Actions vs Words: A Greenville Story

Some how old old incomplete file got published.

I was going to write one, maybe 2 stories and now I can't stop. That doesn't mean I'm good at it or if I ever will. I'll never be invited to the Legends events. I'm probably like most writers on this site. They have ideas running around in their heads and they need to release them.

This particular story has taken me more than a month to write. Which for me is a long time. I would start and stop. Change direction and back again. I don't know if you will like it but at least its out of my head.

Again, English 2nd language, bad English 1st language. No editor.

Chapter 1 Mark Andrews Dinner and a Date

We were driving for our usual bi-weekly date. It was something we tried to do to keep the marriage fresh. We alternated who would plan the date and not tell the other where we were going. She had a tendency for steak joints and the movies. I tried to keep her guessing each time. Its getting harder because there isn't much diversity in the city we live in. Our city of 100,00 doesn't have a very diverse demographic. Mexican is considered exotic food around here. But it is growing. We just got a new electric car plant that opened 6 months ago.

I wanted to make this date special. Why, because I love my wife and wanted to show her how much. I picked out a new Ethiopian restaurant that just opened to rave reviews. Who would have thought in this city. But people seemed to love it. We had never had this type of food before. A Thai place had opened up a couple of months ago. Maybe we'll try that when its my next turn. I was looking forward to it. After dinner we are going to a nice jazz club about 20 minutes from the restaurant.

I'm Mark Andrews by the way. 29 Years old. 5 foot 11 inches 195 pounds. Whenever I say that I hear the ding ding from the Dan Patrick Show. I'm in sales at a plumbing company called Martins Plumbing. We do plumbing and supply. I've been working there since high school. Started in the warehouse doing whatever needed to be done. Carl Martin, the owner, took a liking to me for some reason. Maybe its because I never missed a day and volunteered for extra time and any job that needed doing.

I knew college wasn't in the cards for me. Not that I wasn't smart enough but my father always preached the power of the trades. People don't realize how lucrative they can be. Instead of waiting 4 years and owing thousands and thousands of dollars. Maybe finding a job in your field that may or may not provide a good standard of living, you can become a plumber or electrician in half the time. And make money while doing it. Heck, mid-level plumbers make $55 to $60,000 a year. Pay can top out at $100,000.

I found out the hard way I wasn't very good with my hands and didn't like getting dirty. But I was very good with people. Mr. Martin took me out on several sales calls and we found sales came natural to me. Over the last 4 years I increased sales by 23%. Instead of hourly pay I asked to go to commission. There was no guarantees but I was confident in my ability. I was doing very well for a 23 year old when I made the switch.

My wife is Julie Andrews. Yes Julie Andrews. Luckily most of our contemporaries don't even know who the actress Julie Andrews is except during Christmas when they play the Sound of Music. She's 28 years old. 5 foot 5 inches. Don't ask me about her weight please. She is very pleasing to the eye. Beautiful red hair without the temper that is usually associated with it. She's voluptuous without being Rubenesque.

She works at a large collection agency in administration. She's one of the college educated that doesn't use her degree. I don't say anything about it. Just help her pay her tuition that we will be paying for the next 10 years. She's very smart and very under utilized at her job. She's worked there for about 5 years. Started 2 years after we married. One of her friends let her know about the job. It paid and offered better benefits than her old job. I'm on her medical plan because it offers better coverage than at my job.

So we're both doing very well. We don't work weekends so we have a robust social life. Live in a nice area and drive good cars. So far no kids. I feel time is running out but she doesn't seem concerned about it. Our parents keep asking when we are having kids. She deflects and I pretty much just say soon every time.

As we pulled up to the restaurant she was surprised at my choice. Having always eaten the same foods and not being very adventurous she seemed hesitant but I asked her to give it a try. I had done my research so I was pretty ready and knew what to order. The place was called Almez. I don't know if it meant anything in their language and I wasn't going to ask. Can you imagine someone going into Zaxby's and asking what the name meant.

I told Julie I would order for us. We had Doro Wot which is a stew chicken and FirFir, a beef dish. And of course Injera. She was really surprised we had to use our fingers or the Injera bread. If you never had it, its a spongy bread that you tear pieces off to pick up the food and soak up the juices. I asked for lightly spicy. I hate to find out what regular spicy taste like. It was a very fun dinner and we enjoyed ourselves.

We met the owners, Harriet and Dishan who were wonderful people. Turns out they were chefs in New York City for some years. Harriet had a reputation as an excellent pastry chef. That's were they met and fell in love. Not liking the hustle and bustle and wanting a better place to raise their family they moved here. Dishan came from a city called Harar in eastern Ethiopia and has lived all over. It had about the same population as our city. Harriet was from Manchester England and spent time in Canada. Her sister lived here and when they visited they found the people here very welcoming. We even had some of Harriet's cakes before. She sells them to places all over the state. I was happy for them, living the American dream.

After that great dinner we went to Club Metro. We didn't plan on staying long. Just a drink and an hour of dancing. Friday night is a busy night for most clubs and that was the case here. I liked the place because it had a mature crowd which meant no trouble.

We were able to find a small table and I went to get drinks. It took about 15 minutes to finally get our drinks and return to the table. When I got there Julie was dancing with some guy. I waited for her to return. They danced to another song but when a slow song came on she declined. I saw her shake her head as he grabbed her arm. Pulling away she came back to the table. He was following her walking just behind her. When she got to the table she was surprised the guy was there. He finally noticed me. He held out his hand for me to shake. I was put out by the gesture not knowing where this was going. He introduced himself as Bill Patrick. I introduced myself and asked how he knew my wife. I emphasized the wife part.

He was a little taller than me at 6 foot 2 inches. Seemed to be in okay shape. Not that I was comparing. He said thank you for letting me dance with your lovely wife. You're a very lucky man, than walked off. He never answered about knowing my wife.

Julie seemed to be wondering what just happened. She said he had asked her to dance and figured it would be just one. But he kept her out for the second dance and tried to slow dance with her but she refused. She didn't realize he had followed her to our table. She told me she had never met him before. I believed her because I didn't see anything while they were dancing to indicate otherwise.

I wasn't upset with Julie. I know she loves to dance. And she spent the rest of the night dancing only with me. A couple of guys did politely ask her to dance. One thing about this club you didn't have to worry about knuckleheads and drunks.

We went home and had our usual after date monkey sex. Life is good and I was happy.

Chapter 2 Julie Andrews Surprise Surprise

I hear his car pull into the driveway so I know he's finally home. I rush to the entry way and strike my sexiest pose. I'm dressed in a way that most men would love. Butt naked with high heels, stockings and a garter and a rose in my mouth.

"Baby I've been waiting for you! What took so long?"

He took a second to get his whits together which pleased me. I'm glad I can still make him speechless. People have told me I'm a beautiful lady and have sexy eyes. "I had a new customer I was dealing with. I'm sorry, If I knew I was coming home to this I would have walked out on him." he says when he can finally talk.

"Oh so you like it do you?"

"No I don't like it, I love it" as he moved to pick me up and take me to our bedroom like a caveman.

I squeal and kiss him all over his face as we make our way down the hall. All thoughts of my questioning our relationship are gone for now. It wasn't the wild after date monkey sex, just to slow sensual love of two people that belong together.

The next morning I'm having the sexiest dream. I feel someone take my nipple into their mouth and gently suckle it. At first I don't respond than gradually I start to moan. I slowly wake up to Mark sucking my titty. He move his hand to my other breast and tweak that nipple. I reach up and grab his head and pushes it harder on my nipple.

Suddenly I moans. "Oh God, you're going to make me cum, harder baby, harder, please. I love it when when he sucks my nipples. He reaches down and tickles my clit sending me over the edge and I close my eyes so hard I see sparklers. I never knew I could cum just from having my breast played with until I met Mark.

I reach for Mark to return the favor and he tells me he's running late and needs to be at work for an important meeting. "You owe me one tonight. I have to get to work, there's a big meeting I have to make."

I pout even though I have to be at work also and tell him "I'll definitely make it up to you stud. Any doubts I had are gone for the most part.

Chapter 3 Mark at Lunch

Three weeks later I'm meeting with a customer for a pretty big order. Its been real crazy at work. I've been getting more orders as the area is starting to experience a building boom. More late nights and weekend. The builder is trying to get a contract for an a 15 unit apartment complex, 150 doors. If I can price this right we both will win. I know the other players in the game. Our biggest competitors are the big box stores. They have the advantage on price we have it on service. Service to some people doesn't mean a hill of beans. He wasn't that kind of business man. I knew his reputation and he knew mine. We had seen each other at different industry events in the area.

So we decided to meet for lunch. His office is the next town over but he would be near mine today so I meet him somewhere convenient. It was a place called Casa Pasta. I had never been there before because its a little out of the way. It has good Google reviews and a high Yelp score. I thought it would be nice to bring Julie here on my next date night.

I was pretty sure I had the order locked in. We had hashed out pricing, the delivery schedule and payment plan. This was the biggest order we've ever had and would put us on another level. Food taste so much better when you sign a contract. He had Shrimp Cabonara and I had Seafood Alfredo.

Since business was concluded we got to know each other on a personal level. He had been in business for almost 20 years. Like a lot of people started with one truck and built his way up. Doing small renovations to custom work to new builds. His first break came when a builder ran out on a job and never completed a small development of 10 houses. He told the developer if he could secure the materials he would finish the project for whatever was left on the original contract. Not only did he finish it but did it within the allotted time and under budget. He not only received a bonus but became the developers go to builder.

I told him my life story when I noticed him looking over my shoulder. I turned around and as cliched as it sounds my world crashed. It was my Julie walking arm in arm with some schmuck. Normally her at a restaurant may not have caused alarm. But in this case I didn't know the guy so he wasn't a mutual friend and the way she was hanging on his arm let me know this wasn't the first time they had been together.

Hal, the builder, could see the shock on my face when I turned back around. I could feel my face getting red. He asked if I knew the woman, I think he already knew the answer. Before I could answer he put his hand on my arm. "Mark, before you go rushing off and make things even worse than they are, take a couple of deep breaths. You go and confront her now she will have a plausible reason for being here with him. You need more information. Is this the first time, who is he, is he the only one, how long? You need to find out as much as you can. If this is a one off you might want to think about saving the marriage. Give me your phone and sit here, don't move."

I handed him my phone and he walked towards where my wife was with the schmuck. I sat there with my mind going a mile a minute. How could this be happening? We were so happy. Hell, I was happy at least. Things were going so well. We just made love last night and she told me over and over how much she loved me. Was I lacking as a husband?

Hal returned with my phone. As he handed it to he said, "They were sitting across from each other. I took as many pictures as I could. I know what your going through. My wife left me when I was starting my business. If she just left it wouldn't have mattered. But she decided to hitch wagon to another bull and rub it in my face. I was young and dumb and beat the shit out of him and kicked her out. Cost me 30 days in jail and most of my money to her. Like I said get as much info as you can."

I thanked Hal for his advance and signing with us. I told him how much I appreciated him at that moment. I paid the bill and we walked out without being seen by Julie. I didn't look over that way because I didn't know if I would be able to restrain myself. I did notice Hal was walking on that side of me almost leading me out of the restaurant.

I got in my car and had to sit for a minute to get myself together. I had so many questions and absolutely no answers. I drove back to the office to turn in the contract. Old Man Martin was besides himself. He knew what this meant to the company. I had never seen him so happy before. It was a shame I couldn't share in that happiness. My biggest sale ever and I felt like it didn't mean shit.

In everyone's enthusiasm no one noticed my subdued demeanor. I told Mr Martin I wasn't feeling well and was going home. He pulled me to the side and said take a week paid off and expect a nice bonus. I thanked him and left. I didn't go straight home for fear of Julie being there and not knowing how I would handle that in my current frame of mind. So I did something I've never done before, I went to a bar. I'm not a big drinker. I found a place in an industrial area called the Esquire. It didn't seem too seedy but definitely the kind of place to consider what is going on in one's life.

I walked into the darken bar. It was right out of that 1987 movie Barfly. Dark, moody and smoke filled is the best way to describe it. Even though they had outlawed indoor smoking this place had its own rules. It was only 3pm but there were probably 7 people in there at the long bar, 2 guys playing video games and another sitting at a table by himself looking as pitiful as I felt. It was the kind of place where a stranger stood out like a neon sign. A few gave me a cursory look, then went back to their drinks and inner thoughts. I found a place at the bar next to an older gentleman and ordered a beer from the bartender that looked like he's never done anything else in his life but could only make a mix drink of alcohol and soda. Don't even think of asking for a Metropolitan or a Cosmo.

I sipped the beer, giving me time to think. It tasted like crap but it was cold and strong.

I kept going back to the question, Why would Julie cheat on me? We still made love 3 or 4 times a week. We had our date nights. We didn't argue about money. The only sticking point was having kids. I was ready and she seemed hesitant. We still didn't argue about it. She was never late coming home as far as I knew. She was always home by the time I got there.

I had some late nights the last couple of weeks. I had to drive out to a customer in Cramerton an hour away. There was an issue I had to deal and visit a site on a Saturday last week. Some material was stolen or something. There was a dispute if it was even delivered. So Mr. Martin sent me out to handle it.

Lost in my thoughts my bar stool neighbor finally got my attention. "You must really be dealing with something serious young man? Middle of the day, staring off into the distance. I say problems with the wife, am I right?"

"I guess you could say that" I figured I would never see this guy again in my life so I unloaded my problems.

"So let me get this straight. You think your wife is cheating because you seen her walk into a restaurant with another guy, right? Was she holding his hand, hugged on him? Did they kiss or show any affection to each other?"

"When they walked in she had her arm through his. I didn't see anything else. I had a friend I was with take some pic."

"Well what do the pics show?"

Shit, how could I forget to even look at them. "I haven't looked at them yet" I said while pulling out my phone. I found the pictures and started scrolling. They showed my wife and the guy sitting at the table on opposite sides. None showed them holding hands or touching. I know Hal didn't have time to take a lot of pictures. You could tell he took them as he was walking by.

My new friend who I found later was named, Earl, stated the obvious. "I don't see anything that says shes cheating. Maybe he's a business associate?'

"She doesn't met clients. She works in an office at a collection agency. And she's only mentioned going out to lunch a couple of times with co-workers on birthdays or something."

This all caught the attention of a couple of the other patrons who now wanted to give their advice. It ranged from burn the bitch to walk away and never came back to get as much information as possible than burn the bitch.

"Ignore these yahoo's Mark, Don't go jumping to conclusions. You need as much information that you can get."

"Someone else gave me that same advice" I nodded to the bartender to get my new friend a drink on me. I finished off my beer. Thanked him for the advice and went home.

Chapter 4 The Andrews, Confrontation

I was more than a little stressed and a lot pissed. I got home somewhat later than usual. Julie confronted me as soon as I walked in the door unlike the last time she was fully dressed and hunting for bear. It had been quite a while since we've had an argument. I've been late before and I usually call. I hadn't this time.

"Why were you late this time Mark?" she said with more heat than I thought the situation demanded.

"I stopped and had a drink. I finalized the big contract I had been working on and stopped to celebrate a little."

"By yourself or with who? They must have been so important you couldn't call and let me know you would be late!"

"What the hell Julie, I stopped by myself and had a drink. What are you saying? Spell it out like I'm stupid."

"You know damn well what I mean. I'm not the one coming home late, all of a sudden working weekends. You never did that before."

"Are you saying I'm cheating? Well fuck, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black!" The fact that she was accusing me of cheating while she was out dating was beyond belief.

She looked at me with hatred in her eyes. "kettle? Don't turn this around on me. I'm home the same time every day."

"No you're the one having lunches with strange men. That's what you're doing! Try to deny it!"

"What the hell are you talking about Mark? I never had lunch with another guy." She looked at me with arms folded in defiance.

"Okay, you want to play it that way. I saw you at the Casa Pasta today with some guy. You were holding his arm when you walked in. Looked like you were laughing at everything he said. All chummy and stuff. I could tell it wasn't the first time you been out together!"

She looked surprised, not quite the deer in headlights look. But the deer that was ready to cross the street look. "Oh my God, that wasn't some guy, that was Chuck from work. You probably met him before at one of the company parties."

"It doesn't matter if I know the guy and its even worse that you work with him. So how long has this been going on?"

"There is nothing to go on. Jesus Mark. You want to know why he took me to lunch? Because he was trying to convince me not to divorce your cheating ass that's why!"

"Cheating, you're the one having lunch with strange men. Would you have told me about this lunch? And honestly I don't remember no damn Chuck at your job."

"Of course you don't remember him because you don't pay attention to my job. To you I'm just some desk jockey doing menial labor that's not important. Not like your oh so spectacular job that I hear about every single damn day. I signed this contract or that contract. I have a chance to bonus. Mr. Martin said this or that! Its all I hear about but do you listen to me? Do you ever ask how things are at my job? Do you care about me and what I do? No! Because its not important enough to you. And now all of a sudden you're working on weekends and staying late at work. You make selling toilets and water pipes sound like its the greatest thing on Earth. Well guess what Mr. Andrews, its not! Jesus, I love you like I never loved anyone. But I can't keep wondering. I can't keep feeling like you don't care!"

"What the fuck Julie, of course I care about you. I love you. I thought I was showing it but I guess I was wrong. But that doesn't give you a reason to cheat on me!"

"I'm not and have never cheated on you. Yes I had lunch with a coworker. A male, married with 2 kids who loves his wife coworker. The reason he took me to lunch is to talk me down from the ledge. And yes, that was the second time we had went to lunch together. But all it was, was lunch and chance to talk.

He knew I was upset because he overheard me talking to the girls in the office about how your working weekends and coming home late. They were saying how you were probably cheating and I should either divorce or get my own back and have my own affair. The more they talked the more upset I got. I know most of them are single or divorced but what they were saying was getting to me. Making me question our relationship.

Chuck took me to lunch to talk to me away from the office and the girls. He asked me if we talked, really talked not superficial things. If I had talked to you about my thoughts of you cheating? If I had bought up you working late and going out on weekends now? He said from everything he had heard before it sounded like we had a good marriage. And I thought we did Mark, But I started having my doubts. After talking to Chuck he made me realize its not that I really thought you were cheating. I was making an excuse not to have children." The more she talked the more emotional she got and was crying by the time she finished.

"What does us having children have to do with you thinking I'm cheating?" I wasn't connecting the dots.

"Oh Mark, I love you, please never doubt that. You're my whole world. Having children is a big step for anyone. You've been pushing to have kids the last year. I know I've been resistant. Because it scares me. Being responsible for a whole human being. Having them solely dependent on me. Yes, I know you'll be there but its different for a mother. Something happens to the child the first person they look at is the mother. Sometimes I wonder how my mother did it because I wasn't the easiest child to deal with. I don't know if I have that strength."

I went to hold her. She melted into my arms. "Baby we've always been in this together. I'm so sorry I made you feel unappreciated. You mean the world to me. When we and I mean we have a child we will be in this together, as one. I promise you more than I promised to love you when we got married."

She was openly crying now. She held me so tight, I could feel her nails through my shirt. "I've never cheated on you ever. I love you too much."

"I know honey, I'm sorry I ever thought otherwise."

Chapter 5 Resolution

We had a long talk that night and many more the following days. I thought I was doing enough and found I had to do more. They say actions speaks louder than words. For Julie, words speak louder than actions. Besides the twice monthly dinner dates I listened to hear when we talked. Asked her how her day was and how she felt.

She ended up getting a promotion at work 2 months later. A month after that we found out we were going to be parents. She worked all the way up until the baby was born. A beautiful little girl we named Nicole. 2 years later we had another girl, Monica and a year after Monica another girl, Katie. I guess I was going to be a girl dad. She had stopped working after Monica was born. She stays active with the girls school and after school activities, Brownies and Soccer.

My job was going gangbusters. The city and area is experiencing a building boom and we were in a position to take advantage of it. The company grew 5 fold. I was also promoted and had 5 sales people working under me. Carl Martin was looking to retire. I don't know if he's looking for me to take over. He doesn't have any family and I've felt like he treated me like the son he never had. We'll see what the future holds.

The End

Carl Martin appeared in Double Fault (Loving Wives)

Earl was mentioned in The Mouse that Roared (Romance)

Dishan and Harriet appeared in Yes Chef (Romance) with Harriet being mentioned as Haset in Trashman

Charles 'Chuck' Giles Appeared in Goodbye Charlie (Romance)