WHEN WERE MARRIED - BOOK ONE - THE LONG FALL

FOUR LITTLE WORDS - Part 20

That night about 10 p.m. I called and when no one picked up left a voice mail message saying I'd have to work insanely late and that I'd be staying at the River apartments for the next few days rather than try to commute. I never got any return calls so I guess it was alright with everybody.

Friday, as it usually is, was sort of anticlimactic. The only time Fridays are exciting is when a jury is bringing back a verdict. When we're in the middle of trial, judges usually try to wrap things up early. They want to go out to eat or clubbing, although in Jacksonville that's more of an expression than a reality, just like anybody else. And so do the jurors and witnesses and cops. So things usually started running down by mid-afternoon and by 5 p.m. the Courthouse is usually a ghost town.

I was home by 6:15 p.m. and I'd had to break a whole bunch of traffic laws to get home that early. As I walked in Bill Jr. was outside hopping into a friend's car and Kelly passed me going out the door. As she did so she gave me a small smile. It was almost embarrassed.

And that shouldn't have surprised me, I realized. She was old enough now to see what our marriage was like and I was sure she had picked up on the 'friendship' of her mom and a young UNF professor. I wondered why she hadn't tried to warn her old man. But when I saw the embarrassment on her face I knew it was me that embarrassed her, not a relationship between her mother and another man. So far I was batting 0 for 3 in terms of any love on the part of my family members.

As I walked in I saw Debbie coming down the stairs. She was gorgeous, and obviously a little startled. She had clearly been trying to get out of the house before I got home.

"Oh, Bill....I thought you'd be later getting home."

"You know, or I thought you knew, that I usually get off earlier on Fridays unless there's a verdict. Everything wrapped. Where are you headed dressed up so pretty?"

She wore a black dress cut low in the back and low enough in front to show just a hint of cleavage. Over it she wore a gauzy wrap that concealed and revealed at the same time. It was sexy and elegant and entirely too dressy for almost any kind of college event I was familiar with.

"Oh, there's a – an event tonight. It's kind of mandatory for college officials and staff. I – just felt like dressing up. But it's business. I don't think any spouses are coming. Look, you've been working so hard all week. I didn't think you'd want to waste an evening sitting through speeches and college administration stuff. Why don't you take it easy, order a pizza and we can make plans for this weekend when I get home. I'll try not to be late."

Just for the hell of it, I almost insisted that I wanted to come along, even if it was boring as hell, but I let it go.

"Alright, baby. You do look fabulous. Every guy there is going to be in for a treat. But look, you do what you have to do. Don't worry about trying to get back early. I know how those business things go on forever. Stay out as late as you want. I'll probably hit the bed early tonight. We'll do something tomorrow."

She smiled in relief and gave me a sisterly peck on the cheek. She started to say something, and I wondered if some little vestigial lingering guilt she felt about what she was going to do tonight was crossing her mind. But it wasn't enough. She turned and walked out the door.

She was already outside and couldn't hear me as I said, "Goodbye."

UNF has a huge campus. A curving drive leads you around the entire campus and it brought me to the UNF Arena, a huge structure where graduations and basketball games and a lot of other events were held. I showed a campus cop my ID and got to park in a secluded lot on the other side of the road.

For a purely business event, there were a lot of fancy dressed men and women entering the building. I didn't have an invite, but my ID and a comment that I was Professor Maitland's husband got me in. They had a dais at the far end and a lot of tables for four to six people set around the big hall. I noticed there was a cash bar on my side of the building.