The Other Woman

Author’s note:

I was sittin’ out back nursing a Lonestar longneck – yeah, it’s hard to find in the Wine country – listening to my iPod. Faron Young started crooning “The Other Woman (In My Life)” and I thought, damn, that’s a sad song. Feeling a jolt of the Texas born alcohol and feeling melancholy from the music I took pen to paper …

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what love has done to me

- “Careless Love” Traditional

The bartender shot me another aggravated look as I slid the bottle of Lonestar around in circles on the counter – the sweat from the cold bottles lined up in a careful row mixed with the ashes carelessly shed from the first pack of cigarettes I’d bought in over twenty years were mixed together in a sloppy mess.

Every time he came closer with his rag, I shooed him away with another sawbuck and a wiggle of the latest installment of my attempt to drown in my misery. He was good at bringing a new cold one but, damn, he did have a thing for cleanliness.

Looking into the flyspecked mirror – I guess it was just the bar he had this cleanin’ fetish about – I saw this pushin’ middle aged (and pushing very hard!) man peeking with red rimmed eyes through the nest of long necks. Being honest with myself – something I hadn’t done about Dottie for a long time – I conceded that I wasn’t like the handsome, virile young man I’d seen my “lovin’ wife” with last night.

Yeah, I could see a gleam of reflected light through the thinning hair on my head and the wrinkles around my eyes showed the effects of all those years working outdoors in the sun and weather at the ranch tryin’ to keep Dottie happy. I nodded to myself thinking once again that money didn’t buy happiness.

I heard the clink of coins dropping into the jukebox and through that mirror I looked over to see the only guy in the place more pathetic than I leaning on the source of that sad music. I swore, if Hank Thompson started playing that damn “Wild Side Of Life” again, I was gonna stick one of these longnecks where it’d do the most good.

Sure enough, as I gave a deep and lonely sigh, the music cried out:

I might have known you'd never make a wife.
You gave up the only one that really loves you.
And went back to the wild side of life.

Tears came to my eyes as I wagged the empty, asking for more solace.

It wasn’t anything grand. I mean I didn’t suspect anything … hell, I didn’t have a clue. I almost never left the ranch in the evenings – I was always too damn tired. Jerry had called me and said he really needed some of the casing pipe I had left over from puttin’ in a well a few weeks back. He had a leak in the well for one of his stock tanks and “would I do him a big favor?”

So I loaded up the truck with what I had and drove into Uvalde. My ranch was a few miles southwest of Sabinal. We shared a beer and I started back. I was tired and still thirsty so I pulled into Jake’s Place – a few blocks before pickin’ up highway 90 - on the way back. It was a new place, more of a dance hall than a bar. I pulled up and was shocked to see Dottie’s Jeep in the parking lot. She told me she was goin’ up to Hereford to help her friend Nancy whose youngest was down with the colic. She’d said that she would probably stay overnight.

I sat there in the hot summer night, the pinging of the cooling engine an offbeat counter point to the dance music coming through the open doors. The sweat was making tracks through the dust on my face and I could smell the long day of back breakin’ work on my clothes.

Gathering myself I got out and walked over to the door. The music was louder here and I stopped inside by the rest rooms looking around. Finally I saw Dottie and this kid – hell, he couldn’t have been more that twenty-five – movin’ in the shadows by the back door. The band was playing a fast two-step but they were dancin’ somethin’ slower than a waltz … if dancin’ is what it was. His hands were all over her and she sure weren’t complainin’!

I watched for a minute, undecided, when she put her arms around him and gave him a big kiss – sure looked like she was trying to ream out his tonsils. Breaking the hug she took his arm and dragged him out the door – left open in the misguided hope of a fresh breeze. I knew then it was gonna be bad.

I walked back outside and around the building as they were getting’ in the back seat of a big crew cab truck. I slowly walked up to the truck. It was hard to see in – the truck was high off the ground. When I saw her dress carelessly tossed over to the front seat I knew there was nothin’ I wanted to see anyway.

I dragged myself back to my truck and sat there watching that damn red Jeep of hers. Feelin’ childish I grabbed the tire iron from under the seat and broke her windshield and headlights. Damn, it felt good though!

I headed home and drove out to an old line shack we kept stocked with food and such about four miles west of the ranch headquarters. I weren’t hungry but I knew there was most of a bottle of my old friend Jack Daniels there that I needed to renew my acquaintance with. The first couple of glasses – I was sittin’ out front on the grass under the big cottonwood tree – took the edge off my anger and I took a long hard look at my marriage.

By the time I heard the crash of the bottle broken on a rock by a lethargic throw, I came to understand I just didn’t give a shit anymore.

Come to noon, I fixed some bacon and eggs and decided I needed a lot of something cold and wet. As I drove past the ranch house I didn’t see her Jeep – hell, I bet she never even saw it herself last night.

I drove down towards Knippa to Willy’s Tavern just short of town. And here I was listening to more from Hank:

And I dream of kisses you traded for my tears.
And no one will ever know how much I love you.

The beers were adding up so I stumbled back to the restroom. Plumpin’ back down on my stool, I saw the bar was clean, the bottles were gone and the bartender had a vindictive gleam in his eye. I was strainin’ to think of some smart-ass comment to hit him with when I felt a rustlin’ next to me.

I turned my head and saw with some surprise Little Annie was sittin’ there. Now I’d known Annie for a long time but I hadn’t seen her since her husband Bill was buried - killed when a blowout on the oilrig he was workin’ on over by Odessa caught on fire.

Annie – the Little Annie came from her bein’ an even five foot tall (she claimed!) – was the sister of one of the hands I had helpin’ me for seasonal work once in a while.

She looked over at me with a small smile and asked, “Hey, Bobby, buy a girl a drink?”

I looked her in the eye and mumbled, “Annie, I ain’t such great company right now. I’m kinda down, ya know?”

Looking down at the bar and rubbing a spot with her finger, she answered, “Yeah, Bobby, I know. I’ve been feelin’ like that for two years now. Damn! I miss the hell out of that asshole!”

Lookin’ in the mirror, I could see her eyes were cloudin’ up, maybe threatenin’ rain. I took stock of her though I knew her well. She was sure ‘nuff small but I knew she had a hellacious temper and a huge heart in that tiny body. She’d always had a big smile but I sure didn’t see one now.

I held up two fingers and waved them at the bartender. We sat and drank in silence for a while – each lost in our own lonesome thoughts.

She spun around on the chair and looked at me, as if suddenly thinkin’ of somethin’. “Hey, whatcha doin’ here this late on a week night? Why ain’tcha home with Dottie?”

I waggled my empty again and talking to that homely mug in the mirror I told her about what I’d seen last night. As I was tellin’ her, she took my arm in both her small hands and leaned inta me.

When I finished, we sat there for a quiet, long time. Somebody put the money in for a slow song and Annie dragged me off the stool onta the small dance floor. We kinda moved slowly around, not really dancin’. She felt good in my arms. She was about a foot shorter than me but I could feel somethin’ firm pressin’ inta my stomach. She felt so delicate – I was afraid I was gonna break her.

She looked up at me and laughed, “Don’t worry, cowboy, you ain’t gonna break anything.” She pulled me tight and we just leaned back and forth with the music.

When the song ended, she took my hand and led me out to the parkin’ lot. She looked hard at me and said, “Just don’t say a damn thing, Bobby.”

So she got behind the wheel of my truck – I guess she felt I was in no shape to drive - and she drove to her small house a little south of Sabinal. She pulled me into the house and opened a couple of icy cans of Shiner Bock and led me into her bedroom.

“Bobby, I haven’t slept with a man since Bill died and I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. I miss having a man in my bed! I don’t want to do anything … I just … I just want to have a man hold me.”

She ran into her bathroom and I stood there thinkin’ about her. I guess I understood what she needed and surprisingly I felt like I maybe needed the same thing. She came out in a long white cotton gown and, if it weren’t for the curves pushing out all over the place, I’d of sworn she was sixteen.

She lay on the bed and I went in to take a shower. She’d found a tee shirt and some underpants of Bill’s somewhere and left them on the bathroom counter. I got my odoriferous clothes off and threw them in a corner. After a long hot shower I put the stuff she left me and went in to lay with her.

We finished our beers and she turned the lights out. She put her head on my shoulder and I swear she was asleep instantly. I lay still for a long time – thinking of Dottie and her asshole friend and realizing how hard it had been for Annie.

I fell asleep and woke up around two with my arm asleep. I gently disengaged her head from my shoulder and turned away from her. As I fell back asleep, I could feel her snuggle up to me. Maybe it was a dream but those curves sure felt good against me. Dottie had slept in a separate bed for several years because “her back hurt.”

I woke up early needing to find that bathroom right away. After relievin’ myself, I went back to the bedroom to find that Annie wasn’t there. I washed up and put my dirty clothes back on over Bill’s underwear (I threw my underwear in the trash). I wandered into the front of the small house and found Annie in the kitchen making flapjacks and frying a big ham steak.

She looked at me, embarrassed kinda, but didn’t say anything. I walked up behind her, my hands on her shoulders and smelled her hair – maybe a faint apple blossom aroma. I kissed the top of her head and said quietly, “Thanks, Annie. I needed that. You’re a good woman and I hope things work out for you. I know now how hard it is.

She turned in my arms and held me tightly but didn’t say anything. I felt tears in my eyes and didn’t know what to say or do.

Annie turned away and put the breakfast on the table. We talked about the ranch – she knew a lot about it from her brother – and about how hard it had been for her.

“Dammit, Bobby, just because my man died, every jerk in the area thinks I’m dying for their manly charms. I’ve been pinched, pushed and squeezed until I’m black and blue. Thanks for not takin’ advantage of me last night.”

She hesitated, and continued, “You could have, you know. I’m just so darn lonely …”

She jumped up and ran back to her bedroom. I got another mug of coffee and went out onto her porch in the early morning coolness. I looked at the risin’ sun, an ominous bloody red in the dusty West Texas sky and thought about Dottie and Annie. Dottie and Annie, yeah!

I knew I was through with Dottie but I wasn’t sure how to handle it. Did I like Annie? Yeah, I had to say I did. I respected the pain she had gone through and didn’t want to hurt her. I had never really understood women and it surely didn’t look like I was goin’ to start understandin’ them now.

I waited for Annie but she didn’t show for a longish time. Finally I took the empty mug in and walked to the back of the house to find her. She was lying sprawled out on the bed, her skirt enticingly high, sound asleep with a gentle girlish snore quietly filling the still air of the bedroom. I looked at her legs and felt a stirring in my body but saw the damp spot under her face where her tears had wound up.

I felt a lump in my throat and quietly backed out. I wrote her a note:

Annie – thanks for everything – you were just what I needed last night. If it’s okay, I want to call on you when I get it all figured out with Dottie. I gotta git back to the ranch and make sure the hands are gettin’ the chores done.

I’ll come over later so we can pick up your truck.

Bobby.

I drove back to the ranch to see what was goin’ on with Dottie.

THERE CAME A WOMAN

There came a woman
Into the house
And life was … changed.

- “There Came A Woman” Jake Rivers ©

Two weeks after I had completed my degree in Range Management at Texas Tech in Lubbock, my dad had a heart attack and died that night in the hospital. My mom had died while I was in high school and suddenly I was alone in that big ranch house.

The funeral was a lonely time for me. Sittin’ on the porch a couple of weeks later I knew I was at a crossroads. It would be a big challenge to manage the ranch but I was sure I could do it. I did have a good offer for the place but what the hell would I do? I loved the place and always felt comfortable there.

Mostly the place produced cattle – and that was what I loved. The ranch was 4,000 acres that was all deeded land. I had a few hands and hired seasonal workers as needed. The ranch had been in the family since the 1890’s and I felt some obligation from that to keep the property. A couple of sons would be nice …

A rising plume of dust caught my eye and I watched it come down the long ranch road coming off Highway 1049. A two-year-old Caddy pulled up and parked on the asphalt area in front of the large garage with brakes squealin’. As I stared at the car, shakin’ my head a little, a tall blonde showed a generous amount of thigh as she slid out.

Lookin’ up at me through dark sunglasses, she asked, “Are you Robert Morse?”

“Yeah, I’m Bobby – ain’t no one ever called me Robert but my mama … and that was only when she was well and truly pissed at me. Can I ask what brings you out here in such a hurry that it was necessary to stir up all that dust on a hot day like this?”

She lifted her sunglasses, raised her eyebrows in askance, dropped the glasses back down and walked up on the porch – the short, tight skirt risin’ seductively as she made her way up the steps.

Ignorin’ my comment, she continued in a brisk, business-like voice, “I’m an appraiser hired by the bank in San Antone. Your dad had several loans with the bank: some on the property, a mortgage on the house, and two separate ones on the ranch equipment. I need to do a complete inspection on everything covered by the loans before the bank can roll over all the paperwork from your dad to you.“

“Okay, I can see that. I have two questions: how long is this going to take and who are you?” I said this last with a little sarcasm dripping off my tongue. I figured she should have introduced herself before she asked who I was.

She laughed a little, and replied, “I’m sorry! I’m Dottie Dutcher. I don’t work for the bank; I have a small business of my own, called ‘Appraised By Dutcher.’ I took it over from my dad when he retired last year. Based on the size of the ranch and the amount of equipment, I’d guess three or four days. Maybe a little less if I didn’t have to spend all that time drivin’ back and forth from the city.”

With a saucy shake of her long hair – well past her shoulders – she added, “Of course if there were a place to stay close to here I could do it in less time.” The last was said with the emphasis on close.

It turned out she stayed a week. She started on the house and when we got to my bedroom we kinda got sidetracked for the rest of the day. It was like that all week: she’d appraise for the bank in the mornings and we would appraise each other in the afternoons. Evenings we’d go out to dinner and dancin’ and by the time she left we were engaged. I never did figure out exactly what happened. All I know is three months later we got married in San Antone.

Most of the time, it was a pretty good marriage. The sex was better than anything I’d ever had before – which was mostly the college experimentin’ stuff. But there were little naggin’ things - she was fixated on money and could never get enough. She’d run up to Dallas to places like Neiman Marcus and get the latest fashions two/three times a year.

She seemed to like to party a lot and I didn’t like the way she dressed – or undressed as it looked to me … and I liked it less and less as the years passed. She seemed to want to dance with about anyone but I got all the dances I could handle so I couldn’t complain too much.

I was all set for a couple of kids but it seemed she wanted to “have a little fun” first. I guessed we should have talked about it before we got engaged but that first week when she was at the ranch, she had me in such a sexual daze, I didn’t know which end was up … unless she told me.

I got fed up with her flirtin’ ways and finally stopped goin’ out with her much. She didn’t go as much either – maybe a couple times a month with her girlfriends. But it did seem that she would visit her friends more and more over time. There was always some good reason: a bridal shower, a quiltin’ bee, some sick kid … just always somthin’ that kept her runnin’. Her shopping trips to Dallas, and now Houston seemed to happen more and more often. It also seemed like she had to do out-of-town appraisin’ a lot too.

I asked myself once in a while whether I still loved her or not. After convincin’ myself that she still loved me, I’d always get back to wonderin’ if I was so sure and all why did I keep askin’ the question?

The sex got better and better – I guess you could say it was hot. But it did seem like it wasn’t as often. After four or five years of marriage, she got a back problem so we had to get separate beds. A year or two after that, she complained my snoring was so bad she wanted to move into the guest suite downstairs.

Ya gotta understand this was all happenin’ so gradual I liked to not notice at all. It was just ever so often somethin’ would happen and I would stop and take stock. I wasn’t getting’ any younger – pushin’ forty, hair thinnin’, maybe a little beer belly. Life had been full of sunshine when Dottie came into my life … now it was all shadows and dark places.

Did I love her? Hell, I didn’t know!

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

"It is better to be unfaithful than to be faithful without wanting to be."

- Brigitte Bardot

I left Annie’s place and with some resolve I headed home. Love was on my mind – what did it mean? What was it all about? I remembered something Joan Crawford said once:

“Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”

It sure felt like my house was on fire!

We’d had some good years but could they be brought back? Did I really want to try to start over with Dottie? One thing for sure I wasn’t goin’ to put up with any shit from her. I don’t know, I felt so tired.

I pulled up to the ranch house and her Jeep was parked there. It was a little after noon on a bright, sunny Saturday. I walked in the kitchen door and she was sittin’ there with a mug of coffee in her hands. She didn’t look too happy with me and immediately proved it.

“God damn you, Bobby! Where have you been all night? Your clothes look like you slept in them. I’ve been really worried. Were you with some woman? Dammit, you were, weren’t you? If you think you can get away with that shit … “

She was all red and looked ready to bust a gut. I just looked at her for a minute, kinda neutral like, and walked over to the fridge. I really needed a cold one. I drank half of it down and asked her, quietly, “Dottie, you know anyone that has a white, year-old F-250 crew cab with stakes on the back?”

I downed the rest of the beer and tossed the bottle in the general direction of the trashcan. From the noise of breakin’ glass I guess I missed. Dottie had sit down, lookin’ a little greenish like the time I tried to get her to eat escargot at that French restaurant in San Antone. I gave her a glare like the one she gives me when I come in from shovelin’ the horse stalls and forget to clean off my feet.

I just walked out the door makin’ sure to shove the screen wide open so it would give a nice satisfyin’ slam. I jumped back in my truck and drove right back where I came from. I was thinkin’ of a line from an old Don Rich song: “ … I’m gonna find somebody that’s gonna love me like I once loved you.”

When I got to Annie’s place, she was doin’ the same thing I’d been doin’ earlier – sittin’ on the porch sippin’ from a mug of steamin’ coffee. I sat down on the bench next to her and gave out what musta been the loudest, saddest sigh ever. She didn’t say anything – just went inside and came out with a mug for me. Handin’ me the coffee, she sat down, givin’ her own sad sigh.

With a small smile, she looked up at me, “We’re a likely lookin’ couple, ain’t we?”

I gave her a small smile back and took her hand in mine. “Wal, I don’t know, Annie. I’m sittin’ here with the purttiest gal west of San Antone. I know a great place for a picnic and I betcha I can find a good place to go dancin’ tonight. Do you think that gal would like to do this with me?”

She looked at me for a long minute – lookin’ like she was tryin’ to make up her mind – then scooted over close, took my arm in her tiny hands and leaned into me. “Sure, Bobby,” she said in a quiet voice, not lookin’ at me now. “I … I’ve had a hard time. I’m not ready to … you know. But I’m lonely and I know you’re hurtin’ too. And, Bobby, I do like you a lot. You never knew it but I had the most godawful crush on you before I met Bill.”

I turned to her, taking her small frame tight in my arms. I kissed her on the top of the head, buryin’ my face in the thick curls. She smelled like those yeller flowers that bloom in the spring on the mountain meadows.

“Annie, I just need a friend now. Someone that can make me smile a little. I’ve got this big empty place where I used to have a lot of love … and it hurts a lot. I like you – maybe more than a friend - but I do respect you and how you feel right now.

“Hey? If you give me a big smile, I’ll take you on a picnic. Okay, Annie?”

We stopped by the market in Sabinal, pickin’ up fried chicken, potato salad and a six-pack of Shiner Bock. I kept a cooler in the back of my truck so we put the lunch there with a bag of ice. Annie had brought some plates and stuff from her kitchen. We would pick up her truck on the way back.

I knew a place I’d been fishin’ a lot on the Frio River up by Concan. It was about a quarter mile hike from the road but there was a big live oak leanin’ over a still, deep pool of water. There was a fair sized grassy meadow and all in all it was a quiet and pretty place.

I put down a quilt she’d put in the truck and she got the lunch ready. That was one of the best meals I’d ever had – sittin’ on that quilt with Annie. The food was simple but good. Afterwards we lay down with her head on my shoulder.

She was quiet for a long time – I thought she’d gone to sleep when I heard her whisper, “Do you still want to go dancin’ tonight?”

“Yeah, I do, but my clothes are kinda mussed.”

“Oh, that’s nuthin’. I can fix that when we get back to my place. Bobby, this place you want to go. Do you think Dottie is gonna be there?”

Damn! I hadn’t thought about that. “I guess she might. Is that a problem for you?”

“Well, are you tryin’ to use me, Bobby? Tryin’ to get back at her or make her jealous or somethin.” She sounded a little mad with this.

I considered that for a long minute. “No, no, I don’t think so. It’s a nice place with a great band and I wanted to take you somewhere nice. I don’t deny I’d like to see her dancin’ with this guy and maybe let her see I’m not home alone.”

“Just don’t use me, Bobby. Just … please don’t.”

I could feel her shakin’ a little – I guessed she was cryin’. I put my arms around her holdin’ her tight. As I thought about what I wanted … and maybe what I didn’t want, she fell asleep. I was thinkin’ that, no, I wouldn’t hurt her as I fell asleep too.

It was late in the day when we woke. We gathered everything up and walked back to the truck. I dropped her off at the bar so she could pick up her truck and followed her home.

She rummaged around in the closet and found a box of Bill’s old things. The pants were fine but the shirts were a tad tight in the shoulders but were okay … ‘cept the shirt was a lot flashier than I liked to wear – all flowers and things. There was a fine Stetson on the shelf in a plastic bag that fit fine. While Annie pressed the clothes, I shined my shoes and took a shower. I used her razor to shave with but kept gettin’ this image of her shavin’ her legs while takin’ her shower. Damn!

I finished that last beer while she got ready. I have to say she cleaned up real well! She had on some newish cowgirl boots, a full denim skirt and a pretty shirt with even more flowers than Bill’s had.

We drove over to the same dance hall I’d seen Annie at those two nights ago. It was pretty late, maybe nine-thirty when we got there. I saw Dottie with her ‘friend’ and another couple sittin’ close to the band. I grabbed a table maybe three or four tables down from the band from where she was. I wanted her to know that I was here but I didn’t want to have to look at her with her friends.

Annie and I danced a few numbers. Ever once in a while Dottie would be dancin’ close and each time she looked a little madder. I could see she was workin’ up to somethin’ and I should have skedaddled and took Annie home. But sometimes I ain’t as smart as I should be.

Finally during a slow dance Dottie had her temper take over from whatever sense she’d had. She grabbed Annie by the shoulder and pulled her away from me.

“Is this the slut you slept with last night?”

Unfortunately this came just as the band finished the song and it came out real loud! Annie turned a bright red and started cryin’.

I stared at Dottie a few seconds – I think I had some idea of countin’ to ten – but I was too pissed.

Consciously making myself as loud as Dottie had been, I yelled at her, “You know what a slut is? A slut is a tramp that goes out to some man’s truck, gets in the back seat, and throws her dress over the seat! It’s not hard to guess what happens after that, is it? Now, Dottie, this is what I saw you doing Thursday night with that little asshole standin’ over there. So you know, Dottie, I guess that makes you the slut!”

With that I grabbed Annie’s hand and walked quickly back outside. I put her in the truck, walked around, and drove to her house. She didn’t want me to come in – she was still cryin’ and I could see she was upset.

“Annie, I’m sorry. I had no idea she would do somethin’ like that. Dammit, she’s probably been runnin’ around for years on me and gets mad at me just for dancin’.”

I took her and led her over to the bench on the front porch. “Annie, I don’t want you to go in upset like this. Please sit on the porch with me for a while, okay?”

I took my handkerchief and wiped her tears away as we sat down. I put my arm around her and we sat there for fifteen minutes or so. I could feel the tenseness ease out of her as she gradually relaxed. Finally I stood up and held out a hand for her. I held her closely for a bit then kissed her nose lightly. Neither of us said anything as I turned and went over to my truck. I could see her standing there as I drove off.

When I got back to the ranch I saw asshole’s truck sittin’ in the yard. I jerked open the screen door and saw them sittin’ there drinkin’ beer.

Dottie started, “Bobby! He was just givin’ me a ride home.”

I grabbed the beer from his hand and tried another throw at the trashcan. Damn! I cain’t throw for shit. I grabbed the kid’s shirt and, opening up the screen, threw him outside. He scrambled up and ran for his truck.

I turned back to Dottie. “Dammit, its bad enough you go whorin’ around with this guy, but … damn! How could you let him drink my beer?”

With that I walked away and spend the next two nights at the line shack. Sunday I went over to Annie’s and we sat around and talked. She was still pretty upset. I think it was more at me than Dottie but she didn’t say anything. She was just real quiet. That night I took her out for steaks at a nice place in Sabinal. Monday she fixed me dinner and afterwards I lay down with her until she fell asleep.

Dottie had been leavin’ messages for me and I figgered it was time to settle things.

THE OTHER WOMAN

“… for it was you who was careless,
and you drove me into another's arms.”

- “The Other Woman” by Don Rollins

I don’t know what Dottie wanted to do but I knew it was over for me. Was somethin’ goin’ to happen with Annie? I didn’t know but I was beginnin’ to hope so. I guess what tore things with me was when I realized I’d rather spend time with Annie than with Dottie.

I couldn’t believe how I’d changed my perspective in just a couple of days. That night I saw her in that truck - saw that dress flyin’ over the seat – I’d been devastated. Now it came to me that it had been my pride that was ruined and I actually felt pretty good. Bottom line? My marriage had been over for a couple of years but no one got around to telling me about it.

I didn’t see any problem with a divorce. Dottie’s dad was kinda crazy about buyin’ land. He’d never sell any – just kept on buyin’. Three/four years ago he’d started putting Dotties name on all the property. She basically gave him her paycheck and he put it into land. So she didn’t have any cash but her holdings in the land with her dad was worth more than the value of my ranch.

Damn! I had us divorced already and I hadn’t even talked to her yet.

I set somethin’ up with her for the next Saturday to talk. Meanwhile we just seemed to avoid each other – I guess neither of us was lookin’ forward to layin’ it all out.

Friday night we was both home and she did fix a nice dinner. I’d played hooky from work that day and drove down to Choke Canyon Reservoir. It was a ways south of San Antone, a little over a hundred miles from the ranch to the spot where I liked to fish. I caught a mess of large mouth bass and to her credit, Dottie did know what to do with them.

We were still kinda stayin’ away from each other so we didn’t talk too much. Later I was sittin’ on the front porch slowly nursin’ a beer and thinkin’ about our meeting the next day. ‘Bout ten Dottie came out wearin’ a black teddy. Now Dottie in a black teddy is a sight to behold – and I gotta confess that at least some parts of me were surely interested.

I looked at her for a minute and told her, while I wiggled the bottle in my hand, “I’ll be in as soon as I finish my beer.”

Now I know I did wiggle that bottle – and I confess there are those that would think I meant I’d come in when I finished that bottle – but what I meant was what I said. I’d come in when I finished my beer. And somewhere around two, there were eight empty bottles lined up on the porch rail. And I’m here to tell ya, I was finished with my beer. I knew she’d be pissed but, as I went in to sleep on the cowhide sofa in the ranch office, I wasn’t too worried about it. What was she gonna do, cheat on me? Mebbeso, mebbeso!

The next mornin’ while I was takin’ my coffee on the porch, she came out dressed in a tight yeller sundress that she’d used in the past to twist me around her finger. Some guys would do anything to get that sundress off her.

I gave her a bleak look, “You wanna talk this mornin’?

“Yes, Bobby. That’s the plan we made.”

“Okay, then, go change that dress into a shirt and jeans and wear your ridin’ boots.”

She looked at me for a minute like I was crazy but finally shook her pretty head and flounced back in the house. When she came back out, I had a pinto I especially liked and had her roan mare saddled.

I didn’t say anything – just mounted up and started walkin’ my horse across country towards the line shack. I could hear her quietly cussin’: it sounded somethin’ like, “ … damn pig headed … “

I picked the line shack ‘cause this was my turf; she almost never went up there. I also didn’t want any interruptions – no phone calls, no stompin’ out, nuthin’. I wanted us to resolve everything and to do it today.

I took the saddles off and slipped the bits of the reins and turned the horses loose in the small corral. I’d stocked up stuff for sandwiches – we had electricity out to the line shack but no phone line.

There was a picnic table under the big live oak so we sat down there. She was on the seat and I was sittin’ on top of the table.

I got us started, “Dottie, I’d like to ask a couple of questions first, then we can talk about anything you want to. First, what’s important to you, I mean in our marriage – what’s important between you and I?”

She was quiet for a while, then lookin’ up at me she replied, “Well, I don’t think we go out enough. I know you’re tired after working on the ranch all day but I like to go out dancin’ and stuff. I really enjoy it.”

“Okay, Dottie, I can see that. I like to do that stuff too but you are right – I am tired and just don’t have the energy to go out during the week. What else do you have to tell me? And how long’ve you been sleepin’ around?”

She looked down at the ground and didn’t say anything for the longest time. Finally lookin’ up she replied, “Oh, Bobby! I’m so sorry. The first time was a couple of years ago. It was kinda like with us. I’d gone out to this guy’s ranch for an appraisal and when we finished it was late.” She looked down again as she continued, “ I stayed for dinner and we had a couple of drinks, and … oh, Bobby, I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t reply. What she said hurt … it hurt a lot but it almost seemed like it was happening to someone else. Maybe my pride was hurt more than anything.

Finally she started again, “I don’t know. I’ve always loved you, Bobby. You know that. I guess, well, maybe I didn’t love you enough. It wasn’t a lot of guys – four altogether counting Jerry which started a couple of weeks ago. None of them lasted more that a few weeks. It’s just that every once in a while … “

Here she drifted off into silence, lookin’ like she was worryin’ over somethin’. “Bobby, is there someone else? Is Annie the other woman?”

She said “other woman” like she’d eaten somethin’ sour.

A little stronger, she continued, “Is there, Bobby?”

I waited her out – waited until she looked up at me. I gently shook my head, “No, Dottie. There’s been no one. I knew things weren’t always goin’ well between us but I sure never expected to see what I saw last week. If someone had told me they saw what I did, I’d of beat the crap out of them. I feel … well, I feel soiled.”

“About Annie? Well, nuthin’ has happened – in fact the first time I saw her in over a year was the day after I saw you in that guy’s truck. Nuthin’ happening was her choice. I have to say I was ready for anything I was so down over us. Do I want somethin’ to happen? I’d have to say yes. But, Dottie, in no way is Annie or anyone else “the other woman.”

She started crying a little over that and then asked, “What happens now, Bobby? Can we make it or is it over?”

Tumbling that around in my mind, I answered, “Well, Dottie, do you want to stay together knowing there would be no more runnin’ around?”

Looking up, she replied, “Bobby, I really would like to stay with you. You are a great guy – the nicest man I’ve ever met.” Turning her head, looking off down the hill, she said softly, “But, Bobby, in some ways that’s not all that I want. I don’t know if I can give you what you want and need from me. I’m sorry, Bobby!”

“Well, Dottie, that’s pretty much how I feel. I couldn’t live with you doin’ this stuff. I’ve thought a lot about it the last few days and I think we were too young when we got married. The lust was great for a few years but, when we needed somethin’ deeper, it just wasn’t there.”

I put my hand on her shoulder, “Dottie, let’s not make this ugly. Why don’t you move in with your dad for a couple of months and then we can get back together and see where we are. I’m not asking anything of you but I won’t do anything with anyone else. I will be datin’ Annie if she wants to but I won’t have sex with her until we make a final decision. Is that okay?”

She leaned her head against my leg and wrapped her arm around it. She sat there for the longest time and then stood up with a sigh and looked at me. “Yeah, Bobby, I think that’s best. I want to keep you as a friend – I know my dad likes you a lot. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

With that I saddled the horses and we made it back down the hill to the ranch house. I helped Dottie pack a couple of suitcases and several boxes and put them in the back of the Jeep. I watched her as she got behind the wheel – marveling once again what a beautiful woman she was. I thought of a song I’d heard by Faron Young a couple days ago called “The Other Woman.”

The other woman isn't prettier than you,
But the other woman soothes my wounded pride.

I felt kinda strange – I mean a major part of my life was getting’ ready to drive away. Before the dust of her Jeep had settled, I was sittin’ on the porch with a cold beer seein’ Annie laying on her bed with her skirt hiked up and her hair scattered all loose over her pillow. It wasn’t so much as a sexual thought – although there was that – it’s that this image had grabbed my imagination … maybe found a home in a corner of my heart. She was certainly gettin’ under my skin.

I wanted to move slowly with her. There was a rodeo comin’ up in Uvalde in a couple of weeks and I called to invite her. She asked how things were with Dottie.

“Annie, I’d rather not talk about that over the phone but I do want to talk about it.”

“Okay, Bobby. Can you make it to Willy’s Tavern tomorrow at seven? I want to hear all about this.”

So we agreed and when I got there I sat down at a booth waitin’ for Annie. The same damn cowboy was still playin’ the jukebox feelin’ sad about losin’ his love to “the wild side of life.”

Annie came in and sat next to me and we decided to have coffee. I told her about the meeting at the line shack and how it had ended.

“Annie, I told her I’d like to start datin’ you.” I guess I looked a little scared.

“What else, buster?” she asked with a non-committal tone in her voice.

Turning a little red, I replied, “I also told her I wouldn’t have sex with you until we made a final decision!”

I thought she was mad for a minute but then she hit me in the side with her elbow, “Like you had anything to say about it anyway!” Then she started laughin’, “Yes, you can date me and, yes, you cain’t have sex with me until you agree on a divorce.”

She did have me over for dinner one night and afterwards she sat on my lap as we kissed for a while. The rodeo was fun and we both knew a lot of the competitors so one or another of them would come over and say hi. We went out for dinner afterwards and one Saturday I took her up to the line shack for a picnic.

She had been to the ranch a number of times with her brother but she’d never been up to the line shack. She was enchanted by the place and the view of the ranch. We were lyin’ on a quilt under the big live oak doin’ some serious “getting’ to know each other better” stuff (her words). She sat up and looked down at the ranch buildings.

She dreamily murmured, “This would be a nice place for a honeymoon – or maybe Maui.”

I was half asleep and asked, “What did you say about Maui?”

“Oh, nuthin’. I was just thinkin’.”

~~~~~~

After three months, I met with Dottie and we did part friends. Both of us had already moved on. She wanted a few things from the ranch house and wanted to keep her mare and saddle but basically we just walked away from each other. We did stay in touch and, a couple of years later she married a lawyer and moved to Fort Worth.

Annie and I kept dating and getting’ closer – the lovin’ was getting’ steamier all the time – but we hadn’t slept together again. Annie said she just wasn’t ready yet. I was in no hurry. I knew more and more I loved her in a way I never loved Dottie and wanted a marriage that would last for the ages.

About a month after the divorce was final Annie looked over at me one mornin’ after I’d come over for breakfast and we were enjoyin’ our second mug of coffee. “Bobby, I’m ready! Can we take a trip somewhere – I’d really like this to be special!”

I went around to her side of the table and takin’ her hand I raised her up. Holding her tight I whispered in her ear, “Are you sure about this, honey?”

She squeezed me tight and murmured a quiet “yes!” in my ear.

I whispered back, “Okay, how about we pack up the truck and drive down to Choke Canyon Reservoir and go fishin’ for a week.”

She poked me in the stomach with her small fist and said in a nasty tone I’d never heard from her, “Robert Joseph Morse you are one wrong word away from seein’ how I gut a fish!”

Okay, okay, so there are some things she don’t wanna joke about.

I kissed her ear, nuzzlin’ a bit, and whispered, “Annie, I’ll plan somethin’ for next week.”

My favorite hotel in San Antone was The St. Anthony. The first good thing it had goin’ for it was that it was on East Travis. There were probably more boys in Texas named Travis – a name revered in Texas history – than any other name. The hotel was built in 1909 and they really don’t build them like they used to. It was a lovely place that my parents used to go every year on their anniversary.

I set it up and it was great. If Annie wasn’t sure she loved me before, she knew it now. I’m not one for sharin’ intimacies … I’ll just say we got real close that weekend. I knew Annie was passionate but damn, that gal was a wildcat!

I had been smart enough to get her a ring and one night while we were dinin’ on the Riverwalk, near the Alamo, I got down on my knees and everthin’ and Annie just cried. It took near a half-hour ‘fore I figgered out she had said yes.

~~~~~~

And how did it all end? Well Annie and I got married a few months after we went to San Antone and we spent our honeymoon at the old line shack. Well, actually we went to Hawaii and, after we got back, we spent a night at the line shack but who’s complainin’.

And “the other woman?” She’s “the woman” now. And there will never be another “other!” She did say somethin’ about bein’ late one day at dinner. Ain’t that just like a woman – they seem to be late all the time. ‘Cept this time bein’ late meant I’d have a boy to take over the ranch for me in a few years … and we named him Travis.