Andrea stood in the kitchen, cooking the evening meal, enjoying a small piece of quiet time, a little bit of tranquillity before her children re-appeared. The silence was broken as they all poured into the room, her peace broken as they'd all got changed in record time tonight.
Thirty-five years old now, she looked at her reflection in the hob cover in front of her. She hadn't aged too badly, with a few worry lines, and her hair unbrushed and tied up with an elastic hairband. That morning had been the same as most, being interrupted midway through sex by one of the children, having to try to stay still with her husband still impaled in her, until one of them needed to get up and see to them. They'd resorted to having sex with the duvet over them now, trying not to make noise and alert the kids they were awake.
She loved her kids, that wasn't the issue. Having four children in six years meant little 'me' time for her though. The youngest now five years old and at full-time school, she'd taken a job working from home, with that and then looking after the children when they returned from school she was always on the go.
Her husband Dave appeared, a big grin on his face. Andrea looked at him bemused, he wasn't always this happy to be home.
"I've booked us a trip to London this weekend, an overnight stay on Saturday night, and a treat thrown in for you," he said happily.
"For all of us?" Andrea asked.
"No, just you and I. I've already spoken to your parents, they were more than happy to take the children for the weekend so we can get away," Dave replied.
"Oh, okay, that's great I guess. What's the treat?" Andrea asked, a little puzzled still.
"Well, I was going to keep it a secret, but I've booked you a private photoshoot, let you get all glammed up and let your hair down. There's a spa session with treatments at the hotel, and we have a table booked at a fancy restaurant too," Dave beamed.
Andrea gasped. It had been a while since she'd got to do things like that, and she hugged Dave.
"Thank you," she smiled, "It's not even my birthday," she added.
"I wanted to treat you, to show you how much I and the kids appreciate you," he replied.
The hotel was booked for the following weekend, and Andrea wanted to go shopping for some new outfits for the shoot, but Dave told her everything was there already, the photographer had a wide range of dresses and outfits ready, she just had to choose some when they got there.
The job she did at home was for Dave's work, mainly answering emails but sometimes having to email his colleagues with questions. He had a secretary at the office named Wendy who dealt with all the phone calls, of which there were usually a lot. She was used to getting emails from Wendy asking her to email clients, normally apologetic emails to keep them on board if any problems had arisen.
Andrea re-read one a few times. Wendy had sent her one saying that the wrong information had been sent to him by email, and could Andrea sort it out before he took his business elsewhere. She also complained about Dave leaving them in the lurch that week as they were very busy.
"Who is she to be moaning at me, Dave booked the weekend away not her," she thought to herself.
She checked through her sent emails and couldn't find the issue that Wendy had mentioned. She emailed the client to check with them and was puzzled when they replied saying the order had been placed and they were very happy with how things had been handled. When Dave returned that night, Andrea asked him about it.
"Oh, don't mind her, she's been in a mood, she was supposed to be going away the weekend and it's fallen through. Don't ask her about it, she'll get over her strop soon enough," Dave assured her, saying he'd remind her who Andrea was to him.
The weekend finally arrived, and Andrea heard nothing from Wendy. She'd hoped for an apology, but wasn't too fussed at not getting one. They got the train down to London and got a taxi to their hotel. Dave had pulled out the stops, a five-star hotel with a room view of the London Eye. The meal was booked for 2 pm, so they had time to shower and change before heading out. Dave told her the photo session was booked for 5 pm and wasn't that far away from the hotel.
They'd already finished one bottle of wine with the meal when Dave excused himself to go to the toilet. A waiter came to their table with a fresh bottle.
"Another bottle of wine, happy anniversary," the waiter said, reading a small card.
"Oh, we haven't ordered one I don't think," Andrea said, "I think you have the wrong table anyway, it's not..." she continued.
"The wine is complimentary with the meal madam," he answered, interrupting her before scurrying away briskly.
Andrea looked at the card. It did say anniversary on it. Strange, but she wasn't going to turn down a free bottle of wine. Dave came back to the table, Andrea noticing him putting his phone away. He told her it was nothing to worry about, it was just work sorting out some details.
They ate the meal in relative quiet, Andrea occasionally smiling at Dave. She told him about the extra bottle of wine, Dave just nodding as though he'd been expecting it, telling her if they thought it was their anniversary and they were giving them a free bottle of wine, then he wasn't going to complain.
"Are we going straight to the photoshoot from here?" Andrea broke the silence.
"Yes, we can do that, Why?" Dave asked.
"I need to pop back up to the room first, but you can wait downstairs for me. Why a photoshoot anyway?" she asked.
"I wanted to give you something for yourself, time away from the children, and something to make you realise you're still special," Dave answered.
He went back to eating, annoying Andrea as she'd wanted to gauge his reaction.
Getting back to the hotel he remained outside while Andrea walked to the elevator. She saw the desk clerk throw her a wave, a huge grin on her face, and she smiled awkwardly and waved back. Getting to the room, she opened the door to see balloons on the bed, with a small plate with two pieces of cake. There was writing on the cake. Happy Anniversary. It wasn't their anniversary until next month. Confused, Andrea looked again.
Anniversary again, like the restaurant and the wine. It had to be a coincidence. Andrea went back down, opening the door to go outside and pausing to see Dave on the phone again.
"Stop phoning, I'll sort it for some other time, honest," she heard him say as she approached him.
He explained that Wendy had phoned about the deal again, and he'd told her to leave him alone while he was away. His face pleaded innocent, Andrea couldn't work out if he was lying or not. Perhaps Wendy was trying to spoil their weekend as her plans had fallen through.
It was a ten-minute walk to the studio, up a side street, but going through the door and upstairs to the studio Andrea was pleasantly surprised. She'd not been fussed about this part of the weekend, but walking in and seeing the arrangement of lights, and the room being much bigger than she'd expected, her excitement grew.
There was a young man putting various digital cameras into tripods at various angles around a white floor and backdrop. He smiled and waved, Andrea smiled back and looked him up and down. He didn't look any older than twenty-one years old, was quite tall and reasonably well built under the t-shirt that was a little too tight. Andrea wondered where the photographer was, then the young man came over to them.
"Hi, I'm John, let me show you the dressing room," he told Andrea, "you can sit or stand over there please," he continued, pointing Dave to an armchair in the corner of the room.
