They sold the house and the cabin. He and Marie split the profits. He had half of the money from the marital assets, as well as the money he hid from Marie to support himself. But with her Lawyer checking his records to find out why their combined assets weren’t more, he had to maintain a lower standard of living, and kept a sharp look out for anything that could be incriminating.
After the shooting and the divorce, life for Brad went on. He bought some weights and started an exercise program at home. Soon his muscle tone improved and began to lose weight. He kept in touch with his daughter and visited her when he could. She was very upset how their marriage ended and tried to get him to reconsider the divorce. Brad told her gently but firmly that will never happen. After cheating on him for so long, there was no chance to reconcile with her.
Despite his concerns about his attractiveness, Brad did find women to date. They were older, but so was he. Some were even quite attractive and were nice to be around. It took him a few months to get up the nerve to ask one out. But it was a relief to meet people, socialize and enjoy female company again. He didn’t want another long term relationship just yet. But he had a career and many good years to live. Even at 55 he could still attract female attention. During the months after his divorce he wasn’t as lonely as he thought he’d be.
Unlike his gradual transition to a normal existence, Marie’s shock at what happened turned into depression, and it took her a long time to get over it. Her easy going attitude about sex, life and love was gone. Her husband, who she still loved, divorced her. Her young hot stud was dead and she wasn’t able to keep her emotions under control enough to find another. The robust sex life she enjoyed before her divorce disappeared and wasn’t coming back. She was seeing a therapist regularly, who had her on medication that was helping her cope. Her health was fading so their daughter got her under a Doctor’s care.
She stopped working out and gained quite a bit of weight. She mostly lived the life of a shut in and never went back to the Spa that started all of her troubles. Brad heard from friends she was moving out of state to flee all the cruel gossip about her affair.
Added by Cinical