We all have secrets...Elise Fairborough had many! Living at number twelve, Meriwether Way for the last six years she had discovered the very best way to press her husband's shirts, the perfect stain remover for her white sheepskin rug even the best way to brew coffee in the morning to give it the strongest taste. Yet if one thing Elise had learned above all that she had perfected in the last six years, it was how to keep a secret behind closed doors.
'Yeah of course just set up the meeting, I will be down in an hour... No don't make it earlier than three...because I won't make it in time. I'm leaving now.'
Elise felt her stomach clench as Alex walked out the front door. His suit looked perfect, each pleat finely ironed, his crisp shirt looked effortlessly white. Even the lipstick stain on his collar had been flawlessly removed.
'Be safe honey' She smiled flicking the speck of lint from his shoulder as he headed towards the car.
'Yeah thanks baby' he muttered sliding in the front seat of his SUV.
Her smile never faltered as he reversed off the drive and sped down the lane.
'Elise' Carrie called from across the street; she hurried over in her Manolo's, pearls swishing with the intensity of her run. 'I just saw Alex leaving, is he off to work again.'
Elise smiled though it didn't touch her eyes.
'He has work he needs to do.'
'Of course I know how busy he is, anyway I wanted to talk to you about Steven.'
Elise sighed turning back towards her front door 'Steven?'
'Yes.' Carrie followed her into the hall; her subtle deep breathes confirmed her haste. 'It's just me and Mark were wondering where you hired him from?'
Elise shut the front door on Dottily way and turned embracing the sweet youth of her friend and neighbour. Steven, her male nanny had drawn some considerable interest over the year and a half, he was polite, gorgeous and most importantly brilliant with her three boys, the only thing Elise was he wasn't, was interested in her. Of course Elise would never dream of eliciting an affair with the youthful handsome help but what else could she do but admire, besides Carrie was much more his type, Young, fresh, beautiful and impossibly sweet.
'You don't have any children Carrie what could you possibly want a male nanny for?'
Elise instantly regretted her question; Carrie and Mark had been trying for a baby for so long the mere thought of conceiving tormented them endlessly. 'I'm sorry Carrie'
'No don't be.' She smiled turning away from Elise. 'I just wanted to know for the future.'
Elise grasped Carrie by the shoulder, squeezing it softly with the palm of her hand, 'Sure, I'll get the number for his company, there really quite good.'
Carrie turned with a beaming smile the saddened expression she once sported removed from her face.
'Thanks Elise, so tell me where the hunk is?'
Elise smiled, it was no secret her manny was the epitome of masculinity with a healthy compassion for children. He was twenty three and gorgeous, fresh out of a PHD in child speech therapy and saving to travel the world. Since male nannies had just become the height of fashion, Elise had little choice but to hire one for her boys. It was a shame she supposed he was gay but perhaps for the best, if he was straight she would have little choice but to fantasise about an affair with the nanny constantly while her husband attended business meetings all day at work.
'He's upstairs with the kids, they have practise in an hour, and then he's bringing them home.'
'They must find it hard with Alexander away all the time.'
'Of course they do but Steven is a really great manny and because he lives with us they see him all the time. I would recommend one to you for when you have your own babies Carrie,' Elise turned to see Carrie's hopeful face 'And believe me honey you will soon'
Carrie grinned 'Thanks'.
Elise walked towards a small dressing table at the door of her living room, pulling the antique draw from the frame she rummaged for the card that had brought Steven into their lives. 'Anyway here it is.' She handed the small white card over admiring the flawlessly cut edges and the smooth writing softly embossed and trimmed with thinly laid gold leaf.
Carrie grasped the little card with hope perhaps if she made plans for a baby now, the baby itself would be sure to follow. She turned towards the large wide front door readying to leave 'between me and you,'
Elise tuned her attention back on the cheery blonde, soft yellow curls framed her face as the silky fabric of her dress floated about her perfectly lean legs, 'Yes.'
'I just wondered, you being here alone most days and all, if it doesn't get a little... hard to have someone like Steven living with you?' Elise wanted to reveal the truth the little secret that plagued her every day, how she loved to watch Steven playing in the garden with the Kids because on heated days he would remove his top and reveal mouth-watering abs, how she longed to touch his sun kissed skin, brush the backs of her fingers down his lean chest, even venture further to meet the intense patch of fine hair trailing from his stomach to his groin.
'I barely have a chance; I mean I have the house to keep clean.'
'Don't you have a maid for that?'
'Well she's European and for my standards I often find I have to go round behind her and do it myself' Elise's voice rose with each word until all that remained was a high pitch squeak.
'Well I know how much Alexander means to you, you two are so happy it must be hard to even consider someone else in the same way.'
Elise blew out her fringe with her breathe, of course Carrie would think her relationship perfect she had spent the last six years claiming it so, but their house wasn't filled with love, of course her children where the core of her world but Alexander considered her nothing more than the help. It was no way to live life, obsessing over the children and pining for her man, that was just it, Elise needed a thorough bread male, someone to take her in a way that made her feel her femininity, touched her senses and most of all helped her reach her peak.
Carrie's lips creased into a soft smile, 'Well I best be leaving... Mark and I are going to brunch at the new restaurant on Elvi street, of course you know everyone will be brunching there it was murder getting a table.'
Elise nodded slowly everyone but Alexander and Elise would be there of course. She would be cooped up in her outwardly untouched home, cleaning her flawless untouched china and feeling just well... untouched.
'Perhaps Alexander and I will go soon... when he's not so busy.' Her words dripped like pure acid down her throat. The sweet single malt whisky hidden in the silverware cabinet might relieve some of this bitterness she thought quietly to herself as she let Carrie out. As she moved to shut the door, the sweet fragrance of roses fanned into the house from the bush she trimmed each day on the surrounding wall of the entrance. The odour made bile film her stomach. Spotting a stray branch leaving the pitch of the house away from the rest of the bush created havoc in her mind, she itched to reach for the trimmers and relieve the delinquent stem from her house. Surveying the wayward branch Elise reminded herself that this was simply the role of a virtuous housewife to maintain the home while there husband brought back the bread, or the scent of cheap perfume on their jacket or a vile shade of red lipstick stain on their collar. She grappled with her thoughts moving to the small draw of her antique French side table close to the kitchen entrance. Collecting her secateurs Elise ran her fingertips over the softly padded handle wondering how Alexander planned to run his delicate fingers over the giving thighs of his newly hired secretary once he reached the office. Elise was under no delusion for why she had been hired and the adequacy of her C.V had nothing to do with it. Scooping them into her grasp she paced the dark oak floor along her hall back to the front door. The light from the softly sun drenched room cast appealing outlines on the polished metal blades, Elise pondered how the crisp lights in Alexander's office looked reflecting in the deep red tresses of his PA's hair, having met the stunning ex-model once before when she was newly hired, Elise could speculate... pretty dam good.
SNIP! The secateurs cut cleanly through the affronting rose limb. Elise shook herself there was no point crying over spilt milk or motel receipts, it had been the daily routine for over two years, Alexander couldn't even bring himself to touch her anymore. In truth Elise had become so desperate for physical contact she had been willing to overlook the tousled look of his clothes when he returned from the office late, even the stench of cheap vodka and the insulting aroma of perfume hadn't been enough for her not to throw herself at him, but he always shamelessly turned away leaving Elise's inner self to whimper and crumple over like a run over rabbit, her sex life was literally at deaths door.
Elise kept herself in great condition, better than great; she tried to appear consistent with her beauty; softly done face, demure but sexy dress, for fuck sake even her fringe quaffed at the right angle.
SNIP! A branch Elise hadn't intended to cut hit the floor; she stared in horror as the result of her frustration fell from her house. Her small outburst felt good. SNIP! There went another one. SNIP! SNIP! SNIP! A momentary smile spread across her face, for once it made no difference to her that the front door lay wide open, let them watch, let them judge they could not critic her any more than she did herself.
'Umm are you ok Mrs Fair borough?'
The deep voice from the stairway almost caused Elise to lose a finger to her incessant clipping; she pulled her hand from the branch just in time taking a rose off the bush with her sudden movements.
Steven looked aghast no doubt questioning her sanity and her reason for the lack of.
Elise looked to Steven in shock her mind fogged from her wild imaginings about Alexander and Alexis, his beautiful red headed assistant. Realising Steven was eying the blanket of greenery and roses strewn on the front porch Elise racked her brain for a plausible excuse to her actions.
'I'm thinking of replacing it with a wisteria.' She inwardly winced at the ridiculous excuse.
'Then shouldn't you hire someone to take down the whole plant instead of doing it stem by stem with your clippers? I mean otherwise you will be here for a while' Steven decided to offer her a branch figuratively and waved his hand at the whole situation, so the woman was having a psychotic breakdown, with the amount of pressure to be seamless in this town it wasn't surprising people started coming away at them, even he could barely keep up with the O.C.D she possessed. She even ironed the kid's socks each afternoon.
Elise smiled recomposing herself and gently placed the cutters back in the draw, she collected a black bag from the kitchen before turning back to the foliage display on the porch and bending to scoop it up.
