Recognition, Wind

I came up with a theme, but I found I had two routes to take. I didn't know which one to take, so I decided to do both. The other one is called 'Recognition'. You are going to find similar sentences in both stories. But in most cases the response to the sentence will be different. The outcome is the same, it's just how they get there is different.

There are a lot of similarities to 'Recognition'. I have told you this, so don't whinge at me for it.

Neither of these stories will please some people. But I enjoyed writing them. Please, just enjoy the stories, they are fiction just like Pride and Prejudice.

There is no sex in this story, sorry.

Recognition. Wind, no more second fiddle.

She came in through the door with Jane, our babysitter and was amazed to see me sat there in jeans and T-shirt. She was expecting me to be dressed in a suit ready to go to the award ceremony at her company. We knew she was on the shortlist for an award but not what. She had been at the hotel setting everything up and picked Jane up on the way back.

I had been suspicious for a while, and I had made plans, but last night after a very nice laid back, well for me, blow job she said. "You know I love you, right?" Why did she not just say 'I love you' and why did she want a confirmation by asking 'right.' This sounded to me like she had or was going to do something I wouldn't like.

I had been to her company functions before and I wasn't looking forward to it. It would be full of managers and office staff, the shop floor weren't invited. In fact, I wanted to just sit at home in front of the fire, watch crap on the telly and drink some beer. I'd had a busy week with the kids and work. I just wanted to put my feet up, not hang around with those pretentious prats that she worked with. Especially her boss Ralph. In fact, I wasn't sure something wasn't going on there. And there was a reason for my thoughts.

I had put the kids to bed. "What the F..." she realised that Jane was behind her, and she moderated her language. "You should be getting ready; I'm going to need the bathroom; we can't both share it."

"I'm not going. You can take Jane back on your way over there. I'll still pay her for all night."

"Why not? Please you have to come, I'm probably getting an award and it'll be strange if my husband wasn't there."

"Why, so I can be humiliated again? When we went to the summer picnic you didn't talk to me all afternoon, you circulated with your workmates and spent more time with your boss than you did with me, and I was expected to look after the kids whilst I watched you flaunting around. I got smirks from Ralph and pitying looks from almost everybody else. But at least they looked at me, where you completely ignored me. I'm not going."

"But sweetheart when you explained that to me, I made it up to you and I promised I wouldn't do it again, and I haven't"

I stood up. "But I shouldn't have to explain it to you, you ignore me and then think 3 weeks of sex makes up for all the times I've been ignored, left at home with the children, belittled by your workmates because I don't earn large sums of money."

To be fair, she did make it up to me, the loving, the attention and the sex were fantastic. But it only lasted 3 weeks and we were back to normal, well, it didn't get as bad as it had been, the new normal was better than the old normal, but not up to where I wanted it, where it had been in the past. But the problem was still there. But once I'd told her she rarely made the same mistake again. But I shouldn't have to tell her.

Whilst she worked at the company's head office, they had several smaller sites all over the UK and even a few small ones in Europe. Most stuff was done over the Internet but occasionally she would have to go to the larger sites to sort stuff out.

She'd been away for a couple of days over the last month or so, meetings and then a conference. On her last trip to a conference she didn't even phone me to tell me she got there safely. I phoned her in the evening and got no reply. I had to phone her again the following day to ask her where the bloody hell she was. She told me she got so busy wrapped up in the conference she forgot.

That was when I pointed out to her that her work seemed more important than her family. She again apologised and made it up to all of us, especially the kids.

She looked at me and had a serious tone to her voice. "Sweetheart please, I need you there. If I get the lowest prize that will be £2000, and I will take us all away on holiday to make it up to you all. But please come and support me." She looked around and Jane had gone, probably making herself scarce from a family argument and to check her bed, she was staying overnight. Christine came up to me and wrapped her arms around me and looked me in the eyes and said. "I promise I will not humiliate you, and I will get Mum and Dad to have the children over the weekend, and we could spend it doing those special things you like, you know, corsets and ropes and things."

I gave her the impression I was giving in. I just wanted to worry her because I was getting really fed up. This ceremony will go one of two ways. "Right, I'll come, but if you humiliate me just once. I will cause such a scene as I leave that you won't be able to show your face there without somebody taking the piss out of you, and I don't care how much the prize money is."

She kissed me and said, "Come on, let's get ready." I don't think she noticed that I was already shaved and showered. I went to the bedroom and started putting the suit on and I waited downstairs talking to Jane. She gasped when Christine came down the stairs, and so did I. She looked fantastic, her hair piled on her head looking very chic, I'd never seen that red satin dress she had on. It fitted where it touched, and it touched everywhere, it was split to mid thigh. I'm certain she was wearing hold up stockings. I just hoped it was all for me.

We were a little late in arriving at the hotel. As we walked in arm in arm I reminded her. "Just one humiliation, and I leave."

"I understand." She said, but even as she said that she was looking around the room. I put my hand into my inside jacket pocket making sure the envelopes were there. I looked around the room and I saw her team and her boss all together in a huddle. I also saw a mate of mine that I'd asked to be there. He was there looking like he was a security guard, which was good because that was his job, but not in this hotel.

Her boss, Ralph saw us walk in and he headed straight towards us. As usual, he ignored me and gave Christine a kiss on the cheek and said to her. "You look fantastic."

I dropped Christine's arm, turned round and walked towards the exit. It had taken less than two minutes for him to humiliate me in front of her colleagues. I glanced out of the corner of my eye; my actions were noticed. People got out of my way. I felt my arm being pulled, it was Christine. "I didn't do that, that wasn't my fault."

"No, but you didn't stop him,"

"Please come back with me, give me one more chance."

I let her take me back. We got back to Ralph, and she said to him, "Ralph that was extremely rude, if you cannot show respect to my husband, our relationship is going no further."

What the fuck is she on about, 'our relationship', what fucking relationship. I didn't get time to ask her, he put his hand out and apologised saying he was just so glad to see Christine. I didn't take his hand, there was an awkward quietness in the atmosphere. We were being watched. I'm sure other people thought that there would be some entertainment tonight that wasn't planned. There was. Well, I'd prepared for it, I just hadn't told anybody else. He turned and walked away but I'm sure he had a smug grin on his face. I think he thought he got one over on me. I wasn't so sure. We'll see by the end of the evening.

Ralph was Christine's boss, he was head of admin for a large international engineering company, Christine was his deputy in charge of the accounting section which she had sorted out over the last two years. It was a mess when she took over. But by getting rid of some of the deadwood, upgrading their operating procedures, getting better software, training and the sheer dint of her personality, she turned it from being one of the worst sections to one of the most efficient. I knew all about it, she kept me fully informed and often asked for my help working out the best approach to a problem, my background helped with that. Ralph's name came up a lot, far too much for my comfort. And the fact he was a big strong good looking man was mentioned didn't help. And if I mentioned it I was just pooh poohed. There were rumours that she could be promoted to look after HR as that needed a spot of help.

Christine did ask if she could go and talk to her team but said she would only be there for five minutes, and would I get the drinks in whilst she was gone. It would only be natural for her to talk to her people. I looked around, Ralph was in a different group, a group of bosses. I recognised them from other functions, but I didn't know who did what. I stood at the bar and joined the large group waiting to be served, but I kept an eye on her. She did join her people and went to the far side of the crowd, every now and again she looked at me and smiled. Ralph slid beside her. I saw him whisper something to her and she looked at him and shook her head and then looked across at me, she didn't smile that time. She could see me watching her, I just nodded my head towards the exit.

She disengaged herself from her team and started towards me. That was when the bell sounded and we were called to table. She waved to me. I could see we were sitting on the table next to the big cheeses. The company owner, the CEO, the CFO, their wives and the owner's personal assistant. She was a tall elegant commanding lady wearing a shimmering purple dress, she appeared to be running everything from the top table. And apart from Ms purple shimmer lady I still had no idea who was who on that table. I got to the table and I went to sit next to Christine to find out she was sat next to Ralph, I was relegated to the other side of the table. Ralph had his wife sitting on the other side of him, a small plain, mousey woman, but in a bright yellow dress, almost like she was trying to compensate for her looks with the bright colours. I was almost content, but I couldn't show it. Ralph wouldn't start anything with his wife there, especially in front of the owner. He was known to be a stickler for moral values. All that meant was that people doing stuff he wouldn't approve of just had to hide it better. And I wondered.

I was still standing behind the chair allocated to me. She looked across the table at me and mouthed. "Sorry, nothing to do with me."

I was pissed off at being seated where I was, but it fitted with my plans, so I was going to let it go. However, I looked at Christine, shook my head and then pointed my thumb towards the door and started to walk away.

She talked to Ralph. He got up and came round the table and caught me. When he got close he held his hand out, I took it this time. "Sorry about that, it was a bit of a mix up, there's nothing that can be done about it now." His face didn't match the words that were coming out of his mouth. Yes there was, but he wasn't going to do anything about it.

He tried to squeeze my hand; he picked the wrong person to do that with. He wanted to humiliate me in front of my wife and his colleagues. He wanted to show how strong he was. I leaned slightly forward as if in pain, I was. Then I said in a voice loud enough to be heard. "It's obvious you are stronger than me, there is no need to prove it, so if you continue with this childish display of strength, I will just knee you in the bollocks so hard they will turn up in your throat and you will look like a gerbil, it will be an act of self defence." He let go rapidly. I wanted to shove my hand under my armpit to help the pain go away. I didn't, I just looked at it, gave it a little shake and went, "mmm." And I walked back in my chair leaving him standing there. I even used my aching hand to pull the chair out. Now that was humiliation.

People were purposely looking away.

We sat down and the first course arrived. I tried to talk to the two chaps sitting either side of me. They were polite but didn't engage in conversation. If Christine hadn't looked at me occasionally and smiled, I would have walked. At one stage I did. Although there was waiter service for drinks, they were taking their time. Whilst waiting for the main course I stood and walked towards the exit, the plan was at the last minute whilst heading towards the exit was to swing towards the bar. I could do with a pint of Guinness, they hadn't got a proper beer, Guinness will have to do, but that was fine. It didn't take long for Christine to catch me up.

"Please sweetheart stay, that has nothing to do with me, he wants to be close so he can be seen to support me."

People could see I wasn't sitting next to my wife and I'm sure some of them wondered what I would do about it. I think some of them had seen what was going on, including the handshake. The top table had a clear view of what happened, they had probably heard it as well.

"I thought that was my job, not your boyfriends." I said it loud enough for people around me to hear what I said, it drew a few discrete looks.

She leaned in and whispered to me. "He's not my boyfriend, he's here with his wife."

"You forget where I'm sitting, he's talking more to you than he is to her. She's just as humiliated as I am. But I think she's used to it and will put up with it, I won't. If you want me to come back, give me a kiss."

That brought a smile to her face, she leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. The freaking cheek. I turned and walked towards the door. And it was going to be the door this time. I'd only gone a pace or two when she caught me on the arm. I turned around. "What's wrong, I gave you a kiss."

I said quietly. "No, you gave me a perfunctory peck on the cheek, no show of affection, no show of love. And everybody saw how false it was." People were trying not to look, but I could see them peeking out of the corner of their eyes.

I saw the lights go on in her eyes, she moved up to me and put her arms around my neck and she leaned into my ear. "I'm sorry sweetheart it's still only going to be a kiss on the cheek but it's going to be accompanied by a big long hug. Will that do?"

I put my arms around her and held her. "That's better than a kiss, thank you."

I had just established myself in front of everybody who was actually in charge in our marriage. I carried on to the bar and got a white wine for her and myself a pint of Guinness. I returned to the table and placed the wine glass beside her. I gave her a kiss on the cheek. This was in view of everybody, especially the top table.

I can't be sure, but I think people were looking at me slightly differently. Perhaps I wasn't the wimp who spent all his time playing with children at picnics, whilst his wife hung around with her team and her boss.

So far, she hadn't done anything wrong and to be honest I needed the evening to play out. So, I would have just probably sucked it up. My other option was to wait outside until the right moment. But I wanted everyone to know I was there. That would have done, but this is more effective.

Although that had caused a bit of a stir, still nobody talked to me at the table, perhaps they knew something I didn't, so I sat there with my own thoughts.

I was certain that something was going on with her boss, although I could find nothing, that was probably because they hid it well. The coldness in the bedroom and then the sudden heat. She was moving up the management chain in the company. I stayed at home looking after the children. I pondered on stuff as I sat there being studiously ignored.

I was six months out of my apprenticeship, working as an aircraft mechanic trying to find my way. She was at the local university reading media studies and psychology. She thought the two went together. We bumped into each other at a pub, literally. She was standing behind me with her friends and took a pace back and knocked my arm holding my beer. It went everywhere. She apologised, got me another beer and we started chatting. We hit it off straight away. We found we had things in common, we liked similar stuff. There were enough differences to make it interesting. We married 18 months later. She was still in university. We hadn't got a great deal of money, but we loved each other, and it was fun. I worked all the overtime I could so she could spend time studying. I even related some of my psychology stories from an engineering point of view. She left university without too much debt. After a few false starts, she managed to get a post in a large financial institution. Those early days were hard until they recognised her skills and she got promoted. Before long she was earning as much as me, without being out late at night in the cold and the wet fixing aeroplanes so holiday makers could have their two weeks of well-earned rest and fun in the sun. I loved my job. The challenge of making sure that the jet was ready and safe. I would sometimes wait and see the jet taxi off the stand and then take off just to make sure it got away.

Then she got pregnant, it appears the pill isn't 100% effective. Never mind we were both looking forward to it. We decided she had greater earning potential than me. Even after 2 years she was earning nearly as much as me as a mechanic, her promotion prospects were far better than mine. We both had to keep working as she was doing night school to increase her qualifications. So, we decided that when it came to it, I would be a stay at home Dad and with the qualifications I had, with a bit of work, I could become a technical author, work from home and look after the baby.

I used her pregnancy time to get that sorted with my company. Being a tech author was OK, but I missed the challenge and the satisfaction of aircraft work. When she went back to work after Gary was born, she went to a different firm, one that did engineering. I occasionally did some tech authoring for them as a contractor. Then Linda came along just over a year after her brother, planned this time. I was still in baby mode. Things were looking up for Christine, and she got another promotion. She would come home on time mostly and we'd spent the weekends together. And we were right, she was earning a lot more than I ever would as an aircraft mechanic. Licensed aircraft mechanics are not badly paid, not brilliant, but not bad.

We had a plan. By the time we were 55 we'd have enough savings and investments and we could retire to the south coast, get a small camper van and tour Britain. See all the things we didn't have time for in our early years, maybe even Europe, and of course a few cruises. I was really looking forward to the Caribbean.

But I've been worried for the last nine months or so, now with the late nights, the meetings and the courses away from home, granted they were only for a day or two and never at the weekend. And the coldness of the sex. It was like something she had to do, there was no love in it. She told me she was tired with all the work and not to worry it was all for us. I tried to perk things up, date nights, flowers, and weekends away with the help of the parents having the kids. It was fine whilst we were away, but back to the same when we got home. In one fit of anger I told her that she used to be so loving, but now it was as if it was a chore. She just asked me to hang on. Not much longer. Well, I wasn't waiting too much longer. I set a date, and it was today.