Ten Pounds

This is my second story.

Thank you all for the encouraging comments and constructive criticism. I will definitely take all the advice I can get. I was braced to be crucified after hearing how LW category readers can be brutal in the comments section. I did get crucified in some, but I really tried to work on the constructive ones. It is also interesting the number of commenters that think the story "Not so funny" was somehow related to my own personal life.

I have two more works in draft form that I am holding off from publishing until I find an editor. I asked for an editor on this story and had one respond to me. But after 3 weeks... I think I've been ghosted.

Hope you enjoy it. And if anyone wants to write a variation... be my guest.

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"I will not have sex with you again until you help me lose ten pounds!"

This was said by my wife, Sara, of 30 years. She had been complaining about her weight for some time. She was standing in our bedroom, naked, in front of her full-length mirror.

I thought that she had the perfect body type for me. She was never the skinniest girl, but no one would ever consider her fat. When we first got married, she weighed 135 pounds. I only know this because she told me yesterday. She said that she wanted to get back to her wedding weight. I'm not sure what she weighs now but obviously it must be more than that.

I've always loved how she looks. After all, I was attracted to her enough to marry her. Never heard of anyone marrying someone they weren't attracted to.

She was my type. She had a great butt that I loved to pat and squeeze. Full and round. I have never been attracted to the girls with the flat butts. Her boobs had always been the perfect size. A big handful. Not too big and not too small. Now they were a little larger than a handful. Other than a little pudge of a tummy, I didn't see anything that she should complain about.

We have two grown kids that are out of the house and our sex life was great. At least I thought so. I had nothing to complain about with her. And so, I didn't. But she was unhappy with her weight and like I said, she made it well known numerous times lately.

After I got over my initial confusion and shock, I said, "Ok, no sex till you lose ten pounds seems a little extreme. I don't see how you losing weight and us not having sex correlates, but I will do everything I can to support you in this. How do you want me to help?"

Sara, that's my wife, I'm Nick, said that she was going to lose the weight the old-fashioned way, diet and exercise. And us not having sex was going to help motivate "me", to help motivate "her". The sooner she lost the weight, the sooner we would be having sex again.

And that is how it started. She put us on a low carb low-calorie diet the very next day. I didn't mind that part. I like eating healthy and I also enjoy cooking. After the kids left the house, I had taken to doing most of the cooking for the two of us. For the first twenty years of our married life, while I worked and brought in the income, she took care of the house, the kids, and me. Now that she had gone back to work, we both got home at about the same time and while I cooked dinner, we would have a nice conversation.

Next, the exercise started. She came home from work a week after "we" started her diet and said she had joined a gym the girls from work had recommended. Since she didn't have the energy to work out after work and she enjoyed our evenings together, she decided to get up a little earlier and work out in the morning. Then she would shower at the gym and go directly to work. Since we are now in our mid 50's we were both going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. So, starting that second week of her "lose the weight" plan, she was off to the gym early each morning.

When the second weekend rolled around, I was getting pretty horny and let it be known several times that I was not happy with the no-sex thing going on at our house. She just casually stated, "Well buddy, you know the new rule. No sex till I lose ten pounds." I told her that it wasn't my rule, and it was getting old fast. She just said, "Tough luck", like it was no big deal.

The third week Sara came home on Tuesday and announced as soon as she walked through the door, "I am down 8 pounds!" I was happy for her, and I told her so. I also stated, "Hopefully, this no-sex thing would finally be over."

The other thing she casually mentioned that evening was that she was getting to know some of the people at the gym and was beginning to enjoy working out each morning. Now this was a surprise to me because she had never been the athletic type. I figured she would not have her gym membership for long. She never played sports in high school. She was one of those girls who hated gym class and opted out the first year she was allowed.

Thursday evening Sara came home with a sexy smirk and announced, "Well buddy, it's your lucky day! I have lost ten pounds!"

I immediately turned off the stove, swept her up in my arms, placed a big kiss on her lips, and led her to the bedroom. There we shucked our clothes and were quickly going at it like bunnies. We both came way too fast and lay next to each other with a slight sheen of sweat on our skin trying to catch our breath.

"Wow," I said, "that was great!"

Sara said, "I know, right? That was so good I should make another rule that we won't have sex again until I lose another ten pounds."

Sitting straight up I said, "Wait just a minute, you are absolutely not doing this to me again. I wasn't happy about it the first time and I am absolutely not going to even consider it a second time. Just because we had mind-blowing sex due to our mutually pent-up sexual energy doesn't have anything to do with you losing ten pounds." It's because we haven't had sex for three weeks.

"Well, why don't you go down and restart dinner," Sara said, "I'm going to take a shower and get comfy clothes on. We can talk about it some more later."

With a scowl on my face, I pulled on a t-shirt and jeans and stomped off to the kitchen. With her in the shower, I started cooking again and thinking about what she had said. There was no way I was not going to let this happen again.

I was happy for her to lose the ten pounds but not at all happy to be cut off from having sex. I also was not going to tell her that I had started walking, and now running, every morning when she was at the gym. Although I was never really overweight, I had lost fifteen pounds in the same amount of time that she lost her ten. I was looking pretty trim if I do say so myself. I'm sure telling her this would just upset her. The low-cal low-carb diet and the morning exercise were working well for me. She had not said a thing about the weight I had lost, that is, if she had even noticed. She seemed to be focused only on herself. Women always get mad when you lose weight faster than they do.

When she emerged from the bedroom, she had a look of determination on her face and said "Nick, I have decided that not having sex till I lost the first ten pounds worked, so I am setting another rule. No sex again till you help me lose another ten pounds."

I was shocked and angry! What happened to "We can talk about it" I said. Sounds like you have made up your mind already. I grudgingly went along with your rule the first time, but I am not going to support you a second time. If you have already made up your mind about this, and don't care what I have to say, then you're on your own. Cook your own damn healthy meals from now on. I was hot. I dropped the spoon, turned off the stove, got my keys, and stormed out the door.

"Where are you going," Sara yelled at my back.

"Out!" I yelled as I got in my car and drove off.

I had never done that before. I have never been so mad that I yelled at my wife and stormed out of the house. I drove around for a while mad, until I realized that I didn't know where I was. As I had not had dinner yet, I started looking for restaurants, found a sports bar, and pulled in.

My phone had been ringing about every other minute, but I was in no mood to talk to Sara, so I turned it off. Inside the bar I ordered a big cheeseburger, some onion rings, and a tall beer. We never were the bar type of couple so sitting at the bar was new to me. After cooling down, I actually started to enjoy myself. Maybe I should do this more often I thought, it was relaxing.

A couple of guys were casually talking, drinking beer, and watching some team play basketball on one of many big screens. One of the guys said, "Hey, I haven't seen you here before. Just move to town?"

"No, just got upset with my wife and needed to get away for a while, I said"

With that we struck up a casual conversation and before I knew it, it was ten pm. I decided that I'd cooled off enough and it was time to go home. On the way, I decided that I should apologize to Sara for storming off but was in no certain terms going to agree to the "no sex" thing again. After all, I was a red-blooded male and liked sex. And so did she for Christ's sake. She loved when I went down on her and we brought each other off many times in a 69 position. She would sometimes just look at me and say, "69 time"? And off we'd go.

My next thought was that maybe she was getting sex somewhere else, and this is why she could so easily make no sex rules with me. I quickly dismissed that thought when I remembered how frantic we had sex after the first ten pounds came off. If she was getting it somewhere else, that wouldn't have happened. Anyway, I walked in the door ready to apologize, and was met by a very mad wife.

Sara:

"Where have you been? Why haven't you answered your phone? Why do you smell like beer?"

Nick:

"Well, dear... I didn't want to talk to you. And, I went to a sports bar, had a beer and a burger, and cooled off. I am not going to agree to no sex until you lose another ten pounds. If you want my help, then sex is back on the table." I was mad all over again and completely forgot about apologizing to her. "I don't know if you realize it but your no sex rules are harming our relationship. I'm not happy. I'm glad you are losing weight if it is so important to you. But I don't give a shit. I liked you before you started losing weight. I've always told you how beautiful you are to me."

Sara:

"Well, buddy, I will absolutely not have sex with you again until I lose another ten pounds. With or without your help. If you want to be an ass about it and storm off, to God knows where, that's on you. You better get on board. I thought about reconsidering, but you just made up my mind!"

Nick:

I stood there seething. "This will not go well for you or for us I said. This is not healthy for our marriage. You're not even listening to what I am saying. We have always decided things together and always enjoyed a great sex life together. If you have made up your mind, then I am not sleeping in the same bed as you till you are ready to have sex again." With that, I stormed off to the spare bedroom.

Things were cold between us for the next couple of days, but we slowly started to communicate again about three days later. She wanted me to come back to bed with her, but I just told her, "Not until she was ready to have sex with me." That just made her mad all over again.

I lay awake that night thinking about how fast things were going downhill between us. This weight loss thing was driving a wedge between us. How did we get here so fast and how are going to get back on the right track? Everything was great between us up until she made her stupid rule. What was I going to do about it? She has always had a stubborn streak in her and when she made up her mind about something she always followed through with it. It was something that I had always loved about her. But now it had become an issue between us. At least for me.

The next day during my morning run I remembered her saying that she was making new friends at the gym and was enjoying her workouts more. I decided that I needed to find out who these new friends were. Maybe they were filling her head with these crazy ideas and supporting her rules.

So, I did an about-face, ran home, showered, dressed for work, and drove to the gym. When I got there, I parked next to her car and was surprised to see how many cars there were in the parking lot this early in the morning. The gym had a balcony overlooking the entire gym floor as you entered the front doors. I walked up to the railing and looked down at the gym to see if I could see my wife.

I quickly spotted her on a treadmill next to a man about our age. They were actively chatting as they power-walked. I could see that she was having an animated conversation with the guy and seemed to be enjoying herself. I thought that she had said she was making new "friends" at the gym, I assumed that they would be women, but maybe she was just interested in one new friend. Knowing that she would have to get to work shortly I went back to my car and drove to work. I didn't want to be seen and accused of spying on her. That would just add fuel to her already stirred-up fire.

I wasn't very productive that day, I spent much of the day being irritated. I kept remembering how she seemed to be chatting up this new man at the gym. I decided I needed to talk to her about it tonight at home. I was not one to let things fester. Early on in our marriage, we got some good advice. Never let things fester. Talk about anything that bothers you right away. Even if you may not know why you are feeling the way you do, talk about it. Work it out together. Waiting only makes things worse.

As was the new norm, I waited for her to get home without starting dinner for us. I cooked something for myself and waited. Instead of her coming home at her usual time I got a text that said, "Since you're not making dinner, I am going out with friends from the gym, be home after."

That did it. I was now a little more than suspicious. I quickly pulled up our "find my friend" app and located her at a restaurant by her office. I hopped in my car and drove to her location. Did I want to confront her in the restaurant or just find out who she was with? I decided I would just see who she was eating with and try not to be seen. Maybe it was a group of women. Luck would have it that I didn't even need to park the car. As I pulled into the lot, I could see her and the man she was chatting up this morning sitting at a table in the front window. She had a way too big of a smile on her face and they seemed to really be enjoying themselves.

I was mad. She was going to get an earful when she got home. This was disrespectful. When did she start thinking it was ok to have dinner with another man? What would she say if she saw me having dinner with a lady that she did not know? An hour later she pulled in and happily came into the house. I was sitting at the kitchen table just finishing a beer.

Nick:

"So how was your dinner with your "friends" from the gym," I asked.

Sara:

"It was fine. I decided that I didn't want to sit at home and eat by myself since we weren't eating together anymore, she said."

Nick:

"What is his name?"

Sara:

This took me back and I think I stuttered a little with my reply. "What do you mean, what is his name? I said I was eating with "friends"."

Nick:

"I know what you said. But this morning I went to your gym and saw you talking with a man on the treadmill. You seemed to be having a pretty good time. Then you texted me that you were going out with "friends" from the gym, so I tracked your location and saw you sitting in the restaurant's front window with that same man." I had caught her in a lie but didn't want to escalate things by calling her out yet. "So, what is going on? Is he just a "friend" or is it more than that? Are you having sex with him? Is this why it was so easy to cut me off?"

Sare went from unsure of herself to full-on offensive in 1.1 seconds. "What? Are you spying on me now? You think that I would cheat on you? I would never cheat on you. How could you ever say that? He is just a friend. You're just jealous because you're not getting any. If you would help me lose these next ten pounds, we would still be eating together. Since we are not, I decided that I do not want to sit around by myself. If you think you are getting sex anytime soon, think again!" With that, she stormed off to the bedroom.

Nick:

That went well I thought. But it only confirmed in my mind that something more was going on than she was letting on. It didn't escape me that she never answered my question about if she was having sex with him. I sat at the table the rest of the night thinking. Did I think she cheating on me? I really didn't think so. Did we have some serious problems? Absofuckinglutly!

I decided enough with this shit. It had been going on for almost two months now, and I was over it. Now it looked like she had a date with another man. I decided that tomorrow I would give her a choice. We either stopped this nonsense, started having sex again, and worked on repairing our marriage or I would divorce her and she could go on all the dates she wanted. It seemed like she had started replacing me already anyway.

With that settled in my mind, I actually slept well that night. Before I went to bed, I texted her that we needed to talk the next evening and that I would cook dinner for us. When I got up in the morning she was already off to the gym (I tracked her location again) but had a reply text that said she would be at dinner.

After talking about our days at dinner, like we used to, I got around to the point of the conversation.

Nick:

"Look, Sara, things aren't good between us. These "no sex till I lose weight" rules are not working for me. And now you are dating other men. Either we go back to having sex whether you lose weight or not, you commit to never going out with any man other than me again and we both agree to work on repairing our relationship or I'm out of here."

Sara:

I don't like being given ultimatums and I didn't see how I was doing anything wrong. "How dare you accuse me of going on a date with another man! I told you, it wasn't a date! It was just a dinner with someone I met at the gym. And why shouldn't I? You aren't eating with me anymore. You are way overreacting and being an ass. Everyone tells me that whatever I'm doing to lose weight is working, so they are encouraging me to keep doing it. And I plan to. So, if you're out of here, then so be it. Come back when you are ready to apologize. And another thing. We both have friends that we see from time to time. You hang out with women other than me. I can eat with whomever I want to." Then she glared at me and went off to what had now become "her" bedroom.

Nick:

That was definitely not the reaction that I hoped for. It is true that we both have friends that we see from time to time. But we always would call each other and let them know where we were and who we were with. Most of the time we would invite the other to join us if they wanted to. There was never anything hidden. This was different. She had lied about who she was eating with. I knew that she knew that this was different. She could have just as easily texted me "I'm going to dinner with a man I met at the gym, you are welcome to come." That would have been the right thing to do. But she had tried to get me to believe she was going to dinner with "friends" and was not upfront with me.

Was I really ready to follow through with leaving? Hell yes, I was. I wasn't going to be treated this way. She didn't get to unilaterally make "no sex" rules and then go out to dinner with other men without me. Especially men that I did not know. I had more self-worth than that. I really hadn't planned any further than having tonight's conversation. I really thought she would have apologized, and we would start working on our relationship. But instead, she basically told me that losing weight was more important than I was, and I could leave if I wanted to.