Margaret and I had been divorced about 3 years. Our marriage had been fairly average I had thought, even including the sex we enjoyed 2.4 times a week. It struck me hard when she told me after an argument that she was leaving me, and then did just that.
The divorce was fairly peaceful though, and we arranged a joint-custody agreement that the judge praised us for, as it was very liberal. Every weekend I would pick up our son and daughter, and spent the weekend with them. This continued for about 7 years, and Maggie and I had even become friends again, having family picnics and the like. Occasionally I would bring along a girlfriend (if I had one), and she never caused a fuss over that.
I was awakened at about 4 in the morning by a phone call. Maggie was crying, and told me that she needed to talk to somebody. I got dressed and headed on over, concerned about what was wrong. The kids were at her sister's for 2 weeks visiting, so I knew she was probably alone.
After we sat down, she told me that she had been laid off. She was a nurse, and I knew how hard the economy was at that time. After about 5 minutes, she started to sob. I gave her a long hug, and tried to reassure her. I told her that I knew many employment agencies, and would pull some strings to try and get her a job sooner. Plus I would give her some money to help ends meet. Because we each had the kids about the same amount of time (I got 1 week a month, and all vacations), there was no child support.
She thanked me, and got us both some coffee. We chatted, and before we knew it, the sun was starting to rise. We sat next to each other, sipping coffee as we watched the sun go up. "Mark, I forgot how we used to love to do this" she said, as she held my hand briefly. "Thank you for coming over like this."
"Heck," I said. "What else was I going to do, sleep?" We shared a laugh, and she went to get us more coffee. When she got back, she bent over to put it on the table, and I recognized the look on her face. I could tell without asking that her back had gone out again. We had both been in a car accident years before, and both had back problems resulting from it. I took the cups from her, and told her to lie on the floor.
I knelt beside her, and proceeded to massage her back, to loosen it up. After about 20 minutes, I made the appropriate pretzel shapes of her body, and was awarded by hearing several loud cracks. I massaged for another 15 minutes or so, until I was sure the soreness was gone. This was not to unusual, as we did this for each other from time to time. The thanked me, then offered to return the favor.
As she worked my back over, she thanked me, saying that I was always great at that. After working my back in, she massaged me as we started to talk about other things.
"What ever happened to that little redhead you were seeing?"
"Oh, she is long gone now. She was always talking about wanting to go partying, so I told her to go ahead, but that was not my style. I still see her on occasion, but it is just for the sex."
She giggled at that, and said "I would not have any idea about that."
I thought back, and was amazed. "You know, I can not remember ever hearing you or the kids talk about you ever dating. And I have never seen, nor heard you bring up a boyfriend. When was the last time you were on a date?"
"Hmmmmmmm, probably about 14 years ago" she said playfully.
"14 years? That is when we were dating, before we got married!" I was stunned. Sure, at 35 she was a little past her prime, but she still looked good. 5'6", shoulder length brown hair, and a 36D-28-38 figure. A little extra padding across her middle, but heck, I had that also.
We started to chat, and she told me that after we split up, her desire for sex stopped. She would occasionally go out with some of her friends from work, but never anything more. I was a little amazed, and asked her how she survived.
"Oh, I get by. The kids keep me busy, and between them and work, I don't need anything more."
She asked me about some of my past girlfriends. She was amazed that I had so many of them. We counted through 10 of them. She was also equally amazed that I had only had sex with 3 of them. "Like you," I said, "I don't need sex much. I mostly date for companionship. A lot of them could not handle the kids though. They wanted your typical absentee father, not one that split the time between them and her."
"I know what you mean. I have had a few offers, but most decline when they learn I have 2 kids. They do not like the idea of ready-made families."
She lay on her side next to me, and we continued to chat. I was talking, and suddenly realized that she was looking at me funny. I asked her what it was, and she shook her head as if coming out of a daze, and said it was nothing. I tried to get her to fess up, but she refused.
"Tell you what, I'll wrestle you for it."