My plans, her plans ...?

I just got off the phone with D. She had been talking with Wife (remember, they are best friends and talk almost every day, these days) and Wife mentioned that I have a business trip coming up. "Oh really?" asks D, who of course has already been making plans to meet me there.

Yes, continued Wife, and apparently Boyfriend 5 is planning to visit Wife during the same time span. In our house? Sure, just not when the kids are home from school. (Wife knows I don't want him in our house, and the kids might not keep their mouths shut.)

Now, D has learned by this point that just because Wife says something doesn't make it true. And just because Boyfriend 5 tells Wife something doesn't make it true, either. So this could be pure fantasy all the way around.

But Wife told D that she is still sending Boyfriend 5 small amounts of money on a regular basis. (If so, it's not out of any account that I can see, unless she is sending him cash through the mail. But why would she lie about something like that?) And of course I think Boyfriend 5 is a con artist, and not the glamorous terrorist he claims to be. This is all old news to all of you.

So, ... supposing he shows up ... what then? Honestly if all they want to do is fuck, I am long past worrying about that. Have a nice time, and change the sheets when you are done. But they could do that in a motel. On the other hand, if Boyfriend 5 wants to use his visit as an occasion to pocket valuables, it might be a long time before we ever saw something missing: God knows the house is so cluttered it could be months, and then we would assume we had just lost whatever it was. (It really is bad, that way.)

D said that of course if I wanted to cancel my business trip and stay home, she'd understand. She'd be "bereft" (her word), but she'd understand. And really, she and I are on the same page, I think, when it comes to my responsibilities (and hers) to our respective households. Neither of us intends to abandon those, so I know she means it.

Only what do I want to do? Never mind that my employer is kind of expecting me to take this trip ... never mind that I have already cancelled something like 3 business trips in the last year -- an unprecedented number for me. Even if the trip were purely elective (it's not), the fact is that I also really want to see D, too. But I don't like the idea of this schmuck having the opportunity to help himself to Wife's jewelry, or our checking account numbers, or our credit card statements, or anything like that. And our house is so disorderly that if he were inside, he could easily lay his hands on any one of those things in the time it would take Wife to go to the bathroom.

So I have some thinking to do. D said she was too exhausted to think straight (she's been working long hours and then e-mailing me when she should be sleeping), so I should figure out the right thing to do and let her know.

Never a dull moment, huh?

Gotta Change It has tagged me for a meme, but that will have to wait.
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