man's house for at least a while and like him I had entered another woman's home for my own season of marriage.

It seemed like a bad TV script come full circle as Janet invited me to sit at the kitchen table I knew so well. I poured the beer she gave me into the frosted mug and settled into the chair that had always been mine for so long. She was still drinking white wine.

"Well, I guess this is what I've been asking for and now that I've got you here I'm still trying to figure out how to start." She tried to laugh but it didn't work.

"Janet, why don't you just tell me how you have been doing lately? Are you still working at Belk's?"

"Yeah, although they moved me over to the crosstown to run their new store about a year ago. I'm doing OK there. I'll have twenty years with them come spring time. They have been good for us. Rose worked for them through school."

We conversed for the most part about the mundane things in our lives and I sensed she knew more about me than I did about her. She brought me up to date on several of our old friends and neighbors. I didn't have much interaction with the 'old friends' as most of them had chosen opposing sides during and after the divorce.

"Nathan, I guess I should get right into it. I think it was Carl who pushed me the hardest and I wouldn't listen to him. In hindsight he was right all along. You deserved to be treated like a man and I just acted as if you didn't exist. It screwed up Rose and the truth is it screwed me up even worse.

"Carl always had good things to say about you, you know, he really did and he was always after me to find a way to forgive and sit down and really talk with you. He wasn't threatened at all. God knows I should have listened to him.

"He came around a couple years after we split and was one of the few people who saw through my wronged woman persona. Somehow he broke down the barriers I had put up after a few failed attempts at re-entering the single scene." She smiled a bit and continued.

"Well, when he was killed at the plant I pretty much turned inward and tended to little more than the job and keeping Rose on the straight and narrow. Carl and I had a good marriage but it was more of a thing where we liked each other an awful lot. I needed a man and I didn't want a live-in with Rose being a teenager and all so we married.

"Hell, I'm talking too much about Carl and not enough about why I wanted you here." She refilled her wine stem.

"Janet, what precipitated the breakdown? That's at the core of it, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. You remember James Solomon? He used to be your Dad's HR guy and you kept him on as a consultant. He used to come by the house a good bit when you guys were working a tight schedule. What you didn't know is he used to come around a lot when you were on the road with clients. I knew he was sniffing for pussy but he always struck out."