Lunch at the Radisson

Lunch at the Radisson ©

This is a re-post of an older story that has been re-edited.

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I liked the Radisson because it had a big, spacious lobby. It was like being in the hotels you would see in the old movies. I was standing off to the side with my sons, Bradley and Terry. We were waiting for my wife, Lauren, to show up for her Wednesday afternoon tryst. My sons and I had planned this day for several weeks and we were all anxious to see how it played out.

Lauren and I were going to have our silver wedding anniversary next week. We married young and had the boys early on. They were both attending Temple University on scholarships. Although we lived in Reading, we didn’t usually get to downtown Philadelphia. I had never been to or stayed in the Radisson before. I work in the legal department of an accounting firm in Reading. For the last ten years, I have had a regular weekly appointment with a large retirement care contractor in Harrisburg. It was one of those appointments that never changed and was always there. I guess that is why Lauren had chosen Wednesday to make her weekly trip to the Radisson. It was a two-hour drive in miserable traffic to get from Reading to downtown Philly, so it must have been important to her.

I started to suspect something was going on about two months ago. It was just little things that caught my eye. The company had an investigator on retainer, and he was more than willing to take on a little surveillance work between his regular jobs. It was expensive, but I didn’t care. It didn’t take him long to discover that Lauren was driving to Philadelphia on Wednesday mornings, and meeting a family friend, Kyle Standish, here at the Radisson. Lauren always went into the gift shop and waited for Kyle. When he arrived, he got a room and walked across the lobby to a payphone. He placed a small envelope under the payphone, and got on the elevator, always to the eighth floor. Lauren came out of the gift shop and got the hidden cache, which contained a room key card, and followed him up to his floor. They stayed for about three hours and then left separately.

Kyle used to work for our company. We socialized with Kyle, and his wife Beth, at several company functions and even got together socially ourselves before his transfer to the Montgomery County office. I hadn’t seen him in several years. Bradley and Terry were attending a job fair at the Radisson several months ago and noticed Kyle getting out of a new red Corvette. They were going to catch up and say hello to him when Terry noticed Lauren in the gift shop. The boys stopped and just watched. They both wondered what their mother would be doing in a hotel gift shop fifty miles away from home in the middle of the week.

I guess it didn’t take them long to figure it out.

About two weeks ago, they both approached me reluctantly one evening, while Lauren was visiting her sister. This was when I found out about their trip to the Radisson.

“Dad, if you knew about what was going on, why didn’t you do something?”

“Terry, I just recently found out. I am not sure what I want to do. I love your mother, and it is difficult for me to think of life without her. I wish this never would have happened, or at least, I never would have found out. Now that I know, I can’t ignore it. Any suggestions?”

“I know a guy, who knows a guy, who will have Kyle killed for five hundred bucks.”

“That is a little radical, Bradley. Let’s see if we can come up with something a little less drastic. I am planning on calling Beth, to see if she is aware of what is going on. I was hoping she might have an idea or two.”

“We have a light class load on Wednesday, so we can be available to help if you decide anything.” It was nice to see that my sons were supportive. I know they love their mother, and the situation must be as difficult for them as it is for me.

I saw Beth Standish two days later. She had suspected something was going on, again, but wasn’t sure. Beth caught Kyle doing the same thing with other wives before, and he had promised he would be a good boy. Since she already had enough information about his infidelities she was ready to file for divorce. She asked if I could hold off on doing anything until she had the papers ready. It was easy to set a date.

Which brings back to the present day. Lauren entered the lobby of the hotel right on schedule and went into the gift shop. She was beautiful, but a little nervous. It looked like she made a special effort, for her weekly tryst, and it hurt a little.

“Hi, you guys waiting for me?”

Beth Standish had quietly walked up behind the boys and me.

“Lauren just showed up and is waiting in the gift shop. If everything goes as planned, Kyle should be here shortly.”

Lauren was looking through the magazines in the gift shop while keeping an eye on the lobby, for her lover. A short time later, Kyle walked past the gift shop and went to the counter. I could see Lauren smiling at his arrival. A few moments later, Kyle left the counter, stopped by the payphone, and then got in the elevator. As soon as the elevator door closed, Terry was entering the gift shop.

He smiled and greeted his mother with open arms. Lauren looked a little worried. With an arm around her waist, he was able to direct her eyes away from the lobby. Beth quickly retrieved the keycard that Kyle had hidden and got on the elevator. Kyle was a creature of habit. He always took a shower before having sex. Beth was planning on waiting in the hallway until she was sure he started his routine.

Bradley and I slowly walked over towards Terry and Lauren.

“Well, what a wonderful surprise. It sure is nice meeting you here Lauren. You can join the boys and me for lunch.”

“John, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Harrisburg.”

“The meeting was canceled today, so I thought I would join the boys for lunch. I called the house, to invite you along, but you weren’t there. I can see why now. What are you doing here?”

It was obvious that Lauren was flustered. “I was meeting Marsha Phillips here for lunch. You do remember her don’t you, John? We went to grade school together.” She didn’t notice the boys smiling at each other when she came up with that lame excuse.

“That’s no problem, Lauren. We’ll get a table for five and she can join us.”

Lauren reluctantly walked with us over to the dining room. The way things were going she didn’t have any choice in the situation. Before being seated, she took out her cell phone.

“I should call Marsha and let her know that things have changed.”

“Put the phone away Dear. The dining room is not that big. I don’t think she will have any trouble finding us.” I didn’t want my wife calling Kyle while Beth was doing her thing. Lauren seemed a little nervous as we were being seated. The boys were being a little obsequious, but she didn’t notice. Lauren set her cell phone down on the table, beside her silverware. She usually kept it in her purse, which was on the floor by her chair. After the waiter took our drink orders, we all sat silently looking at the menus. I gave the boys a little frown when I saw them smirking at each other.

“Shall we wait for Marsha, Lauren, or let her order after she gets here?”

“Go ahead and order now. Marsha was a little iffy about being able to make it for lunch. She might not show up at all. I figured if she didn’t come, I could still do a little shopping.”

Poor Lauren was piling one lie on top of another trying to save face. I felt sorry for her but knew she deserved it. The waiter brought our drinks and took the orders. Lauren just requested a fruit salad.

It was less than fifteen minutes when Beth came up to the table. In her arms, she was carrying all of Kyle’s clothing and his shoes.

“Hi, Beth. How did everything go?”

“Very well, thank you, John. My loving husband was in the shower as we expected, and did not even realize I was there. I left the divorce papers on the dresser for him, and at the last minute decided to take his clothes with me.”

Lauren looked scared to death. The color had faded from her face and her eyes were starting to get bleary. She looked at me and then at Beth, not knowing what to do.

“Here Lauren. Thanks for letting me borrow this. I won’t need it anymore.” Beth carefully laid the room keycard down beside Lauren’s phone. Lauren just stared at it with her mouth open. Her cell phone rang and she picked it up and looked at the caller ID. Without answering the call, she turned her phone off and set it down again.

“Here boys. The Corvette is yours for the rest of the week. It’s in my name so don’t worry about anything. Drive the shit out of it. When you get tired of playing, drop it off at the house.” She handed Bradley the keys to the Corvette. “Thanks for all the help guys, but I have to run now. Enjoy your lunch.”

Lauren looked at me as if she was pleading for help of some kind. I offered none. She would not even glance over at the boys. When the waiter brought the meals, she excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.

The boys and I had finished our meals and Lauren had not returned to the table. I asked Terry to check the restrooms and sent Bradley up to the suite Kyle had rented. Lauren had left the keycard, cell phone, and her purse, at the table when she left. Ten minutes later they both returned with no results. Bradley said the hotel had provided a sweat-suit for Kyle to wear, while they were trying to get him a ride home. Terry checked the ladies’ rooms in the restaurant and the hotel lobby and found nothing. I asked the dining room manager to get hotel security for us.

There was no indication that anything illegal or criminal had occurred. The security people tried to be as helpful as they could, but the only thing they could turn up was a surveillance camera that showed Lauren going into the kitchen, instead of the ladies’ room. There were no other cameras showing anything. As a cautionary measure, they called the Philadelphia police. Lauren could not be reported as a missing person, but we could file an incident report for future reference if necessary. We waited around a few more hours and then decided to go home, in case she might be there. She left her purse, with her credits cards, driver’s license, and money, by the table. Lauren was not at home.

Epilogue: Two years have passed since our lunch at the Radisson. Terry is now a lieutenant in the Air Force. Bradley is attending graduate school in California. Beth and Kyle are divorced. We never saw or heard from Lauren again. I filed a missing person report with the Philadelphia Police after the required waiting period, but they found nothing. I am still married, according to the law. At some point, I will have to apply to have that status changed. In the meantime, I am living in a big house, alone. All of Lauren’s clothing and other things are still here, just as she left them. Every day I try to figure out if the lunch at the Radisson was a good idea or a bad one. I can’t decide.