Suzie was slow in answering. “Okay, I can do that, but you know you’re going to have to settle this someday. You can’t avoid them forever. Sooner or later you’re going to run into them.”
“Maybe so, but let’s make it later. Did you and Marilyn figure out when we’re bringing it up?”
Both Suzie and Marilyn answered, “Next Friday!”
I nodded at my wife and chatted with my sister a few minutes more, and then hung up.
Marilyn smiled at me. “You’re a good brother, even if you are a jerk.”
“That’s a hell of a thing to say to the father of your infant child!” I replied.
“He has to learn about you sooner or later. Your daddy’s a stinker!” she told him, holding him up towards me. Then she sniffed. “Peee-yewww! So are you!”
I held my fingers up in a cross, to ward off the evil spirits, and backed away. Marilyn just rolled her eyes and ordered me to nuke a baby bottle for a few seconds. She changed a diaper, and then fed and burped him while I watched. Then, Charlie was dumped, sleeping, into his crib in his bedroom. Marilyn came back down the stairs and into the living room, to find me back in my recliner. “I’m exhausted,” she said wearily.
Chapter 63: A Gentleman Of Leisure
“Me too!” I reached out and tugged her towards me. “Sit down and rest.” I pulled her closer and my wife twisted around and sank down onto my lap in the recliner. I idly rubbed her back, but when my fingers rubbed against her bra buckle, something not quite so restful came to mind. I began moving my fingers around her bra straps and buckle under her t-shirt. “You know, I’m pretty much a gentleman of leisure these days. I would think that the woman I was married to would understand that sort of thing.”
Marilyn snorted at that. “Is that what you call yourself? A gentleman of leisure? Try unemployed!”
“How about self-employed?” I countered.
“So?”
I tugged on her bra buckles and playfully snapped her with it. “Well, I simply think that the wife of a gentleman of leisure should be trying to keep her husband happy.”
“Happy?” she asked, laughing. “You have anything specific in mind?”
“Well, I’d think you’d be trying to be creative about it,” I teased. I snapped the bra buckle again.
She laughed some more. “Your sister is right, you really are full of shit!” Marilyn sat upright and pulled her t-shirt up and off, and then quickly removed her bra. I smiled at her. “Is this what you had in mind?” she asked.
I put my hand on her breast and cupped it, and began flicking the nipple with my thumb. “Well, it’s certainly a start!”
I helped Marilyn out of her clothes, and then she returned the favor for me, and we made love in my recliner, with it laid as far back as possible and Marilyn laying on top of me. La-Z-Boy is supposed to have a really good warranty, and we can’t be the only people to have ever done this, but it’d make for a hell of an accident investigation if anything bad were to happen.
Afterwards we lay there, naked in each other’s arms, idly resting and planning on a second bout, as long as Charlie stayed asleep. Marilyn laughed and said, “You know, maybe I should divorce you and take half your money. Then I can get my own teenage boy toy to take care of my needs!”
“I think I can still handle your needs,” I replied.
“Are you kidding? I’ll be able to afford two teenagers as boy toys!”
“I’ll handle your needs!” I wrestled Marilyn out of the chair and onto the floor, where we ended up with me on top, and being a bit more vigorous then we were in the chair. Afterwards we cuddled and I smacked her bottom for being a tease.
At that point, Charlie decided to announce himself. I groaned and Marilyn got to her feet. We dressed and she went off to take care of our son. I followed after her and then continued up to our bedroom. I stripped and took a quick shower, and then pulled on some shorts and a flowered shirt. I went commando. I also rummaged around in the closet and found a simple sundress for Marilyn and tossed that on the bed as well.
I went back downstairs to find Marilyn changing Charlie’s diaper again, and putting a fresh outfit on him. “Daddy took a shower,” she told him. “Now Daddy gets to play with you while Mommy takes a shower!”
I chuckled at that, and took him from her. “Yes, Mommy is smelly and needs to clean up. Mommy stinks!”
“Those boy toys wouldn’t make fun of Mommy!” Marilyn replied.
“I’m too tired to cook. Want me to order a pizza?”
“Sounds good!”
I nodded and juggled Charlie around, and then Marilyn headed up to our room and I took Charlie down to the living room and then on down to the kitchen. I put him in his seat and grabbed the phone book and went through the Yellow Pages until I found a place that would deliver.
Marilyn returned just after I hung up the phone, wearing the sundress but barefoot. She gave me a hug and said, “Maybe I’ll keep you around after all.”
“Good idea. Wine?” I pulled a bottle of Chianti out of the little wine rack on the counter, and held it up for her.
“Sounds good!” She took over taking care of Charlie and I dug out a couple of glasses and opened the wine. I glanced over at Marilyn and noticed the absence of panty lines through the thin cotton of her dress. That boded well for later.
We goofed off until the pizza arrived. Marilyn handed me a pad and pen and had me follow her around and make notes of everything we needed to do to the town house and what we needed to buy. Some I agreed with, like a bunch of book shelves (I have a lot of books), and some I wasn’t thrilled with, like painting the various rooms (I detest painting and wallpapering.) By the time the pizza arrived I wondered if I was going to need a second notepad.
While we ate, I quizzed Marilyn. “Where do you want to go on vacation?”
“Vacation? What vacation?”
“I’m sure I told you that after we moved, we’d take some time off. Well, we moved. Let’s take a vacation.”
“I thought you were just joking.”
“I never joke about goofing off!” I replied.
She gave me a double-take when I said that, but then said, “Well, what did you have in mind?”
“Let’s dump Buster here with your parents for a week or two and go somewhere, just the two of us. You tell me where, and I’ll make it happen!”
Marilyn was just not being very inventive with vacation ideas, so I tossed out a few. It was the beginning of March, and while Maryland was nowhere near as cold and snowy as upstate New York, it was still winter, or at least the end of winter. A vacation south would be an excellent choice. “How about the Bahamas?” I asked.
Marilyn blinked and looked at me curiously. “I don’t know. What’s it like there?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. Never been there. Let’s find out.”
“Just like that?!”
“Sure, why not?”
“You mean, just go?”
“Well, maybe I should find a travel agent first,” I replied.
“When?” She smiled and shook her head. “I can’t believe we can just up and go somewhere.”
“Get used to it. It’s what us gentlemen of leisure do. Just don’t forget what we expect of the women in our lives.”
Marilyn snorted and laughed. “Just make sure there’s only one woman in your life!”
I lifted my glass of Chianti. “Old English toast — ‘To our wives and our lovers, and the hope they never meet!’”
Marilyn smiled. “Keep it up, smart ass! Next time I see your brain trust, I’m going to ask them about divorce in Maryland!”