The holidays went by uneventfully as we spent them in the country with our parents, and between family and the close quarters, there was no time for further discussion. Fortunately, Thomas had acted appropriately and wasn't pushing her or being indiscreet which allowed the memories to remain mostly positive. Like before, I wondered if we would return to our occasional role playing, although I wasn't sure that now having witnessed the real thing if it would suffice.
"I flirted with Zach today," my wife announced from the blue one Monday evening in late January.
I had been sitting on the couch watching TV, and Lauren had joined me after putting the kids to bed. Although I knew she was taking her car in for the inspection sticker, I was surprised by her admission, but somehow managed to remain expressionless.
"Tell me about it," I said in a flat, even voice.
"I...when I was waiting we started talking and I just kind of flirted," she replied, offering little detail.
She had changed from her work clothes and was now in her robe, and if she had followed her norm, underneath she would be dressed in a cropped t-shirt and thong for bed. I stared at her and after several seconds her face broke out in an impish smile.
"Are you serious or are you playing with me?" I asked.
"I'm serious! Isn't it what I'm supposed to do? How I'm supposed to act in Greg's strange, bizarro world?" she answered, now giggling a little.
"Well, then give me some details," I demanded.
"I told you. I flirted," she replied, and by her manner and words I suddenly realized that she was giving me a message.
"Do you have a meeting set up?" I asked, jumping past her flirtation trolling.
"What? Uhh..." she started, but got tongue tied and now it was me that was laughing.
I took her arm and pulled her towards me, turning as I fell back so we ended up lying next to each other with her pressed against the back of the couch. Now, somewhat trapped, I took her head in my hands and kissed her, working through her initial reluctance until she was passionately kissing back.
"Tell me what happened," I said again, as I held her tightly.
"No. You're being mean," she said in a made up pouty voice.
"Tell me sweetie," I whispered in a low voice, while my tongue found her earlobe.
First, she gave out a soft purr from my touch, then took a deep breath and started, "We were alone in the office after he looked at my car and, well we started chatting about things...you know just kind of talking. And...well, he kept giving me this look and staring at me like you know, he was interested."
"Honey, every man is interested in you," I whispered.
"That's not true," she replied, but when I started kissing her neck she continued, "I asked about his girlfriend and he said he didn't have one. Then, he asked about me and you and I guess I kind of gave off some signals."
"Why?" I broke from kissing her long enough to ask.
"He asked me if I wanted to meet for a drink," she answered, and now she had my full attention.
"When are you meeting him?" I asked, thinking I was being clever.
"Can you watch the kids Thursday?" she replied with no hesitation, which left me stunned.
"Of course, sweetie," I replied, although I wasn't entirely sure she wasn't toying me and playing for a reaction.
Over the next couple days, the subject of her meeting with Zach came up repeatedly and I became convinced that she was in fact telling the truth. Not surprising, the subject of birth control was raised as well, as neither of us thought it was a good practice to make emergency runs to the drugstore for the morning after pill. So, Lauren agreed she would see her OB/GYN about a diaphragm, but since she wasn't able to get an immediate appointment, she had to fall back on a sponge.
Thursday came, and as I sat at our house having dinner with the kids, I wondered where my wife was at that exact moment. Was she at some bar having a drink and talking to the mechanic or had they foregone the formalities and gone straight to bed. I thought it was unlikely she would jump to sex so quickly, but you never know...
When ten o'clock rolled around and Lauren hadn't come home, I began to imagine scenarios about what was going on, but when eleven arrived I began to get nervous. Twenty minutes later, I texted her a simple message of a question mark, and mentally kicked myself for not getting more info on where she was going. No reply came, and over the next hour I tried three more times, but got nothing back. Of course, by now I was getting quite worried, but with kids to watch and not wanting to involve the police, I really had no alternative but to sit and wait. Finally, at exactly 2:13 AM, while I was watching TV to try and stay awake, a text arrived.
"coming home," was all it said.
I tried to call, but there was no answer, so I was ecstatic when just a few minutes later I heard the garage door opening.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I stepped towards her car when she opened the door.
"I'm fine," she replied, and I noted nothing out of the ordinary in her appearance except a tired look.
I took her by the hand and led her to the bedroom where we separated so she could go into the bathroom. A few minutes later, she came out wearing her sleep attire, and I quickly stripped to my boxers and joined her in bed.
"Lauren, what happened?" I asked.
"Nothing, honey...nothing," she replied, showing some irritation.
"Well, come on tell me what you did all night," I pushed, as my hands wrapped around her body and pulled her to me.
"We met at Clough's and had several drinks then went to his place which was a complete dump. His roommate was there with another guy and a girl, and they were smoking pot," she started.
"Ohhh...okay, what happened?" I pushed.
"Zach started smoking and I stupidly took some and passed out," she explained.
Her description reminded me of numerous people I knew from my college days, and I had to stifle a laugh as I thought about the young guy that had an available and willing beautiful woman at the ready and couldn't make it happen. It was such a simple and straightforward story that instinctively I knew it had to be true.
"So, you just woke up?" I asked.