24 hours, 5 years, 10 months(romantic story series)

[romantic_story]

We had not forgotten each other. After all, we were going to get married and had lived together in a spartan life style where we dreamed of a future that could afford things like this. She was still going to school to be a nurse when it died.

Once we figured out what we were going to eat, the awkwardness of the situation came back. It couldn't be helped. So I asked Marie if she finished her schooling to be a nurse. That brought a smile to her face and we all relaxed a bit.

"I was able to transfer to a nursing school here in Milwaukee and only was one semester behind. I have an Uncle and an Aunt that put me up for a while till I found a couple of roommates.

"It was a more rigorous program, but we're working with live people and they deserve the best that we can do. I've been working for about 3 1/2 years and have paid off all my student loans. I'm even starting to think about a masters part time. I'd like to be a Nurse Practioner.

"By the way, that's where I met Terry. We were roommates. She's been a great friend to me ever since I came here." That's when she looked at me and in a softer voice said "A great friend that supports the good things I do in life. I'm the same for her. She's a sister that I never really had."

"Marie, how are your parents doing?"

She smiled at my question. "They both retired and are getting into each others hair." She started chuckling and I smiled. "In fact, they should be here in a couple of weeks. They are traveling to Yellowstone and will spend a night with me each way. We get to visit and they get a free hotel room for the night."

Bill was looking very confused, "Jim, you told me that your ex was Gail, and this is Marie."

As Marie was taking a sip of wine, I gestured to her, "This was Gail Marie Sculotto. Her father's side is Italian, her mother's side something eastern European. That's where she got the beautiful dark hair and the blue eyes from."

Terry looked at Marie and me. "You two want to be here. I still don't get it." She looked at Marie, "You told us all about it. You should want to kill him, he should want to have nothing to do with you. I'm probably pushing this, but why are you both here?" That's when Marie answered. "We were young, and speaking for myself only, immature."

I jumped in, "No, you are speaking for me too. I was young and hurt and very immature. I didn't physically hurt anyone. I'm not proud of what I did do. I know now that there were better ways to deal with it."

Marie looked back at me, "Jim, you did what you had to do. I was a pretty self centered fucked up little girl. We were planning on having kids soon. Look at what my faithlessness would have done to them. You saved those kids because we didn't have them. You did good. It wasn't pleasant, it wasn't nice, but I completely deserved it. You helped me grow up."

"Marie, I'm still sorry for what I did to you. We could have split and it would have been bad, but ..."

"Jim, I was young and dumb and ..." At this point, the food arrived and stopped the conversation. We started eating and quickly changed the discussion, much to the relief of Terry and Bill. I know that they were aware that we needed to talk about this, but not with them around. I recognized that and mouthed a 'later' to Marie who nodded yes in reply.

With the food, the earlier debilitating tension was slipping into the past. I'd be lying if there wasn't an undercurrent going on, but it ended up being a pleasant dinner for the four of us.

We ended up with decaf espresso and biscotti for desert. It was heading on to 9 PM and the next day was Thursday. We all had to work. It was Terry that suggested that we call it a night. She's always been a voice of reason.

I looked at Marie and motioned her over. "Tonight is getting rather late, but I think that we both have things to say and hear." She nodded yes. "Do you have any time this weekend? We could grab a simple meal and find a quiet place to talk?"

"Jim, I think that that would involve exchanging phone numbers, wouldn't it?"

"I think that by now, you know that I'm not going to bite and I don't think you're packing a piece in your purse." She gave me a dirty look, and then realized I wasn't serious. So we exchanged numbers. Bill had driven me from work and was going to drop me off there now. Terry and Marie drove separately.

Getting into the car with Bill, I was ambushed. "Why didn't you tell me all this stuff? We almost got killed tonight. Do you have any idea the shit I'm going to get when I get home?"

All I could do was to start laughing. He got a bit pissed at me for that. But I started laughing longer and harder and finally broke down and started sobbing like mad. So much held inside of me, so much touched and released. Bill stopped cursing me when he realized what I was doing and pulled over.

It was over 10 minutes later when I began to recover. I felt empty. Good empty not bad empty. Maybe not empty, but a weight was lifted from me. The only bad thing was the flood of old feelings flooding back in.

"Jim, we need to pick up your car and get that home. Then we're going to ..."

"It all came back, it all came back..."

"Hang in there buddy, we'll get to your place and we can talk some more, OK?

It took another 20 minutes for me to get back home. I plopped on the couch and Bill got out a bottle of my vodka. "I'm not going to waste your whiskey on you, you're not going to taste it. I got a text from Terry, she's going to be home late tonight." He smiled at me, "Looks like we're both going to be doing some listening." He handed me four fingers of vodka with lime and popped open a can of soda for himself. "I gotta drive, you gotta talk. And you can crawl to your bed tonight. Where do you want to start?"

[romantic_story]

24 hours, 5 years, 10 months Ch. 03
bywieliczka©

"Marie, the beer here is good if you order the crafts. In the years I've been in Milwaukee, I finally lost my taste for guzzling the cold tasteless beers of my youth. I'd rather have one great one than a couple of them."

"It took you a while to get there Jim, I remember telling you that it's about having a small amount of the best things, then having a lot of anything." Suddenly her face recognized what she just said. "That was my problem in Cincinnati, wasn't it? I didn't listen to my own advice, did I?"

We were both quiet for a few minutes. It was Saturday afternoon, only 3 days after we were tossed back together after 5 years of not ever seeing one another or even know that we both moved to Milwaukee. Neither of us had closure. Over the years, we both tried to come to terms with what happened and move on. From the little time we spoke to each other at dinner and from what Bill told me, I knew that she tried hard to save her marriage. I hope she heard from me that I didn't ever want to hurt her and that there were better ways of handling bad things.

I looked at her. Gail Marie Sculotto is now G. Marie Wilson. She hasn't changed her name since her divorce. It's a pain to legally change names, especially again. But I think it was also a way to drop the past behind. Now she has two pasts to leave behind.

"I'm going to be honest with you Marie, I had a real rough night on Wednesday. Bill stayed with me until midnight. I was..."

"You too? Terry didn't get home at all. We ended up, well I ended up talking and crying and whatever till one in the morning when we collapsed. Thank god her house is on the way to work and we got up early enough. She ran into her house, kissed Bill good morning, changed into a clean nurse uniform and ran into work with me."

"Marie, there are so many things to talk about, so many areas to ...I don't know where or how to start. One thing I will tell you is that I will be honest, not mean or nasty honest, but honest in what I say. I realize that I still have a lot of anger in me and I'll keep it in check." She looked a bit worried. She was slapped by her husband in public. I wonder how many times in happened in private.

"Please don't worry about me being physical or loud or threatening. When I came home and saw you in bed with him, I could have done something physical to both of you then. I didn't then and I'm not going to start anything different, except to get things out in a very appropriate manner.

"Jim?" She was looking directly into my eyes with a very pained expression. I'm sure mine were the same. "I don't know either but how about this? Can we talk about what happened afterword, what we did with our lives after that day? Then we can go back to the start? To when we were engaged? I know it'll be hanging over our heads the entire time we talk. But to be honest with you, I've thought about this for years. I know this is going to sound very stupid, but can you trust me on this one?"

"There's been a lot of water under the bridge, and some over it too. Neither of us looks like we're going to bolt. If I read you right, you're here, just like me. Some closure? Some understanding? Something to fill the void?" She nodded yes. "Who wants to start?"

"It was my idea and I'd be a bit more prepared, so how about me?" I nodded and she continued.

"My father came home from seeing you and let me have it for lying again. This time it was lying to him. He gave me a week to get the hell out of the house and he spent that week somewhere else. I never saw him, I never saw him or talked with him or my mother for 6 months. For that week, it was just me and mom.

"My mom told me that day that I had 24 hours to cry. Then I needed to get my act together. That was all the time I had. There would be none to waste. After that day, I needed to create a new life, away from home.

[romantic_story]

"I won't get into the details, emotional or physical. I quickly realized that I had thrown you under the bus, and you returned the favor. My listening and believing Tammy destroyed you and then me. She actually called me a couple of days later. Her husband had left her and she needed a roommate to meet rent.

"By that time, I had started researching nursing schools away from southern Ohio and found this one in Milwaukee that would take my credits and admit me, but it was going to require another semester. The school also cost more. I had an Aunt and Uncle in Milwaukee that even after hearing what I had done, welcomed me for a couple of months until I could get back on my feet. After three months, I finally found a couple of girls from the nursing program to share an apartment with.

"That's where I met Terry. She was dating Bill. I didn't fill them much on my past, but they accepted me. I was still pretty fragile and making my way in life. I can thank god for the student counseling services at the school.

"After graduation. Terry and Bill were getting married. I was invited to the bachelorette party. I'll cut to the chase. We went to a male stripper club and things were getting raunchy pretty quick. Some of the girls were pretty wasted and started doing oral on the strippers, no condoms. When I saw Terry start to reach for the stripper's cock, I pulled her away, lying to her that she needed anther drink first.

"You would have been proud of me. I laced into her, I got in her face. I know Bill, not only would he not approve, he could do something like you did to me. That's when I quickly told her what I did and what happened to me.

"Then right between the eyes at her bachelorette party I asked her, yes or no, would this be worth throwing away her entire future for? She had a couple of drinks in her, but this sobered her up.

"She and I left together about 5 minutes later. About 6 months after their wedding, Bill pulled me on the side. Terry told him what nearly happened and what I did. He was thanking me for that. Ever since then, the three of us have always had each others backs. Terry told me yesterday that Bill was supporting you. I don't know what was said, but that he was there. I wanted you to know that up front. I don't lie anymore, I can't stand it when it happens to me. That was part of my life before and part of my marriage."

During this time, Marie was looking at me then the floor and then back at me several times. My eyes had been riveted to hers. I saw how she felt about things from the look on her face, from her inflections, the ways her eyes were averted at some of the difficult parts of her life.

She stopped for a moment and straightened her posture to prepare for this next painful part.

"Marie, do you want a break? We have as much time as we need. Neither of us are going anywhere but here."

"No Jim, I've practiced this over the past 5 years and I have to say it. Never thought I would. I always thought that even if I did find you, you'd turn me away. When you showed up on Wednesday and you treated me with respect and thoughtfulness..." at this she began to cry. I pulled out a spare clean bandana and passed it to her. I had brought two for me to use on the way home when I would be alone.

She took a couple of minutes to gather herself. I told her that I would get us some water and another beer and some bar food. It was chilly outside this day and I left my coat with my keys on top in front of her. I didn't know if she noticed.

The lines were long and it was about 10 minutes until I got back. She thanked me, but said she needed to use the facilities and said she'd be right back. She left her coat, keys and her phone in plain sight for me to see. I looked at the phone and thought about that day 5 years ago. When she returned, I was still staring at the phone.

We both took a healthy drink of water and munched on the food. We talked about the tastiness and all the bad things in bar food. We needed a break and this was a good one.

When we finished eating, she started talking again. "Now about my marriage. That was a disaster, but not at first. At first, I think we loved and cared for each other. He was warm and supportive and did all the right things. Looking back at it in my therapy, I really couldn't come up with any red flags at all until after 5 months went by."

She chuckled a little and then continued. "I was introduced to Mark by Terry and Bill. He was a friend of Bill's from high school. When he started to be less nice after 6 months, I thought it was the 6 month rule." I looked at her with a question in my face.

"The 6 month rule?"