Friends With A Prostitute

Chapter 34

Cynthia's pulse quickened as she heard Andrew's footsteps in the corridor. She hadn't seen him since the last negotiations. When she'd gone back home later that afternoon, his travel bag was missing from the top of the cabinet and his closet was half empty. She had just told the kids that he was on a business trip. She had no idea where he was staying.

He didn't even look in her direction as he came in. He just went straight to his chair and sat down. There was a bowl of candy on the table. She tried to push a little further in his direction. He looked at her. She nodded at him and smiled ever so slightly. He didn't smile or nod back. He just took the binder that was in front of Brian and started reading it or pretending to read it.

"I don't know why we're bothering to meet again," Brian said to Mr. Buckler in a snarky tone. You should just change your client's petition, exclude your funny little annulment clause at the bottom and we'll sign it."

"No, the clause stays." Mr. Buckler replied with a calm smile on his face. He slowly took his pen from his jacket pocket and placed it above the binder in front of him.

"Well, I would love to hear what 'evidence' you have today," Brian said, unbuttoning his blazer.

"Well, why don't we get right to it then?" Mr. Buckler reached down to the briefcase that was beside his feet, pulled it up to the top of the table and retrieved a laptop from it. He placed the laptop at the head of the table where everyone could see the screen. He then pressed the space button to play the already open video on the laptop.

Brian and Andrew turned to watch, but Mr. Buckler and Cynthia stayed looking at the former's faces to see their reaction. They saw Andrew's face get a more and more panicked look as he saw himself enter the frame in the video and go up to the woman that was waiting for him on the bed. Then suddenly, Andrew stood up and slammed the laptop shut. He was breathing heavily. "Where the hell did you get that?!" he asked with a panicked face.

"That's not the important question here Andrew!" Cynthia shouted angrily before Andrew could say any more. "What did I do wrong? Where did I go wrong as a wife? Did I not sacrifice everything for you? Did I not slave for you at that house and do every single damn thing you asked? Why did you cheat on me?" Her voice lowered to a mere whisper, "Why, Andrew? Was your dinner not ready in time every day? Was I not the poster wife at your luncheons? Where did I..." She paused momentarily, her face heating up, tears sparkling in her eyes. "Why, Andrew?"

Andrew kept staring down at his hands, leaving Cynthia's questions unanswered. He then suddenly looked up and said, "Well that still doesn't mean the prenup is invalid. There's nothing there about cheating."

"Andrew!" Cynthia shrilled at the top of her voice. She was livid. There was a woman passing by outside the glass wall. She stopped when she heard the shrill. Everyone inside the conference room stayed quiet for a few heavy seconds. The woman carried on walking. "How could you be so cold?" Cynthia said eventually. She drew out the words almost as if hissing them out instead of saying them.

Andrew sat back. The look of embarrassment still lingered on his face as he darted his eyes around the table. Then his expression got a hint of malicious pride that seemed to say, "I did nothing wrong."

Cynthia glared at him with contempt. "You don't even have the guts to give me an explanation? You're that low of a human being, huh? That despicable?"

"Oh, cry all you want Cynthia!" He shouted. "The truth is you were a boring wife." Now the embarrassment was completely gone from his face. What replaced it bordered on disgust for his wife. "You always did every single thing I asked!" he continued, "Like a goddamn puppet with no brains of her own. You were pathetic, Cynthia! I wanted a real woman so yes, I cheated on you. And guess what? I loved every minute of it."

"You despicable scumbag!" Cynthia threw the bowl of candy at him, missed his torso, and had it shatter on the wall behind him instead. She was standing up now looking ready to leap at him and smash his head right into the table.

Mr. Buckler stood up and placed his arm over Cynthia's shoulders, "It's okay Cynthia. It's okay. Just try to calm down." She stayed glaring at the creature that was her husband. "Cynthia, let's do this the right way. No need to get violent. He doesn't deserve your anger." At that, Mr. Bucker threw a look of disgust at Andrew.

Cynthia tightened her jaw, squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and sat back down.

"You're right, Andrew." Mr. Buckler continued. "As despicable as it is, your infidelity won't invalidate the prenup. But something else will." Mr. Buckler opened his laptop again, forwarded the video to a place where the logo of the lodge was visible on one of the mugs on the bedside table.