What was She Thinking?

"Thanks Mom! I love you! Bye kiddo I'll see you tomorrow!" She gave me a wave as did my Dad as she already got him playing a game with her. I gave Mom a hug before heading out the door. As I'm driving back to the house that just a few hours ago was my happy home I wonder if I still have a wife to come home to.

Pulling into my driveway I notice that Rob's car is gone. I open the door and walking into the house I don't see Jolene. My heart sank as it seems she made her choice but one that I never would have expected her to make. I thought that our marriage and our family might take precedence over a romp with Rob. I guess I was wrong.

I decide to head upstairs. I need to lie down as the wave of nausea is overwhelming and I need to get off my feet. By the time I reach the second floor I can't hold it in any longer and I barely make the guest bathroom before I toss my lunch. I get up and rinse with mouthwash to get the bitter taste out of my mouth.

I head for the bedroom that I once shared with my wife. I open the door and to my surprise there is Jolene lying on the bed and sobbing into her pillow. I walk over to her side of the bed and I softly touch her shoulder. She quickly rolls over startled thinking she was completely alone.

"Jolene I thought you left with him." I couldn't think of anything better to say.

"Oh Tom please forgive me!! I realize how foolish I've been."

I sit on the edge of the bed and I hold her until she stops crying. Then she tells me she needs to explain and tell me the whole story.

"It began shortly after I went to work at the firm. He would take me to lunch and he began with his loneliness since his divorce. He couldn't bring himself to date but was in need for physical and intimate closeness." Jolene met my eyes looking for a response but my expression remained neutral.

Continuing, she said, "He would compliment me on my hair and my clothes. During the weekends he made sure to find me when he was here. Small touches to my arm or shoulder an embrace that lingered or a kiss on the cheek became more and more frequent. Finally I asked him how I could help him overcome his loneliness. It was then he asked me to consider sleeping with him." Pausing to catch her breath she keeps looking for some reaction from me.

"It was obvious to me that he took advantage of her compassionate and nurturing nature. After composing herself again she said, "I told him that I would never cheat on you and that I was angry that he would suggest doing that to his best friend."

"That is when he told me I had it all wrong. He thought that if you would agree to our sleeping together or allow us to have a threesome then it wouldn't be cheating. He said it would help him and make our sex life more exciting in the long run. That led to last night."

She looked me in the eyes and said, "Tom I truly thought I was doing it to help him and I thought since he was your best friend that you would be at least open to discussing the possibility. I never expected your reaction though in hindsight I should have known that you would never share me with anyone."

"I never should have asked you to compromise your integrity and I should have never considered violating our wedding vows or disrespecting you in this way. I hope you can find a way to forgive me. I'm resigning tomorrow and I agree that he can never have contact with us again." Have heard her explanation I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about saving our marriage than I was earlier.

"Jolene before you told me all of this I considered what you have done to this point as you were cheating by planning to sleep with another man behind my back and especially before discussing the possibility of a threesome with me first. I am extremely hurt."

"However, after talking with Ellen I found out that he was and continues to be an adulterer and I realize how he manipulated you and how convincing he can be. It's his training in the law. It's our job to convince others to accept our view of things. We need to work on us but I think with time we can get back to where we were before this all happened."

I would like to say that we fell into each other's arms and made passionate love that night. I did return to our bed but it was several weeks before I was able to reconcile that portion of our marriage. I made sure that Jolene gave her resignation to Hal Munson the firm's senior partner and to give him the exact reason she was leaving.

Hal and I go way back and I promised him my support in his run for county magistrate this fall. Knowing him I believed he would do the right thing and sure enough the other partners voted to revoke Rob's partnership and fire him for gross incompetence for engaging in sexual harassment of a subordinate. Hal even hired Jolene as his personal legal assistant.

Rob believed I was behind his firing and one day outside the courthouse as I was leaving he confronted me. I told him I had nothing to do with his former partner's decision and that I never wanted to see him ever again. Then he did something stupid.

He sucker punched me on the courthouse steps in front of the sheriff's deputy who provides security. The deputy lit him up with his taser and placed him under arrest. I received a broken nose. Rob got 90 days in county lock up for battery.

He was ordered to pay for any and all medical treatments I may require for my injuries. I filed a civil suit and received a nice six figure sum from the jury. He was summarily disbarred by the state bar for gross misconduct due to assaulting a fellow member of the bar and for doing so at the courthouse.

I don't know what happened to Rob after he was released. He's no longer my problem or concern. As for my marriage it is mostly on track although I still have trust issues. I'm thankful for my beautiful daughter Dakota. She's unaware of how close her parents came to splitting up and that she's the glue that is responsible for holding our family together. So life goes on. Every now and then I catch myself wondering, "What was she thinking?"