If you're looking for a lot of hot cheating sex, or a bitter divorce, click the back arrow. You won't find any gratification here. It's just a story about how two people lost their way.
I don't use an editor, so if you're looking for bad grammar or misspelled words, this is for you. Any comments about it will be deleted along with any snarky comments. Constructive comments are welcome.
My name is Stephanie. I'm twenty nine years old and I'm married to Don. I work for the Federal Court system as a clerk for Judge Cavanaugh. He's a Superior Court Judge, and I've been with him for two years.
My husband, Don is the co-owner of Ruhle Systems. He and his dad own the company. His dad was slowly turning daily operations over to him. As of now, he's about ninety percent in charge, and that's my problem.
Don micromanages the company. As he says, he's responsible for employees and their families, and he doesn't want to let his dad down. Well, that's really good for his employees and his dad, but me? I'm somewhere lower on the totem pole.
It wasn't that way when we first got married. He had gotten into sailing when he was in college. After he graduated he bought a 25 ft. mono-hull. I loved spending weekends out on the ocean.
One afternoon, we found a cove, quite by accident. We were looking for a place to anchor for lunch and Don saw an inlet and turned in. It opened up to a little lagoon. There was a small sandy beach off to one side.
It was so romantic back in our little lagoon. We ate lunch and went skinny dipping. That evening, just before dark, Don lowered the Zodiac and we went ashore with a blanket and some marshmallows. He gathered some wood and made a small fire. We fed each other roasted marshmallows, making a mess, of course, before licking all the mess off of each other. We cuddled on the blanket looking up at the stars. I started kissing Don and moved down to his seven and a half inch cock. Yes, I measured it one night. I got him hard and pulled him into my saddle. I maneuvered him around and took his cock with both hands and guided him into my wet depths. We made slow sweet love long into the night.
Those nice times got fewer and fewer. It was a slow progression. We hadn't been sailing for more than a year. Our sailboat just sat there in the marina gathering seagull shit.
At first, he would be home at five thirty or six, and that was fine. After five years it got to be seven thirty with an occasional eight pm. He would be in bed by ten thirty or eleven every night and up at six am.
Saturdays, if I got lucky, we would talk for maybe a half hour in the morning while we ate breakfast, but he soon disappeared into his office. He always had some paperwork to go over. Sunday should have been our day, but there was always some more paperwork for him to go over getting ready for Monday morning. My weekends consisted of housework, shopping, prepping some things for meals and watching TV. It was like living with a roommate.
Occasionally, I would go to lunch or shopping with my friends. Of course, Don was too busy. Our social life was all but nonexistent. I would try to get him to go out with other couples we knew, but it was like pulling teeth without any anesthetic. I finally just gave up.
Even our sex life waned. Maybe, every week or two we would rub out parts together and exchange body fluids. It was just slightly better than using my power tools.
Two months ago I called him on it and he was good about coming home earlier, but about two weeks later he was back into his micro management mode.
It's Saturday morning and I'm sipping my coffee, waiting for Don to finish his breakfast. Today is the day I close the door. It was going to be he hardest thing I ever did.
"Don, before you go, I want to talk."
"Can't it wait till tonight. I don't want to be late for work."
"You own the damned company. You're not punching a time clock. You can be late for once in your life. So, sit down and listen."
"OK, what's so important that it won't wait?"
"There's no way to soft pedal this, so I'm just coming out with it. I want a divorce. I've contacted a lawyer and had the papers drawn up. You'll find them more than fair."
"A divorce. What the hell's got into you. I thought our marriage was just fine."
"It is fine for you. You have a job you love, someone to take care of the house, cook your meals and rub your body against now and then. From my side it totally different."
"But you never said anything. This is all out of the blue."
"Really? Do you remember that talk we had two months ago?"
"Yes. I thought that was all taken care of."
"It was for about two weeks. What time did you get home last night?"
"I don't remember."
"I do. It was seven forty five. The night before that it was seven thirty and the night before that it was eight. It's not what I signed up for. The man I fell in love with is gone. Now, I just have a roommate."
"But Steph..."
"But nothing. When was the last time we had sex?"
"I don't remember. I didn't mark it on the calendar."
"It was a week ago Sunday night. When was the last time we made love?"
"Steph..."
"It was two months ago when I put my foot down and you started coming home at a decent hour. Even then, every time I was out of your sight, you were on your phone, working."
"When was the last time we went sailing?"
"I'm not sure. It's been a while. I've been so busy."
"That's the whole problem with our marriage. You're too busy. You come home late at night, turn on the TV, do paperwork and you don't even know what's on the TV. You eat dinner and do more paperwork till you go to bed. Every weekday is the same. You pay to have the yard work done so you have more time for your work.
"Steph, honey. Please don't do this. I'll start coming home earlier."
"You know that old saying. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We tried that and it didn't work. I'm not going to try again. This isn't a baseball game where you get three strikes and you're out."
"Please don't try to fight this. I've made up my mind. I'm not asking for much. You can keep your company, the house and the sailboat. I just want twenty thousand dollars so I can set myself up in a place to live. My lawyer's card is in the envelope."
I turned and walked out.
I sat in my car for a few minutes realizing the finality of what I had just done. I wondered why I didn't feel some sense of relief or a great weight lifting off my shoulders. Maybe it would come later.
I knew Don would be OK in time. He would probably tunnel deeper into his work. That was where he was the most comfortable.
I thought back to the early years in our marriage. How much in love we were and how it has slowly drifted away like smoke in the wind. The fire had burned down and now all that was left were a few warm coals covered with ashes. The Phoenix would not rise from those ashes.
I took my to do list from my purse and drove away. I had a week off and a lot do to. I drove to a Holiday Inn Express near work and rented a room. I would go back later and pick up what I wanted after Don left for work.
First on my list was the bank where I took out the $20K I needed. I put $10K in my new checking account and the rest in savings. With my new credit/debit card and a book of temporary checks, I drove to the apartment complex where I had a appointment to do a walk through. An hour later I signed the lease, wrote a check for the first, last and the cleaning deposit. It was unfurnished so I would need everything. I went by a mail room store and picked up some boxes and strapping tape. I figured Don was gone by now so I went to get my clothes. I spent the rest of the week fixing up my new home.
******
What the hell just happened? Didn't she understand what I was doing. I had all this responsibility to my employees, my Dad and us. I didn't know any other way to run the company without it becoming some third rate worthless engineering company. I had to keep it on the top of the heap.
Another seven or eight years and we would be on easy street, traveling the world, enjoying all the benefits of my hard work. Now, I just have this dark cloud of rejection descending down around me. Thank god she isn't cheating on me. I don't know how I would handle that.
I feel like life is piling on me. I'm negotiating three new contracts for factory renovations. My engineers are out now, getting the specs so I can make a bid and now I have to deal with this.
I know there was no hope of stopping this divorce. Steph is the most organized woman on the planet. It's her strong suit that makes her so good at her job. She had this all planned out ahead of time and now it's set in motion.
I glanced at my watch. Fuck! I'm late for my morning staff meeting. I called Carol and told her reschedule for this afternoon.
*******
My secretary followed me into my office.
"I rescheduled the staff meeting for two and Jeff is back from Tulsa. He has all the specs for that account. Bill and Lee called. They'll be here tomorrow with their specs."
I had work to do.
******
Monday morning was going to be interesting. I was positive word had gotten out about my divorce. The Courthouse grapevine would be working overtime.
I walked down the hall toward my office with my head held high, looking over the heads of all the people. A few people said hello and I acknowledged them, but I didn't stop to chat. I walked into the office I shared with Liz, the Judge's secretary.
"Good morning, Steph."
"Good morning, Liz."
"By the look on your face I'm guessing you did it."
"Yes, I did, but I didn't think it would show. My first week being single certainly is different. It's a whole different mind set."
"From what you've been saying, it's not a far leap."
"I never thought about it that way, but I think you're right."
"Are you ready for all the creeps to come out of the woodwork? The words out and you're on the market as far as they're concerned."
"Sheesh. I haven't thought about that. I need some turn down lines."
"How about, "The ink on my divorce papers isn't dry yet." That should work."
"It should, but I may need a few more."
"You're a good looking woman. Maybe a really hot single guy will hit on you.?"
"But, the ink on my divorce papers isn't dry yet."
We both laughed.
******
After a five minute meeting with my lawyer, I signed the divorce papers. His advice was: "Sign them now. She could take half of everything." I signed them and gave them to Carol to deliver.
I landed the three factory renovation contracts after a week of intense bidding. The techs had finished and we were in full production.
****
My secretary buzzed me.
"Yes, Carol."
