“Are you ready for me, sweetheart?” he growled, holding himself still above her.
“Yes, yes. Oh, yes…”
Rain pounded the windows as Jack pumped inside her. The roar of the thunder matched the thunderous beat of his heart. Quick lightning strikes flashed across the beauty of Kimberly’s passion-glazed face, and the mighty wind matched the rush of her breath against his neck as it gushed out while the orgasm rocked them both to the core.
Completely limp, they lay side by side in a tangle of limbs, attempting to catch their breath.
As soon as reality resurfaced, they noticed the driving rain and wind against the windows and balcony.
“We’d better get dressed,” Jack said, “or that window might explode and catch us naked.”
“Wouldn’t that be a story for the press?” Kimberly said, laughing. “Oh, crap. I have to go back on air.” She washed at the sink, then dressed hurriedly and rushed out of the room.
They called the children that night. Sunday dawned, and Kimberly went with her crew to do a couple of news bites on the aftermath of the storm.
There was wave damage. Downed palms were all over the place. Some bushes had been uprooted, but the real worry was the relentless rain that dumped on the island. The hotel and cabanas didn’t get flooded. The pool deck was littered with torn-up bushes and debris.
It was Monday morning before they caught a flight back to Washington. They took the water taxi across the choppy sea to the main island. Kimberly’s already queasy stomach roiled with tension. She sat still, trying to keep her breakfast down. Sighing with relief when they finally made it without incident, she gladly climbed out of the boat, planting her feet on solid ground.
The main island suffered no more than a tropical storm, not nearly as bad as Canter Island. The rain had been heavy but not bad enough to uproot anything or damage buildings. There was some flooding, and sandbags were piled up so the water wouldn’t overflow into the town.
Jack hailed a taxi, and they bounced on rutted roads, passing luxury hotels and middle-class houses and the town proper before they made it to the small airport on the outskirts of town.
When their flight finally took off, Kimberly rested her head against the headrest. She felt a change in their relationship but couldn’t summon the energy to worry. Still, they’d be together for hours, and Kimberly used that time as an opportunity to talk, to clear the air before they returned home to life as usual.
“Jack, I love my job and I’m not going to quit it.”
“I know you do. I saw your joy while you were on the air. It’s different from watching you on TV.”
“I’m not selfish. If I thought quitting my job would change anything between us, I would, but I don’t think my job is the problem.”
“I was wrong to ask you to quit. It would be like you asking me to quit working at the brewpubs.”
“So…where does that leave us?” she asked.
Jack didn’t respond.
“What happened to us? My work was never an issue before. You’ve always supported me.”
Jack shook his head. “I still support you. But we seem to have gone in different directions. And I know, with you working full-time and I can’t cut my hours, we’ll never see each other.”
Kimberly regarded him a moment. It was true they needed more time together. But she didn’t see that happening, even if she cut her hours.
But something was missing. When they were in bed, all was perfect. But they couldn’t live their lives between the sheets. When two people loved each other without reserve…She couldn’t help but wonder what happened to make them lose their connection.
She had none of the answers. She didn’t know how they’d begun to lose what made them special. And she was sick to death of thinking and talking about it.
If Kimberly had worked full-time all these years, she’d be the lead forecaster for the station by now. It wasn’t going to happen working part-time. But her longevity gave her some perks, even at part-time.
“I’ll ask the station to find someone willing to job-share with me again. The arrangement I had before worked well. Don’t you agree?”
Jack nodded.
“Does that solve everything?” She knew it didn’t, knew it was what he wanted to hear.
Jack gazed at his hand rubbing her thigh, and his gaze narrowed. “I think so. At least it’s a start.”
“The children still need you, Jack. This can’t be one-sided.”
“Even if I was around more, I wouldn’t see them. They’re always busy with their own interests.”
“But they still need to see us working as a cohesive unit. They need to see us together sometimes. And we still need to do things with them in addition to the fifteen minutes they spend with you for breakfast, in addition to school activities. You have to participate in their lives.”
Jack leaned over and kissed her. He, too, was unsure of the solution.
Jack’s conversations with Kimberly weighed heavily on his mind. She’d made concessions in her career to please him. He could do no less. The Friday after their vacation, he got off early and left Lauren to take up the slack.
He’d had a couple of meetings scheduled that afternoon and had had his secretary reschedule one of them. He’d also planned to run by a couple of his pubs that evening. Fridays were always busy.
Earlier that week he’d asked the children to plan an activity they could participate in together over the weekend.
They’d looked at him in puzzlement, as if he’d drank too much of his own beer. Had he completely lost touch with them?
Although he knew he should have made arrangements earlier in the day, he’d called Kimberly an hour ago to see if she wanted him to bring dinner home, but she didn’t answer her cell phone. She might have been taking a nap so she could stay up later that evening. He brought dinner home anyway.
Maybe this could be an olive branch. It still cut deep that she thought he was a neglectful husband and father. His dad worked hard. How could she expect less of him? This was what a man was supposed to do. How many women did he hear complaining that the men didn’t do enough?
When he got home no one was there. He tried dialing Byron’s phone number.
“Yeah, Dad?” His son sounded rushed. There was a lot of noise in the background, as if he were at a game or something. Jack didn’t think there was a game today.
“What time will you be getting home? I thought we’d play a little miniature golf this evening, or take in a movie. Make it a family evening.” The children hadn’t come up with anything, and miniature golf was something they all could do. The temperature was comfortable enough.
“I’m at the game, Dad.”
“I’ll pick up April and bring her. Maybe we can do something afterward.”
“The game will be over by the time you get here. It’s a couple hours away.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll hunt down April and your mother. Maybe we can wait for you. What time do you think you’ll get home?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know. It’ll be late. Mom’s on her way here with April. There’s an outlet out here somewhere. They mentioned doing some shopping,” he said, as if rushed. “The JV game is first, but they should get here soon.”
Jack heard someone calling Byron in the background. “Yeah, yeah. Okay,” he heard his son shout before he came back to the phone.
“Gotta go, Dad.”
Before Jack could wish him good luck, the connection broke and all he heard was the jarring beeping in his ear.
Jack closed the phone slowly. He smelled the food loaded on the countertop, but he wasn’t really hungry. He should have called Kimberly ahead of time, he thought once again. His gaze traveled to the white board calendar attached to the fridge. The game was scribbled in bold blue letters. The house was quiet and unsettling.
Clearly, there was no sense hanging around when there was plenty of work to be done. After storing the food in the fridge, Jack headed for his car and pointed it towa
rd the office.
Maybe he’d make it back by the time Kimberly and the children arrived.
Lauren was there when he arrived.
She glanced up from her computer screen.
“I thought you were turning in early,” he said.
“I thought you were.”
“Everybody’s occupied.” He ran a hand across his head. Maybe Kimberly had a point. He did see more of Lauren than he saw of her. But he never even contemplated a relationship with the woman. She was an employee, for God’s sake.
“I’ve been thinking that maybe I’m too hands-on. I need to take more of a backseat and work on acquiring more space for pubs. The locations we have so far have worked extremely well.” Another of Kimberly’s complaints.
“It will make your GMs happy. They’re very qualified, you know.”
Jack frowned. “Make them happy? Are they displeased about something?”
Lauren shrugged. “They have mentioned that you are a little too hands-on. Always underfoot, as if you don’t trust them.”
“If I didn’t trust them, I wouldn’t have hired them.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“I don’t want to lose my job. I love working here, and it isn’t often that you find a job that suits you as well as this one suits me.”
A flicker of concern crossed his brow. “Feel free to talk. I’m not going to fire you for speaking your mind.”
“You’ve got a great setup. And I wish you didn’t feel that you needed to triple-check everything I do. I’ve been here for months. I’ve worked in brewpubs before and I know my job.”
“I know that.”
“There’s a paper trail for everything. You don’t have to be as hands-on as you are. You can let your managers do the job you pay us to do. Which would leave more time for you to make acquisitions so that you can grow this company as large as you want to. That was the reason you hired me, and I don’t think you’re utilizing me to my full potential.”
For a moment, Jack wanted to fire her on the spot. It was his damn company, and if he wanted to triple-check everything, he had every right to. He’d built it from the ground up. Lauren was still in school when he started out. But he pulled back. He could take constructive criticisms.
“I’ve upset you,” Lauren said. “I hope you aren’t about to fire me.” Lauren’s brows furrowed in concern. Jack could tell she already regretted saying anything.
“I’m not going to fire you. I want you to feel free to discuss your concerns,” he said. Lauren wasn’t just a good worker. She was great at her job. “I’ll think about what you’ve said. But remember, the ultimate decision is mine.”
“Of course.”
Jack made his way to his office. Was he really so bad that his employees were complaining behind his back? Most of them had been with him for years and hadn’t made one complaint to his face.
Sitting at his desk, he stared at the picture of Kimberly and the children. He thought about her, too, and all her demands of late. Was he that out of tune with the people around him?
They’d been back one week and it didn’t take long for Kimberly’s office to find someone to job-share with her. The woman was a new mother, and a seasoned on-air personality for a sister station in Cincinnati. Her husband had accepted a DJ slot on a popular Washington radio station. Like Kimberly, she enjoyed her job but wanted to spend some time with her baby. It wasn’t easy getting up at two, five mornings a week.
But it would be at least a month before she arrived.
The only reason Kimberly had accepted the full-time position was because the children were leaving, not to mention it gave her more of a chance for a promotion.
She’d had high hopes that if she revealed her concerns about their marriage, Jack would make a change. That certainly hadn’t happened, but working fewer hours made sense. Somebody needed to be home some of the time.
Kimberly was pleased that Jack was making an effort. They’d even had dinner together a couple of times and he had actually attended one of Byron’s games. Kimberly was very pleased. After dinner she showered. Jack was knotting his tie when she came out of the bathroom.
“Good news,” she said as she rubbed on lotion.
“What?” he asked. Her gaze met his in the mirror.
“They found someone to job-share with me.”
“When does this happen?”
“In a month. We’ll work alternating two-and three-day weeks. And you’ll see more of me than you want.” She kissed him on the cheek and began to apply her makeup.
“Great.”
She peered at him closely. “You don’t sound too enthusiastic.”
“I’m pleased.”
They’d made plans to see a play in D.C. This was what she wanted. Time to do things with her husband. She’d left the Caribbean with little hope, but he’d changed. Byron told her Jack had called him earlier that week with the intent of attending his game. Jack really had listened. After she dressed, Kimberly approached Jack and kissed him again. He smiled, linking his arms around her.
“Keep this up and we’ll skip the play.”
Kimberly playfully pinched his side. “Not on your life, mister.”
The Tyler Perry play was as entertaining as always. Kimberly couldn’t remember when she’d last laughed so much.
“Thanks, Jack,” she said as they walked out of the theater.
He grasped her hand and smiled, then pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
The traffic was light on the drive home. Kimberly almost wished it was like the old days, when she could sit close on a bench seat.
They made it home in record time and went upstairs to undress.
“Well, the kids are away, so we can play,” Kimberly said, sticking her leg out playfully, running it up and down his leg as they changed clothes. Jack had always liked her legs, and he’d already peeled down to his briefs.
“You look different,” he said.
Kimberly frowned. “How?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. Just different.”
“Humph. Different good or bad?” she asked.
“Not bad, just…I don’t know.”
“Are you ready for bed or do you want to watch a movie or listen to music?” she asked, peering in the mirror to see if she detected a change. She certainly hadn’t gained weight. With her regular exercise routine, she was still the size eight she’d been for years. And her clothing certainly didn’t fit any tighter.
“Not really. I guess I’ll take a shower.” But he didn’t move.
“I can pop some popcorn, like old times. Maybe I’ll even do the root beer float.”
“Whatever.”
Kimberly’s good mood was quickly deteriorating. “If you’re tired, I can give you a massage,” she said.
“Umm. I’m not in the mood.”
“Maybe a hot shower would revive you, or we can go to bed,” Kimberly said. “We don’t have to do anything.”
She pulled on shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt and went downstairs. As she took an apple out of the fruit bowl she noticed Jack still hadn’t turned on the shower. She started to bite into the fruit when she heard the doorbell ring.
When she approached the door, she heard Jack’s feet pounding down the steps. For someone so tired, he certainly got an energy burst. Curious, Kimberly made it to the door first and opened it.
“Hi, Lauren,” Kimberly said, frowning.
“Hi, Kimberly. Is Jack here?”
“Right here,” Jack said, coming up behind her. He even wore a smile on his face. He had perked up since she left him stewing in the bedroom.
“Come in,” Kimberly said, moving back to let the other woman enter.
“I won’t be but a minute,” she said, crossing the threshold. She was dressed in black tight pants and a mauve shirt. Kimberly didn’t wear clothes that tight to work.
Kimberly led her to the family room. “I just came by to drop off some papers,” she said to J
ack. “How was the meeting?”
“Better than I thought,” Jack said. “They’re going to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.”
“May I get you something to drink, Lauren?” Kimberly asked.
“No, thank you.”
Kimberly left the room. She hoped they weren’t discussing another acquisition. She’d clearly let Jack know she was against it.
Lauren stayed for ten minutes. When she left, Kimberly approached Jack.
“What was that all about that it couldn’t wait until Monday?”
Jack sighed. “I’m buying another brewpub.”
“I thought you weren’t going to open another one right now,” she said.
“This is too good to turn down,” he said.
“This is the first night we’ve spent together in ages. It’ll stop as soon as you acquire another pub.”
“This is important,” he said impatiently.
“We’re important, Jack. I thought you understood. I’ve given up a chance at a promotion because you asked me to. The least you could do is make some concession for this marriage, too. It can’t be all one-sided.”
“I was a father at twenty-two. I had dreams of traveling around, doing the things young college graduates do before I settled down, but you were pregnant and I fell into the role of husband and father. Now I have other goals that I don’t want to sacrifice.”
“And you feel like you’ve missed out on life? That I caused you to sacrifice these dreams?”
Jack rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t want to hurt you. I love you and the kids…It’s not about you. It’s me.”
“Are you trying to say that you don’t want to be here with me anymore?” Kimberly asked, feeling the bottom drop out of her stomach. This shouldn’t be a surprise. She’d seen the writing on the wall, but hadn’t wanted to believe it.
“What about the children?” Kimberly asked, realizing nothing had changed. “You only see them in the mornings now. You attended one game. You don’t participate in other activities with them. You’re always gone, and that won’t change with opening another brewpub,” Kimberly said. “How does Lauren fit into this?”
Loving Spoonful Page 9