My life started to disintegrate ten years eleven months and one week after it began. I suppose I should explain who I am. My name is John my wife's name is Susan. We met twelve years ago at a party of a mutual friend. The bloke she went with left with another girl leaving her stranded. I had noticed her when they had arrived, her light red hair on a body with curves in all the right places very nice I had thought. As I was heading in roughly the same direction my friend asked if I could give her a lift. We got on well chatting about this and that on the drive to her mum's house where she was living having just finished university. She gave me her mobile number, which I phoned when I got home.
We went on our first date the following weekend. After twelve month's of dating I asked her to marry me. One year later we were married. At that time Sue was working in PR for a London company. I was developing my garden design and landscaping business, which was growing nicely.
We moved into our first house in Milton Keynes, as our careers developed and the money improved we sold and moved on. During this time I started writing short stories for various magazines, mostly ladies weeklies.
Just over two years ago everything changed. Sue wanted to start her own corporate video business with a friend from university. To get start up funds she said we could sell the house to use the profits as start up capital and rent somewhere to live. I agreed on the condition that we split the profit fifty- fifty so I could try and write a novel. After much discussion it was agreed we would set up a joint account for bills and try to live our dreams.
It didn't go quite as fast as we hoped, the sale and move went well we got about forty five thousand pounds each as we sold the house at the top of the market. We set up office's in the house I was downstairs in the dining room; Sue had an office with Hannah as well as the spare bedroom. Six months later we had the crash Sue's business stopped. My attempt to write stalled I circulated various story synopsis around the publishing houses and got no response.
During this period our relationship suffered, from average regular sex it died to once in a blue moon. Our arguments got worse and the atmosphere got very tense at time. I always thought her red hair made for a tempestuous relationship at the best of times. During this period it just made for big rows and hot silences. It was at this time that a friend of Sue's called Dave came into our lives.
He turned up one evening just after we had eaten and were watching TV. Sue answered the door and bought Dave into the front room. After introductions Dave explained he was a literary agent and that Sue had shown him some of my story outlines. The one that I had called Mystique had appealed to him and could I run through the plot in more detail.
I explained that the basic concept was that she was a high class call girl who spied for the government with a sideline in assassination. The twist was that her husband thought she was a civil servant in the foreign office. There would be lots of sex and violence with the ordinary home life at the end of each mission.
Dave said the concept was good and could he see two or three chapters to see how the concept would play out. If he liked the look of it he would try some of the publishers he knew to see if they would take it.
The first three chapters took me about six weeks to write with the research and background information I had to find. I sent them off to Dave and waited to hear. The phone call came six weeks before Christmas he had found someone who was interested, could I come and see him.
At the time Sue had tried a new approach. Emailing continental hotels and companies to try and build on the few English companies she worked for. A Parisian hotel had contacted her and she was away doing a shoot. She was due back the next day and I wanted to be there when she got home. So I arranged to go down the day after her return. When she came back she looked very tired and drawn but said the first shoot had gone well. She seemed to be happy that I had at last found a publisher.
I traveled down to London the next day by train. The meeting with Dave was due to take place at eleven that morning. I arrived at his office to be told by his secretary he was running a bit late. I had a cup of tea and read the book I bought for the journey. Dave showed up an hour late very apologetic. I followed him into his office. "Right then John what I have is an up front offer of five thousand to develop the plot and then a percentage deal depending on the finished product. What do you think?" I was a bit disappointed in the up front offer but Dave explained in the current market that was the best I could expect. I thought about it for a bit. Dave even offered to pass me on to someone else he knew. In the end I accepted and he gave me a contract to sign. His secretary witnessed the signature. He handed me a cheque for the five thousand. "You need to get the book finished as soon as possible OK?" he said I left his office thinking everything was looking good.
To celebrate I hit Oxford street for some Christmas shopping. Walking past the shops I called Sue I tried several times but kept getting her voice mail. I hit some of the top end stores, in one I found a beautiful silk nightie; it had matching lingerie in a beautiful shade of green. Perfect to go with it I found a matching necklace and earrings. With my purchases in my bag I caught the train home. As it left the station Sue rang I told her the good news she seemed to be distracted as she congratulated me.
On Christmas morning the Jewellery was appreciated but when the nightie was unwrapped she flew off the handle, accusing me of wanting her to dress like a tart she threw it back at me shouting "if you want a whore go and pay for one" she stormed out the room slamming the door. Lunch that day was a solitary affair I left her food outside the door of her office it was taken later when I checked. I spent the night on my own, the next morning Sue came down and wished me a "good morning". She did not mention the incident the previous day.
From that point on she slept in her office, Sue talked to me, we shared the same house but there was no physical contact. She carried on traveling to Europe going to Italy early in the New Year and started to try and break into America. This carried on for the next three months. When ever she came back from her travels she was tired and drawn. She blamed the work load and the constant traveling. During this period while my book grew, I was still doing some gardening jobs to keep some money coming in. So when we were together we were both tired and every time I tried to talk about what was happening to us she was always too tired.
It was three weeks before our anniversary that it all started falling apart in a big way. Sue was flying out to the Bahamas for a big potential contract. I was downstairs in my office working on the final chapters. When I heard Sue swearing from upstairs, "What's wrong darling" I shouted up.
