The beginning.
It was on a rare night out that Jim Carson had first clapped eyes on his future wife. He didn't go out that often but if he did a nightclub was most certainly not the choice of destination he'd make willingly. It just wasn't his scene. But this particular night it couldn't be helped. Much to his disgust he'd been dragged along on a stag night so was trying to make the best of it. But even he was not immune to the scantily clad women of all shapes and sizes that were strutting their stuff around the club. It was certainly making for an interesting evening so far. Standing idly at the bar chatting with his friends he was eyeing up the talent as it paraded back and forth between the bar and dance floor when she came to stand near him to order her drinks.
It was her legs that first drew his attention. He was positively drooling as he took in the view of her solid but shapely stocking clad calves, which curved sensuously up from her high heel stilettos, the shoes only serving to enhance the look and make her legs appear longer and more slender. But as much as he loved the look of her legs and he was most definitely a leg man; he eventually allowed his eyes to wander higher to take in the roundness of her full ass, which was displayed nicely due to her tight fitting skirt.
She must have felt his eyes on her as she quickly turned to face him.
"Like what you see?" she asked with a look of total disdain. She was used to being ogled by men.
It must have been the drink that made him so bold. He was usually so quiet and reserved but for once Jim kept his cool. He avoided looking at the large pair of breasts that had swung into view as she turned around; their size clearly putting an immense strain on the buttons of her tight fitting blouse; fixing instead to look deep into her blue eyes.
"So you play a lot of sport then?" he replied with a grin.
It wasn't the best chat up line of all time but then again he never usually had the courage to talk to attractive women such as her. But it was enough to break the ice.
"What?" she exclaimed with a quizzical look furrowing her brow.
Jim gulped but ploughed on. "I just thought you must play a lot of sport ... you know ..." He could feel his throat begin to close up. He was at a critical point in his chat up of this woman. If she questioned him much more he would eventually clam up altogether and then quickly scurry away. He could already feel his face burning as his embarrassment threatened to overwhelm him.
"Why?" she asked with a perplexed look etched on her face now.
"Well ... I ... I just assumed ... your legs ... they ... they look great ... so I assumed you must play a lot of sport ... that's all ..." Jim could feel his face was ablaze now. This would be the point where she would look at him as if he was some kind of a moron and brush him off. He steeled himself for the upcoming humiliation.
"Oh right ... yes as a matter of fact I do. Tennis, squash, badminton, I play them all but my favourite is squash." She smiled up at Jim. He smiled back. He was amazed. She was talking to him!
"I play squash too," he blurted out, " about two or three times a week usually." He was glad they had something in common to talk about.
"Really? You must be keen. Do you play in a league?"
"No, I'm not that competitive, I just play for pleasure ... with my mates," he added shrugging his shoulders.
"Maybe we could have a game sometime. I find women don't give me a hard enough game these days," she replied with a smile. "By the way, my name's Tina."
"Mine's Jim," he replied.
She gathered up her round of drinks. "Well, it's nice to have met you ... Jim. And if I see you again maybe we can arrange that game?" She smiled brightly, her blue eyes twinkled and Jim was smitten.
It was a few weeks later before Jim bumped into her again. Incredibly he was on another stag night at the same club. He'd all but forgotten about her as he recalled watching her leave arm in arm with a man at the end of the night. So he was surprised when she came into the nightclub with her girlfriends.
Much to his surprise, not only did she recognise him but she remembered their conversation about a game of squash.
A matter of weeks later they played their first game at the local squash club.
And a few weeks later they went on their first official date.
Jim was amazed. They got on so well. He'd never thought of himself as a lucky man. Luck was what happened to other people, not him. The good things in life seemed to pass him by. Women like Tina were always going to be unobtainable or so he thought. She was way out of his league and there was no way she would be the slightest bit interested in him. After all he wasn't particularly good looking, came across as a bit of a nerd and definitely lacked self confidence when it came to members of the opposite sex. What was there to like?
But how wrong had he been? At that time in her life Tina was fed up with dealing with macho men and was looking desperately for Mr Right. And it seemed that Jim fit the bill admirably. Their meetings on the squash courts led to dating. Dating then led to commitment and that eventually led to marriage.
The first two or three years of their life together were good, in fact they were really good but things had started to go downhill since then. For whatever reason their relationship at times had been badly strained with neither of them appearing to be able to back down from a spate of minor confrontations, which were usually trivial in nature; not even to clear the air and talk through their troubles. Problems festered and pig headed stubbornness prevailed.
But maybe things now were about to change for the better. For the first time in a long time Jim left work to begin his commute home with a smile on his face. It was absurd. He began to laugh. For just before he left the office he'd been notified that he'd won first prize in a competition he'd entered after seeing it in a golfing magazine a few months ago.
He was amazed. In all his life he'd never won anything. Things like this just never happened to people like him. And he was sure Tina would be delighted to hear his good news, after all it was she who had nagged at him to take up a hobby; he'd given up playing squash some time ago; anything to relieve the stress he suffered caused by work.