Caffeinated Quickies: Honeyed Housewife.
A Bimbo Bakery short story.
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"Michael Cummings?" The pimply gas-station attendant smirked, looking up from Mike's credit card. "Dude, has anyone ever told you that you have a porn name?"
"Tell that to my Uncle Richard." He quipped back, like Mike always did when some wiseacre decided his surname was worth mentioning.
The smart-asses in question were all, invariably, immature young folks of the male persuasion.
"Dick Cummings?!" The crater-faced lout hooted as he handed Mike back his card and receipt, "For reals, man? That's a total trip."
"He's a real hit with the ladies, I can tell you that much." Mike grinned and shot the kid a wink before scooping his purchases and turning back towards his car. "I'll tell him you said hello."
"Dick Cummings!"
The howl of laughter followed Mike out the automatic doors and he grinned. Being born a proud Cummings, he was more than accustomed to the jokes by this stage in his life and Mike was in too much of a good mood to let it bother him at all.
Today was a good day... no, scratch that. Today was a
great
day!
He carefully placed the bouquet of bright flowers and the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon on the passenger seat before climbing behind the wheel and buckling in with a cheerful smile.
Sure, the good news he was about to deliver to his loving wife probably merited more than wilting gas-stop flowers and the local convenience store's finest vintage of vino but the real celebration could wait until the ink was dry on his new employment contract.
Because Mike was getting a promotion!
He had been called into the partners office just hours earlier and informed that, not only had he passed his accreditation to become a Certified Public Accountant, Mike was being "moved up" in the firm's organizational structure to become the youngest CPA employed at Bridges and Rutherford Accounting.
This was huge! A real game changer for him and his darling wife Stephanie. It meant a significant rise in pay, a new corner-adjacent office and nothing but a shining highway of prospects stretching out into his professional future.
Local boy makes good. It was like some kind of Cinderella story. Or whatever the guy version of that was...
Cinder-fella
story perhaps?
Whatever. Mike was flying home on the cloud nine express.
Wave goodbye to frozen dinners and microwave meals because it was champagne and caviar from here on out. Well, figuratively speaking at least, but a lot more hot chicken dinners were
definitely
in the cards. Mike was bursting at the seams with excitement and couldn't wait to see the look on Stephanie's face when he told her.
It would mean so much for her. It would mean she could quit that
awful
job for a start and that would bring some much needed joy into her life.
Mike had met Steph a few years back when they had both been attending New Billington University. He had been in the last year of finishing his business accounting degree and she was studying Library Science. It had been a Halloween mixer and when he had spotted the cute little redhead with the pixie-cut wearing a Tinkerbell costume, it had been love at first sight.
For him at least. He had come dressed as Barney Rubble and had to get past more than a few curious questions about why he had chosen Barney instead of Fred before he could really break the ice.
What... Barney had the hotter wife, right? Mike was Team Betty all the way.
One year later they were happily engaged and blissfully married six months after that, though Steph had decided to keep her maiden name "Page". No-one could blame her, Mike chortled to himself at the memory.
The decision to settle in New Billington hadn't been a hard one. Mike was raised in the small college town and Stephanie's family lived just over the state border to the north in Michigan. Mike was living the dream but while he had quickly secured a position at the accounting firm as a humble Public Accountant, Steph wasn't so lucky.
His wife was free, creative spirit at heart and Mike loved that about her but jobs for young librarians with no experience were all but non-existent in his hometown, college or no. So Steph had compromised and taken a job as a paralegal in the dusty law offices of Lockett Miller Solicitors down on Main Street and, though his beautiful bride always put on her best face everyday, Mike knew she wasn't happy there.
The dark bags under her eyes and the growing stoop to her slender shoulders spoke volumes that Steph would never speak aloud. It hurt Mike to see the woman he loved being ground down under the perpetual rat-race.
Steph deserved the chance to chase her dreams of being an artist. To read and write and paint to her heart's content. The garage of their little two bedroom cottage was her impromptu studio, a whirlwind of controlled chaos stocked with bustling bookshelves, paint-splattered workbenches and a second hand writing desk she had rescued from the footpath outside the girl's dorms.
She spent as much of her limited free time as she could in there and Mike was looking forward to informing her that she could soon be spending all day in her favorite space pursuing her true passions. That and maybe,
just maybe
, get started on the nursery at last.
Mike was going to hold off that discussion until later. The jury was still out on how soon Steph wanted to have kids. They both wanted to be in a more stable position before revisiting the topic, or so she kept telling him. But, if he were being honest, Mike wanted to see her pop out a few of his rugrats sooner rather than later.
Just the idea of seeing his wife's lithe slim body swell large with his heirs was a major turn-on for Mike. The merest thought of his seed planting a baby in her belly and watching that smooth tummy grow fat with his young had Mike's cock perking up in his slacks even as he turned down their sleepy suburban street.
She would have to consider it now, right? He finally had the means to support them both and make a real go at being the family man, like his father and grandfather before him. To be a man who cared for his wife and raised a loving family with a white picket fence and all the traditional trimmings.
Was it so wrong to want that?
Mike didn't think so. He considered himself quite progressive by any country town standard. He had been happy that Steph wanted to work, to earn her own wage and contribute to building their shared life. She was her own independent woman and Mike supported her life and career choices. There were no expectations placed on her in his mind, but if she was going to be happier working from home... that was just a silver lining.
Today was a
great
day... and only going to get better.
Parking out front of their modest abode, Mike bundled up his shopping and strode for the door. Stephanie would be home in an hour or so depending on her workload. That was just enough time for him to order up some vegetarian tortellini from that Italian joint downtown she loved, cue the soft romantic tunes and light some candles.
Oh, but the look on her face was going to be heartwarming when he told her-
Mike opened the front door and paused. The interior lights were on, warming the cozy living space and the sounds and smells of someone cooking wafted from the kitchen. It smelled good, like roasting red meat and herbed vegetables. Was Stephanie home early and
cooking?
Steph was amazing in a great many ways but the poor girl could burn a boiled egg.
"Hello... Steph sweetie. Is that you?"
