Chapter 3

Sam drove around the neighborhood looking for his wife for over an hour. Finally he gave up and headed into a local bar not too far their home. Being that he was from the neighborhood and he had visited this bar before, the bartender noticed him and welcomed him to a seat at the far corner of the bar. It was already a dark room but the look on Sam's face told the man he needed it to be even darker. Immediately Sam began ordering bourbon shot after bourbon shot until his thoughts became fuzzy and his words became a slur.

"Sam, I think you've had enough for the night buddy, let me call you a cab." At first Sam decline the offer, but when he attempted to stand, he realized the liquor had indeed kicked in.

Twice the driver had to stop so that Sam could poor out his guts on to the street. When he arrived home. He was hoping that Mercedes wasn't home. He knew he couldn't face her in this state. And for the first time today, he got his wish. There was no sign of Mercedes anywhere in the house. He went upstairs and changed out of his soiled clothes and headed for a shower. Underneath the heavy stream Sam's mind drifted back and replayed the incidents that took place earlier today.

"How could I have been so dumb? What was I thinking?" He started thinking about all the other times he cheated on Mercedes thinking she would never find out and he could easily count four different women throughout their marriage that he cheated with. All of those women had been one night stands and short lived flings until he met Alicia Johnson. He never meant to cheat on his wife but every time she left home go on tour he couldn't shake the feelings of loneliness that overcame him. Each time it happened, he would swear t himself that it was a one-time thing and that he would stop but with every tour or long road trip or overseas visit he succumbed to his feelings and sought out the company of other women. One time though, he was able to stop all his cheating altogether. When he and Mercedes found out they were expecting their first child together, Sam was on cloud nine. Before he even knew the sex of the baby he was out buying baby clothes and cleaning out what would be the nursery. Mercedes was elated as well. She was nearing the end of her second world tour when the couple found out they had conceived twins. For the remaining six months of her pregnancy Sam catered to Mercedes' every need, attended every appointment and purchased every baby book he could find. They were the picture perfect family; Mercedes, Sam, Bailey and Riley up until about 9 months after the twins were born.

Sam was boarding a flight to Vegas to speak at an engineering seminar when he met Alicia Johnson. They were seated in the same row, just across the aisle from one another. Their conversation was innocent enough to be considered just friendly banter between two travelers. And upon landing the pair exchanged business cards, after all he was traveling to expand his brand and networking was definitely a major part of this trip.

After delivering his speech at the seminar, Sam found himself sitting alone at the hotel bar. He had just called Mercedes to check on her and the kids but he ended up only speaking to her mother who was in town to help out while he was gone. She informed him that his wife was asleep and she would give her the message when she woke. No more than five minutes passed before Doctor Johnson walked in with two of her girlfriends. They noticed each other instantly and she made her way over to the bar to greet her flying companion.

"Hey again, how was your speech?' Alicia stood behind Sam with her hand lightly touching his shoulder.

"Hey yourself; it went well thank you." Sam looked over at the two other ladies and introduced himself.

"Good evening ladies, are you enjoying yourselves? The two ladies snickered like school girls before they gave him a playful "yeah" there must have been a joke that only the ladies were in on because they continued to laugh as Alicia made introductions. After brief conversations at the bar, the ladies convinced Sam to join them on the "Strip". The foursome hopped from night club to bar to casino until the wee hours of the morning. being the gentleman that he was, Sam escorted the girls back to the Venetian Hotel where they were staying. still very intoxicated and buzzed off the excitement of the evening, Sam decided to try his luck one final time at the casino in the lobby of the hotel. Apparently Alicia had the same thoughts because in she strolled still dressed in her party clothes.

"You know three times is a charm, don't you?" she flirted in his ear before she blew on the pair of dice he was holding. in the short hour that Sam had been in the casino he found himself turning one hundred dollars into twelve hundred playing blackjack. He had just reached the Craps table when he spotted Alicia at a slot machine.

Sam threw down the dice and secretly prayed for a seven. "woooh! Dr. Johnson you must be my good luck charm cuz i'm unstoppable right now." that had been the sixth consecutive winning roll for the pair and they were ecstatic. "Keep it up and I'm going to have to keep you Doc." joked Sam. But to Alicia that was all the conformation she needed to hear. She thought all along that he had been flirting with her but hearing him say it out loud was the green light for her. knowing when to walk away Sam and Alicia headed to the Cashier window to claim his total winnings of four grand for spur of the moment casino run. Sam handed ten crisp one hundred dollar bills to Alicia, "you really might be the best sidekick ever". the two shared a light chuckle as they both pondered the idea of what they should do next. Sam glanced at his watch and was stunned. it was nearing six a.m. Sam decided to call it a night. His flight home was scheduled to depart until 7p.m so he had plenty of time to sleep, shower and pack his few items and make it to the airport on time.

Once again, he headed towards the elevator bank to escort Alicia to her room. the elevator stopped on the eleventh floor and the pair headed down the long hall arms entangled in search of room 1142. the walk was silent. only a few yawns exchanged.

"Here we are' announced Alicia with the hint of excitement mixed with nervous energy. she was sure he was going to put the moves on her as her friends had joked earlier. the chemistry between was undeniable.

"yes we are" he replied. after a brief pause, "it was very nice meeting you Doctor Johnson. Thank You for turning what would have been another boring trip into this craziness" he laughed as he patted the pocket his winnings were in. Sam outstretched his arms and embraced Alicia in a slight bear hug and as he leaned in for a kiss on the cheek he caught the attention of a full set of plump lips, as Alicia had turned her head in perfect sync with his.

The slight tap on the lips slightly caught sam off guard for a moment but then after a very brief pause the two sets of lips came together with the passion of two people who had been missing each other for months and they'd finally been reunited. and at that very moment Sam knew without even having it cross his mind that his monogamy days were over again.