I didn't really want to do the horrible Lovett County dirt roads in the dead of night so I called it quits while there was still a faint sliver of light in the sunset, and I bid everyone a fond farewell and remarked that I would certainly return when I could, probably in another two weeks or so.
As expected, I was rather late getting home and Wanda loudly complained later that I had woke her up when I came into the house, but I knew better. I had noticed that our bedroom light was still on when I pulled into the driveway. I wasn't going to win this argument, so I didn't bother to try, and we both pretended to sleep in silence.
Naturally, she 'worked' most of Saturday and half of Sunday too. This put my suspicious and cynical side right up on edge and I decided to do a little snooping around the house. I didn't discover much, but I did notice that Wanda was now hand-washing her underwear in the bathroom sink and not putting them in with the rest of the laundry as she had used to do. That bumped my 'affair' suspicion gland up another full notch or two.
I tried to hold a serious talk with her Sunday morning but she was not at all in the mood to hear anything I had to say. I did get in a loud, unsubtle hint that I thought she was spending way too much time away from home and she needed to decide 'where she lived and whom she lived with'. I didn't quite get in the last word (I never did), but I could tell I had hit upon a sore point when she suddenly began to look rather guilty.
This wasn't quite a debate win for me, but I chalked this fight up as a tie. Almost a first for me! This meager discussion didn't help to sort out any sort of resolution to our mess though.
My next week was tied up with work, and I found out on Tuesday that early Wednesday I would have to fly to one of our other Sales Manager's districts for a couple of days to conduct a few minor policy change meetings with our field agents there. Freddie (the Manager I was filling in for) was off on a lovely week long company paid seminar in a swanky flash hotel right on the beach on Maui... lucky bastard.
In a fit of efficiency, I finished up all of our necessary business up there a full day early, and sent an email memo to my boss that everything was going well and according to schedule and that I would be back home and in the office, next Monday.
With an extra day of freedom, I decided to take Friday off as a 'mental health day' to drive back down to Lovett and spend another enjoyable day fishing with the Marsh King. Wanda was already at work when I arrived back home about mid-morning, and I didn't even bother to drop off my suitcases but instead just grabbed my fishing stuff from the garage.
Once back in Lovett and getting ready for a day on the Marsh-King's pier, I was able to chat quite a bit with Curriea, who was spending the day close to home sorting out big tubs full of floating water lilies for a large delivery that she was going to make the next morning. She was dressed as usually only in her tiny red thong and seemed utterly indifferent to the effect that her considerable charms had upon the tightness of my fishing shorts. I did catch her smiling a time or two, and I let her have her petty revenge for my copping a very good feel of her breasts while rescuing her the previous week, and I also let her just possibly win a verbal debate round or two during some of the day's pleasant debates.
She asked me about my wife, and if she fished at all. "No", I told her sadly. Wanda did not fish or do anything recreationally; she lived now just to work. In her world, fish came only from the supermarket, preferably in microwaveable cubes, as she didn't cook much (or particularly well) either. For the next hour or so, I described our married life, Wanda's behavior and her increasing obsession with her work.
I told her I hadn't quite given up all hope yet, but the end was clearly pretty visible in the not too distant future.
Curriea thought this was all rather sad, and after a moment of thought decided there was someone in town that I ought to meet, for just a moment or two at least before I left for the day. She rushed inside the house to make a quick phone call, and actually threw on a small token amount of clothing, a torn tank top that did little to hide her lovely breasts, and a tired old well-worn pair of cut-off shorts that nearly exposed as much ass as her thong had.
Once suitably attired, she directed me to hop into her old Jeep CJ and she drove us up along the beach for a mile or two until we arrived back on the main coastal beach and ended up at Phil's ramshackle drink shack, now formally christened as "Phil's Cantina and Ice House ("Where the drinks are cold and the action is hot!"). Now that his construction work was mostly finished, Phil was in a bit of a better humor today.
It being mid-afternoon on a weekday in the late fall, I wasn't expecting for very much to be happening, but I was surprised. There were at least 6 other groups of people there, mostly chiefly older couples and mostly all nude. Mostly predominantly 'winter snowbirds' from the local Nudist Colony just up the road, but a few locals had decided to call the work week done a bit early and they had come in droves to drink and play on the beach. Phil apparently, despite his tendency to be a grouch, was a superb mixologist and concocted the world's best frozen margaritas and lemonades.
I bought us drinks and I didn't have to wait long until her friend arrived. Her name was Sarah and she was an older woman of about my mother's age that ran the local quilting and fabric craft shop in Lovett. She was a very sweet lady and was easy to talk to, but I couldn't quite figure why I had 'needed to meet her'. I bought another round of excellent drinks and we had a pleasant chat talking about life and things in the big city and here in Lovett until I decided that if I wanted to get out on the road home before dark I would have to call it goodbye.
Sarah, took my hand just for a moment as I was about to get back into the Jeep and offered me a single sterling piece of advice.
"Tell your wife on Sunday that you will need to leave and go out of town again on Monday morning, but pay her a surprise visit home that evening. Then, I think all of your problems will soon begin to be solved."
For some reason, I completely believed her, I think it was the sad look in her eyes as she told me this and then gently kissed my cheek goodbye. She then told Curriea that she would speak to her later this evening, and we all left.
