When I’m With You by Sandi Lynn

Chapter 4

Ben

I put on my running shoes and headed out the door for my run. Being a fireman, it was important to keep in shape, plus the morning air always cleared my mind for the day. Amy wasn’t much of a runner, so she didn’t jog with me in the mornings. She preferred to work out on her elliptical machine, listening to her favorite music. Being it was Saturday and I had the weekend off, I was going to spend it finishing up the table I was building.

After running ten miles, I hopped into the shower and let the cool water refresh my body. When I finished, I stepped out, wrapped the towel around my waist, and checked my phone. There was a missed call from Brady and a voice message.

“Ben, Linda is going out with her girlfriends tonight and I need to babysit Kara. Are you up for some cards tonight? It’s been a while, man. Call me back.”

I sighed as I set my phone down. Brady and I had been friends for the past five years. He was a great guy and a good friend. After Amy passed away, his wife Linda, cooked two weeks’ worth of meals for me and came over and cleaned my house a few times, even though I told her it wasn’t necessary. Linda was one of those people who always threw herself into helping others no matter what she had going on in her own life.

“Tell me you’re coming over tonight,” Brady said as he answered my call.

“Yeah, cards sound good. What time?”

“How’s seven? I’ll order us a couple pizzas.”

“Seven it is, and I’ll bring the beer.”

“Thanks, man. You’re saving me tonight.” He chuckled.

After putting on some old clothes, I went into the garage and started sanding the table top one last time before coating it with the cherry stain I’d bought.

* * *

“It’s good to see you Ben,” Linda said as I kissed her cheek.

“Good to see you too.”

Kara came running over to me and wrapped her tiny arms around my legs. “Hi there, Kara.” I smiled as I gave the beer to Brady and picked her up. She put her hands on my cheeks and squeezed my face while she laughed. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little bit jealous of Brady’s family.

“I’m off. You boys behave yourself. Kara, keep an eye on your daddy for me.” Linda smiled as she kissed her goodbye.

I set Kara down and followed Brady into the kitchen. “Why don’t we ever go out?” he asked.

“You know I don’t really go out much anymore,” I replied.

“You should, Ben. All you do is work and build furniture. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you need a social life too.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know, and when I’m ready, I’ll let you know.”

It was the same spiel every time from everyone I knew. The pizza arrived and, as I answered the door, Brady put Kara to bed. I set the pizza boxes on the counter and grabbed a couple of pieces and a bottle of beer.

“I hope she goes to sleep. She’s been really fussy at night,” Brady said as he sat down at the table. “Oh, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Lance and Juan over to play.”

“That’s fine,” I said.

Lance and Juan worked at the fire station with us. We were considered group A and we were all scheduled to go back to work on Monday, working three days straight and then having the next four days off. The doorbell rang and Brady got up and opened the door.

“Hey, guys,” I said as they both sat down.

“Who’s ready for some poker? I brought the chips.” Juan smiled.

“We have to be quiet. Kara is sleeping and, believe me, we don’t want to wake her,” Brady said.

The four of us ate pizza, talked, laughed, drank some beer, and, as always, I was winning.

“I met this chick a couple nights ago at the bar,” Lance said as he pulled out his phone. “She can suck dick like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

“What happened to Julie?” I asked.

“She was fucking psycho, bro. I couldn’t take her anymore, so I had to let her go.”

“Really? Because last week, the two of you were still together,” I said.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve moved on to Serenity.” He smiled.

“Where’d you meet her? The strip club?” Brady laughed.

He didn’t say anything, and we all looked at him. “Dude, did you go to the strip club by yourself?” Juan asked.

“I was torn up over having to break up with Julie and I needed to unwind and look at some eye candy. There’s nothing wrong with going to a strip club by yourself.”

We all laughed as I won and swept up all the chips.

“She’s a stripper, dude. You let a stripper suck your dick? I’d be having that thing examined by a doctor,” Brady said.

“Fuck you.” Lance laughed as he threw a chip at him.

I got up and grabbed another beer, asking if anyone else wanted one.

“Juan, how often do you and Becky have sex?” Brady asked.

“Usually twice a week. Why?”

“Linda has been slacking on her wifely duties lately. Can you believe it’s been over a month since we did it?”

“What?!” Both Juan and Lance said.

“Have you talked to her about it?” I asked.

“Yeah. She just said she isn’t in the mood and she’s tired all the time. Between work and Kara, she said she just doesn’t want to.”

“That’s not normal, man,” Juan said as he shook his head.

“You need to get some different pussy, dude!” Lance blurted out.

“Yeah, right. I would never cheat on Linda.”

“How about you, Ben? Don’t sit there and tell me that you haven’t had sex since Amy.”

This was why I hated getting together with these guys since Amy passed away. “I haven’t.”

Juan chuckled. “What do you do? Jack off to porn?”

I didn’t say anything because it was none of their business. Amy and I had a great sex life, but now she was gone and so was the sex. As great as it would be to have sex again, I only wanted it with my wife.

“Guys, that’s not cool,” Brady said.

“Sorry, man,” they said as they patted me on the back.