Everything started normally that day; a weekend beckoned and I had planned to slip out of the city for a couple of days. My bag was packed and I was savouring my second coffee of the day when I heard the soft knocking on my front door.
Opening door slowly, I saw Kelly, my neighbour, standing on the doorstep. She was clutching a tissue, twisting it into shreds as she wound it around her fingers. We got on well, a necessity when the apartment walls were thin enough for us to hear each other's arguments. Occasionally she had borrowed ingredients when she had run out and her husband, Mark, shared my taste for single malt whiskies. I had never seen her like this, upset and on the brink of tears.
"Andrew, can I come in? I need to talk to you," Kelly whispered.
I stood aside and gestured for her to step over the threshold. Closing the door, I followed her into the lounge and waited as she lowered herself onto the comfortable couch. She sighed as she sat down and I belatedly remembered my manners.
"Can I get you a drink, coffee, juice?" I asked.
"Coffee would be nice, if you have decaff," she replied.
"No problem," I assured her.
In the kitchen I busied myself with ground coffee, an expensive decaffeinated blend that I knew she liked and pondered what she might want to talk to me about. I placed the cafetiere, cream, sugar, and a plate of cookies on a tray and carried it through to the lounge.
Setting the tray on the low table I leaned over and poured two mugs of coffee, pushing one towards her, with the cream and sugar. Kelly poured a heavy dollop of cream into her mug and stirred it slowly, seeming to take comfort in the warmth of the drink. Sitting opposite, I waited patiently for her to explain.
As I waited I let my gaze drift over her body. The glow of her pregnancy still shone in her complexion; her breasts and belly were swollen under her thin cotton tee-shirt, with the dark smudges of her engorged nipples showing through the material. Kelly had always been attractive but now her ripe breasts and curved belly combined to make her beautiful.
Kelly sipped her coffee and lowered her mug, looking at mw over the rim, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
"It's Mark," she said, a throaty catch in her voice, "he's having an affair."
I hid the shock in my expression as I questioned her gently, "are you sure?"
"Yes, I found a receipt in his jacket. He had paid for a hotel room." Her voice was trembling now and I could tell that it was taking all of her strength not to sob.
"We had a huge fight about it, you couldn't have known, you were out. He left and spent the night with her. He said it's my own fault that he has to get sex with her, because I'm fat and ugly"
I crossed over and sat next to Kelly, carefully encircling her shoulders with my arm and leaning her against my chest. I felt her hot tears soaking into the front of my shirt as her shoulders shook with her silent sobbing. I stroked her long silky black hair with my other hand, gentle soothing motions that slowly calmed her distress.
"He's an idiot," I murmured into her ear, "you have never been more beautiful than you are now, even more so than when I first saw you."
Kelly's arms snaked around my waist and her hands pressed against the small of my back as she drew herself closer to me. I imagined that she could hear and feel my heart pounding as she rested her head against my chest. I could smell the fresh scent of her hair and feel the warmth of her body as I ran my hand over the cascade of hair that tumbled down her back.
I felt the tension slowly ebbing out of her body as my rhythmic caresses soothed her, until she was breathing deeply, and the tears had dried on my shirt. Gradually, she pushed herself away and sat up, her eyes red and puffy fro her tears. I left my arm draped across her shoulders, stroking the back of her neck, watching her as she regained her composure.
At last she turned to face me, looking down at her hands as she worried at a loose thread on her skirt. Her voice was still husky with tears but her words were clear.