Stretch assignment...in more ways than one
So back to a little writing after nearly two years. Not sure this is as different as I wanted it to be from prior efforts. Also, not sure if this will be it, or additional chapters...guess I'll have decide on this or another two draft stories get finished first. And, since I don't plan things out, not sure where this goes next anyway...
I was finally home, it had been a long series of legs, thankfully no broken planes, but a lot of connections. First a long drive from the site in the boondocks of Western Australia to the only real airport in Perth. Then a flight across the continent to Sydney, a really long flight to LA, then another leg to Chicago, then another drive out to our place in the western suburbs. What a not fun 36 hours.
I had spent the last nine months on the other side of the earth in the transition as we took over a big operation involved in five different mines in Australia. It was a stretch assignment for me, an engineer turned manager. And with that difficulty, plus working as far away as you could be from Chicago it seemed, I was going to turn this down.
But big bonuses monthly during the assignment and now, as we had come in ahead of schedule and under budget, a cool 50K lump sum bonus for doing so well, it had been worth the risk. So professionally things were great. At home nine months is a long time apart in any marriage, especially ours. And I wasn't sure we were doing so great even before this long time apart.
The issue was I was separated from my wife, for the first long duration in our five-year marriage. We had been bickering a fair bit before I left, but our calls and emails had seemed ok, and I was hoping the separation was going to allow us to restart our relationship.
At one level this was a good thing, to be so far away and so busy at work, but at the same time a real risk for us. One big issue for us was fighting. To me Pam had also been an argumentative person, willing to fight over the stupidest things. And me, I never turned down a chance to be part of a fight. Not a healthy mix our therapist had said over and over.
We had met after we both graduated from college, introduced by mutual friends. She didn't have much to say about those college years, except to say she was sort of starting over and was trying to leave those years in the past.
I didn't push and she never opened up. All Pam should would say was she was reinventing herself and I was a big part of that. So, if this was a new chapter in Pam's, it was a pretty compelling one, as far as I was concerned, as it involved both of us, together.
She also had thrown cold water on any adult craziness, not liking the idea of an adults-only resort in Jamaica to start. Of course, when I brought up one of my fantasies, going to bed with Pam another hot girl, I got a weeklong rant. She had almost ripped my head off, telling me she'd never touch another woman, and neither would I. To add to that, it was a cold, lonely two weeks in our marital bed.
So, I had no intention of bringing up any legitimately kinky ideas, I might not survive the discussion. And that was tough, as I had always liked a lot of spice in my relationships. It was good to cuddle and make romantic love, but raunchy kinky sex was too much fun to also not enjoy.
Over the months apart, as I dissected our relationship and reflected on my wife, some things didn't make sense. One odd thing, even though she was so vanilla in bed and her attitudes, she sort of loved to flaunt her hot body. She had no problem with high heels, and figure-hugging clothes, and underneath loved her Italian and French lingerie, but that seemed to be the extent of her sense of adventure.
Her hair was amazing and her curves were, well simply intoxicating. Pam was this petite Italian-American bombshell, her breasts were perfect, not all that large, but I wasn't into inflated chests. Her legs were lean but rippled with muscle, and her face was, to me, bewitching.
But she could often be pretty toxic, and there was always a lot of drama to deal with. If only she had been willing to be a little more compromising and a little more willing to try new things, life would have certainly been smoother. I had been wondering in those long months apart if she was scared of what trying new sexual fun would reveal about herself.
Now my Uber was dropping me off, at our secluded cul-de-sac older ranch style house. It wasn't large, but enough for the two of us. I was really tired, really nervous, but at the same time excited to finally see my wife again. I had finally decided, after months of thought, that I could live with some boredom in the bedroom, as long as we could fix up the rest of our relationship. Because the one thing that I knew wasn't changing was her almost Victorian bedroom behaviors.
The house looked exactly the same, maybe the yard was in better shape, it should be for what it was costing us a month. The place had a small front yard, but the way the properties were laid out we had a big back yard, with a small pool and a very private six-foot-high fence all around the entire back yard. But of course, despite the fact the yard was totally private, Pam never would even take off the top of her bikini and was aghast when I suggested making love under the stars one July night.
The house right next door had sold while I was frantically getting ready to fly off to Oz. So, Pam had met our new neighbors, but I really hadn't. They had moved in so close to my departure. All I had done was wave to them several times as I frantically got stuff all ready for my long work trip. They seemed like a nice couple, but that was all I had seen.
The woman was definitely eye catching, so I had been hoping she would keep Pam occupied while I was gone. She was about Pam's height with long curly dark hair and a tight body, something that was obvious in the yoga pants and crop top she was wearing the one time I saw her. In contrast to Pam's dusky Mediterranean complexion, our new neighbor had almost albino white skin. I wasn't too worried about the husband though; I couldn't conceive of Pam getting that adventurous.
Pam at first was quite dismissive during our emails and facetime calls. She said the couple next door was very non-traditional and she didn't think much of the woman's wardrobe. She also said the woman was very bossy. I had cracked up, Pam being around a bossy woman was going to cause sparks for sure.
I asked how she knew that and she said that the neighbor, Lana, was very directive to her big strapping husband. I needled her and asked her if I had anything to worry about with the guy and Pam laughed and basically said he really wasn't her type. I wasn't going to bring up Lana as a threat, not after that rant I had endured on how same sex loving was evil and disgusting.
But after about three months Pam stopped bad mouthing Lana. In fact, she admitted Lana wasn't so bad once you got to know her. I could tell they were spending a lot of time together, and Pam admitted that Lana had really helped her update her wardrobe. But I didn't think anything of all that. I just thought it was nice that Pam had been able to make a friend with a new neighbor.
Pam had told me the week before I flew back that she would introduce us properly, she told me the neighbors were looking forward to meeting me, as soon as I got into town. That sounded odd, I warned her I didn't want any surprise welcome home parties, I was going to be exhausted after traveling for more than 28 hours straight.
Pam laughed, telling me that wasn't an issue, she wanted to welcome me back personally and privately, without a big crowd. To Pam that surely meant a quiet evening together, as she shared what had been going on and probably bitched about the neighbors, work, and my presents in my suitcase as not what she was expecting. However, I was holding out hope for some welcome home lovemaking in spite of all that.
So, I was resigned to just a nice home cooked meal, maybe some cuddling and then a nice welcome home bout of lovemaking. I had long ago given up hope that Pam would embrace any kind of carnal adventures. Definitely all the emails calls and texts had been as they always were, mundane would be a fancy word for it. Others would just use the word boring.
I had been very tempted early on to find some fun and companionship in Australia. But since almost all my time was at mining camps, there wasn't much to allow me to act on that urge, since I wasn't into burly beer drinking guys, at all. And since I had decided to give this marriage another shot, I stopped looking around, even in my few trips to Perth.
I paid the Uber guy and raised the garage door so I could drag in my two big rolling suitcases. I also had a backpack I had carried on. I left both bags next to Pam's Honda Civic and went into the laundry room that led to the kitchen to at last see my wife. But she wasn't in the kitchen and there wasn't even a meal ready or the smell of dinner cooking. Maybe Pam wanted to go out for dinner with me?
In fact, this was really odd, the whole downstairs was quiet and deserted. I did hear noises from upstairs and there was a light from the hall upstairs visible at the entry to the stairs. Thinking positively, I slipped off my shoes and draped my coat over a kitchen chair. Maybe Pam did want to have some horizontal fun before dinner. My hopes began to rise, as well as something else, even after my long, tiring, trip.
Up the stairs I climbed, they still squeaked on every other step, but she must have already heard the garage door anyway. Our den, which was a fancy name for a TV room was right over our two-car garage. I walked down the hall, hearing some old-time soul music, I smiled as I realized she was listening to Barry White. Maybe she was really in the mood for some loving. So, fingers figuratively crossed, I pushed open the partially closed door and stood in the doorway to the den.
The first thing I noticed was the music was actually the soundtrack to a porno, playing on our 65" flat screen TV. On the screen were several women engaged in some kind of sex act. That was already beyond anything I expected to see being watched by my wife. But what was crazy was the kind of lesbian porno Pam was watching.
