Sorry, just sorry.

I was taken aback a bit by my Wife's question, was it a question, or a statement? When I'd left her I thought she had been pretty sure of herself then, “I'm sorry I accidentally switched off vibrate and ringer and missed the texts, are you alright honey?”

“Ah ...what, yeah I dealt with it, I'm sorry I was a bit abrupt, I, I'm just a bit upset with Riley is all.”

“What did he say and speaking of, where is the prick, where did he go?”

“Took off, good riddance, ah he said nothing it was all just shit and ego, you know what he's like.”

“In what direction, I need to have a word with him?”

“What? NO! no I handled it.”

“Handled or NOT! WHERE did he go!?”

“Why?”

“Again, which WAY did he go?”

“Oh that way.” She kind of pointed in a general direction. Fuck! she was pissing me off with this attitude, where did this come from? I gave her a filthy look and left her standing there.

Oh shit, the look he just gave me, god I felt terrible, I'd just alienated him again without any kind of consideration, I knew him not being there to 'save' me had upset me but given what he was trying to do for us I hadn't ended up being as supportive as what I should of, I raced off after him, “Honey, honey, wait, wait, I'm sorry I didn't mean it like ....... that, I ...”

He had not turned round, raised his right hand in a gesture of don't-talk-to-me-I'm-pissed-off-with-you and kept on walking as I tried running in my stupid flip-flops, people were looking at me I guessed when I looked at the two men coming towards me with grins on their faces that they were probably ogling my little titties bouncing up and down although it seemed their eyes were bouncing from there to downstairs and the bikini thong I had on. Finally totally embarrassed by the situation I wrapped my towel around me and slunk quietly off, head down to our suite. My mood hadn't got any better when I got to the suite, I ripped off my new bikini found the most unrevealing set of clothes that I could and put them on. The more I thought about it the more I realised I'd ended up with my actions and words doing what Riley was trying to achieve all along, putting a wedge between me and my husband, God! I hadn't handled it at all, I'd enabled Riley just about, Damn, was his off-sider watching the whole drama? Shit, what do I do now? I decided to ring Andrew, he might have some suggestions.

As I walked quickly towards the front entrance of the hotel I glimpsed Riley about to hop in a taxi, by the time I'd got through to the forecourt the taxi was just pulling out from the hotel driveway, no point following and the fact I'd watched him in the distance quickly entering the hotel and putting on his shirt and also using, I suspected texting on his phone, he more than likely had his partner covering his back, he more than likely saw me following Riley. It was about that time Andrew called, he'd talked to Rodger Johanson, no he did not know to what extent Chucky boy was prepared to go to with his wife, Patrice had told Rodger but she had come to the conclusion Chuck was ever so slightly gay and that any kind of hanky-panky was more likely to be between Rodger and Chuck not her. It appeared Chuck had a whole different game plan. We were all gonna meet in an hour at the pool bar and work out a plan. Well, what to do while I waited, I definitely did not want to see my Wife for a while I was sure of that, I was still a might aggrieved if you know what I mean. She had walked straight into the trap I was trying to keep her out of, actually I'd give her some homework, I texted her, 'you need 2 remember exactly what it was riley said 2 you if poss word for word, u have picked up on some key words, while they sound innocuous are actually stimuli 4 ur brain also terms or phrases of speech made with infliction, did he apologise 4 you be right and him be wrong, did he use words with personal meaning like honey, baby, darling, did he seperate you from me not mention me?all relevant. don't reply jus work it out. b back soon'

The hour of waiting went quickly and Rodger Johanson, Andrew and one other guy walked in. I knew from the looks on the faces of our favorite bar-staff that they'd put two and two together as well figured it must be a meeting of minds. Well after introductions all was explained from both sides and from the reaction of Rodger and the other guy there was gonna be a lot of sorting out over the next few hours. The Stranger was actually on the committee for the local golf club and he had heard of incidents such as this happening before with both guests and in case of the previous years the Wife of one of the Club Members. This guy had actually met the culprit and so he was here to see if he could put a face to the name but the identification he gave best described Riley not Chucky. Rodger's solution was straight forward in your face, confront the problem, and I had no trouble with that it was his Wife Chucky was playing around with. So when we were finished at the bar he would start putting the corrective action in motion. Andrew wanted the other guy to stay with him for identification of Riley when he returned and by chance the fucker walked through the door, stopped abruptly and stared. He recognised in quick succession, Andrew then Rodger, the Golf Club guy took a couple of seconds before recognition and then he saw me. The look on his face said it all the Golf Club guy spoke first, “You, I want a word with you Riley,”

Luckily for Riley he was still thirty feet from us as he reversed through the door he'd just come turned and ran, the Golf Club guy took off after him, while the rest of us watched the proceedings however once outside we all gave up the chase as Riley had made some distance out the hotel drive. He turned and looked back at us, with a smile now on his face, although why I really couldn't tell you, he was still staying at this hotel if we really were that interested in him all we needed to do is wait. Why he continued walking while looking at us I really don't know either, and I'm damn sure the taxi driver driving the taxi that Riley walked out in front of thought the same thing.

I talked to Andrew about how I'd dealt probably not as well with my husband as I now wished I had. He said why he agreed with me from what I'd told him he really saw it as just a minor glitch if we didn't dwell on it too long, not make a big thing of it, apologise move on, “Mrs I'm sure you're very capable of doing that I have no doubt.”

I smiled to myself, I knew what he meant and jokingly I said to him, “Andrew! You know me far too well!”

“Umm Mrs, I do not feel comfortable talking about this subject anymore, changing the subject just a bit ...”

And he begun to tell me who he was with, Rodger Johanson and a man from the golf club who by the sounds of things may also have a grudge over an incident with a wife and Riley last year. That gave me another guilty edge, I'd managed to become part of the damaged wive's community, maybe we needed to start our own club. Andrew said they were meeting with my husband but before I could ask anymore questions he said he had to go. I disconnected and found I had a text on my phone, opened it and found it was from my husband, it was stern I felt, dealt with the reason and what he wished me to do, but to the point without nastiness. I read through the examples that he'd given in terms of key words that Riley may have used and the effect that they may have on my judgement. I got a sick feeling when I realised Riley had used all of the examples, god was I that shallow, I'm pretty sure I'm not, but after this whole deal I wasn't feeling very confident. Taking everything into account though I decided I needed to suck it up, find my way to my husband's heart and get back to where we were meant to be. Finally I decided to actually detail all the things Riley and I had talked about. I could see after I'd pretty much written everything I could remember it was easy to see how and why I'd been tolerant of the man. Asterisk's indicated what I thought were pertinent points. I felt better after understanding how he'd been so convincing and if maybe I'd been confused about my feelings before I wasn't now. John Riley was a real professional seducer.

Rodger Johanson said what we were both thinking as they loaded Riley into the back of the ambulance, “Jesus Christ, there goes the luckiest bastard in this part of the world.” And he was, he was gonna be spending a lot of time in hospital I suspected, the paramedic's had been aware of various broken bones and the man looked dead to the uninitiated but he wasn't, very lucky. Well that was one down, one to go. We all seperated, made plans to stay in contact through Andrew and wended our seperate ways. Andrew asked if we could have a quick chat, so back to the bar and he bought me up to speed on what my Wife had talked about, her fears and worries and I told him that I was very thankful with his input with her queries, “Boss I just hope that you and Mrs start your holiday back the way it should be, forget John Riley and his troubles.”

With that he was off, I was off to our suite and to my Wife, yes we had a bit to share and talk over but, I needed to apologise for not being there for her and try very hard to resurrect our holiday we still had six days of fun to look forward to and to be honest while the 'game' was something that stimulated, I was quite glad it was over, even if prematurely.

My phone rang, call was from Frank, hmmm, what the hey I answered it, “Hi Pal, How's the holiday going, and how's that sexy Wife of yours enjoying it all?”

“Its all good Frank, what's happening? We're both loving Aruba, may stay, open up a Caribbean office, so why the call Frank? This can't be a call because you're missing us, can it Frank?”

“That's what I like about you man, straight to the point. Look briefly, what's your plan after you've finished your holiday?”

“Seriously!? I'm back into it, you knew that, c'mon Frank stop beating about the bush.”

“I've a deal to make you, now just think about it will ya, okay, I don't need an answer straight away think about it for a few days and I'll call ya back, if you don't want to do it, I'll send a team down and possibly come myself.”

“And? What are you talking about Frank.”

“B-M have been in talks with R-T in Trinidad and Tobago and some of what they've talked about, R-T have shown interest in our programme and we got a request from them, would we be interested in showing it off for them as the programme from what they've seen with B-M fits very well inside the management structure of their steelworks both at Trinidad and another smelter they're building in Guyana. It occurred to me not so much that you're down there more that you know a lot about the steel industry and also probably more about programme integration with that type of plant. Like I said, absolutely no pressure and I'm not expecting you to do this, I can put a team together and send them down but I thought I'd give you first refusal. The other thing is they've got management bouncing back and forwards between T-T and Guyana and as close as they can tell it will be four days before they're all back in T-T so we have time to spare. The other thing is B-M have told them about what you did for them, they have really talked it up about us, but B-M pulled no punches they rate their success with the programme directly with your input and guidance.”

“Ok Frank cut the B.S. I'll think about it. Its not only me, I'll have to see what plans we've got, I'm not interrupting our holiday at all, but I will give it some considerations but it will take some planning. Ok Frank let me think it over and I'll ring you one way or another in three days time.”

“Cool, Done Pal, hear from ya then, kiss your lovely Wife from me. Ciao.”

Hmmm, yeah after today I think I'll keep our little talk to you and me for now Frank.

When My Husband walked into the room he came to me and wrapped me in his arms and hugged me, I'd held out what I'd written down and I was trying to tell him what I'd found and he smiled, swept it aside, stuck his tongue down my throat as he picked me up. When he stopped he spoke, “I'm sorry I never saved you, it was my stupid mistake not yours so I should have been more understanding and caring of your situation. Please forgive me.”

“It wasn't only your mistake, after the gaff I made the other morning, I had no right to be as angry and aggrieved as I thought I was entitled to be. Please forgive me.”

“You know I do.”

“And I do You Honey.”

The love making that evening was slow and considered, passionate. It should of sealed the deal for the rest of our holiday shouldn't it? So why didn't it?