Wife’s Shocking Demand EXPOSED, I Walked Out!

Attorney Olivia Taylor was one of the first people to meet Douglas Chapel. She was introduced by the head of GE Skenctity’s administrative offices. At first sight of the tall, very handsome executive, Olivia had a personal attraction that took all her professional poise to suppress. She would have to work with him after all.

And she was not the kind of woman who gushed over a man or openly flirted. Douglas Chapel was the new chief of the real estate tax division of GE Skenctity. Oliva was a senior associate attorney in the corporate council’s office. The real property group was a separate but associated office at GE Skenctity.

Doug wasn’t Oliva’s boss and he wasn’t exactly above her in the corporate strata. However, he was a rising star and one clearly destined for great advancement. He was also amazingly handsome and possessed that unique set of personal attributes defined as charisma. His arrival sent a shockwave through the female staff of GE Skenctity from the women in the production plants to those in the executive suites.

The legal division was mostly female staffed at both the clerical and professional levels. It was particularly affected. At first, Olivia paid the whispering and speculations among her female co-workers only scant attention. It wasn’t that she was unaffected, but she simply refused to let herself go down that kind of path.

As the rumors of Doug’s bedroom skills and his extraordinary endowment grew, she became more interested. Notwithstanding her resolve, she watched her female associates and even her own secretary, Julie Stevenson, shamelessly flirt with Doug Chapel. But Olivia resisted such silly female behavior. After all, she was an attorney and a married one at that.

She had advanced enough in her career to have acquired a pretty sidehaul colonial house in Delmare, not far from the elementary school. This was a prelude to starting a family, which was something she and her husband David were discussing. In her typical fashion, Olivia had put a good bit aside for the eventuality of children.

[music] She was a planner and meticulous in preparation for each of the defined stages of her life. To some, her marriage to David at the end of college and before law school might have seemed precipitous, but in fact, it was part of a carefully considered strategy. David began teaching middle school science while she went to law school.

David put off his career ambition of becoming a marine biologist. He had envisioned himself living on a boat in a more southern climate. That was the kind of romantic dream David was prone to and a substantial part of what endeared him to his more practical wife. As their married life turned out, David enjoyed teaching and in the last 2 years he returned to graduate school nights and summers.

However, with their two incomes, the couple were now well prepared for becoming parents. David’s dream would stay just that, a dream that was beed on the bank of the upper Hudson River. Their dog, Buster, came along as the only unexpected wave in Olivia’s ordered existence. Buster was a rescue. Oliva’s husband, David, took his class to the animal shelter on a school trip.

At the shelter, David discovered a fourlororn little pup, seemingly too ugly of form to be an easy adoption. But ever the romantic, David fell under the spell of two big brown eyes. David overlooked the awkward and ugly countenance of the Irish wolfhound and St. Bernard mix and brought the newly christened Buster home to meet Olivia.

She at first sight had had her doubts about this addition to their dimminionive household, but it seemed a small compensation for the loss of a big dream. The puppy grew into a monstrously large, ugly dog that scared visitors, but only for a moment. Buster was an affectionate giant whose only threat was that he might lick you to death.

Olivia had found herself loving the great beast almost as much as she loved her husband. They were two big, lovable creatures who looked odd and fierce, but were loving and beautiful within. Olivia had a house, a dog, and a happy, contented marriage with the promise of children to come.

Or at least she did until Doug Chapel began his move on her. She was exactly his type, [music] a pretty girl maturing into a more beautiful woman. She hadn’t yet lost the shyness and trepidation of her youth, and still had that visage of innocence so appealing in a young bride. But most of all, she was holding herself away from him.

To a man who enjoyed easy success with women, the ones he had to work for were always more desirable. Entering Olivia’s office one afternoon, [music] Doug said, “We need to do something about these triple net leases in the town of Colony.” He moved around Olivia’s desk until he was standing all but touching her.

He had one arm over the back of her desk chair and the other pointing to the spreadsheet he had laid out on her desktop. GE Real Property Division had a substantial history of success fighting real property taxes. However, the town of Colony was a formidable opponent. The town had significant commercial expansion dating back to the 1960s and had developed a vigorous defense of its assessments.

“What do you propose?” Olivia queried Doug. She had turned in her chair as she said this, and it put her virtually between his arms. She was close enough to feel the heat of his body, and she felt his almost magnetic pull. I thought since under the leases, we have the rights of the owners assigned to us that we file inrem proceeding on the property assessments.

All of them? She asked. He looked her straight in the eyes as he responded. Yes, all of them. I never like leaving anything unfinished. She could feel that he was talking about more than the leases, and it set off an excitement within her that was exhilarating and frightening at the same time. That’s a big undertaking.

You will find there is a strong defense. I find that a robust offense can always overcome the defense. Oliva began working on the tax cases with Doug. He hired independent appraisers and did the initial tax protests and Oliva began to prepare the INREM petitions. Inrem was Latin for in the thing [music] which in these cases was the real property.

There is no action against a defendant only a request that the court review the assessment. The town stood by its assessments which were nearly all the standard 150% of value instead of the actual value the law required. Still, Oliva was required to do a lot of work preparing these cases for trial. Doug kept the work under his personal supervision and that required him to have a lot of contact with Olivia.

He wasn’t kidding about putting forward a significant offense both in the tax cases and against Olivia’s resistance to his sexual advances. She fought hard even though she wanted nothing more than to capitulate at his first advance. She was a normal woman with all the desires a woman can have.

But adding to her problem was her own inexperience. Olivia had known no man sexually except her husband. [music] He was her first as she was his. In her plans, they would remain faithful to each other until death did them apart. But she couldn’t help wondering what another man would be like. She had no doubt that Doug was extraordinary in bed.

There were several women in her own office who had allegedly warmed his sheets, including Olivia’s secretary, Julie, who had a two-month affair with Doug. Julie actually bragged about her experiences with Doug and ended the liaison only when her husband became suspicious. Julie’s husband was not the type to tolerate or understand.

Olivia wasn’t Julie. And although Olivia’s husband David was not the jealous type, his trust and unconditional love made it more difficult for Olivia to betray him. She was no cheater. Olivia would not go behind her husband’s back. But Doug was hard to resist. And deep inside, she knew she didn’t want to resist. It was not like David was a slouch in the bedroom, but he was ordinary.

Above average height, below average looks, and averely endowed where it counted. If you judged men by their character, David was a prince. He was certainly Olivia’s prince, and she had known that from their first meeting sitting next to each other in freshman biology. They just clicked on so many levels.

She did love David, but there was something about Doug that made him irresistible. True to his word, Doug put on a determined offense. He flirted shamelessly. He complimented her hair, shoes, her dress, and any little bit of jewelry or flash that she wore. If she were being honest with herself, Oliva would have recognized that almost from Doug’s first appearance at the GE offices, she had been dressing differently.

She stopped wearing pants to work. Her pinstriped lawyer suit jackets topped matching skirts that got tighter and shorter with the change of each season. Everything about Oliva began to change from the way she wore her hair and her scent to the lacy tops of the stockings that replaced her panty hose.

On the outside, Olivia, the tight laced lawyer, resisted, but the sensual woman within was pushing to get out. Doug Chapel knew how to cut a woman’s laces. He suggested a working lunch, but off campus where they could work without being disturbed, a drink after work came soon after the lunch. Just one, he said. You’ve earned it.

A drink would lead to a late return home. At first, David was waiting with Buster, but as summer passed into fall, David was often gone. working on his boat, he said. The first summer teaching, he had acquired a little sunfish and learned to sail on Lake George. Eventually, David went to work summers at the Albany Yacht Club, earning little more than minimum wage.

Oliva figured it kept some portion of his dreams alive. It added to the funds they were setting aside to start a family, a kind of baby fund. Oliva couldn’t object that David was gone when she was so often late, but Buster was always there to greet her with a quizzical look, or was it an accusatory look? If Buster knew her inner conflict and how dangerously she was walking toward the edge, he couldn’t say.

If David suspected, he was pretending not to notice. Things were clearly building towards a crescendo when the long New York winter set in with an October ice storm. David had been having what he would describe as an off day. It wasn’t that he hated teaching. In fact, he enjoyed the challenge.

It is a far more difficult profession than people realize. There is a tremendous amount of politics with a small P. You have to listen to the nonsense that the school administrators give you and then figure out how to do the job despite them. You have to deal with the minations of your fellow teachers. Listen to their complaints and avoid getting involved in their personal lives and professional resentments.

Then there are the parents who are either too involved in their children’s lives or too indifferent. For there is never a happy medium. Finally, there is the job itself. David taught three classes of 9th grade general science with an average of 26 students to a class, 78 students in all. Year in and year out, they trooped through his class, ignorant of the physical world around them, and concerned only with who was dating who, what their favorite pop star or rapper was doing, and most of all, how they looked and were perceived by their fellow ninth graders. He would

be the first to admit that he had it easier than the English, math, or social studies teachers. Science was a subject that could grab a student’s attention, particularly if you caused a small explosion at the start of class. It was easy to get their attention, but harder to keep it.

And in that way, he had the hardest job of all, finding a way to convey the rules of the universe to the future builders and shapers of our society. He realized how dangerous for society and ignorance of science could be. His was a responsibility complicated by the administrators, parents, politicians, religious leaders, and a grossly ignorant society that saw his job as simply to prepare his students to pass a series of standardized tests designed by the foolish for the ignorant.

David had a job you could easily hate, but which he had come to embrace. Still, he was reaching a point where he was beginning to dread a future tied to a classroom. He longed for his lost dreams and sailed his little boat on the cold Hudson when the weather permitted. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible that October day. Overlapping layers of cold and moisture in the atmosphere brought neither rain nor snow, but sheets of ice that covered the roads, trees, and utility lines.

By noon, an emergency declaration had closed the schools and most businesses. He knew that Olivia’s Audi was no match for this weather. So, he drove his old diesel Ford pickup over to get his wife. Her Audi could sit in the company lot overnight, and he would drive her safely home and back to work the following day.

David arrived at the GE campus in Skenctity at midafter afternoon. He was expecting that he would need to drag Aliva out of her office early. He found most of the GE lots already empty, and he was surprised to see Olivia walking from her building. However, she wasn’t alone. There was a tall fellow walking beside her, holding an umbrella in one hand, while his other arm was clearly around Olivia’s waist.

The way they were moving together spoke of familiarity and a relationship that was more than two co-workers sharing an umbrella. There are times when you observe a student struggling in a course. They are doing the work but the point of the lesson is eluding them. One minute they are struggling in the dark and then their eyes light up and they have it.

Maybe it was something the teacher demonstrated or said, but more often the insight is just there. A moment when all the disperate threads come together and understanding follows. David had such a moment, but he wasn’t the teacher. His wife Oliva was. As she crossed a bit of icy pavement, Olivia leaned into the strange man she was walking with, putting her head to his chest and her arm firmly around him.

It might have been the prudent act of a woman trying to avoid a fall, but her actions were far too comfortable. There was no hesitation. She was a married woman clinging to a man who was not her husband, but she showed no awkwardness or unease. At that moment, David knew the meaning of all the little signs that he had seen, but not recognized until that instant.

The way she had been dressing for work, the vague, distracted manner she had been displaying at home for months, and her being seriously and consistently late in getting home. It should have been obvious before, but he had been unsuspecting. He had been naive and blinded by love. His first inclination was to drive away, but that wasn’t who he was.

He turned his truck and pushed gently on the gas pedal, bringing his truck between the couple beneath the umbrella and the entrance to the parking lot. Oliva and Doug looked up as the truck stopped blocking their way. Doug looked as if he would curse David out, but before he could, David rolled down the window and leaned out. “Thought my wife could use a lift home,” David said.

He could see that the man holding the umbrella swallowed whatever expletives he was about to utter. Oliva just stood frozen, her mouth gaping open. David leaned out the truck’s window into the freezing rain. He looked his wife in the eyes and said, “Get in.” There was a jagged tone of menace in his voice. Olivia extracted herself from Doug and scured around the truck to open the passenger door and get in.

As she did, David stared hard at Doug, who tried to smile back. When Olivia was firmly in the vehicle, David nodded to the man holding the umbrella and put the truck in to drive. The journey to their Delmare house would usually take about 30 minutes, but the inclement weather prolonged the trip to over an hour. It seemed a lot longer to the occupants of the truck’s cab.

They traveled in silence until they turned onto the bypass in the town of Bethlehem. Moments from home, David poked the beehive. “Were you ever going to tell me about him?” asked David, his voice barely a whisper. “Olivia was looking out the passenger window, and she did not turn to look at him. She contemplated denial, but then decided she had nothing to deny.

No, because there is nothing to tell. Doug is a coworker. I like him and he likes me. You get that close to all your work friends? No, of course not, Oliva said and paused a moment before she went on. Doug is something special to me. We are close in a way that is more than simple friendship. As his Ford turned up Delaware Avenue headed for Delmare Place and their little three-bedroom colonial house, David contemplated his wife’s statement.

Just how far has this friendship gone with Mr. Umbrella? His name is Doug. Douglas Chapel. He works in the real property office. He’s just a coworker then, David said, framing his words with such sarcasm in his voice, it was clear that he did not believe them. They reached their driveway by this time and the side door to their home.

Without answering David’s accusation, Oliva hopped out and rushed a few feet into the house. David pulled his truck into the garage before waking to the house. By the time he entered through the door into the kitchen, Olivia was upstairs in the master bedroom. Buster was waiting just inside the kitchen door for his walk.

Despite the inclement weather, the man and his dog headed out. They walked to the elementary school and its open playing fields that were deserted in the icy rain. The weather didn’t bother Buster. He seemed an animal designed for adversity. By the time the two returned, they were both soaked. They descended through the side door into the basement where David threw his wet clothes in the wash and removed clean ones from the dryer.

Buster was shaking himself dry, but David helped him with an old beach towel he kept in the basement for this purpose. When the two ascended back upstairs to the kitchen, they found Oliva waiting in her terryloth robe and seated at the kitchen table with an open bottle of wine before her. “We need to talk,” she declared, pouring wine into two glasses.

David took a seat at the table, but he didn’t sit across from her. He sat at the end so that she had to turn to look at him. It also allowed him to turn, so she was unable to directly see into his eyes. Oliva’s tone was sweet but firm. I want you to know that I love you and am very happy in our marriage, she began.

But while nothing of a romantic nature has happened with Doug, it is fair to say we have a strong attraction to each other. And what is that supposed to mean? David could feel his anger rising. [music] It was fueled by more than pure jealousy. There was a deep resentment and a sense of betrayal. Olivia was his only love.

In truth, theirs was his first and only relationship. She was his first girl. And with her, he had found a sense of fulfillment and togetherness that filled a void in his life. She was talking again, and something in the way she carefully phrased her words reminded him she was his wife, the lawyer, a woman who was loving and caring, but whose profession is to assemble words to a purpose.

It means that we have a strong marriage and I’m totally committed to it. I love you, but I’m no more able to control my every desire than you are. I’m a woman with all the physical limitations of my intimacy. [music] We can’t help who we are attracted to. I have known no other man but you.

That I’m tempted by Doug is a fact. I can’t deny it. and he said, “Because there is something more, so say it.” She sighed. This isn’t easy. I’ve given it a great deal of thought and I need to get Doug Chapel out of my system. It is too hard working with him every day and not knowing what he would be like. Like, he prompted. You’re the only man I’ve ever been to bed with.

He is supposed to be spectacular. I can’t help being curious and he’s let me know that he wants me yet. I haven’t even kissed him and I won’t unless she let that last word hang in the air, but David had turned away while she was speaking and with her last word he rose and said, “Buster needs feeding.” Olivia let the matter drop.

She was caught between the love she had for her husband and the desire she had as a woman. It had been 3 weeks since the ice storm. The climate had changed and it was an unusually warm November. The weather seemed to become more unpredictable each year. There was a late season hurricane in the Caribbean, but between Oliva and David, there was a hard freeze.

They had been barely speaking since the talk, or rather Olivia’s monologue at the kitchen table. When Oliva returned to work after the storm, Doug wanted to know what had happened with David. He wasn’t violent, Doug asked. Was he? No, he was shocked, I guess, and certainly hurt. He’s not a violent man. Well, it seemed to me that he had murder in his eyes, Doug claimed.

No, he’s just hurt. I heard him, Oliva said as she walked away. Doug was not a physically brave man, and David’s appearance belied his mild temperament. This was unlike Julie Stevenson’s husband, Louie, whose short stature and slight build concealed a violent temper. Thanksgiving came and went, and soon Christmas was upon them and the office holiday party.

It was a small affair, just the one building, and devoid of alcoholic stimulation. Still, everyone made an appearance, even if brief. By that December, Doug had already had his way with the majority of the more attractive females at GE Skenctity. None of the ladies had complained. It was only his conquest of Aliva that had failed to succeed, but the contest was not yet over.

Since the unfortunate and untimely appearance of her husband on that icy October day, Olivia had kept her distance. But with the passage of time, things began to look promising again. Doug managed to catch Olivia just outside her office as the party began to break up. The next thing she knew, they were in her office with the door closed and making out.

I can’t, she said, pulling away. Why? You said your husband wouldn’t give us trouble. It’s still cheating. I owe David better than that. And what do you owe yourself? He said, “You know what you want. You can’t deny this.” He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her. Try as she might, she responded and put the heat of her barely containable passion into her kiss.

It took all her will to break away. I’m sorry, she sobbed. And we’re just about out of time, a frustrated Doug said. What? She asked. I’m being promoted to the New York City headquarters. I’ll be leaving at the end of January. They haven’t announced that yet, she replied. It won’t be official until the first of the year, but they told me to get ready to move.

With that, he kissed her again, but Olivia continued to refuse him. On her way home, Olivia thought over her situation. She wanted Doug, but not forever. His leaving was a good thing, but it felt as if she were about to miss something that would not come her way again. She loved her husband, David, and wanted a home and family with him.

However, suddenly, motherhood felt like a trap that was closing in on her before she had an opportunity to experience life. Doug had asked what she owed herself. Didn’t she owe herself some experiences before she grew old? Was she missing the chance to be with someone like Doug Chapel? If he were leaving, she would miss her opportunity, and she knew it would not come again.

By the time she pulled into her driveway, she had convinced herself that she needed to be with Doug at least once before he left for the NYC offices, but she wasn’t going to cheat. She would have a conversation with David and explained to him that she wanted this one opportunity to experience something different.

In a way, Doug’s imminent departure would make it easier. It would just be a one-off and then he would be gone and she and David could go back to the comfortable life they had. But she would have had this experience. She needed to find the right time to broach the subject with David. She didn’t want to come out with it as some kind of fat accomply.

It should be a starting point in a discussion where they could reach a mutual understanding to do precisely what she wanted. Of course, she didn’t see it exactly that way. Usually, they spoke and she got her way. Few marriages grow to be truly equal. In most, one party is dominant. How dominant is the point of friction? In the case of Olivia and David, she was dominant and there was little friction between them.

David had so far acquiesced entirely on every issue in their marriage. Still, unfortunately, that was why Olivia’s current desire was about to spark an earthquake that had been building. She decided that the best time to hit David with the fact of her desires was just after dinner and before they adjourned to their bedroom for intimacy.

Olivia chose the Sunday evening after her office holiday party. She made David’s favorite pot roast for dinner. She took care to pri herself up after dinner while David was on the couch streaming one of his nature shows. About 9:00, she slipped in next to him on the couch. He turned to her as he caught the faint trace of her Chanel perfume.

Before he could speak, she placed a kiss on his lips and then she said, “I want to talk about the problem that’s been between us.” “Problem?” he asked. “My attraction for Doug Chapel.” “This Doug would be Mr. Umbrella?” he asked. “Yes, the man in the parking lot,” she said. “I’m attracted to him.

” “What does that mean?” he asked. “He wants me sexually,” she said and paused. and I want him.” She felt his body tense next to her and then he pulled away. She wouldn’t accept his rejection and she moved to press her body to his. She laid her head on his chest and took his hands in hers. “It doesn’t change how I feel about you,” she said. “I will want you always.

It’s just that I want him now in the moment and only physically.” David wasn’t having it. He gently pushed her away and held her at arms length. He made her look him in the eyes as he responded, “What are you trying to tell me? Have you slept with him?” Because this is not what a wife says to her husband unless she is confessing something.

She smiled and looked back into his eyes. “I would never sleep with him,” she began without telling you first. “So you’re telling me?” he questioned. I’m telling you, I want to have this fling before we have kids. We’ve set aside enough to start a family, but we’ve hesitated. We’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting, and now I know why.

And that is, he asked. I’ve never been with another man. I never knew what that was like. I was too controlled when I was younger. I never experienced life. I was too busy studying to enjoy college or law school. I just want this one fling before we settle into what will be a good life and a great marriage and family.

I want just my one brief encounter. You want to have an affair with Mr. Umbrella? He all but shouted. No, only an encounter. He is getting promoted and will be going to the main offices in NYC. He’s leaving after the new year. I want only a few days with him right before he leaves. A weekend and nothing more.

And if I say no, David asked, although he already knew the answer. I was hoping you would understand that I need this experience. She didn’t give David a chance to answer, but kissed him and pressed herself against him. Her hand reached for and found his private part. It’s going to be all right, she thought as they began their usual dance of love.

On his side, the love making had a bittersweet quality. something had been lost. This was the only woman he had ever known, and until moments before, she was the only woman he had ever expected to know intimately. Olivia determined that the matter was settled and told Doug that her first weekend in January would belong to him.

Doug’s house was on a quiet culde-sac in Niskauna. It was a modest house for the neighborhood. A three-bedroom split level in a neighborhood that favored five- bedroomedroom center hall colonials. As agreed, his attached garage was open and waiting. Olivia pulled her Audi in next to Doug’s Porsche.

He was waiting for her in the living room with an open bottle of wine. For a moment, he was below her in the living area as she descended from the garage entry to the main floor. He got the full effect of the short black dress that clung to her body, setting off the fullness of her breasts and the enticing curve of her hips.

She could see in his eyes a mixture of lust and anticipation. It was so different from the look her husband had given her as she left him only 20 minutes before. David’s eyes had been sad. There was a pain there she would have taken away if she could. But this, as she told him, was a one-time thing, and then she would be his forever.

They would have children together. Their marriage would be secure because of a love that could survive a little fling. Theirs would be proven a strong marriage. She told her husband this because she genuinely believed it. What she was about to do was an adventure and nothing more. She meant it to strengthen their marriage and hopefully her love for her husband.

Something in her believed she already had. Her body tingled with anticipation from the tips of her fingers to the soles of her feet. Her brain buzzed with the excitement she felt. Their bodies moved together as if drawn by an invisible force and met in an embrace in the center of his living room. Doug kissed her as his arms infolded her, but he drew away and said, “One glass of wine and then we need to go to dinner.

I have tickets for the band visit at Proctor’s Musical Hall. Doug knew how to appreciate his prize, to whine her and dine her and show her a good time. He relished his triumph and assured himself that he gave as good as he took. I’m completely in your hands this weekend, Olivia assured him.

They had dinner in a romantic Italian restaurant in downtown Skenctity and enjoyed the show in the redesigned and reconstructed vaudeville theater. They drank very little, but when he brought her back to his home, he opened a bottle of champagne. They drank a toast to their weekend together before heading to the bedroom and getting down to satisfying the attraction that had brought them together.

He undressed her as if he were unwrapping a priceless piece of art, and he told her how beautiful she was. As he did so, she realized that he was savoring her body. He appreciated her in a way that she had never experienced before. She felt as beautiful as he said she was here with this most handsome of men. His hands danced over her flesh and sent her desire into overdrive.

She pushed the shirt from his chest and exposed the dark blonde hair that covered his chest. It was so different from the nearly bare chest of her husband. But she quickly pushed the thought of David from her mind. Later she could think of him. This moment was for her and her lover. They lay down in his king-size bed, its satin sheets made for intimacy.

He began removing the lacy underwear purchased by her husband, but never worn until now. She unzipped his pants, and he kicked them away. He left on her guarder belt and stockings. She slipped her hand beneath the waistband of his boxer shorts and touched with her fingertips the object of her fantasies. After they were finished in bed, she remembered they had taken no extra precautions.

She was still on the pill, but wasn’t sure whether she was happy about that or not. It had been the most perfect intimacy of her life, but it was far from over. They had the weekend together, two more blissful days. Sunday came too soon. They had spent most of the weekend in bed. The intimacy had been great, and he was, on top of everything else, inventive.

She had been taken, she thought, every way humanly possible. It had been great fun, but she was ready to go home and make things up with David. They ordered Chinese takeout late Sunday afternoon, and after they ate, had one last bout of intimacy before she showered, packed, and changed back into the short black dress that she had worn the previous Friday evening.

She slipped out the same way she had come in through his garage into her car and out through the open garage door, thereby concealed from any nosy neighbors. No one would say she spent the weekend with Douglas. The most she could be accused of was being out with him in public on a Friday night. Soon he would be off to advancement in New York, and she would be working on having a baby with her husband.

She was very content with her life. 20 minutes later, Olivia pulled her Audi into her driveway. The house was oddly dark. The porch lights were out and she didn’t see David’s truck. She assumed David had moved his truck into the garage. Opening the side door, she looked for Buster to greet her return, but he was not at the door. She called out, “I’m home.

” She expected Buster to come running, but no dog appeared. She entered the kitchen and then the living room. Both were empty. She called out again. David, I’m home. There was no answer, only silence. They must have gone for a late walk. She told herself. David must be in a down mood.

He always walks Buster late when he’s feeling low. She went to the refrigerator for ice and then she poured herself a glass of scotch. She checked the bottle to see if David had been drinking, but it was nearly full. She sat down on the living room sofa and pulled her legs up and settled into the comfortable corner. She was very tired, but she knew she needed to wait for David’s return to show him that nothing had changed, except perhaps that her love for him would be greater.

From here forward, he would be treated like the prince of the man that he is. Despite her best intentions, Oliva fell asleep. She woke to the ringing of the front doorbell. The front hall is right off the living room and the front doorbell can be loud. Oliva was surprised to see that daylight was pouring through the front windows.

She must have fallen asleep. As she reached the front door, her mind told her something was wrong. It was Buster. He wasn’t jumping up and down by the door. Where is Buster? Her sleepy mind thought. Opening the door, she found a talish woman whose hair was tightly pulled back. She wore a cheap dark pants suit. “Olivia Taylor?” the woman asked.

“Yes, may I help you?” Olivia replied. “Mrs. David Taylor,” she asked. “Yes, what is this about?” “I’m Detective Sylvia Marx,” the woman announced, flashing a gold badge. “May I come in? I need to ask you some questions.” Olivia instinctively stepped back to allow the detective to enter, but then it hit her.

“Oh no!” Olivia exclaimed. “Did something happen to David?” Detective Marks proceeded into the living room where she turned and gave Olivia a headto toe look over. Olivia was still wearing the clothes she had returned home in the previous evening, the short black dress she had worn to dinner with Doug.

Oliva realized how inappropriate her dress was for the early morning and felt exposed and embarrassed. “Not that I’m aware of,” the detective replied. “I’m here about Douglas Chapel.” “Doug, I mean, Mr. Chapel, what about him?” she asked. Olivia felt very exposed and confused, which apparently was what the detective desired. He was attacked last night as he put his trash out in front of his home,” the detective began as she pulled a small notepad from her pocket.

“He claims to have been jumped by a man wearing a ski mask and wielding a small club.” “Oh my god, you’re here because you suspect David,” Olivia asked. “Actually, no,” Detective Mark said with a bit of a smile that she could not suppress. The corners of her mouth turned up as she said. David Taylor has been eliminated as a suspect.

Although I will admit in the circumstances he was our first thought, particularly since Mr. Chapel was so quick to tell us he had spent the weekend with you. Detective Marx’s smile had turned into a bit of a smirk. Olivia felt sick and went to sit down on the couch, but ended up all but collapsing into it.

Detective Markx followed suit and sat down on the edge of a wing back chair facing Olivia. “You said my husband was not a suspect?” Olivia asked, her voice trembling a bit. “No, the manager and staff of the Albany Yacht Club say he launched his boat, the Amore, into the river yesterday afternoon and sailed south. Considering the time of year, they thought it best to keep track of him by his VHF radio and they can place him in the Hudson around Pakypy at the time of the attack.

boat?” Olivia asked, having begun to regain some of her professional composure. “He took his little sailboat out on the river in January.” Olivia finished incredulously. Detective Markx referred to her notebook. Flipping a page, she said, “A 38 ft Catalina, according to the yacht club manager.

Apparently, he purchased it in December and had been getting it ready this last month. They say he is fortunate there is so little ice on the river this winter. They believe he is headed south. Olivia jumped up and ran up the stairs. Everything in the master bedroom looked to be in its place until she looked further and realized that some of David’s possessions were missing.

Little had been taken from his closet, which was filled with his work clothing, but his dresser drawers were all but empty. However, it was on her dresser that she found his note, or rather a greeting card nicely sealed in an envelope. The card’s outside face read, “How can I tell you how sorry I am?” Inside there was a little text poem, but she merely glanced at this because he had left her a handwritten note.

Dear Olivia, I’ve accepted a job in Florida with a small marine research institute. It’s just an entry-level position, but it’s a start. I’m sorry to leave like this, but I couldn’t stay in this marriage any longer. And I think you were right when you said we should experience life before we truly settle down. I will miss you, but I’m not sure I love you any longer.

I’ve taken the money set aside in our baby fund and bought a boat that I can sail south and live on when I get to Florida. Do what you want about the house and a divorce. Hope you’re not mad and that things work out with that umbrella guy. Goodbye, David. Detective Marks heard Olivia’s anguished cry and came upstairs to investigate.

Finding Olivia crumpled to her knees on the bedroom floor, she helped the woman up and to a seat on the bed. Sylvia felt a little guilty as she settled a lea down and asked if she could get the grieving woman a drink. Sylvia was not altogether fond of attorneys. In addition, Sylvia had lost her own husband to another woman and was less than sympathetic to someone stepping out on their spouse.

However, now she was reacting as one deserted woman to another. Let me make you some tea, Sylvia offered. No, no, I’ll be fine, Olivia replied. Let’s go back to the living room and I will answer your questions. I really have only one. whether you observed Lewis Stevenson at any time during these last few days that you spent with Mr. Chapel.

You mean my secretary Julie’s husband? “Yes,” the detective replied. “But I’ve never met him. I have no idea what he looks like.” “I have a picture of him,” the detective said and handed Olivia what was clearly a mug shot of a rough-looking man. Staring at the photograph, Olivia shivered and said, “I’m sorry. I’ve never seen him before.

Oh well, it was just a possibility. The victim couldn’t identify him, but I thought if he was stalking you two this weekend, you might have caught a glimpse of him. I didn’t see him stalking us at any time. “Do you think he attacked Doug?” Olivia asked. “Yeah, he’s a likely suspect,” Sylvia began in a cool, professional voice.

“He has a record for assault and a history of jealousy. Once we eliminated your husband, he was the obvious choice. He has an alibi, of course, provided by a group of friends. I was hoping you could place him near the scene so I could break his alibi. Sorry, but I can’t help you. Will Doug be okay? Olivia asked. He was beaten rather badly, particularly about the genitals.

He’s in the hospital, but I would wait a few days to visit him. Olivia nodded as they descended the stairs. I can’t see him for a day or two. Olivia said, “I’m going to have to go after my husband and beg his forgiveness.” “That may be difficult,” Sylvia said. “He is probably sailing under the George Washington Bridge as we speak.

” With that last comment, Detective Markx took her leave of the Taylor residence. Detective Markx was wrong in one regard. By the time she left his former home, David Taylor and his dog Buster aboard the 38-oot yacht Amore had passed the Statute of Liberty and exited New York Harbor.

Then David made a starboard turn to head south by Southeast and put New York on his stern and his marriage in his past.