When Adrian considered the number of things he didn’t do anymore because of his wife he didn’t like the answer. Drinking beers was the first one. He was good with that one. He didn’t like who he was when he drank. She did, at first. She met him at a bar in downtown Ames, Iowa. She was working as a waitress floating between tables prompting people to buy more drinks. He sat at a booth in the middle section of the bar with four of his closest friends and bought drinks all night. Then he came back the next night and the night after that. They fell into a rhythm, first with casual conversation, then with a game: each beer bought him a question. She answered every one. The second week of this he asked her if she would go out with him. She said yes. He was two years into the marriage when he drank his last beer. He’d put on a gut, mostly because he didn’t go to the gym with his guys anymore. That was the second thing he didn’t do because of his wife.
“I don’t like it when you leave at night. What am I supposed to do while you’re gone?” She said.
He was gone most days working. She switched to day shifts at the bar for a while before the work tapered off. He didn’t know what she did between the hours of nine am and 5 pm. She said she volunteered at a local school. They didn’t have any kids. She wanted kids. Three to be precise. He’d be fine with two if they could afford that. His dad once said that you shouldn’t have more kids than parents. Once they outnumber you, there isn’t much left for you to do but submit to their reign. Adrian had three older brothers and four older sisters. The youngest of the girls still lived at home. She was twenty three.
He didn’t talk to them much–another thing he wife suggested. It wasn’t like they all hung out beforehand. When he finally got married he thought it would put him back in the conversation with his brothers. They all were married; all had kids. Sam and Lisa also were married, but Sam didn’t have any kids. She and her partner Grace wanted to adopt, but people in Iowa were fickle. The thought of an openly lesbian couple raising a child bothered too many of the right people in the wrong ways.
Some Thoughts:
- Warming up to take on a few novel chapters. Gottta heat up the oven before you cook.
- I like where this was headed. To be continued?