I didn’t hesitate. “I’d like that, but there are a couple of things you should know about me first. Why don’t we have dinner and chat?”
At dinner, I told her my story and she told me hers. Pregnant young. Had Michael. She had been married once but not to Michael’s father. Michael has a good relationship with his father and family. Grace had worked hard to provide a good life for Michael and his father did his share. She was rightfully very proud of the fact that he will be in his first Broadway show.
She had done pretty well for herself. After high school she started working in an upscale department store. It was the only job she ever had and was now the District Manager for three of their other stores.
We talked for a long time before having a farewell fuck in her cabin. The next morning we docked and I drove home.
Things hadn’t changed and there was still no word from Carol or Cheryl. I waited a week before calling Grace. We spent the next weekend together. And the next. And lots of weekends after that.
About six months into our relationship, we decided that I should move to Houston and live with her. I worked at one of the refineries in Lake Charles. I talked to my boss and asked him to investigate the possibility of me transferring to our Houston refinery. He checked and in another month my house was for sale and I lived in Houston with Grace.
I had been in Houston six months and Carol had been gone over a year when I filed for divorce. When it was finalized, Grace and I were married and took a honeymoon cruise. She was the only person I slept with on that cruise … and vice versa.
In the meantime, Grace’s son Michael had done great in New York. His play had been SRO (Standing Room Only) and he was a rising star. We went to New York twice to see him.
I thought about Cheryl often and wondered … and worried … about her.
Our lives went on and in four years, I was another notch higher on my company food chain. Michael was in Hollywood filming his second movie. His first had been filmed on location in Europe.
He invited us out to visit, so we went. We stood and watched as he filmed some scenes. Between each scene, people would come up to him, fine tune his makeup, adjust his clothes, or comb his hair. I watched as he was handed a folder to look at each time they stopped filming.
Later at dinner, I asked him what those folders were. He told me they were dialogue changes for the scene they were filming next. I asked him if he knew the name of the lady who brought them to him.
“Her name is Carol and she brings them before each scene. Why?”
“She just looked familiar.”
Neither Grace nor Michael saw me as I was fighting down the bile which had risen in my throat.
Grace and I were in the studio provided limo on our way back to the hotel.
She looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
“The lady who gave Michael the dialogue changes is Carol.”
“I know. That’s what Michael said.”
“She’s Carol. My ex-wife Carol.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Holy cow. What are you going to do?”
“I have no idea.”
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