A Hard Man To Love

Cheating

"I cannot believe Merle actually asked you to marry him," Lori said while she picked at her salad. "I mean, are you sure he's not going to cheat on you anymore?"

You and Maggie looked at each other and Maggie rolled her eyes. Lori was seven months pregnant and didn't know if the baby was Shane or Rick's though she wouldn't admit to that. Truthfully, she probably honestly thought no one knew she'd been sleeping with Shane for the last year.

Sitting up a little straighter you set the fry you had halfway to your mouth back on your plate before brushing your hands off on each other, "Lori, why would you ask that?"

She gave me an incredulous look, "Grace he's been cheating on you since you moved in together."

Shaking my head I looked to the ceiling and blinked back tears. Merle and I had dealt with his cheating, and it was something he hadn't done since the last time with Andrea before he got clean. I loved him and was happy, but I was tired of most of my friends digging at my relationship with him. Granted when Merle hurt me I'd turned to my friends for support but I never put him down, never complained about my relationship, and never once said I didn't want to be with him. A few of my friends supported my relationship, like Maggie, despite her own past issues with him.

Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth I looked back down at Lori, "How would you hope Rick would respond to finding out you had been having an affair with Shane?"

Lori's mouth dropped open and she stared at me in shock.

"Wouldn't you hope that he could find it in his heart to forgive you and move on? Especially since you love him?" I pressed.

She was still staring blankly at me. Maggie had her bottom lip pressed up into her teeth as she watched Lori.

"And wouldn't you hope that his friends could support his decision to stay with you despite the fact that baby you're carrying might not be his?" I continued.

"I am not cheating on Rick," Lori asserted lamely.

"Oh come on Lori, all three of us know that's not true. You started sleeping with Shane after Rick was shot last year and kept it up even after Rick finally made it home from the hospital," Maggie threw in.

Lori looked down at her hands over her hugely pregnant belly and looked like she might cry.

"You know what the difference is between what you're doing and what Merle did?" I asked her.

"What Grace?" She said in a tight voice.

"He never lied to me about it, he always told me himself. And you know, yeah, it hurt like hell when he did. But at least I didn't walk in on him boffing another woman," I explained calmly and pointed at her stomach. "He also never got another woman pregnant."

That apparently was all Lori could take, she opened up her purse and threw a twenty-dollar bill down on the table, "That's it, I'm not going to sit here and listen to this anymore."

Maggie and I watched as she stormed out of the diner.

"Well that went well..." Maggie said after Lori's back.

I shook my head and went back to my fries when I felt Maggie's hand on my forearm. Looking up at her I could see understanding in her eyes.

Flashback to fourteen years ago...

You were nearing the end of your third year of your BSN and had been working in the diner, going to school, and doing clinicals at the hospital for school. The time you and Merle got to spend together was limited and you were looking forward to an evening alone with him. The two of you were going to watch Die Hard, have a pizza and some beer, and you were hoping for a couple of orgasms somewhere in the mix. One thing about Merle, he was the king of giving you multiple orgasms. When you walked into the front door of the trailer you and Merle were renting the lights were out and he wasn't home yet. Setting the pizza down on the counter in the kitchen you made your way into your bedroom and changed into a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top without a bra or panties. Merle liked it when you didn't wear a bra or panties, especially in bed, it gave his wandering fingers easier access to tease you.