Like many stories that I write, there is an element of truth in every one, so there is in this one. I'll let you speculate on what about this story is absolutely true.
Do you believe that "love at first sight" can really happen, or is that just something that happens in romance novels? I mean, does that really happen in real life. Well, I can speak for myself, but the first time I ever saw Jennifer, I was hit with the 'thunderbolt'. Do you remember the first Godfather movie, what happened to Michael when he was sent to Sicily to get away from his family's rival gang, after he killed the corrupt cop [played by Sterling Hayden]? That was the first time I'd ever heard of the 'thunderbolt', and I thought it was just a movie or novel plot line.
Not so, keno sabe, the first time I saw her, I was hopelessly in love β well, at least in lust. Unfortunately, Jen was not as thunderstruck as I was. But true love prevailed (or did it?), but at any rate, after about 8 months of on again, off again, I proposed, she accepted, and on a gorgeous June day, we got married. Donny, my Marine Corps bud was my best man, and his wife, Judy was Jen's matron of honor.
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It was only 2 years after our marriage that the first crack appeared in what I considered to be our perfect relationship. That year, our anniversary date fell on a Sunday, and I had been out of town for the past week, and my flight was due back in Atlanta on that Friday afternoon. As we always did while I was out of town, we had talked to each other on the phone, at least once every evening, and that Thursday before my return to Atlanta was no exception.
Now, this may seem to some to be childish, or even petty, but you need to know that I am a woman's feet and toes person. Breasts are nice β but I can take or leave them, butts are better, pussies are just fantastic, but the first things I notice about any woman, after her face β of course β are her feet and toes. I was raised around Latina woman until my mother and I moved to Thailand for the re-uniting of my mother and father, and every woman that I was aware of when I was growing up always wore toe nail polish; generally reds, wines or even dark purples or even, occasionally, with one of my cousins, black. I was always absolute enthralled with their feet and toes, especially when they painted their toe nails.
So when I noticed Jen after we first met, I was so gratified to note that she always wore toe nail polish, generally some shade of red. As our relationship progressed, I let her know that I always wanted her toe nails in particular to be painted red, preferably scarlet or even dark crimson.
I don't now remember how the topic even came up that Thursday evening as we had been talking about we would do to celebrate our second wedding anniversary, but somehow, Jen let me know that she was going by her favorite nail place, "The Emerald Nail" on Friday, after work to have her regular weekly (or sometimes bi-weekly) manicure and pedicure session.
"Honey, that's great, I'd like to see a really sexy color, maybe some gold metallic scarlet, like that nail polish color that I bought you several weeks ago."
"Oh, Danny, I've been talking to Judy and Trudi at work, and you know, Ms. Wright, Angela, my boss, and they keep telling me about having a French pedicure done. That is a very fashionable style now, and they said you would like that on me."
"Really, that's what they told you, did they? I wonder how they knew what I would like on your nails. Well, honey, just so you will know, after my years in the Marine Corps, I despise all things 'french' and that includes French pedicures or manicures."
"Danny, now don't be that way, you know that you'll like whatever I wear, and you always do."
"Jen, I always like what you wear because you always wear those bright or dark red colors that I want you to wear; if you want to have a French manicure, ok., but no French pedicure because I won't like it, and I don't want that on your toe nails, ok."
Jen got somewhat huffy about my 'attitude', and the conversation went down hill from there. Needless to say, this ending of our conversation sort of put a damper on our evening's call, so shortly we told each other our love and ended the call.
My flight did not get in until later Friday evening because of weather delays in the Orlando area, where I had been working one of my investigations, so it was after 10:00 p.m. when I finally got off the plane at the Atlanta airport. I had called Jen already, since it was clear that I would be much later than usual, and she told me that she would probably go out with her girl friends from work, Judy and Trudi, and maybe Donny (as I've said, Judy's husband β and my best friend from our Marine Recon days) for drinks and supper. She told me which restaurant they would be at, so if I did get in at a reasonable hour, I could join them.
Now, I had no real intention of joining them, as Trudi in my humble opinion was a ball-busting bull dyke-bitch, and I considered those to be her most endearing qualities; her personality went down hill fast after that. But Jen would be with Judy and Donny, our respective best friends, so I knew that, in particular, Donny would not let anything out of the way happen, so I was not worried.
I knew that they all would long since have finished supper, so I didn't even try to call Jen again on her cell phone, I had already left a message before I departed Orlando that I was sure I would be really late, so I left the message that I would just see her at home. Frankly, I expected to find her at home, since when I got there since it was almost 11: p.m. However, since she was with Donny and Judy, I expected that she would be home soon, so I unpacked my soiled laundry and got ready for bed.
Well, I must have been really tired, because I just crashed, with the TV on watching some cable channel or the other. I woke up sometime later on, our bedroom was dark, the TV was off, and Jen was seemingly asleep beside me. I looked at the bedside clock and noticed that it was 2:30 a.m., and wondered what woke me up. I thought about it for just a moment, and decided that it must have been the TV being turned off. Oh, I wondered why Jen was so late, but well, I was really tired and sleepy, so back to slumberland.
I generally wake early, as most mornings I either work out in my "weight" room, or maybe go for an early morning workout at the dojo where Donny and I train, and where I teach part-time. So, even though it was a Saturday, I was up around 6:30, went through a light work out, then showered in the guest bathroom so I would not wake up Jen, and then made some coffee for us. I was drinking my first cup and reading the paper, when it occurred to me that Jen had turned off the TV at around 2:30 a.m. Had she just then gotten in bed, and if so, why had she acted like she was asleep when I woke up? This was an unpleasant thought for me, so I decided to casually question her about it when she got up.
Jen, as I've said, is not a morning person, so she did not get up until almost 9:30. I could hear her moving around, before she came into the kitchen, yawning and asking for a cup of coffee. I didn't notice anything out of the way at first, being more concerned about where she was until after 2 o'clock this morning. When I brought her the coffee, I noticed then that she was barefoot, and that she didn't have on any toe nail polish; well, actually, she had a French pedicure on her nails. I was more than a little miffed about that, so that overrode my other concerns at first.
"Morning, sleepyhead, here is your coffee"
"Danny, thanks honey, I need this," she replied.
"Jen, I just noticed, what happened with your pedicure, you don't have on any nail polish, is there some problem with your nails?"
A funny look flashed across Jen's face, then she said, "no, honey, no problem, actually there is a color, it's that white band across the end of the nails, that finishes off a french pedicure."