Jack had been sitting in yet another lonely hotel room on yet another lonely evening, lamenting the escalating demands of his career that compelled him to travel so often when the fateful text arrived. His most recent business trips had been even lonelier than usual because of his lingering anxieties about Jill's recent business trip. He could vividly recall his last words to her before she left for her own business trip three weeks earlier. "If 'things' happened, there would be no recriminations as long as she was discrete but not deliberate or deceitful."
Jill had said nothing alarming whenever she phoned him during her trip. She had said nothing revealing during the few weeks since she had returned home. There had been nothing strange about her behavior or demeanor during their weekends home together. If anything, she had been more affectionate and amorous than usual. However; her inflamed libido had further inflamed Jack's anxieties.
The text was the periodic update from Jill's ovulation tracking app. Given Jack's anxieties about her recent business trip, he was relieved to see that his wife had finally began menstruating. The copy of her ovulation tracking app that she had insisted on downloading onto his phone after their youngest was born had made it impossible for Jack to remain oblivious to the rhythms of her body. He had expected her to be menstruating during his most recent visit home. Her failure to begin menstruating when the app predicted that she should had inflamed His anxieties about her recent business trip.
Jack felt his penis swelling as he reminisced about how eager for sex his wife had been in recent weeks, especially the previous weekend. Unfortunately; the swelling of his penis was soon accompanied by a painful tension in his gut and groin. His waning libido had asserted itself during his recent weekend home, repeatedly. Jack had generously employed his lips and tongue as a surrogate for his stubbornly flaccid penis. Jill had even allowed him to use a few of the toys that he had gotten for her.
The ticking of Jill's biological clock as it counted down towards menopause had been evidenced by a surge in her libido. It was as if she was experiencing a nova of sexuality that they were both eager to exploit. They instinctively understood that while her sexual desire might linger, her fertility was waning. They had agreed that they didn't want anymore children even before their youngest was conceived, but the prospect of no longer being able to procreate was depressing.
Jack often wondered if Jill's insistence on relying almost exclusively on various combinations and permutations of the "pull and prey" method and her ovulation tracking app might be a gesture of defiance to this biological reality. It was not unreasonable for her to distrust her diaphragm. The contraceptive device had failed them at a time when they had been exceptionally diligent about using it. They had always been acutely aware of the often ignored statistics that reveal that such failures were common. Throughout most of their marriage, those statistics had allowed Jill to rationalize relying on the allegedly riskier family planning methods that she had always favored. The fact that there only unintended pregnancy had occurred during a time when she had been exceptionally diligent had allowed her to justify her insistence on relying almost exclusively on her ovulation tracking app combined with the "pull and pray" method since the baby was born. She had even delayed weaning the baby because nursing mothers were somewhat less fertile.
Jill had dutifully gotten refitted for a new diaphragm after she had recovered from her most recent pregnancy and birth. She had also assured her doctor that she would discuss the possibility of a vasectomy with her husband. However; Jill had not been persistent in her efforts to nag him into getting his balls cut. Given Jack's waning virility, she had understood why he perceived the procedure as a threat to his masculinity.
Jill had been keeping her new diaphragm conveniently close at hand in her nightstand drawer. However; it had remained seldom used. It was merely a talisman that allowed her to assure her doctor, her mother, her sister and a few friends that they were being careful when in fact they were flirting with the risk of pregnancy.
Only during the last few days of his business trip had Jack finally allowed himself to contemplate the implications of his wife being so late to start her period. He had sought solace from his anxiety by concentrating on the the possibility that she would still be flowing when he returned home in a few days. While most couples avoid having sex at such times, Jack and Jill had always cherished the opportunities to make love without reservation or restraint.
As Jack began to enter the date that Jill had started menstruating in his copy of the app, he became confused. She had began menstruating on the Monday that he left but she had delayed sending him the update until Thursday. Dismissing the delay as an oversight, Jack finished entering the date Jill's period had started in his copy of her app. The wheel shaped screen widget reassured him that while Jill would no longer be menstruating when he returned home, she would still be in the first, safer phase of her cycle.
Jack reopened the most recent, periodic update to peruse the chart. As always, his gaze was drawn to the graphical representation of Jill's observations of the position and condition of her cervix. The image always evoked memories of watching his spouse perform her nightly ritual or perhaps examining her cervix for her. However; the graphical reminder that his fecund spouse remained potentially fertile as she matured had become an erotic fixation for him.
