- Loving Wives
- Unneeded Ch. 03
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Click hereSeveral of the comments on Chapter 2 suggested that the sudden change in Lisa's technique should rouse Lars' suspicions. Other comments expressed curiosity about Lars' rationales. This chapter provides these things.
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Karen Ross opened her office door. "Mr. Anderson, I'm ready for our session now. Would you please come in?"
"Actually, though I told your receptionist I wanted a session with you, I actually just want to ask a few questions."
"About what subject?"
"About my wife. I know she saw you lately."
"Normally, client confidences are something I would not reveal, even to the extent of verifying they are a client, even to a spouse. However, in your case I have your Lisa's previously given permission to disclose anything that in my personal opinion would be helpful in strengthening your marriage to her. So please come in and have a seat. My expectation is that over the course of our session, you will have the answers you seek."
Lars Anderson was a touch uncomfortable that the counselor still called this a session. He didn't really want therapy. But the promise of answers induced him to enter and be seated. "You can call me Karen, or Mrs. Ross, whichever you wish. As I said, I have her permission to disclose her confidences. Unless you decide to give me similar permission, however, I will keep your confidences from her. May I ask whether she disclosed her visit to you, or whether you found out another way?"
"I found your invoice for services rendered in the credit card summary."
"That is interesting, since Lisa mentioned in passing that she paid routine bills. Were you looking for something specific?"
"Frankly, I was looking for hotel bills."
"Why did you do that?"
"I think she might be cheating on me."
"What brings you to that hypothesis?"
"Her sexual technique lately got a lot better. I'm thinking she's learned something from another lover and she's feeling guilty, so I'm getting some leftovers."
Lars noticed an odd expression cross Karen's features just for an instant. Then she said, "I prefer to mainly proceed with Socratic questions, but I feel I should interject with a comment here. I am certain your wife is not cheating on you, and never has. Further, I know that you are not cheating on her, at least at present. But for now, let's defer the matter of how I know these things to be true."
Lars' face was a strange mix of relief and skepticism. Karen continued, "Let's start with why she came to see me. What is the most common reason a wife would seek marriage counseling?"
"Because she's dissatisfied with her husband and she wants the counselor to backstop her demand for changes."
"A bit roughly put, but yes, that does explain quite a few scenarios. But it's entirely incorrect for Lisa − almost 180 degrees off, in fact. So now that you know she's not dissatisfied with what you're giving to the marriage, what do you think she is worried about?"
A bit of Lars' challenging demeanor melted away. "How little I'm taking." There was a long pause. "She figured it out?"
"Just lately. Is Lisa's impression correct that your family's reaction to the promotion you were offered caused a change in you?"
Lars let out a long breath. "Yes. For a few days after the big argument it was a sort of self-loathing: 'Why didn't you stand up for your rights like a man.' But the more I brooded on it, I realized − I had no rights to stand up for! Feminists assert that marriage is a patriarchal institution designed to oppress women. That's crap. There's nothing about my marriage about which I can say, 'I'm entitled to this because I'm a husband,' and expect the world to agree. Lisa has recourses. I don't."
"That's an interesting choice of words: 'recourses.' I've counseled many couples, and I haven't heard a client say that before. Could you elaborate?"
Lars twisted his shoulders as if trying stretch out a massive tension. "Suppose I cheated on Lisa. She could ask a court for a divorce, banish me from my home, isolate me from my kids, and get paid maintenance for years; that's her recourse. Suppose Lisa cheats on me. What would a court do to give me a recourse? Banish me from my home, isolate me from my kids, and force me to pay maintenance for years, that's what."
"Lamentably true. That's why I hate it whenever my couples work doesn't gel. Where did this train of thought take you?"
"This may sound crazy, but I thought that my only defense against being jerked around was to have less to lose, emotionally, than Lisa. I had always been the partner more invested in the relationship. The disadvantage of that was suddenly apparent. I started thinking of ways to intensify her emotional attachment, and reduce mine. I trained myself to be an even better husband, to change her BATNA, and mine."
Dr. Ross interjected, "I'm afraid I don't know that term."
"Oh. BATNA is an acronym for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. It comes from negotiation theory. I have to think about that at work all the time as I hammer out terms with vendors and customers. I try to improve my BATNA: the alternative I'll have to fall back on if negotiations fail completely. If my best alternative is pretty good, I'm less likely to have to swallow a raw deal.
"Trained the way I am, I saw the question of moving to Dallas as a negotiation. Lisa pushed me to the wall, and I had to cave because my BATNA was poor. I had to give up the job I've worked for my whole career because her implied threat to withhold her love was something I wasn't ready to face."
"Lisa reported your children were a potent force in this 'negotiation.' How do you feel about them now?"
Lars scrunched his face a bit before answering. "Our children are good kids. Lisa and I have raised them right. They get good grades − teacher's favorites all, actually − and are never in trouble. But they're still kids, you know, and kids are slow to give up the idea their parents might have their own needs. Did you ever see the movie, "Going My Way?"
"With Bing Crosby, right?" Karen ventured.
"Yeah. Crosby's character says something like, 'You know, when I was 18, I thought my father was pretty dumb. After a while, when I got to be 21, I was amazed to find out how much he'd learned in three years.' So I put most of the blame on Lisa. If she'd been on my side, together we'd have gotten the kids to accept the move."
"So you began to employ ruses to avoid receiving your wife's loving gestures?"
"Uh-huh. I know how sad that sounds, and it often was sad, but it was empowering, too. Look at me." Lars slapped his abdomen. "This was a pot belly, half a year ago. I've made new friends who I wouldn't lose if Lisa forced them to take sides. I've even developed new ways to relate to the kids that aren't channeled so much through Lisa."
"As a part of that strategy, you consciously allowed your physical intimacy with Lisa diminish?"
"Well, that's only partly true. We hugged and kissed as often − maybe more. We just didn't have sex as often. And I expect Lisa looked on that as a positive, at least unconsciously. Her libido has always been less than mine." Lars made a moue. "At a certain point I developed a morbid curiosity: how low would we go before she wasn't getting enough."
"But you never cheated on her to make up the difference?"
"No!" Lars paused to formulate his thoughts before speaking again. "First, I love Lisa. I was hurt by learning I was low man on the family totem pole, but you don't just throw away twenty good years. Second, I'm not the sort that breaks promises. And third, it would wreck my strategy. I want her to be heavily invested in me. For me to be caught cheating would make her less engaged in a hurry."
There was another pause. Then Lars' eyes narrowed. "Hey, wait a second. You said at the start you knew I hadn't cheated. How?"
"What's my only source for such a declaration?"
"Lisa."
"And how could she be certain?"
"She...checked up on me?"
"Quite thoroughly, in fact. Rented spy gadgets, had friends tailing you, the whole nine yards."
"Damn! How did that happen? I never did anything suspicious because I never did anything. What did I do wrong?"
"Lisa reported that her attitude hardened when her suspicions began, and she began withholding sex for fear of an STD. Do you recall her doing that?"
"I sure do."
"Do you recall an event around the time that started?"
"Since you ask, it started the night after a neighborhood tailgate party."
"What do you guess might have happened at that party?"
"I don't know. We guys mostly hung out together, talking football and barbecue sauces. The gals mostly hung out as a group, too. I don't know what they talked about. I certainly didn't flirt with any of them, if that's what you're getting at."
"Still, think about those wives. What did they see when they noticed you?"
"I'd be startled to learn that they noticed me."
"We women notice more about men than you'd think. What was different about you?"
"I'd gotten into better shape?"
"Which means what to middle aged wives raised on Dear Abby?"
Lars got the point. "That I'm doing it for the 'Other Woman.' Because all guys are...what's the male synonym for 'skanks?'"
"Lamentably, Lisa listened to them, and then turned P.I. She neglected you for several weeks until the fact of your fidelity became established beyond doubt." Karen picked up her notebook and glanced through it. "Lisa told me, 'Freud said, 'Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.' And sometimes a guy getting in shape is just a guy getting in shape.'"
"I knew I was in the doghouse; I just didn't know why. I didn't fight it. Perversely, I thought, 'Be that way. I want to need you less anyway.'"
"When the truth was established, she tried to initiate sex that night. Do you remember it?"
"I wasn't really into it. Three weeks is a long time to stew on injustice."
"She said it was the first time you'd ever given her 'maintenance sex.'"
"Pardon?"
"Sex when your body doesn't need it, but the relationship does."
"I've received some of that, but I knew going in that Lisa's needs in the sex department are less than mine. She seldom turns me down when I initiate, at least that's how it used to be."
"Shortly after that evening, something happened that opened Lisa's eyes to your coping strategy. Can you remember what that might have been?"
"Nothing comes to mind."
"Do you remember doing something for yourself that you've never done before? Something that she witnessed that seemed absolutely inexplicable to Lisa. Something that yanked her thoughts in an entirely new direction?"
Lars brooded at bit, then ventured, "Me sewing?"
Karen nodded. "Sometimes the tiniest pebble starts an avalanche. She pretty much worked everything out from there."
"What did she do then?"
"She made an appointment with me. Your strategy has worked to this extent; she perceives her...what was it?...BATNA to be poor. She loves you, she wants to be with you all her life, and is frightened that you seem to be preparing yourself to leave her. She wonders whether you're just waiting for the kids to go to college."
Lars seemed chastened. "I never planned to leave at all. I just didn't want to get jerked around again."
"You've both jumped to conclusions; particularly, you both suspected the other of cheating on slender evidence. You've both withheld feelings that should have been shared. But neither of you has done anything unforgivable. Further, Lisa has learned a valuable lesson: that the husband/wife relationship has to be the primary one in the house. That suggests to me that with some frank communication you two can come out of this better than ever." Karen shrugged. "Lisa and I both thought that much needed conversation might be easier after she'd earned back a few wife points first."
"That sounds right," Lars asserted, "but I still have an issue. I'm still thinking she took some revenge sex when she thought I was cheating. Further, I think she gave her lover things she'd never given me, just to twist the knife. You said at the start that I was wrong about that, but no one changes that much, that fast when it comes to sex. Not on their own. It's like she was coached by an expert."
Karen blew on her fingernails and buffed them on her lapel in the classic metaphor for pride in a task well done. "Thanks!" she said brightly.
"You!" Lars looked for a moment like he'd been poleaxed. "You got her to suck and swallow?!"
"It's more than you know. I didn't just tell her how. I hypnotized her, and in deep trance had her practice the lesson with the Lars within her imagination. Then I implanted a post-hypnotic trigger she can fire off herself when she wants to bolster her attitude and her technique when it comes to oral sex. I actually gave her several other mental tools to use when she feels the need for them in the bedroom. I think that going forward, far fewer of your interludes with Lisa will be maintenance sex."
"Wow," Lars breathed, trying to wrap his head around this revelation.
"That her technique was so good it made you suspicious is evidence of how strong her rapport with me was. There's no chance she lied when I verified in trance she's never cheated on you...ever." Karen suddenly changed the serious mood. "But I don't think I need to suggest hypnotherapy for you. Lisa was quite complimentary about your oral sex skills."
A belly laugh burst out of Lars, carrying with it a lot of nervous tension. "You're right," he said at last, "we are badly in need of that long talk. But I think we will be better than before." Lars shrugged sheepishly. "And I sure am tired of my own cooking!"
- COMMENTS
I can't believe some of the things people are reading into this one. Sometimes a story is just a story; a well written, enjoyable story.
After thoroughly reading this story, I still can't figure how the Bozos commenting say she is cheating, or the husbands thinking his kids would not have been affected had he taken his "dream" job at a time when his kids are in their last couple of years of high school! Realistically my patents did that to me in my senior year of high school. I resented my father for years afterwards and went thru several rebellious years hating my dad for not letting me graduate with my friends. I was in my late 20's before we reconciled. Yes, the husband relented, but sulked about it, blaming his wife so she in turn responded accordingly. Everybody have a good hissy fit now!
His family are "takers". With everything that the wife and children have done (mainly) the wife. I would have planned an exit strategy and executed it with the children graduating high school.
Some of the negative comments here are absolutely insane. This is a story about two people who are not communicating and who almost lost their relationship because of it, that's it. Both of them clearly love each other, both of them clearly remained faithful to each other and both of them clearly want to have a better marriage. The insults thrown at either the female or male lead for their behavior here leads me to believe that a substantial contingent of readers here are either woefully inexperienced, or inadequate when it comes to personal and romantic relationships. It's scary.
That being said, I thought the story was cute. It tackled several serious issues with a lot of humor and creativity and was practically so wholesome that it took me a second to remember that a central plot point was an erotic blow job. Overall, I say well done to the author. 5/5
To nixrox this story had a cuck bitch for a husband you know not a man it would never end up in a divorce cause cuck bitches has no balls everyone with common sense knows the wife is really cheating on him trying to find a man but the problem there she will never find a man like that cause a man wont help a woman cheat on her husband
Yeah the wife definitely cheated and the counselor is kinda of doing her job and kinda of not she knows the wife cheated and not telling the husband that part is doing her job her lying to the husband and telling him something that's bullshit is not means she is part of the wife cheating on him she basically admitted that to the husband but he is too much of a cuck bitch to see the truth sorry but no wife that always stands against her husband the way this wife did is going to stay true to him cause the husband showed he is not a man so she's fucking other men trying to find a real man but a real man won't help a woman cheat on her husband another proof he was no man is that he lets his own kids walk all over him he needs to grow a pair of balls and leave his slut of a wife cause she is fucking around on him and his kids know she is but his kids don't respect him as a man cause they know he isn't a man so they are on the sluts side
Interesting. You've put that's been wife back, albeit with very weak sexual connection only. The rest of the Wife and Kids' damage to the husband's mental state has not changed. The damage from the lost job may not be repairable, but the so called counselor didn't do anything about that. So the kids are still in their selfish La La Land, even if Mom has come out of part of hers. And unfortunately that will probably follow them in their patterns will be established for the rest of their lives by the damage the mom has exhibited and influenced into them.
Brilliant insight into our legal system and the disaster it has become for relationships. But not for the marriage counsel industry I guess. Pretty invasive, most of the counselors are that way, they think they're smarter than everybody else, an Institutional or personal arrogance that creeps in, which allows them to intervene where they shouldn't and direct things that become damaging. The other part you leave out is they usually want to keep you coming back for more and more and more. Follow the money.
Lol how was this a RAAC, let alone a "marginal" one. There were suspicions, misunderstandings, hurt feelings, insecurities, and poor communication. But a RAAC? Just lolz.
3 stars for a marginal RAAC kind of story.
There were way too many places that this story could go off the rails, ending in divorce.
You keep playing with fire eventually, you will get burned.
I like reconciliation stories where there is no cheating involved but just neglect. I can identify with the man getting together with the wife again so much more if the man doesn't have to forgive cheating.
I can’t say enough about this series , it grabbed me by the balls in chapter 1 , squeezed them almost painfully in chapter 2 and let them and my prostrate do what comes naturally in chapter 3 . I wouldn’t have been dissatisfied if I had paid for this story . You have a great talent at storytelling! This is worth all the stars in the heavens ! Thank you .
Just another story about a man who sacrifices his happiness for an ungrateful wife and family
5 Stars. Nicely done...oh how just tiny seeds of doubt can rapidly become the trigger for disaster. Luck played a big part there....if the wife hadn't wised up and gone to cunselling who knows where the game would have ended.
Original and well written. Talking to each other would have saved a lot of grief - but it wouldn't have made much of a story.
LA
I liked the series, rather than cheat she went to a marriage counselor for help and he just got into shape thinking she was cheating. In the end they both found out no one had cheated. 5/5
Should have stopped at Chapter 1. He ends up getting a bit more sex from a hypnotized zombie but doesn't have the job he worked so hard for and is still low man on the totem pole at home. What a wonderful life he has to look forward to.
Others comments are as my thoughts,others diametrically opposed.
He lost and had a lot of pain. She had an ouchie. Hypnosis for sex? No!! Both parties need to be fully cognizant.
ehhhh. Poor Helen1899, Thinks that no one got hurt, no one got cheated on. Does she not realize that he got cheated out of a job that he had worked hard for? He lost, lost, lost. She, however maintained her stay-at-home status and gained absolute control of him, due to him being a good person. After everything is said and done, she was and still remains a bitch. Good story though. LP
Another few paragraphs of THEIR post therapist talks would have been icing on the cake.
In the end, his Wife and children still don't support his career. He should have left them in the house and moved himself to Dallas and found a small apartment.
Good story about a lack of communication will do to a marriage. In this case they just needed to communicate rather that become suspicious. Well done 5 stars
A denouement with the couple talking to each other may have been cliché, but would have been a good way to relieve tension after keeping the two of them separate for the entire narration. As it is, the end arrives quite abruptly. Very well-told story otherwise.
what a well written story. made me feel good about life. Its nice when no ones cheated.
Elenriel dug himself into a self confessed hole, and then dug himself out again.
This story started with a marriage at risk because of poor communication and turned into a fantasy story about counselors with a god complex. It never once puts the couple in the same spot and deals with them; instead the focus is on how great the counselling is. A few well placed "Socratic" questions and the wife is transformed. Throw in a bit of hypnosis to turn the wife into the cocksucker he always wanted and all that is left for the counselor to sell it to the husband in the wrap up.
As an exercise, the story works due to its relative originality in the LW section, so it gets credit for that. Making the counselor into the hero who gets the couple to see the reality of the situation, not to mention get over her gag reflex, seems a bit too convenient.
puts the wimp of a husband back into his feminized marriage. Men are so simple! Blow jobs fix everything. Just stupid and culturally toxic, but certainly "different"
I agree with the three comments previous to the last one. The wife and kids were both selfish and clueless. Let the three of them take over the responsibility of providing a place to live, food, clothing, cars and all the other stuff it takes to live a comfortable life. The previous comment talked about “love”. What love did they show him when they fought the move to Dallas so strenuously?
This story was excellent, one of the best ever on this site. A perfectly executed and thoughtful plot. A MOST BELEIVABLE PLOT. I could easily see this happening in real life. A very loving if low sexed wife not wanting to uproot her familiar life or that of her kids. A loving husband who has hurt feelings by being "forced" to turn down his dream job for the good of his family; but still throws a tantrum to demonstrate his hurt feelings. Then, a very good explanation of the following fallout! 5*'s
no dealing with the kids, who sure as hell have it coming. BS that they are good kids, if they talked shit about their own father. Ugh.
OTOH, very creative overall premise.
Let's see. Manipulative, coniving wife figures out her husband is pulling away due to what?? Yes. Her manipulative coniving ways.
How does she repond? Yep. She conives and manipulates him. With the help of a quack. And this is good how??
Leave the bitch. Leave her now.
But spit on her face on your way out the door.
i'v seen therapy stories.
this feels off.
she didn't clue the husband in on her hypno-therapy.
did the therapist abuse the woman? make the woman masturbate in front of her? did she abuse her client? was there cheating involved? we'll never know. it's almost like a drugging story. we the audience were never clued in the last chapter. it's not about the wife and husband much anymore, but the therapist. is she a predatory opportunist? we'll never know.
Too bad you have stopped writing. I would have enjoyed another case study from Karen's files and her innovative methods.
far were they? I'd just tell them I'd fly home every other weekend. Then every third weekend etc. The whole lot were selfish. They could either suck it up and move to me or not.
Who could have believe something like this could be possible in the LW section?
If I got a dollar every time I thought, after reading a story around here "COMMUNICATION. You should have talked to each other, you morons!" or "If only they went to a therapist to work on their marriage..."
Seriously, I would be able to buy this damn website.
Healthiest story I've seen in this section... yeah, probably forever. The blowjob in Chapter 2 was very appreciated, but it wasn't about that - always great to watch a man and his woman working hard to reconnect with each other.
Thanks for the great work, Elenriel.
Wunderbar!
Individually and together chapters 1,2,3 were well written and enjoyable. Proof that L.W. Stories don't have to include cheating to be entertaining. (Although it's kinda the point of the site...sex in all its dirty, twisted and complicated glory)
It also made me wish I could seek your councle for real. (Yes I need help too...I spend way too much time reading porn 😱)
As for those who feel he should have left her... I'm glad you feel that way because you have no business in being in a relationship and are doing your spouse a favor.
15 stars in all.
I have to give it four stars because of originality...interesting concept. As for those saying they would have divorced her, I'm guessing most of them already have if they gave up on a marriage that easily.
Piss poor ending. I'd of left, taking the job without them. They could stay there, in the "Family House", while I was away in Dallas...
I would of divorced her in a heart beat, or at the very least, packed my bags and left for parts unknown.
Original, thoughtful, and well-written. It's not often one finds a story in LW that isn't pretty much like all the others!
Thanks, ohio
I enjoyed the story, and realizing it is similar to my situation I wish my wife would see the import of talking or better yet, hearing my feelings.
Your plot was Very unusual. It fit right in with the 'wording' of the category in which you placed it, contrary to most in this catagory. Most are about unloving wives and husbands. These seem to be, well, a loving couple. 3 cheers and a well earned 5 * rating.
DHL
Congrats on a very good story. Four out of five. Maybe a 4.5. Again very well written dialogue. But this chapter seemed almost too tidy. The husband figured everything out with almost no guidance and doesn't seem upset at all that his wife suspected him of adultery.
On top of that he gave up his concern about her cheating very quickly. At some point one or both of them should get angry because the other one isn't communicating.
Having said all that I still really like the original plot concept. I hope there is more to come.
Cheers
Steve
Very nice chapters- creative, though not erotic. Very original. Could be some follow up exploiting the suggestive triggers, but it would take some darker impulses from the husband to do that. He's a pussycat, right??? Keep up the nice work.
So the family screws up his career but he and his dummy are now lovey dovey. Doesn't seem like an equal give and take. As he sits at his desk and realizes what he was forced to give up may have serious repercussions in years to come. Can you hear his wife complaining they don't have enough income with 3 kids in college? BULL----
Y'all are being really tough on both of them. She wasn't a poor wife, she just took her husband for granted. A mistake many people are guilty of! Well, after this, she's learned her lesson and will very likely be a great wife. Doesn't seem like a bad deal for him to keep her!