The Lady Captains Year Ch 04

Chapter 4: The Lady Captain's Year – July

It was on Tuesday 1st of July when everything went to hell in a basket. Jerry had called her while I was at work. The call followed the same pattern as two other calls, he was basically flirting with her until she managed to get him the point of the call.

He said, "Have you remembered that we have the semi final of the inter club mixed knockout on Thursday afternoon at the club, we have a 2PM tee time?"

"Yes" she replied, "but remember Jack does not know I have agreed to play with you yet and I rather he is kept in the dark until I can think of a way to excuse my participation, if he finds out before then, he will explode!"

"No problem" he replied, "Mind and wear something sexy though, I need you to distract the opposition, we really want to beat them this year."

"What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"Wear a short skirt instead of slacks and a tight sports shirt will get their pulses racing, and mine."

"In your dreams" she countered.

"More than in them I hope" he responded.

I wondered how Sally was going to explain her absence on Thursday afternoon and early evening. She knew I was aware about this semi final tie as there were notices posted in the club bar and pro shop asking for volunteers to referee each match and also for general supporters to cheer the team on.

She was more devious that I would have believed. I answered a call from the competition secretary, Andrew Simmons asking for Sally, I passed the phone over and I heard her say, "Hi, Andrew how can I help you?" followed by a long silence from Sally, she was obviously listening to the caller, she glanced in my direction once or twice as I looked enquiringly at her and moved into the kitchen to continue her conversation. When she returned to the lounge she said in a quiet voice, "That was the Andrew Simmons, we have a problem fielding a team for Thursdays Semi final in the Mixed Cup."

"Oh," I said, "How does that affect us?" but I was already knew where this was going.

She told me that her arm was being twisted to play as two of the four regular ladies were away on holiday and the competition rules stated that they must play at least one lady single figure handicapped golfer and she was the only one left still available. I asked who her partner was to be and she confirmed my worst fears, She just said, "Jerry Samuels."

I did not know what to say, she knew my feelings about him, but she rendered any debate superfluous when she said coldly, "Before YOU say anything, I intend to play with him, end of discussion!"

Naturally, I could not let that go by unchallenged so I said, "You do remember that we have a parent/teacher meeting to attend that evening, or do you intend to give that a miss too?"

This clearly had not occurred to her as she hesitated pondering her options and then replied, "I have always been there for my children and I will meet you in the school foyer in plenty of time."

Her anger, that must have been simmering since the week before clearly took command of her tongue when she barked at me, "You still don't trust me do you?"

My own temper was rising as I replied hotly, "What do you expect of me? You know what happened with him the last time!"

At that point I think Sally just lost it completely and screamed back at me, "You have never forgiven me for what happened at the drive in and I don't think you never will!"

I think we both realised at the same time that our tempers were running away with us, so I apologised to Sally and tried to assure her that I loved her and wanted desperately for us to happy again. She also apologised to me saying that Jerry had made a pass at her when they had danced at her birthday dinner and she was still upset about it. I was not sure that I believed her on that point, Sally was used to being hit on by amorous men and it was normally like water of a ducks back to her. She said she did not wish to discuss the matter any further. I was happy just let the dust settle on this latest spat and did not to pursue it any further. We went bed, kissed each other good night, but still no fashion show.

Work on Thursday work was slow, so I decided to take off from work early using the company's flexi-time facility. This was the first time I had ever used this, so some eyebrows were raised, but no one said anything to my face. I arrived home just as Sally was getting out of the shower, she looked drop dead gorgeous and I told her so. She must have seen the lust in my eyes and just gave me that icy smile of hers and said "Forget it" then proceeded to towel herself down.

"What are you doing home at this time anyway?" she asked.

Thinking quickly, because I curious to see if she would dress as Jerry Samuels had instructed, I replied, "I am going over to check out Betsy and do some quick maintenance in readiness, just in case we want to use it this summer."

She seemed to accept this answer and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I watched her as she dressed. First, her underwear, the panties were a pretty cotton type suitable for the skirt she was wearing. Instead of her usual sports bra she normally wore for golf, she had put on a very sexy half cup one that was barely big enough to contain her full breasts.

I could not resist asking, "Do you think that bra is really suitable for golf?"

Clearly getting angry, she retorted, "Are you starting to tell me what is appropriate for me to wear now.

She continued without pausing for breath, "I will not allow YOU to dictate how I should dress!"

"That question did not come out the way it sounded" I said trying to defuse the situation, "What I was trying to say was I am concerned that your breasts will be in danger of spilling out every time you swing the golf club"

"So what concern is it of yours if they do?" she retorted.

"I am still your husband and I am naturally concerned that you may embarrass yourself in front of your guests and fellow members."

She to carried on get dressed pulling on a pretty short skirt, that displayed her long slightly tanned legs and a tight V necked top She continued with the discussion by retorting,, "Let me worry about that, anyway I am sure some of them may be delighted and appreciate a glimpse of my tits."

"Look" she said glancing at her watch, "I have got to go now, we will discuss this more later tonight."

You bet we will I thought, and called after her, "Good luck in the match and remember the Parent/teacher meeting at Eight."

She acknowledged me with a nod, but there was no kiss for me as she left.

The excuse as to why I was home early preyed on my mind a bit and after sitting faffing around for a little while, I decided it was not a bad idea after all and collected the keys off the hook in the garage, loaded the car with some tools and fresh bed linen etc, took off for the site.

There was little by way of security at the small holding where Betsy was parked, my father in law was too tight to even put a padlock on the gate so owners who left their vans there had learned to take their own measures to ensure there security. After several minutes unlocking the wheel clamps I was able to check all of Betsy's vital signs and apart from needing fuel she was in much better shape than I thought. She had started first time and I took her for a quick run around to check her out and filled up her fuel tank. With Betsy was running fine, I concentrated in cleaning out her interior, I unpacked the fresh bed linen I had brought with me and put it away, ready for the next time we needed it and generally gave the insides an good airing to clear the musty smell that occurs when vehicles are left un aired over winter.

That task completed I re-secured her and then went and picked up the twins from school. They helped me in preparing our evening meal. They were both unusually subdued during this period, so I took the bull by the horns and asked them what the problem was. I was totally surprised when Amy, always the spokesperson asked, "Are you and mum getting divorced?"

I replied, "Of course not"

Then Sam chipped in, "We are not stupid little girls any more, we are 15 year old teenagers and we see and hear things, oh you try to be discrete and keep your disagreements for when you think we are otherwise occupied but you and mum have been on each others case for months now, she always seems to be going out without you and you are always grumpy when she is not around."

That brought me up short and the sudden realisation that the problems Sally and I are having were not as discrete as I thought. I paused for a few moments and I looked at their tear filled eyes and almost started crying myself. Gathering my emotions together I said:

"You are correct, your mother and I are having some issues at the moment, but never forget that we love you both dearly and are trying to work through the problems together"

At that they both jumped up to me and gave me a big hug but as my eyes again filled with tears, all I could think about was that I was now reduced to lying to my own children because from my perspective, there was precious little effort being made by Sally to sort our issues out.

My response to their expression of concern seemed to satisfy them for the moment and I made a promise to myself to try even harder to restore my marriage.

After dinner they did their own thing, homework, I Pod, text'd their pals all the usual things teenagers do today. Sally and I had agreed with them on their fifteenth birthday that they were mature enough to be trusted on their own and that baby sitters were no longer appropriate.

So leaving them to their own devices, I turned up at the school in good time for our appointment at 8.

I delayed going in to our first appointment as Sally had not turned up, I was quite worried, this was totally out of character for her, she was always punctual and placed a high importance on the education of our children. I tried ringing her mobile, but it after the usual rings it went to voicemail, I left her a message telling her I was going to meet with her their teachers and she could catch up with me during the course of the evening. Nearly all of Amy and Sam's teachers were pleased with their progress, but a couple of them stated that just recently they had seemed pre-occupied and distracted.

Our marital problems were starting to directly affect my children and this strengthened my resolve to get our relationship back on an even keel. After the meeting, I headed for home and got there just in time for the ten o'clock news.

Sally was waiting in the lounge to greet me when I returned from the school, and by her expression I new she was aware that she had screwed up big time. She started to apologise for missing the meeting, slurring her words and I suddenly realised she was either spaced out, drunk or both.

I just let rip, I could contain myself no longer, bitterly I asked loudly, "Where the HELL were YOU tonight?" and before she could reply, I went on, "I don't know what your feelings are for me anymore, but I was always thought that our children's welfare was your first priority, this pre-occupation with the golf club and YOUR social life has got stop as of NOW!"

I paused for breath, giving her a chance to respond, she said still slightly slurring her words, "You are right, I admit it, I have been totally out of order tonight, I can only apologise to you and beg your forgiveness. I promise that it will never happen again, you know that I LOVE you and our girls more than anything from now on my family will come first."

She went on in a more conciliatory tone, "I've have apologised about missing the meeting, but please can you tell me how they are getting on?"

Before I could say anything in reply, Sally's eyes left mine to look at something behind me and I turned and saw our daughters standing watching us both with tears streaming down their faces.

I turned back to Sally and said, "I think you need to sit down with your daughters and explain to them just what's going on, I had an worrying conversation with them earlier when you were god knows where and you need listen to what they have to say, maybe that will make you realise how much our family life has deteriorated!"

I went on, "I am also concerned that their teachers are concerned that they have been distracted and inattentive in class lately, I wonder why? You could have found out this for yourself if you had bothered to attend tonight."

With that I almost ran up the stairs to our bedroom and left her to it. I knew that sleep would be impossible, my mind was in turmoil, where had she been, who was she with, and what were her intentions.

It was almost an hour later before Sally entered our bedroom and started to get undressed. Nothing was said, she went to the bathroom, completed her toilet and came to bed and started to explain why she had missed the meeting, but I was in no mood to listen to any more excuses.

I just looked at her sadly and said, "Let's leave it until the morning, there is more to talk about than a missed meeting."

Sally turned again and with her temper clearly rising she hissed, "You are damned right we have more to talk about. What's this about you and Samantha Samuels?"

I was felt myself colouring up and tried to think what she was referring to, but foolishly tried to play it down. "What do you mean? Samantha is a work colleague and friend, as you well know, there is nothing going on between Samantha and me!"

Sally was not prepared to leave it alone, she came straight back and snapped, "That's not what I have been told!"

When she said that, I suddenly remembered an incident with Samantha that occurred at the golf club in early May, shortly before Sally's birthday.

I was just about entering the golfers bar when I literally bumped into Samantha as the door flew open as she stormed out of the bar. We were both almost knocked off our feet and I staggered back clutching at her to prevent us both falling on our arses. She clung to me tightly and when she realised it was me started to cry. She was clearly upset so I pulled her into the lounge bar next door to try and calm her down. I sat her down on one of the couches and realised she was very drunk. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she just cried even more. I eventually managed to get her to stop crying. She was clearly still troubled much to my embarrassment, told me her problems.

She said, "I have known that Jerry has been having affairs most of our married life, but I love him and ignored his infidelities. Last night was the last straw, he came home in a foul mood and picked an argument, that's not that unusual, but he raised his hand to me and beat me, not for the first time either!"

I was dumbstruck, Samuels was a bastard, I already new that but I would never have suspected him of being a wife-beater. She must have seen me looking closely at her face searching for evidence to support her claim for she gave a wry laugh and said, "Oh, you won't see anything visible, he's much to clever for that, no he hits me where the bruises don't show. Haven't you noticed, I rarely wear short sleeved clothes any more?"

I asked her, "Why don't you leave him?"

She said simply, "Because it would kill my father. You are not aware of this, father wanted it kept within the family, but he has to go into hospital soon for major heart surgery, he was going to tell you when the date was confirmed. So you see, I cannot risk the stress that the break up of my marriage would cause."

Searching in her handbag she fished out her car keys and stood to leave but I reached out to take them from her and said, "You are in no fit state to drive I'll drive you home." She resisted in as we struggled she almost fell into my arms.

That was the situation when the lounge door opened and in walked Andrew Simmons, he just beamed a big smile and said, "Oops, sorry to disturb you." He paused and said pompously, "I think a motel room would be a better place to conduct your liaison, don't you!"

Shit, I thought that's another rumour concerning me on the cards, but thought no more about it as I still had to drive Samantha home. I got her home ok and she had sobered up a fair bit by then and thankfully Jerry was out. I had meant to mention it to Sally when I arrived home, but totally forgot the incident, until now.

She asked me somewhat icily, "Do you deny that you and Samantha are were caught in a compromising position is the latest tale circulating around the club!"

Trying to defuse the situation, I innocently relied, "Of course I deny it, I do not much heed to golf club rumours and neither should you!"

I tried to explain to Sally about the incident, but before I could utter a word, Sally went on the offensive.

Her anger was plainly visible when said accusingly, "How long has your affair with Samantha been going on?"

I of course denied it, but she then screamed at me "You bastard, you have been on my case about Jerry for months over what was only flirting and it turns out you are just as big a fucking hypocrite!"

My anger arose at her rewriting of our recent history, "I don't believe that coming home with hickeys on your neck and tits could be considered as merely flirting!" I retorted.

"There you go again, you always throw that one indiscretion back in my face, you will never ever forgiven or forget will you?"

Then said she said the words that cut me to the bone, "Up until now I have been faithful to you but you need to remember that two can play at this game and just remember, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!"

I replied hotly, "If you are not prepared to accept my explanation, choosing to believe some scurrilous rumour before my word then you just do what you have to do!"

"For the record, I have NEVER been untrue to you or our to our wedding vows, I don't know where we went wrong but I am getting to the end of my tether. Maybe it's time to take stock!"

"What do you mean, take stock?" she demanded.

"Just that, I think we need to spend some time apart and reflect on where we want to go and what we really want out of our marriage, I love you and want to make this work, but the present situation cannot continue."

"And how do you propose we do that?" she asked sarcastically.

Thinking quickly, because I had not prepared an answer to that question and on the spur of the moment, I said the words that I would come to deeply regret, "I have decided not to accompany you to the Open Championship next week, you can go with the rest of the party, if you so wish, but I will remain here. Perhaps you can use the time we are apart to reflect on our marriage, I will certainly be doing just that!"

This statement must have caught us both by surprise because nothing was said in the next few minutes, Sally was clearly upset as her eyes had filled with tears, then she quietly said, " If that is your wish, then so be it."

I replied softly, "It is not MY wish spend any time apart from you, but I think we both need to re-evaluate our present situation, we both know our marriage is on the brink and decision time is imminent, one way or the other."

Things had cooled down by the following day and every other day until the coach trip departure day on Wednesday preceding the Open. At home we were both tiptoeing around trying to avoid any altercation before our separation.

On the Wednesday, I drove Sally to the Golf Club where the tour party had assembled and watched as they boarded the coach for the trip North. Sally was one of the last to board. I was disappointed that she climbed aboard without offering me a kiss goodbye or even a backward glance. As I watched the coach depart a premonition swept over me that Sally had already made her decision and that my marriage was over.