Chapter 2: Sally's Turn
It had been a week since Sam the janitor had helped Jill find her missing button, and Jill was looking forward to spending another wild weekend expedition with her "Shadow Puppet," as she called him. Each time he pressed his dark and muscular body against hers, it blocked from her memory both the pleasure and the pain of her marriage. And throughout the week, Sam had taken advantage of every opportunity he could to help her forget; such as, when Jill would be standing over an open file cabinet, and Sam would come up behind her, pushing his groin against her rear-end and breathing heavily into her ear. Then, the memories of the previous weekend would come flowing back, like an ocean breeze blowing through her hair.
But there were other times, when something else would press upon Jill's mind, competing with her thoughts of Sam: her growing concerns for Sally. Since Monday, Sally had seemed less than her usual good-humored self; and now, it was the end of the week, and Sally had spent the entire morning in her office, barely saying a word to anybody. So it was, that Jill decided to check on her after lunch and find out what was wrong.
Jill and Sally had never been very close, although Jill had known her for almost 5 years and considered her a good friend. Sally had certainly won Jill's trust by not saying a word about what she had seen the previous Friday in Jill's office. So, Jill felt like she owed Sally a favor.
"Hey there," said Jill, as she stood in the doorway to Sally's office.
"Hey," said Sally, without looking up from her desk.
"Is something the matter?" asked Jill.
"No," said Sally, looking up at Jill and faking a smile. "Nothing's wrong."
"I just wanted to be sure," said Jill. "You've seemed a bit depressed all week."
"No, I'm fine," said Sally. "Thanks anyway."
"Alright then," said Jill, starting to walk away. But then, she heard Sally bang the top of her desk, which told her that things were not so fine after all. Jill came back into Sally's office and stood there with her heart opened wide.
"Jill . . . ," began Sally, but then she fell silent for a few seconds.
"What is it, Sally?" asked Jill. "What's wrong?"
"Close the door, will you?" requested Sally. Jill quickly complied, then took a seat in front of Sally's desk. Sally took a deep breath, before beginning. "You remember how I told you last Friday, that I had planned this great dinner for Stan, and that I had set things up so that we wouldn't be disturbed, while we . . . you know?"
"Yeah," answered Jill. "So, how did it go?"
"Jill," said Sally, "it never even happened. Stan didn't come home till late, then he said he was dead tired. So I figured: rough day at the office? I can fix that. But he passed right by me and went straight to bed. Then, the next morning he tells me that he has to go on a business trip this week. He said, that he wouldn't be back until the following Sunday.
Jill, I had made such great plans for that night. I mean, I had thought that, considering how our love life's been lately, maybe I could re-ignite some of the old embers from long ago. But then, he hits me with this 'gone for the week' stuff, and it's like someone had dowsed the embers with a bucket of water."
"But Sally," said Jill, "why not try it again, when he gets home from the trip. Surprise him, and give it another chance."
"You don't understand," said Sally. "As far as I'm concerned, he can stay where ever the hell he is."
"Sally," said Jill with an anxious look, "you don't really mean that, do you?"
"Yes I do," said Sally, with a smoldering look in her eyes, "and here's the reason why. You see, I tried paging him this morning to see what time he would be getting in. Well, I waited and waited, and he never returned the page. So I called his office to see if they knew anything. They said, that there had been no business trip, but that he had scheduled his vacation for this week, and they were wondering why I didn't know about it, since obviously he should be with me. Well, then I asked to speak to Emma, the woman he works with, thinking maybe she'd know what happened to him. But it turns out, that she had scheduled her vacation this week, too. I always knew something was going on between those two, but I didn't want to believe it. Now, it's finally come home, and I just don't know how to handle the truth of it."
"Sally," said Jill, "I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"Jill," said Sally, "I haven't had sex in over two weeks, and it's eating me up."
It was then, that Jill noticed the ink pen that Sally had been bending with her hands. It had chew marks on one end.
"I know the feeling, Sally," said Jill. "I was the same way after the divorce. What you need to do is forget Stan, call up one of those guys you were trying to fix me up with, get him drunk and let him fuck the living daylights out of you."
"No, those guys are nothing but losers," said Sally. "I just thought, since you had seemed so desperate, that anything would have done the trick."
"Well, thanks pal," said Jill.
"No, I didn't really mean that," said Sally. "I guess, I just need to forget Stan for awhile, forget that he had even touched me."
"Hey," said Jill, "I've got an idea. Why don't you stay with me for the weekend. We could go out, cruise the clubs, see if we can pick up a couple of studs and have our own fling. What do you say?"
"Well," said Sally, "I could use some R and R, maybe wear something really daring. You know, like one of those close-fitting slinky dresses, and no underwear. Then just chunk the old bait out there, and reel 'em in."
This was the Sally that Jill knew, now starting to come back to life.