I obeyed and brought him the letter and the twenty dollar bill. "Sweet!" he said and stuffed the money in his pocket. "You're on your own for din to...ight. I need the money for my date.". I was used to this as well.While he was playing and I watched bored my eyes fell down to the cabinet that the tv sat on. The one I was sure held all the VHS tapes Dad liked to watch late. I wondered if Chris ever snuck out before... Had watched the movies... Knew where the key was etc. I mustered up. She really couldn’t blame Ron or Mandy. She had been a fool, careless of the relationship she should have been building, she had left it open for someone else to step in. She blamed herself constantly, berating herself with ‘What if,’ ‘If only,’ ‘I should have.’ If only she had taken time off from work occasionally, if she had been perceptive enough to see the relationship developing between Ron and Mandy. It had been lovely in the beginning, both of them rushing home from work each evening. I am not sure when she came back home and honestly, it did not matter. The sleep was fitful and came in spurts. The morning was not much better, I was restless because I knew that she would be outside the guest room - somewhere, maybe preparing coffee or taking a shower. The hurt was bad and I was surprised I had not cried.I am not your typical alpha male. I do cry and I do invest my emotions in things that matter to me. Cindy mattered to me and she was a long term investment who had been. He was a smallish man, around five foot five, fairly slim, early fifties. ‘Jean told me you two had introduced yourselves at breakfast and you had remembered my broken wrist from last year’‘I felt so sorry for you, it must have ruined your holiday’ I said‘it did stop us getting out and about a bit especially on our anniversary, I know Jean was bored, but what made you remember?’ he asked‘it was your wife really; I helped her get the sun loungers out a few times, as you were laid up’ I said‘ah.