Copyright; Elizabeth Loring, August 25, 2006. All Rights Reserved. (No part of this story may be reproduced for any reason without explicit written permission from the author. Do not remove this copyright statement.)
NIGHT TWO β THE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS
"No clothes again?" I was asked, in a tone not as sharp as the night before.
"No clothes again." I repeated softly as I snuggled to where I'd fallen asleep the evening before; with one exception, my fingertips went between the buttons of my husband's pajama top and began softly stroking his breastbone.
He took a deep sigh, but said nothing. My fingertips stopped stroking. I took his pulse. It was slower than the evening before. A small smile came to my face. I thought about my future period and where we were now. If I played this right I could pick up the lost day, possibly gain another; depending how far I could go without disturbing my husband's calm.
Two minutes later my spouse moved his folded arm from his stomach and rested its hand on the outside of my thigh; the same thigh I'd laid across his legs the evening before.
It wasn't much, but it was physical contact, contact initiated by him. For that I was happy. It showed his rage calming. The worst was over; he was starting to settle down. My mind drifted to how irate he was that early morning returning home with our crying daughter. That was early Sunday morning. It was now going on 10:30 Tuesday night. Two and a half days to break a tantrum; who says men aren't babies?
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But for me, it had been three and a half days. Friday night was the last time my husband and I engaged in sex. My daughter's disappearance cost me an evening in my spouse's arms as my mate became more and more perturbed, then concerned, then worried, then fearful. I wasn't the woman in his life for those few hours leading up to his race to our daughter's apartment. We hadn't even gotten as far as getting undressed.
Like all long-time married couples, our frequency of sex had dwindled over the years. We were no longer like rabbits, but we weren't the average long-time married American couple either, the couple that statistically has sex a mere once a week. In fact, I was proud of my husband, a man nearly twenty-two years older than myself who had the libido perfect for the statistical woman my age, twice weekly. But like all Jewish women, I pushed my man. His earning money was never a problem; my spouse was a psychiatrist. It was his penis I constantly urged.
"Are you playing golf tomorrow?" I asked him quietly.