Loveless Nights Ch. 01

All characters in this story are aged 18 or above.

Helen Lindberg is a 39 year old woman, she lives in a large house in one of the more affluent districts of the City. She is married, and has two children. Her husband is currently away, he is not often at home. The reason for this is that his work schedule demands he be on business trips out of town quite often. Helen has noticed over the past few years, he has become more and more distant. He seemed less interest in spending time with her, and their children.

Helen picked up the phone, and dialled his cell phone number, she longed to hear his voice, but every time he spoke to her, he voice was filled with disinterest. It was the early afternoon, and she was alone at home, she sat on the couch in the living room as she called.

"Hello dear," said the voice on the other end.

"Hi Richard," Helen said in a quiet, but endearing voice, "I hope you're not busy to talk, are you?"

"I am a little, dear," said Richard, "what is it?"

"You haven't been home in days, you said you might be back today?"

"Yeah honey, sorry, something came up today, I don't think I'll be able to make it."

"Oh..."

"I'm really sorry dear, you know how my work schedule is."

"No.. its okay, I know dear, you work very hard," said Helen, trying to contain her trembling lips.

"I'm sorry dear don't be upset, please."

Helen tried to maintain a calmness in her voice, but part of her wanted to unleash on her husband, "Honey, you promised you'd be home today..."

"Yes, I know. I'll call you later honey." Richard could not seem eager enough to hang up, by the sounds of his voice.

Helen sat there on the couch for a few minutes, as her bitterness crept in. How long would this go on for? How long had it already gone on for? Her husband had been like this for years.

She knew she was living in denial, she knew there was every chance he was having an affair. She didn't want to bring it up with him because she was afraid he might leave her permanently. She didn't want to bring it up because of the effect it could have on her children.

Helen had two children, both from Richard. The eldest, Alexandra, was 19. She was also living away from home, living in a dorm far away pursuing her studies. Her youngest was her son, Michael, who had recently just turned 18. He lived from home, but was also a student at University. He spent most of his days out of home as well, but would return around the afternoon.

Helen herself had a full-time job. She would spend most of her day at her office, or working from home. She had many friends, whom she would often speak to on the phone, or would go shopping with, or would invite over for tea. She enjoyed both chit chat, and physical activity, and would often go the gym, though never with her friends. Thus Helen, was never really out of things to do, or in a state of true loneliness. Yet, she always felt lonely, and neglected. Her husband, whom she still deeply loved, she felt was not attracted to her any more. She wondered if the woman he was having an affair with, if he was, was younger than her.

She walked up to a mirror in the living room, and looked at her reflection. She turned sideways, and gazed at her sides in the mirror. She knew she was not unattractive, in fact for a person of her age, she always was told she was quite fit and healthy.

Helen was not much of a superficial person, she did not pay attention to her looks more than she felt necessary. Despite this, she tried to maintain a well kept figure, largely out of fear of losing the interest of her husband, which seemed to have happened anyway.

She was about 1.65 metres tall, and had sandy brown hair. She often kept her hair tied up in a knot behind her head. Her eyes were a green hue, and would often be strikingly bright from a distance. Her eyebrows were somewhat thick, but overall her face was considered generally beautiful by most who saw her.

She knew she could have most men she desired if she really tried, and had been the victim of unwelcome advances at her workplace on more than one occasion, sometimes from men far younger than her. However, she only had eyes for her husband, whom she felt was the only man she had ever truly loved in a romantic way her whole life.

She sat down by the edge of the sofa, and flipped through daytime channels on the television. Nothing particular grabbed her interest, and she could not get her mind of whether her husband was cheating or not.

~~~

Helen was walking through the mall with her friend Catherine, whom she often simply referred to as Cat. Her Cat had been friends for many years, Cat's daughter had been a classmate of Helen's daughter Alexandra since an early age, and the friendship between their two children had fostered a close friendship between them over the time.

Cat, 39, was the woman Helen was most likely to call and talk to about nothing when she was feeling depressed or moody. Cat would often be more than happy to listen, hiding the fact that more than often Helen's complaining and droning would bore her to death. But being the good friend, Cat made it a priority to provide true understanding and counsel from a friend at such times.

Cat picked a red blouse off one of the coathangers on display,

"This looks so cute, doesn't it Helen?"

"It does look cute dear..."

"Love, stop thinking about that. Richard would never cheat on you, he loves you, you know that."

Helen turned to look Cat in the eye,

"Cat, you don't even know Richard that well. He's an extremely polite gentleman in front of guests, but he's different when he's just around his family."

"You think he just pretends to love you?" Cat inquired.

"No, I think he does. I feel he's just bored with us. He has no time for Michael either, who graduated from school last year. Michael really looks up to Richard, but sometimes I feel Richard couldn't care less."

"Love, Michael is such a sweet boy, he has excellent manners. You know he will do fine."

"I know dear, but..." Helen sighed at Catherine, "but... he deserves better."

Helen stared at the ground for a few moments.

"Oh, come here love." Cat hugged Helen, who reluctantly reciprocated.

After the moment had passed, Cat returned to admiring the clothes in the aisle.

"Dear, this one feels amazing!"

"Cat... I think, Richard is cheating on me."

Cat dropped the blouse she was holding and turned to look at Helen with an open mouth.

"What makes you say that?" she gasped, inquisitively.

"His business trips... they've been taking longer and longer. Every time he comes back home, I feel as if he just wants to leave again for another trip. Sometimes I call him at his hotel, he seems like he's having way too much fun. Most of the time he doesn't even answer."

Helen sat down on a chair, and her voice began trembling.

"One night, I called him. I could hear a woman laughing distantly on the other end of the phone, but he was in his hotel suite. He seemed so happy. His voice, the way he spoke, he seemed exactly the way he was when we were first in love. There's someone else he's seeing, I just know it."

At this point, Helen broke down into tears. Cat kneeled beside her, and put her arm around her, rubbing her shoulder.

"Love, I'm so sorry."

***

In the late afternoon, Helen returned home, Cat accompanied her, driving the car. They walked in the main corridor, and in to the living room, and found Michael there lying semi-asleep on the sofa with his head pointed towards the door and the television off.

"Hi honey, how are you," said Helen to her son, half-heartedly, struggling to hide her low mood.

"Michael darling!" said Cat, smiling overeagerly, as she tends to do.

"Hello Catherine, how are you?" said Michael as he rose to stand.

"I'm great thankyou darling, Helen and I just came back from the shops." she said as she reached out and hugged Michael, who was still in a daze.

"Oh cool," said Michael unexcitedly, and patted Cat on the back with one hand.

Cat then turned towards the door, making as if to leave.

"Helen, thankyou so much for today, I really hope you feel better. Call me tomorrow okay?"

"Sure love, you sure you don't want to stay a bit longer?" Helen gestured.

"Thankyou sweetie, but I need to go home, my husbands waiting for me, and he hates having dinner when I'm not there." Catherine's smile suddenly vanished, regretting having said her last words in front of Helen, and made towards the door.

"I'll talk with you tomorrow, dear."

***

Michael bore both traits of Helen and Richard. Helen always thought he resembled a strikingly handsome variation of Richard in his youth. He was 1.78 metres tall, and had Richard's black hair, and light brown eyes. Helen knew Michael was incredibly intelligent and had great potential, although also incredibly lazy. He already was the smartest amongst his peers, and Helen knew if he applied himself better, he would be nothing short of genius. Richard always told her that her opinion of their son's capability was greatly exaggerated, but she felt that Richard didn't really care much for their son anyway.

When Michael would laugh, he would grin more to one side, and show his teeth in such a way that Helen never mentioned to anyone, but reminded her exactly of Richard in his youth. In her opinion, it was one of the most attractive features of Richard when she married him.

Michael was also a great eater, if there was one thing he loved, it was food. Despite this, and his general lack of physical activity, Michael never seemed to gain much weight, and was always either thin, or within the normal range of weight, although he never really developed toned muscles. Michael had always been reluctant to work out at the gym, although his father had tried endlessly to push him to go. Helen herself did not mind so much, because while she knew it would be better for Michael's body, in her mind she felt that working out endless hours at the gym didn't suit the personality she had in mind of her son.

"Mum, when's dad gonna be home?" Michael asked, his eyelids droopy, as he leaned on the kitchen counter.

"Sorry dear, but he won't be back tonight. He promised he'd be back tomorrow night."

"Okay..." Michael said after a slight pause, and slumped back on the couch.

"You know Mike, its a shame, I really was planning on making a nice dinner tonight, or thinking we could all go to a restaurant."

"Mhmmm, its okay mum, don't worry about it," groaned Michael.

"Yes, so dear, would you just like to get a pizza tonight instead?"

"Mrrhhhm, yeah okay," grogged Michael.

Helen sighed and went at sat next to her son on the couch, stroking his hair as he buried his face into the cushions.

"Honey, I know you're upset that your father isn't home today. I know you were really looking forward to it, so was I. But you know, its not his fault, he works very hard. He works hard for our sake; if it was up to him, he'd spend all his days here with you."

"I know mum," said Michael looking up.

"If you like dear, we can watch a movie tonight."

"Nah, don't worry about it mum," said Michael with a heavy sigh, as he stood up and walked towards the stairs to his bedroom.

"Michael, would you like to show me one of your video games? We can play together."

Michael did not respond, he just chuckled and walked up the stairs, leaving his mother to dwell in sadness on the couch.

***

Later that evening, Helen was sitting alone in her bedroom. In her opinion, it had been really quite an unhappy day. She could stand the prospect of her husband ignoring her, but seeing the effect it was having on her son was unbearable on her.

Whereas before she had been upset with Richard, now she felt that replaced with anger. Grabbing the phone she paced around her bedroom and dialled his mobile number, ready to lash out at him in anger.

Again and again the phone rang but he didn't answer. She decided to try his hotel room number, having been given it before, but never using it.

Someone picked up.

"Hello?" it wasn't Richard's voice. It was a woman's voice, a young woman. There was the sound of running water in the background, like from a shower.

"Hi... Hi. Is Richard Lindberg there?" stumbled Helen.

"Uhhhhmm, no sorry, he's not," replied the voice.

Suddenly Helen heard some commotion and unintelligible muttering.

"Hello?" sighed a man's voice, it was Richard.

"Oh, hi Richard.." said Helen

Richard was taken aback.

"Hi Helen, how come you're calling at this hour, is everything alright? Is something wrong Helen?"

"No... everything's fine. Me and Michael just had dinner, just wanted to check up on you..."

"Yeah, I'm fine Helen. Just a busy day."

Helen was silent.

"Is everything alright Helen? You sound troubled."

"No... I'm fine."

"Okay, Helen if you're sure," Richard paused for a moment, "I'll see you tomorrow Helen, you and Michael, I promise. I love you Helen, I love you very much."

Helen hung up the phone, and stood motionless for a second. Then she dropped it and collapsed on her bed, the tears flooding out instantly. She was crying like she hadn't cried in years, she had no one to talk to, no one to turn to. She buried her face deep in the bed covers, and grasped clutches of the bed and she emptied her heart on in tears and wails, filling the silent house.

***

Michael was standing outside his parents bedroom door. He had been hearing his mother cry for at least an hour now. He was completely lost and had no clue as to what to do. He considered opening the door and walking in, but was afraid of the sight of his weeping mother. Instead he just stood out in the corridor silently, secretly sharing in her grief, wrecked by feelings of guilt of his coldness towards her earlier; and then he returned to his room, and went to sleep.

***

The next day.

Richard was driving home. He knew he had no excuse. In his heart he knew by his wife's reaction on the phone the day prior that she had spoken to the girl he had been having an affair with. Her name was Julia, she was 25, and was as beautiful as she was dull. She had blonde hair and a thin waist, and naturally attractive breasts, but Richard knew that she was nothing beneath all that skin. She was an empty head, and he could never have a fulfilling relationship with a woman 20 years younger than him like the one he had with his wife. She was working as an junior intern at his company, and this affair which he had always been planning to end since it began, had been going on for months.

Richard had always been filled with an incorrigible guilt, and this impeded him from ever facing or communicating to his wife properly. But now he was filled with fear, fear that his wife knew, that she may leave him.

***

"Helen, I'm back. I really missed you,"

"I missed you too Richard," Helen's voice, cold and emotionless, did not reflect what she said. She was sitting in the living room with a stern expression, drinking a glass of wine. She was till contemplating whether to confront her husband or not on his betrayal.

She considered forgetting it all, pretending like it never happened. She wanted to just go on with her life, and keep a happy family, for the sake of her children, if not for anything else. She would give her husband the chance to reveal the truth and apologise on his own.

"Honey, I'm so glad to be back. Where's Michael?"

"He's at his classes."

"Is everything alright Helen? You seemed concerned on the phone yesterday."

Helen did not reply.

"Look Helen, I know you're upset that I've spending too much time away from home. I'm fixating on my job more than necessary, and neglecting what I should treasure most."

"You really think so, dear?" Helen said, half-sarcastically, still wondering if her husband will maintain the lie.

"Helen, they offered me a new contract, provided I stay there for another week. The pay would be unbelievable!" He said, with a hearty smile.

Helen raised an eyebrow, "Yet you're here?"

"I refused it," said Richard, "enough is enough, I want to be with my family."

It was true, he was not lying. Richard had been offered a great opportunity, but he had refused, his guilt for neglecting his family and cheating on his wife having taken such a heavy grip on him.

Helen's expression turned more business-like.

"Dear, are you sure that's smart?" she said as she stood up, "maybe you should have accepted it."

Richard's smile faded off, "what do you mean?"

"Its better for all of us if you focus on this job just for a few another week, if the pay is as great as you say it is."

"Are you sure dear?"

"Yes, honey, its what I want."

"But what about Michael?"

"I'll explain it to him. You can stay for the weekend, and leave on Monday. You'll have enough time to spend with Michael."

"That works great dear!" said Richard, his smile returning, as he kissed his wife on the lips and hugged her. Helen half smiled as her husband kissed her, not bothering to hug him back.

***

The weekend came and passed. Helen had maintained the charade she felt her marriage had become, it was the price she felt was necessary for Michael's happiness, and to not sour his father's stay.

Monday morning came, and Richard's bags were packed and ready to leave.

"Its just one week dear, I'll be back Friday evening," he said.

Helen was also ready to leave for work, "I know dear, I'm proud of the effort your putting into your work. You have an important position, and you're really dedicated."

As Richard hopped into his car, Helen leaned through the window.

"My boss is having a private function at work, we both received an invitation."

"Oh really? Its a shame I won't be here then. You should still go, have fun dear."

"There's no point in me going by myself."

"Take Michael," replied Richard.

"Michael? I don't think he'd enjoy those sort of boring adult gatherings."

"Will it be catered?"

"Yes."

"Take Michael, he'll like it, don't worry," laughed Richard, "its about time he learned to take on some adult responsibility anyway."

Helen sighed and chuckled at her husband as he drove off, wondering to herself, that even as a cheater, he still probably loved her. But did she love him?

***

Later that day, Helen explained to Michael the invitation to the function. Michael was not too enthusiastic, but he was amenable enough.

"Its at a really expensive restaurant, I think you'll appreciate it dear. Thankyou for agreeing to this," she smiled at her son.

"No problem, mum," Michael smiled back. He still remembered her sadness from the other day, and had resolved to treat his mother with more affection.

"We'll have to buy you some nice clothes too Michael, perhaps a new shirt?"

"That sounds nice, mum."

"I'll go shopping with Cat, she loves picking out clothes, I'm sure she'll find something amazing for you."

"Thankyou so much mum, although I'm sure you could pick out something just as good."

Helen smiled at her son, letting out a half-laugh under her breath.

"Everyone else there will be an adult, you'll have to act like one to. You'll have to treat me like a proper lady, Michael."

Michael chuckled, leaning on the couch arm. His mother was standing a few feet away from him with her arms folded.

"Mum, I don't really know much about that. Not sure what you'd expect of me," he said laughing.

Helen laughed back, "don't worry dear, I'll teach to be a gentleman."

"You mean I'm not one already?"

"Dear..." she laughed as she walked away, Michael also laughing.

***

Helen lay in bed that night, thinking about Richard and her son. It was amazing how alike they both were, both in looks and mannerisms. It was also amazing, she though, how one could have brought out such grief from her, and the other brought out from her such a loving joy and sense of youth.