The first 3 months - Jill's lament August 2019, Miami Looking back over the last few months wasn’t easy. I felt myself outwardly wince more than once as I thought back over everything I’d felt and experienced since that day when things had finally exploded between me and Dave when he’d finally kicked me out. Yet here we were, forced together by our significant others, forced into a meeting neither wanted but which was mad...

Sunday 12th May 2019, early evening It had been a long nine days. A very long nine days, since Jill had headed off to the airport to spend time with her two different lovers before following through on our agreement that she sever all ties before we relocated to L.A. These last days had marked the crescendo of a two-year period that had turned our marriage upside down. Until that fateful summer day in 2018 that kick-start...

Wednesday 8th May 2019, early evening Veronica and I had spent a wonderful day together. We had breakfast and took a very happy Haley to school, then returned to her condo and made love for the rest of the morning. We just about found the energy and self-control to drag ourselves out of bed and head to a local restaurant for a light lunch, followed by a walk in the park before it was time to collect Haley and head home. A...

Tuesday 30th April 2019, early evening Three cars parked on our driveway. That didn’t bode well, not exactly the start to a nice quiet evening with my recently estranged wife that I had been hoping for. Jill’s car – tick. The red 74 Firebird and Malcolm’s dark SVU – both unexpected and deeply unwelcome. That oh so familiar feeling of dread firing up in my gut like a six-point-two-liter V8 on steroids. Was this some kind o...

Saturday 6th April 2019 It was Saturday morning and I was groggy and tired, looking forward to forgetting all about that bastard Luther and my marital difficulties, looking forward to seeing Veronica. The only slight fly in the ointment being that Luther was her boss – but working out that tricky knot could wait for another day. The fact Luther seemed so intent on screwing up my marriage meant he’d not been interested in...

Saturday 6th April 2019 Since that Monday evening three weeks ago life had been hard for me. How it had been for Jill – well honestly, I wasn’t sure, but more about that later. When I’d walked out of our family home back in mid-March it hadn’t been a planned thing, and I knew I could hardly pull my sobbing and desperate wife around me and calmly walk upstairs to pack bags. So, when the receptionist at the Palm Homes Motel...

Monday 18th March 2019, late afternoon At least this time when I turned the corner into our avenue Jill’s was the only car in the driveway. If she’d been absent or still ‘entertaining’ Callan I could have reversed course and avoided a difficult conversation, but my heart spoke the truth. A wave of warm happiness washed through my body as I realized that Jill, like me, knew we needed to talk. And talk without the distracti...

Monday 18th March 2019, mid-morning The wonderful and refreshing night I’d spent with Veronica had served as a stark reminder of the pleasures of a simpler life, simpler relationships. We’d made love twice on Sunday night and once more on Monday morning before a sleepy-looking Haley had come in and put a dampener on any further passion. (Not that I minded, seeing her happy reaction at seeing me was almost as much of a boo...

Sunday 30th December 2018, mid-evening “Wish me luck. Now for part two. I’ve got to go and talk to Callan.” That’s what she’d said as she’d hurriedly finished dressing. I’d not had a chance to react or say anything before Jill was down the stairs and out the house. I closed my eyes, hardly able to believe the whirlwind of emotions I was being put through today. The nervous tension of the conversation with Jill, when she’d...

It has been months since I've had to actually get up and ready and head into the office. I was dreading this day for the last two weeks, knowing it was approaching. My wife, on the other hand, seemed giddy. I guess I couldn't really blame her. We've been around each other almost all day, every day since the virus hit and things were shut down. She normally works from home so this transition for her was easy. It's been gre...

The next Sunday, Amanda returned home following morning Mass to find Sy just as she had found him the previous Sunday; still in his bathrobe, sitting at the kitchen table with the Sunday newspaper, cup of coffee in hand.  But, what a difference a week had made! Last Sunday they were still negotiating terms of her upcoming date with Glenn Talbot, her boss, and discussions were still in the abstract. But this Sunday everyth...

Thursday 27th December 2018, early morning What a depressing vista? A shoddy motel room. Is this what my life had really come to? So much for high-powered corporate Exec, nationally head-hunted and offered a sixty-percent raise. The little kitchenette and the rest of the décor reminded me of every witness protection scene I’d ever seen in every TV cop show or Crime movie Jill and I had ever watched together. The feeling w...

Monday 24th December 2018, late evening It was about ten P.M. and Jill and I had just finished a FaceTime call with John, Becky, and our still not sleepy little granddaughter Julia. I’d just poured us each a drink and we were snuggled on the sofa discussing what we’d seen and heard on the call when suddenly there was a very loud and angry banging sound on our front door. Making a small crack in the curtain I was surprised...