Cambodia

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A happily married couple with kids is doing great for decades, until the kids leave the nest. At this point, the wife feels something is missing, and wants to fill the void. She approaches her husband about something she feels will indeed "fill that hole" in her life, and the husband is less than thrilled.

Since you didn't stop me, I'll continue.

I'm the husband, Desmond, aged 42 and not one of those men who somehow looks more distinguished as he has passed into middle-age. Unless your definition of distinguished includes baldness and an increased waistline. On the other other hand, my adorable wife Mary, stands out even more than she did when she was younger, she's grown into her age. As it happens, our age is the same.

Mary and I met in college. We had the same interests, computers. Now a woman who wanted to write code in the 90s, was a rare find. Even more rare, one that was hot. Oh, Mary isn't model quality, she's cute. Cute as a button. My pet name for her was, of course, "Button."

Her body though, is just great. Even better as she's aged. Smaller boobs tend to age better, and hers were not an A cup, but big enough to be noticeable. Her boobs straddle that fence nicely. Her butt had definition, but was never heavy. She definitely looked younger than me at this stage in our lives. Add the right clothes and makeup, that gap looked like it could be as much as 10 years. I have been accused of being a "cradle robber." I think we both took pride in that.

We were scheduled to graduate the same year. And then ... we got pregnant. She wasn't on the pill, because she was worried about possible side effects. So we used a combination of condoms and the rhythm method. I don't know which one failed, other than our strategy. We rushed the marriage, but that wasn't an issue. I wanted to marry her, she wanted to marry me. We both had good jobs waiting for us after graduation. The plan was she'd give birth, and start her career. Except it didn't go according to plan. James was a handful.

Actually, let me rephrase. Our first child was a monster. He got better later, but for the first three years I halfway seriously considered that an exorcism might be worth trying. As a baby, he cried constantly. It seemed he never slept for more than an hour. Of course, neither did we much.

The only way he'd stop crying, is if Mary held him. He had no use for me. In fact, I could swear my picking him up made it worse. Needless to say, our sex life became almost non-existent. Six weeks after giving birth my ass. We'd sometimes try to sneak a session in, and as often as not, we'd be interrupted by the wailing of the spawn.

It was so bad, Mary relented and went on the pill. The thought of having another child while dealing with the worst case of separation anxiety I'd ever heard of was, in the end, what made it an easy decision.

He did stop crying. Right about the time he started walking. It seemed like two days after he started walking, he was running. You could turn your back on him for a minute, and he was gone. Childproofing the house was the next priority. No babysitter was equipped to handle him.

After he settled down, our sex life resumed to something actually approaching that of a normal couple with a child. That was a great year. He went from a holy terror to a normal child. Mary and I talked about her being able to go to work now, and find childcare.

And then ... we got pregnant again. They say birth control pills are not 100% reliable, and if you are looking for proof, we're Exhibit A. Things had calmed down though, and we were glad James would have a sibling. He got two. Twins. Fraternal, if it matters to you. It certainly mattered to us. Melanie and Alicia were very different from each other, and had different needs. Melanie liked being outside, Alicia liked being inside. And if you don't think that's a big deal, well, you probably aren't ready to be the parents of twins. After that, I got snipped. It was clear that either I had some amazing swimmers, or Mary was as fertile as the Nile Delta. Either way, we weren't letting lightning strike a third time.

At that point, there was no question of Mary returning to work. She had her hands full. Mary was disappointed, at first. She was never the type who just wanted to go to college to get married. It was a hard decision on her part. Once she made it though, she became a super-mom. She threw herself into the lives of our children with the same passion she had thrown herself into programming. She made lunches, costumes, spoke to every teacher. You name it, she did it.

I became the typical working career man. My promotions came a bit before the average man in my line of work, as well as the accompanying raises and perks. Mary became a housewife, but even in this she was an over-achiever. When we dated, we always used to eat out or order delivery. She learned to cook, and cook magnificently. She became knowledgeable on every aspect of how to run a household budget. We used to discuss expenditures, and until I just told told Mary to spend what she thought was required. That woman always had her research down pat.

As the kids grew older, Mary juggled their increased extracurricular activities with aplomb. I was getting more responsibilities at work, and Mary picked up all the slack. She planned the holidays, told me the events I couldn't miss, and those I could. Through all of it, she made time for us. Sure, the sex had to drop as kids got older, but she scheduled sleepovers and other things to make sure we had our time.

Everything was great, from my point of view. I had no reason to think it wasn't from hers either. I can honestly say, we never had a significant problem until the twins went to college. I was still working, but she now had time on her hands. Going back to work in her field was impossible. Technology had changed so fast, her knowledge after graduation might as well have been prehistoric. Getting hired in another field at her age, without any work experience at all on a resume, was an equally difficult task. There was no possibility of me retiring and the two of us traveling the world. We were certainly well off compared to many, but sending three kids to college isn't cheap.

After a few months, the discussions began. At first, she just confided that she felt she no longer had an identity. Her whole adult life had been about our family. With the kids gone, she didn't feel she knew who she was any more. We talked about it over the course of a year. She subtly suggested, and then kept coming back, to an idea that I was not ready to even consider. Finally, it came to a head.

I was away for work, it's not something that happens often. In fact, it's rare. What made it so bad, was the timing. One year ago, the last of our three kids had started college. After two decades, it was just her and me. Except for when I worked.

We'd had some difficulties before I left. As you may have gathered, we didn't fight. We always talked things through. Sometimes she came around to my point of view, sometimes I came around to hers. After all the kids had left the nest though, we had a conversation that was different. We'd hit an impasse, and it was not a trivial matter. We had to leave it at, "Let's talk about this when I get back." It was uncomfortable to leave while tension was in the air.

We did talk every night I was away. There was nothing unusual for me to talk about, from my perspective. I don't talk about work with her, because it reminds her of what she dropped to become a mother. I mainly asked about her days. The washing machine going out was the news for that week.

I was worried about how I'd left her when I returned. It wasn't tense at all, she kissed me passionately when I walked through the gate at the airport. She does this every time I leave and return. I can't tell you how flattered that still makes me feel.

We got home, and had dinner. As I said, she'd become an amazing cook. Dinner that night was made as though I was Caesar returning from conquering Gaul. She included all my favorites, especially the twice baked potato. I have no idea why baking a potato twice is so delicious, but it's like eating an angel. She asked me about my week, I told her it was boring and busy, but fine. So I asked about hers. And waited for it.

"I told you about the washing machine being broken. So I called for a repairman. I was so happy he came the next day."

"You always did have a good grasp of household affairs."

"Thank you. When I let him in, I was shocked at how handsome he was. He was so hot, so much younger than me, I wanted him. His name was Rod. When he told me that, all I could think of was having this hot, young Rod inside of me."

"Did he fix the machine?"

"No, he said it had to be replaced. But I wanted him to stay. He had a bulge that was showing in his tight jeans. I was thinking about ways I could keep him there, but I didn't act on it. After he left, I sat on the drier and masturbated. I thought about him fucking me. It was so close."

"I'm so proud of you Mary, for resisting those urges."

"It was so hard, Desmond. You being gone made it hard for me to remember what's important."

"But you did."

"After he left though, I sat on the dryer. I masturbated with it running. I ... I thought about him doing me as I came."

I ate the asparagus, it was delicious. Not too hard, not too soft. "That's my woman, faithful and honest."

She didn't seem pleased with my exhibition of trust. She took a sip of wine. "I called to replace it, but I had laundry to do, so I asked Susan if I could use hers."

"She and her husband are great neighbors."

"Did you know Susan is bi-sexual?"

Susan, and her husband Paul, lived on our block a few houses down. And no, I didn't, but wasn't exactly surprised. She was about ten years younger than us, and a typical hot blonde. "No I didn't, but I'm not exactly surprised."

"I've never been with a woman. She's younger, but told me I'm attractive. I could just feel she wanted me, she really wanted me. Can you imagine, she hit on me?"

"Absolutely. You are incredibly desirable."

"I thought about eating her pussy, I did. Then I felt bad, what if her Paul caught us? It would destroy two marriages. But then I thought, what if he was turned on?"

I took another drink from my glass of wine, listening.

"What if he saw me ... licking her pussy ... and then started fucking me? He saw me taking care of her, then he took care of me. What if it was so hot, I couldn't say no?"

"Well, fortunately it seems we have a new washing machine now. So you can avoid that temptation."

Mary cast her eyes down. "I have to confess, about the day it was delivered."

I waited. Again.

"The new washing machine was delivered by two large brown Latino men. They spoke broken English. I think they might even have been undocumented workers. I thought about the two of them, taking me on at once. One was named Juan, the other Fernando. I was thinking about a double penetration. One cock in my ass, one in my pussy."

I nodded. "This potato is delicious."

"But then, I realized they might kidnap me. I could wind up in a foreign country. Some of those places are so bad. I can't imagine trying to fend for myself in such an awful place. The poor people in those countries."

Okay, now it was blatant. "Mary, I'm not changing my mind. We're not adopting that Cambodian orphan."

"I saw a black man, I was thinking about how-"

"No, Button. You'll have to wait on grandchildren."

"Damn," she said softly.

I knew this battle was over, but wasn't sure if she'd try a new approach. If so, I'm hoping the next attempt will be trying to do it through sex. Hey, not sure I can't be convinced.

I want to thank luedon for editing my first submission here. I've been enjoying stores for years here, and finally decided to finish a story and jump into the pool. I knew nothing about the process of submitting here, but knew I certainly wanted an editor. I reached out to luedon to ask if she'd be willing to take this on, and was surprised when she responded in a timely fashion with an acceptance.

Not only did she do the drudgery of proofreading, she made a few suggestions that I found myself in complete agreement with. I attempted to incorporate all of them in the rewrite. For others considering submitting, my experience with finding an working with an editor went very well.

As for the story itself, I'll read and respond to comments, if anyone wishes to make them.