The Other Other Woman by Mallory Lockhart Read Free Book Online

sweet and everything I had ever wanted. But he was married and so was I. We talked about our marriages often, how miserable we were, how trapped we felt. He was a very successful businessman and had a lot to lose–not only emotionally, but financially, in a divorce.
    He felt like Sandra hadn’t loved him and had taken him for granted for years. He was a paycheck and a lifestyle for her. He had always done all of the cooking, upkeep, and decision making around the house even though she stayed at home. She wasn’t interested in any of his hobbies. She complained about headaches every time he tried to get her to enjoy some wine with him. She didn’t care to meet his cyclist friends or work out with him at all, and she had only been down to Miami once or twice.
    According to him, she just wanted to hang out with her snooty friends and couldn’t be bothered with him, physically or otherwise. She was painfully thin in his opinion–tall, blonde and lanky at 5’9 and about 120 pounds (I was jealous!). He said he much preferred a few curves (good answer!). I had met women like her before. “Beltline wives” we called them. I imagined what a rich old shrew she must be, driving some oversized, overpriced vehicle around, enjoying the spoils of her husband’s job while she relaxed at the country club; sipping mimosas and playing bridge in her Lilly Pulitzer cropped pants. She had probably never worked a day in her life. Let me guess, hooked him into marriage right out of college, right?
    “I’ve been with the same woman for 25 years, Mal. That’s so long. I barely even notice her anymore.” His wife hadn’t been interested in sex for years. This was fine by him because he wasn’t attracted to her anymore anyway. I certainly wasn’t about to ask, but it sounded like they still tried to go through the motions once in a while. But according to him, it was always the same; missionary position, no passion, no variety, no enthusiasm. He never got oral sex unless he begged for it and he couldn’t remember the last time he even bothered. He claimed that now, whenever she changed her clothes, he just looked away or left the room; there was just nothing there. It seemed so wrong to be discussing this with him.
    “You know it’s bad when I’m telling her I have a headache so she leaves me alone. She’s been trying harder lately, but I don’t know. It’s just so fake. I don’t believe it’s sincere. I think maybe I just scared her. I may not have told you this, but I tried to leave her last year. We got in a huge fight and I’ve told her for so long that the only reason I’ve stayed is because of my oldest son, Mitchell. I just love that kid, he’s got this awesome personality–he’s just like me. We hang out all the time, but he has a great relationship with his mom. I know if it comes down to it, all of the kids, but especially him, they would never forgive me.”
    “Matt, I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to stay together if it made you both that miserable,” I reassured him. “They are adults, they would understand. It almost seems unfair to her to stay if you feel that indifferent toward her, doesn’t it?”
    “Well, I guess, but I’ve tried to leave. We’ve had that conversation a number of times. I’ve told her, ‘Here, I’ll set you up, you can have the house and everything in it, and I’ll give you $10,000 a month for expenses.’ I don’t care, I can always make more money and buy new furniture, I own other places where I can stay… but she insists she doesn’t want that. Says she wants to try to get back to the way we used to be. But I think she just wants her life to stay the same… and I mean, I’m not THAT bad of a guy and she says she loves me. But I’ve already talked to an attorney. I’ve got this total shark of an attorney downtown. I just haven’t been able to pull the trigger yet. I like having a big family and I don’t know if I can do that to my kids.”
    Being quite a bit