(Author's note: This is a long story, written in the form of a novel, with many chapters. The first chapters introduce the characters and lay the groundwork for what's to come. You won't want to miss the action!)
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Chapter 1
REVELATION
"I'm home, honey," I announced, entering the house from the garage. I'm usually home before Suzie, but today is Wednesday and she takes the afternoon off from her busy accounting firm in Harriman.
"I'm in the kitchen, Tom," came the reply.
As I entered the kitchen I noticed that the table in the alcove where we usually eat was set for dinner, complete with wine glasses and a bottle of Chardonnay.
"Hey, Suzie, you set the table. That's
my
job. You work all day and then come home to cook. It's the least I can do."
"Well first of all, I was off this afternoon. But mainly, I have something to tell you and I can't wait. So you go get cleaned up and when you get back I'll have supper on the table."
Suzie and I met in college seven years ago. She was studying for her MBA and I was a senior majoring in architecture. She went on to become a CPA and eventually started her own accounting firm. After graduation I went to work for a small architectural firm in a town called Millville. Millville is about twenty-five miles south of Harriman, Tennessee, and fifty miles west of our college town of Knoxville. The town gets its name from the saw mill that was there many years ago. It was a company town until the lumber industry in the area dried up and the company shut down its operation.
About a year after graduation, Suzie and I were married and moved to Millville. It had become a ghost town after the saw mill closed and remained such for two decades but eventually a more affluent group of people discovered the charm of the area and rebuilt the city with homes for middle and upper class folks. Suzie's business grew and she moved to a larger office, with six employees, in Harriman
Anxious to hear what Suzie had to tell me, I hurriedly washed up and put on a casual shirt and returned to the kitchen. The delicious meal that Suzie had prepared was waiting for me.
"OK, so what're you in such a hurry to tell me?"
"Well," she started. "I had lunch with Julie today, as I have almost every Wednesday for three or four years now. Ever since we became each other's best friend. As girlfriends do, we have confided a lot of personal things to each other. Our feelings; our concerns and worries; our good news and bad news. But, neither of us has ever mentioned anything about our sex lives. "
"Isn't that odd?" I asked. "I thought girls talked about those things. Although men typically don't talk to others about their intimacies with their spouses."