Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 2:21 PM EST
From: David Clark<dclark@cloisterscapital.com>
To: Laura Cohen<laura@coheneem.com>
Subj: One More Thing

Dear Laura,
First of all, I can’t believe we spent two and a half hours in that coffee place.  It felt like about 15 minutes.  My career lies in ruins as a result, by the way.  :)  But it was worth it.  I could have stayed with you all afternoon.
There was something I thought of on the walk back, which I wished I’d said to you when we were together: love isn’t enough.  It isn’t all you need, no matter what people say.  You also need to feel like somebody has your back. 
No one has my back.  No one’s ever had my back.  People have said they did, and it turned out they didn’t.  It’s no crime to be alone.  There’s a certain honor in it, actually.  The crime is when you think you aren’t alone, and then you find out that in all the ways that matter, you are.
I know you know what I’m saying. It’s in your eyes and in all the spaces between your words.  For a long time, I lied to myself.  Don’t make the same the mistake.  Be brutally, brutally honest with yourself about your circumstances.  It’s the only way to ever get to a place of real happiness. 
I have to go, now, and sell people things. When you finish the book, tell me everything you think. 
Yours,
David

Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:18 AM EST
From: Laura Cohen <laura@coheneem.com>
To: David Clark <dclark@cloisterscapital.com>
Sub: Everything I Think?

David,
Tell you everything I think?   Be careful what you wish for.
I think I stayed up all night reading the book. 
I think I just finished ten minutes ago and now I have to go straight to work, where I will be a bleary-eyed disaster. 
I think I liked the book very much.
I think my favorite thing about it, though, was that you gave it to me.
I think I have to see you again.
L

Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 4:58 AM EST
From: David Clark <dclark@cloisterscapital.com>
To: Laura Cohen <laura@coheneem.com>
Subj: No Sleep

Dear Laura,
I guess neither of us is sleeping.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  It’s not a line I ever dreamed I’d cross.  I’ve tried to be honorable about things.  Even after Carol wasn’t.  Even after she went out of her way to be as dishonorable as possible.   
But now I find myself swept toward you with absolutely no means of stopping.  I try to to think clearly, but all I hear in my head is, “Of course.  Of course you must be with this woman.” 
I’m getting off the computer before she wakes up.  On Saturday mornings I go for long runs — sometimes 12 or 13 miles.  It’s my only peace in the week.  This week, I’m going to run by your apartment.  I’ll be there by 10.  She won’t expect me home for quite awhile.
Until then,
David

Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 12:31 PM EST
From: Carol Clark<carol@iamcarolclark.com>
To: Robert Martin <rm@rmpersonalservices.com>
Subj: Lying, Cheating Piece of S*&t

Rob,
Well, the good news is that the spyware works just fine — thank you for installing it and for taking me through it.  I’ll send you a check. Or give you cash — maybe that’s smarter. I hope I was reasonably well-behaved.  As you may have noticed, I dressed as conservatively as possible.  I thought it was very mature of us to have been alone together without tearing each other’s clothes off.  Yay us. 
The bad news is that not only has Dave been exchanging romantic emails with someone, he has already met her once and is planning to meet her again tomorrow.  His brilliant scheme is to tell me he’s going for a run when in fact the only place he’s running is her apartment.  How on earth did he ever think of that?  What a genius I married. 
Now, I know what you’re thinking — he’s got one coming to him.  Okay, he’s got several coming to him.  But I don’t buy that.  We promised each other that we’d turn the page on my, um, indiscretions.  But apparently that’s all out the window now.
What do I do?  Blow the whistle on him before he goes, or wait until he comes back?  On the one hand, I’d like to stop this thing before it starts.  But on the other, if he cheats on me then he gives up the moral high ground.  And I am so sick and tired of feeling like the sinner in this relationship. 
Option 3 is abandoning any attempt at conversation and just hitting him in the head with a brick.  
And I’d like to kill his little girlfriend, too, quite frankly.  I can’t tell for sure, but I think she’s also married.  Possibly the husband is out of town.
Please advise me.  I am not thinking clearly right now.  I’m pacing around the apartment like a panther.
xc

Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 1:14 AM EST
From: Robert Martin <rm@rmpersonalservices.com>
To: Carol Clark <carol@iamcarolclark.com>
Subj: Re: Lying, Cheating Piece of S*&t

Carol,
On no account should you try to stop it before it starts.  For one thing, the best you’ll do is delay it.  That’s the way of these things — they must and will run their course, no matter what third parties say or do.  In trying to nip it in the bud, you’ll only create resentment and make yourself the bad guy.  You need to appear to take the high road, here — the key word being “appear” – so that, in the end, you’ll be in a position of strength in your marriage. 
So here’s what you do.  Find out who the woman’s husband is.   Get an email address for him.  Be subtle and clever about it — you’re good at that.  Then, send the husband’s email address to me.  I will write to him and inform him of his wife’s affair.  I’ll tell him who Dave is and where he can be reached.  If this husband is like every other husband in the world, he’ll do your dirty work for you, believe me. 
All you’ll have to do is fold your arms, wait for the shouting to stop, and pretend to be shocked and appalled. 

Rob