Sex. Murder. Mystery(23)
About that time, Perry’s and Julie’s twenty-fifth high school reunion loomed. Perry told his wife he would still accompany her back to the event in Cedar Lake, Michigan. He was neither happy nor particularly interested in the reunion with his wife or their classmates. It was almost as if he had nothing better to do. The estranged couple had little to talk about on the flight to Michigan. More than once, Julie dabbed at her tears with a wadded tissue as she fought for composure.
Her handsome, charismatic husband was stone cold whenever he bothered to speak with Julie. When he looked in Julie’s direction it was as if she was made of glass. His eyes skipped over her; looked through her. All he cared about was Sharon. Sharon this. Sharon that.
But I’m right here, Julie thought.
When they arrived, Julie tried to act happy around relatives and old classmates, but inside, her heart continued to crumble. Perry had nothing to do with her. He barely even pretended they were together. He didn’t talk to her. He didn’t even walk with her. He walked ahead, or several paces behind.
On the return flight to Colorado, Julie sat alone and cried most of the way. It was only at one point that she saw a glimpse of compassion for her suffering.
Perry turned around in the seat in front of her and put his hand out.
“Don’t cry,” he said, “everything’s going to be all right.”
By then it didn’t matter. Sharon Fuller could have him. Julie had made up her mind that she would be moving on.
I’m out of here, she thought.
Julie kept her distance in Rocky Ford. If Perry was merely going through the motions, then Julie would not over-compensate for his lack of love for her. She wouldn’t prepare him special meals. She certainly wouldn’t sleep with him at night. Why should she? He didn’t love her. He was with her by default. Julie spent most of her weekends in Denver with the former wife of another local doctor. As the empty days passed, she told herself she would build up her mental and emotional strength and move on.
Sharon Fuller was falling apart. And while she confided in many, few had any sympathy for her. If ever there was a case of making your own bed and being forced to lie in it, Sharon was the perfect example. She drove to Fort Worth in a car Perry had bought for her. The fog was thick and her eyes were bloodshot from ragged emotions and sleepless nights. Sharon had left two men in Rocky Ford: a husband and a lover. She told people she didn’t know which one she should choose.
Mike Fuller, however, couldn’t let go of his wife. Though there were times when she had tested him to the nth degree, he still wanted to keep his family together. He still told friends he loved Sharon. If only she would come home… if only they could start over.
Maybe in another place, another town.
Sharon saw the Texas psychologist almost daily for two weeks. She was, as she explained, “trying to sort out who I was… what my feelings were. Where my life was going. Do I need to slit my throat and end this or what?’’
The Seventh-Day Adventist counselor encouraged her to call Mike. Despite the wanton infidelity, despite her fragmented loyalties, the counselor insisted that her marriage still had a chance. It was, he said, worth saving.
Sharon recalled the man’s words: “You really want Mike to love you more than anything. You’re testing him… to see if he’ll still take you back after you’ve been such a naughty girl.”
Sharon bought into it. She told herself that her affair with Perry Nelson was an offshoot of unresolved issues in her marriage. It was not because she was so in love with Perry. No, not at all. She told the counselor she would give Mike another chance. She would give up Dr. Nelson.
“Perry’s got to go,” she said, firmness in her voice growing with each word. “Perry has disrupted my life. I’ve destroyed his life. Maybe if Mike and I can rebuild, Perry and Julie can rebuild?”
It was after 11 P.M. when Preacher Fuller’s jet from Denver finally touched down at the Dallas airport. Sharon’s stomach was crocheted into knots. It was an emotionally raw reunion . Tears fell on both sides as they held each other. Both agreed they wanted to save their marriage. Even so, the bitterness was not completely forsaken. Sharon vented her anger over why her husband’s shortcomings had forced her into another man’s arms once more. It was his fault, too.
From his suitcase in their motel room, the minister withdrew a see-through nightie.
Sharon’s eyes popped and she hit the ceiling.
“You flew down here for a piece of tail! That’s all you did!”
Mike tried to persuade Sharon that she was wrong. She had jumped to the wrong conclusion. He had come to Texas because he wanted to save their marriage. And, as even Sharon would later concede, he must have been telling the truth. Mike Fuller sat up all night, stiffly, uncomfortably, while she berated him about everything from their sex life to the manner of his day-to-day attire. He took it all, one shot after another and for good reason: He had two little girls at home who needed a mother.