This is a story about a husband and a wife who go through some difficult times over a period of several years. I have tried to show their foibles, failures, successes, courage and strength as well as their compassion and love. It is a long story broken into seven parts. If you do not like long stories do not bother to start reading it.
Enjoy,
Kathi
Part I - Karen's evolution
Chapter 01
"Whew, it's hot," she muttered to herself and lifted her arms away from her body to allow a little air to flow through her underarms.
It was the end of May and it was hot but what would anyone sitting on the deck of the Savannah River House otherwise expect. Her antiperspirant had stopped working nearly an hour ago and the sweat from her armpits was running down her sides and soaking her bra along with her sleeveless blouse. Every time she moved, she could feel more rivulets of moisture trickling down her back.
Without the padding that she used to have, her bottom was hurting from the fancy metal chair seat imprinting its cast-iron, leaf design on her ass. No amount of squirming seemed to help to peel her wet panties away from her ass cheeks.
Looking carefully around, she saw that the waitress was busy on her order computer and the few patrons eating a late lunch on a Thursday afternoon were not paying her any attention. Standing, she picked at her panties through her linen skirt and gave a quiet sigh of relief as she sat back down.
Her eyes were burning from her sweat and carefully dabbing at them with a tissue she leached the salt filled perspiration from them and automatically checked it for any sign of mascara. Stretching her legs out in front of her, she admired her tanned skin glowing with moisture.
Wiggling her pedicured and polished toes exposed through the straps of her sandals she thought, "Thank God I didn't wear nylons."
She must have mumbled it loud enough for the waitress to hear because she came over to the table and asked, "Is there something you need, ma'am? Do you want some more sweet iced tea while you're waiting?"
"Yes, thank you. She should be here any minute now."
She was facing the river and no one was between her and the water so she spread her knees and lifted the hem of her skirt to fan her legs. She thought back to another hot day more than two and one-half years ago that set her off on a new course in life that she could never have anticipated.
She couldn't remember the exact date but she knew that it was a Monday morning and it was a warm January day right there in Savannah, Georgia.
"I can't believe it is this hot in January," she remembered thinking and smiled in spite of her nervousness.
She could visualize that early morning so long ago and she let her mind wander as she recalled the events that led up to her waiting for her daughter in this restaurant on this important day.
She was very nervous on that day so long ago and she had tried to keep her hands from trembling while she waited in the reception area of the New Horizons Real Estate office. There were a dozen or so men and women scurrying around with handfuls of papers all the while talking on their little cell phone headsets hanging from their ears.
The obviously very pregnant receptionist had expected her and offered her a cup of coffee while she waited to meet Mr. Flannery. Her appointment was for ten o'clock and she was a little less than 15 minutes early so she sat and watched the busyness going on around her.
Karen patted her light brown hair for the tenth time in as many minutes to make sure that it was in place. She noticed that she had longer hair than the other women in the office. Most of them were smartly dressed in business suits, some with pants and some with straight skirts and blouses. All wore several little brass pins on their lapels with their names and, she guessed, symbols indicating their real estate educational training or accomplishments or something.
"I should have worn a skirt and jacket," she mused as she smoothed her dress down over her thighs.
Even though she liked the way that this dress draped over her body, she had to admit that it was a little matronly looking. Still, she thought that it made her look slimmer. After nineteen years of marriage and two children her figure had filled out until she was just this side of pleasantly plump.
Her fingers twitched to take her compact out of her purse and check her makeup but she decided that would be too obvious. Sitting back, she settled on wetting her lips and studying and admiring the makeup and hairdos of the women around her.
Her nervousness increased as she thought how she had arrived at this point in her life. Staying at home was not as enjoyable as it once was to her. The kids were both in high school and soon Melody would be graduating and going away to college. She hardly ever saw Brian with all of his after school and weekend activities and to put it bluntly she was feeling lonely and useless.
She and Ray were in a rut with their lives. He was comfortable with his teaching position and his career and they sort of coexisted in parallel lives. They were still in love but it was more of a comfortable, complacent love after almost twenty years of marriage.
She felt a little twinge of fear at knowing that, if she got the job, she would have to tell Ray and she didn't really know how he would react. He was usually quiet and thoughtful but she had known him to explode in anger when he felt he was being used or not consulted on family matters.
Karen's mind was going a mile-a-minute with all of the thoughts going through it. Her anxiety level increased the more she thought about what she was doing. She almost got up and left the office at one point.
"If I don't get the job I'm not going to tell Ray anything about it," she decided, but at the same time she didn't want to keep something from him. It would be lying by omission.
"I think I'm going crazy!" she admonished herself. "I'm going to be forty years old in a few months and I'm afraid to talk to my husband. I feel like a teenager trying to get away with something by lying to my father. Shit, girl! Get it together!"
Tearing her mind away from her thoughts she concentrated on studying the office and the people in it.
There were no clients that she could see and several of the women were walking around in their stockinged feet with one wearing what looked like bedroom slippers while the rest wore heels. Reaching up with both hands she ensured that her earrings were hanging straight then she checked to make sure her necklace was centered on her chest.
"I need to get a tan," she decided while peering down at her nearly white chest and the faint hint of the beginning of her cleavage.
Squirming around in her chair she could feel the sweat starting to dampen her panties underneath her tight, control-top pantyhose. She bought a size smaller than she usually wore to try and flatten her tummy a little but it also flattened her bottom and she was proud of her bottom.
"I can stand it for a little while longer," she thought and uncrossed and recrossed her legs.
The receptionist's voice startled her.
"Mike will see you now," she said and gestured towards the open office door with the nameplate indicating that it belonged to the Broker/Owner.
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Royals," he stood and took her hand. "May I call you Karen?"
"Of course," she replied.
"I know him," she said to herself.
"Have we met before?" he asked while still holding onto her hand.
"I'm thinking the same thing," she replied.
He stared at her for a moment before recognition lit his eyes.
"Yes! I know where I've seen you before. You were the Vice-president of the PTO, weren't you? You sure ran a tight meeting. I like that in a woman."
Karen withdrew her hand and carefully looked him over. Blushing at his compliment she still couldn't exactly place him, but then, she didn't know everybody who came to the PTO meetings.
"Why, thank you," she responded.
"Nice looking," she thought. "He must be around 50 or so. Good shape, nice tan and I like his hair. I wonder how he gets his shirts so white? They almost glow. They fit tightly around his waist and chest and they're monogrammed. Nice touch. I wonder where he gets them made?"
"Thank you, Karen," he said and gestured towards a chair. "Please have a seat and everybody calls me Mike."
Karen arranged her self in the straight-backed chair and crossed her legs. She noticed that his eyes flickered towards her legs when he heard the sound her pantyhose made when she slid one leg over the other.
His eyes moved back towards her face.
"How did you hear about our job opening?" he asked. "We haven't advertised it yet."
"Jackie Byrd, one of your agents at the other office told me about it. She goes to my church and she knew I was looking for a job and she thought it was a perfect match for me."
"Yes, I know who you are talking about. Well, Becky, our receptionist is pregnant. I'm sure you noticed that fact and she's ready to have her baby any day now. I'll tell you up front that she is planning on returning in three months so we'll have to play it by ear when she returns. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes, sir, I understand."
"You are married and have two teenaged children," he read from her application form. "You haven't worked outside of your home for nineteen years?"
"That's right. Not any paid jobs but I did all of the usual volunteer stuff with the school, the church, and the soccer and baseball leagues but I was, I am, a stay-at-home-mom. I want to change that. I'm looking for a day job so I can be home for dinner and weekends. The kids are able to take care of themselves from the time they get home from school until I will get home. In fact, with their after school activities, they are not always home when, Ray, my husband gets home from work."
"It says here that you are familiar with Microsoft Office and Excel. Any other computer programs?"
Most all of the Microsoft products, including Power Point, and I can get around pretty well in some scheduling and financial stuff like Quick Books. I took some Community College classes a few years ago to help my husband with his university papers when he was going for his second Ph.D. I also used a computer to schedule the cafeteria volunteers and the baseball games at the schools where my children attended."
"Good. Did Jackie tell you that we expect you to work some Saturday's and every Thursday evening?"
"No, I didn't know that. Every Saturday?"
"Not every one, but probably one or two every six weeks or so. We have a part-time receptionist who works some weekends. If you work a Saturday, you will get Monday off and on Thursdays you won't have to come in until noon."
Karen paused for a few seconds. She really wanted the job and with Jackie's recommendation she knew she had a good chance. She felt a little twinge of fear in her chest at the thought of telling Ray. He would be pissed but he was going to be pissed anyway when she told him that she was going back to work when he wanted her to stay home.
"Shit!" she said to herself. "He's going to have to learn to live with it, I'm tired of being cooped up in the house."
"That will be fine," she said and surprised herself with her next question. "Do I have the job?"
"Yep! You can start on Monday and that way you will get about two weeks working with Becky before she leaves. If she pops early you'll have to learn on the job."
"OK, I'm looking forward to it."
"We'll start you off at $24,500. OK?"
"That sounds fine. I was so nervous about applying for the job I didn't even think about the salary. I'm willing to work for whatever you think is fair until I can prove myself."
"You can also expect the agents to give you a bonus when they make a sale. It depends upon how helpful you are to them. They each have their own way of doing things and it will help if you learn their individual quirks."
