Chapter 1

Linda leaned over the counter and checked the clock again. She had made it another day in a job she hated. Her marriage wouldn’t.

I love you.

When was the last time she’d heard those words out of her husband’s mouth? She couldn’t even remember.

Her husband Dennis and she had been married for six years, but the last two she had been miserable.

“What happened to us? We used to love each other so hard. We used to be one,” she thought as she drove back home.

Linda pulled her car into the garage and shut off the engine, keeping her hands on the steering wheel as she breathed in and out. Dennis’s truck was parked at the curb outside their house, so Linda knew he was inside the house, probably nursing a beer in front of the evening news.

Tuesday was the night they made love. No, scratch that. It was their scheduled night to fuck like the world was ending. Sex was the only thing keeping them together. Their marriage might be cold, but the bedroom was not. Yes, sex between them was that powerful, but it wasn’t enough anymore.

Well, there would be no sex today. Instead of that, Linda would tell her husband it was over.

She’d walk into the house and the fist around her heart tightened. She kicked off her heels, and figure out dinner. Her own dinner. Dennis would have already eaten alone. Separate meals. Just another part of their marriage that should have signaled the end long before now.

With her heart pounding in her ears, Linda left the car and paused with her hand on the kitchen doorknob.

Dennis had changed so much since he quit his job at the mines. It was as if an important part of him was left behind. The part that made her feel loved and cared for. The part that made her feel like the most important person in the whole world. This new Dennis was not the warm, caring, and supportive person he used to be.

Letting out a long sigh, Linda opened the door and stepped over the threshold into the house, the familiar sounds of the news reaching her ears. There was already an empty beer bottle sitting by the toaster.

“You’re late. I’m waiting,” he grunted.

Dennis sat shirtless on the couch, leaning forward with his hands clasped between his knees. Ironic that a man who showed so little awareness of her would keep such close tabs on her schedule.

She slipped her feet into her running sneakers, nylons, and all, her heart starting to slam loudly in her ears. “This is it. I’m doing it. I can’t take the lack of love anymore when it used to be so abundant. What happened to us?”

Even though her stomach was growling for something to eat, Linda bypassed the refrigerator, stepping into the living room.

Dennis was a good provider. He worked his ass off all day with the local contractor, Percy Wittmore. He had never been late paying a bill or delayed the repair of something around the house.

Linda also knew Dennis was faithful. She didn’t have a single doubt about that. He might be the perfect husband if only he’d give her the time of day.

He knew she was there and hadn’t gotten up to greet her. Hadn’t even said hello. Just sitting there like a king, waiting for his queen to climb on his lap and fuck her silly, so they could start the clock again. Another night of sex. Another week of silence.

A cycle that would never end. Unless she broke it. She was done waiting for the old Dennis to come back.

Instead of starting to make dinner she took a framed picture of a younger version of them and looked at it with envy.

“What are you doing?” Dennis asked her.

“We need to talk, Dennis.”

He turned his head to look at her for the first time.

“I’m not happy. I haven’t been happy in a long time. Your body is here but your head seems to be someplace else. We don’t talk anymore.”

“Why are you bringing this again? I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You refuse to talk about our problems? What a surprise!”