A Pearl Drop Necklace

My wife, Linda, thirty-one, and I, Sam, thirty-four, met at the wedding of my friends Greg and Angie eleven years ago. Linda and I married six years ago. Happily married. Or so I thought.

Linda is a supervisor in the customer service department of a multinational corporation. Greg and I license and operate four coffee shops associated with a large national chain. Angie is a lawyer specializing in family law. Linda and I don't have children but plan to in the next few years.

Customer service calls at Linda's company initially go to a call center overseas. If the call is escalated, it goes first to a lead service person overseas and then, if the customer is still unhappy, to one of Linda's team or a similar team back here in the U. S. She says the overseas call center people are trained to be sympathetic but to get callers off the phone as quickly as possible. The people overseas can't really do anything to help solve the problems people call in about. Customers are beginning to understand that so more and more calls are escalated to Linda's team, or one like hers, in the U. S.

For the past three or four months, Linda has been working a lot of late nights and Saturdays. She says a lot more calls are being routed to the U. S. from overseas and she doesn't have enough people to handle the call volume. Her company takes customer service calls until 9pm weekdays and until 5pm on Saturdays. Someone has to be there to answer the phone. She has been getting home some weeknights at 10 and has been working all day some Saturdays. At least one night a week and one or two Saturdays a month.

She's a salaried employee so she doesn't get overtime. I told her she should find another job or she could just quit and get pregnant. She could be a stay at home mom. We don't need her income. Linda says she's not ready to have kids. She likes her job and the people she works with. Also, the late nights are temporary until they hire and train new people. She says they are hiring people but they're having these new hires take calls without proper training. She has to be there so she can answer their questions about what to say to customers. I wasn't suspicious of her late nights. We were also having problems hiring people for our coffee shops and Greg and I have been putting in some late nights and weekends too. Not like Linda though.

Last Thursday, Linda called me to tell me that she'd be working late again. She'll be home by 10pm. But she got home at about 6:30pm. She'd been beaten up. She had bruises on her face and her eye was almost swollen shut. I got her seated in the living room and asked her, "What happened?

She said," I left work before the others because I wasn't feeling well. I was mugged in the parking garage. The guy tried to grab my pocketbook but the strap was over my head and around my opposite shoulder. The mugger punched me and knocked me down making it harder for him to get the bag over my head. The mugger kicked me while I was on the ground and kept pulling at the handbag. Finally, some people entered the garage and the mugger ran off."

"Did you call the police?"

"There's no point. The guy was wearing a ski mask so I'll never be able to identify him. He didn't take anything. There are security guards inside my building. I should have asked one of them to walk me to my car. I will from now on or leave with a group. I'll make sure everyone at work knows about the mugging so they'll be careful. It's useless going to the police. The guy is long gone."

"Let me take you to the emergency room. You're obviously in a lot of pain."

"I don't think anything's broken; I can move all my limbs. I'm just very sore. If we go to the emergency room they'll make me fill out a police report. They'll probably think you beat me up. I don't want to spend all night at the ER. I just want to soak in a bath and go to bed."

She started to get up from the couch and winced. I helped her up the stairs and told her I would draw her bath while she undressed. I started to fill the tub. When I went back into our bedroom Linda was hanging up her dress. I hadn't thought of it before but her dress wasn't ripped or dirty. Her shoes weren't scuffed. If she was fighting this guy from the cement floor in a parking garage, her clothes would be torn, ripped or at least dirty. Unlike her battered body, her dress and shoes were fine. And she wasn't wearing pantyhose. Linda always wears pantyhose to work.

But what she was wearing was the pearl drop necklace a co-worker named Fred gave her earlier that week. The necklace was hidden under her dress when she arrived home so I didn't see it until she removed her dress. This was a necklace that Linda and I had argued about. Linda told me she had returned the gift to Fred. When she finished undressing, Linda went to look at the bruises and cuts on her body in our full-length mirror. She saw she was still wearing the necklace. Alarmed, she quickly turned away from me and put on her robe, holding it shut at the throat to hide the necklace from me. She hurried into the bathroom and shut the door.

I looked in her handbag and found her pantyhose stuffed in there. I pulled her pantyhose out. Linda's knees were in bad shape but her pantyhose were in perfect condition. Evidently, Linda took off all her clothes before getting mugged. There was no way she was wearing those clothes if she was rolling around on the cement floor of a parking garage.

After her bath, she got into bed. The necklace was gone but I asked her about it. "I thought you returned the necklace to Fred."

She said, "You wanted me to return it so I did. But I liked how it looked so I bought a similar necklace for myself. Stop with the questions. I was just mugged. Do you really want to question me about a stupid necklace now? Is there anything else you need to interrogate me about? Any other questions that can't wait until I'm feeling better?" I let her go to sleep.

Fred, like Linda, supervises a group of customer service representatives. He's about my age. About four months ago I suddenly started to hear a lot about co-worker Fred. According to Linda he's smart, funny and a great guy. Everyone likes him. He's always there to help. He helped her sort out one of her employees who was being a jerk. He handled the situation perfectly. I started to hear almost daily about this wonderful Fred.

Last Monday, Linda came home from work wearing a pearl drop necklace. I asked her about it and she told me, "It was a gift from Fred. Fred was having some marital problems and I gave him some advice about how he and his wife can communicate better. He was grateful for the advice so he gave me a necklace as a thank you. No big deal." Linda looked at me to see my reaction.

I asked, "What is going on between you and Fred. Why are you constantly talking about him? Why is he giving you gifts?"

"There's nothing going on. He's just a work friend. Fred loves his wife almost as much as I love you. We're just work mates who help each other out at work. We aren't interested in each other that way. No romantic interest whatsoever. He's just someone I can rely on for help and for occasional work advice. Do you remember when I was trying to figure out how to ask my boss for a raise? Fred knew exactly how I should approach it. Trust me, Fred is nothing to worry about. We never see each other outside of work. There's no need for you to be suspicious of Fred."

I told Linda. "I'm uncomfortable with you having a man as a close friend. Especially one who's giving you necklaces."

"Don't be so insecure. There's no other man in my life but you. Certainly not Fred. No attraction there. He's just a friend. You should not be concerned about him for a second. It's ridiculous to think I have any sort of romantic interest in Fred. Or him in me. Stop being silly."

"I want you to give back the necklace. Tell him you only accept gifts from your husband. That his gift is inappropriate."

Linda was taken aback. "I don't see any need to return the necklace. It would be insulting to Fred. It doesn't mean anything other than he was grateful for my advice. If you're concerned, I'll tell him no more gifts from now on. But there's no need to return the necklace. It's pretty and I like it. I've already accepted it. If I give it back, he'll know it was you who forced me to return it. Do you want Fred to think you're a control freak who's jealous of him and doesn't trust your wife?"

"Give it back. I don't care if Fred is offended. I certainly don't care what Fred thinks. A married woman should only accept gifts from her husband."

Linda was angry now, "Why don't you trust me? I've done nothing wrong." Linda started yelling. "Why are you suddenly being so difficult? It will be hugely embarrassing for me to return Fred's gift. It would strain our friendship. I need work friends to survive at work. I'm not giving the gift back. Period. No more discussion. You're taking something completely innocent and blowing it up into some big deal. I'm not going to let you do that. The gift is just a thank you from a friend. It means nothing."

"If it means nothing, just do as I ask."

"Give me one good reason why I should give it back. Other than to soothe your fragile ego."

I told her, "You should give it back because that's what I want you to do. You need no other reason."

Linda saw I was getting angry. She looked at me for a while and then said, "OK, I'll give the necklace back to Fred tomorrow. But you should work on your insecurities."

She stormed out of the room. We went to bed angry, something we swore we would never do. The next morning she wasn't wearing the necklace but asked me in a huff, "Have you realized how silly you were being? Have you changed your mind about me having to give back the necklace."

I said, "We need to discuss you quitting your job."

She replied, "You're a controlling asshole," and left for work.

When I got to our office, my partner and friend Greg noticed I was out of sorts and asked me about it. I told him, "For the first time I'm worried about what's going on with Linda."

He said, "I'm meeting Angie for lunch. Do you want to join us and talk about it." Angie is a divorce attorney. You bet I wanted to join them for lunch.

Over lunch, I described to Greg and Angie my argument with Linda about Fred and the necklace. Angie asked a few questions about what Linda's been saying about Fred. I told her about how wonderful Linda thought Fred was. Angie said, "Fred is Linda's work husband. Some people develop intense emotional bonds with co-workers. It's so common, there's a name for it: work spouses. It usually begins as a platonic relationship. They're just good friends. Nothing romantic. Maybe some mild flirting. But it's all innocent. At least that's what they tell themselves. And, of course, there's no need to tell their real spouse about any of this. But the work spouses become dependent on one another. And these close work friends, these intense work attachments, are almost always with someone from the opposite sex. Funny how that works.

"The relationship with the work spouse can develop into something more. When Linda is at home, she's your wife. When she's at work, she's Fred's wife. Her emotional attachment to her work husband may be as strong as her emotional attachment to you. Some people refuse to leave their jobs, even for a promotion, if it means having to leave their work spouse."

Angie, the divorce attorney, told Greg and me some statistics on infidelity with co-workers: "About 85% of spouses who start to cheat, begin their infidelity with a co-worker. Somewhere around 40% of married employees begin a sexual relationship with the work spouse they've developed an emotional attachment to. And once she begins to cheat, an unfaithful wife is three times more likely to continue to cheat than it is for someone to begin cheating. They cheat on their current husbands, any future husbands, and even cheat on the guys their cheating with. Cheaters start with a work spouse but move on to others." Angie looked at me and said, "An unfaithful wife eventually falls out of love with her work husband and falls in love with the thrill of cheating. Once they get a taste for cheating, unfaithful wives don't give it up. When she's finished with this one, she just moves on to the next one. It's not the guy as much as the thrill of cheating and the affair sex that she's after. The guys she hooks up with are more or less interchangeable.

"It sounds to me that Fred is Linda's work husband. There's a strong emotional attachment already. I see this progression from a Platonic relationship between co-workers to a sexual one all the time with my clients. It's almost a cliché. Most of the divorces I do result from the husband finding out about what his wife is really up to with her work husband. Or the wife finding out her husband is screwing his work wife."

I said, "Linda would never do that. She'd never go as far as a physical relationship with Fred. She'd never cheat on me."

Angie said, "Even if Linda is only involved in an emotional relationship with this Fred, it's already cheating. During the day when she's with her work husband, she thinks about you only when she needs to plan dinner or do some other marital chore. She thinks about her work husband all the time, day and night. She spends way more time at work with him than she does with you. When she decides what to wear to work, when she does her hair, when she's putting on makeup, when she's having sex with you, she's thinking about him. He gets her juices flowing.

"About 50% of women fantasize about other men when they're having sex with their husband. That's more than husbands think about other women when they're having sex with their wives. And half of those wives fantasize about a co-worker. Linda may make dinner for you but everything else she does for him. Sooner or later, they'll hook up. When the husband finds out about what's going on with the work husband, they end up with divorce attorneys. I'd be out of business if it wasn't for work spouses."

Angie continued, "Linda isn't a statistic, so the 40% of married people who go from an emotional attachment to their work spouse to full blown affairs may not apply to her. But it may. If she's accepting gifts from Fred, she's already pretty far down the rabbit hole. Just think how bizarre that is. A married woman accepting a pearl necklace from a male co-worker? A huge red flag."

Greg said, "If Linda's cheating, why would she be so reckless as to wear the necklace in front of Sam and even tell him it's a gift from a male co-worker? Doesn't that say she's not cheating, just, I don't know, that she's insensitive or clueless or stupid? If she actually is cheating with this guy, why do something that would so obviously put any husband on alert?"

Angie said, "From my experience, there are at least three possibilities. First, Linda is so far gone she doesn't realize how inappropriate it is. So far gone she doesn't even hide the necklace from you. All she thinks about is how wonderful Fred and his gift are. Everyone, including you, should think so too. If that's the reason, this may be her first affair. Has Linda been distant from you, no longer interested in having sex with you, hides her phone, seems irritated with you all the time, starts fights?"

"No, just that she works late and on Saturdays. That's new. As far as the other stuff, not really."

"OK. Another reason she's wearing this gift from another man is that she's ready to move on. You were the backup while she tested the waters with Fred. See if he's serious and wants a long term relationship. She's decided she wants to be with him but instead of telling you outright, she's 'telling you' by flaunting her relationship with this guy. You'll get the message eventually, there will be a blow up, and she'll leave you for him. But she wants you to initiate the blowup and separation. Makes her feel less guilty somehow.

"The third reason is the necklace is a trial balloon. She wants to see your reaction to a gift from her lover. Part of the thrill of cheating is sneaking around. But that gets old and hiding everything from you becomes burdensome. She just wants to see other men and is tired of doing it behind your back. If you don't care about the necklace, maybe you won't care that she goes on dates, stays out all night or has weekends away. She starts with the necklace which she can easily walk back by returning it if you freak out. If the necklace isn't a problem for you, she'll see what else she can get away with. What else you won't care about. She wants to remain married for whatever reason but she wants to see this guy and maybe other guys openly."

"So you're saying either this is her first affair and she's so caught up in it that she doesn't know what she's doing; or she's moving on and doesn't have the courage to tell me outright so she's giving me hints, waiting for me to end our marriage; or she's tired of hiding it and wants an open marriage. At least one that's open for her."

"Yup."

"How do I know which it is? Not that it matters. If she's cheating, we're divorcing."

Angie said, "It does matter if you're divorcing. If she is planning to leave you for this guy, unless her new love is giving her advice about how to stick it to you, it makes the divorce easier. She'll be anxious to get on with her new life. Assuming the guy also wants to be with her and she doesn't find out he's just having some fun.

"If she wants to stay married but wants to open your marriage up it means she finds some value in remaining married and may fight the divorce. Say and promise you all sorts of things to get you to reconcile. Live to cheat another day."

Angie continued, "You said you haven't noticed any red flags. If this were her first rodeo, you'd have noticed something. Guilt, distance, phone calls she has to take out of your presence. Some noticeable change in her behavior. You haven't seen that?"

"No."

"Cheating spouses get better at it, and feel less guilty, the more they do it. She may have gotten a lot of practice cheating on boyfriends way before you met her. Since you haven't noticed any real change in her behavior, except working more, this is probably not her first time. First timers are more likely to get caught because there are so many red flags.

"So maybe she's fallen in love with Fred. Maybe she's been sneaking around looking for your replacement and she's finally settled on Fred for some reason. Or maybe she tells herself she's in love with each of the guys she cheats with and Fred is just her latest. The necklace is a symbol of their love which she proudly wants to display.

"My guess is that's not it. My guess is she's just having fun. Fred is the current one or he's one among many. She wants to remain married but doesn't want the confinement of a marriage so she wants to see how far she can go. How far you're willing to let her go.

"You won't know which it is until you confront her. If you ask her what's going on and she says she wants a divorce, you'll know she thinks she's found your replacement. On the other hand, if she denies, gaslights, deflects, trickle-truths, is more interested in how you found out than that you did find out, then it's more likely this isn't her first time. She'll admit to some minor indiscretions, or to what you have proof of, and makes all sorts of promises about her future fidelity. If that's how she responds to being caught, and she wants to remain in the marriage, she's probably a serial cheater. And will remain one regardless of what she tells you.

"Of course, it's always possible this is her first time. Maybe your confronting her makes her wake up from the fantasy she's been having with the other guy. Or maybe she finds out he's not riding off into the sunset with her after all. So she wants to stay married. She'll make the same promises and say the same things the serial cheater does. Basically that it was one mistake and she won't do it again. And she may even believe that. But once she's cheated, she's more likely to continue to cheat."

"What should I do?"

Angie said, "This is an at-fault and a no-fault state. You don't have enough to prove adultery and pursue a divorce for infidelity. If you want a divorce, you can go the no-fault route. I'll get you a divorce with a good settlement. But it's best to wait and see what happens. If you can prove infidelity, you'll get a much better divorce settlement. I can suggest a P. I. if you want. Or you can look through Linda's phone. Or just wait and see how Linda behaves. One thing's for sure: you have to get an STD test done ASAP."

An STD test sounded so crazy I laughed. Angie said, "I'm not kidding. Get the STD test. If Linda's openly accepting gifts from this guy, I'm willing to bet she's fucking him."

Linda did not work late that Tuesday and came home in a better mood. No necklace around her neck. She was smiling, "I gave the necklace back to Fred. I made sure Fred understands it was inappropriate for him to give it to me. And for me to accept it. I told him he evidently thinks there's more to our relationship than there actually is. We are just co-workers and that's it. We need to behave professionally in all situations. No more gifts, no more discussions about his marriage, no more talks about anything other than work stuff. Fred agreed with me. Our relationship will be solely a professional one from now on."

Linda went on to say, "Our talk and your discomfort about Fred and the necklace finally sunk in. Our talk really cleared the fog out of my head. Thank you for confronting me about the necklace. I needed the kick in the ass. You were right about everything. I was actually putting Fred's feelings above yours. Insane. I love you. He means nothing to me. I'm sorry about getting mad about the stupid necklace. Can you forgive me for not refusing Fred's necklace immediately? Please forgive me. It won't happen again."

I can't tell you how relieved I was. No more Fred. No more work husband. No more worries about Linda being unfaithful. We kissed and made up. More making up later that night in bed. Our marriage was back on track.

Linda's apology was on the Tuesday two nights before Linda came home beaten up and wearing Fred's necklace. That she still had his necklace was more than a slap in the face. I tossed and turned all that night thinking about how to find out the truth about her and Fred. I thought, "Maybe I'd hide near her work. See if she actually was working late or leaving with Fred. Or with someone else. Maybe I should hire Angie's P. I."

I decided to check her phone. The next morning, a Friday, she was already out of bed when I woke up. I found her in the kitchen. She had her phone in her hand but quickly put it on the counter when she saw me. She said, "I only got up to call in sick to work. I'm too sore to go in."

She went back to bed leaving her phone in the kitchen. I picked her phone up and put her PIN in. Her PIN was our wedding date. Our wedding date didn't work.

I took her phone upstairs and asked her, "Why did you change your phone password?"

She angrily asked, "What are you doing going through my phone?"

I told her, "I forgot to tell Greg something and my phone is dead. It's important so I needed to use your phone. Why did you change your PIN?"

She said, "I changed it when my grandmother died a few months back. The new PIN is my grandmother's birthday. When I need to open my phone with a PIN, using the new PIN reminds me of her."

She gave me her new PIN and said, "Look through my phone as much as you want. I have nothing to hide."

I went back downstairs and snooped through her phone. There were texts, phone calls and emails to me, some people at work including Fred, her two close girlfriends and her parents. Nothing else. I read some emails and texts and opened her deleted texts and read through them. Everything appeared innocent. Linda kept in touch with her friends from her childhood and college through her social media apps, especially FB and Instagram. Those apps, all her social media apps, were gone from her phone. I guess she realized me seeing her wearing Fred's necklace would make me suspicious. She got to her phone before I did and deleted everything.

Maybe I'll get into her iPad and laptop over the weekend. Linda was asleep in bed, or at least pretending to be, so I went to work. I was beginning to worry that Angie was right. That Linda was having a full blown affair.

That night, Friday, I found out how Linda really got beaten up. I was watching TV and Linda was on the phone with one of her girlfriends. There was a knock on the door a little before 7pm. It was Fred and his wife, Marie. I recognized them from work events but they've never been to our house.

I opened the door and said hello. I looked back at Linda. There was absolute terror on Linda's face. She hung up on her friend without saying goodbye and looked around like she was trying to find a place to hide. I've never seen her so panicked.

Marie asked, "Can we come in?" I let them in and had them sit on the couch. Fred also looked like he'd been in a fight. He had some bruising and swelling on his cheek and a split lip. He also looked terrified. Linda was in a chair across from the couch and I sat in the chair next to hers. Marie got up from the couch, walked up to Linda and bent down to examine Linda's face. Linda recoiled in horror. Marie said, "Hi Linda. Are you recovering from your injuries?" She studied Linda's face and said, "The bruises and swelling don't look too bad. I was way too easy on you." Marie sat back down next to Fred and said to me, "What did Linda tell you about how she got beat up?"

"She said she was mugged."

Marie laughed and asked, "Do you want to see this mugging? I have video."

"Sure." She took out her phone, got the video up and gave the phone to me. It showed Linda in bed and Marie punching Linda in the face and pulling the sheets off Linda. Linda was naked. She grabbed Linda by her hair and pulled her out of bed onto the floor. Linda got up on all fours trying to get away. Marie kicked her in the butt. Linda started to crawl away as quickly as she could. Marie kicked her again. Linda, crying hysterically, tried to crawl under the bed to hide. Marie grabbed her hair again and pulled her toward the motel room door, past Fred on the floor lying in a fetal position. Linda started to crawl to the door so Marie let go of her hair. More kicks in the ass to speed Linda's departure from the motel room. The video ended with a view of my wife's butt as she crawled out the door and Marie closing the door leaving Linda naked outside.

Linda just leaned forward, elbows on her knees with her hands over her face. She was crying. Marie said, "My husband has something to tell you." I looked at him. When he wasn't quick enough, his wife said, "Talk, you piece of shit."

Fred said, "Linda and I have been having an affair for the last three months. We've been meeting nights after work and on Saturdays. Marie got suspicious and she and her brother followed us to a motel last night. They caught Linda and me in bed together. I'm sorry about everything. The affair is over now and I want to apologize to you."

Marie said, "Fred is full of shit. He's only sorry he got caught." Fred looked down and said nothing. Marie continued, "I don't know what I'm going to do with him but I told him he had to confess the whole thing to you. That's why he's here. He's not sorry, he doesn't want to make amends, he just wants to remain married. If we divorce, after alimony and child support and the division of assets, Fred will be living in a cardboard box on the street. I'll get everything in a divorce and he knows it."

Linda was still hiding her face but crying more loudly now. I asked Fred, "How did it start?"

He replied, "We work closely together. We started to eat lunch together, then had some drinks after work, then dinners. Then eventually a motel."

Marie asked me, "Did Linda tell you she had to work late because of a staffing shortage?" I nodded. "That's what Fred told me to cover his coming home late and Saturdays. That's all B. S. They don't have staffing shortages; they rarely have to work late."

She hit her husband with her elbow and he said, "That's true. We used that as an excuse so Linda and I could meet. We rarely had to work late and never on Saturdays."

Fred's wife asked, "Do you have any more questions for my sleazeball husband?" I shook my head no. She continued, "I don't want these two assholes working together anymore. Fred put in for a transfer to another department this morning but it will take a little time for the transfer to go through. Can you keep your slut at home for a week or two? Maybe some of your neighbors can step in and fill the hole left in Linda's life by her not being able to fuck Fred."

The wife poked the husband again with her elbow, but harder. He said, "There should be no problem getting the transfer. It should only take a week or two. I'll be on a different floor. I'll never talk to Linda again."

I told them, "Linda needs to keep her job but, if that's what you want, Linda will stay home until Fred gets his transfer."

They got up to leave. Marie looked at Linda and said, "If I catch you anywhere near my husband again, the ass whooping I gave you at the motel is nothing compared to what I'll do to you." Then Fred's wife looked at me and asked, "Do you want to punch Fred? Don't worry, Fred won't do anything. He'll just stand there and take it. More than one punch if you want. As many as you want."

I replied, "Thank you for letting me know about their affair but I'm going to decline your offer to punch Fred."

Fred looked relieved. Marie then asked me, "Do you mind if I punch Linda a few times?

I said, "OK with me. Go ahead." Linda jumped up from her chair and ran upstairs. I heard the bedroom door slam shut.

Marie was laughing as she and Fred left. I thought, boy, am I glad I'm not Fred. What a miserable life he's going to have.

Linda heard them leave and came back downstairs. She sat on the couch, put her hands over her face and continued to cry. I just sat and watched her cry. After a while, she dropped her hands and looked to see what I was doing, why I wasn't saying anything. At the very least I should be yelling and calling her names. Through sobs she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to go so far. It just happened. I really don't care about him. I love you. I want to stay married. We can work through this. I'll never give you any reason not to trust me again. You'll know where I am and what I'm doing every minute. If you want, I'll quit work and we can start on a family. I'll be happy to stay home to take care of you and our children. Whatever you want me to do."

She got up and started toward me. I told her, "Sit the fuck down. Don't touch me." She looked frightened and sat right back down. She waited for me to say something but I just continued to stare at her.

She said, "We need to talk about this, I want to explain. Please, please say something." She was sobbing much louder now. I watched her cry. She finally said, "Ask me anything, I'll be totally honest. I don't know why I did this with Fred. I'm completely happy with you. I love you and only you. There must be something wrong with me. That's it, I need therapy. If you approve I'll start therapy right away. And I'll quit my job. You won't have to worry about what I'm doing at work. I'll talk to my boss first thing Monday morning. Just tell me what you want me to do. Please say something."

She began rambling, repeating what she'd already said, and I was tired of listening to her B. S. I asked, "What happened at the motel last night?"

She brightened up a little, glad that I finally said something. Here's what she told me: "Marie's brother knocked on their motel room door, saying he was the manager. He said there was something wrong with the credit card Fred used. Open the door. Fred put on his boxers and opened the door. The brother pushed his way in and punched Fred in his face, knocking him down.

"I was in the bed trying to cover up. Marie rushed over and hit me in the face. She punched me again and then grabbed me by my hair and dragged me out of the bed. Marie hit me more while I was on the floor."

She looked at me thinking I'd be sympathetic because of all this trauma she'd suffered. I said, "It sounds like you got what you deserved. Get on with it."

Linda continued, "Everyone heard the fight and came out of their rooms. Staring at me. No one helped me. The motel manager showed up and pounded on the door saying he was calling the police. The brother opened the door. I grabbed my clothes and ran into the bathroom to dress. I heard the brother tell the motel manager that they had just caught his sister's husband cheating. They were sorry for the disturbance and were leaving now. The manager told them that since nothing was damaged, he won't call the police. But we all had to leave immediately.

"When I finished dressing, I opened the door and ran out of the motel room. I jumped into my car and drove home. I came up with the mugging story on the way home. But I forgot to take off the fucking necklace."

"Is Fred your only lover? The only time you've been unfaithful?"

She answered, "Fred was my only mistake. I will never do it again. I wasn't even attracted to him but he was very persistent and gave me a lot of attention. I don't understand how it went so far. But that's over and it will never happen again."

I thought about what Angie told me: "Once a wife cheats, she's three times more likely to continue cheating. And they never stop."

I asked, "Did you always use condoms with Fred and any other lovers?

She said, "There were no other lovers. Fred wasn't really a lover. He was a mistake. We used rubbers until we both showed up at the motel and neither of us had condoms. We went ahead without the condoms and haven't used them since."

I thought, "I'll schedule an STD test first thing Monday".

I said, "I don't believe you about Fred being your only affair."

She said, "I'll do anything to prove that to you. How can I prove it?

"Give me your phone, iPad and laptop."

She handed me her phone. Her laptop was in the kitchen and her iPad upstairs. She popped up off the couch and said, "I'll get the iPad for you."

I told her, "I'll get your iPad. I don't trust you not to erase everything like you did with your phone."

I got her laptop and iPad. I asked her if she changed the PIN to open her iPad too. She said she had. The same as the new PIN on her phone. But all her social media apps were still there. I guess she figured I'd look no further if I found nothing on her phone.

I told her, "You won't be able to use your phone, iPad or laptop until I say you can."

She said, "I hung up abruptly on my girlfriend when Fred and Marie arrived. I need to call her back so she won't be worried. She's already called me twice."

"Did your two best friends know about your affair with Fred?" She hesitated but finally nodded. "If they knew and didn't stop you or tell me, they're not really your friends." More tears.

She asked, "What are you planning to do?"

"Divorce you but I want to talk to Greg and Angie first."

"Please don't divorce me. I'll do anything you want to save our marriage."

"I'm going to go through your phone, iPad and laptop. This is your last chance to tell me about any other lovers. You don't want me to find out that you've lied to me about others. You need to come clean about everything and do it now."

She looked at me but didn't say anything. My guess is she was thinking about what I might find. She said, "I've had no other lovers. You'll see some things between me and Fred you won't like, but there's been no one else. My behavior has been awful. I didn't mean any of the things I told Fred. Please forgive me."

I told her, "You'll be staying in the guest bedroom. I don't want you near me. Go to the guest bedroom now and write a timeline of your affair with Fred. All the details. How it started, what you did, what you were thinking. Everything. It's Friday night. You have until Sunday noon to complete it. In the meantime, I'll be going through your electronic devices."

Linda said, "I want to quit work and start a family."

I told her, "You're going back to work once Fred transfers. There is no way I'm going to have children with you. I can't bear the idea of touching you let alone having sex with you. I can't stand to even look at you. Get out of my sight. Go start on your timeline." She got up crying, got a pad and pen from the home office and climbed the stairs.

When she was gone, I went outside so Linda couldn't hear me and called Greg, I told him I'm divorcing Linda and asked if Angie is there. He put his phone on speaker so Angie could join in. I explained what happened at the motel the night before as well as the visit earlier that night from Fred and Marie.

Angie asked, "Where is Linda now?"

"She's upstairs writing a confession. I'm planning to divorce her for infidelity and use the confession she's writing as proof of her adultery."

Angie said, "Make sure Linda signs and dates her confession. Have her sign and put the date on every page. It will make it harder for her to deny she wrote it later."

I asked Angie, "Is there a problem taking me on as a client?

Angie said, "No. I haven't talked to Linda about your situation or about representing her. There's no conflict. Can you meet at my office Monday morning? Bring Linda's confession, anything else you find about her infidelity, your financials, and information about all your assets. Start thinking about what you want in the divorce."

"There's nothing to think about. I don't want Linda to get anything. And I want her gone from my house as soon as she's finished writing her confession. How do I do that?"

Angie said, "Do not get in a fight with Linda. Don't give her any excuse to call the police. Just ask her to leave. Tell her you need space to think about what to do. If Linda wants to save the marriage, she has to leave you be for a while. No force. We have to be able to say that Linda left of her own free will. When she's gone, I'll contact Linda to tell her you're divorcing and that she needs a lawyer. I'll be Linda's only point of contact from now on. Make sure Linda has her phone when she leaves."

I thanked Angie and told her I'll see her Monday.

I went back inside and opened Linda's iPad. I started with her emails. There were work emails between her and Fred but nothing about their affair. I had just opened Instagram when Linda came back downstairs. She was wearing a T-shirt and panties, her usual sleeping attire. Her eyes were red and she looked ten years older than her thirty-one years. She said, "I thought about it and want us to begin our life together again with full and complete honesty. Thinking about what to write, I was appalled at my behavior. You'll find the details of my timeline very hard to read. Providing the details will just make things worse."

"There's nothing you can write that will make things worse. It can't get worse."

"I understand. I'll be completely honest but you have to promise not to get mad at me and swear you won't divorce me. Will you do that?"

"I can make no such promise. But the only way I could see to get through this is if I know everything. You need to be completely honest and thorough in your timeline. I don't want to talk to you until you're finished writing. Stay in your room as much as possible."

"Can I use my laptop to write the timeline?"

"No, I need your laptop."

"It'll be quicker to write and easier for you to read if I can write it on my laptop. Writing it out by hand will take forever and you know my handwriting is illegible."

"No, I'm keeping your laptop." I thought, "That's why she's down here. She knows that I'll read her confession and that what she writes will make me angry. That goes without saying. She came down to get her laptop. There must be stuff on it she doesn't want me to see."

"Can I call back Carol? She's probably worried sick that I just hung up on her. Carol might get concerned enough to call the police."

I didn't want the police to arrive here and find my wife beaten up and crying. Too much to explain. I gave her the phone and told her to keep the call short. She called and told Carol, "I'm fine but can't talk now. I'll call you tomorrow. I have to get off. Bye."

Linda hung up and gave me back her phone. I told her, "Get back to your writing." She went back upstairs.

I opened her Instagram DMs on her iPad. It was all there. How much Linda and Fred loved each other. Times and places to meet. What to tell me and Fred's wife about where they were. Fred thought his wife was getting suspicious. Linda said I was clueless. There were also a lot of spicy details in her DMs about what they were doing and what they wanted to do. And lots of compliments about the other's body parts. How this tasted and that felt. How they made each other so happy. There were some DMs about Linda and Fred telling their spouses they want a divorce.

Then there were the DMs from last Monday after Linda and I had the fight about the necklace. It was Fred's idea to have Linda apologize to me and tell me that she had straightened Fred out about their relationship. He told her to hide the necklace from me and tell me she gave it back to him. Just wear his necklace at work and when she and Fred are together.

Fred also told Linda in their DMs, "Admit to your husband that you and I have become too close at work. He already knows that so don't deny it. Just that I believe there's more to their relationship than friendship and that you straightened me out about that. Tell your husband you understand now that having a close male friend was wrong. Tell him you talked to me and I agreed our relationship will be completely professional from now on. No more personal interactions. You have to convince Sam that l will no longer be anything more than a co-worker. Say anything you need to say until you're sure he believes that. We need him to stop thinking about you and me."

After her apology to me Tuesday night, Linda's DMs to Fred were about how clever Fred is. His idea about convincing me that she set Fred straight about their relationship was genius. I believed every word. I will no longer bother her about Fred. They can continue without having to worry about me. Are she and Fred still meeting at the motel Thursday night after work?

Fred replied, "Of course."

I changed the PIN and shut off facial recognition so only I can open her iPad. I'll be keeping it to show Angie and use in the divorce.

The remainder of the weekend, I avoided Linda as much as I could. When Linda asked about meals, I told her, "We won't be eating together. Make yourself something and get back to work. I'll do my own thing."

Sunday morning, she came down with a bunch of papers and said, "I've finished the timeline. But what I wrote is so horrible you shouldn't read it. We should just throw it away. Instead, we should talk about what I need to do to show how much I love you. Let's talk about the future. Nothing good will come of rehashing the past."

I told her, "I want you to sign and date every page."

This really alarmed her. "Why do I need to do that?

I said, "I want you to own what you wrote completely. It's your story, you should put your name to it."

She asked, "Are you going to use this in a divorce?"

"Right now, I just want to read what you wrote. If you don't want to sign the timeline and give it to me, you can leave now. You'll hear from Angie who will be representing me. Your choice." She signed and dated every page.

She sat and watched while I read her confession. She wrote it as a letter to me. It's fairly long with a lot of self-justification, excuses, and feigned confusion about what she was doing. I'll just summarize and skip her nonsense excuses. Linda wrote, "Fred started flirting with me almost as soon as I transferred into my current job. About nine months ago. After a while, I started flirting back. A little something to do at work besides dealing with customers. Fred was naughty and it was just innocent fun.

"Then Fred began to ask for advice about his personal life, especially about his marital problems. I may have also mentioned to Fred some of the more irritating things you did. That you were always at work and didn't seem interested in me any longer. But that was only so Fred would understand his problems weren't all that unique for married couples. We started eating lunch alone together for these talks. But the lunches almost always evolved into more flirting with a more sexual undertone.

"I was excited by Fred's interest in everything about me. I dressed up for him and loved to hear his compliments. Some of the things he said were inappropriate but I loved the attention. There are younger girls in the office but Fred seemed to only have eyes for me. A real ego boost and turn on. Fred thought I was hotter than any of those twenty somethings.

"I was so happy when I got my raise that I gave Fred a big hug to thank him. From that point on, we hugged at least once a day. All innocent. I considered Fred just my naughty work friend. Our first kiss was when Fred pecked me on the lips during a hug. A kiss became part of our daily hugs. But now we had to find a place no one could see us. I didn't mind some gossip about me and Fred. It was exciting to be the center of attention in the office. I enjoyed the teasing, amused looks and jealousy of my co-workers. It made me feel alive. But too much gossip was dangerous. Trying to hide what we were doing from co-workers added to the excitement.

"About four months back, Fred suggested that it might be fun if we pretended we were single and went out for drinks together. Just drinks, just as friends, nothing more. We'd both take off our wedding rings and act like we were on a date. I initially said no but Fred insisted. It was just some innocent playacting. Even if it wasn't real, it would be exciting to be on a date after all these years being married. I finally agreed to go. Just one drink and then home. I got all dressed up and we met at a bar near work. It was very exciting. It was just like being single again. We had more than one drink.

"Meeting for drinks became a weekly thing. I always dressed up and we always took off our rings. Our dates quickly evolved into weekly dinners. After these dinners, we would always kiss goodbye. Just a peck on the lips. After a few weeks of this, Fred grabbed me when we were walking to our cars and gave me a long passionate kiss. Fred told me I was the most beautiful girl in the world. He was in love with me. I didn't return his declaration of love.

"The next day I told Fred things had gone too far. We could not continue whatever this was between the two of us. From now on, we would act professionally. No more dates, fake or otherwise. No more kissing and hugging. We will only interact about work from now on.

"Our break lasted only about a week. That week was horrible. Without the attention from Fred to look forward to, work became insufferable. I couldn't bear going to work to just work. I became depressed, was irritated by everyone and everything. I started yelling at my employees. And at you. I had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. All the excitement was gone from my life.

"After about a week, Fred told me he had to show me something. He led me into an empty office, took me in his arms and we passionately made out. It was so exciting. All I could think about was some co-worker coming in and see us kissing. Then Fred went down on me right there in the empty office. Our first real sexual encounter. Even more exciting. What if a co-worker walked in on us and saw that? And Fred's tongue was magical."

Linda continued her confession, "By the time Fred led me to the empty office, I was ready. I was delighted to be with Fred again. And now it was a real romance. We agreed to meet at a motel for the first time that night. I was so excited I didn't think I could make it through the rest of the day. That was about three months ago. We've hooked up at least once a week since then. We spent Saturdays doing things married couples do, seeing the sights like tourists, going to movies, restaurants for lunch and dinner. Saturdays would always end in a motel too.

The last section of Linda's confession is about Fred asking Linda about the two of them leaving their spouses and being together permanently. Linda said, "I told him that would never happen. I love you, not Fred. I told Fred if Fred persisted in talking about divorce, I'd break things off with him. But that was an empty threat. By then, I couldn't end things with him. I didn't understand why Fred was pushing me to choose between him and you. I didn't want to choose. I wanted both Fred and you.

"Then Fred's wife and her brother found us at the motel. I'm done with all that now. I'm ready to be the ideal wife. Anything you ask I'm ready to do. No back talk, no arguments, just tell me what I have to do to make things right. I want you and our marriage back more than anything else. Just tell me what you need me to do."

When I finished reading, I said, "Pack your things and get out. You're leaving immediately."

Linda was stunned. "You told me if I write up this timeline, you'll work with me to rebuild our marriage."

I said, "You have to leave. I need space and time away from you. I need to decide what I want to do."

"It's better if I stay here with you. We can talk through this, I can answer any questions, I can start to try to regain your trust by being completely honest about everything. I have to stay here with you. We have to work together on this. Don't throw me away. Don't throw our marriage away."

"You just wrote that you'd do anything I want without argument. This is what I want. Leave. Now."

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"Not my problem." When she realized she was not going to change my mind, she went to pack.

About an hour later, she came back downstairs with two large suitcases. "Can I have my phone, laptop and iPad?"

I tossed her the phone but said, "I'm keeping the iPad and laptop. I haven't finished going through them."

"I really need the laptop. For work."

"No. I told Marie you won't be at work until Fred transfers. You won't need the laptop any time soon."

After another thirty minutes of explaining that we can get through this, that she needs a chance to fix things, we still need to talk, she left. She said she'll be at her parents. I'll leave her to Angie.

The next morning, Monday, I set up an appointment to get an STD panel and I went to meet with Angie. Angie looked over Linda's confession and the DMs between Linda and Fred. She said, "What you have is good. It proves infidelity."

I said, "Marie, Fred's wife also has a video of her beating up Linda in a motel room after she discovered Fred and Linda there together."

"She's going to let you use a video of her assaulting Linda?

"I didn't ask her. I should have. I assumed she'd give me a copy."

"Her lawyer will tell her to lose it. We won't be able to use it."

Then Angie asked, "Did Linda admit to any other boyfriends?"

"Linda denied having any other lovers. Only Fred."

Angie said, "We have enough to sue for divorce based on infidelity. But if you find out about any others, let me know. The more lovers we can show Linda had, the better for us. We don't want Linda to tell a judge that Fred was just this one mistake and that she wants to reconcile. The judge may order marriage counseling. So, if we can, we need to show Linda is a serial cheater and Fred is not a onetime aberration that you should forgive and forget. We need to find out about any other guys she's been with.

"Our plan for the divorce is to tell Linda we're going to parade her infidelity in court with all the lurid details unless she accepts a settlement that is generous to you. And that," Angie continued, "is what we want: to present the court with a signed settlement. We don't want a judge involved in deciding on alimony or the division of assets. The only thing we want a judge to do is sign off on the divorce. I'll call Linda today, tell her you're divorcing because of her infidelity. When Linda gets a lawyer, we'll start negotiations."

"How long will this take?"

"Depends on how stubborn Linda is and how aggressive her lawyer is. We're months away from a divorce decree. We're in good shape. But the more infidelity you discover, the better negotiating position we'll be in. Find out about the other guys."

After our meeting, I went back to work. I got a call from Fred's wife, Marie. "Can we get together to talk. I've decided to divorce Fred and I need your help." We made arrangements to meet the next morning, Tuesday, at one of our coffee shops.

Angie made it clear that Linda has undoubtedly had more lovers than Fred and that finding out about them will make my divorce better for me. I thought about how to find out about any others. When I got home that evening, I opened her iPad again. She evidently reinstalled her Instagram app on her phone and it was still copying from her phone to her iPad.

After I threw her out, she sent a DM to Fred. She isn't happy with him: "You're a worthless coward for not standing up to your wife. You should have never let your wife tell Sam about our affair. You've put my marriage in jeopardy. Sam is threatening divorce. It won't come to that. Sam loves me too much. But he told me I had to leave. It's all your fault. I want nothing more to do with you. Don't talk to me, don't contact me." There was no response from Fred.

There's nothing else I could find on her iPad. No conversations with any other men and no conversations with her friends. Just with Fred. I hadn't been through her laptop so I opened that. The PIN I had used in the past still worked. There was nothing on her laptop either. Her email had nothing that I hadn't already seen on her iPad and phone. The only apps she had were for online shopping.

That's not possible. When we were home together, our usual evenings were me in front of the TV or on my iPad while Linda was on her laptop typing. She would message with her friends constantly and for hours on this laptop. But her laptop had none of those conversations. There was nothing that showed she ever communicated directly with anyone. She had either erased everything like she did on her phone or was hiding her apps somehow. I downloaded Instagram but Instagram asked me for login information when I opened it. If she was using Instagram on this laptop, it should have her login information saved even if she deleted the app. The same happened when I downloaded FB. She's hiding her chats with her friends. I just didn't know how.

The next morning, I brought the laptop to work and asked our tech guy to look and see if he could find any hidden apps. He opened the start menu and clicked on her user icon. The laptop has two user accounts. The username on the second account is Linda's maiden name. The tech asked me if I had the PIN. The same PIN worked again. He showed me how to toggle between her two accounts and gave me back the laptop. The tech told me, "She could be messaging her friends and if you came nearby, close enough to see what's she was doing, she could toggle instantly to the other desktop and look like she's shopping."

On her second user account, she had FB, Instagram and another, different, Gmail account. All under her maiden name. Also on her desktop was a file labeled pictures. Before I could open anything, Marie arrived. Linda's laptop would have to wait until tonight.

Marie and I sat down with coffee to talk. "Are you divorcing Linda?" I nodded. "I'm divorcing Fred. That's why I want to talk to you. When we surprised Linda and Fred at the motel, the plan was for my brother to video the two lovebirds with his phone. That would be proof of Fred's infidelity. My brother was not supposed to knock Fred down and I was not supposed to punch and kick Linda. But things got out of hand. So the video showed my husband's infidelity but also me assaulting Linda. And Fred on the floor bleeding. If I use the video to prove Fred's infidelity, Linda could use it to prove I assaulted her. When I showed the video to my lawyer, she vigorously shook her head 'no' and looked at me with alarm. I took that as her wanting me to destroy the video."

"Do you have anything else on your husband? Why'd you think your husband was cheating in the first place?"

"I've caught him cheating before. He was acting shady again. Some of the same shit as before. I called my brother and we waited for Fred to leave work. We followed him to the motel where he met Linda.

"My lawyer says we need more proof of Fred's infidelity. She won't even discuss using the video. My brother's testimony about finding Fred and Linda together isn't enough. He'll be portrayed as my loving brother who will say anything his sister wants him to say.

"What do you have on Linda?"

"A full confession about her affair with Fred. I'll have my lawyer send your lawyer a copy. Your lawyer will love Linda's confession. My lawyer does. I also found Linda's hidden user account with Instagram, FB and a file of pictures but I haven't looked at any of it yet. I'll let you know if I find anything there."

She said, "When we showed up at my place for Fred's confession, you didn't seem very surprised that Linda and Fred were having an affair. Did you know about them already?"

"I suspected and was trying to figure out how to prove it. I was suspicious mostly because of the pearl necklace Fred gave Linda. Linda told me she returned it to Fred but didn't."

Marie said, "Tell me about this necklace."

"Linda came home a week ago Monday wearing a necklace she said Fred gave her as a thank you for giving Fred advice about his marital problems. I insisted she give it back and, after a lot of resistance, she eventually agreed. But she came home from the motel wearing the necklace. I knew then that they were having an affair. Not only because she still had Fred's necklace but also because her mugging story didn't make sense. Linda came home all beaten up, but her clothes were barely wrinkled."

Marie picked up her phone to make a call. I heard Fred answer and Marie said, "You gave her a fucking necklace you piece of shit? Go get it back right now." Marie yelled, "Shut up Fred, I don't care what you have to do. Get the necklace and bring it home tonight. Otherwise, don't come home." She hung up on him.

Marie said, "Linda was at work today despite your promise to keep her at home. Fred called me when he saw Linda at her desk. Should he leave work? I told him to stay at work but not to interact with her. I really don't care what they get up to anymore. I certainly don't want Fred hanging around at home. I can't stand him. Now he has to get the necklace from Linda. That should be entertaining for their co-workers."

Marie then asked, "Are you going to try to get Fred and Linda fired? Their company won't be happy about their romance. I don't want Fred fired. He needs to be working so he can provide alimony and child support."

I replied, "I want Linda working. I'm also concerned about alimony but from the paying side. I want her working in case a judge wants me to pay alimony. If she's not working, the alimony will be more. I have no intention of getting them fired." I could see that Marie was relieved.

I said, "I saw a DM from Linda to Fred on Sunday that copied to her iPad. Linda told Fred she wanted nothing more to do with him."

Marie said, "I wouldn't believe anything either of them say. But I don't care what they do any more. Fred is still living in my house only because I'm not finished torturing him. He doesn't know I'm divorcing him. When I get tired of punishing him, I'll throw him out. That will happen pretty soon. Maybe right after he hands over the necklace tonight."

"Won't Fred go after your brother for beating him up?"

"There's no police report and no hospital visit. The motel manager just saw Linda outside and Fred cowering on the floor. The fighting was over by the time the manager arrived. The manager was probably too focused on Linda's naked body to notice she was bleeding. Probably also true of the spectators. Only the four of us saw what happened in the room. The police weren't even called. Once I destroy the video, the only people who can testify against me or my brother are two cheaters and liars. If Fred or Linda want to pursue charges, my brother and I will say that Fred and Linda punched each other. A lover's quarrel that me and my brother stopped when we arrived. Without the video it's me and my brother's word against Fred's and Linda's. I'm not worried about them."

We exchanged contact information. I promised to get her a copy of Linda's confession and let her know if I find anything on Linda's laptop. We agreed to keep in touch throughout our divorces and to help each other as much as possible. Marie left.

When I got home that night, I put off as long as I could looking through Linda's other user account on her laptop. I dreaded finding out anything more about her affairs. But it was important to my divorce so I logged on to the account she set up using her maiden name.

I decided to start with the pictures. Linda has two best friends. Both are married and both are stay at home moms. One is named Carol. Carol, along with my wife, is featured prominently in the pictures. Carol is married to Jim. They have one child. Jim and I get along but we only see each other at stuff set up by our wives. He's a good guy and fun to talk to but we're friendly only because our wives are BFFs. The same is true about my wife's other friend, whose name is Janet, and her husband, Nico. But Janet is not in any of the pictures. Only Linda and Carol.

The pictures begin with the most recent. The latest pictures are selfies Carol took and dated shortly before I found out about Linda's affair with Fred. The selfies show Linda and Carol at a bar together all dressed up. I had no idea that Linda was ever in a bar without me. The next group of pictures were of Linda kissing a very young guy. My wife is 31. The guy she was with in these pictures is maybe 21 or 22. Linda was sitting on the guy's lap on a bar stool.

Also in these pictures, Carol was with some guy with his arm around her. The guy is not her husband Jim. Another older set of pictures were of Linda and Carol at a different bar. Another double date. This time Linda was with Fred and Carol was with another guy who wasn't in the first set of pictures. And also not her husband.

The pictures of my wife and her friend on a double date with their boyfriends made me physically sick. My married wife and her married friend were out on dates like they were single. I threw up the dinner I ate. It's one thing to hear about it or read about it but far worse to actually see pictures of Linda with other men. Looking at pictures of my wife out on dates like I don't exist was one of the most difficult things I've experienced.

Next were pictures from last August. Pictures of Linda and Carol at a daytime pool party. One picture was of Linda and Carol posing together, both completely naked and smiling, in front of a pool with a bunch of naked people, men and women, in the background. I looked closely at that picture. Neither were wearing wedding rings. There were three more pictures of my wife in and around the pool. The pictures must be courtesy of Carol. Carol is always taking pictures with her phone. Then two pictures of my wife standing up, having what looks like suntan lotion being spread on her by two guys. One doing her front, the other her back. Linda is laughing, arms raised to provide easy access for the two guys. The guys seemed to be concentrating on putting lotion on places where Linda has no tan. What a bathing suit should have covered. Great to see this too. The guys' faces were turned away from the camera. That was the end of the pictures. Disgusting and heartbreaking. I had nothing left to throw up.

I wondered why they let Carol take pictures. Nude people at a party with nothing to hide? I looked a little closer at the people in the background. Except for Linda and Carol, all had their faces turned away. Only the backs of their heads were visible. And there were only six pictures of the pool party.

Angie wanted me to prove Fred wasn't her only lover. The pictures were all I needed. More than enough to show a judge Fred wasn't an aberration. But now that I started, I couldn't stop. No more pictures so I opened her Instagram. A different Instagram account then the one on her iPad. Different from the one she used with Fred. These DMs were only among Linda and Carol and Janet.

As I mentioned, Linda was on her laptop pretty much every night. There are a ton of DMs. I decided to start reading messages from when I thought Linda transferred from the marketing department to customer service. Her transfer was a little over 9 months ago. A lot of reading but I decided to at least skim every message. Some were just stuff about them going shopping, cosmetics to try or working out. Some were absolute proof of Linda's, and Carol's, infidelity. The messages weave in and out through the wives' various interests so I'm going to sort them into four parts: 1) The pool party; 2) Linda and Fred; 3) Linda and Billy; 4) Carol.

First, the pool party last August. The DMs show Carol was invited to the party by a guy she met on Tinder and had banged a few times. Carol asked Linda if she wanted to come with her to the party. Linda would not need a bathing suit. Linda said she wouldn't miss it for the world. This was right before she and Fred started sleeping together.

Linda complained to Carol, "You almost got us thrown out of the party before we even got in the pool. I told you not to take pictures. Probably most of these people don't want naked pictures of them floating around."

"Yeah, the guy who's house it was told me I was annoying everyone and to put my phone away or leave. We didn't want to leave. And we certainly want to be invited back to the next party. I put my phone away. Too bad."

The rest of their DMs about the pool party were descriptions of the guys they were with and what they did with them. It seemed like they were trying to outdo each other. They were at the party about four hours. Multiple partners. I know because they compared the guys. Their size and skills.

Because this was their first naked pool party, they had to undergo an initiation. Carol wrote that she was able to do four guys. Linda only three. They were talking about giving BJ's to guys sitting on the edge of the pool while they stood in the pool servicing the guys while everyone watched. They agreed that the initiation was a lot of fun. I dry heaved for fifteen minutes. I'm just glad they prevented Carol from taking any more pictures.

Linda and Carol attended two more pool parties before the weather changed last Fall. After reading the DMs about their activities at these parties, I became even more freaked out about the possibility Linda gave me an STD. I should have my STD panel back in a few days.

2) Linda and Fred: Nine months ago, Linda told me she hated her job in marketing and was transferring to customer service. More opportunities to advance there. Her DMs to Carol tell a different story. Linda told Carol at the time, "I was called in by my boss today. He told me that my relationship with another employee in marketing is inappropriate. There's a supervisory position open in customer service. My boss will make sure I get the job. I don't want to leave Jake but since my boss knows about us, I'll have to transfer. And Jake is worried about his wife finding out about us so he ended things."

The DMs continued that when Linda transferred to customer service, Fred began hitting on her almost immediately. Linda messaged Carol, "He's very attentive, constantly telling me how great I look, how beautiful I am." Later in the messages, after Linda and Fred started screwing, she told Carol that Fred admitted that Jake, her boyfriend in marketing, told Fred that Linda was very available. Fred was there from the first day of her transfer, willing to help her in any way.

By September, Linda and Fred were hooking up. And that's when Fred gave Linda the pearl drop necklace. It was BS that Fred gave it to Linda a couple of weeks ago as some sort of thank you gift. She'd had it for months. It was a gift to commemorate the beginning of their romance. Linda wore it at the office and when she was with Fred on their dates.

The Monday I saw the necklace, Linda messaged Carol, "I just forgot to take it off and hide it as usual. I told Sam it was a gift from Fred instead of something I bought for myself because I wanted to see his reaction to another man giving me gifts. If he didn't care about the gift, or I could convince him that it was OK; if he actually let me keep a romantic present from another man, I'd start hinting more and more about my real relationship with Fred. And about dating.

"But he freaked out and is forcing me to return it. But I made the conversation about how inappropriate his controlling behavior is instead of how inappropriate my accepting the gift was. We're going to talk more and more about his controlling behavior. Eventually, I want him to understand he has no control over anything I do. And has to put up with anything I do."

Both Carol and Janet asked for details about Fred and Linda eagerly provided them. Janet also wanted a detailed comparison between me and Fred. Linda said, "Overall, I'm better at fucking but Fred is a genius with his tongue. He gets me off over and over again with that wonderful tongue. I wish that tongue was detachable so I can carry it around in my purse and take it out when I need it."

There's more in their messages about how thrilling Linda's affair with Fred was. The rest of her messages pretty much followed what Linda wrote in her confession. Until Linda started to talk about Billy. There was nothing about Billy in the confession she wrote for me. Plenty about him in her DMs with Carol and Janet.

3) Linda and Billy: Early in December, Linda started messaging about someone she hired. A guy in his early 20's named Billy. Linda admitted to Carol the only reason she hired him over other applicants was because she was attracted to him. Very attracted to him.

Also around this time, Linda told Carol that she was getting tired of Fred, "It's becoming stale. Fred is becoming tiresome. He's constantly worried that his wife will find out about us. I've stopped seeing him on Saturdays and there are no more drinks and dinners. I don't want Fred anymore, just his tongue. We hook up once or twice a week. I don't want to give up that wonderful tongue."

Then Linda hired Billy. Now Linda was excited about going to work again. "I've done everything I can to show Billy I'm interested. But Billy is pursuing another recent hire in my group. A very pretty girl about Billy's age named Ada. Ada is engaged and getting married in June. The only reason I hired her is because she's engaged so she wouldn't be any competition. She's no longer on the market. But Billy is going after her with a passion. The girl seems to be keeping Billy at bay. When Billy flirts with her, she makes sure she flashes her engagement ring." Linda asked Janet and Carol, "Any ideas?"

Janet suggested taking him to an empty office, pulling down his pants and giving him a blow job. Carol agreed with that idea. Linda said she'll just wait until he's tired of chasing after Ada. If she got tired of waiting, the blow job would probably work. But Linda wasn't fast enough.

The bathrooms in Linda's office are in a narrow hallway near the elevators. The hallway is L shaped with the bathrooms at the bottom of the L behind the elevator shaft. As Linda described in her messages with Carol and Janet, when Linda and Fred started fooling around, they'd meet up at the bathroom end of the hallway for brief hugs and kisses. No one could see them unless they came down the hallway and turned into the shorter hallway at the bathrooms.

Linda messaged her friends, "I saw Ada rushing out of the bathroom hallway back to her desk. She was flushed and looked panicked and confused. Her lipstick was smudged. Seconds later, Billy came out of the hallway, a big smile on his face and wiping off the girl's lipstick. The next day, Billy and the girl went to lunch together. I could see them walking together on the street from my office window. Billy grabbed the girl and started kissing her. They kissed for a while and walked away with Billy's arm around her, kissing occasionally as they walked. They must have had some bad food for lunch because neither returned to work that afternoon. They both called in sick."

Linda asked for advice. Carol told Linda, "Fire the slut. She's engaged and playing around with this guy? What a piece of shit this girl is. If for no other reason, she should be fired for being unfaithful to her poor fiancé." Janet agreed.

Linda decided to wait and see what happened. Billy and the girl started having lunch and leaving work together every day. After about two weeks of this, the girl came to work without her engagement ring. She was all over Billy but Billy kept giving her the cold shoulder. Finally, Billy told her to stay away from him. They were over. She ran to the bathroom crying.

Linda messaged that she followed Ada to the bathroom, "She was crying in a bathroom stall. I asked her what happened. She told me that she's been sleeping with Billy at his apartment before going home to her fiancé. Her fiancé has been getting suspicious. Last night, she arrived home with a love bite on her neck. She thought she had covered it completely with makeup, but her fiancé started kissing her neck and the makeup rubbed off.

Linda continued, "Ada's fiancé knew exactly what it was and tore open her blouse. She had more love bites on her body. She confessed her affair with Billy to her fiancé but insisted she loves him, the fiancé. Billy was just a stupid last chance fling before they married. She asked the fiancé to forgive her. She'll break it off with Billy and quit her job immediately. She was foolish but it will never happen again. Getting married to him is more important to her than anything else. Her fiancé asked for the engagement ring back. The wedding was off and she had to leave his place immediately. The fiancé is no longer answering her calls or returning her messages. He is already telling everyone that the wedding is off because she cheated on him. Even her closest friends are abandoning her.

"Ada thought Billy would be happy that she was no longer engaged. No more sneaking around and they could now spend more time together. Billy's reaction was just the opposite. He wanted nothing more to do with her. Sobbing, Ada told me her life was ruined. She really loved her fiancé but had destroyed that relationship with someone who really doesn't care about her at all. I told her to fix herself up and go home. She's staying with some girlfriend. I told her she should probably start thinking about getting another job. She shouldn't be screwing co-workers and bringing all this drama to the office."

Linda, Janet and Carol made fun of the stupid girl but Linda was thrilled she was out of the picture. The next day Linda saw Billy walking to the bathroom and decided to follow him. She went into the men's room after him. She made sure they were alone, smiled and told him he needed a woman who knew what she was doing. The flighty girl he's been hooking up with is probably lousy in bed. Billy grabbed her crotch and kissed Linda on the mouth. Then he broke it off and went to take a piss. Linda went back to her office.

Linda told her friends, "The encounter in the bathroom felt like an electric shock had cursed through me. It was thrilling. What should I do next?"

Carol's advice, "Grab Billy's balls and kiss him. Or his balls." Linda decided to ask him out for lunch on Saturday instead. Billy agreed to meet her.

Linda was waiting outside the restaurant when Billy arrived. He told her he wanted Linda for lunch. He took her by the hand and led him back to his apartment. It was a one bedroom. His roommate and his girlfriend had the bedroom. Billy had a pull-out couch in the small living room. Billy took off Linda's clothes and pushed her down on the bed. That's where they remained for the next four hours. At one point, the roommate and his girlfriend came home. Billy and Linda were right in the middle of things, Linda on top, but Billy paused to introduce her to everyone. Like they had bumped into them on the street instead of being naked in bed fucking. They all chatted for a while before the roommate and his girl went into the bedroom. Then she and Billy were back at it. When Linda told Carol about this, Carol said, "The younger generation has no shame. Linda should get used to that if she's going to continue with Billy."

So now she was cheating on me and Fred with Billy. She wanted to keep on with Fred because of his wonderful oral skills but sex with Billy, Linda told Carol, was wonderful in every way. She didn't think Billy would care that she was seeing Fred but Fred would certainly be concerned about Billy. Fred was concerned about everything. Then she and Fred were caught in the motel.

The last Instagram DMs were from the Friday the day after Marie, Fred's wife, beat Linda up and a few hours before Marie brought Fred to my house to confess his affair with Linda. Linda wrote Carol about the motel fiasco and the story she told me about being mugged. And that I saw she still had Fred's necklace.

Linda asked Carol what she should do. Carol said it will all blow over. Fred's wife won't tell me about what happened. She assaulted Linda. She'll keep her mouth shut. But Linda should probably stay home from work for a few days. Linda's last DMs to Carol were about her fear that if she stayed home and wasn't at work, Billy might move on to someone else. Her affair with Fred was obviously over but Linda didn't want to give up Billy.

4) Carol: Linda's DMs were with Carol and her other bestie, Janet. There was nothing in the DMs that indicated Janet had ever cheated on her husband. She just wanted to know every detail of Linda's and Carol's affairs. She asked them questions, gave them advice and encouraged their infidelity. She was living vicariously through all the drama with Linda and Carol. Linda and Carol encouraged their friend to take the leap, find a lover. She'll be so much happier. But she either didn't find a lover or didn't talk about him with Linda and Carol.

Linda is a serial cheater but her infidelity is nothing compared to Carol's. She's a full-time mom with one child in elementary school. Carol was active on Tinder and she saw men mostly during the day. Lots of men. But she didn't limit herself to Tinder hookups. She had been screwing an out of work neighbor in her marital bed almost every day for months. Until he finally got a job.

Carol also went out for what she told her husband were girls' nights. But those were always dates. Sometimes double dates with Linda. Nights Linda told me she had to work late. Her DMs showed no guilt or remorse about her cheating. To be honest, Linda showed no remorse or guilt about her cheating either. Unless they were comparing other men with their husbands or their husbands had pissed them off about something, there was almost no discussion of Jim, Carol's husband, or me in their DMs. They only talked about what was important to them. Their adventures with their lovers.

I had more than enough to give to Angie, my attorney, for the divorce. I finished with Linda's DMs about 1am. I looked at my phone and saw that Marie texted me earlier that she had the necklace and had tossed Fred out. I texted back, "Good for you. I found lots of stuff on Linda's laptop you can use in your divorce. My lawyer will have everything." I gave her Angie's contact information.

I called Angie in the morning and told her I'll be dropping off Linda's laptop. There's plenty there to prove that Linda has been a serial cheater. I thought a lot about whether to tell Jim, Carol's husband, about Carol's infidelity. I decided that I had to tell him.

I called him on his cell when we were both at work. He answered by saying, "Hello cheater. Can't keep it in your pants? How can you cheat on Linda? What's the matter with you? You've ruined your marriage. Carol says Linda is devastated by your infidelity. Everyone in our friends' group is. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you. Carol and I and the rest of the group are cutting you out of our lives."

I told Jim, "I didn't cheat on Linda, she cheated on me."

He replied, "Carol said you'd say something like that. Try to hide your infidelity from everyone and blame Linda. I know that Linda would never cheat on you. Carol would be aghast if Linda was cheating and would tell me. Carol is right about you. You're a selfish dirt bag who deserves every bad thing coming to you. Linda is way too good for you. Why are you calling me? I don't want to talk to you."

I told him. "Before you hang up, I have some information that you need to know. But I want to tell you, and show you, in person."

"What is it? Some story to try to make you look better. Are you going to tell me what a horrible wife Linda has been? I don't want to listen to that."

"I said no, it's not about me or Linda but about Carol. I can come by your house after work, or you could come to my house, or we could meet somewhere." He told me leave him and Carol alone and hung up on me.

I thought about what to do. I decided to text him the picture of Linda and Carol naked at the pool party. I had Linda's laptop with me to give to Angie later that afternoon. But I decided to hold on to it for another day. Everything Jim needs to know about Carol is on that laptop. After he sees the picture I texted, he'll want to know everything.

I didn't hear back from Jim until just after 6pm. "Can Carol and I come by your house?" When they arrived, Jim looked furious and Carol was crying, her eyes red.

Sobbing, Carol said, "Please tell Jim that the picture was photo-shopped. It's not real. Please, please tell him it's fake. Jim has lost his mind over this. I can't calm him down. You can't destroy our marriage like this. I was never naked at any pool party. The picture is a phony. I'm begging you. Please tell Jim it's fake. I have never been unfaithful."

Jim said, "Shut up Carol."

Jim looked at me. I said, "I have lots of DMs between Linda and Carol where Carol describes the many, many men she's cheated on you with. Carol brags about banging men in your bed. The pictures are of Carol and Linda. You can look at anything I have. It's on Linda's laptop."

Carol ran over to him and grabbed him by his arm, trying to pull him toward the door. She said, "He's just making all this stuff up. You shouldn't listen to his bullshit. He's angry at me for convincing Linda to dump him. Please, can we just go home and talk? You know I would never cheat on you. Sam is the liar and cheater trying to get back at me because I'm looking out for Linda."

Jim shook her off, told her to get away from him and asked for the laptop. I told him to open the file labeled pictures. Carol said, "I don't know what Linda has been up to, but the one picture of me naked and pictures of me with other men are all photo-shopped. I don't go out on dates. That's ridiculous." She turned to me, "What a despicable human being you are to show my husband, whom I love more than anything, fake pictures of me. Just to try to ruin my marriage like you ruined yours."

I asked, "How did you know the pictures show you out with other men? On dates?" Carol looked confused and then realized her blunder. "You know what's in the pictures because you took most of them."

Carol glanced at Jim and then looked down. Her crying got louder. Jim looked through the pictures. There was only the one picture of Carol at the party I sent him. But, if he hadn't figured it out already, the other pictures would make it clear that our wives weren't at this pool party to work on their tans. Jim looked through the pictures of Carol out on dates.

He finished with the pictures and looked at me. I said, "Carol was asked to the party by one of her Tinder hookups. She brought Linda with her. It's all there in the Instagram DMs." I asked for the laptop, opened Instagram to the DMs and gave it back to him. I said, "You can just pick any place to start. Carol's infidelity goes back years and is continuing so you can start anywhere and read about one or another of Carol's lovers." He started to read. Carol was really crying now.

Jim went through the DMs for about a half hour. Reading them is like looking at a car crash. You can't look away. I watched him while Carol cried. He put the laptop down and leaned back on the couch looking completely defeated. I know the feeling. He asked me, "Can I have copies of everything?"

"I'm giving the laptop to Angie, my attorney, tomorrow. Carol probably has a similar Instagram account and you just need to find it. But I'll give you Angie's contact information. You can get everything I have from her.

He asked, "Can I use Angie for my divorce too?"

At the mention of divorce, Carol jumped up and got on her knees in front of him, put her hands together and begged, "Please talk to me before making any rash decisions. I can answer any questions you have. I've done nothing that warrants you destroying our marriage."

Jim told her, "Get away from me. I'm leaving. You're not welcome in my home. Stay away from me and my son. I'm filing for divorce." He looked at me, "Please give me Angie's contact information. I'm going to call her as soon as I leave here. I apologize for the way I treated you when you called me." He got up and thanked me for showing him everything.

I suggested, "You should get an STD test and probably a paternity test for your son."

Carol's face went white. He said, "Good idea," and started to leave. Carol tried to leave with him. More tears. He told her, "I don't want you anywhere near me." To me, "I apologize but I don't even want her in my car. I'm not sure it's safe for her to be near me."

He walked out and left Carol with me. Thanks Jim.

As soon as he was out the door, Carol immediately stopped crying. She looked at me enraged and told me, "You're a real piece of shit. How could you do this to me? Jim is nuts over this. It will take forever to get back to where we were before you told him all this crap about me. And all for nothing. Jim will come to his senses in the next day or two when he realizes he can't live without me. But we'll have to slog through a month or two of his tantrums, tears, yelling, of his feeling hurt and betrayed. I'll have to cater to his every whim to show him how much I love him. Nurse his shattered ego. What a drag.

"Then he'll forgive me and we'll be back to where we were. A month or two of trauma just to get back to where we were this morning. So stupid. What was the point of this? He's certainly not going to leave me. Things will just be shitty until he feels he's punished me enough, until he thinks he's in control. Like he was ever in control of what I do. Probably another month or two of catering to him before I can start having fun again. Thanks for months of unnecessary bullshit. Asshole."

I said, "Get the fuck out of here. Call someone to come get you. You can wait outside for your ride." She opened her phone and started to type. And left.

The next morning I called Angie to ask when it would be convenient for me to drop off the laptop with all Linda's incriminating Instagram DMs with her girlfriends. Angie was on the phone so her assistant suggested coming around 10:30am. Angie would be between appointments.

When I got to Angie's, she was on the phone but she waved me into her office and pointed to a chair. She got off and told me, "I heard from Marie's attorney. She wants copies of the confession Linda wrote, Linda's DMs with Fred from Linda's iPad and the pictures of Linda on dates with Fred. We're getting their package ready but I haven't seen any pictures. I also got a call from Jim who says he's a friend of yours." I nodded. "He said he saw pictures of his wife Carol naked at a party and on dates with other men. Jim also said he read Instagram DMs between his wife and Linda describing his wife's infidelity going back years. He wants me to handle his divorce."

Angie continued, "You told me about the laptop and also about Jim and Marie. And Jim evidently saw what's on your laptop. How did Jim see this stuff?"

"He came by last night and I showed him what Linda had on her laptop's second hidden user account."

"Is that the laptop?" Angie pointed toward the laptop I was holding. I nodded. "Who else did you tell about what you found on Linda's laptop?"

"Jim brought his wife Carol when he came to look at what was on the laptop. But she didn't look at anything. Just sat there and cried while denying everything."

"So you told Carol about all the evidence we have about her infidelity and also everything we have about Linda's cheating with men other than Fred. And Carol knows where you found all the evidence, Linda's second Instagram account. Is that right?"

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. I answered, "I guess."

Angie asked, "Once Carol left your house, how long do you think it took Carol to tell Linda you found her hidden Instagram account. How long before Linda erased all the DMs describing Linda's and Carol's infidelity?" Angie was furious with me. "Give me the laptop. Let's see if there's anything left on it."

I got up, stood next to Angie, opened the laptop and brought up Linda's second Instagram account and went to her DMs. All the DMs were gone. Angie looked at me waiting for my explanation.

Linda had erased all her DMs but the picture file was still there. The picture file was saved to the laptop's hard drive and Linda probably couldn't figure out how to delete the pictures remotely. I opened that file. Angie looked through the pictures. Pictures of Linda and Carol naked at the pool party. Pictures of Linda and Carol on dates. I said, "That's evidence of their infidelity."

Angie sighed and said, "Here's what Linda's and Carol's attorneys can say to a judge. The two wives went to a party, got drunk and were persuaded to take off their bathing suits. Linda was too drunk or embarrassed or whatever to stop the two guys from putting lotion on her. Nothing else happened. No sex so no adultery. They'll say they left the party as soon as they realized they were expected to have sex. That's why there's so few pictures of them at the party. Nothing adulterous so far."

I replied, "What about the pictures at the bar, both of them on dates?"

Angie asked, "Who are the men with Linda and Carol?"

"I don't know who the guys with Carol are. But I'm pretty sure the man Linda is kissing is a guy named Billy, a direct employee of Linda's. The other one is Fred."

Angie asked, "Both co-workers?" I nodded. "So Linda was out for some drinks with co-workers. She invited Carol to joint them. She's kissing this Billy guy in a picture and is sitting on his lap. But that's all she's doing. Her attorney can say Linda was drunk and got carried away, but kissing was all that happened. The guys in the pictures with Carol are just some guys who tried to pick her up at the bar. Again, no proof of actual sex. Their behavior is certainly inappropriate but there's no proof of adultery in the pictures as legally defined. A judge is not going to say Linda committed adultery because she was naked at a party or kissed some guy when she was out with co-workers for drinks."

Angie concluded, "If Linda and Carol were my clients, without the DMs Linda deleted, Carol would have nothing to worry about. There's nothing that shows Carol was ever unfaithful. Just Jim's and your claim that you read some incriminating DMs which you're not able to produce. Unless we can find some guys to say they hooked up with Carol. In the pool photo, everyone is hiding from the camera. My guess, we're not going to find anyone who will testify in court.

"And Linda only has to worry about the confession she wrote for you about her as well as the DMs she and Fred exchanged. We still have that. But all that gives us is Linda's one affair with Fred. I can already hear Linda telling the judge how sorry she is for making that one mistake with Fred and how she'll never be unfaithful again. She'll do anything to save her marriage. She loves you and wants a second chance. The judge may order marriage counseling for you and Linda while chastising you for not trying reconciliation. You obviously have a very remorseful wife who loves you but made a mistake. The judge may find there's still hope for your marriage."

I asked, "Can't we just have Billy testify about his affair with Linda? Also Linda said in the DMs that Billy's roommates saw Linda and Billy in bed together."

Angie said, "Absolutely. If we can find Billy or his roommates and they're willing to testify. Billy will be testifying against his boss. Not a great career move. News of an office affair might get them both fired. If Linda's fired and has no income, the judge may order you to pay her more in alimony. Even if Billy testifies and tells the truth, it's still his word against Linda's. Is a judge going to believe Billy over poor ashamed Linda, sitting there crying, who denies any affairs other than her one slipup with Fred? Coin toss."

Angie continued, "Same with the roommates. If we can find them when it's time to see the judge, will they tell the truth? They'll probably claim they don't remember just to keep from having to testify.

"If we had the DMs that describe Linda's and Carol's serial cheating we have solid cases. That was the point of finding something more on Linda than what we have about her affair with Fred. You never know what a judge will do but even the stupidest judge couldn't ignore those DMs. We'll still get the divorce on the basis of Linda's infidelity with Fred. But the judge can make the divorce last much longer than it should and make it much more painful. Imagine being ordered to spend months meeting with a marriage counselor with Linda blaming you for her cheating.

I said, "I really fucked up, didn't I?"

"The pictures just show that Jim and you have foolish wives who pushed the boundaries of their marriage. The don't prove they ever crossed those boundaries into actual adultery. Letting Carol and Linda know what we had was stupid. No more cowboy crap. Ask me before you do anything that might affect your divorce."

I asked, "What do we do now?"

Angie said, "What we do now is we recover Linda's DMs with Carol and the other wife, Janet."

Angie picked up the phone and dialed an extension. She asked whoever answered to come to her office. A young woman came in the office who Angie introduced as her computer genius. She handed the laptop to her tech and said, "Retrieve the DMs erased from Linda's Instagram account, the one open on the laptop. You know the drill. Back up the DMs to the office cloud and give Sam here access to our website so he can view everything. Make sure his access is read only.

"When you're finished, the laptop should look exactly like it does now. When Linda looks at her Instagram account, we want her to think she successfully hid the DMs from us. That we haven't found anything." The girl left with Linda's laptop. Angie smiled and said, "You're not the first dumb client I've had. Just talk to me before you do anything in the future."

The tech returned with the laptop and also Linda's iPad. Angie asked, "Any problems?"

"No. I reinstalled the erased Instagram DMs on Linda's laptop and deleted them again after I copied them. Linda's two separate Instagram accounts are still there, just with all the DMs gone from her laptop. Linda and Carol won't know that we recovered all their DMs.

The tech continued, "I sent an email to Sam with instructions how to get into his account here to view documents online. He'll just be able to view them, not change anything. He can download any of the documents if he wants."

What a relief. Our meeting was coming to an end. Angie thanked me for referring Jim to her. I asked, "How about a discount for my divorce since I recommended Jim hire you? I got you a new client."

Angie smiled and said, "I usually charge clients who are complete idiots double my usual fee. I should be charging you double or even triple. I'm not, so don't push your luck. And don't do anything stupid from now on. Talk to me first."

Angie asked, "Do you want to come to dinner tonight? Greg and I would love to have you. You know you're always welcome."

"Thanks, but I'm going to have to do some catching up at work and then I'm going to hit the gym. I'll take a rain check."

Angie said, "Any time." I left and went to work.

After the gym, I picked up some Thai food and headed home. Linda was sitting on the porch waiting for me. I parked, picked up my dinner and walked toward the front door. Linda said, "Can we talk? I need to explain."

"There is no explanation. You cheated with multiple guys throughout our relationship. Nothing else to say. I'm not interested in your insipid excuses, justifications and apologies."

"It wasn't multiple guys; it was just the one mistake with Fred. I know you saw my DMs with Carol and Janet. That was all fantasy stuff. All make believe. We were trying to outdo each other in who could invent the craziest sex stories. We were having these affairs in our heads, they weren't real. It was all made up. There were no other men except in our imaginations. Other than Fred, my one big mistake."

"Is that what Billy will say when we call him to the stand? What about his roommates who saw you fucking him in his living room? The boss who threw you out of marketing because of your inappropriate relationship with a co-worker. What do you think he'll say on the stand in our divorce hearing? Do you think he'll testify that your inappropriate behavior with a co-worker was just a fantasy? What was that co-workers name? Jake right? Do you think he's going to perjure himself for you?

"Angie's P. I. was able to identify the house where you attended the pool party from your pictures. The owner of the house, your host at the pool party, will identify the guys whom you gave a blow job. You said you could only do three before your jaw started hurting too much. Right? And, what was it, three or four guys you hooked up with there. He'll tell us about them too. I'm sure our divorce judge will want to hear from all of them.

"We're just holding off on interviewing the host of the pool party until we find out what you're going to do about signing the divorce paperwork. Same with your co-workers. We're just waiting to see how difficult you want to make our divorce. If you fight it, we'll get depositions from everyone. Parade them all in court. Do you think they'll lie for you?"

All of this was bullshit of course. We haven't hired a P. I.

Linda started crying, "It was all make believe. None of that happened. The pictures were photo-shopped. We did that ourselves. Just part of the fantasy. It was stupid, silly and we thought it was harmless. It's not like Carol or I would do any of that stuff. But you blew up Carol's marriage over fantasies. Jim is furious and threatening divorce. You won't even let me explain. All over some silly shit that isn't even real."

"If it gets to a hearing, we'll ask all your lovers if it was a fantasy. One after another. Jake, Fred, Billy, the guys at the pool party. We'll probably find others. We'll let the judge decide if your cheating was real or not."

"If you involve my co-workers, I'll probably lose my job. Do you really want me to be fired?"

"The hearing is public. I believe the transcript of the hearing is published. I'll personally send a copy to your HR department. If this gets to a hearing, there's no way you'll be able to keep this hidden from your bosses. Among all the other men you fucked, you fucked one of your direct employees, someone you supervise. You will be fired."

Linda stared at me for a while. Finally, no longer pleading, no more attempts to explain, all business, she asked, "What do you want?"

"To get you out of my life as quickly as humanly possible. Also, I don't want you to profit from our divorce. And certainly no marriage counseling. Angie sent you a divorce settlement. We each get what we brought to the marriage. Since I make more than you, I'll get the bulk of what's left. Same with the house. Of course, no alimony. It's all there in what Angie sent you. Sign it, we'll present it to the judge and get our divorce. No hearing, no parade of co-workers testifying about your infidelity, no reason your HR should be informed about anything.

"But I'm happy either way. If you want to draw this out, have a judge listen to your lovers testify about your serial infidelity and get fired from your job, that's fine with me. Please tell the judge it was all a fantasy. I'll enjoy watching Angie make mincemeat of you. I'll enjoy watching you squirm in the courtroom.

"If you want to go the sensible route, understand you don't have any defense of your adultery, and sign the paperwork Angie sent, I'm good with that too."

Linda stared at me for a while. She wasn't happy. Eventually, she marched off toward her car without a word. Probably on her way to her attorney's office to sign the divorce paperwork Angie prepared. She really doesn't have any choice.