When You Least Expect It (14 page)

             
“Mandy, I would do anything to be able to kiss you right now.” 

             
Amanda smiled,
“Well I do know the feeling.  I wonder a lot about that.  A good kisser is very important to me.  Are you one?”

             
“Hmm…I think so.  I’ve never actually kissed myself, but have been told I had a good set of lips.  I guess you won’t know until you try it, Mandy.”

             
“
As far as I know…my lips aren’t long enough to reach Maine.  But if they were, I could think of a lot of different places that they could cover
.”

             
Ray blushed.  How should he respond to this? Besides for physically that is.   He decided to follow her lead. 
“Well, if my lips were long enough, I would gently place them in all your secret places.  Do you have secret places Mandy? If you do, I want to know all about them.”

             
“
Of course I do, Ray.  I’ll be happy to show you.  I’m pointing to them right now…see?”

             
Ray laughed, “
Could you give me a little more of a clue?”

             
“It’s soft and silky…it would feel great against your lips…”

             
“You’re killing me, Mandy…”

             
“Mmmmm…..”

             
“
Ray!” 

             
Ray was jolted out his trance by the sound of Carrie’s voice from the top of the stairs.  He pushed ‘back’ and got out of the ‘window’ where he was talking to Amanda.  “What?”  He turned his attention to an angry looking Carrie.

             
“I’ve been trying to get your attention!  What are you doing?  Are you talking to that floozy of yours?  The one who keeps you posted on all her routines?” 

             
“No, just killing time here.  Is there something you needed?”  Ray wanted to change that subject as fast as he could.  But it wasn’t going to be as easy as that.

             
“Do you still talk to her, Ray?”  Is that what you do all night on that stupid computer? Talk about sex to lonely women?”  Carrie was livid.  She had seen the look on Ray’s face.  It was obvious he wasn’t shopping on EBay.  She was going to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.

             
“Carrie you’re being ridiculous!  I don’t appreciate you coming down here and accusing me of things.  Now is there something you wanted, or did you just come down here to harass me?”  Ray could feel the tension mounting.  He knew an explosion was about to occur.

             
Amanda, on the other hand, was blaming herself for the sudden departure.  Had she been too forward?  Had she embarrassed Ray?  She couldn’t imagine him leaving like that, without a word.  What was that all about?  She had never gathered that he was uptight when it came to intimate stuff.  She only said she wanted to kiss him.  She smiled at the thought.  She did want to kiss him.  She wanted to see him, face to face.  She wanted to watch his lips move when he talked.  She wanted to see his facial expressions.  Actually, she would be happy just seeing what he looked like.

             
Speaking of which, she had the pictures she was going to send him, all scanned and ready for action.  She had asked Hilary’s husband Josh, to set it up and email them to her, which he had.  She wasn’t too happy with them, but they would have to do.  She decided to send them immediately, before she chickened out.  She clicked on it and hit ‘forward’ on her email.

             
She wrote him a note, gearing him for disappointment.

             
Ray,

             
Here are the pictures of me I have been promising you.  I’m not sure what you have been imagining in your head, but try not to be too disappointed when you open it.  I might have been exaggerating when I said I looked like Betty Boop.  I hope to hear from you soon.

             
Also, I don’t understand why you left so suddenly tonight.  If I offended you in any way, please accept my apologies.

             
Love, Mandy

             
She clicked ‘send’ before she had time to think about it.  For her, this was a big step.  She would be so nervous until she heard from Ray again…if she ever did.

             
                                                        ~~~             

Ray was sitting on the couch watching TV.  Carrie had made such a big deal about being online; he had shut off the computer.  He was mortified at the thought of leaving Amanda hanging like that, but he’d had no other choice. 

              Carrie was convinced he was up to no good.  He really didn’t know what to say to her since her worse fear was an actual reality.  Although he wasn’t having this sordid affair, like Carrie insisted, after all, how would you even do that online?  No, what Carrie’s real worse fear was that he had feelings for someone on the net, which he did.  He wasn’t totally convinced that this made him a bad person…after all his marriage was at the brink of ending.  Only thing was, Carrie didn’t know it.  If he had any balls, he would come right out and tell her his intentions.  But he wanted to weigh out his options first.  He wanted to make sure this was the best possible solution for him and the kids, with as little trauma as possible.  First step would be tomorrow at Michael Mahoney’s office.  He better get to sleep.  He lay down and closed his eyes, his thoughts on the better life he soon hoped to have.

             
Carrie lay in bed and again, wondered what Ray was up to.  She just knew he was up to no good.  They hadn’t gotten along in so long she really did know that she had no right to question anything.  Of course, he was still her husband.  But she also knew it was in name only.  Besides for that horrible week at the shore, they hadn’t slept together in years.  They hadn’t been intimate in almost that long.  What else could she expect?  Ray was a man with normal needs after all.  The problem was Carrie was undecided on whether or not she wanted to save her marriage.  She didn’t think really think there was anything left to save.  But still, that did not give Ray the right to be flirting online.  After all, she was no fool and was not going to be made a fool of.  She was going to put a stop to this, once and for all.

             
In reality, her biggest fear was failing.  She knew if she and Ray got a divorce it would be looked at as her failure.  By her family, her friends…she didn’t know if she could face that.  Her parents would never let her live it down.  No one got divorced in her family.  She just had to stick it out…no matter how miserable she was.  Or Ray was.  She knew he wanted out.  She just couldn’t let that happen. 

~~~

Ray sat in front of Mr. Mahoney’s huge cherry oak desk.  He had never seen anything so big.  He felt like an ant on the other side of it.  He was nervously waiting for him to enter the room.  He was prepared, questions written down and in hand. 

             
Ray looked around at the pictures on his wall.  None of them looked like there was a Mrs. Mahoney.  He had a couple of kids as far as he could tell.  He pondered on the fact that his divorce attorney was probably divorced.  He decided that this was in his favor.  The main objective here was to have as simple of a divorce as possible, without being taken to the cleaners.

             
Michael Mahoney entered the room.  He was a large man, well over six feet, with startling red hair and a spatter of freckles.  He looked like an oversized Howdy Doody, but much more intimidating.  Ray liked the man on sight.

             
“Mr. Knight, I’m sorry I’m so late, I got held up in court.  Let’s get right to the crux of the matter…you want to get divorced.  Tell me your tale.”

             
Michael always came right to the point.  Time was money.  He didn’t want his clients to feel he was wasting theirs.

             
So, Ray began the saga of his life.  He told Michael everything from good to bad.  Unfortunately there wasn’t much good.  This went on for a good fifteen minutes or so, and then Michael broke it down for him

             
“Well, Mr. Knight, all I can say is…this isn’t going to be cheap.  With the amount of money you make, and Mrs. Knight not working throughout your married life, she is going to be entitled to alimony.  Plus child support for the two youngest children.  State law is ex-wives who are entitled to alimony usually get it for half of what the marriage lasted.  So in your case, the marriage lasted nineteen years, so she will probably get it for roughly around nine.”  Michael stated all of this very matter-of-factly.

             
Ray visibly blanched.  Nine years?  He couldn’t reasonably fathom having to hand Carrie over his hard earned money after divorcing her for nine years.  “But she is working now, and is capable of holding a job.  Why should I take care of her even after divorcing her?  I certainly don’t understand that, Mr. Mahoney.”

             
“Call me Michael, and I’ll call you Ray.” 

             
Ray nodded.

             
“The judge will see it as a chance for her to get on her feet after living off of your income for her whole adult life.  So yes, for the first few years it will be a steady stream of pretty big payments.”

             
Ray shook his head, “Unbelievable,” was all he could think of to say. “Well, how am I supposed to start a new life if I have to give her all my money?”

             
“It won’t be all your money, Ray.  This is the terms you have to accept to be issued a divorce in Maine.  The laws are very strict and lean towards the wife in every case.   Nobody, especially the husbands, like it, but that’s just the way it is.”  Michael looked intently at Ray.  He had seen this defeated look many times.  The look of a man desperate to get out of a miserable marriage, and finding out it was going to clearly take everything he had.  It was a slap in the face when this realization was presented to them.  It was not something Michael enjoyed, but it was something that needed to be said right up front.  Divorce in this state was not easy, and he didn’t want his clients to fool themselves into thinking it was.

             
Ray was at a loss of words.  He just sat there for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts.  He knew he was in for a tough battle.  They talked a bit more, Michael answering Ray’s questions about cost, and time tables.  Michael told him about the way it would work from Carrie being served with the papers, all the way to seeing the judge.  There was a lot in between, like seeing a mediation counselor, taking a course on helping children through the divorce, and an array of court appointed meetings.  Ray had no idea it would be so much.  It was a high price to pay for his freedom.  Now, he just had to decide if it was worth it.

             
“Thank you for your time, Michael.  I will give all of this some thought and get back to you as soon as possible.”  Ray stood and shook Michael’s hand.

             
“It was nice meeting you, Ray.  I will be waiting to hear from you.”

             
Ray left his office with a horrible feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.  He had a lot of information to digest; a lot of pros and cons to go over.  The biggest question in his mind at the moment was whether or not he could actually stay in this marriage.  Did he really have a choice?  Ray sat behind the steering wheel of his car and just stared at the parked car in front of him.  He resisted the urge to scream.

~~~

             
Amanda wondered how the attorney appointment was going.  She knew Ray was so nervous about this.  Sometimes she really had to wonder if he really wanted a divorce.  Her best bet was to stay out of it…let him decide for him self and be there if he needed to talk.

             
She looked at the clock on her office wall.  She decided he would be back to work by now; she wanted to give him a call.   She fished out her phone card…she was spending a fortune on these things! 

             
Ray picked up on the first ring, “Ray Knight here.”

             
“Hey, it’s me.”

             
“Hey, me, how are you.  I’m glad you called.  I needed to hear a friendly voice.  So what’s up?”

             
“Nothing’s up.  I just wondered how your appointment with Mr. Mahoney went.  Was it awful?”  She hoped she wasn’t being too pushy.  She realized this was a very personal thing for Ray, she hoped he didn’t feel she was being intrusive.

             
“I think it went well.  I learned a lot about the obstacles I’m going to face.  It’s definitely not going to be easy, but I still plan to go ahead with it.  The timing of it may have changed a bit, but I do think it’s doable.”  Ray didn’t really feel like going into the specifics.  It was too depressing. 

             
“How has the timing changed?”  Amanda rolled her eyes.  Damn, she was nosy.  She couldn’t seem to help herself.