The Right Thing To Do

"They told me I had ten days to get the stuff for them. If I didn't they would kill one of my kids. Ten days later they would kill the other one and ten days after that they would kill me. I told Lee and he said I needed to get to Salt Lake, get what was in the box and then disappear. He figured they would be watching me so the way we worked it was that I went to work and while I was there he picked up the kids from school, packed our clothes and then picked me up at the loading dock in the rear of the building. We figured if they were watching me someone would be sitting where they could see my car in the parking lot. We figured we would be a couple of hundred miles away before they didn't see me leave work and go to my car."

"That's another good thing to come out of you being put out of the car before Lee managed to get himself killed."

"What?"

"If they connected you to Lee and went looking for him and somehow found out about the accident the fact that he was alone in the car would be a dead end for them. They would figure you weren't with him at all or he had taken you some place and left you there. There are what, maybe four or five hundred towns or cities between where you started your trip and where Lee died? It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack for them. With your new identities they will never find you."

On the ride home I asked her what her plans were now that she had the contents of the safe deposit box.

"Find a job, a place to live, get the kids in school and start building a life for us."

"What kind of work would you be looking for?"

"I'm an accountant, but I won't be able to work as one unless Tommy managed to make me one to go along with my new identity. In fact I might not be able to find any job. I can't give references or show any work experience. I'll probably have to apply as a single mother who got married just out of high school and became a stay at home mom until the kids started school. I'll need to find a place that will take me on with no work experience."

Then she got involved with the kids and we made the rest of the trip in silence. I had a lot of time to think while driving and by the time we got home at six it was dinner time so I decided against going to the house and instead stopped at the Village Inn. We had just ordered when Francine came in with a man who looked old enough to be her father. In fact he looked older than her father.

I saw her notice us and I saw the look on her face when she saw I was with a woman and two kids. The look was clear as a sunny day and what it said was "Where in the hell did they come from?" She stopped in her tracks to look, but the old guy grabbed her arm and pulled her along behind him. I guessed he must be the more money than God guy.

Susan asked "What?"

"What what?"

"You just had a strange look come over your face."

"MY soon to be ex-wife just came in with the guy she left me for."

"Where?"

"Table in the back. Woman in the orange dress."

"Table next to the restroom entrance?"

"Yep."

"She left you for that?"

"Not necessarily for him, but for his money."

"Thank God for stupid women."

"Why would you say that?"

"She set you free. Maybe not really free at least not until the divorce becomes final, but free enough that you are fair game and I can take a shot at you."

That caught me by surprise and it must have shown on my face because she said "Why the surprised look? You must know at least a dozen women who will be after you as soon as they find out you are single again. I just happen to be in the right place at the right time to be first in line."

"You can't be serious? You don't even know anything about me."

"I know two things and that's enough to spark an interest."

"What two things?"

"For one you are a very good looking man, but the most important thing I know about you is what kind of man you are. A man who jumped in feet first to help a woman and her kids and asking nothing in return. The kind of man most women look for. The kind of man I want."

I didn't know what to say to that and I just sat there looking at her.

"Need to use the restroom" she said and she got up and went.

I was watching the kids working on their pictures with their crayons and thinking about the kids I had expected that Francine and I were going to have before she,[i] symbolically, kicked me in the nuts. The thought prompted me to look toward her table and I caught her watching me. I wondered what she was thinking.

I saw Susan leave the restroom area and stop at Francine's table. She said something to Francine that put a nasty look on Francine's face and then she headed for our table with a big smile on her face. Curiosity got the best of me and when Susan sat down I asked her about it.

"I just thanked her for turning you loose so I could I could get to you. I don't think she liked hearing that."

I liked hearing that. That Francine didn't like hearing what Susan said. It made me smile and do something mean.

"Give me your hand" I said to Susan."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

She offered me her hand and I took it in mine and then leaned forward and kissed it. I gave her a look of affection and said:

"Something that I hope will drive her nuts. She is looking at us and her facial expression is a combination of pissed off and shocked. I can almost hear what she is thinking. "I've only been gone a week and he has already replaced me?"

"So when we leave we should be holding hands?"

"That'll work."

Our meals came and as I ate I noticed Francine couldn't seem to take her eyes off of us. It helped me make up my mind on something I'd been thinking about all day. If just seeing me eating with Susan and her kids and Susan's statement to her upset her how would she take finding out Susan was living with me?

We finished our meal and left the place holding hands. My back was to Francine so I couldn't see how she took seeing it. I hope it ruined her night.

Once we were home and the kids were in bed I asked again what she was going to do now that she had the contents of the safe deposit box.

"I already told you. Start a new life. Find a new job, a place to live and get the kids into school."

That was it. The opening I needed.

"You already have a place to stay. You are here and there is no need for you to leave. As far as a job I'm pretty sure if I talk to my boss you can get on with my company. We are short handed in accounting and I'm pretty sure they will jump at someone with your experience."

"You forget I can't them my past employers for references."

"I said I'd talk to my boss. Don't worry about it."

"If you are sure about it okay, but be warned. I've already state my intentions."

Susan was an extremely good looking woman and I almost said "Your intentions are gratefully accepted" but I felt that would be rushing it. Instead I said:

"So what are we going to do tomorrow?"

'I'm going to need a car and I'm going to have to pick a bank and rent a deposit box. It is going to be difficult. There were only three credit cards in the box and they only have a five hundred dollar credit limit so I'm going to have to pay cash. I'm going to have to find a good used car in the eight to nine thousand range. I'll have to keep it under ten because of IRS reporting requirements. The seller would have to say where he got the money if he deposited ten thousand or more."

"It isn't any of my business so you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but just how much was in that box?"

"One hundred thousand and information on how to access eight hundred thousand in a couple of Cayman Island banks."

"So if you could buy new what kind of car would you get?"

"Probably a Chevy Tahoe."

"Okay. What we will do is go to the Chevy dealer in town tomorrow and buy a Chevy Tahoe. It will be in my name but it will be your car to use until you buy it from me."

"I've got enough from the box to pay you now."

"Okay. So first thing in the morning we will go to the bank and after that the Chevy dealer. Then we will drive through town and I'll show you where the school is, where the stores are, where I work and anything else you might have an interest in. Work for you?"

"It does."

"When I go back to work I'll talk to my boss about getting you a job."

"I still don't see how when he can't check for references."

"I'll tell him you are on the run from an abusive husband and can't take a chance on him finding you which might happen if he was in touch with anyone you worked for. I'll vouch for you and since I'm really tight with my boss and I'm sure he will go for it."

Being tight was putting it mildly. My boss was my Uncle Bob and the closest thing I'd had for a father since my parents had died in a plane crash when I was twelve. It also wouldn't hurt that I owned a third of the company. The company had been formed when my dad and his two bother's decided to go into business together. Uncle Wendell decided he wanted to do something different and he sold his shares to Uncle Bob. I inherited dad's share along with the house and 250 thousand in life insurance. Even though I was part owner I was I was still a worker bee. I'd only been working there since getting my business degree five years ago. I had no authority, but I did have an in.

Bright an early the next morning we loaded the kids in the car and drove to the Village In for breakfast. We were at my bank when the doors opened at nine. I stayed in the car and kept the kids occupied while Susan went inside to do her banking and when she came out we headed for the Chevy dealer where I told Herb (I'd gone to high school with him) what we were looking for. He walked us through the lot and Susan picked out a white Tahoe. I wrote Herb a check for the full amount and he put a temporary tag on it and Susan drove it off the lot. She followed me to the house where we parked it.

I drove us over to the Farmers Insurance office where we talked to Burt Ellsworth, another of my old school mates, and got the Tahoe insured. Then we spent the rest of the morning driving around town and showing Susan where things were. Things like the school that the kids would be going to, the hospital and my doctor's office. We finished up at Safeway where bought the kind of food Susan and the kids liked.

We were home by two and I used the time until dinner to bag up everything of Francine's I could find and then ran it over to the Goodwill place and gave it to them. They gave me a receipt and I kept it to show to Francine when she next decided to try and get in the house to get her things. I had no doubt in my mind that she wouldn't give up trying.

When I got home Susan had me sit down at the kitchen table and she opened up the suitcase she had carried into the bank in Salt Lake and took out enough cash to pay me for the Tahoe. After dinner the kids settled in front of the TV and Susan and I talked at the kitchen table about what she would be doing the next day. She said the main thing was to get the kids in school. They would be in kindergarten so there were no school records to worry about. I asked her for a rundown on her work experience so I'd have it when I talked to Uncle Bob.

She put the kids to bed and then joined me on the couch to watch television until I said it was time for me to hit the sack. Susan said she was ready to go to bed also so we turned off the TV and wen to our rooms.

As I lay in bed waiting for sleep to take me I wondered if Susan and I could make a life together. I really liked her and both of her kids. Then I wondered how I could have thoughts like that with Francine only gone for a week. I had loved that woman and I thought that she oved me but had she really? The cut and dried way she'd dumped me made me doubt it. She had to have been running around on me for a while to get that deep into her money man. And I never had a clue. Then I had a sobering thought. Were my thoughts about Susan and her kids just a way to show Francine I didn't miss her at all and couldn't care less about her leaving me? Would that be my way of saying "Fuck you bitch?"

Susan was a sexy looking lady and could it be that my interest in her was just a way to keep having a sex life? Could I really be that shallow? Sleep took me before I could go any farther with that line of thought.

I woke up to the spell of frying bacon and Susan had already made coffee by the time I got to the kitchen. After a breakfast of pancakes and bacon I told her I would be home around six and then I left the house.

First thing I did when I got to work was talk to Uncle Bob about Susan. I told him the whole story, the truth and not the abusive husband story. I did omit the money part. I didn't think he needed to know about that. He listened and then asked:

"Are you sure you want to get involved with her? It could end up biting you on your ass if they are really looking for her and eventually find her."

"I am involved and have been since her kids stared calling me Uncle Pete."

"Okay then; we will give her a try, but if she can't do the job I won't keep her on just to please you."

"Fair enough. I'll bring her in with me tomorrow and you can talk to her and by the way you should know that the story I just told you is not the story she thought I was going to tell you."

I then told him about the abusive husband story that I'd cooked up to cover why she couldn't give references and that was what she thought I was going to tell him.

At three in the afternoon I received a call from Francine's attorney. He wanted to arrange a time for Francine and someone from his office to come to the house and get her things.

"There isn't anything of hers there. I gave it all to Goodwill."

"She doesn't believe you. She thinks you are trying to get back at her for her actions."

"If you all want to waste your time I don't care. I'll be home at six tonight."

"Thank you for your cooperation. We will be there at six."

When I hung up I called up my friend Ralph Cramden. Ralph was an attorney and I explained to him what was going on and then said:

"I didn't get an attorney because I have no intension of fighting the divorce, but I can see tonight turning into a "He said, she said" and I figure it would be best if I had a legal representative there. Can you do it?"

Ralph had known Francine as long as I had and he said he couldn't believe that she would do what she did. He said he would met me at the house around five thirty-five. I got home at five-thirty and Ralph got there at five-forty. We discussed what would likely happen when Francine got there and he told me I could have a problem if Francine really pushed things and I ended up in front of the wrong judge. He explained that just because she said she said she didn't want anything out of the marriage she was still entitled to her personal items such as her clothes."

"Oh well" I said, "What's done is done."

Francine and a women from her attorney's office arrived at five minutes after six and when I let them in they went right to the master bedroom. A minute later I heard "Shit!" Francine came storming into the living room and yelled:

"God damn it Pete! Where are my things?"

I was smiling when I said "I already told you Francine. I gave them to Goodwill."

I handed her the receipt they gave me when I made the donation and said "If you hurry you might be able to buy back some of your stuff."

"You had no right to do that!"

"Of course I did. When you left me you said you wanted nothing out of the marriage. Your exact words were:

"I don't need or want anything. My new man has more money than God and I can buy whatever I want."

You were gone for over a week and I never heard from you and I damned sure didn't want anything of yours around to remind me of your traitorous ass so I got rid of it."

I asked the woman with her "Are we through here?"

She nodded and touched Francine on the arm and said "We need to be leaving Mrs. Westover."

"You are an asshole!" Francine snarled and then she looked at Susan who was setting the table for dinner and said:

"What's she doing in my house?"

"This isn't your house Francine. You gave it to me in the divorce. Remember?"

"That can be changed if I refile."

"You do and I will counter sue and make sure it drags on forever. You really want that? Better check with Mr. More money than God and see if he is willing to wait."

"You are such an ass."

"Only because you made me one."

She gave me a look of disgust and then she and the other woman left.

"Think we have heard the last of this" I asked Ralph.

"I don't know. Fran is really pissed right now and may not be thinking clearly. We will just have to wait and see."

I invited him to stay for dinner, but he said he had someplace he had to be and he left.

Over dinner Susan said the kids had been enrolled in school, but there was a problem.

"It is from seven forty-five until eleven forty-five and then they are out. I'll have to pick them up, take them home and stay with them."

"Not a problem. There is a daycare center just up the street from work. You leave work, pick them up and take them to daycare and then come back to work."

After the kids had been put to bed we sat on the couch and watched TV. There was a foot between us when we sat down. After about five minutes she scooted over next to me and took my hand. I looked at her and she smiled at me and said:

"I've already made my intensions known and I have to start somewhere" and we sat there holding hands and watching the tube until it was time to go to bed. We went to our separate rooms and as I waited for sleep to take me I thought about Susan. I knew I was interested in her, but I was kind of a straight arrow and I didn't feel that I could do anything where she was concerned until I was single again. And that could be months away. Many months away if Francine refiled. I was beginning to regret giving her shit to Goodwill.

The next morning we drove the kids to school and then stooped at the day care and enrolled the kids then I took Susan into work with me. I introduced her to Uncle Bob and then left them alone to talk. About twenty minutes later they came out of his office and Uncle Bob walked her over to accounting and then he stopped by my desk and told me he had hired her and she was already digging into the backlog in accounting.

Just before lunch Susan came to me and asked for the keys to my car so she could go pick up the kids and get them over to the day care place. I handed them to her and as she took them she leaned forward and kissed me.

"Just letting anyone who might be watching that I'm staking my claim. See you later."

I looked around the room and saw that almost everyone in the office had their eyes on us. Some of the faces showed disapproval. Probably because they knew I was I was married and shouldn't be having anything to do with another woman. I couldn't fault them for it because I hadn't let it be known that Francine and I were no longer together.

Susan was back thirty minutes later and handed me back my keys. She kissed me and told me she would see me at quitting time and she kissed me again. As I watched her walk away I was wondering if I was going to be able to hold off until the divorce was final.

We left work at five and picked up the kids from daycare. They were in a very up mood and had to tell us all about their day and all the new friends they had met. Once home Susan fixed dinner while I played with the kids.

After the kids had been put to bed Susan and I sat on the couch watching TV and just like the previous evening we ended up sitting hip to hip and holding hands. When it was time for bed I hit to off button on the remote and as the TV died Susan said "Pete" and when I turned to her she kissed me. It wasn't a quick kiss and she put some tongue into it and my resolve faded and my straight arrow status flew out the window. We sat on the couch and made out like teenagers until I broke us apart and said I needed to get to bed.