A few days after Dennis Livingston arrived at Lois Tillman's house for his two-week visit, Lois' estranged husband, Rod, stopped at the house to talk with his wife. The coach planned to make one last attempt to get his wife to see that it was a bad idea for them to break up their marriage.
Almost from the start, the visit didn't go well for Rod. It bothered him that Lois talked to him standing in the kitchen and didn't invite him to sit down, or even offer him a cup of coffee. It also bugged him that his wife seemed to be upset that he was there, but he tried to keep his cool and talk to her calmly.
"Look, honey," he began hopefully, "if you think marriage counseling would help, I'm willing to try it."
Lois felt a pang of anger. Rod obviously hadn't heard a thing she said the last time they talked, but then that was the story of their entire wedded life. Marriage counseling wouldn't erase the fact that he was cheating on her, and probably wouldn't do much for the fact that he was self-centered and inattentive, either. What was even more important was that Lois knew she didn't love her husband any more. "Rod, I'm sorry, we've gone beyond the point where counseling will help," she said.
"Come on, how can you say that?" Rod whined, "I'm really willing to try. I really am."
"You know, Rod," Lois said, "I think its possible you mean that, but it's too late. Our marriage, if that's what it was, is over."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Rod looked at her, puzzled. "Our marriage, if that's what it ever was?"
"Rod, you don't care about me," Lois continued, "and I'm not sure you ever did."
Rod had no idea what his wife was talking about. "Come on," he said, "I do, too, care about you. Christ! I mean, we've been together, what, twenty years?"
"The amount of time we've been together doesn't mean anything," Lois said. Actually, they'd been married eighteen years. The fact he thought it was twenty bothered her. Did it seem longer to him? Lately it did to her. "And it isn't just that. Everything about our relationship has deteriorated, including our sex life!"
From the look on her husband's face, Lois knew she'd touched a nerve.
"Whose fault is that?" Rod yelled. "Christ, I don't see how you can say that. Jesus! I think I've been taking care of business pretty good."
"It doesn't matter," Lois replied. "I can't - and won't - continue to be married to you."
"Jesus Christ!" Rod said. "What the hell's happened to you, Lois? You been reading that women's lib crap, or what? I bust my ass for twenty years to be a good husband, and this is the thanks I get?"
"Have you?" Lois asked softly. She didn't intend to ask that question, she was thinking it, though, and it just popped out.
"Have I what?" Rod replied.
"Have you really tried to be a good, faithful husband?" Lois asked. She was angry, now, and didn't care what she said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Rod demanded.
Lois thought her husband looked a little pale. "I asked you a question, Rodney," she said softly. She realized she'd used her husband's whole name, which he hated. "You haven't answered it."
"Goddammit, Lois!" Rod stormed, "I don't need to stand here and take this shit from you."
Dennis sat in the spare bedroom, listening to the couple argue. He was scared. Mr. Tillman sounded angry and he was worried the man might try and hurt Mrs. Tillman. He wasn't sure what he could do if that happened. He strained to hear what they were saying. Even though Mrs. Tillman had stuck to her guns about not having sex with him again, they'd begun to develop a friendship in the time he was there. Actually, from Dennis's perspective, their relationship had evolved into more than a friendship. He was smitten with his lovely hostess.
"I asked you a question, Rodney," Lois said.
"What do you want from me?" her husband yelled. "You want me to say I'm cheating on you?"
"Are you?" Lois asked, her voice quavering. She knew he was. Would he admit it?
"What would you do if I said I was?" he asked. "Then what?"
"Rodney, are you going to answer my question?" Lois said, remaining firm.
"Goddammit, Lois, I don't have to put up with this shit!" Rod yelled.
Dennis heard a door slam. He heard Mrs. Tillman walk by his door on the way to her bedroom and it sounded as if she was crying. He wanted to go to her and comfort her, but he was afraid to. He wasn't sure she wanted him to comfort her.
Lois sat in her bed room, crying, for a while. Finally, still angry from the argument with Rod, she got up, got undressed, and slipped on her robe, then she headed for the shower. She and Dennis were going to a play at a local summer stock theater with some of Lois's friends that evening and she had to get ready.
Her friend, Donna, called a couple days earlier. "Lois, I'm so excited," Donna said, "I did some publicity for the first play of the season and I have four tickets, front row center. Brad and I would love to have you and Rod join us. I know how badly you've wanted to see this play."
"Ah...Donna," Lois said, "ah...Rod and I, we...we're separated."
"Oh, God!" Donna said, "I...I didn't know. Oh, Lois, I'm so sorry."
"No way you could have known," Lois told her friend, "It only just happened."
"Well, gee, I...I don't know what to say," Donna stammered. "Would...do...do you still want to go with Brad and me? I mean, the three of us could have fun, and you could probably stand a nice night out, right?"
Lois was about to say she'd go when she remembered she had a visitor. "Ah...Donna," she said, "I...I almost forgot. A friend of mine's son is staying with me for a few weeks while his parents are in Europe. It was something I promised to do before...before Rod and I split up and...well, I didn't have the heart to cancel on them and spoil their trip."
"You could get a babysitter," Donna said.
Lois chuckled. "He's eighteen, Donna," she told her friend. "I don't think he'd like that too much."
"My goodness," her friend replied. "Is he good-looking?"
"Donna!" Lois exclaimed.
Donna giggled. "Well," she said, "I do have four tickets. Do you think he'd like to come along?"
"Actually," Lois said, thinking about it, "he just might. I'll check."
She checked and found out that Dennis was interested in drama and said he'd love to go to the play. Now she was in the shower, getting ready to go out with her friends, and Dennis, and hoped the play would make her forget the fight she'd just had with Rod.
After finishing up in the bathroom, she put her robe back on and walked back to her bedroom. "Your turn to use the bathroom, Dennis," she said as she passed the door to the bedroom the young man was using.
"Thanks," she heard Dennis reply.
While Dennis took his shower, Lois went to her room and finished getting dressed. She put on a pale peach colored cotton knit ankle-length dress that hung over her shoulders on thin straps. The soft material clung wonderfully to her nicely-shaped body, and four long slits in the skirt allowed a considerable expanse of her lovely legs to show as she walked. It was warm, and she knew the theater wasn't air-conditioned, so she decided not to wear stockings. She did get out a cream-colored cotton blazer, just in case the evening got cool, though. After checking to make sure her makeup and everything else was OK, she went downstairs.
Dennis, dressed in a white cotton Oxford shirt with thin red stripes and khakis and carrying a dark blue sweater over his arm, walked into the living room a little while later. He looked at Mrs. Tillman, his eyes widened a bit, and he smiled. The dress she was wearing was fantastic! "You...you really look nice," he said softly.
"Thank you, Dennis," Lois replied, feeling her face grow warm.
"I...I heard you and Mr. Tillman," Dennis said. "Are...are you OK?"
Lois smiled at him. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, Dennis" she said, "It's...I wish it didn't have to happen, but..." She shrugged and, before tears could fill her eyes, she took a deep breath. "I don't want to think about that part of my life tonight, I'm going to concentrate on how much fun the play's going to be." She paused and grinned. "And what a handsome date I have."
Dennis felt himself blushing. "Yeah, sure," he said.
"Come on," Lois said, "we don't want to keep Donna and Brad waiting."
Donna and Brad were waiting for them in front of the theater when they arrived. Lois introduced Dennis to her friends, then she and Donna went to the ladies room before the show began.