Saul had called Lynne several times since he left his first voicemail asking her to meet with him so they could talk.  She’d never responded to any of them so he was surprised when he saw her name pop up on his phone’s display.

“Lynne?  Is everything okay?”

“Yeah...um...you wanna talk, so let’s talk.  Meet me at Christie’s on 5th in a half an hour”.  Her voice gave nothing away; he had no inkling of what the outcome of this meeting would be.

“Okay”,  Saul said eagerly.  “Half and hour.  I’ll be there.”

“Alright.  See you then.”

“Thank you, Lynne.”

She replied with an “uh huh” and hung up.  And “uh huh” from Lynne wasn’t usually a sign of good things to come.

*************************

Lynne arrived at the little cafe ten minutes early so she could order a cup of chamomile tea in order to calm her nerves.  She’d have preferred a Xanax, or at the very least a shot of some brown liquor, but tea would have to suffice.  

Seeing Saul’s mistress had given Lynne a much needed attitude adjustment.  She was still hurt by her husband’s actions; that wound wasn’t closing any time soon.  She was no longer confused about what she needed to do to move on with her life.  By sleeping with that trashy woman, he had essentially brought her into their home, into their bed.  Now SHE was bringing drama right to her front door.  Where her children live.  That pissed her off and if that was the type of crap that her husband was willing to subject her and their kids to, she wanted no part of it.

Lynne looked up and saw Saul walk into the cafe.  She sat up front so that he’d see her when he walked in.

“Hi Lynnie.  You look beautiful”, Saul said almost sheepishly.  He almost reminded her of the boy she’d first fallen in love with. “How are you doing?’

“I’m good, Saul.  Let’s move towards the back of the cafe.  I only sat up front so you’d see me when you walked in.”

They walked towards the back of cafe and sat at the last table on the right.  Lynne sat and looked at Saul for a minute.

“You look like you haven’t been sleeping”,  She said, with a neutral tone.

“Nah.  Not sleeping so well.  It’s hard to sleep without the woman I love beside me”.

“Would that be me or your girlfriend?”

“Come on, Lynne.  It was never like that with her”.

“She doesn’t seem to think so.  She stopped by the house looking for you last week.  She wanted to know where her MAN was.”  Lynne chucked humorlessly.

“She WHAT?  Lynne, I haven’t had anything to do with Alicia since before the day she called the house!  You have to believe me!”

“Sure, because you’ve been SO honest lately”,  Lynne said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  “So that’s her name? Alicia?”

“Uh...yeah”,  Saul responded, the discomfort clear in his voice.  “I can’t believe she showed up at the house.  What happened?  What did she do?”

“She walked onto my property demanding to know where her man was, she proceeded to, once again, try to provide me with details about your trysts.  I tagged that jaw, gave her some ice for her boo-boo, and sent her on her way with a warning that if she ever came on my property again things would not go well for her.”

As mortifying as the account was, Saul felt a little surge of pride at how Lynne handled Alicia.  People always mistook Lynne’s demureness as frailty or weakness, but Lynne was neither frail or weak.

“Saul, I think we should separate.”

Saul was crestfallen.  He had hoped that Lynne was ready to take him back.  Maybe get counseling.  He was devastated.

“Why Lynne?  Why can’t we work on this?  I messed up so badly and betrayed your trust, but I don’t want us to end.  Maybe if we went to counseling.  Do you not love me anymore?”

“I still love you Saul, that’s not the issue.  You said it yourself, you betrayed my trust and even if we GOT counseling I’d always be wondering every time you were late coming home or you said you had to work late, I’d be wondering if you were sleeping with someone else.  Trust is part of the foundation of a marriage, once that’s gone…”

Saul’s eyes shone bright with unshed tears.  “Please Lynnie, I can’t lose you and the kids.  I love you so much.”

“Saul, if you loved me, why’d you cheat?”

“Lynne…”

“No Saul, I really want to know.  You don’t just wake up and say “You know what I’d like to do today?  I’d like to break my vows and sleep with another woman.”

“I suppose…”  Saul hesitated, trying to chose the right words.  “It was a release of stress.  Sex without responsibility.  It’s not that I don’t love my life...Saul trailed off, feeling ashamed.  “It was something...different.”

“Different…”.  Lynne couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  So it really came down to him just wanting a little strange.  He was just like her father.  “This has been very illuminating.  You know Saul, I don’t want the separation anymore.”  Saul visibly relaxed.  “I want a divorce.