I hung my head, Damn that slut! Why did she have to make me do this to these fine folks? I sighed deeply and looked Bill in the eye. “I have a video.”
Bill’s brow furrowed as he tilted his head, “Video?”
“Yes, I shot it on my phone when I saw them together. I, I really don’t want to show it to you, but it’s all the proof I need.”
Bill looked at Kathleen and then back to me. “Michael, I think you better show us what you saw.”
I explained how I’d recognized her laugh and how I had to lean around a pillar to see them. “When I saw her kiss him, (Kathleen gasped) I was stunned and sat back down. Once my brain kicked back in, I pulled out my phone and started recording them. This is what I saw.”
I set the phone down so they could both see it and then hit play. A few seconds into it Kathleen cried out. “Oh my Lord!”
When the video stopped Bill said, “Can I get that drink now?” Kathleen said, “Me too.”
After we had our drinks, Kathleen hugged me. “Michael, is there any chance you can get past this? I know she loves you and you love her. Please, Son, is there any chance?”
I hugged her and nearly let a tear escape as she sobbed on my shoulder, “Sorry, Mom.” They both hugged me before they drove off with a few bags of Cindy’s belongings. I sat on my deck and thought about what I wanted to do.
What I had seen and what the Video captured would not be very damning if viewed by a lawyer or maybe even a marriage counselor bent on reconciliation. It showed two people kissing, but not making out like people about to fuck. It showed her boss with his hand up her skirt, but she could claim he was stroking her inner thigh and not touching anything else. And that might even be true. It would also show she had a couple of buttons undone to flash some cleavage, but you could see that on a woman walking through the grocery store. So no hard evidence of adultery.
What I saw, and what her parents saw, was the casual way they kissed and touched each other. It was intimate, the way lovers touch each other. They were completely comfortable inside each other’s personal space the way a couple is.
It is subtle but visible. A wife can come up to her husband and softly hug his arm, maybe stroke his back and the man, being a man, may not even be aware she’s done it. Now put his young secretary into the same situation and you can be DAMN SURE he would notice what she’d done.
If you look closely you can see the familiarity that is shared by a couple who are used to touching, kissing, making love, and sharing their bodies. It takes time to develop that closeness and it is not seen in casual friends. What I saw was the open, easy, affection that a couple shares and not two people just beginning to explore each other for the first time.
So was I wrong to react the way I did? I don’t think so, I know I can’t remain married to a woman I do not trust. In my heart, I know what I saw (her parents saw it too) and it is the end of my marriage. I had her served three days later.
End
Epilogue,
I gave the video to Shelly and she forced Steven into counseling and a vicious post-nuptial that would leave him with nothing if she caught him fooling around. Cindy continued to deny she was unfaithful until Steven revealed the truth in a counseling session with Shelly.