The Adulterer's Unofficial Guide to Family Vacations, A Novel (29 page)

Epilogue

A warm, arid breeze stirred my robe as I sat on my new patio with a cup of coffee.
Alan had taken the kids to school and my first class wasn’t for another week.
Santa Fe was
beyond
gorgeous.
The house was small but perfect.
The girls happily shared a room decorated in Disney princess motif and the boys had their Pirates of the Caribbean den.
The new school was not so difficult an adjustment as each kid had three siblings there.

All of the pieces had fallen into place.
I took another sip of my coffee.
It was too hot for coffee – but I still felt like tormenting myself a little.
I would have made such a good martyr.

We didn’t wait for the ink to dry on the divorce papers before moving.
As predicted, our families thought we had lost our minds and more than a few of my friends had stopped talking to me.
Hello! Martyr!

Both Susan and Mike gave up custody of the kids, but insisted on having them for holidays, spring break and two weeks in the summer.
Alan and I agreed to pay for the kids to fly out for a weekend every other month.
Of course, both Mike and Susan included the vacation in their settlements.
That proved to be expensive.
I smiled, thinking of having a receipt for hot sex slipped under the door of the hotel room.
Whatever it cost, it was worth it.

Even my friend came through with a part-time teaching job.
Everything seemed easy.
For the past month, our lives had been simple.
We had taken only our clothes and personal possessions with us.
It had been fun to buy new furniture for the new house with the kids.
In the distance I heard the front door close.
Alan was home.
Home.
My home.
Our home.

His lips brushed my neck and he sat beside me, picking up the coffee he had left behind.
He pointed to my laptop, “Finally finishing your thesis?”

I looked at him carefully, “Yes and no.
I’ve changed the subject.”

His eyes widened with amusement, “Really?”

“I’ve decided to focus on something else.
The adultery in literature theme doesn’t interest me anymore.”

Alan laughed, “Wow.
And you had so much first-hand experience with that.
Are you throwing it all away on something dull?”

I arched my right eyebrow, “I’ve decided on sex in literature instead.”

Alan rose and held out his hand, “Come with me.”

“Why?”

He didn’t wait for me to give my hand as he took it into his, “Well, you have a lot of research to do and we only have six and a half hours until the kids get out of school.”

Now, why didn’t I think of that?
I took his hand and followed him into the house.

In the end, I guess my fairytale came true.
Out of the corner of my mind, I thought I saw Anna back away from that train, and Hester tearing off her scarlet “A.”
In my imagination, they became lesbian lovers and spent their honeymoon at Disney World.

About the Author

Leslie Langtry is the author of the Bombays Greatest Hits series:

‘Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy

Guns Will Keep Us Together

Stand By Your Hitman

I Shot You Babe

Paradise By The Rifle Sights

Leslie loves puppies and cake (but she will not share her cake with puppies) and thinks praying mantids make everything better. She lives with her family and assorted animals in the Midwest, where she is currently working on her next book.