Shelby, my wife and I had been married for nearly twenty years. We were now empty nesters and I hoped that would be the catalyst for a new stage in our life. Not that our life was bad, in fact it was great, but with the kids gone I wanted us to enjoy some extra time together as a couple, actually spend some time together. The last ten years had been hard work, we had set our sights on getting the mortgage paid off and the kids into good schools. With both those goals met this was going to be our time.
Life doesn't always go the way we expect and I was about to learn that the hard way.
Shelby worked hard as an independent literary editor. She had spent many years working for a top publishing house but five years ago after some pressure from writers she worked with she went out on her own. It didn't take her long to establish herself having taken a couple of top writers with her others soon followed.
I worked as a car salesman for a top dealership and I was pretty happy with my career choice. I loved cars and car racing. My love for cars spilled over into my dealings with people. Honest John had nothing on me, mostly because my reputation meant a lot to me. I tried to always do the right thing, at first, I clashed with my bosses but they learned quickly that my honesty and desire to do right by our customers sold more cars than dodgy dealings. A happy customer is a repeat customer.
So now with our life goals well and truly met I was hoping to get to spend some extra quality time with my wife.
Shelby is the quintessential understated beauty. She is attractive without trying. Her figure is slim, she always complained that her boobs were too small but I thought they were perfect.
Over the last couple of years, we had sort of drifted. We had our own circle of friends and often went to parties or gatherings alone because one or the other of us was tired or didn't feel like going, and we were now at a stage in our lives where we could honestly say, sorry I don't want to go. No drama.
We still made love three or four nights a week on average. After twenty years we sort of had a routine and it never varied much. I hoped that with the kids now both gone we could reignite a little of the lost passion.
The kids had moved out of home to go to school. I thought it was great but Shelby hated it. With the house empty things got a little strained between us. Things that never used to worry us suddenly became big issues. She missed the kids and I could see it and feel for her. They say there is a syndrome or something that effects women when the kids fly the coupe. Shelby definitely struggled with it. That surprised me because she was so busy. She had an active social life, lots of friends. Her business was racing ahead. I thought she had enough in her life to cover for the kids leaving.
So, over the last twelve months Shelby had substituted the kids with writers. There were a couple in particular she spent a lot of time with. Annabelle was a nice woman and I guess a half decent writer. Shelby had taken her under her wing trying to encourage her.
The other writer Paul I wasn't so happy about. They spent too much time together and unlike Annabelle it wasn't here at home. It was always at her office or his place. I never questioned Shelby's fidelity, I trusted her implicitly, I just hated the way he monopolised her time, I admit I suffered a little jealousy. This was supposed to be our time and it annoyed me that she so easily gave it to him. Whenever I complained, it always turned into an argument. She took exception to my grizzling chiding me for acting like a jealous school boy.
She was so sure he was going to be special, for some reason it bugged the shit out of me, whenever she talked about him it was always in such glowing terms.
Yeah, it was annoying, but I figured it was nothing that other married couples didn't go through.
I did get a bit of a shock when out of the blue, with no discussion, Shelby announced over dinner one night that she was going to be running a writer's clinic.
When she first floated it, I thought it sounded like a great idea, she had a large group of writers who worked with her and to run something like that sounded perfect. What didn't sound quite so good was the location, without even talking to me, she rented a house at lake Brunner, and she would be gone for a whole month.
"A month!" I growled. "Jesus Shelby, you're not going to stay up there the whole time, are you?"
She nodded, "Tom I want this to be something I do regularly, you know I love working with novice writers."
"Yeah, I know but Christ girl a month...are you coming home weekends?"
Shaking her head slowly she mumbled, "No, I made a commitment to the writers, and I am staying there with them to work and offer advice when needed." She glared with bright intensity, "Honey this is going to make us nearly $25000 dollars."
The figure blew me away, "Wow, the money sounds good, but what about us?"
She seemed a little shocked by my statement, but quickly recovered, "Don't be overly dramatic hon, god, we are adults after all, surely we can spend some time apart. The kids are gone, we are free."
"What do you mean free?"
"I mean we can do what we want without worrying about getting home at certain times, or schedules...we are free, It's not like we are teenagers, we don't have to spend every waking moment together."
"This doesn't make sense. What am I supposed to do while you're gone?"
"Oh, for heaven's sake Tom, you're a grown man, you can get by. You have that bloody awful rust bucket that you call a car sitting in the garage you haven't worked on for ages, you have your car mad mates and golfing buddies, you have friends."
That was a kick in the guts, and it didn't resonate well with me. Suddenly we were supposed to live completely separate lives. Shelby wouldn't be deterred, she had it all organised. To get things organised she decided to have a get together of all the writers at our house on Saturday. When she told me Friday night, I got straight on the phone to see if the guys wanted to play golf, just so I didn't have to be here.
I left early to miss the swarm of wannabe writers. When I arrived at the course, about to unpack my clubs when I got a phone call, the guys had been involved in a car accident and wouldn't make it.
The course was packed so after smacking a few balls at the driving range I decided to head home.
Pulling into our little cul-de-sac I could see parking at our house was going to be impossible. there were about twelve cars parked in our driveway, on the lawn, on the verge and on both sides of the road. I ended up parking up the road at one of our friends and walked back home.
I figured she would have them all gathered in the living room, and as I walked up the drive, I could see there was indeed a huge gathering in there. I walked up the side of the house in through the open back door so as not to disturb anybody. The last thing I wanted was to be surrounded by that bunch of posers.
As I walked through the laundry trying to make as little noise as possible, I neared the kitchen and heard what sounded like lovers kissing. I poked my head around the corner wondering who I was going to be catching out and there was Shelby in the arms of Paul. Her arms up over his shoulders standing on tip toe reaching up to receive his kiss. Their tongues swirled wildly and it was a moment of deep passion. I snatched my head back quickly leaning against the door absolutely flabbergasted trying to catch my breath. It was like being punched in the guts hard. I had to use all my powers of self-restraint not to barge in, grab him and punch him in the face.
I stumbled a little turning to lean back against the wall and catch my breath and give my heart a chance to catch up. As I leaned there, I closed my eyes trying to figure out what to do, it was then I heard him say, "God I can't wait to get you up to that damn cabin. I'm not sure I can wait that long."
Her sexy titter shocked me, "I can't wait either, but you will have to wait lover, we will still have to be discreet."
"C'mon Shelby they all know we are seeing each other."
"Maybe so but I don't want to flaunt it. I am still a married woman after all." She sniggered.
I turned and walked out. I had heard enough. My head spun my heart raced and I needed some air. I walked back out onto the street and wandered up the road. Walking slowly, I managed to get my breathing under control and I felt like my body was at least functioning. I walked down to the park and sat on one of the benches to try and figure out what to do.
this was obviously a long-standing affair, judging by the way they talked, like lovers.
I waited until all the cars vanished before returning. My body and mind may have been working but the anger I felt rose with every step. As I got closer to home those levels climbed dramatically. I walked in the front door, Shelby was finishing her clearing up. When she saw me, she looked up smiling sweetly, as if nothing had happened, like it was just another day, "Hey sweetie, how was the game?"
