A new day, a new way
Debbie was nowhere to be seen at Union Station, so Tom called her.
"Debbie, I'm back. I thought you were going to pick me up."
"Oh, sorry. Kelly took the van and Kenny took the Jeep, so I don't have any way to get there. Can you catch the bus?" It apparently didn't occur to her to borrow her brother's car even though he lived across the street. Had she even remembered he was gone?
"Did you really just say that?" He clicked off his phone without another word.
Tom was fuming. Sixty hours on a train, and now he had to take the bus for another hour just to get home, pulling his suitcase to boot.
How fucking typical,
he thought.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. She let her brats run roughshod over her and everyone else, so it wasn't out of character for her to let them take both cars at once and leave him hanging. While he didn't want to force her to make choices - him or her kids - he had also grown to resent the idea that his needs were NEVER considered, that he was always the one expected to compromise. He was being used and he hated it.
He used the time on the final trip home to come up with the right words to tell her he was leaving her sorry ass. He tried to convince himself that he was doing it because it was the right thing to do and not because he was leaving her for someone he had just met, but he knew in his heart of hearts that meeting Eileen had finally given him the impetus to actually do it. Whatever his motivation, he needed out.
He had stayed for this long out of a misplaced sense of obligation because of promises made and joint debts incurred, but in practical terms the marriage had really ended years ago and he realized those were excuses for not making the decisions he needed to make. He had known that marrying her was a mistake the very day they tied the knot, and had postponed the inevitable for too long.
The person Debbie had turned out to be was nothing like the one he had been attracted to seven years earlier, and the novelty of her primary asset - she had been a world-class sexual athlete - had worn off quickly in the face of her relentless negativity, her newfound fundamentalist religion, her rapid weight gain, her lack of intelligence and curiosity, and more than anything her spoiled, misbehaving children. It was also difficult to get excited about banging her from behind when her ass resembled twin mountains of cottage cheese, no matter how much she turned on the blowjob machine when she sensed she had pushed him too far. She was still a first class cocksucker, but it was no longer enough to make him forget everything else. He certainly didn't love her, if he ever really had.
He was still seething when he walked in the door. "Debbie? Where are you?" He found her washing the endless supply of dirty laundry her kids generated. She looked up at him.
"We need to talk," he said.
"About what?"
God, is she obtuse. She doesn't have a fucking clue,
he thought.
Telling her he was leaving turned out to be easier than he had anticipated. Her crying and begging were expected, but didn't move him in the least. Fueled by his anger at this latest insult, he laid it all on her in a long, unbroken litany of offenses. While he was far from perfect, they had arrived at this point mostly because of her actions or omissions and he pulled no punches. With her limited ability to comprehend complex ideas, she was convinced he was leaving her solely for another woman.
Let her think what she wants,
he thought.
I just need to get out of here. I need to save myself.
He moved out that weekend and got an apartment close to Pittsburgh, taking with him only what he'd brought to the marriage, plus the Jeep.
As was often the case with new relationships, his with Eileen took off at full speed; they were completely infatuated with each other. The logical part of his brain was telling him to tread lightly because of his past mistakes and the fact that they had just met, but his emotional side was telling him that he had finally found the right one. It was something he just knew intuitively.
Eileen was feeling the same way. They had parted in Wisconsin after a long, deep kiss and a hug neither wanted to end, and she missed him from the moment she had turned away to disembark. They texted each other several times a day, mostly to tell the other how much they missed them. They talked by phone, Skype, or chat nightly, e-mailed endlessly, and continued to share who they were and deepen their knowledge of each other.
She had called her asshole of a boyfriend from La Crosse the day after she arrived and told him that she had had enough of his verbal abuse, his self-centered ways, and his drinking, and that she expected him to be completely out of the condo when she returned in two weeks. She even told him he was lousy in the sack, the final insult to one as filled with phony machismo as he was. She felt rejuvenated; not only had she finally met the man of her dreams, but she had finally shed the last emotional vestiges of a past filled with bad memories.
Three weeks after his return, Tom started his new job with Nike and as planned headed to the corporate campus near Portland for orientation. He took advantage of the Monday start to go two days earlier, giving him more time with Eileen.
Eileen kept her promise to be waiting and was standing just outside the security area at the airport when he arrived. Even though it was Saturday, she had dressed for the occasion. Fall days in the Pacific Northwest were chilly, so she was wearing a dark knee-length skirt and tan silk blouse, a short brown leather jacket, and boots that reached the hem of the skirt. Her thin frame made her look taller than she was, and dressed as she was she turned men's heads.
Girl, you're acting like a teenager with her first crush,
she thought, and smiled.
And I feel like a teenager,
she answered herself.
It's wonderful.
At six feet and 200 pounds he was bigger than most other people, and when she spotted him from a hundred feet away her heart leaped. He locked eyes with her at the same time and impatiently hustled his way through the crowd.
Holy shit, she's the most gorgeous women within a hundred miles,
he thought to himself.
She's a vision.
Without ever breaking his gaze, he made a beeline for her and she leaped into his arms, crushing her lips against his and holding him as tightly as she could. They might as well have been alone despite the sea of people flowing around them; they were unaware of anything else in the world except each other. Their kiss lasted an eternity and neither wanted to end it. They finally put a few inches between their faces.
"Hello, cake," he said jokingly.
