End of the Road (Ghost Stories Trilogy #1) by E. J. Fechenda Page B

spontaneous sex like what we just experienced will no
longer exist. Many of my buddies down at the dealership talk about the sex
drying up completely once kids are born. The very thought sends me reaching for
another cigarette.

Chapter Twelve
     
    Faye is six months along
and getting huge. I’m a little disgusted by her, to be honest. She is puffy and
has really bad breath. Her cooking has gone downhill too, not that she was all
that great of a cook to begin with. Tonight I came home to find a burnt grilled
cheese sandwich on the stove, still in the pan, resting in a puddle of half
congealed butter.
    I walk into the bedroom
to find her asleep next to a pile of dress shirts, yet to be starched and ironed.
Her mouth is open and she is lightly snoring. Had I known pregnancy would turn
her into this slovenly creature, I’d have bought a lifetime’s supply of
diaphragms for her. I’m hungry and not for what’s in the kitchen.
    Without waking Faye, I
snatch the keys to the Bel Air and drive back toward the dealership. A couple
of the guys had gone for some beers and billiards at the bar across the street
and I am glad to see their cars are still in the lot.
    “Frankie!” Sam yells when
he sees me enter the dimly lit bar. I raise my hand in acknowledgement and stop
to order a beer before making my way to their pool table.
    With a pint in hand and a
burger and fries ordered, I am feeling better. Sam claps me on the back,
causing beer to slosh over the sides of my glass. His cheeks are red and the
burst blood vessels across his nose are extra visible.
    “I’m glad you changed your
mind, Frankie. Bill is cheating, I’m convinced of it!” He winks across the
table to Bill, also a salesman at Valley Sun Chevrolet.
    “Thought you were heading
home, Frank,” Bill says.
    “Yeah, well Faye wasn’t
feeling up to cooking tonight and a man has to eat, right?”
    “Amen to that!” Sam
hoists his whiskey on the rocks and taps it against my glass. “Dolores and I
have been married so long she’s glad to have me out of the house.”
    “Where’s Tom?” I ask.
    “He hardly comes out
after work anymore. His son had a basketball game,” Bill replies.
    “Family and kids will do
that I guess,” I take a bite of my burger and chew before continuing.
“Although, I’m going to try to get as much guy time in…especially once my
mother-in-law shows up to help Faye.”
    “Oh boy, when’s that?”
    “In two months.”
    “Well, if you need a getaway,
you can use my camp outside of Flagstaff,” Sam says. “I hardly get up there
anymore so if you can get some use out of it…”
    “Thanks Sam, I might take
you up on that.”
    It’s close to midnight
when I get home. Faye is sitting at the dinette table when I walk into the
kitchen. She has been crying, her eyes are swollen and rimmed with red.
    “Where have you been?”
    “Out with the guys, I
grabbed some dinner.” I pull a pack of smokes out of my shirt pocket.
    “But, I made you dinner.”
She gestures to the grilled cheese sandwich on the table in front of her. It
has been worked over and picked to pieces like a bunch of birds have attacked
it. “Besides, you could have woken me up or left a note. I was worried sick!”
She crosses her arms across her growing stomach and glares at me, resembling
more my mother-in-law than wife.
    I pause to light up a
smoke before responding. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t in the mood for grilled cheese
and you looked tired, I didn’t want to wake you.”
    “Did you ever think maybe
I’d like to go out sometime, Frank?  I’m stuck in this house all day doing
laundry, ironing your clothes, making you breakfast and cooking you dinner.
It’s all about you isn’t it?” She’s standing at this point and yelling at me.
Her face an unhealthy shade of red and her hands clenched into tight fists at
her sides.
    “Calm down, Faye. Don’t
be histrionic.” I turn and grab a beer out of the refrigerator.
    “Fuck you Frank!” She
storms out