Love Never Dies. Chapter Four. Tale of one friend's marriage. Autumn.

Autumn was left with virtually nothing following the storm. She was able to return to the apartment and recover some clothing and small items, but most everything was destroyed by the wind, rain and the physical impact of the tree and roof collapsing on our home. The whole situation seemed surreal to me, but Autumn's life seems to take many surreal turns.

Autumn wasn't sure where to she was to live. Her apartment was actually a condominium and while the owner was, of course, going to get the place repaired, it could take months. It didn't seem the owner offered to do anything to help Autumn in the interim and I guess their lease didn't have any provisions requiring the owner to do so.

She tried to crash for the short term on a couch of a friend and his wife, but she didn't buy into the idea. One night she slept under her desk at work, being discovered the next day. She dismisses this as not significant. I don't buy it. Add that she was carrying on a relationship, albeit quietly, with a team member who was a direct report to her and half her age, I have to believe someone knew something and a storm was brewing.

Autumn decided to move back in with Dave. The facade was that she was going to try and make the marriage work. The reality was she missed her children, wanted to be with them and she was feeling desperate. Dave obviously had little self-esteem as he took her back. He was still livid about the affair Autumn had with a manager at a restaurant where she worked in addition to her full-time career part-time for a while for about a year prior to her initially moving out. An affair he only learned about spying by reading her text messages. But, he had never "kicked" her out and it wasn't really the affair that made her leave other than his spying was one more thing leading to Autumn's disdain. For Dave, having the hanging the affair over her for years to come was one more way he could try and control her.

The separation in this marriage began 2 years ago and the clock is being restarted with Autumn returning to the "family" home. Moving in, as I understand, didn't restart the clock; going through the motions of sexual intercourse, however, did under state law. I don't recall how long she kept up that part of the facade, but it didn't seem to be too long and from the complaints she gave to me each time I can't imagine it was all that enjoyable for Dave either. You can only fake so much.

I did strongly advise against her returning, but contrary to Dave's thoughts, I don't carry that much influence over Autumn. Their divorce should have been finalized by now or at least near final but rather had not even begun. Like all states, there is a delay before you can file for divorce. Their state is longer than many, a year unless they had used the affair in which case they could have expedited that period.  Dave had hired counsel at one point but I don't know what if anything they did other than charge him money. Autumn, again not listening to me, insisted that she couldn't afford counsel, tried to file, at one point, on her own, only to have to hire counsel to withdraw it as it was not properly filed in the right jurisdiction. Dave really seemed to be more content with the idea of making Autumn suffer forever for her infidelity and all other errors of her ways rather than letting her go; at least for now. Both of them were fundamentally opposed to having to spend money to end their union which of the course of years to come before their divorce was finally settled cost them; emotionally, physically and most definitely financially.