Marsha had cried herself to sleep after what had turned out to be a disastrous day. First, she had learned her youngest daughter was being suspended from school for having drugs, which she was holding for her older sister. Then came the phone call from an unidentified woman demanding to speak to her husband. She sat up, rubbed excess moisture from her eyes, and decided she needed a bit of sympathy and the opportunity to bounce some thoughts off a close friend. She picked up the phone and dialed Barbara, who lived across the street.

“Hey, girl. Are you busy?

“Nope, not really. Just folding some towels. What have you got on your mind? Want to come over and join me?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I want to do. I need to talk. I’m heading your way.”

She had already told her neighbor and best friend about Trenton going to rehab, but they hadn’t really discussed the more pressing problem about his likely affair. Once they were comfortably at Barbara’s table, sipping a cup of hot tea, they discussed their daughters and the possibility of why Linsey might have had access to drugs. Barbara admitted she had learned that her own daughter had experimented with LSD at a party. She seemed to think all the kids had likely tried smoking pot with friends. Once that subject was exhausted, Marsha dived into her latest concern.

“Barbara, I’ve been reluctant to talk about this. It is actually embarrassing to admit, but Bruce and Trenton are close and I know how guys talk among themselves. I was wondering if Bruce has ever mentioned anything to you about Trenton and other women. I suspect he may be cheating on me. A little while ago, I got a weird phone call from a woman who claimed she had to talk to Trenton right away. She wouldn’t tell me who she was.”

Barbara bit her lips and hesitated before she spoke. “I’ve been wondering if I should say anything, but yes, Bruce did tell me something in confidence. I didn’t know how to tell you. No one wants to hurt a friend. I decided not to mention it, unless you brought it up. I don’t know who she is, but I have an idea of why she might be anxious to talk to him. We know she’s not pregnant, because you did tell me he’d gotten a vasectomy, didn’t you?”

“Yes, he got one not too long after he insisted that I get that abortion. The doctor was trying to get me to have a hysterectomy. He said I’d had five children, two miscarriages and a tubal pregnancy. He didn’t seem to think my body could handle much more. Trenton said he didn’t want to risk me dying from a hysterectomy. His firm was representing someone whose wife had died. He said he would get a vasectomy instead. I thought at the time, he was concerned about me, but if he’s been playing around, it was probably to protect himself. Why do you think she was calling?”

“Bruce said Trenton had a girl he was putting up in an apartment. I didn’t know whether to believe it or not. The woman who called you might not have been having her apartment rent paid on time with him away.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Did I tell you when I started getting his check, he was making twice as much as I knew about? I couldn’t imagine where that extra money was going.”

“Marsha, I don’t really trust Bruce either. I’m so glad he isn’t with that firm any more. All those guys there are cheating on their wives. Did you know there was a time, a while back, when some of them who worked there were having ‘key parties’ and swapping wives, and the women were enjoying it as well? Bruce even asked me if I would be interested in doing something like that. Can you even imagine some straightlaced person, who grew up in the Bible belt, like me, going along with something so depraved?”

Things were starting to make sense. Marsha did remember something Trenton had told her once. It was a thing she had never dared share with Barbara. Trenton said Bruce had once told him ‘wife swapping is kind of a fad these days. I know you probably wouldn’t be interested in sleeping with Barbara, but I would love to have a night with Marsha.’ Trenton had claimed he had told Bruce, he was crazy to even think he would do something so stupid.  

Her mind wandered back to the time she’d had to fight Bruce off, when he had found her home alone. Even now, with the direction this conversation had gone, she wouldn’t dare hurt her friend by telling her about that incident. She had told Bruce at the time, if it ever happened again, she would tell both Trenton and Barbara, knowing all along, she couldn’t do it. This talk had been enlightening, but she had heard enough. She needed some time to process all of this.

“Barbara, thanks for hearing me out, and lending me a shoulder to cry on. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I may have to go and talk to a lawyer about my options. If Trenton doesn’t come home a changed man, I may be the one who ends up making the changes. I love him, but he is going to have to know, I’m not sharing him with some slut. Right now, I need to get home and look in on Tracie and figure out what I’m going to say to Linsey. I dread talking to a touchy teenager who may be using drugs. I’ll call you later.”

After saying their final words, Marsha crossed the street with a heavy heart. A short while ago, she had been blissfully unaware her life was less than perfect. How could she have been so naïve? The signs had been there all along. She had been a fool to believe Trenton would never consider cheating on her. It was possible he had been doing it all those years while she was pregnant and taking care of babies. She had believed they enjoyed a perfect sex life, and that she was married to a husband who adored her. Now, she was learning her marriage was only a house of cards on the brink of crashing down.