I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. From the first contractions, the anxious rush to the hospital and the many exhausting hours until he was finally born. My son, twenty three years ago. Every time I look at him I feel a sense of pride. He turned out great. Handsome and smart, with a genuine zest for life. Since the day he was born I lived my life through his eyes. When he was sad, I was sad. When he was excited, I was excited. When he was heaeenrtbroken, I was heartbroken. He was always in control of my emotions. It's the one thing most women don't understand unless they have children of their own. When they take a beating, you get the bruises! Ever since he left for college I felt empty and alone.
It literally took years before I came to grips with my 'Empty Nest Syndrome'. I found the best way to deal with it was to spend more time working at the hair salon and less time looking at the phone contemplating whether I should call him again. But there was no need to call him now. School is out and my Jamie was coming home for the summer! I couldn't wait! I stood by the door for almost an hour until he arrived. My husband Tom was also excited, although he shows his excitement by sitting on the lazy boy with a newspaper in front of his face. When I see his car pull up the driveway I ran out of the house to greet him. I was so excited to see him that I didn't even notice the other person sitting on the passenger side. He got out of the car and I ran to him and gave him a big hug and kiss. I missed him so much. He returned the hug and introduced me to his friend.
"Mom, this is Tony," Jamie said.
"Hi! Mrs. Gardner, nice to meet you," Tony said, and stuck out his hand.
"Hi, Tony, nice to meet you and please call me Diane," I shook his hand all the while giving Jamie a look that simply said, "explain."
"Tony's parents aren't going to be home for another week. Their flight was rescheduled and they won't be back until next Saturday. I told him he could stay with us until they come back. It was a last minute thing. I hope it's ok?" Jamie asked.
"Of course it is. We got plenty of room Tony. Go grab your bags and come inside, I'll make you guys something to eat."
I honestly didn't care. I was just happy my little boy was back and the house seemed whole again. Jamie made the introductions to his father while I went in the kitchen to make some dinner. I could hear them all talking and laughing and I couldn't help but feel slightly jealous not being in there with them. But I immediately shrugged it off. I'd have lots of time to spend with Jamie, we had the whole summer. We had dinner together and Jamie and Tony shared some college stories that made us all laugh and I shared some stories about Jamie when he was a kid that made him blush with embarrassment. It was the perfect evening! There never seemed to be a break it the conversation. It flowed free and easy.
While my son was telling a story about one of his professors, I couldn't help but notice how much he'd grown. His chestnut hair was a little bit longer and a little bit lighter then I last remembered. It was still shaggy and almost covered his eyes depending on his expression, but under that shag was every bit my son. His facial features resembled my husbands and his skin had a glow that only youth can produce. Tony had that same glow. He had dark blonde hair that was styled as if he just got out of bed. He had a young chiseled face with beautiful blue eyes and a perfect white smile. He looked like a surfer with the same free spirit demeanor. He was cute. The girls must be falling all over him.
When dinner was over Tom and I went to bed while the boys stayed up watching TV. I wasn't tired and would have rather watched TV with the boys, but a good mother knows when to give his kid some space. I wasn't tired, so I just sat in bed reading. I could hear the boys laughing it up about something on the TV. I really wish I could be there with them. I wonder what they were laughing about? It didn't matter, their laughter brought life back into an otherwise quiet house. I looked over at Tom and he was fast asleep. As he gets older he goes to bed earlier. But I guess that's normal right? My mother actually warned me about this when we started dating. Her exact words were "Diane, he is way too old for you. Think about the future. He's on his second wind and you just barely took a breath!" Of course, I cursed her and followed my heart. But she was right and I was blind. Tom is 15 years older than me. I'm 45, so that would make Tom ...in bed by nine!
We met while I was in college, working part time as a bank teller. He was the Branch Manager. He helped me out a lot with my student loans and giving me extra shifts when I needed it. Everybody at the bank loved him. He talked to everyone as an equal and genuinely cared about the personal life of his staff. He would give me advice on love, life and how to reach my goals. Having been married and divorced himself, he seemed a lot wiser than most guys my age and he became someone I could trust.
One day at work I burst into tears having just broken up with my boyfriend. He called me into his office and let me vent and cry and let me stay there for the rest of my shift. He said the right things and made me regain my perspective on life. About a month later, we were having sex on his desk. Initially, I was attracted to his mind and the fact that he looked really good in a suit, but he wasn't much of anything else. I know that's bad for me to say, but it's true. He wasn't funny, wasn't adventurous, wasn't athletic and the sex was pretty lame, but I still stayed with him in the hopes that things would eventually change. I became pregnant a year later and had to drop out of school. After Jamie was born I got a job working at a hair salon and learned the trade.
Now I have my own salon and I couldn't be happier. Tom ended up becoming a district manager and retired a year ago. When he retired, I thought that we would be doing more things together and creating more excitement in our lives, but I was wrong. It seemed that when he retired from work, he retired from life! Our sex life turned from being lame to being down right pathetic. We would have sex maybe once a month if I'm lucky and it was all choreographed to end within 8 minutes. I would give him oral for the first five minutes until he became hard (once again, if I'm lucky) and then I would ride him for the next three minutes. Then we would simply roll over and go to sleep. The only difference between now and then, was that back then he used to like be on top once in awhile. Sad, I know. I knew something was missing in my life when I would hear stories from the girls in the salon. If you think men liked to talk about dirty details, take it from me, women are a hundred times worse!
Most of my clients are regulars and I pretty much know everything about their lives including their 'Sexcapades'. What they do in real life I have only fantasized about. They would talk about role playing, dressing up, different positions, oral sex days and affairs with coworkers or friends. I haven't done any of these things, but I always enjoyed hearing more of their tales. In fact, when I'm fantasizing I'm usually thinking about one of their adventures. Tom was never adventurous in bed. He didn't like performing orally, he only liked one position and the sooner it was over for him, the better. To him, sex was like a bad habit that he was slowly trying to wean himself off completely. And it was working.
The next morning I woke up early, took a shower, got dressed and started making breakfast. I wasn't normally like this, but we had a guest in the house and I thought it would be more appropriate than wearing my usual bathrobe, slippers and bed head. Of course, the boys never woke up until noon. So much for breakfast. They must have had a late night. Typical youth, the night was always more exciting than the day. Jamie came into the kitchen first, gave me a kiss on the cheek and they both took seats at the table.
"Morning, Mom! What's for breakfast?" Jamie asked.
"Don't you mean lunch?" I replied.
"Ha ha ha," Jamie smirked.
"Hey, Mrs. Gardner! Remember me?" Tony asked.
"Good Morning, Tony and how could I forget? And it's Diane by the way. Stop calling me Mrs. Gardner. I'm not one of your professors," I snickered.
"Sorry Mrs. Gardner," Tony replied, and they both giggled like 4 year olds.
They both sat at the table as I piled food on their plates. The only way you could tell they just woke up was from their messed up hair, but then again, they could have just styled it like that. They both looked great and full of energy; I guess sleeping until noon has its benefits.
"So what do you two have planned for today?" I asked.
"We're gonna head over to the courts and shoot some hoops and then I'm gonna take Tony around and show him the neighbourhood," Jamie replied.
"Sounds like fun! I'm going to work. I'll see you both when I get back. Can I expect you guys to be here for dinner?" I asked the both of them.
"Yeah, we'll be back for dinner but we'll be going out later tonight," Jamie said.
"Where you guys going later?"
