How to Build a Happy Marriage

Chapter 1

“Was that…was that good?”

“Yeah babe,” she said, her phone already in her hand. “Yeah, it’s always really nice.” She leaned over to kiss me on my forehead, the slight bend the movement required highlighting her barely defined but newly noticeable obliques. “You’re always so attentive and sweet,” she said, as she opened the lock screen. “Hm, still pretty early. I think I’ll hit the studio for a bit before bed.”

“What? I thought we were going to watch the next episode of that show, what was it called? I bought stuff for sundaes”

“Aw, babe, I’d love to stay in and cuddle with you, but I have all this nervous energy to burn off. I have to be prepared for that deposition tomorrow, and I can never sleep if I’m all jittery like this. Next time, okay babe?”

“No, of course, honey! Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting to spend more time with you, but you gotta take care of your needs. You know I’m never going to be resentful of you taking care of yourself.”

“I know,” she said, ruffling my unruly mop of brown hair. “You’re so supportive. I could never have handled this transition to partner without you in my corner.” She slid off the bed, her muscular, curved thighs following slim calves. Had she gone tanning recently? Her skin was glowing. “Look, this weekend, we’ll have so much time to ourselves. Why don’t you make reservations at the place you’ve been wanting to try? What’s it called, the sushi food truck guy’s fancy one?”

“Etch, or Knife, or something like that. That sounds great baby, I’d love to take you out to celebrate you finishing this. Enjoy your workout!”

She hustled out the door. I admired the sight of my wife’s impressively toned butt in the pair of Lululemons she was wearing. I lazed for a couple of minutes in bed after she left, enjoying the quiet and the post-orgasm lassitude. My belly growled, and I padded out of bed. I headed down the hallway to the staircase- why on earth did we buy a two story house? We didn’t really need the room, and didn’t have kids. My knees protested gently as I crept down. I had quit even the moderate jogging routine I had when I caught Covid, and I desperately needed to get back into it. I considered briefly going now- but it was sweltering hot in Atlanta in August, even at 9:30.
I arrived in the kitchen, pulling the carton of Tillamook mint chip out of the freezer. I scanned the refrigerator- I had been excited about a sundae earlier, but, with Quinn out of the house, decided that I might as well just play video games. Video games required hands. Milkshake it was.

Topping my milkshake off with a generous dose of whipped cream, I wandered over to my home office, tucked behind the living room. It was a more impressive setup then the average person might have; a gleaming Alienware PC with a spanking new graphics card, three screens optimally positioned for gaming. I didn’t need this much hardware for video games- I usually like graphics light RPGS- but I worked from home as a software developer. I didn’t really need a four thousand dollar PC for that, either, but, well, I got paid okay and I didn’t really buy myself much else.

I was lost wandering the lakes of Liurna when Quinn got home. “Hey baby!” she shouted, practically bounding up the stairs. Startled, “Hey! How was the workout?” I could already hear the showering running before I finished the question.

I had no particular need to be up early, unlike Quinn, who would be leaving at six am-earlier if she felt like getting a session in before heading to the firm. I was impossibly proud of her; at 28, the youngest partner in the history of her firm (and the only woman). She could work from home most days if she wanted, but with so much to prove, she rarely missed out on face time and being physically at her desk.

I loved my job. New challenges and interesting work, GREAT pay, and flexible hours. I maybe had to go be physically present once or twice a month. I’d been doing it since graduating college, though, and I don’t think there was much room for advancement. I had no real interest in management- ideally, I would never talk to anyone at work, if that was possible- and felt no need to put myself out there. I made plenty of money and was decently invested already. And Quinn’s career was really taking off. Staying where I was, comfortable, made a ton of sense to me.

My stomach gurgled as I arose out of the gaming chair. I needed to widen the arms a bit- they had been pressing into the sides of my stomach, and only after getting up did I notice how uncomfortable they’d gotten. I meandered back up the stairs, my belly, probably way too full of dairy for directly before bedtime, jiggling slightly. My shirt had gotten wedged beneath my chubby pecs and my stomach. I didn’t really think of myself as fat, but I had transitioned maybe too comfortably from ‘slim college guy’ to ‘happily married man.’ I was relatively short- 5’7’’- and about 220. It hadn’t been such a big deal when I was lifting, but I had quit that two years ago at the start of the pandemic, and never gotten around to buying any home gym stuff. I naturally had a bit of an appetite. Still, I had never considered myself vain, and Quinn hadn’t said anything.