“Martin, you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Martin’s brother, Rick, had come up behind him after dinner. While the others helped clear the table, Martin had stepped outside to get some air. His head was veritably spinning from this morning’s news. And then from almost swimming head first into a rock the size of an SUV.
“That’s one way of putting it.” Martin muttered. He was never much of a drinker, but today he’d gone through two beers in about an hour, and was working on a third.
“Take it easy Marty, can’t let you drink and swim.” Rick said with a smile. He took the bottle from Martin’s hands, and again asked what was bothering him.
“It’s complicated.” Martin sighed. His brother didn’t know about his marital troubles. Rick didn’t even know that Martin had a history of cheating on Melissa. Unlike his big brother, Rick was loyal to a fault to his wife.
“Work related?” Rick asked, having heard from Melissa what had happened this past week.
“Part of the problem but not the whole problem.”
“So what? Come on Marty, I know you. Whatever it is, just tell me. I won’t got blabbing to your wife or anything if that’s what you’re worried about.” Rick assured him. Martin glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone on the porch.
“There’s this girl I used to SEE before Melissa and I were an item.” Martin began, “You know that for the first few years Melissa didn’t want anything to do with me. So, even though I was going after her, I still SAW other women. Anyway, this girl is coming to Moon Lake on business, and she wants to see me again.”
“Yikes. And you can’t just give her the brush off?”
“That’s the thing, she’s pretty insistent on seeing me again. I was the one who turned her into a were.”
“Seriously? How come you never told me before?”
“I was doing a friend a favor. She was looking for a merman to do it with, and I was available.” Martin tried to make it sound as casual as possible.
Because the fact of the matter was that he and Alyssa saw quite a lot of each other after her transformation. And they only stopped seeing each other when she had to return to San Diego. After which Martin’s romance with Melissa started to pick up, and he never gave the other relationship a second thought.
“Geez, you’re really in a bind aren’t you? And Melissa doesn’t know a thing?”
“She’s under the impression that the only normal I’ve turned is her. And this other girl doesn’t know I’m married now, have a child, or what my job is.” Martin half lied.
Alyssa was well aware he was married. But Martin cut ties to her after Melissa got pregnant with Julie. So she couldn’t know a thing about his recent life. And they’d met while Martin was on a business trip, but he’d never said what his profession was.
“Yikes. Alright, you really want me advice? Just tell Melissa the truth. She’ll understand, and I’m sure she knows you love HER, not this other girl.”
“I’m not so sure…” Martin muttered, knowing that if he told Melissa the truth, he’d never see her or Julie again.
“What else can you do Marty? What if this girl wants to see more of you? I mean, what if she wants to really reconnect? Er, no, I mean what…”
“Rick, I get it. Don’t strain yourself trying to come up alternate sentences. No matter how you put it, it’s going to sound wrong.” Martin stopped Rick from getting any more tongue tied.
“Thanks. But seriously, Martin, nothing good will come from you sneaking around or lying to your wife. Either you tell her the truth, or flat out refuse to see this girl.”
“I’m partial to the latter.” Martin thought. The only trouble was getting the rejection to stick. Alyssa was quite persistent. And if she wanted to see him, Martin got the feeling she was going to.