Love Never Dies. Chapter Eight. Tale of One Friends Marriage. Autumn.

Autumn ended up back with Dave for about 3 1/2 years, a time frame almost inconceivable. It is ridiculous enough when couples falsely try to be a couple but for the vast majority of their time back togetherAutumn was treated as the evil step child; literally. Cinderella needed to find her Prince Charming but she wasn't even able to date while living in the same house.  Dave would buy food and make food for the boys and himself and not share anything with Autumn. Dave and Autumn would argue about who bought coffee for the house, whether it could be shared and bluntly would throw it out on each other rather than share it.

Autumn was not making much money most of this time and a portion of it she was going to Georgetown. Commuting almost 100 miles each day didn't help things. Partially at my suggestion, I encouraged her not to give money to Dave but rather to pay for things for the boys directly and leave him to handle the home. In addition, she was paying for her own car, auto insurance and cell phones for herself and the boys.

I remember Autumn saying to me saying " I don't think Dave ever wants a divorce unless he finds someone else." Sometime during their tenure of fake marriage back together, Dave found Amanda. It wasn't hard to find her. She was the Mother of their youngest son's friend. They met with Autumn there, perhaps a few years earlier. Amanda was breaking up with her husband as well. The two seemingly lost souls started carrying on an affair.

I don't know long it took for Autumn to get wind of it, but once she did, of course, it became her new obsession. Not for jealously but more for a way out. She confronted Dave about the affair which he, to little surprise, blatantly denied. Later, their own son confronted Dave about the relationship and he swore they were "just friends;" a lie he poorly carried on for probably 2 years before he "came clean."

Amanda was living in a condo with a divorcee where Autumn had originally lived when she left Dave before moving closer to her work at the time now years ago. The divorcee, Linda, had been married to some physically abusive, stalking loser who was the Father of her 2 children. He had no parental rights, yet she was allowing him to see them. This dysfunctional web just kept intertwining. Autumn and Dave's youngest son would be having a play date with Amanda and Linda's boys downstairs while Amanda and Dave were upstairs having a play date of their own. 

Autumn had remained friends, or at least friendly, with Linda up to the point that she became the host of her husband's depraved love den. Autumn tried to approach the situation as calmly as she could, which is not her best act, but it quickly exploded. Of course, I wasn't there, but Linda denied knowing anything and a bitch fest ensued. They have never spoken since that day.

Autumn was determined she was going to prove what a hypocrite Dave really was to the world...