Gary and Tara weren't sure they were going t make it through this statewide lockdown. They both forced to stay home from work for at least several weeks while looking after five kids in a small house and it was starting to affect their sanity.
They got married young; she was only 19 and he was 22. Their families both thought they were insane to get married that young, insisting that they wait a few more years when they were older and ready. But they were in love and didn't want to wait a few years they wanted to start their lives together as soon as possible. Their families eventually got used to the idea; plus, Tara got pregnant four months before the wedding so they definitely were up for them getting married young.
It was Gary's cousin that got him into the real estate agency; taught him everything about the business and even helped him pass the exam to get his real estate license. It wasn't long before he started making some good money selling, and sometimes leasing houses. He worked while Tara became a stay at home wife. The original idea was that when their son got a little older to be in day care, she too would start working. She even started studying for her real estate license, but a year after her first son was born, she found herself pregnant again with her first daughter. Then two years later, that she was pregnant again with her second daughter and that's when they decided that she would stay at home taking care of the kids while Gary worked.
It wasn't until she was pregnant for the fourth time, with twin boys, that things were starting to get crazy around the house, and they weren't even 30 yet. Gary finally agreed to have a vasectomy. Gary was reluctant at first, like any man would. But Tara couldn't take the birth control pill because a condition that she has, and Gary hated to use condoms. So, with much reluctance, Gary agreed to a vasectomy. At first, he kind of felt like he was less of a man, but when he found how much sex they were having without any worry of consequences, he just didn't care anymore. In fact, when a few of friends saw how good it was for his sex life, they too ended up getting vasectomies.
So, life was good for them for years. They had their ups and downs, just like any married couple. But they never let it affect their marriage, or how they raised their family.
Then of course, the COVID-19 pandemic began to happen. They were some of the small percentage of the people in the United States who recognized the threat early on, even when people thought they were being a little crazy about it. They bought plenty of Lysol, face masks, disposable gloves to last them and their children for as long as possible. And just before things got really serious, they began to stock up on food and other essentials before people started to go crazy and clean out stores.
The only thing they didn't account for was that they'd have to stay home because of a statewide lockdown that prevented people from going to work which meant that Gary had to stay home until it was all over. He did do some work for his agency online, but until things got better, he was limited to what he was able to do.
And the big thing that they never saw coming was that their kids had to stay home from school until it was all over. By this time, they were in their thirties and their children were in high school and middle school. They took online classes to continue their education, and they both had to monitor their performance while at home. But without their after-school routines, they had to stay at home long after their classes are over.
They were allowed to do some things, they tried to take their kids for walks to the park, hiking, and other simple activities where they can do their social distancing but that could only go so far. All other times they were just home where the kids were arguing over every little thing. And due to the lack of free time for themselves, Gary and Tara were beginning to argue over everything themselves.
It began with small things that never usually bothered them, but snowball into bigger arguments. Tara was usually in charge of how to run the house, and with Gary home not being able to adjust to that, he was constantly questioning everything she was doing. Also, she felt that Gary needed to do more around the house now that he's home and his work was limited, but he kept procrastinating the things he wanted to do.
One day, after Gary came home from getting a few more things from the supermarket. He came home, took off his face mask and disposable gloves, and put the groceries in the kitchen. He found Tara in the bedroom running on her treadmill.
"Where are the kids?" He asked.
"On their computers, taking their classes," she replied.
"And you're not watching them?" he said with an angry tone.
"They don't need me watching them the whole time. They can do the classes by themselves."
"But without one of us watching them they could be avoiding some of their work. Texting their friends, playing online games, and watching who knows what on their computers."
"They'll be fine," she snapped at him while still focused on her treadmill run.
"They would be fine, if you got off that treadmill for once and looked after them," he yelled at her.
"I haven't been on this treadmill in weeks, and I gained five pounds since this damn quarantine so I need this. They are good kids, all straight A students, they never get in trouble and are very responsible, now back off!!!"
Gary didn't know how to respond, he just stood there red in the face.
"Fine! Whatever!" he yelled at her, then stormed out the room.
"Whatever" Tara yelled back.
They both really didn't know why they were yelling at each other. It wasn't that big of a problem. Gary knew they had good kids and have left them alone before unsupervised with their online courses. And Tara usually kept a calm tone whenever she used to argue with Gary, but this time felt the need to just scream at him. She thought it made her feel better but it didn't, it only made her want to run faster and increased the speed on her treadmill. She was a fitness freak ever since her fourth pregnancy. She found herself gaining weight and felt unattractive and made point to always stay fit and enjoyed her regular workout routine. She had dirty blonde, stood at 5'6", and had excellent curves. Gary also kept himself in good shape, going to the gym regularly; he wasn't jacked, but had a good muscular tone.
When Tara was finished with the treadmill, she locked the door to the bedroom and went to the bathroom. She took off her workout clothes and began washing off the sweat. It wasn't long after she dried up that Gary showed up in the bathroom, completely naked.
"Gary, how did you get in? I locked the door."
"I used that little key that we use to unlock bedroom doors."
He moved in for a kiss but Tara pushed him back.
"What are you doing? What about the kids?"
"You were right, they're completely focused on their classes without out looking over their shoulders."
He went in for a kiss again and again Tara pushed back.
"But we can't do this now," she said.
"Yes, we do. I figured out why we have been arguing so much lately. Sexual tension."
