A Really Bad Day Read online

can’t or won’t forgive me, can you?”

  I remembered what my mother had said clearly. “Honey, is this your only time to cheat?”

  She nodded her head. “Yes, and I feel like he trapped me. Whenever I would try to break it off he would pick up the phone and start dialing your number. I knew that you wouldn’t forgive me, so I kept it up, but now I am pregnant. I had to break it off.”

  Rubbing my face, I said, “Pregnant? When did you find this out?”

  Marilyn wiped her face with her hands. “Monday. I bought a kit and it came back positive.”

  Like an idiot, I asked, “Who is the father?”

  She burst out crying again. “I don’t know, baby. I think it is yours.”

  I was stunned again. “Why do you think that?”

  She said, “Bert always used protection.”

  I lowered my head. “So have I, so I ask you again, why do you think that I am the father?”

  She said, “There was that night after we went to the Jeffersons’; you forgot to wear one; that is when I think I got pregnant.”

  I got up and went over and sat down by her. “Honey, why have you never mentioned Salva before?”

  Her eyes got big. “He knew about Bert seducing me. He was the only person that I could talk to. We became friends, then best friends.”

  I asked the obvious question. “What is the difference in just friends and best friends?”

  She smiled and shrugged. “Nothing, I guess; I just can talk to him about anything.”

  I stood up. “First, you are going to take a long hot shower; you stink. Then you are going to sleep. Tomorrow you and I are going to go see Bert; you are going to get your old job back.”

  She shook her head. “Baby, he will try to seduce me again.”

  I smiled. “You let me take care of Bert.”

  Marilyn went and took a long, hot shower. She came out and I put her in bed. I sat on the end of the bed until she went to sleep, then I went into the living room.

  My mother came in. “Son, I heard the whole thing. You need to divorce her. Get a lawyer tomorrow.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t, Mother; I love her and she is pregnant and it probably is my baby.”

  Betty said, “Son, it might not be yours. You file for divorce and if it is your baby, you pay child support, but I am telling you, get out while you can: she will only hurt you more and more.”

  I laid back in my recliner. “Mother, I will think about it. You go back to bed. I am going to sleep in here tonight.”

  The next morning, we were up early. Grandma said that she would take care of the kids, so Marilyn and I got dressed and we drove to her office. It didn’t escape my attention that Marilyn had on a mini skirt.

  At her office we went into a startled Bert’s office and I shut the door. I asked him, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  He looked at me, then at Marilyn, then back at me. “It was consensual sex. She wanted it as bad as I did.”

  I shook my head. “Bert, let me tell you some things. This is my wife that we are talking about, and she only has sex with me. You are going to take her back as an employee and there will be no more sex, or for that matter anything between you two except business. Believe me, Bert; you don’t want to mess with me.”

  Bert stood up. “Mr. Thompson, your wife quit under no pressure from me. As far as I am concerned she no longer works here.”

  I pulled out my phone and a piece of paper; I began to slowly punch in a phone number. He asked, “And just what are you doing?”

  I smiled. “I am calling your wife. Trust me, she will believe the story that I tell her.”

  He brought both hands up waving. “Wait, wait a minute. Okay, your wife can have her job back and if she leaves me alone, I will leave her alone.”

  I got right up in his face. “Bert, I ought to beat the hell out of you, but I am not going to. But if you ever touch my wife again, I promise I will beat the hell right out of you. I will tell your wife and probably kill you. Do you understand me clearly?”

  He nodded, pointed at Marilyn and growled, “Get back to work, Mrs. Thompson.”

  I got even closer to him. “One more thing. You will talk to her with respect. Bert, don’t make me come back here. I promise to not be so nice next time.”

  I opened the door for Marilyn, escorted her to her desk and said, “You have to work here; that is part of the agreement. Pick me up at five and don’t be late.”

  I went to the front of the building and called a taxi to pick me up and take me to my office. For some reason, I was shaking and as weak as a baby kitten.

  I forced myself to work that day and sure enough at five, Marilyn was there to pick me up. We rode home silently. Neither of us had anything to say to the other one.

  When we got home, Grandma had dinner ready and looked frazzled. She had kept the kids at home that day and they had run her ragged.

  That night after the kids were in bed, the three of us sat up and discussed our future. My mother said very little but stared at me sternly. I finally said, “We have had a bumpy road, but we love each other and we are going to try and put our marriage back together.”

  My mother just said, “Good luck,” and she went to bed.

  Marilyn smiled. “Baby, I don’t think your mother likes me anymore.”

  I smiled back at my wife. “She likes you just fine; she just lost respect for you. You will have to earn it back. Can you do that?”

  Marilyn nodded. “I can do what I have to.”

  The rest of the week went by quickly. On Saturday morning, my mother went home. Marilyn was just like her old self; she cleaned, washed clothes and did everything that a married woman should do, except sleep with me. Neither of us said a word about it.

  I spent most of Saturday playing with my two kids. I took them to the park and held Johnny in my lap as I swung and sang to him. It was during one of these songs that I decided that I was going to sleep with Marilyn that night. It wasn’t one of my better ideas; there was much tension between us and it just didn’t work out at all. I spent the rest of the night in my recliner.

  Sunday morning, we went to church, and as I expected Sharon was there. She stared at us and I knew that she wanted to talk to me, but the opportunity didn’t present itself.

  We went out for Sunday lunch and the kids had a wonderful time. Marilyn and I barely spoke to each other.

  Sunday night, I was in my recliner when Marilyn came in and knelt down in front of me. “Baby, tell me the truth: is there anything going on with you and Sharon? I saw how she looked at us.”

  I smiled an innocent smile and said, “No, honey, there is nothing going on. I used her as a sounding board while you were gone.”

  She looked up at me, very big-eyed. “Can you forgive me?”

  I lost my smile. “Marilyn, I am so very disappointed in you. You are going to have to give me some time and stay away from Bert. Has he said anything to you?”

  She said, “He was all business, but he will try to get me on another trip, then we will see.”

  I looked down at her. “We will see what?”

  She smiled. “I think he will come onto me again. He wants the baby to be his; he and his wife can’t have children; something wrong with her. He wants a child so badly. If it is okay with you, I want a DNA test run.”

  I had not given that a thought. “Yeah, honey, that sounds like a good idea. Fact is, I want one too.” Knowing for a fact whose baby this was seemed like a good plan to me.

  She took me by both hands. “Baby, come to bed. Let’s try again.”

  I went to bed with her, but things went badly; I kept seeing her with Bert. In fact every time that I looked at her, I saw her with Bert. I slept in the recliner again. My visions of Marilyn and Bert together were even haunting my daytime hours.

  Monday morning, Marilyn took the kids to school and daycare, and I drove my car to work. I had plans where I needed my car.
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br />   That afternoon at two I was in Samuel Washington’s office to talk to him about a divorce. His first fifteen minutes were free and then I wrote him a check for a hundred and fifty dollars for another forty-five minutes. He explained to me that unless I wanted to file that Marilyn was an unfit mother, she would get the children and I would have to pay child support. He also told me that a divorce would not be granted while she was pregnant.

  I left his office with a lot to mull over. Then I did something really stupid: I went to a strip bar and proceeded to get drunk. The girls weren’t that great and I soon realized that Marilyn looked better than any of them.

  By ten, I was completely drunk and made it home without getting a ticket. Then I did my second stupid thing: I forced Marilyn into bed with me and forced her to have sex with me. She slept in her recliner the rest of that night.

  Tuesday morning, we rode to work together, we dropped the kids off and then she lit into me. “What in the hell were you doing last night?”

  I smiled at her. “At least I came home and slept with my spouse, not someone else.”

  Her eyes got big. “Are you accusing me of having sex with someone else?”

  Then I got mad. “You have already admitted that. Want to admit to anything else?”

  The rest of the ride into work was silent. I had committed my third stupid act.

  Right at ten o’clock my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and was surprised that it wasn’t Marilyn, it was Sharon. I answered, “Hello!”

  She asked, “You free for lunch?”

  I knew what she wanted. “Yeah, but I don’t have wheels.”

  She said, “I will pick you up at a