The cell door opened and I looked up to see a Hispanic looking man being ushered into the holding cell. The cell door clanked behind him and he took a seat on the bench along the opposite wall. We eyed each other for a bit and then he said:

"Hey man, what you in for?"

"Beating the shit out of a cop. You?"

"Back child support. No shit? You stomped a cop?"

"Afraid so."

"Wow man, that's heavy shit. Why ain't you all busted up and bruised? Cops don't like it when one of them gets fucked up by a civilian. How come the ones that brought you in didn't work you over and claim you resisted arrest?"

Good question I thought as I sat there and reviewed in my mind the events that led up to me being in that cell.

Wendy and I had been married a little over ten years. Ours was a story book romance. A blind date that resulted in love at first sight and from that moment on we were never very far apart. We married four months after we met and life was ideal (at least as far as I was concerned) for the next ten years.

We couldn't have kids because I was sterile — the result of some childhood disease or other — but Wendy didn't care. She said she would probably be a rotten mother anyway. We had a great love life for a couple married ten years, three or four times a week, and we did it all. Wendy especially liked anal and rarely a week went by that we didn't do anal at least once. My favorite was blow jobs and Wendy would give me one at the drop of a hat. One time we were in a restaurant that had long table cloths that reached the floor and Wendy had said:

"Any one looking this way?"

I glanced around, saw no one paying any attention to us and said, "No, why?"

She giggled and went under the table and gave me a blow job while the waiter was asking me if we cared for some desert.

Wendy and I had the perfect partnership. We discussed everything and never made a decision to do anything unless we were both on board with whatever it was. We always seemed to be on the same wave length. Was I happy with my life? Damned straight I was!

Things started changing about four months after our tenth wedding anniversary although I didn't realize it at the time. I had gotten off work early and had driven over to pick Wendy up when she got off work (her car was in the shop for brake work) and as we drove home she said:

"You will never guess what happened today."

"You are probably right about that so why don't you just tell me."

"I got a phone call today from Marcia Crowley. She was my best friend from the start of middle school and all the way through high school until her parents moved away. She has moved back to town. I invited her over for dinner on Friday."

Friday came and I met Marcia. She was a very good looking woman, was intelligent and had a good sense of humor. She and Wendy got involved in talking about old classmates and what had happened to them and so I quietly excused myself and left them to reminisce. After that the two of them were on the phone to each other every day.

The following Tuesday Wendy told me that she was going to meet Marcia after work and they were going to get together for drinks with some of the other girls they had gone to school with. She got home about eleven, crawled into bed with me, woke me up with a blow job and then we made love before falling back to sleep. The next morning over breakfast Wendy told me that she had enjoyed herself and the girls wanted it to become a weekly thing. Wendy told me that from then on Tuesday was going to be a "girl's night out." This upset me a little, not because I was against the idea, but because she hadn't even discussed it with me. Before we always talked things over before decisions were made, but this time she was unilaterally doing something to alter our life style without my input.

Every Tuesday for the next two months Wendy met with her friends. At first she would be home around ten or eleven, but then it was eleven-thirty or twelve and then midnight or one in the morning. And Wendy began to change. The change was so gradual that it took a while for me to even notice it. She became a little more pushy is the best way I can describe it. There wasn't anymore "Would you like to..." and a lot more of "I'm going to..." We were not a partnership anymore and we were definitely not on the same wave length.

I started getting phone calls from Wendy at work telling me that she was meeting Marcia after work for drinks and that I shouldn't wait up. She started treating me like I was a piece of the furniture in the house; a necessary evil that she had to put up with. The only thing that didn't change was our love life. It still held steady at three or four times a week, but it did change from once or twice each time to three and sometimes four times. And she wanted more anal than we were accustomed to having. The biggest change was in me eating her pussy. It used to be a sometimes thing, but Wendy started wanting me to do it more and more.

I was walking around confused and wondering what had happened to my ideal life and then one night Wendy told me exactly what had happened to it. It was a Friday night and we were having dinner at our favorite steakhouse and Wendy told me some of the things that the girls talked about on their night out. She told me that the girls were amazed that she didn't exert more influence over me, that she wasn't more assertive. The more they talked the more she realized that they were right and she had been putting some of the things they had told her into practice.

One of the things they convinced her of was that she needed to take charge of her own sex life. When she said that I might not understand or want to go along with it they told her that she needed to tell me that she was her own person and that I would just have to deal with it. Then she hit me with it.

"I've decided to take a lover. I'm getting a little weary of one night stands and parking lot romances. I've decided that I need something a little more permanent and reliable."

"One night stands? Parking lot romances?"

"You act surprised. Surely you know what I have been doing on my evenings out."

"No Wendy, I'm afraid not."

"Oh come on Rob. As many times as you have eaten my pussy after some one else has played around in it you had to have noticed the different flavors. And I know you had to notice how loose my ass was after following some one else into it. You don't really expect me to believe that you didn't know you were getting sloppy seconds do you?"

"I'm afraid that I had no clue Wendy. I guess I stupidly thought you were a loving and faithful wife."

"Why would you say that? I am a loving wife honey. I do love you with all my heart and I fully expect to grow old in your arms. My extracurricular sex life in no way reduces my love and affection for you. I'm just expanding my sexual horizons. I'm telling you this now so you can become a part of it if you so chose."

"This is a joke right? You are putting me on?"

"Marcia told me that you would probably react this way. The big thing, she told me, was to make sure that you understood that my taking a lover would not jeopardize our relationship or my love for you one iota. I just need to help you understand that my sexual freedom will benefit our marriage by making me freer to try new things and be more responsive to anything that you might like to try."

"Do you really believe this bullshit you are spouting? That I will sit back and say "Have a good time dear" when you take a lover? You don't know me any better than that? Has your opinion of me dropped so low that you think I'll just accept a role as your cuckold? Right now you are fortunate that I'm choosing to believe that you are joking about what you have said tonight. I don't believe what you've said about one night stands because I believe that if you really did do it I would have noticed something. I think you threw all that out there to shake me up and to try and soften me up for this lover nonsense. Our marriage is just big enough for you and me. There is no room for anyone else. Thank you for ruining the evening for me. I think we will skip the drinking and dancing and go on home."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. Please remember that I asked you to be a part of it."

"No Wendy; you remember that I said there is no room in our marriage for anyone else."

The ride home was in silence as I tried to digest what Wendy had dropped on me that night. Marcia and her circle of friends had apparently filled Wendy's head with all manner of silly and stupid shit. What I couldn't understand was Wendy's attitude toward me. How could she possibly believe that I would accept her nonsense? What really disturbed me was her telling me that she had one night stands and —how did she put it — parking lot romances? And that she had me eat her pussy after some other guy had been in it. If I really believe that our marriage would be over. I HAD to believe that she was just saying that to sound me out on whether or not I would be open to what she wanted to do.

I know. It is called denial. But my choices were limited. I loved her, but if I were to believe what she told me was true we were through. My only other choice was to believe that she was just testing me and then hope to God that I never found out otherwise.

Wendy tried to "make nice" when we got home and went to bed. She came to bed nude which was one of the signals she used when she was in the mood to make love, but for the first time in our married life I said:

"Not tonight Wendy. I really don't feel like it."

She gave me a look that said, "You are being childish" and then she turned and went into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later in a nightgown. She climbed into bed, rolled over on her right side and put her back to me and minutes later I heard the steady breathing of someone who was asleep. I did not sleep well that night.

Over the weekend I kept myself busy on projects that would keep me out of the house and away from Wendy. Saturday she had dinner on the table when I came into the house and we ate in silence. After eating I went back out into the garage and worked on my car. When I came in to go to bed Wendy was already in bed and asleep. Several times on Sunday I almost went to her to talk some more, but each time I backed off because I was afraid that what I might say would make things worse.

Sunday night was bad. I'd had a bad day and very little had gone right for me. It seemed like everything I did fought me and toward the end of the day I had smacked my thumb with a hammer. It hurt like hell and I was in a snappish mood when I went into the bedroom that night. Wendy said:

"Are you up to having some fun tonight?"

I snarled, "What would be the point? You've been home all day so there is no way you can give me sloppy seconds and that takes all the fun out of it right?"

I regretted it as soon as I said it and I almost told her that I was sorry, but then I thought, "Bullshit! I'm not the one who started this shit." When I came out of the bathroom she was in bed facing the wall and with her back to me.

Monday morning I was up early and out of the house before Wendy got out of bed. Fortunately I was very busy at work that day and I didn't have much time to dwell on my situation where Wendy was concerned. Wendy had dinner waiting when I got home that night and we ate in silence. As I was clearing the table to help Wendy with the dishes I said:

"I've been thinking Wendy, and I don't think that it would be a good idea for you to have anymore girl's nights out for a while."

Her back was to me and her hands were in the sink so I didn't see her facial expression when she said:

"Marcia said you would do that. Try to stifle me."

"I think you are listening to too much of what Marcia says and that is precisely why I don't think you should go out with her anymore."

"I'm a grown woman Rob and I am perfectly capable of picking my own friends. I'm sorry that my taking control of my life is upsetting you, but Marcia and the other girls were right. I was letting you control my life. All they did was remind me that it was my life and that I should be in charge of it."

"How in the hell did I control you?"

"You never let me do anything without sticking your two-cents worth in. Whatever we did we had to discuss and then we both had to agree on it before we did it. If I ever did something on my own you pouted because you weren't part of making the decision. I can't even count the number of times I wanted to do something but didn't get to do it because you shot it down during our so called discussions. Basically, if you didn't agree it didn't happen. Well Marcia and the girls opened my eyes and I'm going to be my own person from now on and I don't know why that makes you feel threatened. We love each other and we have a strong marriage. Everything is going to be fine Rob."

"I'm asking you not to go with your friends tomorrow."

"And I'm telling you that I'm going."

It was another chilly night in the bedroom and I was up and gone before Wendy got out of bed. I stopped at the Waffle House for breakfast and when I was done eating I called into work and told them I was taking a comp day. I spent the day doing some things I thought needed doing and then I went home and got busy. I moved everything of mine out of the bedroom and into the guest bedroom. I was in bed when Wendy got home at midnight. About ten minutes after she got home I heard her try the handle and the guest room door. When she found it locked she knocked on the door.

"Rob? Let me in Rob." I just lay there quiet.

"Come on Rob. This is so unnecessary. Please Rob, open the door."

I ignored her and after several minutes she went back to her bedroom. I was again out of the house before Wendy got out of bed and about mid-morning I called an attorney and set up an appointment. I had stopped practicing denial and had accepted that Wendy did what she said she had done. It was a shame because I did love Wendy, but I could not live with the woman she had become.