It was strangely lonely with Jim gone, but the cats ensured Mary was never without love. She fed them and sat down to eat breakfast on her own, noticing Jim's dirty dishes still on the table.  At least he had eaten before he had gone.

Food is always comforting and nowadays Mary always took her time over breakfast, enjoying the situation where she no longer had to rush to get on the 9 to 5 swing of being in a repetitive very ordinary job of low status where one was always expected to be on time and always had Mondayitis.

How very fortunate she now was, both of her little jobs. where she was highly regarded and really appreciated and well paid too, did not require her to be in before ten, but she was always on time and always happy to go to them.

Of course, being of independent means and now having a husband who would not mind if she didn't work at all was very comforting but her sense of worth came from her two little jobs and she wanted to keep them as long as she could, knowing each of her bosses would find it hard to replace her, although she guessed that would happen eventually, but for now she was very content and that took away the pain of her first parting from Jim since they were married.

Monday went quickly enough and she enjoyed her art class as usual on Tuesday, she marvelled at how accepting they all were of her very obviously limited talent, but there was a very special sense of belonging and she loved the feel of the brushes putting paint to paper, she was only just getting to the stage of using different paint brushes for different techniques and marvelled at the dexterity, let alone the artistic skills of her companions, some of whom had even been featured in exhibitions.  But they were her friends and she always felt comfortable and at  ease with them. 

But after she had had lunch with them and returned home she had to get her things together quickly and the cats to take off to be with her husband.  The cats were quite used to their designer cage in the car and after all they had each other and would either look out of the windows or sleep soundly together for the journey.

Mary now knew the way like the back of her hand but there would no longer be the necessity of staying at her boutique hotel, much as she had grown to love it.  Now Jim's wife, to-night she would share his bed for the first time.

She arrived, as usual, to let herself in and the cats romped about not having been here for the last few weeks, it was like a new experience for them all over again and they made the most of it.  This put Mary in a very good mood and she opened frig and cupboards and proceeded to remove the wilting mouldy contents of the frig which had been left their prior to their marriage.

She was confronted with the same lack of planning she had experienced on returning from the Honeymoon at her place.

What would they have for dinner?  She knew Jim would suggest take-away and with limited time to shop and prepare dinner Mary was left to think about what she should do.

Having two houses certainly imposed problems and she guessed Jim would take very little interest  in the planning but after all he was the one bringing in a substantial wage and he did take his job very seriously and she suspected when he returned he would be full of it.

With those thoughts in mind she slipped out to the nearest super market buying some salad vegetables and fruit and a ready cooked chicken.  She knew Jim would love some ice cream and she wanted to indulge her new husband, he had been so understanding about running two houses and her keeping her little jobs so she considered he was worth pampering just a little.

With that in mind she set about preparing their meal hoping Jim would not be too late, and sure enough her walked in the door promptly at 6, he was starting to become a husband so it seemed.

The cats shot out to greet him as he entered the door and it was they who received the first hugs before he set them down and pulled Mary to him for a loving kiss and hug, her efforts in the Kitchen not being lost on him.

For once, he did not have to worry about feeding her, she'd arranged it all.

"After all, I'm your wife now Jim and must start acting like one, although organizing the food requirements and keeping things in order in two homes will be quite a task".

Jim being Jim, and not unlike most other men, I suspect, had given these matters no consideration at all.

He went to the bedroom to change out of his work clothes returning with his washing and asked Mary where he should leave his clothes until they were washed, he was used to just chucking them on the floor, but had already learned Mary would not like that.

"Just leave them in the laundry for the time being, I'll have to get a basket for soiled clothes but these things do take time and I'm only here until Friday morning"

They shared their meal companionably, and Jim said how strange it felt knowing Mary could now stay and share his bed and they both laughed.  It really was rather odd this two house arrangement, even Mary could see that.

Soon he launched forth about his job and a good hour went by while he talked, Mary knowing very little of his job but knowing how much it meant to Jim.

Mary cleared the dishes and stacked the dish washer leaving it to run overnight. The, excitedly, Jim led her off to his bed, he just couldn't wait to get there.  This part of married life he loved and wondered how he had gone all those years since breaking up with his first, very unsuitable girl friend, and being very tardy about finding another one, that was until Mary came along and her quiet demeanour, shy smile and liquid eyes had bowled him over.

Then it was all go go go to get married and now he was he really ought to think a bit more about what it all meant.

Mary prepared him a nice breakfast the next day and it was off to work for the day saying he'd try to get home by 6 once again and leaving Mary to her own devices.

She took herself off to explore the local shopping  facilities noting the impartiality and disinterest that met her as compared with the wonderful community feel about her country village and finding herself overwhelmed once again by the high rise buildings.  She no longer liked those at all although she'd tolerated them quite well before her life had changed so dramatically.

She liked being the lady of the house and when she returned she set to task re-arranging Jim's cupboards in several rooms, after all it was no longer his house but their house and she knew Jim would take little interest in doing it being happy to go along with whatever she decided.

The remainder of the week passed similarly and their bi-dwelling living arrangements had worked out quite well, but after all they had had some practice going backwards and forwards since the early days of their courtship.

So come Friday morning it was both Mary and Jim who left for work together, after Mary had prepared breakfast which she insisted they should sit down and enjoy together, stacking the dishwasher and reminding Jim he would need to run it before setting off to join her for the weekend.  They'd actually spent more time together than she realized would be possible. It had only been Monday night that they'd been apart.

Their first week had gone well.  Little did she know it the week-end would not turn out to be quite so easy.