Chapter 6
RPOV
After Steph left my office Friday night to say I was surprised was an understatement. I offered her an apartment on the 4th floor which she said she would take at the beginning of the week, but that she was going home to stay for the weekend. She didn't want anyone to get wind of what was going on. She said for once this was going to be her story to be told, not dictated by the Burg Gossipers.
We talked for about an hour, and as I explained to her that I had met Morelli at a police function last year and he claimed that they had an open marriage while he had his arm around Terri Gillman she about lost it. She said that all Morelli men cheat on their wives, but she thought that Joe was the exception to that rule, even though in the past year she was becoming more and more suspicious. She said that in the past year he has become more and more pushy about starting a family, and she believes that was to corner her into staying married to him even if she didn't want to. She figured out at one point that he was replacing her birth control pills with candy, so she went to her gynecologist and explained the situation and began taking the depo shot every 3 months and leaving the pills for him to tamper with.
The more I listened to her talk, not only was I in awe of everything that she had been through with him, but that she was so resourceful not to get caught up in this relationship without a way out. She said eventually she would like to have kids, but as time passed she couldn't picture herself having kids with Joe. The more I listened to her talk, I think she realized her marriage was over but was so far in denial to say it out loud. They seemed more like roommates than lovers. To say that Stephanie deserved better was the understatement of the year.
I took Stephanie up to my apartment to have dinner with me since she claimed what she cooked sucked so bad that Joe had to leave the house. We finished our discussion over a chicken and rice casserole that Ella made with some bread. I wanted to offer her some wine, but I didn't want her to think I was trying to loosen her up in her vulnerable state and take advantage of her.
When Steph left she gave me and hug and kissed me on the cheek. She thanked me over and over as I walked her down to her car and made sure she got out of the garage without incident. As I walked back to my apartment I felt this ping of loneliness. The apartment felt emptier since Stephanie left. I had never had that feeling as long as I had lived here. I didn't quite understand it, I just knew I didn't want my time with Stephanie to end.
She was my polar opposite, she was light and I was darkness. I was full of mystery and she was an open book. I went and threw on a pair of shorts and headed to the gym to run, at this rate there was no way I was going to be able to sleep if I didn't do something.
JPOV
I stumbled into the house after having a few beers at Mooch's. Terri met me over there and we spent most of the night in the guest bedroom. Terri has been a constant in my life for as long as I could remember. It just seemed like our professional lives made it impossible for our personal lives to exist together. I've loved Terri just about as long as I've loved Stephanie. She was Steph's complete opposite. She was wild in bed, yet she knew how to be subservient. It didn't matter what I asked Terri always did it, even if she didn't want to. She never argued and never asked for more our of our relationship than I could give. She was happy with whatever I was willing to give her and would show me her gratitude every time we were together.
I love Stephanie, I love that she is Burg, I love that she fits so well into the whole family mold that the burg stands for. In the Burg the Morelli's and the Plum's were like royalty so Steph and I getting married just made sense. Stephanie was young and naive when we first started dating. I knew she had a crush on me, so that made it so much easier. It also helped that her Mother pushed her towards me every chance she got. Helen and my Mom worked on Stephanie for two years before she finally accepted my proposal. Once she accepted they didn't wasted any time, they didn't want her to try to back out. We were married a month later in a ceremony planned by our mothers, that to be completely honest I don't think Steph had a single say so in. She was miserable during that month of planning, so I tried to take her mind off it by telling her how much better it would be once we got married.
I figured once we got married she would quit working, we would start having kids, and she would become a stay at home mom. This way I would have my family, but could still have my fun on the side without her knowing. After five years Cupcake has not once been without a job, she refuses to stay at home. She has not become pregnant, even though I replaced her birth control pills with candy. I even believe she has a secret checking account that she has been putting money in. I just don't understand where I went wrong. Why couldn't Stephanie have been more like Terri? Terri could really teach Stephanie a thing or two about how to treat a man.