Rob, Harry, Suellen and Mellissa

Harry had been my best friend for so long that it was hard for me to sometimes remember how far back we went. I'm pretty sure that it was around the second grade, but it might have been the first. He lived three doors down from me and we started walking to school together in the morning and then home again after school. We played together after school and on the weekends and as we grew older the bonds became tighter.

When we were thirteen the Ellsworth brothers took his bike and I went with him to get it back. I got a black eye out of the deal, but I broke Burt Ellsworth nose and we did get Harry's bike back. When we were fourteen I got it a fight with Ronnie Liss over something I said to his sister and I was cleaning his clock until his cousin Sam jumped in to help him. Harry waded in and took care of Sammy while I finished with Ronnie. Harry had my back and I had his.

When we started dating we double dated a lot and we even swapped dates a time or two. We went out for football and Harry was a pretty good quarterback and as the center I made it my mission to keep tacklers off of him and I did it with some degree of success. We also went out for basketball and during one game a guy blindsided me while I was taking a jump shot and Harry was on him before I hit the floor. The two were thrown out of the game, but it was another case of Harry having my back.

We went to college together and it was there that he met Mary Ellen Baker and fell ass end over tea kettle in love with her. They dated, became close, he proposed, she accepted and three months later at a party later Harry caught her when she sneaked off to a bedroom and was fucking another guy. I was the one who took him, got him drunk and convinced him that she was a worthless piece of shit and in general helped him through the bad time. He was there for me when my mom and dad were killed by a drunk driver and he was my best man when I married Suellen Foster.

For over twenty years Harry had been my best friend and confidant. Given that I could only wonder at how my best friend could do what he did.

++++++++++++++++++++

I met Suellen in my sophomore year at State. It was the first day of the term and my first class of the day was Managerial Economics. I walked into room 116 at Thornton Hall and found an empty seat. I sat down and then looked at the girl sitting next to me and my heart did flip flops. She was easily the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She looked at me and smiled and I was lost.

I had never seen her before and I knew nothing about her. A quick look at her left hand showed no ring, but that didn't mean that she didn't have a boyfriend and in fact, as good as she looked, it was a damned good bet that she did have one. The British Army has a unit, the SAS, and the unit motto is "He who dares wins" and I had adopted that as my creed. At the end of the class I turned to her and said:

"You may already have a boyfriend, but on the slim chance that you don't my name is Rob Foreman and I would like to apply for the position."

She laughed and said, "My next class isn't until eleven so between now and then I will be conducting interviews at the cafeteria in the Student Union. There are quite a few applicants and the interview schedule is pretty tight, but I may be able to squeeze you in" and she got up and left. I had another class in ten minutes, but a man has to have his priorities straight so I ditched the class and hurried to catch up with the gorgeous redhead.

"So tell me Mr. Foreman just why do you think you qualify for the position?"

"I'm dependable, hard working, fairly intelligent and have a pretty decent sense of humor. I'm physically fit and have been told that I'm reasonably attractive, but I will concede that I may have been lied to about that. But I think the biggest thing I can bring to the table is that a beautiful green-eyed redhead can totally own me and make me her willing slave. I'm told that some women like that in a man."

"Well it all looks good on paper, but I will need to do an in the field evaluation. The only opening I have is tonight."

"I can do tonight. I will have to cancel half a dozen things, but I can do tonight."

I picked her up at six-thirty and we had dinner at Geogio's and then I took her to see a movie. When I took her home and walked her to her door she said:

"As field evaluations go you did reasonably well. I think that I may just take a chance on you, but you need to know up front that you will be on probation and can be let go at any time."

"How long is the probation period?"

"It is indefinite. If you can accept that then the position is yours."

We kissed on the third date, steamed up the windows of my car on the fourth, fifth and sixth. I had her over to my apartment and fixed us dinner on the seventh and then we made out on the couch for hours. We both knew where we were headed and on the eighth I made the move. She said:

"I'm not a virgin Rob."

"Neither am I."

"I didn't expect it to happen this soon so I'm not ready. I'm not on the pill and I don't have my diaphragm with me and please don't insult my intelligence by telling me that you will pull out."

"I can wait. In fact I'll wait until we are married if you want."

"No need to go that far. Marriage is not in my immediate plans. Besides, don't I have to be asked first? And even then isn't a "yes" required?"

"We have only been seeing each other for a month, but it has been long enough for me to decide that I've found the one I want."

"Take it slow Rob; I'm in no great hurry."

On the ninth date I asked Suellen what she wanted to do and she said:

"Go to your apartment."

"I wasn't expecting that so the refrigerator is empty."

"As long as your bedroom isn't as cold as your fridge we will be okay."

++++++++++++++++++

That set the tone for our relationship. Almost every date after that ended up in the bedroom at my apartment and the more time I spent with Suellen the more I was sure that I had found my life partner.

Unfortunately Suellen didn't feel the same way. She said that I was "her man" but she wasn't ready to commit to the long term. We went to Cabo for spring break and I spent half of my time there poised to fight all the assholes that hovered around Suellen when she was on the beach in her bikini. In fact I did punch out one guy who got a little too carried away. When I objected to his putting his hands on her and he said, "Back off little man. The lady needs to see what a real man can do for her" I lost it. It was a good thing I was pulled off the asshole because the way I was going I probably would have killed him. I almost got in a tiff with Suellen over it when she said in a sarcastic tone of voice:

"My hero. Did it not occur to you that I'm a big girl now and I can take care of myself?"

"Hey" I responded, "You want some strange asshole to run his hands all over you just tell me and I'll go the fuck away and leave you alone, but I'm not about to stand around while some asshole messes with the girl I am with. I will not have everybody who is watching thinking that I'm a fucking wimp."

Suellen saw that she had touched a nerve and she quickly turned lovey-dovey on me. The rest of the break passed without incident. Suellen drew plenty admiring glances, but the guys gave her a wide berth when I was around.

++++++++++++++++

Things ran along nicely until summer vacation. Suellen told me that she was going back to Texas to spend the summer with her family. I knew she was from out of state, but somehow had overlooked the fact that she would leave when the term was over. We would be apart for over two months and I wasn't very happy about it, but there wasn't anything that I could do. I told her that I would probably come down and visit her and she told me to call well in advance.

"My mom was talking about us making a trip to visit my Aunt Mae and I wouldn't want you showing up and me being in Oregon."

I called her once or twice a week for the first month and then I made the phone call that changed things and not for the better. Every other time I called Suellen had been the one to answer the phone. Then I made a call that was answered by her mother. Apparently to her mother on the phone I sounded like someone she knew.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Is Suellen there?"

"No she isn't Harvey. She and Jake went to the lake for the weekend. I think he is going to propose. You want to leave a message?"

"No thanks; I'll call back next week."

"Okay Harvey; say hello to your mom and dad for me."

I wondered if when Jake proposed Suellen would give him the same song and dance she gave me about not being ready for a long term relationship. I stewed over that phone call until Monday and then I called again.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Is Suellen there?"

"Oh hi Harvey. No she isn't. She and Jake are off somewhere and I don't expect her back until Sunday or Monday. How are your parents?"

"Fine. They said to say hi."

"You want to leave a message?"

"No thanks. I'll call back later."

Except I didn't. I put Suellen out of my mind and got on with my life.

Three weeks went by and then I got a call from Suellen.

"You haven't called."

"Didn't want to interfere."

"Interfere with what?"

"I expected that you would be busy making plans for the wedding and I didn't want to intrude."

"Plans for the wedding? What are you talking about?"

"I did call Suellen. I called twice. Do you know a guy called Harvey?"

"Yes."

"Well apparently I sound a lot like him on the phone; at least I did to your mother. When I asked if you were home she told me no, that you and Jake had gone to the lake for the weekend and that Jake was going to propose. I called a couple of days later on a Monday and she apparently thought it was Harvey again and when I asked for you she told me that you and Jake had gone off somewhere and she didn't expect you back for a week or so. I wish you and Jake the best. Have good life. Bye."

A minute after I hung up the phone rang again and again it was Suellen. When I heard her voice I disconnected the call and left the phone off the hook.

++++++++++++++++++

A few words about me here. When my mom and dad were killed by the drunk driver I came into quite a bit of money. Dad had a two hundred fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy the policy had a double indemnity clause in case of accidental death. He also had a fifty thousand dollar policy at work as part of his benefit package and my mom had a thirty-five thousand dollar policy where she worked. Add to that the drunk driver was on the job and driving a company vehicle when he hit my parents and the settlement I received from his company after attorney fee was in the high six figures. That is why I was able to have my own apartment while in college and drive a new car. I did not need to work, but I wanted to. The money I had was set aside for the future and I fully intended to work following graduation.

I had gotten a job as a summer intern at an insurance company and following my phone conversation with Suellen I buried myself in the job. I bought an answering machine to screen my phone calls. I kept myself busy during the day with the job and spent the evenings shooting pool and playing darts with Harry and some other friends. It was Harry's turn now to tell me what a bitch Suelllen was and how I was better off with her gone from my life. Harry was more than happy to do it because he had never liked Suellen. Maybe it was because she made no secret of the fact that she thought he was an obnoxious idiot.

I wasn't ready for it when I got home from work on a Friday after having a few beers with Harry to find Suellen sitting on my doorstep.

"What are you doing here?"

"You won't answer your phone so how else am I going to talk to you?"

"Did you not consider that since you couldn't get in touch with me that I didn't want to talk to you?"

"Doesn't matter if you want to talk to me or not; I want to talk to you. Bad enough to haul my butt up here three weeks before classes start."

"I don't understand why."

"Because we have something special Rob and I don't want to lose it."

"That doesn't make sense Suellen. If you thought we had something special what the hell were you doing going on romantic weekends with another guy."

"I wouldn't call it a romantic weekend."

"Not what your mother told me. She seemed pretty happy that you and good old Jake went off to spend the weekend at the lake so good old Jake could propose."

"He did propose and I said no."

"That doesn't take away from the fact that you did go off to spend the weekend with him."

"I felt that I owed it to him."

"You owed it to him?"

"Please try to understand Rob. Jake was my boyfriend all through high school and it was more or less expected that we would get married when we graduated, but I wanted college. Jake didn't. His future was already set. He would be working for his father and eventually he would take over running his family's ranch. Jake has been home patiently waiting for me to finish so I would come home and marry him, but I met you and Jake was history. I needed to let him know that and I needed to do it gently. When he asked me to go to the lake with him I figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to end things. We were able to part friends."

"What about the week you were gone with him?"

"I wasn't with just him. There were five of us. His dad sold a hundred head of cattle and we moved them to Kansas City."

"Did you have sex with him while you were there?"

"Can we go inside and talk about this? I don't need your neighbors listening in."

I unlocked the door and she followed me in. She took a seat on the couch and I said:

"The question was di...:"

"I know, I know; did I sleep with him. The answer is yes. All it was was saying goodbye and thanks for all the good years we had."

"So why are you here Suellen? What are you expecting?"

"I'm not expecting anything, but I am hoping that you will say that you understand."

"And this Jake is totally history? No more visits with him when you go home to visit?"

"It is over Rob."

I sat there looking at her in silence and then she said, "Let's go to bed Rob; I'll show you just how much I've missed you and how much you mean to me."

She started to get up but stopped when I said, "Can't do that Suellen. Have you ever heard the expression that when you have sex with someone you are having sex with everyone that someone had sex with? I don't know this Jake and I have no idea of what or who he might have been doing while you were up here. I won't sleep with you until you can show me a complete bill of health from your doctor."

Her face turned ugly and she snapped, "That was a rotten thing to say to me. I never knew you were a bastard" and she got up to leave. As she was heading for the door I said:

"You never knew because until now you never put me in a position where I needed to be one. Don't forget Suellen; you are the one who opened your legs for another man. I had nothing to do with it."

The door slammed and I went into the kitchen and fixed myself a bite to eat.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The next day at work I was asked to take an out of town trip to work on a project and I said I'd do it. We were gone two weeks and when I got home my answering machine had fourteen messages from Suellen asking me to call her. I thought about it and then decided not to. It was over between us and all that would come out of talking to her is that I would end up depressed.

However I wasn't given any choice in the matter. The second day that I was home there was a knock on the door and when I opened it I found Suellen standing there.

"May I come in?"

I stepped aside and she walked in. I closed the door and turned to find her standing there. She had a piece of paper in her hand and she handed it to me.

"When I left here Rob I was as mad as a wet hen. I told myself I would go and get the damned tests and then come back and hand the report to you and tell you to wipe your ass with it. Then I was going to spit in your face and walk out."

"I think I hear a "but" in there."

"When I got the results I was told that I had a mild case of gonorrhea. I guess Jake didn't spend all of his time just waiting for me. I'm on antibiotics and it should be cleared up in a couple of weeks. I'm sorry Rob. I never meant to screw things up so badly."

She stepped by me and was reaching for the door handle, but before she could turn the knob I made a snap decision that would end up having far reaching consequences as far as my life was concerned.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to get out of here before I start crying."

"Don't go."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Five weeks later Suellen moved in with me and we lived as man and wife until we graduated and then we made it official. The only bad part of our relationship was Suellen's animosity toward Harry and nothing I said or did ever got her to change her attitude. It came to a head with our wedding. Suellen was adamant that Harry not be a member of the wedding party and I was just as adamant that Harry was going to be my best man. I finally laid it out for her.

"Harry has been a part of my life for almost twenty years. He is my best friend and he will be a part of my life for the next twenty or however many more years I have. Get used to it; it is not going to change."

She wasn't happy, but I think she knew if she pushed it any harder that the wedding would end up being cancelled.

The next eight years were good ones. We both got jobs in our chosen professions and settled into marriage. We both decided early on that we didn't want to have kids so I had myself snipped so we wouldn't have to mess with birth control pills, diaphragms or condoms. We both put our energies into our jobs and began the corporate ladder climb.

We bought a house and had an in ground pool installed. We had a lot of friends and we made a lot more and we entertained a lot. Our love life was great. We would hear that things would slack off as we grew older and became more and more used to each other, but that didn't happen to us. We were still making love four and five times a week even in our eighth year of marriage.

Life was everything that I could have wished for.

++++++++++++++++

I doubt that I will ever forget the date. It was Tuesday the eighth of June and the day before my birthday.

I had dropped my car off at the dealer because of a factory recall and Suellen had followed me to the dealership, picked me up and dropped me off at work. Two hours into the day Hal called me into his office and asked me to fly to St. Louis and get a contract signed. He said that it would just be a quick overnight and I'd be home in time to celebrate my birthday.

I called Suellen and had her meet me for lunch and then drive me home so I could pack a bag for the overnight trip and then she drove me to the airport. As she dropped me off she said:

"You better make sure that you get back tomorrow. I have a special present for you."

I kissed her goodbye and headed inside to begin the stupid ritual of taking off my shoes, emptying my pockets and shuffling through the line. Twenty minutes before my flight was due to be called I got a call from Hal.

"Never mind going to St. Louis. Albertson just called and he has to come to town tomorrow for an emergency meeting and he will sign the contract while he is here. Take tomorrow off and enjoy your birthday."

I decided not to bother Suellen and caught the airport shuttle to the downtown Hilton and then took a cab from there home. I was in the basement working on a custom computer desk that I was making when I heard the garage door opener start to run. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see how late it was. I had planned on having dinner ready when Suellen got home, but somehow time had gotten away from me.