“Not the best career move was it?”
“No it wasn’t, dear. Yet here I was thinking I was somebody special to him and he was chasing every skirt he saw. I heard through the grapevine that he had been killed in an automobile accident. That must have been ten years ago or more. By that time our rendezvous’ had been over for quite some time.”
“Which one of you decided to stop.”
“Believe it or not it was me. Guilt actually crept its way back in and I decided to turn my attention back to my family.”
The room grew quiet for a few moments until Lynn asked, “Then why an affair with our neighbor Mr. Barnes?”
Sherry sighed, “This was a different situation. Your father had been working a lot of overtime and when he wasn’t working he was going to your softball games and other activities of yours.”
“So this is all my fault?”
“Oh God no, honey. This has nothing to do with you or your father. It’s just that for years your father was spending a lot time with me and even though he is not the most exciting guy in the world, I was content and used to his company. At least that’s what I told myself. But when he started spending more time away from me I once again became that selfish person I truly am.”
“I started going out with the girls from work once in a while and your father never said a word. Why? He trusted me. And what do I do? I go out and betray that trust in an unspeakable manner.”
Sherry stopped for a moment to blow her nose and then continued.
“Only this time it wasn’t an affair with Mr. Barnes. It was only the one time. We met at the bar while I was out with the girls and he was everything your father wasn’t. He loved to dance, was incredibly outgoing and the life of the party.”
“Certainly sounds like the kind of man a happily married woman should throw her family under the bus for.” Lynn’s tone was filled with sarcasm.
Sherry shook her head, “At the time I was spending a lot of time comparing your father’s perceived faults to other men’s perceived strengths. It was a fight no man could win. Hell, the faults I came up with weren’t really faults at all. I thought at times he was not attentive enough or not sensitive to my needs. Dr. Royce showed me that they were just weak minded excuses to cheat and nothing more.”
“Just like the first affair, my motor was running and the one time I slept with Mr. Barnes wasn’t enough to get it out of my system. Let’s just say Mr. Barnes didn’t do it for me. In fact, Dr. Royce suggested by this time it was like my libido was on steroids and it was also at this time when I was contacted by the show.”
“Being chosen to be on that show was the ultimate case of be careful what you wish for. I was so primed to have an affair I even rubbed it in your faces before I left by hinting that I might start flirting with other men or possibly even more. Dr. Royce suggested that I was so full of myself at that point that my arrogance knew no bounds.”
“You were full or something, mother, but I’m not so sure it was yourself.”
Sherry smiled.
“You’ve got your father’s sense of humor. I like that.”