Chapter 3

They both screamed as they saw a truck coming right at them. Dale panicked and swerved, trying to escape. They barely got away as they slid over off the side of the road. For a moment, they didn't say anything. They just sat there catching up on their breath. That had scared the heck out of them. Neither one of them was to blame, because they had both been at fault. But then again, the truck that had nearly hit them was driving on the wrong side of the road.

"That wasn't my fault," Dale said quickly.

"Oh, I know, shug. That idiot was on the wrong side of the road."

"I wonder who it was?"

"Probably some drunk driver, shug."

"Maybe it was Bill," Dale said skeptically.

"Oh, Bill wouldn't drink and drive."
"You never know…"

"Let's just forget about it and go on, shug."

So Dale put it back in drive and continued down the road. But he noticed in the rearview mirror that the same truck was right behind them on their tail. "Uh…that can't be a coincidence."

Nancy looked in her mirror and saw that she recognized that vehicle. "Step on it, shug!" she exclaimed.

Dale did what his wife said and stepped on the gas. But no matter how fast he drove, the truck was still on their tail. They made it to the hotel they were staying at and the truck pulled in the same parking lot. Dale said, "That's it!"

"Don't do anything rash, shug!"

Dale continued getting out of the car without saying a word to Nancy. "Alright, you hind tail-er! What do you think you're doing…tailing our hind?" but once he saw the long haired, vested Indian, he stopped. "Oh, hello John Redcorn. What brings you here?"

"I, um…need to speak to Nancy."

"Oh, is it about her headaches?" Dale opened his door back and poked his head inside. "You didn't tell me you've been having headaches lately," he said quietly. "John Redcorn wants to speak to you."

"Oh…" she looked flustered. "Alright, shug. Could you excuse us for a moment, then?"

"Oh…sure. I'll just go take our stuff to our room."

"Thanks, shug," she smiled.

After Dale had left, Nancy got out of the car, looked at John Redcorn and said, "You might be able to fool Dale, but you can't fool me. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I…I…Nancy, this has all been too much for me, these past few days. First you just shove me out of your life after all those years and then you go and re-marry Dale."

"Seeing a pattern?"

"Why all of a sudden, Nancy? I thought you loved me."

"That's not the point, John Redcorn. The point is that all these years, I've been betraying Dale. It used to not bother me, because Dale and I never really interacted much. I don't even know if I really loved him. But recently, I've discovered that I do love him and you can't betray someone you love dearly, shug."

"Well think of it in my perspective. I love you, Nancy. We had been 'together' for 14 years and then all of a sudden you blow us off. It was a very heartbreaking experience for me…"

"So you come and try to kill us both?"

"I wasn't trying to kill you, Nancy. I would never try to kill you. Dale is a different story," he kind of smiled, but when he saw that Nancy was doing far from smiling, he cleared his throat and went on. "I was only trying to get your attention so you would pull over. But you started back on the road too fast for me to get out and come talk to you…"

"John Redcorn, I think that you just need to move on. I'm sorry."

"What can I do to make you not love Dale anymore?"

Nancy gasped and then said, "NOTHING! Now just go back to Arlen and leave us alone, would you? You should be happy for me! I've come clean. I'm doing what is right now. I love my husband, like I should."

"Why should that make me happy? I've lost the one I love…"

"Oh, shug…"

"Think of Joseph."

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"He's our son…"

"So?"

"I want to see him sometimes and this has been the only way I can see him…"

"Well someday he might've seen us in bed together or something and then what we have done?"

"Tell him the truth?"

"No. John Redcorn. It's over," she said firmly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go enjoy my second honeymoon with my husband whom I'm deeply in love with. I'll see you back in Arlen, shug." She turned around.

"…Bye Nancy," John Redcorn said.

"Come on, Nancy!" Dale walked out of the hotel, shouting. "I'm waiting for you and your amazing can!"

Nancy blushed and said, "Coming shug!" She turned and glanced at John Redcorn once more before moving on.

After hearing what Dale said about Nancy's "can," it was hard for John Redcorn not to watch her behind as she walked to the hotel. "She really does have a nice ass…" he said to himself thoughtfully.

Nancy followed Dale into their hotel room and as soon as they shut the door behind them, Dale said, "Alright! So let's this party started, huh?" he wiggled his eyebrows and started taking off his clothes.

"Uh, Dale…" Nancy started.

Dale froze. "What's wrong, Nancy?"

"Nothing…" She trailed off. "Can't we just wait a little bit? We don't have to um…party right away, you know…"

"Well I was planning on partying all night long! Heh heh…"

Nancy shifted her weight from foot to foot, looking at the ground.

"What's wrong, Nancy?" he walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing, shug…"

"Well then why are you just standing there? You know you want some of this…" Dale put his hands at Nancy's waist and gently started rubbing up and down. This sent chills up Nancy's spine. She closed her eyes and smiled. But then she frowned. She felt like something was wrong. After all those years, she was starting to feel guilty for never telling Dale what was going on all that time. But then a thought came to her head, The truth is like sunlight, people used to think it was good for you…But then again, some people said that the truth will set you free. But how could it set her free after she'd been lying for fourteen years? It would crush him…She better just keep living like nothing happened. He'd never find out…That's just how she lived…A lie. But she was going to change that. She was going to pretend it never happened herself and just forget about it. She was going to love Dale like she never had before. She tilted her head upwards, put her arms around Dale and kissed him.

"Mmm," Dale mumbled happily, kissing her back. "There's my Nancy," he said. She smiled and they headed over towards the bed.

But the whole time they were getting busy, Nancy was feeling horrible. She felt more guilty then than ever. She realized after a while that the only way she was ever going to feel better, would be to get it off her chest. But why was it just now bothering her after 14 years? Why tell him now? It seemed the right thing to do, but whatever happened to the truth being like sunlight? She felt so confused, but Dale noticed she wasn't putting much effort forth and said, "What's wrong Nancy?"

Then, without thinking, she blurted out, "I was cheating on you for 14 years!"

"Wha?" Dale was obviously confused. "What are you saying?"

"Just what I said, damn it!"

Dale was shocked. "How did I not know about this?"

"I don't know," she shook her head as she bawled.

"Explain please."

Nancy sniffed, nodded and continued. "I was having an affair with John Redcorn. But I broke up with him once I found out how much I really loved you, shug…"

"When did you find out you loved me?"

"The night after we went bowling…"

"You didn't know you loved me until then?"

"Well…I've always loved you, shug…"

"You're contradicting your statements Nancy. Get your stories straight. Why'd you marry me if you didn't love me?"

"I did love you, shug! And I still do! I always have…I can't explain why I did what I did. I feel horrible now, Dale…"

"You should," was all Dale said, before getting up and storming out of the hotel room.

Nancy started bawling her eyes out. She didn't know this day would ever come, but it did. She was getting what she deserved, but she felt horrible. Right when she and Dale had gotten to patching things up, they just split down the seams worse than before.

Little did Nancy know, Dale was taking the car back to Arlen, leaving her stranded in the hotel room miles away from home.

When Dale got home, his buddies were standing in the alley drinking beer. "Hey Dale!" Hank waved. "Back so soon?"

"Yeah…"

"Where's Nancy? Did you leave her there?" he chuckled, just joking.

"Yes."

Hank and the guys laughed.

"I'm serious," Dale said, storming off towards his house.

"BWAH!" Hank said. "Dale!" he called after his friend, but Dale kept on walking.

"One of us probably needs to go talk to him," Bill said.

"I tell you what, talkin' about no way, man. No dang ol' way…" Boomhauer said.

"Well I'm not going to talk to him," Bill said. "I'll only start to get sad about…Lenore!" he ran away crying.

"I'll go," Hank sighed.

When Nancy had calmed down for the most part, she felt like she needed to talk to someone, so she called Peggy on her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Peggy, it's Nancy, shug."

"Hi Nancy. How's the second honeymoon going?"

"Terrible."

Peggy looked out the window, and seeing Dale's car, gasped.

"What are you gasping about, Peggy?"

"You are at your house, right?"

"No, I'm in the hotel room. Why?"

"Because your car is parked in your driveway!"

"What? Oh my God! Dale!"

"Did he leave you there?"

"Yes…Because he now knows about the affair."

"Why?"

"Because I told him…I couldn't take it anymore, Peggy. Living a lie. He had every right to know."

"I told you that 2 years ago."

"I know, shug. And I would say I should've listened to you, but no matter when I would've told him, it all would've ended badly."

"Well, what hotel are you at, sweetie? I'll come get you right now."

"Oh, you don't have to do that shug. I'll take a cab…"

"Nonsense! I'm your best friend and I'm here for you always! Where are you?"

"Dallas City Hotel."

"Y'all went to Dallas?"

"Well, where'd you think we went? We're not rich, shug!"

"You're the weather girl!"

"It pays the bills, honey. It doesn't get us a luxurious vacation."

"Even with Dale's money?"

"He pays the cable bill."

"Oh…"

Meanwhile, Hank was over at Dale's talking to him.

"Why in the hell did you leave Nancy at the hotel?"

"Because…"

"Because why, Dale? You don't just leave your wife stranded somewhere and not tell her about it."

"She deserved it."

"No one deserves to be stranded." When Dale still looked unconvinced, he said, "Look Dale, I know what she did is wrong, but you're going to have to forgive her…"

"And what if I don't?" he tested him, arms crossed.

"You could always divorce her," Hank suggested.

Dale opened his mouth, but shut it again and looked down sadly. "I couldn't do that…"

"Then you have to forgive her, Dale."

"It's going to be hard, Hank…"

"Do you love her, Dale?"

"Of course I do…"

"Then go retrieve her and forgive her."

"But…"

"Dale, do you want this to be the end of your relationship?"

"N-n-no…"

"Then go and fix things before they get any worse!"

"Okay! Okay!" he whined, running out of the house. Dale then got in his car and drove all the way back to Dallas, only to find that Nancy had checked out of the hotel an hour ago.

"Dang it," he muttered, as he got back in the car and headed back home.

When he arrived back at their house, he found Nancy sitting cross legged, cross armed, sitting on the couch, staring at the wall.

"Nancy, there you are!"

"Could say the same to you!" she said hotly.

"Nancy, I'm sorry I just left you there, but you should've understood why."

"I get enough courage to tell my husband the truth about something that was very hard to tell him and that's the thanks I get?"

"Nancy, you were cheating on me for 14 years. If I wasn't such a nice guy, then I probably would've done a whole lot more than left you at a hotel!"

"Oh, really then? What would have done?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't know…went and made out with some other hot woman…or shot you. I don't know…" he shrugged. Nancy gasped. "But I love you too much to do something like that…" Nancy's expression softened.

There was a silence and then Nancy said, "Did you really go all the way to Dallas just to get me?"

"Of course I did. I felt bad, Nancy. Really bad…I had to come and apologize…and forgive you before our relationship got in a mess…" he looked down.

"Oh shug…" she said, pitying him and walking over to him. "This relationship isn't going to be a mess…All I needed to know is that you were going to forgive me…That's all I needed to hear." She smiled.

"Well, it's hard for me, but I forgive you Nancy. Can you forgive me for leaving you in Dallas?"

"Most definitely…" she put his arms around him and kissed him.

Though it was hard for Dale, he had forgiven Nancy and she never went to John Redcorn for a migraine treatment ever again. She just couldn't bear it anymore; the guilt was too much for her. And also she loved Dale too much as well. She felt no need to see anyone else.

And that's what happens when guilt conquers.