The Grass Could Be Greener

by Constance Masters

  “Then why don’t you leave them out of it.”

  “Because it’s my job top teach them the difference between right and wrong. Not right or wrong with extenuating circumstances.”

  “But I feel just awful.”

  “Good.”

  “Please?” It hurt her to ask again, big time.

  “The subject is closed. Now you have dinner to make and I have my own things to attend to but for the record? Making her wait is the worst part of her punishment.”

  “Hmmm. Can I ask just one more question?”

  Joe rolled his eyes with exasperation. “That would be two actually. You already asked the first one.”

  “Is that what you’re doing with me... making me wait as part of the punishment?”

  “No. Your punishment will be a good solid spanking. We just have other things to attend to first. Now get on it.”

  A smart–ass retort was on the tip of Jamie’s tongue, but she managed to reel it in before she got herself in any more trouble. “I think I’d rather just get it over with,” she said quietly.

  “I just bet you would,” he said, his hand jutting out to smack her behind once with the spoon. “It’s not your call.”

  “Hey, you said you would wait. What was that?” she yelped.

  “A deposit.”

  *****

  Jamie gave Josie a sympathetic smile as the young girl walked into the dining room and took her seat without looking at the rest of them. She could tell she was embarrassed.

  “Would you like to say the blessing?” Joe asked.

  Josie nodded. “Yes, Daddy,” she said, before muttering a quick thanks for the food before them.

  “I bet that was a stretch, Hon,” Jamie said, peering at the less than appetising bowls of soup and tired looking sandwiches before them. They hadn’t looked too bad in the kitchen; anyone could slap a piece of cheese between bread, but they seemed to be turning their crispy edges up now like a dog-eared corner of paper.

  Joe cleared his throat. “Eat,” he said to everyone at the table, but his eyes settled on hers.

  There was a lot of clattering and dinging as spoons scraped the sides of bowls. Everyone did their best to look like they were eating. The sandwiches went untouched except by Joe, who nibbled a corner before putting it back on the plate.

  “I’m not hungry, Daddy,” Matty said.

  “Anyone else?” he asked collectively, deciding to put them out of their misery. Everyone raised their hands, even Jamie. “Off you go, then. Back to your rooms.”

  The kids scuttled off, pleased to be away from the dense atmosphere and the yucky food.

  Jamie winced. “That was bad, wasn’t it?” she said.

  “It wasn’t great,” Joe said with a small chuckle. “How on earth did you ruin a perfectly good soup? Was that the one from the freezer that Sarah left?”

  “Uh huh.”

  Joe frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “Me either.”

  “How’d you cook it?”

  “I thawed it out in the microwave and then I added water and heated it,” she said.

  “You don’t need to add water to homemade soup.”

  “Oh, that’s why I thought it was bland. I added some salt.”

  “Ah,” he said. “Oh well, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll make something later if I get hungry. I doubt the kids would have eaten much anyway.” His tone was as disapproving as the look he gave her.

  “I could do it for you now,” she answered pretending not to notice the look that had turned her insides to jelly. So much for her bravery and her big story. She’d been willing to put her ass on the line, literally.

  “Nope. Kids are in bed. It’s time you made your decision.”

  “I need to go to the bathroom first,” she said, panic settling on her fast. “I haven’t had a chance to look over the contract.”

  “Go ahead then,” he said. “I’ll clear the dishes. You brought it with you didn’t you?”

  “Yeah. Jeremy put it in my bag.”

  “Go and read then and be quick about it.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, glad that it would buy her a little more time.

  Chapter 7

  Jamie closed her bedroom door and leant against it. “Holy shit!” she muttered under her breath. She dug around in her still unpacked suitcase for the two items she needed. The contract and her iPad.

  “Interesting day! A day I probably should have thought through a little better. I’m a journalist; I should have looked at my plan from every angle. I didn’t. I did succeed in pushing the spanker to his limits and I really enjoyed that for a while. What I didn’t take into account was the aftermath. I got the sweet thirteen–year–old in big trouble and I feel bad about that. I don’t even know what the trouble was – he hasn’t told me – but he did assure me that he wasn’t going to spank her so that’s something. The others are in trouble too. Not as much though, and little Hanny got sick from too much junk. Also my fault. I guess I let my ego and this story get in the way of what I’m supposed to be doing here – being a mom to these kids. I do think though, they deserve some kind of a life other than the one they experience at home. Next week I’m going to do something about that, but I’ll do it with their best interests at heart, not mine.

  Apparently there’s some information in the contract that I missed when I signed it so I need to look this over now. I have a decision to make, although I know I can’t leave. I have to make this little debacle up to these lovely kids.”

  Jamie tossed the iPad onto the bed and opened the envelope with the paperwork inside. There was a pile of papers all stapled together and a separate one on the bottom. She waded through the bulk of the contract, skimming over the parts that were repetitive and of little interest to her until she got to the nitty gritty. Joe was right. Damn. Like he needed to be right about something else tonight. Not that the money was really an enormous factor for her. They were comfortable. It was a lot of money for this family to lose, though. That’s probably why they’d done this. So many people were being affected by this. This whole experiment thing wasn’t turning out to be as straightforward as she thought it would be.

  She grabbed up the papers and tried to shove them back into the envelope but the last page fell on the ground. When Jamie picked it up, she realised that it was in a different font than the rest of the contract.

  “What the hell?” she said when she realised the sheet was a simple contract and it had her signature on the bottom. Why would Jeremy do this to her? Even after reading it a second time she didn’t know what to think.

  I Jamie Winter, agree that by leaving the show early, I will have cost my family money and wasted their time on a whim. This will be my complete financial responsibility. I will make my own business arrangement to pay back the money to the show producers and will not involve my husband in said decision until I agree to seek help with regards to my marriage.

  She’d never seen this before and yet there was her signature on the bottom. She brushed at a tear that ran down her cheek. The words had hit her hard, like someone had punched her in the stomach. She was so confused. Did they need marriage counseling? There were times when Jeremy wasn’t too happy with her, but this was just mean, like he didn’t trust her at all. Why? Why wouldn’t he have told her if something was wrong? She had so many questions and no way at all to get the answers. The night she’d signed the contracts came back to her again and she realised he must have slipped it onto the bottom. Like an idiot, she’d signed it with all the others without giving them a second glance.

  She lay on the bed and tossed the iPad onto the suitcase on the floor like it was to blame for all this. All she wanted was to go home and ask Jeremy if he really felt like their marriage was in trouble. Now there was no way she could go home and not because of the stupid financial responsibility thing. She wasn’t going home until she could show Jeremy that she could stick to the rules and stay here.

  “Times up, young lady,” Joe
called from the other side of the door.

  Her tummy dropped like she’d fallen from a great height and she sat bolt upright on the bed, for the moment her problems with Jeremy on the back burner. “What the hell do you wear when you’re about to be spanked?” she whispered.

  “NOW!” Joe said a little louder, adding an impatient rapid-fire knock.

  “Jeans it is.” She sighed. She just thought of a heading for her story. “Be careful what you wish for.”

  *****

  Sarah tapped out a few sentences and then hit delete several times in a row before getting up to get herself a cup of coffee. This was a lot harder than she realised. If she could at least get started then maybe it would flow, but with a foggy head from going out again the night before it was hard. So far all she’d done was jot down notes and look some stats up on the net. In a word, it was boring.

  “Struggling?” Amy asked from behind her.

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “A bit,” Amy said. “Maybe you’re trying too hard. You know, I had a quick look at your notes.”

  “No good?”

  Amy pulled a face. “Not exactly no good, but not what I was thinking of. There are stats galore available if that’s what people need to see. What I want is homeschooling from a mom’s perspective. What was school like for you? What made you make the decision to home school? What is a typical day in your life like? How do you feel when you’re teaching your kids? Is it rewarding? Maybe you feel resentful sometimes and wish you had the day to yourself to watch soap operas...” Amy smiled. “What ever you like. Just write your article from your heart.”

  Sarah could feel herself relaxing. “Thank you, that helps. A lot.”

  *****

  By the time lunch came, Sarah was feeling much better. She had her article partially written and she decided that if the girls asked, she was going to say no tonight. A night at home was what she needed. She missed Joe and the kids so much it hurt, but if she couldn’t have them at least she could stay home and play with Sophie and Poppy. She would have loved to be at home preparing the dinner, bathing the girls and putting them in their pajamas. She sighed. Life wasn’t about getting what you wanted all the time. What she was going to do was play a game or two with them and maybe read them some stories. Then when they were asleep, she was going to chat with Jeremy and see what was inside his head. This seemed to her to be a lovely young family that was going down a slippery slope. Maybe her second week rules could make a difference.

  *****

  “Hi, Honey, I’m home!” Sarah joked as she came through the door.

  “You’re out of luck,” Caroline chuckled. “Only me here at the moment.”

  “And me!” Sophie sang out.

  “Me, me,” Poppy shouted.

  “And the girls of course.”

  “Well, I’m pleased to see all of you,” Sarah said, kissing both sets of blonde curls. “You’re here late.”

  “Jeremy had to work,” she said quietly. “I don’t mind. He’s here as much as he can be,” she whispered over the top of the girls’ heads.

  Sarah nodded. “You know what? If Jamie came home and Jeremy was at work, you wouldn’t stay would you?”

  “No, not normally. It’s usually Jeremy that’s home first.”

  “Okay, then. I guess it wouldn’t be against the rules if you went home now and I took care of Soph and Poppy until their Daddy got home.”

  “No, I don’t suppose it would,” Caroline said. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” Sarah said, excited that she was going to be able to be a proper mother again, even if it was only for a an hour or so.

  “I’ll get my things. Oh and you don’t have to worry about dinner, Jeremy’s bringing something.”

  *****

  “Do you make your little girls’ hair pretty like this?” Sophie asked.

  “Yes, I do,” Sarah said, as she expertly wound strands of the child’s long hair into a braid. “It helps to keep the knots out while she’s sleeping.”

  “I miss my mommy,” Sophie said.

  “I know, Sweetie. Only one more week and she’ll be home.”

  “No silly, I miss her all the time when she goes to work.”

  “Oh,” Sarah said. “Well some mommies stay home all the time and some mommies have jobs to do.”

  “I want my Mommy to be home with me.”

  “And me,” Poppy added with a nod.

  “Hmm. Lots of little children want that. I’m sure your mommy would be home more if she could be.”

  “I’m hungry,” Sophie said.

  “Then it’s lucky that we have burgers!” Jeremy said, coming into the kitchen and dropping a couple of sacks onto the table with a tray of drinks.

  “Burgers,” Sarah said. “Okay. Can Poppy manage a burger?”

  “Sometimes I just break it up for her. He ripped a burger into several more manageable pieces and plopped it in front of his daughter with some fries. She started munching happily so Sarah started to do the same thing for Sophie.

  “Don’t break it,” the little girl grumbled. “I’m not a baby.”

  Sarah smiled and put the burger gently back on the plate. “Of course not. You’re a big girl.”

  “Me big,” Poppy said. “Me big too.”

  “You aren’t a baby, Poppy,” Sarah agreed, “But Sophie is a little older than you. You will be a big girl very soon.”

  “Me big now!” Poppy whined tossing her plate onto the floor and all the pieces of burger with it.

  Sarah looked at Jeremy, not sure how to proceed. After all, this wasn’t her week and not really her call. Jeremy apparently had already read her mind and was on it. His reaction though was not what she expected or approved of.

  “Don’t cry, Pops,” he said, smiling reassuringly. “Daddy will fix it.”

  Daddy did fix it, by scooping all the pieces and tossing them into the trash before producing another untouched burger.

  “Here you go, Honey. Good as new. A big girl’s burger.”

  Poppy gave him a sweet smile and snatched the burger from his hand as he was about to unwrap it.

  “I do,” she said.

  “Good girl!” he crooned.

  Ok then, Sarah thought. There’s much work to be done here next week.

  *****

  “Jamie!” Joe barked as loudly as he could without getting the kids attention.

  “Okay, okay,” Jamie said, opening the door and stepping outside before he could see the still waiting to be unpacked suitcase. “No need to get your knickers in a knot.”

  “And here I was worried that you were too distraught to come out.”

  “What if I was?”

  “You’re not. Come on.” He glanced at her sideways as he steered them back towards the garage. “Have you been crying?”

  “I don’t want to talk about that. It has nothing to do with this or the children or my job as your surrogate wife. It’s personal.”

  “Okay,” he said. “That’s your business.”

  “I was thinking, um, that maybe we could sit for a while in the kitchen and discuss things.”

  “Were you?” he said as he continued right past the table and towards the garage.

  “Yes, well I see why you were upset.”

  “Good,” he said picking up the spoon he’d left on the chair after their last talk.

  “Um,” she said, staring so hard at the spoon that seemed to be growing bigger before her very eyes. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

  “And yet you caused a lot of it.” He yanked her arm and toppled her over his knees.

  “Don’t use that thing, Joe! It hurts!”

  “Uh–huh,” he said, swiping the spoon across her jean clad bottom in a fiery line. “I’m really surprised with your mouth and attitude that your bratty bottom isn’t used to being paddled with a spoon.”

  “Oh, fuck!” she squealed, immediately regretting her outburst as the line of fire burst into flames with a flurry of smacks.

/>   “We do not use that language in this house,” Joe said as he peppered her bottom up down sideways and everywhere between with sharp raps of the spoon.

  “Okay, okay!” Jamie puffed out with the little amount of breath that she could summon. One hand settled on the cement floor while the other shot back to save her poor battered rear. “It slipped out!” Her sock clad toes drummed a noiseless tattoo on the cement floor.

  “Stop making such a fuss,” he said clutching the wavering hand and slapping one of her legs. “You’re lucky you’re not bare.”

  Those words threw her into sheer panic and she kicked wildly in an effort to get away. “No... not bare,” she managed to get out. “Stop, stop!”

  “Be still. No one is taking your pants off. I’m married too, remember?” Joe said and he did lighten the spanks just a little. “I’m just making sure you feel it through your jeans.”

  “I feel it!” she wailed. “I’m sorry, Joe, please! I’m sorry!”

  Joe lifted his leg to raise her bottom higher and landed several crisp spanks to each sit spot before he set down the spoon and helped her stand.

  Jamie rubbed her burning and battered bottom vigorously, trying to stop the hot tears that burned her eyes from falling. She was humiliated enough; she didn’t want to give this man the satisfaction of seeing her tears.

  “That hurt.” she sniffled.

  “Kind of the point.”

  “An unnecessary point. I’m a grown wom...” she started. She gasped as Joe cut her off mid sentence.

  He flipped her back over his knee and this time used his hand to make his final point. He landed several sets of swats again on each sit spot. “A grown woman that apparently wasn’t as sorry as I thought,” he said, picking a spot on one cheek and spanking it over and over.

  “I am sorry! Really!” she said trying to rock her bottom away from his hand.

  “I don’t know that I believe you,” he said, moving to the same spot on the other cheek and giving it the same treatment.

  “I PRO...MISE!” she sobbed, finally bursting into unabashed tears.

  This time when she was back on her feet, she said nothing but sobbed pathetically.