Wednesday 8.53 p.m.
While Chris worked at his desk, I sat on my own in front of the television but even though my eyes were on the screen, I wasn't really watching the program that was on.
Instead, my mind had wandered back to when I first met my husband and how, in just a couple of short years, I had gone from being a naive young housewife to become the town whore.
Reflecting on my recent past I let myself consider everything that had happened to me. A multitude of questions like '
How had my life changed so much in such a short period of time? Why did my husband get so much pleasure from my chosen career? And perhaps the most worrying thing, why did I enjoy my new life so much?'
filled my head.
5 Years prior to the present day
I was 18 at the time, working part-time as a waitress in a local pizza restaurant to earn some cash to help me get through college, when I first met Christopher Whitby.
He was 25 then, seven years older than me, so there's a little bit of an age difference between us.
Perhaps if I had known then what I know now I wouldn't have gone out with him but, as they say, hindsight has always been an exact science.
In fact, when I think back it was surprising that I did as I wasn't really into the dating scene as a teenager.
Partly that was because all the local boys had three main criteria that they looked for in a girlfriend; long blonde hair, big breasts and the morals of street whore. Unfortunately, I only had the long blonde hair while my chest has always been on the modest size, a 34B at best.
The other, probably greater reason, was that my morals, at least back then, were quite unyielding due to my upbringing.
That's not to say that I hadn't been asked out. I had. But boyfriends never lasted very long. As soon as they found out they weren't going to get anywhere with me I was dumped.
It was shortly after two o'clock on what was otherwise a pretty normal Friday afternoon. The main lunchtime rush had pretty much ended when Chris had come into the restaurant where I worked and sat at one of my tables. I thought very little of it at the time and just went over to serve him as I would any customer.
My first impression of him was one of indifference if I'm being absolutely honest. He was tall, well dressed and not bad looking but apart from that I really didn't give him a second thought, he was just another customer and would be gone in an hour.
After writing down his order I headed out to the kitchen with it.
"You jammy cow." Cathy the other waitress working that day declared as I walked by her.
"What?" I looked at her in surprise.
"The guy you just served, he's really cute. Don't you think?" she grinned at me.
I glanced back at the table and shrugged "Yeah I suppose he is. Do you want to serve him then?"
She laughed and winked at me "Nah, he's all yours hon. Enjoy."
"Enjoy what? He'll eat his pizza and disappear." I casually dismissed her comment.
Taking his meal back out to him I studied him in a little more detail and found myself agreeing with Cathy's assessment, he really was quite cute when you thought about it. He was also very polite and engaged me in a brief conversation about the location of an address he had to visit nearby.
As I cleared away the tables, I kept discretely glancing over at him while he ate until he caught me staring and grinned back at me, making me blush. After that I tried to be a little circumspect and the more, I watched him the more I found myself liking what I saw.
Returning with the bill as I cleared his plate, he started to talk to me again.
"Have you worked here long.... Abigail?" He looked at the name badge on my top.
"Umm... yeah.... about three or four months now I guess."
He smiled charmingly up at me "Paying for college?"
I couldn't help but smile back a little shyly "Is it that obvious?"
"Afraid so, although I have to say you're the probably prettiest waitress I've ever seen." His comment made me blush again as I stood there waiting while he took out his wallet to pay.
"My name's Chris by the way." Counting out the payment he continued, "I don't suppose you'd go out on a date with me?"
To say I was surprised would be an understatement, things like that never happened to me, but for some strange reason I accepted and we arranged to go out to dinner the following evening.
It really was that simple.
I guess Chris must have been keen to see me again because he arrived exactly on time for our date.
"Hi, you're here!" I opened the front door to him after he had rung the bell.
"Did you think I wouldn't turn up?" he chuckled at my greeting.
I cringed, embarrassed that my insecurities had manifested themselves so quickly.
"No... well I... umm... I wasn't sure..." stepping back I allowed him to enter.
"Do you live alone?" he looked around as he came through the door and followed me into the flat.
"No, I share this place with a friend, Jo, but she's out at the moment." I turned back to him and found him staring at my bottom encased in the tight jeans I had on.
"Oh err... I'm.... umm.... Are you ready to go" mumbling, he faltered over his words, blushing slightly at having been caught?
Trailing me into the apartment I deliberately wiggled my rear at him knowing his were eyes focused on my every movement before I turned back towards him and stepping closer brushed my lips against his cheek.
"Don't apologise. I'm glad you turned up." Giggling at his confusion I reached for my bag and keys, "Shall we go then?"
Not letting on about our planned destination, he guided me down the front steps of the building to his rather swish BMW, quickly stepping ahead of me to open the door.
"Where are we going?" curious to know I turned to look at him, before settling in to the soft leather seat.
"It's a surprise." Chris closed the door and dashed round to the driver's side to join me in the car.
"I hope you're hungry though." he added without looking over at me, instead, starting the engine he concentrated on pulling out into the flow of traffic, "It's Italian and really very good."
"Oh, we're having a pizza then?" I turned to look at him with a mock serious expression before starting to chuckle.
"Oh shit... I... I didn't think." his embarrassment was patently obvious to me, "We can go somewhere else....."
"It's ok." I couldn't help but giggle even harder, "I'll have the pasta instead."
After that I contented myself with looking out of the car window as he drove, nonchalantly chatting about nothing in particular and I was still talking when we arrived outside the very upmarket restaurant.
"Oh my! It's just it's a bit posh, isn't it? I'm not really dressed for it." mumbling quietly, I looked down at my ripped jeans and plain red sleeveless top.
"You look great," He complimented me, "but if you would rather go somewhere else?"
"No, no, it's ok. I'll be fine. I'm sure...." I answered somewhat meekly after a brief pause.
"So, are you sure you're ok with this?" he asked me once we were seated and browsing the menu's left with us by the waitress.
"I.... it's... I'm...", I mumbled trying to find the words as I looked about me before putting down my menu and clasping my hands together in front of me on the table, "It's the restaurant. No one's ever... taken me to somewhere like this, somewhere this fancy and I feel like I shouldn't really be here."
"What! Why would you think that? If anything, you're too good for this place." Chris tried to sound as reassuring as he could.
"I've had a very...... strict upbringing you see." I gave him a sad little smile, "I was never taken to any nice places other than the church when I was a child."
"What about boyfriends? They must have taken you out."
I shook my head.
He squeezed my hand again, "Abi you don't have to explain anything to me if you don't want to."
I studied him for a long while before responding, "No, it's ok I should really give you a reason for my weird behaviour."
At first my words were a little hesitant as I started to tell him about my background; how my parents, especially my father, were very devout and how they had always struggled financially as well. Whenever to problem with money came up, he had said that it was the Lord's will and that he would always provide for us.
Basically, I continued on to how my upbringing had been dominated by them and I had been sent to an all-girls school to keep me away from boys. Adding to that how my mother had always bought all my clothing and I was only allowed to wear what she picked out for me.
I could see the expression of shock on his face but now I couldn't stop and I let it all come out.
Carrying on I told him how my father, who was a very controlling person, became even worse the older I got and started dictating who I could see, where I could go and what I could do. This had meant that in all the time I was at home I had never even had a boyfriend.