This one ended up a bit long, so I've broken it up into two parts - which seemed to work. The final part is already written, just in the proofing stage, so I hope to have it up here before too long. While this is a work of fiction, it was inspired by discussion I had at a social event with a business executive in terms of success being measured solely by finance and power. He didn't think much of teachers and that coaches were all just failed athletes. However, being an educator and growing up in a football town, I strongly disagree. I still should that the guy for giving me the inspiration for this story. I hope you enjoy.
*****
It still so surreal to Joel that his life had gotten to this point. He was sitting on a chair in the executive reception area of Grinberg Holdings. He was flanked on either side by behemoth security guards who looked like they belonged either on the football field or running a prison yard. Both kept glancing at Joel with big smirks on their faces.
It took all of Joel's self-control to keep his face as emotionless as possible and not give them the satisfaction of seeing him upset. That was, of course, the whole purpose of Regis Grinberg asking him to be there.
Grinberg's administrative assistant wasn't at her desk, but the speaker on her phone was on. Loudly through the speaker was the obvious furniture creaking and flesh slapping sounds of two people fucking.
Over top of those sounds, and a man grunting was a woman moaning, "Yes...yes...god yes...fuck me...mmm...please...yes..." and so forth.
That woman was Judy, who up to that point, had been married to Joel for what he thought was ten blissful years. Never in his wildest dreams, did he think it would come to that moment.
Joel met Judy through a mutual friend. Actually, Tommy, his best-friend, and his now wife, Wendy were on a double-date with Judy and another guy. Wendy was trying to set Judy up with a guy she worked with. A few weeks prior, she told Joel about this friend, a few years older than him, who was coming off a bad break-up and really cute. Being a brash twenty-year-old who was very particular on the looks of woman he picked up, Joel declined. When he saw the four of them sitting around the table at the bar, he was kicking himself in nuts - on the inside. Judy was this tall, really slender, hottie with long dark hair, piercing eyes, and amazing face with cheekbones of a supermodel. He didn't think he's ever seen a woman more beautiful in person in his life.
Pretty much all his life, Joel considered himself 'the' alpha-male. He was the starting quarterback on his high school team. While attending college to become a teacher and coach after injury cut his career short, he was one of the managers at the bar. Joel didn't consider himself a pussy hound, and did respect woman - something his mother (RIP) drilled into him growing up - but Joel was confident that any woman he wanted, would be his.
Joel was not subtle, and Tommy was trying not to laugh at how pissed off the unknown blind date was in having his date flirted with in front of him. Unfortunately, Judy also didn't seem too impressed and suggested the four get going to their late movie. Joel figured she might actually be a woman too good for him. He couldn't contain his excitement when Wendy told him the next day Judy thought her date was a dud right from the start, and was persuaded in giving Joel a second chance.
On their date, Judy pretty much let him take control - even order for her. She did talk about herself, an economics major in her final year of college, who also was an only child with one living parent - in her case, her mother. From what she discussed, Joel was optimistic how similar their interests and goals were. It was a little irritating that any decision of the night, she let him make. That is, except the last one, when he kissed her at the end of the date. Her one arm went around his neck and the other rubbed his cock through his jeans. He was the one who said he was coming up to her place, but she clearly was who decided. The fact she wore matching underwear and condoms waiting on her bed were another big clue.
They practically were living together after a month, engaged three months after that, and married just short of the anniversary of their first date. Even with the wedding, Judy let Joel make most of the decisions - refusing to accept him saying, "Whatever you want, babe."
Lying in bed naked, on their honeymoon, in Florida, Joel finally asked her why she lets him make all the decisions. Judy's response was that she trusted him and agreed with most of his choices anyway.
Joel took her hand in his and looked her seriously in the face, "Judy, you are my world and I love that you consider me the man who looks after you. But, we are partners in this, both of us. We'll both be much happier making decisions together. Shit, you're probably going to make way more than me; this isn't the seventies with the submissive doting wife. I want you to be my equal in this, okay?"
Judy promised to be more assertive in their relationship, but it obviously was difficult for her.
Judy graduated first and, as Joel predicted, had a mid-level job with a stock company that paid way more than he was going to be getting on a teacher salary. She was the main breadwinner as he finished his degree. He was hired by a local school before he received his degree to teach history and be the head coach of their football team. Not only was it apparent he was quite good at both things, Joel loved it.
Once he became settled, both decided they were at a position to afford Judy going on maternity leave and focused on starting the family they both wanted. Joel almost was disappointed it only took one cycle of multiple sex sessions during peak fertile times to get Judy pregnant.
Nine months later, seeing Judy holding little Julie, Joel knew his wife had changed forever and for the better - he thought. Some people told him adjusting to being a father wouldn't be as hard as adjusting to now being married to a mother - and they couldn't be more correct. Judy was a momma bear, and any decision to do with her daughter's life was hers without question. Joel quickly learned that in that aspect of their life, their roles were now reversed.
Seven years later, Joel lived by the motto to not sweat the little battles. Now with seven-year-old Julie and four-year-old Ariana, Judy was the undisputed ruler of the household, making majority of the decisions. Honestly, just as Judy once said to him, Joel agreed with most of her decisions so went along with them. Besides, happy wife, happy life.
Unfortunately, since Julie was little, that extended to their sex life. Joel began to accept that with her stressful job, and caring for the kids, if Judy wasn't in the mood when he initiated sex, it wasn't happening. The flipside was, when she was in the mood, she made sure he knew. Since they rarely went more than a week without having sex, Joel just accepted that was her decision when it happened. At least during the actual act, they both controlled things, so he was more than happy with their sex life, and figured Judy was as well.
While Joel didn't sweat the little things, there were some times where he did want to make the decision and really dug his feet in if Judy didn't agree. This was stuff like going to a concert of some band from his teens, getting pay-per-view of some fight, or having a poker party. These moments were rare, and often resulted in a bit of a yelling fest between the two of them, but Joel never lost an argument.
Though Judy wore the pants in the house, as his friend Tom teased, outside the house, Joel was still used to being the alpha. He took classes on the side, and worked his way to being one the youngest high school principals in the district. That promotion was bitter sweet since it also meant giving up coaching high school varsity football, which he had a long list of great achievements in a relatively short time. It also meant more time with his family, and he was volunteering as a coach in little league on the weekend. True, Judy still made more than him, but now not nearly as much as in the first six years of their marriage. He was a proud and respected leader in the community for both his coaching and education career. That and being close to his family meant more to him than making big bucks - more than Judy knew.
The start of the downfall, and when he began to see the problem, was when Judy was offered a position at Grinberg Holdings as the supervisor of a financial analyst team. The position came with, of course, a big raise, but with the exception of the occasionally late meeting, Judy said that she'd have way more time at home. She seemed so ecstatic about this job, that Joel was so happy for her. After the first week, what he was less than ecstatic about was how she talked about Regis Grinberg: how fantastic he was, what great taste in restaurants he had, how she was so lucky he took her under his wing. It was like she lit up every time she talked about the guy.
By week two, Joel started to have a funny feeling about all this, and asked her how many of these lunch meetings were just her and him one on one. Apparently, it was almost all, but then she tore a strip out of Joel for suggesting her boss probably was interested in more than her work abilities. It probably was one of the worst arguments they've ever had. A week after that fight, Judy still hadn't even given him more than a peck on the cheek.
Friday, Judy came home all excited. "Joel, I have a sitter tomorrow night. We're eating at Flank!" Flank was a fairly expensive fine dining restaurant. The type that took reservations a month in advance.
"Wow, what are we celebrating?" Joel said, hoping this meant the cold spell was over.
"Nothing, Reggie is taking us out," Judy said, almost gushing, "He wants to meet you - and you meet him so you see how silly your jealousy was. Can't have the two important men in my life not getting along."
