(Continued from last issue)

David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.

JULIE

I had always thought that I had a pretty good understanding of who David was, and how he would react to different situations, but over the next few days, from the time he had arrived at the apartment that Friday night, I quickly learned just how unpredictable he really was.

Although he did not spend the night that Friday night, he stayed later than he ever had before, pampering me by not letting me do a thing, driving out to buy us pizza for dinner as it was too late to have it delivered, picking up a bottle of wine on his way back, taking care of Junior when he woke up, and putting him back to sleep, while I had my first unrushed shower in days.

He eventually left when I started dozing off, but picked me up to go to the site with me the next morning. We did not stay long at the site; just long enough for him to do a quick tour of the site (with Junior), while I signed out the tools and materials to the workers and foreman.

Once that was done, it was off on a search for the perfect daycare for Junior; we wanted one that was close to the apartment, enroute to the site, clean, professionally staffed, with a small teacher/minder to child ratio, enough space for demarcated play, rest, eating and learning areas, and we toured six places before we finally found one that met all our requirements, and registered him immediately to start the following Monday.

By then, it was lunchtime, and knowing how much I loved Asian food, he surprised me by taking us out to lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant. I was touched by how much he was spoiling and pampering me, especially since I definitely did not feel like I had earned or deserved it, but beyond the generosity and thoughtfulness of his actions, what I loved the most about them, was the way they made me feel taken care of, not just financially, but physically and emotionally too.

It was something David was great at doing, and one of the things that had drawn me to him while he was courting me; for what woman is not turned on by a man who gives her that sense of security, that no matter what life throws at her, he has her back?

DAVID

I sometimes mused over how different the two women in my life were, and that it was their most striking difference – Julie’s natural tendency to be submissive, compared to Diane’s willful and stubborn nature – that had first attracted me to Julie.

By letting herself be weak, almost vulnerable, Julie inevitably made me feel valued, respected and needed; she made me feel like a man.

That was exactly what had happened that weekend; by reaching out to me at her weakest point, she had given me the opportunity to take charge of the situation and fix it, and more importantly, demonstrated that she trusted me to be able to do so.

That in turn only galvanized me further to get the job done, and while it had admittedly cost me a pretty sum to get all the logistics in place, at the end of the day, I was certain that the investment I was making now in terms of the added costs of Junior’s daycare and employing a driver, in addition to altering procedures at the site, would pay off in the long run by ultimately making the entire project run more smoothly and effectively.

That was not to say Julie was weak; even though she didn’t have a maid at the apartment, it was always cleaner and tidier than the house was, she always had a hot meal ready for me when I told her I was coming, and she did all that while pretty much single-handedly looking after Junior.

No, she was far from weak; she had the strength of a woman, that Diane, for all her posturing, and lofty sense of entitlement as a wife, independent and empowered woman, had never possessed.

Sometimes I wondered if I ever would have married Diane, had I met Julie first, and the truth was that considering the way Julie made me feel, I don’t think I would have; I simply would not have had the need to look for anything else.

DIANE

I did not see much of David over the next few days; he came back late that Saturday, and although he took the children out the following afternoon, he spent the morning away – once again with no explanation of where he was going, or when he would be back – and when he did return and told the children to get ready to go swimming, it was evident that I was not invited.

The following Monday, he got up earlier than usual, and while it was my job to get the children up and ready for school, he woke them up half an hour earlier than I normally did and to my great irritation, insisted on them being ready to leave half an hour before their usual departure time as well.

Perhaps I would not have been so bothered by his sudden change in the children’s school morning schedule if he had then proceeded to help get them ready, but needless to say, other than waking them up, he did not.

At least he offered an explanation this time round, which was that it was a busy time at work, and he wanted to get in before the traffic built up. It was a reasonable explanation, and one that made perfect sense, and yet I suspected that there was more to the story than he was telling, especially since not only was he leaving early, he was returning late too.

He never made it back in time for dinner, and over the course of the week, he missed as many of the children’s bedtimes as he made it back for.

On the nights when they were still up when he returned, he would spend time with the children as they got ready for bed, and once they were tucked in for the night, he would retreat to the bedroom if I was still in the living room, or the living room if I was in the bedroom – never would he come to me.

On the nights when they were already asleep when he returned, he would go straight to the bathroom, and then to bed, not exchanging more than a dozen words with me in between.

With each passing day, I felt the invisible divide between us grow wider and wider.

margaretwamanga@yahoo.com