When I walked back out to the dining room, Susie had set out the table and was placing our meals down. It was porterhouse steaks with mash, my favorite.
“Mmmm, that smells good.”
“Welcome home Joe.”
“Thanks.”
“We’ve got some ice cream for dessert as well.”
I looked up at Susie with a smile on my face as I began to enjoy my meal.
“Why didn’t you call me from Fairfield, I would’ve picked you up?”
“I didn’t fly into Travis, I landed this morning at Edwards instead, so I got the bus all the way here. I figured you’d be at work still.”
“Did you come straight home, or did you stop in to see your Mom and Dad?”
“No, straight home to the warm embrace of my loving wife.”
“I’m sorry, I had all these plans for tonight and you surprised me. I didn’t mean to not say hello properly.”
“That’s okay, we can make up for it after dinner. I have six months of missing you to catch up on.”
Susie continued eating her meal, she rarely looked me in the eyes though and seemed deep in thought.
“Are you still enjoying working with my family? You don’t have to anymore now that I’m done with the air force.”
“No, I like working there, I would’ve told you if I wasn’t. Don’t you want me to stay there?”
“I don’t mind you working there, I just thought that maybe you wanted to work there while I was away all the time. But now that I’m back, you can choose whatever you want to do.”
“I’m fine where I am. Your Mom’s great to work with.”
“And Dad and John? They still look after you as well?”
“Yes, of course. Your Dad relies on Betty and me totally. John is always just as sweet as ever too. The other guys know I’m the boss, so they treat me well, or else.”
We finished our meal, then sat in the lounge room eating our ice cream. I was sitting back on the couch, with Susie taking the recliner rather than sitting beside me. Why was I getting the feeling she was avoiding me? After finishing our ice cream, Susie reached for the TV remote.
“Susie, can you leave it off? Come and sit with me, please. I want us to share some quality time together.”
Susie hesitantly walked over and sat beside me on the couch, but instead of sitting back and snuggling in with me, she sat near the edge of the couch forcing me to pull her in towards me. I leaned in for a kiss and she turned her head so that she could hug me instead. Even that felt like I was hugging my sister rather than my wife of three years.
“What’s going on Susie?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, I know when you’re giving me the cold shoulder. I’ve been away for six months and you haven’t kissed me once since I’ve been home, I even tried to guilt trip you into even giving me a hug earlier, and now you don’t want to sit with me, or cuddle or kiss. So, what’s going on?”
“I just need time to get used to having you home again I guess.”
“Bullshit. You never needed time before. What’s different?
Susie didn’t answer, looking away from me.
“Have you been seeing someone?”
Susie gave me an angry stare and got to her feet. I thought she was going to talk, but instead bit her tongue and walked off towards the bedroom.
“Where are you going? Can’t you even answer that simple question?”
I heard our bedroom door slam shut. I took a few deep breaths and then followed her to the bedroom, not sure if I should apologize or ask her to answer the damn question. I found that she had locked the bedroom door.
“Susie, what are you doing? Can you open the door so we can talk about this?”
All I got back was silence.
I walked back out into the lounge and laid on the couch. I wasn’t sure what to think. Was Susie pissed with me because I asked her if she was cheating, or was she pissed because I’m right and I called her on it? Either way this conversation is definitely not over. I turned on the TV to take my mind away from her, watching the news for a while before drifting off to sleep again.
As I woke up with the morning sun streaming into the lounge room, I stretched and then made my way to the kitchen to make myself a coffee. I figured I should at least ask Susie if she’d like one as well, so I wandered down the hallway to the bedroom. The door was open at least, but there was no Susie. I checked the bathroom, then went back out to the lounge. I looked out the window to see that her car was gone, has she left for work already?
I checked my phone to see that it was almost 8am, by my standards that was sleeping in. I made my coffee but decided I would go out for breakfast before going to see Mom and Dad at the family business downtown.
I went into the garage to find my pick-up covered in dust. I had asked Susie to drive it once in a while when I was overseas, but it didn’t look like she had done that. I crossed my fingers and hit the ignition…nothing. I’m going to need a jump start. Luckily where my house is the road has a slight decline heading away from the intersection, so I pushed my pick-up out onto the road, then began pushing downhill. When I got enough speed up I jumped in, threw it into second gear and dropped the clutch. She fired up, thank god. I figured I better head to a garage to check it over, and they could help if I need another start.
After the garage I got a syrup waffle at a café near my parent’s business, then parked out front of Thomas Electrical. As I walked in there was a young guy behind the counter, he must be one of the new employees they brought on.
“Can I help you sir?”
“No thanks, I’m fine.” I responded as I headed to the service door to go out back to the storeroom, workshop and office area.
“Sorry, you can’t go back there, that’s for staff only.”
“It’s okay, I’m Joe, Joe Thomas.”
“You’re Bill’s son, from the air force?”
“Yeah, are my family out back?”
“Yep. I think they’re all here right now.”
“Thanks.”
I stepped through the door and looked around the large workshop and storeroom area, I could see a few of the guys that have worked here for a while collecting gear off the racks. At the end of the storeroom I saw Susie, in a discussion with my twin brother John. While John and I are twins, we’re not identical twins. That is we are from different eggs, so more like regular brother’s than like identical twins. We don’t even look the same. I’m 6’3 with a solid build, sandy colored hair with blueish grey eyes. I got Dad’s build but my Mom’s hair and eyes. John on the other hand is about 5’9, a leaner build with dark brown hair and eyes. So, his build is more like Mom’s but his hair and eyes he got from Dad.
What was interesting is that it didn’t seem like they were talking shop, it looked like a private conversation, and I noticed that John would occasionally rub Susie’s arm or shoulder as they spoke. As I was about to head into the office, I saw Susie and John hug each other, maybe he was consoling her from my questioning her loyalty last night. When I entered the office, my Mom looked happy when she saw me and came over to give me a hug.
“It’s so good to have you home sweetheart. So, is it true, are you done with the air force now?”
“Yeah, I didn’t renew. How are you Mom? Are you keeping Dad and everyone else in line?”