All Comments on 'Melting Away, Slowly... Pt. 03'

I'm glad the husband and Steph got together. Martha real is a piece of work isn't she? Anyway as always very well written and very realistic. keep going I will be looking for the next chapter.

just have him divorce Martha already. We all get that she's an asexual, unfeeling bitch. Why draw out his decision? This story should have already wrapped up with him happliy living out the rest of his golden years with sexy vixen Stephanie. Is he waiting for the perfect time to stick it to Martha in some ultimate payback scenario before feeling smug enough to move on? Thanks for the entertainment!

Except I can not forget that he is commiting adultery. Of course there is a 30% probability that she has all ready committed, though I admit that Martha's behavior screamed young lover to any dedicated LW fan.... Great work on builting up your central character though one does wonder what is going on in Martha's head....

why he has stuck around so long. The night he and Martha went out and the obvious reason she refused to stay at their son's place, were both insulting and mean. And he says this has gone on for years. It is one thing to have to give up sex, but to simply give up the rest of the marriage and to go on for such a long time. Actually, I am wondering if he is intelligent. College professor? Torch the relationship: you have set it up that way. I am not even sure that the inebitable confrontation is necessary. How could she possibly be angry, or shocked or sad? While I thing there is a 10% chance she is cheating, I suspect that she simply has lost touch with her sexuality either for physical or emotional reasons. She clearly does not need his intimacy or touch - I always thoughtit was men who were supposed to be like this. I have to admitt that I was hoping you were going to send Steph and him out dancing one night and they would run into her with her boyfriend on bridge night and she would be embarassed and shocked at how handsome and suave he was and how beautiful Steph was with him and realize what she had lost. I think the only thing missing is the PI to check on Martha, but then what would it matter, what difference would it make. My one complaint: I do not mind the detalils about meals, but assembling and installying appliances: pullllease! Stick to the plot. One last thing: I really would like to know why Martha became this way and why she stay with him? I do know women like her and the reasons for behaving this way and in each case, their husbands left them and are happier and interesting enought, so are the women who went on leading empty, but for them, happier lives - sad.

I'm here with my 'thinking cap on', but still can't figure out what's going to happen. I don't think Stephine & Mark will marry each other. Martha is still his wife, no matter what, Steph is just a substitute for his basic needs. I still don't think that Martha is a cheater or something like that. I don't know why, but I really want Mark & Martha to get back together at the end. It's getting more interesting.

I still think Martha is cheating on him, either with a man or a woman. And now I'm starting to wonder if Stephanie is in on it, too. But I hope I'm wrong about that, it seems like the guy deserves some happiness.

at work in all likelyhood. It seems that is the only place she would be getting it. Otherwise we have to assume brain damage and hormonal imbalance. It appears Steph has been in love with him throughout and I find no reason for him not to move in with her. Divorce is change, sometimes change is necessary and needed. In this case, the change appears to have been needed for years but the male lead is to damn dumb do know it. His wife will turn into a vindictive bitch and needs to be shucked as soon as possible.

... Think back to her comments when she didn't think he could hear about wishing he'd satisfy his urges elsewhere. Those aren't the words a cheater would use when she thinks she out of earshot. Her choice of phrasing is that of someone who no longer has any interest in any sort of intimacy. Whether it's due to mental or physical defect (hormones, mental disease, injury, etc.) or just that she's changed in her needs and no longer feels a desire for the intimacy that's necessary for a married couple to continue on. Don't let anyone influence you to change the pace of the story, I'm honestly curious to see how long it takes Martha to realize she's losing her husband.

I read this story once again. I have this 'guts' feeling that Martha and Steph are teamed up together to give Mark what he wants. I totally agree with the below commenter. The words she said is not of a 'cheater', she loves her husband. I think Martha brought Steph into play as she is a family friend and can be trusted. Martha and Steph may be meeting for 'Bridge' and may have decided all this things. I maybe WRONG, but who knows. For god sake use some decent language, calling Martha names doesn't look good.

Guys she is NOT cheating. Given the genre of LW at this point in the story... we would see some sort of clue. This author is NOT zeke81 or JPB or Btritease -- he does NOT develop the men/ husbands in his story as idiots.

as someone stuck in a dead sexless marriage -- less than 10 times a year for seeral years --I THINK I know WHY Mark is reluctant to end it all and divorce.

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He starts off hoping his wife is just going thru some sort of phase ...or perhaps something is wrong with her? Mark is finally seeing he has to FORCE the issue.

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In MY case my wife suffers from depression and migraines which have gotten worse as she moves thru her 40s.

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That has left ME in Limbo. IF my wife takes her Cymbalta she is Fine. Her sex drive returns to near normal (for her NOT for most woman) and her depression goes away. But sometimes for some reason she stops taking her meds but I dont find out for several weeks.

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What am I to do? I cant force her to stay on her medication but when she goes off of it she becoems an awful person. After 15 years of marriage and a few kids I and the kids all suffer when she does that.

itnal a quandry Still

Please continue.It's a fine story which will be resolved.Thank you.

How special it is to read of life and the reality for some who need and deserve more than contrivance and manipulation by one who used to care - or did they?<P>

Nice touch Author - your depth and detail draw us in.<P>

Thanks<P>

With Very High Regard

He character is drawn as a devout christian.

His wife is not an unfaithful cheater, he is.

He has valid reasons for leaving an platonic dysfunctional marriage. However he is breaking his vows.

Divorce her first, then screw somebody else.

Be consistent.

He found the woman of his dreams in Steph, so he had better nourish the love she has for him. Treat her like she is his high school sweet heart, wine and dine her like she is his lover, and love her sexually and learn what really turns her on. Thanks for the great chapter...........Rich

There is much more to Martha's rejection of Mark than the lack of sex. I have been married 25 years and we raised 2 children together. My wife has never been very experimental with our love life and there were periods when we would go months without sex, but we never lost the intimacy and desire to be together. As PostScriptor makes quite clear in the story line the lack of sex is only a portion of the rejection Mark is enduring.

Great story line, please continue as I am interested to see where you take this.

Some of you are so supportive of her. Well we can rest assured she either has mental illness or physical illness possibly hormonal in nature. She refuses to be seen by a doctor so we can assume she knows she has problems and choses not to work on them. Some of you think she and Steph are involved in a sexual compromise for him. I dont think so. I think the wife is so full of herself she has no notion of what and how he feels. Women like this wind up old fat dowagers walking around expecting people to wait on them because they are special. Someone got upset that the wife was called a name. Perhaps that someone should give us a name besides frigid we can use to describe her and her actions. Another is upset he is seeking release from another. Wrong again, it wasnt him that first broke the marriage contract, the wife in failing to provide sexual relations to her spouse was the first to break the marriage contract and before political correctness tried to make no one responsible for their actions it would have been cause for divorce action.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

I had almost given up hope for our hero, but now he comes roaring back. Ass Kicking!

Even though his wife is a self prattling cow. Divorce first, then sex up another. OB

I disagree that Martha has to be 1 a cheater, 2 gets back together with hubby. I can't see that leopard, Martha, changing her spots. Some women, after fulfilling the urge for children or a child grow antiapithetic to sex of any kind, increasingly so. If she has already divorced him by distancing herself from him, except for all she expects him to do for her - - - . A marriage is a contractual relationship with obligations of mutual economic, domestic, emotional, and Sexual support. She has broken the contract by blatantly denighing him the Sexual component. I'm just waiting for the last shoe to drop.

DHL

I hate cheaters, but I would argue Martha broke her marriage vows long before Mark. She's lost her love and respect for her husband; she's completely self-absorbed. She's playing a role; pretending to be a wife and mother in public, but privately considers herself a queen, above reproach, needing to be served by lesser folk.

If she was too sick to have sex, I have no doubt that Mark would stick with her. Martha may indeed be ill, but resists a medical solution simply because she's content the way she is. Mark's needs are his problem; she doesn't care. His attempts to broach the subject are greeted with disgust and scorn.

Technically, he's only doing what she suggested:

"If he can't control his urges, then I wish he'd go find someone else to take care of it, and not expect me..."

This marriage died a couple of years earlier, but is only now falling apart because the only one who cared - Mark - has had enough.

Great writing and imagination, this is a very compelling story.

Why is it readers/commenters have a yen to predict where the story goes? That's why I'm reading someone else's story. You could just write your own....hah. Don't take up comment space predicting. Read rest of story.

I suppose this story sounds far fetched in a Literotica context. I suspect it reflects a slice of life. Men (women?) plowing through life realizing for them it'll never provide what was long ago expected (and still wished for). Me too? Sshhhh.....

He''s cheating? It's adultery? Hey, It's literotica. It's fiction. Want it sanitized? Go read that Christian erotic site that allows only monogamous married sex.

You've got a good story going, PostScriptor.

Paul in Oklahoma

This is the first time I read story told from the cheater side when I can actually relate to his situation. I still think what he was doing was wrong. I'd have probably divorced my wife first and then explored the dating scene. No double standard.

A very well told story.

A fascinating story, but sad at the same time. 30 years wasted with that frigid shrew...

No double standard, he's a cheater. You did a great job presenting it in a non shocking way, but he should have talked with his wife first. They have obvious communication issues. As he admitted he was emotional abused and turned into a wimp, a servant, and I understand how empowering it must be to do what he's doing. However it's still wrong. A well written and very sad story

should read and heed this story.

they think they are being fair to both sexes. but we all know how cliche' the stories are about the forgotten wife. and how her straying was all but assured by the neglect.

and almost every authority in pop culture *while vapid, holds power* that she can and SHOULD look elsewhere.

i'll concede that what he's done isn't right. but it's not wrong, by the same token. he's in a dead marriage. he's TRIED for a while now to make it work. and the net result has been to be treated like MORE of a doormat. his wife mistook kindness for weakness. she has cheated, because cheating isn't just about physical fidelity. "to love and to hold, to cherish...in sickness and in health". she's broken every other vow at this point. point is...he DID communicate. Giving the wife an ultimatum isn't healthy. If you have to throw around the word divorce loosely to make a single point, it's already a dead marriage.

let's be very clear here. his wife does NOT love him. His wife has at MINIMUM broken all but a single vow to him. Their contract, their bond, their years of partnership have been severed.....just not legally. he IS in an emotionally abusive relationship...neglect will do that. you know why children act out? because being hit at and yelled at is BETTER than being ignored. humans thrive from human contact.

i think they need to divorce. i do believe in things like honesty. but it's hard to care about fairness towards someone that values you so little. try being in a relationship with someone like his wife before judging him completely. right now...he's more worried about himself. something he's neglected for a long time.

Very good. It’s gotten past the slow start and is picking up momentum. I like how he waited for Steph to ask about Martha. That maintained his character as a gentleman — he didn’t whine, complain, or go out of his way to influence Steph; and he didn’t portray his wife as a villain or otherwise suggest that he’s miserable; it was a direct, brief answer to her question.

As for that last sentence, why bother explaining? It’s been a long time since she treated him as someone beyond handyman/housemate/errand boy. And he’s ignored her requests since Christmas, other than cooking he only does things for himself. Martha has lost the consideration for anything except a face-to-face request for divorce.

I must be an old softy, but this is very good. Thank you

This line: "women,

was starting to think of Martha in terms of

someone with whom I shared a house, but

not much else." Seem totally out of place. This realization had occurred to him, solidly from Christmas into mid Jan. Not a bad though but should have been placed earlier to given a more realistic evolution of his feelings. Also, I wish, writers across the the board, would just dump the dead, moldy,TROPE of,"I'm developing FEELINGS for you". It's an emotionally stereotyped, unimaginative phraseology. Other options such as,"Girl, you're worming your way into my heart" or "I'm starting to realize that I'm thinking of you and me and drifting into an "us". Use whatever works in the situation buy stop the damn TROPES! OK, while I'm at it, for God's sake get away from falling for someone in a week! Things take time. LET them!

In a prio comment I wrote in support of what, on it's face, is morally unacceptable but, from a human and realistic perspective, excusable. After 30 years most would have, at best, a difficult time, casting themselves adrift; it’s normal, and human, to want to move into something that nurtures the heart before blowing up an already sad existence. In saying the above I intend this to include both semesters.

This story is diametrically opposite to the those in which the cheater is doing it for the thrill in the facing of having a living, attentive and faithful spouse that DOES communicate with them.

In the MC situation he has been trying to communicate with his wife for 5 years and us met, at each occasion, with anger and rejection. In all situations there comes a time to walk away. That's not quiting. It's acceptance of a situation that will never change regardless of what you do.

I'm reminded of this the notion: "The definition of insanity is repeatedly bearing your head against the wall and expecting a different result." In situation such as this stories it's well past time to understand the truth of those words.

A bit sudden, methinks...the slide from long term friends into adultery. We haven't heard from the MC about his thoughts on infidelity, but if had been wifey this story would have taken a determined and predictable turn into reactions that we've all become accustomed to. Given that the wife had withdrawn from the marriage and cut the husband off, but none of that releases hubby from his obligations and certainly not in such a cavalier fashion. Hubby's coupling with a friend follows the exact same arc as that of thousands of LW stories with the wife as cheater. I'll bet that many of the commenters on this story who are struggling to rationalize this MC's actions righteously scream "cuck" and "burn the bitch" in their comments about a cheating wife. Providing them with that opportunity is a public service performed by this author.