Sharon woke up with a pounding headache and an hazy recollection of the previous night's events.
"Why is a beautiful woman like you seated alone?"
The tall handsome stranger had asked her at the bar where she was seated on a barstool, eyeing her shot of whisky, her long legs clearly visible in the high slit of her red sparkling gown, complementing her beautiful, fair, blemish free skin.
"I don't believe that's any of your business,"
She snapped at him, finally mustering the courage to take her drink. she threw her head back and downed it in one gulp, it burned her throat, but she welcomed it. She needed something to distract her from the feeling of failure.
Taking a seat on the stool next to her, he smiled disarmingly at her, flashing his perfectly lined, white teeth, with a celebrity smile she knew too well. He had had work done on his teeth obviously.
"How about you just pretend I'm not here? I won't even say a word."
"Whatever."
She said and ordered another shot downing it in the earlier fashion. Her trip down here was a complete and utter waste of time.
After bidding for a massive building contract, the company had shortlisted her and two others for the final screening only to award it to one of her competitors. It was the fourth contract she lost this year, she had a winning streak the previous way, and it felt like this year was going to be the complete opposite.
"You are a winner, babe, contract or not."
Frank, her loving and supportive husband of five years told her when she gave him the news over the phone earlier that evening.
"I feel like a loser."
She complained bitterly.
"Never, you are not a loser and would never be. Tell you what? I'll take you to dinner when you are back in town tomorrow, a little something to cheer you up. What do you say?"
He sounded bubbly as ever, Frank was an optimist, nothing could get him down, ever.
"Okay, I guess. Thank you."
She replied without enthusiasm.
They hung up after the usual, "love you's" and she headed to the hotel bar to have a few drinks before going to bed, making a quick stop at her hotel room to change out of her suit. The red gown was the first thing she saw at the top of her clothes, and she wore it for a reason she couldn't explain.
"Are you sure you are okay? I know I promised not to talk, but you have had too many shots."
The stranger asked her after her 10th shot of whiskey.
Slurring,
"it's none of your busi.........yes, businessssss."
She pointed a finger at him and lost her balance on the stool, he caught her in time to prevent her fall.
"That's it, I think you have had more than enough."
He stood up and held her firmly by her shoulders, he looked for her cellphone in her open bag to maybe call someone for her when he saw the key card to her room. Thank goodness, she was lodged in the hotel.
He paid their bills with a quick phone transfer and helped her up to her room.
"Don't go."
She called to him on his way out of her room after laying her on the bed.
Sharon couldn't stand to look at herself in the mirror, she got home in the afternoon to a warm welcome by her husband and four year old son, and the guilt threatened to eat her up.
How was she to explain that she slept with a complete stranger the previous night because she was drunk?
She moped around the house for a few days and when she couldn't bear it anymore, she opened up to Frank.
"I don't think I've ever hated anyone the way I hate you right now."
He said, standing up from the bed to put distance between them.
Sobbing, she tried to reach for him, but he stepped cleanly away.
"I'm sorry, I didn't plan for it to happen."
"How do you expect me to believe that you haven't been sleeping with men on your supposed various work trips?"
He asked her, venom written clearly across his features.
"I have never cheated on you, I made a stupid mistake that I would probably never forgive myself for, but I need your forgiveness."
"I'm sorry, I don't believe that. I ask again, how do you expect me to believe this is the first time?"
"Same way I believed you after you cheated on me multiple times with different women on your numerous work trips."
She lashed out, without thinking, clouded by guilt and anger. She shouldn't have said that, she scolded herself inwardly.
An uncomfortable silence settled in the room for a few seconds as Frank recovered from her shocking statement.
Calmly, he responded.
"Wow! I wonder how long you have been dying to say that. This is is is payback then? I begged you and you said you forgave me only for you to do this?"
Frank was no different from a dog on heat, he had cheated on her many times and rather than divorce him, she forgave and stuck with him after promising her that he was a changed man.
"I didn't mean that."
She responded in a subdued manner, biting her lower lip.
"You would be hearing from my lawyer."
He pronounced and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Why won't you forgive me?"
She asked a week later after receiving the divorce petition filed by him from the court.
"I'm sorry, I can't get the image that another man was on top of you while I was at home with our kid out of my head."
"But I forgave you countless times when you did, why can't you let this go for the sake of our family?"
"Men are polygamous in nature, I thought you understood that by now. I begged and you forgave me. I could forgive you for something else, but not this."
He shouted angrily, banging his fist against the wall.
"You infected me with STD's too, I didn't make a fuss, I forgave you because I love you."
"You keep talking about forgiveness, I'm a man, and this is not the same thing. It's fine, you have had your revenge."
"I swear, I didn't do this for revenge, it was a mistake. Please, Frank, please, don't do this to us for Jake, our son's sake."
"I have considered Jake, which is why I expect you not to contest for custody of him, just take whatever I'm willing to give you and leave us be."
"You have got to be kidding, I will fight you tooth and nail for everything, full custody of Jake included. We worked for everything we own together, and I suffered to have my child, you can't take him away, never."
"Have you no shame? How can you even think of contesting anything with me after everything you did?"
She was beyond livid at this point, Frank was unbelievable.
"After everything I did? How dare you even think of depriving me of what I worked for and the fruit of motherhood after cheating on me multiple times and infecting me with STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) on more than four occasions? The nerve! You got served a taste of your own medicine, and the world is supposed to conform to your wishes like a spoilt brat?"
She concluded resolutely, what's the worst that could happen? She would leave, but not before she got what was due her.
"Let's see what judge is going to give you full custody of Jake and part of the property after hearing you cheated on your husband."
"Where's the proof? I would have you remember that I have lots of video evidence of you and some of your girlfriends in bed. I got everything from your phone, remember?"
In a hurt little boy, tone, he asked,
"You would use that as a weapon? How low can you go?"
"Not any lower than you that was ready five minutes ago to tell the court of my supposed infidelity. It's your word against mine by the way. You even had the temerity to keep recordings of your sexual escapades on your phone."
People really can't take what they dish, and to think she forgave this same man for many things, adultery top among them. He wanted to use her cheating against her, but couldn't stand her doing the same thing.
She swore with her life that she would fight for more than half of the property and full custody of her son with visiting rights of course, which was more than he would have done for her.
Sharon, my neighbor narrated her story to me, tears in her eyes.
The divorce proceedings were still going on, and like she promised Frank, she was still fighting for what belonged to her.
