Becky: Part Twenty-Three

~ beetleypete

This is the twenty-third part of a fiction serial, in 735 words.

As we got into our third year of marriage, some things were becoming easier.
I had got to grips with the fact that Becky had friends separate from our relationship, and learned to deal with the odd night out or celebration that didn’t include me just because we were married. But the parents were always a problem, on both sides. Working shifts, her weekends off were rare, so treasured. It was her natural inclination to want to see her parents, and mine to visit mine. When her brother was over on business, I got to meet him again at a Sunday lunch. But with such a family reunion, I was very much the outsider as they chatted about things in the past, without the slightest effort to include me.

The next time she had a Sunday off, I wanted us to go to my mum and dad for lunch, but she said she was tired and just wanted to chill out. So I went on my own, and had an awkward couple of hours fending off my mum’s questions about why Becky hadn’t bothered to show up.

Transport also became an issue. My old car was beginning to need money spent on it, and we talked about replacing it. Becky was all for buying a brand new car, as that would be more reliable. I could see her point, but I was reluctant to use such a big chunk of our savings to buy one.

Then on her days off during that week, she went and bought a Fiat 500, ex-demonstrator model. When I got home, I saw it parked there, and wondered who was visiting. When she told me she had bought it on low-rate forty-eight month finance, I was flabbergasted. Yes, I understood that she earned enough to pay the monthly cost, but yet again she hadn’t spoken to me about something that was a big financial commitment. I was then stuck with having to try to sell my old car for next to nothing through an online ad, and let it go to the first guy who made me an offer for cash.

I wasn’t happy, and even less so when she began to refer to the Fiat as “My car”, and we could just about get our weekly shop into the tiny vehicle. I also felt more than a little silly running around in that mint-green car that felt about as solid as a roller skate with a cover. Luke had just bought what he described as a ‘vintage classic’, a Nissan Skyline 240K GT. It had huge performance and a mean exterior, and he couldn’t stop laughing at me having to drive the Fiat. Though I made all the right noises about him having no need for an over-powered gas guzzler, I couldn’t even convince myself.

It didn’t take long for me to calm down. We hardly used a car, and the little Fiat was actually ideal for the crowded roads where we lived, and the traffic-heavy journey to visit either set of parents. I had to admit, albeit releuctantly, that Becky had made the right choice. So I had a chat with her, and we agreed to pay off the finance using some of the savings, freeing up the couple of hundred a month she would have been paying out for four years.

Becky being Becky, she saw that as a green light to book an autumn holiday and came home one day excited about the fact she had booked a week away to Cyprus, in late September. She hadn’t even asked if I could get that time off work, just presumed. She didn’t think much of my job, and made that obvious. Even though it meant we got cheaper mortgage payments, she didn’t consider it to be a worthwhile career, not like being an Emergency Department nurse, anyway. I had to go in the next day and act all creepy to get the week off, eventually helped by one of my colleagues cancelling the same week she didn’t really need.

But it was irritating, never to be asked. I decided we were going to have to talk about that.

Annoyingly, it was a great holiday. The weather was perfect, we got on really well, and the hotel and choice of area was the best on the island.

Once again I found myself eating my words, and didn’t bother having that talk.

35 thoughts on “Becky: Part Twenty-Three”

  7. These are discussions that should be had during the dating game. If Becky likes being with her friends a lot before marriage, most likely she’s going to like being with her friends during marriage. If Becky is compulsive, free spending and free spirited before marriage, she will likely be the same during marriage. So forth and so on. Better to have the fights about this stuff before than during, if you don’t want an after, that is.

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  9. (1) Frankie “learned to deal with the odd night” that didn’t include him. So that means he was excluded on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So much for the weekend!
    (2) “But the parents were always a problem, on both sides.” The solution is to stay either in front of them or behind them.
    (3) Did you hear the one about the CEO of a seafood company who bought a 2020 Nissan GT-R for $125,000? He said that, for him, that was chunk change, though he did admit the company had to sell a lot of chunk tuna to pay for it.
    (4) “I was then stuck with having to try to sell my old car for next to nothing…” Marketing 101: Always put your car next to something. Like maybe a sexy model in a bikini.
    (5) Becky’s green eyes were immediately drawn to the mint-green Fiat. But at least the car didn’t cost a mint.
    (6) Overheard…
    “Though I made all the right noises about Luke being an over-powered beer guzzler, he was too drunk to notice.”
    (7a) Lesson learned: Skip Ibiza. Go to Cyprus.
    (7b) “Island my lesson!” (Becky)

    SHAMELESS PLUG—Selected excerpts from “Pope on the Dole” that include a reference to a future model of the Fiat 500:
    #1 The pope preaches…
    While Lucy tags cars at a motel on Mongolian Avenue, Niccolò, looking sharp in his new white linen shirt, pokes himself through the Fiat 500Pi’s sunroof.
    #2 At the sushi bar…
    After paying the cashier, who calls up the order on her computer screen, Niccolò walks to the table that offers the best view of the Fiat 500Pi. The rustic hickory chairs match the table, but have thick padded cushions to make them more comfortable.
    Within seconds, a man sporting attire that reminds Niccolò of his biking days approaches.
    “I prefer Pi.”
    “I’m sorry?”
    “That’s how Fiat used to advertise it.” His chin points to the car parked across the street. “My name is Roger. May I join you?”

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  10. I think we survived the 50 ++ years of our marriage is because she concerns herself with the little everyday things like houses and cars and checking accounts and I do the worrying about the big picture like war and peace and politics etc. And we never let the fact that neither one of us can decide where we should go to eat affect our marriage.

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  11. Dont blame the Cinquecento. 😉 Ok, i would not want it in mint, but Italian cars are beautiful. Prefers, of course, the one in this unique red color. Seems to be a very interesting relationsship here.Men are very reluctant to be paid by women. In the meantime, it is the other way around. I had already had clear experiences.

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    1. The only aspects of this story based on my own past are 1) Living with a nurse for some time, 2) Being the one who worked shifts when married to women who didn’t. I actually got on really well with my in-laws all three times, but my mum did complain about the guest list for my third wedding! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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