In Carmen's eyes they were more a team now than they had ever been. He should be happy with that. It was a healthy way to live. She was the same woman that he married; simply more confident - maybe too confident.
Two years ago his Appaloosa had died in an accident and Carmen felt responsible because she was riding him at the time. He wasn't ready to replace the stallion his father had given him. Maybe he never would be, but they had enough horses to ride. Sure, he didn't ride as much now as he did then, but he was busy with the clinic. It had grown faster than he had anticipated, leaving him short-handed. He had been interviewing people, but hadn't found the right person yet. Right now simply wasn't a good time to leave. Maybe in a few months…a year at most…he would have more time to be with his family. Carmen didn't want to wait. She was growing impatient. It wasn't as though he didn't want to spend more time with his wife and children. There weren't enough hours in the day to run the veterinary clinic and take care of everything at home.
Perhaps it was normal for a man standing on the edge of 40 to see the rest of his life as a downhill slope. They'd had a fantastic life together, but lately he had been slipping. Sometimes he forgot things and even fell asleep when she was talking to him. He wasn't all he used to be in the romance department either. No wonder Carmen was looking for other sources of excitement in her life.
He loved Carmen more every year they were together. He couldn't imagine life without her. His woes weren't due to any shortage of good times - quite the opposite. His only problem was that life was so full of good times that it was overcrowded. So it was that he found someone to take his place while he was gone. It wasn't a solution he liked, but it was better than the alternative - disappointing Carmen.
Carmen didn't ask for much and his past failures to provide what little she did want were much on his mind lately. She used to think he could do anything. Since she discovered how much she could do, his polish had faded. He wanted her to look at him the way she did when their love was young. Maybe he was being unrealistic. Maybe people didn't feel the same excitement after so many years of marriage. Maybe some people didn't, but he did. Carmen was every bit as desirable now - possibly even more - as she had been when they first got married. She never forgot anything. How she kept the social life of each child in order and ran the Wildlife Safari at the same time was beyond him. But then, four years ago he remembered a lot more.