"After that, it was off to the races. Bill called me into his office and told me from now on the johns had to pay fifteen bucks to use the room. I didn't want it to come out of my earnings so I made the johns pay. It just kept going downhill until we got arrested. We never did find out how they knew about us. Bill paid the cops off and gave us to them every once in a while, for a blowjob or a piece of ass so everybody was happy."She stopped, overcome, but grabbed my hand when I tried to stand up. "I need to tell you that in my warped frame of mind at the time I convinced myself I was doing it for us, so we could have a better life. I even set a goal. Sixty thousand and I was going to quit, find a little job somewhere and tell you I was making a lot more than I actually was and bleed it back into our accounts. When we got caught, that never happened."Gail stood up. "That's it. I fell victim to greed and stupidity and it cost me everything. It took me years to accept it, but I've move

"I came back to the house," I told her. My heartbeat accelerated. "I saw you and Frank together."Of the many scenarios I had envisioned, Melanie's response was not one I had anticipated. "I'm sorry you had to see that," she said evenly."That's all you have to say?" I asked incredulously. "You're cheating on me and you're sorry I witnessed it? Aren't you even going to say you're sorry for fucking him? How long has this been going on? Don't you have any kind of explanation?"She crossed her arms and heaved a sigh. "Sit down, Michael," she said, gesturing toward the breakfast room table."I prefer to stand," I said angrily."Suit yourself," she said, and took a chair. I stood there dumbfounded at her total lack of reaction."Listen, Michael, we were going to tell you soon anyway, but I guess this just steps up the timetable a little. I'm leaving you. Frank and I are in love, and I'm going to move in with him. We'll get married as soon as the divorce is final."I decided to sit down; I

"OK, Jerry, so here's my question: when you're entertaining your best clients, have you ever had occasion to use an escort service?" He looked at me oddly. "No, Michael, absolutely not. That's against company policy, and I would never do that." I leaned over the table toward him. "Jerry, this is not a company issue, and we're not on business here. This is strictly personal, if you know what I mean." He looked at me for a few seconds, and then light dawned in his eyes. "Oh, I get it," he said. "I guess it's been a long dry spell for you, what with the wife splitting and you being out of the dating game and all." He paused and then leaned closer to me. "Sure, I know one of the top services in the city. But listen, Michael, they cater only to the biggest hitters, understand? Their girls are unbelievable, but I think they may be way out of your price range." I smiled at him. "You let me worry about that. Just tell me how to get in touch with them and what to expect." And over burger

I reluctantly shifted my view away from Rhiannon to look at Melanie. She was glaring angrily at me. Then she turned and spoke sharply to Frank before grabbing her things and heading for the exit. He tagged along behind her, once again looking over his shoulder at Rhiannon.She gracefully settled herself in the lounge chair with her eyes closed. I could just hear her murmur, "Mission accomplished."Only one bad thing happened while we were there. As we were getting ready to leave, I looked up to see Penny walking in my direction. "Oh, shit," I thought, "I forgot all about Penny's women's team playing today. What am I going to tell her?""Hi, Michael, I'm so glad to see you out again. Maybe we can get together and play some more . . ." She stopped abruptly as Rhiannon stood up and grasped my arm. "Oh," Penny said in surprise, "who's this?""Um, this is Rhiannon, my date," I said awkwardly.Penny blinked and looked in silence at Rhiannon for a moment. Then she stuck out her hand. "I'm Pe

She reluctantly agreed, and as a new song started to play, I began to dance with her. It was an interesting experience: I'd loved this woman and been married to her for ten years. Yet after what had happened, the only thing left in me was an intense desire to make her feel what she'd done to me. "So was our marriage really that bad?" I asked. She sighed. "No, Michael, it wasn't like that at all. We had some good years and some good times. But then things settled down into a routine, and after a while I just didn't feel very excited about our relationship any more. When Frank came along and made it so obvious how much he wanted me, I just got swept up in it all. I really fell hard, Michael. It felt just like when I was back in college." She looked up at me. "I didn't want to hurt you, Michael, but I had to do what was right for me. Can you understand that?" "I understand," I said bitterly, "you decided to trade up." "I didn't mean it like that," she said defensively. "That's okay