As a rule lawyers
tend to want to do whatever
they can to win.
Bill Williams
tend to want to do whatever
they can to win.
Bill Williams
x
x
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He was tired. Tired of her voice, tired of her complaints; bone tired from all the arguments. Maxwell didn’t know what to make of this relationship any more. Love was a female that could never be satisfied. There was always some complaint to be had. You work too much, but if he didn’t the complaint would be about money. You don’t spend enough time, but then you didn’t give enough space. What the ******** was he suppose to do with all these contradictions? All he knew was he was getting a fair size headache. A man shouldn’t be wary about walking into his own apartment but that was just the feeling he got every time he put the key in the lock. Today was no exception. Maxwell hated the fact that he closed the door behind him as quietly as possible. Maybe, if he could at least get into the kitchen and have a snack he’d be fuelled for the argument he knew would be heading his way soon. Silent steps. All he could afford to take were silent steps. He couldn’t believe it came to this. Life hadn’t always been this way.
Max hated to think of himself as one of those people that lived in the past. But, this relationship really was better back then. There had been an appeal that just seemed to dull with time. They’d both been young, ambitious and so ready to prove themselves to the world. Now, it seems they let the world invade. No that wouldn’t be fair to say. He let the world invade. Max didn’t blame himself. When they met Mary knew he had goals, aspirations. There were things he wanted out of this life and he asked her if she wanted to come along for the ride. She said yes. Did she believe every phase would be smooth? When they first started dating he put a lot of things on the side to spend time with her to give her the attention she needed. Now was the time for him to focus all of that energy into his work. In a few more years, he was sure he could break junior executive. Things could only continue to climb from there. He just needed to put in the hours. Why she couldn’t understand that was beyond him.
She made him feel like he was sabotaging their relationship. Which wasn’t the case. She wouldn’t see it that way. All she knew was he didn’t want to spend time with her. He was always coming home late; he didn’t care. Like hell he didn’t care. Max made it to the kitchen without making more noise than necessary. Pulling open the fridge he looked for the food he’d come to expect wrapped on a plate in the fridge for him. But, it wasn’t there. It hadn’t been there for the past week but he kept hoping it was just a phase something that would pass. He’d just have to wait it out a little bit longer. Rambling through the bins, he pulled out lettuce, sliced tomato pieces, ketchup, mayo, mustard, cheese and deli beef slices. He was famished so a double decker was on the menu. He was in the middle of making the sandwich when his phone went off. A shrilling ring that echoed in the silence. A dead give away that he was indeed home. If he hadn’t been moving his plate across the kitchen he might have been able to turn it off mid ring. As it happened instead he found himself dropping the sandwich and the plate onto the tiled kitchen floor making even more noise.
“ s**t. s**t.”
There was no way Mary would miss all of that. Kicking at some invisible object, Max took of his jacket and placed it on one of the kitchen stools. Rolling back the sleeves of his olive green work short he got busy cleaning up the mess he made. Once the sandwich and the big pieces of the plate were cleared up he got the broom and swept up the smaller more dangerous pieces. Max knew how deadly they could be. He’d had a few smaller piece slip under his skin a time or two. Max wondered if he’d even have the time to make himself another sandwich.
“ This is crazy.”
Why was he afraid to make himself something to eat just because he came in late from work? So what if his phone rung and it was work. This was his job. It was what he loved to do. Max was tired of dancing around that truth. When Mary met him she knew this was who he was. The only change that occurred was that he finally got the opportunity to make his dreams come true. She demanded too much without opening her eyes to the truth of the situation. He wanted this. Had wanted it before he met her and if she decided to leave he’d want it even after she left. Did he love her? Yes. But he would not give up the things he wanted simply for love. Max didn’t believe in fairy tales. Love didn’t make people happy. Giving up the things he always wanted for love wasn’t a part of his agenda. Mary was going to have to understand that he was doing everything he could to make her happy as well as get the things he wanted out of life.
And all he wanted was to eventually be partner in the T&B Law firm. It’s the firm his father worked in for years. Maxwell grew up hearing how brilliant his father was. Ever since his father passed away from cancer his dream was to walk in his father’s foot steps. All the potential people said his father had; had been transferred to him. He’d be the man his father never could be. Tossing the broken plate shards into the garbage Max started over. This time he didn’t even bother toasting the bread. He was half way through the sandwich when he realize he hadn’t heard Mary. She wasn’t such a heavy sleeper and the woman didn’t usually sleep until he got home, which was the reason they had so many arguments. Why she felt the need to stay up and wait for him was beyond him. He did try and call most times. Tonight things just got out of hand and he hadn’t the chance. So, he knew she would be up waiting. She hadn’t come out yet though. That wasn’t like her. It was this uncharacteristic reaction that had him calling out her name when he wanted nothing more than to avoid a scene with her.
“ Mary?” Max walked out of the kitchen with his plate in his hands. Black socks moved from tile to carpet as he searched for his girl friend, “Mary…..baby are up? Are you home.” Max felt a bit stupid standing in the middle of the apartment with a sandwich on a plate asking if his girlfriend was home. Where else would she be at this time of day? It wasn’t as if she left him. No…Mary wasn’t the type of woman to just leave. Was she? No. Max didn’t think he’d driven her to that extreme. Not that he could be blamed if she did decide to leave. Max let out a sigh and went to the table and set his plate down. He didn’t have time for this not tonight. Pulling on his slacks he took a seat and began to enjoy his meal. Whenever Mary wanted to answer him she would. If not, he’d get the silent treatment and for once he wouldn’t complain about it.
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