Against Matthew's express wishes, she had also hired a full-time nanny to help out with the kids, even though Hayley and Casey were both a little too old to need one. The various nannies they'd had over the past few years - none of whom seemed to get along with Lindsey for very long - had largely been responsible for taking the kids to and from school and supervising their after-school activities. When Matthew had rather tactfully pointed out that Lindsey - who'd been a stay-at-home mom since before Hayley's birth - could very easily perform these tasks, she'd blown up at him, declaring that she deserved some alone time each day after devoting herself to the kids for so many years.
Even with more money than they could possibly spend in ten lifetimes, however, Lindsey still wasn't happy or satisfied. As predicted, it hadn't taken her very long at all to start complaining when Matthew wasn't around very much, exactly what he'd cautioned her about all the times she'd pushed him to take the company public. He carved out as much time as he possibly could for his family, even when it meant getting by on three or four hours sleep a night, and rarely having a leisurely hour or so to himself. He took Lindsey and the kids on luxurious vacations several times a year, though they were more often than not working vacations for him. His stress level was higher than it had ever been, he was usually always exhausted, and his eating habits were bordering on unhealthy. He sorely regretted not just taking the company public, but even starting his own business in the first place. He longed to return to a simpler way of life, to sell the business and invest the money, and then just take an occasional consulting job when the whim suited him to do so.
But he knew that such a move would have a whole string of repercussions, ones he wasn't ready to deal with at this point in his life, so he kept his wishes to himself and soldiered on as best he could with all of the responsibilities and demands and stresses in his life.
As busy as he was, however, Matthew wasn't so immersed in the daily grind that he didn't notice how much his wife flirted openly with other men. It didn't seem to matter much where they were - at a restaurant, a party, the gym, on vacation. Lindsey always seemed to find a good-looking guy - and nearly always one who was considerably younger than she was - to flirt with. The first few times it happened he'd confronted her, telling her that he was well aware the flirtations were a way of getting his attention. And Lindsey had initially apologized, assuring him that it was just a bit of harmless fun, and that she hadn't meant to upset him or hurt his feelings. But as the flirtations continued and became increasingly more blatant, Matthew had realized that it didn't really matter all that much to him - largely because his marriage no longer mattered very much to him.
Quietly, he'd contacted a very discreet private investigator who specialized in such cases to keep occasional tabs on Lindsey. And when he'd first been presented with the cold, hard facts that she was in fact having a series of affairs, his natural instinct had been to confront her about it. But he had resisted, not at all sure how such a confrontation would affect their marriage - and therefore their kids - and he sure as hell didn't have the emotional energy at the time to deal with that kind of fallout.
So he'd kept the knowledge to himself that his wife was fucking one hot, young stud after another, even stopped looking over the reports that the investigator continued to compile after awhile. He also stopped sleeping with Lindsey, the idea of having sex with her more than a little stomach-turning after realizing how many other men she'd been with. The fact that she had never once questioned him about their total lack of a sex life had been a clear signal to him that she no longer loved him, if she ever really had. She liked the money and the extravagant lifestyle it afforded her, liked the prestige and modicum of fame she enjoyed being Mrs. Matthew Bennett, but he didn't think she actually liked him.
And it was when he finally admitted the latter fact to himself that he'd decided it was time to end things between them. Catching her in the act with that randy bastard Jesse had simply been a handy excuse for filing for the divorce he should have sought out a long time ago.
Chapter Four
Early August
"Thank you all for sharing your practice with me on this beautiful summer morning. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and that I see you again soon. Namaste."
The fifty or so students gathered in the studio all bowed their heads respectfully, hands folded at their hearts in a prayer-like gesture, and replied as one voice, "Namaste."