Mike had been taken completely by surprise by the phone call he received nearly nine months earlier. He answered the phone that day to hear sobbing on the other end of the line. "Mom?" he asked concerned, "Are you OK?"
"Tom left," she gasped in between her sobs.
"Dad left?" Mike asked still trying to figure out what was happening. "What do you mean?"
After several more minutes Mike succeeded in getting his mom calmed down enough to talk clearly. She told him about how his dad had left her that morning saying that he wasn't in love with her anymore and he needed to move on. He then packed up a few suitcases with his clothes and left. He didn't say where he was going.
Mike and his mom talked for a while longer and tried to come to grips with what had happened. Still, when he hung up the phone Mike couldn't quite believe what his mom had said. He had always assumed that his parents would stay married forever and never suspected anything like this would happen.
It was true that Mike hadn't seen a whole lot of his parents lately. At 24 years old his budding career had taken him to the other side of the country from where he grew up. His job, his friends, and his girlfriend kept him busy enough that he had only seen his parents about once a year around the holidays for the past three years. Straight out of high school he had received a full scholarship to play baseball at a college down south, so he hadn't seen them as often as some of his friends saw their parents during college. Over the summers when his friends would go home to visit he stayed on campus and worked on his conditioning or other skills. His dream had been to catch on with a pro team after college but an injury at the end of his senior season prevented that dream from becoming a reality. His parents had always encouraged him to stay at school and chase his pro dream.
All through college and in the years since he talked to his parents often on the phone and regularly traded e-mails with them, but none of that gave him the slightest indication that there were any troubles between them. He talked to his mom often during the weeks right after the initial phone call. It turned out that she suspected something was wrong but never had any concrete proof. She never dreamed that he would just up and leave.
She and Mike talked to many of her husband's friends and co-workers and tried to piece together what had happened. As best they could determine he had been having an affair with his secretary for the past few months and those two had left town together the same afternoon he broke the news to Mike's mom. He finally got in touch with Mike and told Mike that he had taken a new job and was going to start the process of officially getting divorced from his mom.
The divorce proceedings were short and turned out well for Mike's mom. Tom, Mike's dad, was a well paid executive at his company and apparently had been transferred to a new office within the same company with a big raise. For whatever reason he agreed to a settlement that was very generous to Mike's mom. She was able to keep their house and only needed to pick up a half time job to make ends meet.
Mike had wanted to fly out and be with his mom but she told him that she was fine and that their near daily phone calls were of great help to her. They talked often and slowly Mike noticed his mom's sense of humor and happy disposition returning. He felt like he knew her far better now than he ever had before and figured that if anything positive would come out of his parent's split that was probably it.
As Mike and his mom talked one night she told him about a call she had received from a travel agent a few days earlier. It seemed that Tom had made a reservation for two on a cruise in about a month. "I called the cruise lines and the travel agent to try and see about getting the money back," she said, "but they said that there were no refunds. It looks like I've either got to use the tickets and go on the cruise or waste the money."
"Do you have any friends that you could ask?" Mike asked.
"Well," she answered, "you'll probably think this is silly but I was wondering if you might want to go. Before you say no, I know that you have a girlfriend and a busy job and all that, but I just feel like we have really been able to reconnect over the past few months. You have been so helpful in talking to me and getting me through the hard times that I would like this to be a way I can thank you for everything."
Mike thought for a second and then said, "Sure, that sounds fun."
"Are you sure that Cindy won't mind?" his mom asked of his girlfriend.
"She'll be fine," Mike said, "besides, she has been giving me a hard time for not already having come out and visited you."
"Good woman," his mom answered with a laugh.
Mike got the dates and some of the other information for the cruise before he hung up. The next day he requested the time off from work and was told that it would be no problem. He didn't often take days off so he had lots of vacation time to use. Cindy was absolutely fine with him going and he was able to get his plane tickets without any problems. He would have to fly back across the country to meet up with the cruise.
As the cruise grew closer he and his mom began excitedly talking more and more about it. It was a relatively short cruise at five days and four nights, but it would be stopping at some nice locations and neither of them had ever been on a cruise before so they were both looking forward to it.
Just less than two weeks before the trip his mom called and said, "I think there might be a problem with the cruise."
"What's up?" Mike asked.
"Well," she answered with a slight hesitation, "I got a big information packet in the mail yesterday and it turns out that this is a special cruise." She spoke slowly as if she was searching for the right words to use.
"What do you mean a special cruise? Is it like one of those Disney cruises or trips where there are a bunch of retired athletes?" Mike joked.
"Umm, not exactly," she said, "it's a couple's cruise."
"A couple's cruise? What does that mean?" Mike asked.
She explained to him everything she had read in the packet and all that she had learned in the several phone calls she had made since receiving the packet in the mail. The cruise was designed for couples only, so no single tickets and no one under the age of 21 was allowed. Each day there were going to be lots of activities and classes offered that included ones with the titles of "How to Strip for Your Partner", "An Introduction to Swinging", and "The Art of Sensual Massage".
"You mean dad planned this kind of trip and didn't say anything to you?" Mike asked.
"I guess it was either going to be a surprise or," she paused for a moment before continuing, "he wasn't planning on taking me on the trip."