Craig looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, trying to see if he could keep the emotions off his face. It took a minute, but he got to a flat look, and that's what he needed right now. This was going to be hard.
He leaned on the rim of the sink, and stared into the porcelain below his face. He looked at the slight ring of grime around the drain, a film covering the worn chrome. The shine was gone.
Wow, metaphors. He sighed.
He'd been listening, hoping that he'd hear a heavy set of footsteps go down the hallway, followed by the sound of the front door closing. He hadn't. If he spent any more time in the bathroom, he decided it would look like he was hiding. That couldn't be allowed.
Craig pulled himself together, looked in the mirror again, and decided it was close enough to what he needed. Now, the hard part.
Craig opened the door, and with the slight squeak of the top hinge, the muted sound of voices from the bedroom a short distance down the hallway stopped.
He walked through the door, down the hallway, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Loudly. There, he pulled two mugs from the cupboard, a common white for himself, and Roni's favorite earthware. He set the coffee machine working, and got out the hazelnut creamer and milk. It wouldn't be long, one way or another.
He made some other preparations. Just in case. One was a phone call. Then he pre-loaded a document on his tablet in the living room.
He was sitting at the kitchen bar, sipping his coffee, when Roni came through the archway, wearing one of her new shirts, one that showed all her new cleavage. She had on a new pair of blue jeans, the extra-tight ones, that she used to show off her new ass. She was wearing her glasses, which was a rarity these days, as she often used her new contacts. She stood in the archway, looked at Craig, and brushed a lock of her dyed blond hair out of her face and over her ear. Her expression was one of resignation.
Craig gestured to the coffee in her mug, sitting on the other side of the bar from him, indicating he wanted her to sit with him. With a slight shake of her head, her eyes sad, she took the two steps to the bar and sat down.
"Okay..." Roni started with, looking at her mug.
Craig sat quietly. After a few seconds, Roni looked up at him, hoping he'd say something first. Craig just looked at her, as he had been.
"What now?" Roni asked him, straightening herself up in her chair, after realizing she was slumping a little.
"Now?" Craig wondered aloud, his voice calm and even. "Well, I think it's over, don't you?"
Roni closed her eyes slowly, and took a breath.
"I don't want it to be." Roni told her husband.
"Mmm." Craig sounded. "I imagine you don't. But, after today? After all you've done? I'm not even angry anymore Roni. I'm just tired."
She looked down at her mug, over the swells of her recently "touched up" breasts. She reached up with both hands, and wrapped them around the mug, feeling the comforting warmth. Craig had even added her favorite creamer, she saw and smelled.
"This doesn't have to be the end. I guess I've kind of been a bitch..." Roni said.
Craig snorted in agreement.
"... but we can get past this."
Craig just stared at Roni, his fingertips playing across the side of his mug.
"Are you going to stay a bitch?" Craig asked, after a long pause.
Roni wasn't used to being in the disadvantage position with her husband. He'd never talked to her like that. The question sent a minor shock through her.
"That was rhetorical." Craig then said, as Roni was working on an answer. "After that,..." Craig nodded toward their bedroom. "... no. No chance."
Roni sighed, trying to find a way to make Craig understand.
"It doesn't mean anything." Roni tried to justify. "I don't feel anything for him. It was just orgasms."
"I disagree." Craig stated. He was swirling his coffee slightly.
Roni started to reach across the table, to touch her husbands hand as it was around his mug.
"Don't touch me." Craig snarled at her. Roni froze.
"I don't want your perverted and fucked up flesh touching mine ever again." Craig told her, as he managed to get his emotions under control. Mostly.
Roni didn't know how to react to that. She pulled her hand back, and resumed cradling her mug. She was staring back at Craig, pain on her face, not understanding why this man, her highly intelligent, loving, patient husband, who gave her so much... was rejecting her like this. He'd never said anything like this before. She thought he'd liked the changes she'd made.
"I never should have agreed to this..." Craig said, pointedly running his eyes up and down his wife, what he could see above the bartop. "... this is when it all went to shit."
"Hunney, we did it so I'd feel better about myself." Roni reminded him
"Oh, I believe it started that way." Craig had a little anger in his voice, and while his gaze was steady, his tone wasn't. He was having a hard time holding this all together inside. "The lipos, the tucks, the lifts... then that first augmentation, then the dental work... the second "just to make them perky" boobjob... the nose job.. all of it... Yeah, at first it was to make you feel better."
Roni was working on her response, but Craig cut her off.
"After the first boobjob, it was about making yourself as sexy as you could."
Roni stood up so fast, the barstool toppled over. "What's wrong with that?! Huh?! I'd never been sexy!"
Craig started to inhale to say something, but Roni was on a roll. Part of it was guilt, part of it was needing to be on the offensive, part of it was fear.
"I'd always been plain old Veronica!" Roni accused. "Average" Veronica! Nobody looked at me! Nobody noticed me! Oh, yeah, I'm smart, and did well, but nobody wanted me! Nobody desired me! That fucked me up, Craig! So yeah, when I got a chance, I fixed that!"
Craig snorted.
"I'm hot now! Men want me!" Roni jabbed her finger at Craig as he sat there at the kitchen bar, watching her. "I've got big tits! I've got an ass! I've got the hair! My nose is fixed! Nobody is looking past me anymore! You just can't handle it!"
Craig sneered at his wife. Roni didn't care for that.
"Your fragile little ego can't handle that I took my problem in hand, made myself something men want, and you are threatened!" Roni accused, her volume growing. "You can't handle being married to all this!"
Roni ran her hands over the sides of her breasts, down her waist, over her hips, until she couldn't reach any further. Then she lifted her hands and ran them through her long blonde hair, while pushing her chest out and cocking her hip. She'd practiced this motion and pose endlessly.
"You're small, Craig!" Roni spat at her husband as she released her pose. "You can't handle what I am now! You would have wanted to keep me as plain Veronica, living in our tiny house, driving our old cars, just plodding on!"
Roni snarled at her husband, feeling like she was getting control over the situation as she went.
"Well, I got my boobs done, and I didn't get passed on that promotion anymore!" Roni justified. "I got my "love handles" sucked off, and I got the bonus for that account! I got my nose straightened, and I got handed that other account! The sexier I get, the more I get, Craig!"
Roni put her hands on her hips, and glared at her husband. He was staring back, meeting her gaze, not flinching.
"You men are so easy!" Roni taunted. "You think with your dicks! I'm taking advantage of that! See these tits?"
Roni thrust herself forward again.
"These tits, which you used to love, got me that five grand bonus! They're going to get me more, too!"
Roni grabbed a lock of her hair.
"This hair, which used to be brunette?" Roni pointed at the lock with her other hand. "You men respond to blondes! I got this done, and men started watching me out of the corner of their eyes!"
Roni turned and thrust her butt out toward Craig.
"This ass? Men trip, trying to watch me as I pass them by!"
Roni turned back to face her unimpressed husband.
"All this?" Roni gestured to herself. "This got me the regional manager in bed! I'm going to get that next promotion too, Craig!"
"This has all been an investment, you dumbass!" Roni yelled. "An investment in me, in us, in our future! Sure, I'm taking advantage of how stupid men can be, but I got sick of being overlooked, passed over! If you can't handle it, you should go! If you CAN handle it, then fucking deal with it!"
"I should go?" Craig asked, his tone even, normal volume, a slight smile playing across his face.
"If you are so weak that you can't handle this, yes, get the fuck out!" Roni yelled. "When you come back, maybe I'll let you have some again! You'll have to change your attitude though!"
"No." Craig said, lifting his cup and taking a sip.
"No?!" Roni yelled. "NO?!"
"No." Craig affirmed.
Roni stepped to the bar, and leaned across it, trying to seem threatening to her husband.
"Then if you are staying, you better get with the program, you asshole!" She told him.
"I'm not going to put up with this shit! I'm serious Craig, if you can't handle it, get the fuck out!"
"No." Craig said again, his voice even.
"You stupid shit!" Roni spit at him. "This is it! This is how it works! This is what I'm doing!"
"Still no." Craig said, taking another sip.
Roni's eyes were wide, a little froth on the corner of her mouth.
"Fuck your "No." Roni told Craig. "Here's how right I am. I'm going back upstairs, and I'm going to fuck that guy in our bedroom. I'm going to fuck him out of his mind! For that, he's going to promote me again! I'll be making another fifteen grand a year! I'll get more accounts, and more bonuses!"
Craig was shaking his head, looking like he wasn't worried anymore. Truthfully, he wasn't. He'd been crushed at the beginning of the conversation, but now? Now he was set.
"You can't stop me, Craig!" Roni was incensed at his non-verbal denial. "If you want to be with me, you better learn how things are going to work!"
"No, I don't want to be with you anymore, Roni." Craig said, setting his mug down. "Not anymore. It's over."
"I have something to say about that!" Roni spat.
"Not really." Craig said confidently. "Here, let me prove something..."
