Chapter 20

The following afternoon Sally received a call from her husband Jerry.

"I've got great news," he told her.

"But you had great news last night, dear. What could be better than being on national television?"

"I'm about to break out of solitary confinement," Jerry laughed.

"Solitary confinement?" Sally said. "I don't believe I follow you."

"Sure you follow me, baby. It means I'll be coming home. I finally was able to end this whole tour nonsense. I said it was just getting on my nerves. I couldn't stand being away from you and Scott any longer."

"When will you be back?"

"I'll be back a week from Monday, and that's going to be it. From here on out, I'm going to do my plugging right in the city. I've been around enough. I've pushed the book in just about every major city in the country. Now I'm getting back to my family."

"It's so nice to hear you say that, dear."

"I haven't formalized all the arrangements yet. I mean, in terms of when I will be leaving and all. But it will be in that vicinity. It can't be much beyond that, because I'm not going to let it. They wanted me to go back and hit some of the same cities again. Places where the book was doing well, and a few places where it wasn't doing as well as they thought, places where they figured with another trip from the author, sales would pick up. But I told them to send somebody else. I want to get back to you and Scott."

"We have missed you, darling."

"I'll bet not half as much as I have missed you," Jerry said. "But we won't argue about that. The important thing is that I'll be back."

"Amen to that," Sally said.

'I'll be keeping in close touch, baby. I'll call you every day between now and then."

"Fine, I always love hearing from you."

"Give my best to Scott. Next time I call in the evening, I hope he'll be around so I can talk to him."

"You'll be calling tomorrow night."

"That's right."

"I'll see to it that I keep him in, even if I have to sit on his head."

"He's a little big for that, isn't he?" Jerry laughed.

"Maybe so, but if need be, I'll do it anyway, dear. So nice to hear from you, and the news couldn't be any better."

"That's just the way I see it."

"Take it easy now."

"You do the same.'-

Sally had mixed feelings as she hung up the phone. She was happy that her husband Jerry was coming home, but she couldn't help but think about the problems that existed with Scott.

Sally was impressed by the fact that Jerry was willing to cut short the remainder of his tour because he was tired of being away from them.

Sally recognized at that point that she would have to have another long talk with Scott. She had enjoyed beautiful sex with him, and nothing would be able to change that fact, not even the knowledge that she was wrong in conducting herself in the manner that she did.

But she could certainly change the course of future events by having a discussion with Scott. Maybe she had been a little too harsh in evaluating some of the girls he had dated. Perhaps the thing to do was to let him experiment through trial and error, just as long as the girls weren't on the cheap side.

Tears of joy surfaced in Sally's eyes. Perhaps Jerry had become a boring sex partner, but, since he had been away for awhile, maybe he would be pursuing her with new vigor once he returned.

She also couldn't help but think that, with the additional experience she had had, in the meantime, she too would become a far more passionate and experienced lover than she had been.

After all, maybe one of the reasons why her bedroom life with Jerry had deteriorated was because of herself. She shouldn't have blamed it all on Jerry.

Even though Sally naturally didn't like the idea of having another heart to heart talk with Scott, she knew how necessary it was.

He arrived home from school that afternoon, at which point she confronted him directly.

"It's got to come to an end," she told him abruptly.

At first his head sank and he gave her a look of disappointment. But the longer she talked to him about it, particularly about his father, the more convinced he became that she was right.

"You know, you gave me the most beautiful love I've ever had with anybody," Scott revealed. "But I still have to admit you're right, Mom. I guess it can't go on like this."

"Some things just have to come to an end after a while, dear. And this is one of them. We should feel fortunate about one thing. Your father doesn't know, and we shouldn't ever crush him by giving him any reason to suspect."

"No, this will be our secret," Scott agreed.

Sally leaned over and delivered a tender kiss to her son's forehead.

Sally couldn't help but think how fortunate it was that they had learned their lesson without having to expose Jerry to any-of the traumas stemming from their affair.