It was a dreary morning in late October. The sun should have shed some light on the day, but the clouds were so thick that the motion-activated lights on either side of the garage door were still working at 7:12 when I put the garbage can out. The concrete walk and driveway were damp but not wet. It had been raining at 6-something when I hit the main bathroom. I could hear the drops hitting the skylight 15 feet above the tile floor. They weren't huge drops like a downpour but they were steady medium sized by the sound that tat-tat-tatted until I walked away to the kitchen for my second cup of coffee. I realized it was after 7 but since our garbage isn't usually collected before 10, I didn't rush out the door with the last bag I had collected around 5:30. I had gotten distracted on the computer, reading a story and then the sound of a school bus going by brought me back to my reality at 7:07.
I pulled my slippers off and put my Bean shoes on because I had to go through the wet grass to get to the garbage can in the plastic shed alongside the garage. I got back inside and changed back into the slippers.
Jackie (Jacs) had gone into work for 5 saying she had stuff to get done before she unlocked the doors at 8. She had lowered the window in the garage and said we needed to go get gas later in the day; she was on the low fuel warning.
The mail truck went by around 11 and I looked out and saw the pavement was dry so I went out in my slippers. I heard noise from a house down the street. It had recently sold and it sounded like sheetrock being torn down. I knew that sound from personal experience and from HGTV which Jacs had gotten hooked on after seeing a couple shows back when we were in the other house. Now she had it on almost exclusively, unless SYTYCD, DWTS or Dance Moms was on. Otherwise it was Property Brothers, Flip or Flop, Fixer Upper, Beachfront Bargain Hunt, etc, etc, etc. The DVR program manager had a list of shows plus the few that I watched; her 80% to my 20. Oh, I forgot the Ellen show which taped daily when it was a new episode. She was at least a couple months behind on all of this.
Jacs came home around 4 and when she came into the kitchen she asked, "Did you see the dumpster in Lambert's driveway?"
"No, but I heard sheetrock coming down from the mailbox. Or it might have been old hardwood coming up, I guess."
"Interesting, I wonder what the new owners are doing." She headed to the bedroom and came back out a few minutes later saying, "I'm going for a walk, back in a few." I didn't get any reply out quickly enough as I heard the front door shut at the end of her statement.
The 'few' turned out to be about a half-hour. She came in and said, "The contractor showed me the plans for the reno at Lambert's house. The new owners are named Miller and they are coming in from Toronto. He's some sort of coach for an ice hockey team and she's a stay-at-home mom with 2 kids 8 and 6. That's all the contractor told me about them. The plan looks really good. They expect to be done in a month and the Millers are coming in 6 weeks."
"So you had a nice chat?"
"Yes, Jeff's really nice. He went over the whole plan and the schedule with me. He told me to stop back any time to see how they're doing."
"That's nice of him."
"Yes it is. Really nice guy likes to talk."
"I'm sure he does. Okay so we were going for a quick dinner and gas for you?"
"Oh yes, I forgot about that, thanks honey."
"A bit distracted by Jeff?"
She blushed a bit, "No, I just forgot is all."
"Uh-huh, sure." I was smiling and walked toward the garage door. Jacs grabbed her bag and I opened the door to the garage then followed her out. As we were driving by the Lambert/Miller house Jacs waved at a tall, broad-shouldered guy who waved back with a wide smile. I didn't say anything for a couple heartbeats and Jacs said, "That was Jeff I waved at."
"I figured as much because you aren't in the habit of waving at strange men at least I don't think you do that." I saw a sour look on her face and ignored it. We went to Wendy's then gassed up her SUV and added some to a gas can I keep for my lawn mower and snow thrower. When we got back the driveway at Lambert/Miller's was missing the van.
The evening was quiet, Jacs watching something on the bedroom TV and I had NCIS on in the living room. I dozed off and then went to bed around 9:30. Since the bedroom door was closed I went into the computer room and sacked out in there; this was nothing new. I could cat-nap and Jacs was on her feet all day so it worked okay for us at this point in our life. The only downside is the stress of the store had cut our sex life to virtually nothing. Jackie's usually high sex drive was virtually nil over the last year, year and a half. And I hated it; whacking off like I was a teenager again wasn't fun.
Let me give you a little info about Jackie here. She's 5'1, well when we met; she's now about 5 feet and tips the scale at 92, maybe 95 pounds, you know how weight can fluctuate. Her shoulder-blade length light brown hair has a natural wave which she usually controls with a pony tail. She's almost always smiling and always looks for the best of people and situations; definitely a glass half-full person. She wears a 30B bra with a 21 inch waist and 32 inch hips. She's tiny, but those breasts on her slight frame look magnificent in any but the baggiest of tops.
We were up at the usual time on Wednesday, 3AM so she could get into the store for 4:30 and do all the stuff she needed to do for her regular delivery. It rarely changed. She came home around 8:30 and napped for 2½ hours and then we ate and she went back in for 1:30 but stopping at the bank for change on her way in.
Thursday was 3:30 for 5:30 then back home for a nap. When she came in she said she was going to walk down and see how the project was coming along for a few minutes. It was a 20 minute visit and she came back and went to bed asking me to get her up at 1:30 to go in for 3. Thursday nights are short as she always goes in for the day on Friday and get maybe 3, 3 ½ hours sleep. When she comes home Friday night she crashes to go in for the delivery on Saturday and comes home Saturday night and crashes for Sunday morning. Then she comes home on Sunday, naps and goes back to close the store. This cycle repeats week in and week out except for changes for her assistants needing time for doctor appointment, family commitments and the occasional jury duty. It was a grueling life for her and a lonely life for myself.
Monday morning she went in, then came home and went to see how the project was going for a half hour and then came back, napped and went back to close the store.
Tuesday, into the store early then come home and sleep so she could go in on Wednesday for the delivery.
Wednesday Jacs was up at 3 and went into the store for 4:30, to receive the 5AM delivery. I went to our mailbox at 8:45 to put a bill in because I had forgotten until then and I saw Jacs' SUV parked down the street in front of Lambert/Miller's house. I went back inside and waited. She called every day, every time before she headed home from the store whatever the plan was for that time. She hadn't called today and I wondered why. I also wondered what her story would be.
Jacs came in at 9:20 saying she had forgotten to call that she was on her way home. "Jacs are you okay? You're flushed, is something wrong?"
"Oh, I, uh...there was a customer at the store who was getting rather...loud and nasty. I considered calling the police. I was distracted after getting that situation calmed down. I was thinking about that." It was the first sign that we might be headed for trouble.
She changed and told me to wake her at 1 and we'd have 'dinner' and then she'd head to work for 2. I prepped 'dinner' and put all her snacks together early and read my tablet until the timer to wake her started beeping. We ate and she mentioned Thanksgiving and she wasn't sure what we were doing since she had to work some part of that day. I shrugged my shoulders and said I'd be happy staying home and not worrying about the traveling. She still didn't mention her stop down the street before she left for the late shift at the store. On her way out of the garage she said, "We'll get up at 3 tomorrow so I can get in and get some stuff done before I need to deal with customers. Have a good evening honey, I love you."
"Love you too, later." I wasn't happy about the exclusion of the visit to the job site down the street. And the story about the customer probably wasn't true; so I was going to pay closer attention to her comings and goings now. I was thinking I might drop by the store occasionally for a surprise lunch.
At 10:35 the landline rang and Jacs said, "Hi honey, I'm headed home, love you."
"See you in a bit, love you too."
