A Day Early

Tom's Story

On Tuesday, I told Julie, my wife, that I had to make a trip to St. Louis to fix some problems on a new installation. I would fly out Wednesday afternoon, meet with the contractors Thursday and Thursday evening, and fly home Friday. She did not seem very upset by the last minute trip, even though she had always hated me being away. She actually smiled when I told her and wished me a good trip. Strange.

I thought that we could make love that night since I would be leaving for the rest of the week but Julie pleaded fatigue when I suggested we go to bed early and cuddle.

"What's new?" I said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Julie snapped back at me.

"Fatigue is getting to be your standard answer when I suggest we make love. I wonder what's making you so tired. It can't be work since you seem to love being there instead of at home with me." I was just getting wound up.

"It can't be the baby since as soon as I get home, you leave her to me to play with, or bathe, or get ready for bed." I was sorry to have begun this but I really wanted to have it out with her. This just did not seem like the right time. It had been coming for some time but I didn't realize how close to the surface my anger had become.

"I don't know what you mean by that. You love Rachael and I know you like to spend your evenings with her. What's wrong with that?" Julie's face was red and her anger was clearly showing.

"I love my daughter, but I only spend as much time as I do with her because you've turned away from me. We haven't made love since you returned to work. Before that, it was not love making; it was a disaster. I tried to talk to you and you pleaded fatigue, you blamed me for being too tired, you even tried to claim that you had orgasms when I clearly know you didn't. I believe you actually laughed at me a couple of times and called me a wimp!" I waited for her to say something but she just stared at me.

"I wanted to go to counseling but you couldn't see any reason to. I wanted to ask the doctor to check you over to see if he could find a reason for the fatigue you always seem to have. None of those things were necessary according to you."

"Now, we have no love life. We go to bed and you turn away from me and just go to sleep. You don't want to talk to me before or after dinner and you don't care to spend any free time with me. You are happy as a clam when you go off to work and angry or depressed when you are here with Rachael and me. I don't know what to do anymore. I wonder if we even have a marriage. Do you want to talk about divorce?" I said the last as a means to try to shake her into some sort of response.

"I don't think I want to continue this conversation. You're not being reasonable and you are certainly making some very stupid accusations. I think you should go on your trip and think about what you just said. It appears that I don't do anything that suits you anymore." Julie rose from her chair and walked into the other room. Her expression was one of disgust or disinterest. There was certainly no distress at my words.

I just sat there and stared into space, trying to determine what had gone wrong and when it happened. I thought back over the past few years of our marriage and tried to remember what they were like. It seemed like the problems had begun just before Rachael was born. Before that our marriage was strong and times were good.

My name is Bill Montgomery and I am now almost 40. Julie and I were married shortly after we both graduated from college. I had interviewed with a firm in Youngstown that manufactured air conditioning and heating equipment for large installations. The interview went well and I was offered a job with them. Julie had also landed a job at a saving and loan bank, in training as a loan specialist. With both of us working, I proposed and Julie accepted. We were married 3 months later in a small ceremony with a justice of the peace. I wanted more for her, but since her parents had died some time ago, she did not want more than a simple service.

After we were married, Julie and I made plans for a family and a home. The family would come as soon as we had saved enough for a down payment on a home, and by saving very carefully, we were able to make the move a year and a half later and found a home we both loved. While it stretched our income, we were able to swing it and moved in.

While our love life was strong and often wild, Julie wanted to begin immediately to make a baby. She insisted that we abstain until she was in her fertile period and then she wanted me to make love as often as I could get it up. At first, I loved it, but after a few months, it began to become work. No spontaneity, no love, no snuggling, no foreplay, just straight fucking! Three weeks of abstinence, one week of fucking. Then do it all over again.

After 3 months, Julie announced that she was pregnant. I whopped for joy and hoped things could get back to normal. Julie seemed to glow and she welcomed me back to making love. Things were good again for the next 5 months. Because of her developing pregnancy, we investigated new ways to please each other. Our sex life actually got better.

After a visit to the OB/GYN, Julie announced that we had to stop with the sex we both enjoyed and were used to having. From now until the baby was born, only gentle penetration was permissible and no missionary sex. Julie was to avoid strenuous activity of any kind and the doctor recommended she quit work.

Julie did resign from work, taking a sabbatical so that she could return if she desired.

She seemed to resent having to quit and began to become angry with me for little things. I thought at first that it was hormones, but after a while I knew it was more. When I asked Julie about it, she denied anything was wrong and said she was just uncomfortable most of the time. I hoped the birth of the baby would bring back the old Julie.

The time came and the baby was born. It was a beautiful baby girl whom we named Rachael after Julie's mother. The baby was perfect and was a joy for both of us. For a while.

After Rachael was about 3 months old, I tried to initiate lovemaking again. I wanted to try as soon as Julie was ready, but she kept putting me off. I was patient until I finally told her it was far past time. She finally agreed, but did so in an angry mood. As a result, the sex was terrible and I could not even perform. I was embarrassed and humiliated and Julie did not help by becoming angry all over again. Instead of encouraging me, she belittled me and laughed at me.

I finally was able to complete the act and I tried to have a normal sex life again but it remained uncomfortable and unpleasant. Julie never instigated sex and she seemed not to enjoy it. She wanted little foreplay and no variations. After a while, the frequency of sex declined to only once or twice a month. Until she returned to work.

Julie approached me about returning to her job after one of our more successful sexual unions. Julie had seemed to be more into it than usual and while I knew she faked her orgasm, I was still able to enjoy myself. As we were lying in bed afterwards, Julie brought it up.

"I would like to go back to work, Tom. I need some stimulation from adults once in a while. You know what I mean. You get it all day so that when you come home, the baby is a pleasure." Julie looked at me for my response.

"I wish you would stay home for a while longer. Rachael is just a year old and she is beginning to develop those traits she will have for the rest of her life. She really needs someone to help her develop good habits and I wanted that person to be you." I hoped that Julie would change her mind.

"Tom, I have made up my mind. I will arrange for day care for Rachael and talk with your mother about part time babysitting. I have already notified Mr. Williams and he has agreed to give me my old job back."

"Why did you even ask me? You have already made the decision and to hell with my opinion. If I agreed, good. If not, tough!" I was furious.

"I knew you would not agree with me going back to work. You are happy with me staying at home while you go out in the world and mingle with adults. I think you would just like to keep me barefoot and pregnant." Julie was almost dismissive of me.

We did not discuss it any further. Julie had made it clear that she was going to do this and I had no say in the matter. She rolled over and turned out the light. I tried to ask her some questions but she refused to answer me so I dropped it, which I later believed was the first mistake I made along the path to disaster.

Julie returned to work and our life changed for the worse. She no longer even pretended to be interested in making love, she rarely played with Rachael in the evenings when we were all home together, she began to let me get Rachael ready for bed and she had me take her to daycare in the mornings while she slept in. Since she started work at 9:00 AM and I started at 7:30, she said that I might as well take Rachael so that I could spend the extra time with her.

While Julie was distant and aloof with me and with Rachael, she was usually almost happy while she was at work and for a short time after she came home. She talked about the people she worked with and some of the people she interacted with during loan applications. She mentioned something about a new department being organized which she hoped to become part of. When I asked her about it, she didn't comment so I let it drop.

I had met most of the people that Julie worked with and knew John Williams, her boss, socially. I had also met the newest member of the bank, Richard Means. He was a young hotshot that I found to be obnoxious and arrogant. John didn't like him much either, but apparently he had impressed someone in the main office so he had no choice.

I listened to her talk about work only half the time, spending the rest of the time with my daughter who had become the focus of my life. My wife had deserted both of us by this time and we had nothing to say to each other. My attempts at trying to initiate a dialog about our marriage and our life together resulted in her avoiding me the rest of that evening. She would not discuss it.

I remember one evening after I put Rachael to bed. I had had a bad day at work and was in a very dark mood. I was sitting in the darkened great room when Julie came in from the kitchen and, ignoring me as usual, sat down on the couch ready to watch some TV. I decided to confront her.

"Julie, do you love me?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? You're my husband! Of course I love you." She said this with a disgusted look.

"If you love me, why do you ignore me? Why don't we make love anymore? Why do you avoid Rachael when I am home?" I wanted desperately for her to give me an answer that I could understand.

"There you go again. We can't just have a peaceful evening together once the brat goes to bed without you getting into more of your paranoid crap!" Julie was angry as usual.

"I want an answer to my questions. Not more of your attack dog attitude. You don't even pretend to love me anymore and you seem to be sick of your daughter when she is awake. How can any mother call her child a brat? We don't have a marriage anymore. I just wonder what you are doing at work that makes our marriage unimportant and our daughter a pain in your butt? Is there someone else?" I pressed her for an answer.

"I will not have this conversation with you. You are sick and paranoid. I told you I loved you and our daughter and I love our marriage. I wouldn't do anything to risk it and I have done nothing that you need worry about. Now, I am going to bed and I don't want to hear another word." With that she went to bed without a backward glance. I noticed that while she protested, she never denied that someone else might be involved.

I awoke after a fitful night on the Wednesday of the trip at my usual time of 6:30. My loving wife was asleep as always and I got up to begin my preparations for the trip. I showered, dressed in comfortable traveling clothes and packed an overnight with all I would need for the meeting and for dinner that evening. I got Rachael up and got her ready for day care. She had her breakfast of cereal and juice and was happy as she normally was. She sat and hummed a little tune while she ate. It was hard for me to be sad in her presence.

I got ready to leave and went into the master bedroom to see if Julie had awakened. I watched her for a while, marveling at how beautiful she still was. She appeared to be asleep but I had the feeling she was awake and just waiting for me to leave. With a sigh, I did just that.

After dropping Rachael off at daycare, I went to work to finish up some last minute details before the trip. I talked with Claire, my secretary and gave her my schedule. I told her that I would probably not be in the rest of the week since I was due home late Friday so to call me at the hotel if there were any problems.

I flew out at 2:30 that Wednesday and had an uneventful flight to St. Louis, Missouri. I got a cab from the airport to the hotel and checked in. Once in my room and unpacked, I called my office and asked Claire if there were any messages. She gave me one or two that she thought were important enough for me to know about and then surprised me by saying,

"Your wife called the office about 3:00 this afternoon and asked if you had gotten off on your trip on time. I told her you had and asked if she had your room number and cell number. She said she did and only wanted to know if anything had changed. She said your cell was off, probably because you were in flight and she would call you later at your hotel." Claire was telling me this because we could count on one hand the number of times Julie had called me at the office over the last two years.

Needless to say, I was surprised and a little confused about that call. Why in the world would she do that? It almost sounded like she was confirming the fact that I was gone. With that thought in the back of my mind, I dressed for dinner with the gentlemen for St. Louis.

Although the dinner Wednesday night was supposed to be just an introductory meeting to get to know a little about each other, we had actually made some progress towards solutions for the problems I had been sent to solve. Thus it was that Thursday's meeting that began at 8:00 am sharp saw us off to a flying start. By lunch we knew that things were progressing much faster than we had hoped. If things continued, I thought that maybe I could get home earlier than scheduled. I had planned to work all day Thursday and Thursday evening and then leave for home on Friday morning or early afternoon at the latest.

Since we had things going pretty well, we ordered lunch catered in and continued to work. By 3:00, all of the issues had been addressed and the plan for correcting the problems was in place. We worked to finalize the program and at 4:30, we were finished.

I made sure everyone agreed and settled back in my chair. Just to be sure I asked if there were any more issues they could think of while I was still there. To my delight, there were none. I was done! Almost 24 hours early!

I asked their secretary to see if she could book me a flight that evening rather than wait and take the first flight out Friday morning as planned.

She told me that I could take a 6:00 pm flight that would put me into Pittsburgh, Pa at around 8:45. With luck, I could hop on I 78 to I 80, and home. I could be there by 11:00 pm. I told her to confirm the flight and I put in a call to Julie from the conference room. There was no answer at home and her cell was usually turned off during the day while she was at work. I was a little surprised that she didn't answer since she should have been home with Rachael. It was too late for her to be at the bank so I left a message telling her I would arrive home that evening.

As I boarded the plane, I looked forward to getting home. While I had left under a cloud, I still hoped that Julie and I could work out our problems and save what was to me the most important part of my life. I loved Julie with my whole being and the addition of Rachael had given me a gift that made my life complete. I could not envision anything that could take that away. I wanted to get back and continue what we had begun just before I left. With that thought, I went back to the beginning.

Julie and I met in college. She attended Mt. Union College, a private college in Alliance, Ohio while I went to Youngstown State. We met at a mixer set up by one of the fraternities that had chapters at both colleges. We seemed to hit if off and got to know each other a little that evening. Before Julie left to return with the rest of her group to her dorm, I asked for her number and for permission to call her later. She gave both and left with a group of girls.

Over the next week, I could not get Julie out of my mind. I finally broke down and called her that Friday evening after class. When she came to the phone, I told her who it was and asked if she remembered me. She said she did and had wondered if I would call. I asked her out and she agreed.

I picked her up outside her dorm on the following Saturday morning. We had made plans to go on a picnic to the lake that was just a mile from the college. My parents had a cabin there that I did not tell her about for fear that she would get the wrong impression and back out. However, I knew the lake well and quickly found a quiet spot for our blanket.

The day passed pleasantly and Julie and I were more and more comfortable with each other. We talked of our lives and families and our hopes and dreams and found that we had much in common. I learned that Julie lived with her Aunt since her parents had died in a car crash some years ago. Julie loved her Aunt and missed her parents terribly, but she had learned to accept that they were gone. I told her that my parents were still alive and lived in Boardman. My dad had retired and they traveled often.

We both had enjoyed the day and made plans to get together again as soon as our school schedules allowed. I mentioned the cabin at the lake and Julie immediately wanted to see it. I agreed and we packed up their blankets and lunch fixings and drove to the cabin.

When Julie saw the place, she immediately wanted to go inside. It was quite impressive. It was an A-frame with two floors and an open great room. Once inside, Julie looked up to see the skylights and the balcony that wrapped around three sides of the room. She ran upstairs to see the bedrooms and made approving noises. I remained downstairs as she toured. When she returned from her upstairs tour, I showed her the kitchen and the den. We spent an hour or more just looking over the place and admiring the lake view from the second story porch. All in all, it was a pleasant hour.

As we prepared to leave, Julie looked at me and said,

"I hope that we can come back here some time, just you and I."

"I hope so too. I want to spend more time with you. Can we plan to meet next weekend and maybe stay here for the weekend?" I paused. "Am I moving too fast for you? Or maybe I'm being presumptuous."

"You presume correctly, Tom. I would love to spend next weekend with you and spending it here would be great."

That weekend was the beginning of our relationship. I picked Julie up after her last class and she hopped in the car with an overnight bag already packed. I was also packed and we left immediately for the lake. I drove to the cabin and we entered to find that the fireplace was ready for lighting and the kitchen was fully stocked with food and drinks.

"Where in the world did the food and things come from? They weren't here last weekend when I first saw the place." Julie looked at me for an explanation, although she was pretty sure I had done it this week.