Saving My Marriage

"Where are you?!" I sternly questioned RJ over the phone.

We had been married a long time now and he had been difficult to track down recently. Its unclear to me why he thinks he's so special that he can just go out and do what he wants whenever he wants. I mean, here I am trying to put some supper together to get the kids something to eat and he is off doing who knows what.

"I'm on my way back, I'll be there in 40 minutes," he replied trying to sound casual about it.

"40 minutes is not okay, hurry up!"

I threw together a simple meal with some rice and fish. Its important to eat right, and eating right means eating healthy. Convincing the kids to eat what I gave them on the other hand was another story. They played and ran around and sometimes with a lot of convincing would finally get around to eating.

60 minutes later (not 40) RJ came in through the door. "Hey kids!" he said.

"Daddy!" Our children ran right up to him, spoiling all the effort I'd put into getting them to sit down and eat.

"You're late." I looked at him darkly.

"I know", he said holding his hands out wide. "I've got a long commute and a busy job. Anyhow, I'm not particularly hungry. So let me get the kids ready for bed."

Why do I even bother making supper at all.

When he was available he was such a sweet guy with the kids. I sank down into the large chair and closed my eyes.

We both had busy careers. Add the child care onto that and you have a recipe for two exhausted parents.

Since no one was eating anymore, I called up the table clearing bot on my WCI. I don't know how people survived before the wearable computer interface. The bot cleared the table and threw out the food and scrubbed the dishes clean.

My husband eyes looked up toward his WCI and rapidly back. "Bathtub on. Warm water for the kids," he said as we heard the tub start to fill with warm water.

He got the kids clean, read them a story and put them to bed.

Normally, by the time this was all done I'd be asleep myself. But my older sister called so we were chatting in the bedroom for a while. She was such a free spirit. She regaled me with her adventures at school. Being in grad school at the older age of 38 seemed like a crazy idea to me. However, she'd always found a way to switch fields and try something new. Now she was studying relationships and why some didn't work out.

I finished up the call. Exhausted I pulled the covers over myself when RJ interrupted what would have been an instant lights out.

"Hey honey. How about a little loving" he suggested.

"Awe, I'm really tired can't we do it later."

"Do you know when was the last time we did it?" He asked.

Well I had to think, as I wasn't really sure. I know its been a while but I hadn't really been counting the days.

"4 months" he said in a matter of fact tone.

"No that can't be right."

"Oh, I've counted."

I suppose I had been a little negligent in seeing to his needs. I really loved RJ, but more importantly I really loved sleep.

"OK." I said, "but can we make it quick."

His face darkened, "you are not at all romantic."

"Well, I'm really tired!" I realized that we had now started in to what might become an argument. I might not be sleeping now. He was really being inconsiderate of my needs.

"Look Jess," he started, "I just can't do this anymore. This part of our relationship makes me really unhappy."

"Well alright." I said. I thought I might as well get this over with. I leaned over to kiss him but he pulled back.

"No," he said. "I've had enough. You don't understand how this makes me feel. I hate begging and I hate counting. I hate it!"

I hadn't managed to avoid the argument after all. Really he was being such a child.

"Can't this wait until tomorrow, I just want to sleep."

"No," again. "You know what Jess. You know where I was tonight?"

I stared.

"I was at the red light district."

Ever since the government had legalized prostitution the red light district was where a lot of men went to hire prostitutes. You could also have an encounter with a robotic ones, though I didn't know much about what went on there. Unlike in the past, it was considered fairly safe. Almost all STIs had been eradicated or controlled. Birth control for men and women was also available so the chances of unwanted pregnancy was nil, though there were unconfirmed stories.

"Oh is that what it is," I snapped. "You think you can just go out whoring and leave me alone with the kids." My face had started to get red. I was getting angry. He can't just leave me alone to do that. We were in a faithful marriage and I couldn't believe at all what I was hearing.

"No, it isn't that." he said. "I went there but I didn't have any sex. I wanted to, but I didn't."

"What! Well then what were you doing, just soaking in the sites."

"Well, I was thinking. Having more than a friend for a wife is really something that's important to me. My parents spent the last 40 years of their marriage in different beds. I don't want that. I spent the whole time thinking".

Then he dropped a bomb shell on me.

"I want a divorce."

My jaw dropped. What the hell was this. He can't divorce me. We have children and a house. It wasn't like we were sleeping in different beds. We were in the same bed.

"I've really been thinking about this for a long time. Making love for you is a chore. I can feel it and it brings neither one of us joy. I know what I really need in a partner and you're not it anymore. I'll still take care of the children, we can negotiate on that, and we can remain good friends. But if I'm going to have any joy in my sex life, we need to be officially divorced so that I can fulfill my needs without cheating on you."

"No" I sat upright. "No No No No"

He picked up his stuff and just went into the guest bedroom to sleep. I went to follow him. I had some things to say but he locked the door. I started banging on it, when one of our children woke.

"Mommy whats wrong?" I stopped banging.

"Nothing dear, go back to bed." I would have to go back to bed too. This would have to wait until tomorrow.

Why hadn't I seen this coming? I'd thought that our marriage was great. Sure we didn't have much time to talk, but that was just because between work and family we were busy. And yes, I knew that I'd been inattentive in bed, but isn't bed really about sleeping. Selfish! Selfish! He was so selfish. If he thinks he can divorce me, he has got anything think coming.

Well now he'd done it. I stirred in the bed, not able to sleep at all. Thinking and thinking. I decided we'd talk about this tomorrow as I drifted into a fitful sleep. He would have to reconsider. I woke the next morning still quite tired.

We sat for breakfast a simple breakfast of cold cereal and fruits. The kids laughed as they ate but mostly played. I stared darkly at RJ. He pretended not to notice me and just sat calmly eating his breakfast.

"I thought about our talk last night," I said.

"Really," he said. "I didn't think much about it at all. I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders and a bright future awaits me."

This made me almost lose it - but I didn't want to yell at my husband in front of the kids.

"I was looking at some studio apartments," he continued. "We'll work out some details after work."

"No," I insisted, "we should talk about this now." He was already running out the door.

"This discussion is not finished," I raced after him, yelling at him out into the street. But he'd already gotten into the automated cab.

I tried not to think about what RJ had said as I pushed my mind into my work but it was impossible. I showed a pleasant face to our patients who really were going through a lot larger of a struggle than I was.

Before the invention of the neural bridge, people with neurological damage might never walk again. However, there was a lot of physical therapy that went into getting them up and walking again, mostly due to damaged reflexes. It required a lot of customized learning for each patient. Also the machines needed custom learning - but a good patient could end up walking, running and even dancing. In the end, almost everyone would be up and walking normally again within a year. The device on their back would be nearly transparent and could event be surgically implanted into their spine or brain.

I was constantly rethinking how to make these devices better. It wasn't seen as too scary in this day and age to have computers assist your central nervous system.

"Hey google," I said into my WCI. A small ringing sound played to let me know it was listening. "I need to find a good marriage counselor." Almost immediately a list came up along with anonymized reviews from people I knew. There were some specialists that it looked like I could only barely afford. Apparently even search bots realized that looking for a marriage counselor is a desperation move.

I read some of the reviews: "He was very professional but in the end we realized that divorce was in our best interest. His technique involved a lot of talking."

"She was hard to work with, our marriage was saved but there were a lot of compromises we both made. I used some drugs she recommended to stop my angry rages towards my wife." This one was written by a man with anger issues.

"Dr Jain didn't see us much, but she didn't need to. She had the right technology to solve our problems." This was the review from one of the much more expensive therapists. There were other reviews there too, a lot. All about the variety of amazing technologies that Dr. Jain deployed to solve couples problems.

When I got home, RJ was there playing with the kids. He had a sparkle in his eye. Like he had just found a new life.

"I hired a sitter," I said. "We're going out to dinner to talk."

"That's a great idea Jess," he said. "We need to work out some details."

When we got to the restaurant I asked for a quiet table. The computerized waiter displayed the menu and waiving my hand I could see a 3D rendering of what it would look like. I customized the meal and the countdown timer started to let me know when it would be ready.

"So," I said.

"So," he said.

"Look," I said. "I didn't even know we were going through a rough time in our marriage. I want a solution. We should try. We are such good friends and we work so well together. The kids adore you. We need to make this work."

"Well," he said, "from my point of view, we can still be good friends, the kids can still adore me and we can still work well together. I just need to live elsewhere and have some sex. I didn't become a monk or a priest for a reason. I know what my body needs and I just can't get that if we're going to have the type of marriage that we have."

I put my hands down on the table spread out and looked him deep in the eye. "I want to do counseling."

"Jess," he sighed. "I don't know if that will change anything. What is wrong between us is physical and I just don't think counseling can fix that. I don't want to do it. Can't you just accept that I need to move on." He seemed firm.

"Come on honey," I countered, "we could just try for a while." Then I figured I still had something to bargain with. "If you agree to counseling for just a month I'll make your night a really good one."

I waved my hands in front of my WCI to bring the automated cab to pick us up. We'd both had a few glasses of wine and it felt good to be going home a little drunk. I brought up the interface for the house to see if the kids were in bed. They were sounds asleep. Perfect. I was going to give him some tonight.

After we'd brushed our teeth and gotten ready I lay down waiting for him to start.

He wasn't though. Didn't he even find me attractive anymore? He just lay back eyes still open looking up.

I reached over and held his hand. "Come on, don't you want to. Don't you love me?"

"Well I want to," he said. "But if I suppose if it doesn't happen tonight I can skip the couples therapy. Don't you want to?"

I didn't want to. I just needed him to come and do therapy with me, so we could fix whatever problems he had and get this little stage he was having over with. I couldn't really say that though, I needed to have some leverage to get him to behave. He was being such a selfish animal.

He continued, "I just need something back from you or I might as well get a blow up doll."

What crap! I couldn't take any more so I grabbed him. I shook him really hard. He smiled. I was getting ready to give him a slap. Violence isn't really something I do well but he had it coming.

Before I had a chance he grabbed one of my arms and one of my legs and flipped me over onto my belly. Then he sat on top of my hips pinning me down. He pulled off my pants and his. I could feel him enter me from behind. It wasn't the best angle so to help him out I pushed my hips up to give better access. I was able to get a little wet to allow it to not hurt. It felt alright but this was not a position I would normally let him do. I preferred a missionary.

I was really quite trapped and had no choice but to let him continued pumping. After a while RJ let out a moan. I gave him an ahhh to make him feel good. The he was done. After sex was always an awkward time. Its when we would get out some tissues and I'd let drizzle out what he'd put into me.

In the end I'd gotten what I'd wanted and he'd gotten what he'd wanted hadn't he?

---

I called up the marriage counselor and the phone was answered by the automated receptionist. I said I wanted an appointment for my husband and myself and the receptionist asked if we it could access our calendars which I authorized. It instantly found a few times and I chose a Thursday afternoon.

"Can you give me your name?" I knew that this would be a bunch of questions about my name, address, contact unique Id etc. So rather than go through that I had my bot chat with her bot and we had everything done in a few seconds.

RJ and I arrived in separate vehicles as we were both getting some time off work for this. Our jobs were both flexible and we could move our schedules around. The taxi sent me a message to my WCI to be 5 minutes earlier as it had detected some traffic and needed extra time to get me there.

The office was lovely and the receptionist bot which was really just a computer generated image of a woman on a screen greeted us. "Ah Jess and RJ, would you like anything to drink." I had a cup of tea and RJ had nothing. He looked calm whereas I felt quite nervous. What if this didn't work? Would this be the end?

After a short wait a couple we recognized exited.

"Steve, Martha?"

They had big smiles one their faces and Martha recognized me.

"Oh hi!" said Martha, coming over to give me a big kiss on the cheek. "You're here to see Dr Jain. Isn't she the best."

"Well I don't know yet." I replied. They looked at each other and smiled not saying anything. The look said, oh you're in for a treat.

"The Dr will see you now," said the automated receptionist and she motioned to the door Steve and Martha had just come out of.

We waved goodbye as we walked into a cozy small office with only one large couch. Instead of being separated from her patients Dr Jain sat in a large chair close by. The interior was wood with a fake fire place that gave it a log cabin feel. Dr Jain was an older woman that looked to be in her fifties. She was stunning though with thick long brown hair, tall and blue eyes.

"Hello RJ and Jess," she said warmly motioning for us to sit down. "Now it seems to me this is your first time coming to therapy. Is that right?"

We sat down, though RJ wouldn't sit beside me choosing the opposite side of the couch. "Yes." I answered nervously. I'd promised myself I wouldn't cry, but my eyes were teary. "He thinks he can just throw away everything we've worked at. He just won't talk to me anymore. Its like one day he woke up and there was a completely different person there who didn't love me or the kids or anything. We made a promise and to him its as though the last 11 years never happened." This unprompted outburst was not characteristic of me. I grabbed for a tissue.

Dr Jain came over and put her hand on my shoulder. RJ slunk a little into the couch where he was seated. He hated to see me cry. Well it was his own fault.

Dr Jain turned to RJ. "There are a lot of relationships that can be cured," she started, "but for me to offer some of the therapies that I have we need to first find out whats wrong. I'd like to hear more from RJ, can you tell me more?"

"Well he needs to listen more do what I say," I started. Dr Jain pressed on my shoulder firmly.

"Come now Jess, let him speak," she turned towards him.

"Well," RJ gulped a little before starting. "I've thought about this a lot. When I reach to touch her and hug her, she always pushes me away as though she has much more important things to do. We don't have sex. Last week was the first time in four months but she only did it as part of a deal to get something she wanted. Really it wasn't even that enjoyable. She just lays there and acts like she's just waiting for it to be over. I've tried to explain to Jess what is wrong quite a few times, but she just doesn't seem to lis..."

"Of course I listen," I interrupted. "Just last week we sat down for dinner together, you and I, and I listened."

"Please Jess," Dr Jain said. "Let him finish."

"Well, yeah, we went to the restaurant and talked last week. But it was the first time all year and the only reason it even happened," he explained, "was because you thought it was a crisis. It wasn't because you just wanted to spend time with me. Look, I feel like I've just had enough. I've thought a lot and the relationship has changed. Its not at all like what I married into." He turned to me, "You don't feel attracted to me anymore and I think we should acknowledge that and move on."

It was not looked down upon in society for a couple to just say they had fallen out of love and move on. Divorce was common. Despite the advances in "post divorce management", couples never came out of these things unscathed. Jealousy and bitterness are not something technology had yet managed to cure.

The conversation continued. Primarily it made us seem like complainers. I suppose when you're letting out grievances there is no way around that. I complained that his arrival back home was too unpredictable. His primary concern seemed to be my lack of affection.

I wondered why it seemed as though he had never told me this before. I thought back. He had been telling me this a lot. I'd just thought it was lower priority. I mean, who makes time for love when there are: schools to coordinate with, jobs to worry about and 100 other things on my mind. Back when we were first together, I'd often been affectionate and the love making had been intense. It had just waned away slowly.

She questioned us about how we were at sharing money and responsibilities around the house. Was there any friction with pets we had or was anyone being mistreated by a family member. Mother in laws, she explained can sometimes be a problem. None of these were a problem, and it warmed my heart to hear him explain what a great mother I was.

Dr Jain broke in. "In the past you would have been limited to trying to talk your way through things or getting a divorce. Fortunately science has provided us some new techniques. After hearing what you've said. RJ you want more affection." He nodded. "And Jess, you just don't feel the need for it. You want RJ to be more available and responsible." I nodded. "Well, what would you say if I could just give you this?"

I blinked. RJ tilted his head.

"Come back next week, I'll have everything set up and I'll explain the treatment I would like for you two to try." Dr Jain ushered us out. The automated secretary showed us some available times it had matched by looking at our calendars and I chose the earliest one.