Chapter 4: The new normal

Liezel had left long before Ikay and I venture downstairs for some supper. Ikay is in one of Maricar's robes. I had pull on my shirt and shorts. The house is quiet as we sit eating the Chicken Adobo over our rice. I give Ikay a Sprite and I have a beer.

I try not to laugh. Honestly, how do you deal with that?

Ikay goes home three hours later that night. I clean up the bloody towel before I go to bed alone. If Ikay is confused, I cannot help it. It is confusing even for me as I work my way through it. I want these females, but have no way to justify it, even to myself. My marriage to Maricar is sound but is no longer based on sex in any way. I wish it was. There is no option on marriages, as they become more platonic, to bring in a relief pitcher or a designated hitter. No you are supposed to play with the card you had at the start, no substitutions; certainly not three hitters at one time! Yet, that is what is going on and I am having a ball.

Surely, Maricar will learn about all this soon enough. What happens then? How long can I keep this going?

Maricar: Liezel wants to go to Cebu to stay with our Aunt.

I suspect that Liezel's real motivation is to get away from the majority of her family in Gensan and spread her wings, more than they are allowing her. Though she is an adult, there is something childlike, and not in a good way, about Liezel's choices when it comes to with whom she chooses to make friends. Still, I can't say I am sorry to see her go. Maricar's feelings on the matter are unknown to me. She has just presented the information in a 'matter or fact' way that conveyed nothing else.

Well she has been functioning as a maid. Do we get a maid now or do without one?

Doing without will be harder on Maricar than it will be me as I am not expected to do the laundry here or cook Filipino meals. Maricar is loving the ability to see old friends with whom she had had only limited contact for the last eight years we as had primarily lived in the USA. Taking care of the house will tie her down more. While it will have an impact of my fucking Ikay upstairs, it isn't something that really bothers me much. Ikay has been upstairs almost every day for the last two months. If you total up the number of times I have fucked her or she has given me head in those 60 days, it far exceeded that which I had for the last three years from Maricar. The last time Maricar gave me head was six years ago. I suspect I will still have opportunities going forward no matter what happens, maid or no maid.

I love Maricar and if she was here more ... maybe we would fuck more; catch a noontime delight! Hey, a guy can hope.

Maricar: Liezel said that there was a woman in the apartments who would be a good maid for us.

So who is it? Huh, I have no clue. It clearly sounds like Liezel is highly motivated to get gone. I have no idea if that is good or bad for us. It seems I will have to wait until Saturday.

And wait I did. Maricar's 'home visit' gets mentioned only in passing, without a name attached, and that is Saturday morning when I ask if the interview is still going to occur or did the home visit kill the deal. Maricar says it went fine.

It has been a year since we arrived in Manila with my newly issued immigrant Visa. I'm not saying I don't miss a few things back in the States, but things are going well for us. Financially, we are doing very well. Our local loans are netting us better that P600,000 a year. And that's P50,000 a month. The apartments are grossing P1.5+M a year, or P126,000 a month. Out of that we have P60,000 in expenses, leaving P66,000 net. Combining the two gives us P116,000/mo which is damned close to $3K a month. I won't file for SSA for three more years. If we don't do anything else, at that point we will have over $4K a month to live on and in the Philippines, that is a shitload of money.

The average family lives on P10K to P15K a month. We will have P160K a month at that point, probably more as we are increasing on the number of loans we are making. In truth, our monthly spend is about P45K to P60K these days. The rest is used for the new loans. We could afford two or three maids if we wanted them. Of course, my old buddies back in the States think I'm full of shit when I tell them how good things are. They think I'm full of it, and I haven't even told them about all the pussy I am getting.

I want to see Imee but I don't want to miss who Maricar will interview, so I am hanging around the house. That's not such a bad deal. Ikay is upstairs on a computer. Maybe I will see how she's doing in a little bit.

I must have been distracted. Maricar is in the dirty kitchen talking to someone. It isn't Liezel, as she is busy waxing the floor in the Sala. I get up to pour a glass of water when the door from the dirty kitchen opens and Maricar walks in followed by Imee!

Maricar: Lawrence, I am sure you know Imee.

Me: Yes, of course. Nice to see you Imee.

Imee: Good afternoon Sir Lawrence.

Maricar: I have invited Imee's daughter, Jovelyn, to have supper with us. Imee will cook for us. Liezel will go see friends tonight. I told Imee what your favorite dishes are and am giving her money to purchase whatever ingredients she needs to make the dish.