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Second Chance Bride
    Part One
     
    I’ve li ved in a small town all my life. I did what all my other girlfriends did and married my high school sweetheart. All the girls were jealous because I scored the star football quarterback.
     
    Jason Preston was handsome, strong and charming and I was totally in love with him; in fact I still am even after more than two years of married life. However it is not married bliss. Jason, or JP as everybody calls him, was anything but a perfect gentleman away from the public eye.
     
    It all started only a few months after we got married, six months to be exact. The first time Jason came home late and smelling of booze he said it was a work outing that he had to go to because everyone else was there and it would be good for his promotion prospects. Then it became a second and a third time until it turned into a regular event, two or three nights out every week drinking with his friends.
     
    I never knew which night it would be or what time he would get home. Despite the way he treated me I always waited up for him and I always cooked him dinner. Jason never expressed any gratitude or apologised for his behaviour; I am partly to blame because I didn’t kick up a fuss. Instead I accepted his behaviour and normalised the routine; he would come home drunk whenever he wanted to and I cooked him dinner as if nothing was wrong.
     
    Things got worse when Jason started going from job to job; he either got fired or quit before he got fired. The more it happened the more often he got drunk and the more he blamed me. Now I was close to breaking point but despite this I still loved him deeply. However I knew that unless Jason changed his ways our marriage was doomed.
     
    Finally I decided to confront Jason with the ugly sham that was our marriage. I made his favourite dinner, arranged a romantic setting for the table, and prettied myself up so much that even a raging homosexual couldn’t resist me.
     
    But as usual Jason was late home. I waited so long that I must have cried myself to sleep. I only woke up when Jason stumbled in and started cursing.
     
    “What time is it dear? I must have fallen asleep waiting up for you and now your dinner is cold.”
     
    “Never mind that who was that male voice I could hear? And don’t play the innocent act with me, I heard him. Tell me where he’s hiding so that I can give him the hiding of his life and then I’ll teach you a lesson you bitch!”
     
    “JP there’s no one here but you and I. It must have been the radio you heard. Neil Finn is the host, you remember Neil from our school. It’s his nightly show and I was listening to it to pass the time while waiting up for you.”
     
    My explanation only made Jason worse.
     
    “That nerdy bastard. He was a jerk at school and now look at him; a regular Romeo being a dog with all the women in town whether they are single or married. And now he’s got you under his spell. That’s the last time you can listen to him! You’re a married woman and you should behave like one!”
     
    “You are a married man and you are the one that needs to behave. I’ll listen to Neil Finn’s radio show, or anyone else’s if I want to and you won’t stop me. Oh and one other thing, I’ve now got a job at the local Wal-Mart as a cashier.”

“Oh great so not only are you cheating on me with a small town celebrity star of the radio you are now telling the world that I can’t support my wife.”
     
    “How can you say I’m cheating on you? You are the one that’s never home so how do I know you’re not cheating on me. And have you noticed our place lately, take a careful look around at how shabby it looks with the threadbare carpet and the old second hand and hand me down furniture. Look at the area we live in, the cheapest, dirtiest part of town. This apartment block is infested with vermin of all kinds including the human version but do you care? Hell no you are too busy getting drunk to worry about