He sat there knowing that the next 10 minutes would determine the fate of his marriage and the course of his life from that moment on. Although his face was a mask, he felt sick and just wanted to go back to a time when everything was certain, everything was normal. But he knew that that was an impossibility.
"So." He said with a smile. "What are we going to do this weekend now that your conference has been cancelled?"
He watched her face. She looked down, avoiding his gaze.
"Well you're working tomorrow, going to football with Jace on Saturday and I thought that you could go fishing on Sunday with Tommy. You haven't been fishing for a long while have you." She said, standing and walking to the sink.
"No. That's true." He said reasonably, his heart in his mouth. "But - what will you do?" he pressed.
There was a noticeable pause.
"Well Daniel suggested that we go to Bournemouth anyway, as the hotel has been booked, and we could have a few days relaxing to celebrate the hard work that we have put in over the last year or so. He's going back to Norfolk on Friday next week and we haven't celebrated."
He didn't say anything for a couple of minutes.
"So, just you and Daniel?"
"Yes." She said softly. "He suggested that we go down tomorrow and come back Tuesday"
"And what did you say?"
"I said that I would talk it through with you."
She said turning to look him in the eye. "I said that I didn't think that it would be an issue as you would trust me and that you love me enough to give me the freedom of one weekend away."
"I see." He said, his eyes filling with tears.
She could see his tears and instantly saw the deep hurt that she had caused and, unable to look him in the eye, turned away.
"After all, it would only be four days, and I would come back Tuesday and life for us would return to normal" she continued hesitantly.
He stood and walked away, his hands thrust deep into his pockets.
"Charles please. Please don't walk away. Can we please just discuss this like adults." She called. "I can see that you're upset but you know that you are the only man for me and that I love you deeply. Charles, Charles ...... you are the only man for me, and you know it. This would just be a one off. A hall pass if you like. Something that I really feel the need to do. For me. Not for the family. For me."
When she caught up with him in the lounge he was texting. He shrugged off her hand which she had put on the back of his neck, making her sob. He had never rejected her touch before.
Putting his phone back in his pocket he turned to her and said softly.
"But clearly I'm not the only man for you am I. There's Daniel, otherwise you wouldn't be going off to fuck him would you."
"I'm not going to have sex with his Charles. How can you think that?" she snapped avoiding eye contact.
"For a variety of reasons. The main one being that he has only booked one room. I've checked with the hotel. And you have no room booked. In fact Daniel has booked the room in the name of Mr and Mrs Masters."
The silence was deafening.
"So," he said softly "if after he's fucked you and decides he wants to keep you, would you go with him?"
"No of course not! This is just a fling. A one off escapade. No one could replace you -- not ever."
She stared at him and saw real hurt, real pain in his eyes and knew that things were not going to go the way that she thought, or at least hoped, they might. In fact she wondered whether she had already damaged their marriage, as she had clearly seriously misjudged him. But she reasoned that he knew that she loved him dearly, so why couldn't he just see how minor this was in terms of their marriage, of their 28 years together, and let her have just this weekend, to get it out of her system. They would carry on as if nothing had happened when she got back.
"Daniel means nothing other than a one off sexual partner and when I come back on Tuesday our life will go back to normal." He ignored her.
"But life would not return to normal would it. How could it. I would know that you, who had promised to forsake all others, had cheated and I would know that you had had sex with another man, sucked another man's cock, allowed him to fuck you, if you haven't already." He ignored her protestations.
"It wouldn't be cheating. I have told you what I need to do, intend to do and I haven't....."
He stared at her hard, his deep blue eyes glassy with tears.
"Once.. only the once. Honestly Charles things just got out of hand one day months ago."
"Oh well that's all right then." He said sadly. "You've only cheated on me once -- so far. And as it happened months ago everything is just fine.
I suppose that you have had lovely sexy chats about what he is going to do to you over this perfectly ordinary weekend."
She shifted in her seat.
"Mmmmm? So no doubt you've discussed sucking his cock, swallowing his wonderful creamy cum and promised him anal too no doubt."
She blushed and looked away.
"So you are going to give him your arse as well - the one thing that you have always refused me, your husband, the man that you supposedly love above everyone else.
She saw the look in his eyes and her stomach fell. She saw a coldness she had never seen before.
"So no. I would never, could never feel the same way about you ever again. I will always be wondering whether you were comparing sex with me to sex with Daniel, whether he had a bigger more satisfying cock than me, or whether he lasted longer, made you cum more. Because you will always say that I am the best, regardless of the actual truth, and I will never believe you.
And I will always be on edge, waiting for you to tell me that you were off for another long weekend, that you wanted another hall pass because you had just met a young stud whose crotch bulge caught your eye, and you 'needed' to have it. Always on edge, never knowing when the axe would fall, when or if it would happen. So I could never, will never, ever want to have sex with you ever again.
So it's already too late."
She sat with her face in her hands and sobbed.
"And what about your work colleagues. They would know that you had cuckolded me if they haven't already guessed. But then I'm just your boring old husband." he said softly, accusingly, suppressing the rising anger that threatened to wash over him.