This is a very short story about a guy who lost his wife.
Another Saturday night in front of the TV, clicker in hand, searching for an Action/Adventure flick I haven't seen more than twice. This is what my once-busy life had become, a boring routine. Hell, that was probably her problem, I was fucking boring!
There may have been a few other reasons, God knows I'm not the best-looking guy around and certainly not the richest. I have always been on the quiet side, so it's no stretch to believe she thought I was boring.
It hadn't always been that way. In the beginning, we hung out with our hip friends and partied pretty often. We both liked booze and pot but were never into harder drugs. My buddies always flirted with her. She loved the attention and, as far as I know, they never took things too far. Life was easy and we knew how to chill.
Later, the other wives were maybe a little jealous because Julie had a nice rack, slim waist, and lovely bubble butt, even after two kids. She would still flirt and entertain the guys and some of the wives may have felt a bit threatened by her, but they still liked her. Everybody liked her.
As the kids grew our lives got busy and, sadly, routine. I guess I could have planned a few more Date-Nights, or something, but I worked hard and I was tired. I made decent money and we lived an upper-middle-class life.
Julie was an involved parent and took part in all the school functions with our kids while I worked fifty-sixty hours a week. I was proud of my family and they were good to me. Julie was a willing sex partner, a good cook, managed the house well, and the kids prospered. I did my best to be at most major events, but mostly Julie carried the load.
I've heard it said that sometimes life happens to you. Well, it seemed to have happened to me overnight. One minute, Julie and I are passing around a joint with friends while sitting on the floor of our crappy little 3rd-floor apartment. The next, we're in suburbia hosting a pool party for my younger son to celebrate his Middle School graduation. I mean, holy fuck, how did that happen? My youngest is starting High School!
I remember that weekend because it was the very next day that Julie told me she was returning to work at her old law firm. She'd been a homemaker for 16 years and now at 40, she was going back to work as a PA for her former mentor's latest protege.
"What? When did this happen? We haven't discussed you going back to work. What about the kids?"
"KIDS? Really, Michael, the boys don't need me around, especially now that David has a car. He understands he has to haul his little brother around for school stuff or he loses the car. I've got to do something, I would go nuts just sitting on my ass.
"A few weeks back I mentioned it to Marie at her last event and she must have said something to John because he called last week and asked me to come in and talk with him. He introduced me to Ian Rogers and we all went to lunch."
"You never told me you met with John and this Ian guy."
"I never thought they would actually hire me. Hell, I'm a Mom, not a PA. After lunch, we went back to John's office and I sat in with his PA for a couple of hours. Alice is even a few years older than me, but she's very sharp. My computer skills are still pretty good, and she said the rest is just controlling his calendar.
"I don't know, maybe Marie pressed him, but Friday John and Ian offered me the job on a 90-day trial basis. I'm both nervous and excited about it. I had hoped you'd be more supportive. Do you have a problem with me accepting the job?"
"Uh, well, no. I guess you just kind of shocked me with this, it's so sudden. When do you start?"
And that was the beginning of the end of us. It took the handsome young Ian just seventeen months to fall in love with Julie and convince her to go with him when he was courted by a larger firm in London.
"I'm sorry, Michael. I never meant for any of this to happen. We've fallen in love, he's moving to England and I'm going with him. I've explained it to the boys. They are unhappy with me, of course, but that can't be helped. I'm leaving you everything except my clothes and jewelry."
