In the darkness he stared at her outline. She had turned him down, again. Sex was a sore subject in their marriage. They had barely been married two and a half years. Sighing Kent realized that the frequency of their sex life had tapered off almost a week after the wedding. Still he could at least count on it once or twice a month. Cathryn was always too tired, not feeling well, or on her period.
Kent rolled over and faced the wall. It had been a month and eight days since they last made love. And the last time she wasn't interested. He tried to make it good for her but she pushed his hands away and told him to get it over with.
She acted like sex was a punishment and living with him was a chore that she hated but did anyway. Perhaps the next day, before the tractor pull, before she got home from work, he would ask Sam if he saw a difference in her lately. He was with her about as often as Kent so maybe she said something.
Cathryn punched the time clock at eight o'clock at Kincaid Lake State Park. Still part way asleep she staggered in the office to pick up the money bag and keys for the Boat Dock. It was her third year down there, second as supervisor.
Even though she was teaching now she held on to the summer job. It was a fun job and the time she put in went towards her retirement. Experience told her that there would be a crowd waiting on her at the bottom of the hill lined up on the wooden dock.
"Hey Carrie, nice morning." She addressed the secretary who happened to also be her sister-in-law.
Carrie looked up from the money bags in front of her. "Morning. Did Bub get up this morning?"
"No, he was still in bed when I left. You know how it works, I wake him, he says 'I'm getting up', and then he goes back to sleep." She picked up her bag and keys. "Well I better get to work. They'll be waiting."
Sure enough there were about ten people waiting on her to open on that bright, sunny morning. It was still cool enough to be bearable. But she knew that it wouldn't take much before it got hot. By the time she got out two pontoons and eight motor boats she was soaked with sweat.
David and Josh didn't get there until noon. For the life of her Cathryn couldn't figure out why one person had to get all the boats out on Saturday mornings but Herald, the park manager, scheduled two people to bring them in at night.
To her left at the counter the phone rang in her ear. Automatically he snagged it from the base. "Good Morning. Thank you for calling Kincaid Lake Boat Dock. This is Cathryn. How may I help you?"
"Hey baby."
Cathryn smiled at the voice. "Sam. What are you doing today?"
"Missing you."
"You'll see me tonight at the pull." 'But Kent will be there' hung in the air between them and went unsaid. "Where are you?"
"In my truck, heading out to load up some square bales, somebody called Kent and wanted some."
"Do they want a lot?"
"He didn't say, just had be meet him at the barn." Cathryn could hear him sigh and waited for him to say more. There seemed to be something on his mind that he wasn't sharing with her. But he didn't continue.
After waiting a minute she asked. "Is everything okay, hon? You sound distracted or upset."
"No just tired." He lied to her.
Cathryn sat down in the ragged blue rolling chair and put her head down on the counter. "Oh, okay. You be careful hon. I love you."
"I love you too. Be good today. I'll see you tonight." Sam pushed the button to disconnect the line. Eyes closed, he put his head against the back of the seat. He had called to tell her the Kent said he wanted to talk to him about her. It was probably nothing so there wasn't any need to worry her.
When he heard Kent's diesel pull up he opened the door and swung out of the truck. Kent was pulling the twenty-four foot gooseneck behind his blue Dodge truck so Sam reached in for his leather gloves. It was going to be a big load then, one that would take the two of them most of the morning to load, deliver, and unload. Maybe Kent would forget that he wanted to talk about Cathryn.
Kent climbed out of his truck and looked at Sam. "You get in the loft and throw 'em down. I'll stack 'em on the trailer."
They worked in silence. The occasional groan and the thud of hay hitting the wooden floor of the gooseneck combined with the chirping birds. Sam scratched the back of his neck. The loft was already sweltering and he was covered in hay dust.
Stopping he looked down to see how Kent was coming along. He was behind so Sam decided on a short break. Tipping his green John Deere hat back he wiped his face with the collar of his shirt. There was hay down the back of his shirt. He could feel it starting to itch between his shoulder blades.
Whoever thought rolling in the hay was fun, he thought to him self, was crazy. He absently rubbed his back against the barn post to relieve some of the itchiness before getting back to work.
Some time later Kent finally yelled up to him, "Two more and that's it. Step out on top the load and I'll throw the straps up to you."
Sam had already jumped out of the loft onto the bales. He stood to the center and waited for the strap to come up. The metal hooks on the ends smarted if you go hit with one. When it was finally tied down, Sam shimmied down the side and climbed in the passenger side of the truck. The air conditioner was like a blessing when Kent fired up the diesel engine. The windows were down with the air wide open. It was an odd but common habit in that part of Kentucky.
They drove by Maybelle Brown's house and waved at her watering her porch planters of impatients. She waved back with a smile that wasn't so much friendly as curious. She found it delightful the handsome lover and the cuckolded husband working together happy as you please.
She wondered if young Sam thought about sticking it to Kent's pretty little wife while he was riding around talking to his cousin. Or maybe the wife thought of the cousin when she was in bed with her husband. And she cries out the lovers name in the throws of passion. Maybelle trembled with excitement causing her many fat rolls to jiggle. The porch groaned under her girth as she crossed to go back into her air conditioning.
Kent was also thinking about his wife but not in the same way as Miss Maybelle. "Sam, can I ask you something?"
Sam cast him a sidelong glance and dug the can of Kodiak out of his pocket and packed it with a few practiced shakes. The sound of his index finger hitting the plastic can was drowned out by the engine noise. "Sure."
Kent sat quiet for a few moments before going on. "You have lunch with Cathryn every week right?"
"Yeah." His hand shook slightly when he put the pinch of wintergreen flavored tobacco between his lower lip and gum. He glanced at Kent and hoped he didn't notice.
"You notice anything different about her? Maybe she said if something was wrong." Kent stared out the truck's windshield. It was humiliating to admit there was something wrong with his marriage.
Relief settled over Sam and he released the breath of air he didn't realize he was holding in. "She never mentioned anything wrong. How is she acting different?"
"Distant. Its like she couldn't give a damn whether I'm there or not." Pausing Kent picked up the Coke bottle they have been spitting their tobacco juice in. He spat before continuing. "We haven't had sex in over a month."
"Man, she probably tired. Doesn't she say that she's worn out all the time? Hell she was working two jobs for the last month until school ended." Sam pushed back the memory of Cathryn on top of him, riding him. Beads of sweat running down her body between her rose tipped breasts just a few days ago. "Besides what was your sex life like before?"
"At least once, maybe twice a month." Kent grumbled. It was even more humiliating to admit that his wife rarely ever wanted to have sex with him.
Sam sat back against the seat. He wanted to know more. Cathryn refused to talk about her sex life with Kent. She said it wouldn't be right. "Was she into it or did she act like she was doing it because you wanted to?"
"I don't know. She was into I guess. You know Cathryn she not much on kissing or anything. I did a lot of the work."
