Cathy admired her 42-year-old naked body in the full length mirror. The C-section scar left a faint line across her flat abdomen, the only evidence of having given birth. Fully clothed, one would believe her to be a nubile co-ed half her age. Her breasts were now a full D-cup, a welcome side effect of motherhood. Wide hips curved out of shapely thighs and then tapered into a waist kept slim by hard work. Her entire body was nearly perfect and the realization of that fact brought a smile to Cathy's pretty face.
By all accounts, Cathy Harrison's life had been as close to storybook as a life could get. She'd married a wonderful guy she'd met in college and together they'd raised a son who was now a freshman in college. Tonight, she and her husband would quietly celebrate twenty years of marriage. Though it certainly hadn't been easy, Nick and Cathy's relationship was strong and passionate, and their marriage solid. They were the envy of their friends.
Cathy stepped closer to the mirror until she was almost face to face with her reflected image. Her hardened nipples kissed the cold glass and her breath fogged the area in front of her mouth. She carefully inspected her make-up, pursing her full lips to evenly distribute the frosty pink lip gloss her husband likes so much. She looked forward to laying herself out on the bed naked to wait for him to come home and fuck her senseless. He was such a good lover. He always fucked her senseless; another reason for her friends to be envious. It also added to her anxiety. You see, somewhere deep inside Cathy felt that she didn't deserve to have that wonderful man for a husband.
Cathy's anxiety was a result of her secret. She's kept it a secret for twenty years now, and like her wedding, her secret, too has an anniversary. She only allows herself to think about her secret's anniversary when her wedding anniversary comes around. It is only then that she is reminded of her deception. Otherwise she'd be overwhelmed with guilt and would not be able to function as well as she does. As it is now, she only allows the memory of that night to haunt her when she thinks about her virtually perfect marriage.
If it had not been for Cathy's indiscretion twenty years ago, she would have enjoyed a truly perfect marriage with her husband, Nick. But now, that one black mark, that one brief episode of infidelity was forever firmly entrenched in her past, and nothing she could ever do or say can change it.
Here is what happened:
It was a Thursday night in May of 1990. Cathy had been married for a little over two months when her friend Kim called her up for a girls' night out. Nick had planned to hit the sack early anyway, so the girls proceeded to go bar hopping. Kim wasn't married and was still on the prowl, and she wanted company. Because Kim had been the maid of honor in her wedding, Cathy couldn't say no to her. Plus, to lessen the burden on her friend, Kim offered to be designated driver, leaving Cathy to literally sit back and enjoy the ride.
The night was a fun romp from bar to bar, Kim drinking Diet Coke while Cathy enjoyed a few vodka tonics. At around 11:00 P.M., Cathy went to the ladies room, and when she returned she found her chair occupied by a man fully engaged in animated conversation with Kim. Kim introduced him as Steve, a guy she just met, and she asked him to join them. After a few minutes of light conversation, Cathy noticed that Kim and Steve's attention was focused on each other, so she used that as an opportunity to wander over to the bar and give her friend some time to get to know this guy. No more than ten minutes had passed when Cathy felt a tug on her arm.
"Cathy, Steve wants us to go to his place to hang out for a while and then I'll take you home OK? Please say yes, please say yes," Kim asked Cathy in a torrent of words.
Again, Cathy felt that she owed Kim and as this wasn't a completely unreasonable request, she agreed.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, Cathy. This guy is so cute, and he's so sweet. He's here trying to cheer up his room mate whose fiance was killed in a car crash last month and he doesn't want him moping around the apartment by himself. Isn't that so sad? And, oh my god Cathy, he's cute too," gushed Kim as she dragged her friend by the hand back to the table.
"Jesus, Kim! Doesn't sound like you need me. I'll just take a cab home."
"Cathy!" whined Kim who stopped and turned to face her friend. "Come on, just come with me. We won't stay long. I just want to see how this guy lives because I'm really in to him and I just want to go, OK?"
Steve and Tom's apartment was only four blocks away, but they decided to all pile into Kim's Honda so that the girls wouldn't have to walk the four blocks back to their car. Both guys got in the back seat while Kim and Cathy were up front. Tom sat behind Kim and studied Cathy's face in Kim's rear view mirror. Cathy caught him staring, but he didn't look away. She noticed that he had sad, hungry eyes.
Inside the apartment, the four sat around a coffee table and shared a joint. Tom demonstrated his rolling skills as he sat in the middle of the couch and used the coffee table for a work space. Three pleather covered chairs like those found at the dentist's office were arranged around the table. Steve sat in one chair on Tom's left; Kim sat opposite, while Cathy occupied the seat to Tom's right.
After about fifteen minutes of pleasant conversation it was apparent that Kim and Steve had the hots for one another. At one point, Steve commented on a puzzle ring that Kim was wearing, so she rose and walked over to show him. She bent over at the waist to show Steve the ring and in so doing, gave him a wonderful view of her breasts billowing over the cups of her bra. The valley of cleavage above her v-neck sweater was lightly dusted with sweet smelling sparkles.
"Wow, this is good," said Steve, finally focusing his gaze upon the ring. "I took a course in college where we actually made shit like this. Want to see some of the stuff I did?"
With that, Steve and Kim walked down the hall to Steve's room and walked inside. An uncomfortable silence followed as the two left seated in the living room sat and stared in silence at the coffee table. Cathy struggled to think of what she could say to this obviously forlorn young man. She looked up and found him again staring at her. Her appearance immediately became her concern. Tugging nervously at the hem of her cut-off jean skirt, she felt his eyes probing her body. Cathy had been looked at by men before, but somehow this felt different.
After about a minute of listening to the muffled sounds of Steve and Kim talking, the door to Steve's room was quietly closed. Tom looked at the door as various emotions washed across his face. First there was a smirk as Tom recognized the typical behavior exhibited by his room mate. Then he turned, and he and Cathy exchanged an uneasy smile. She watched as his expression changed to longing, followed by jealousy, followed by anger, followed by confusion, at which point Tom's eyes left Cathy's. Unable to control himself, his face twitched, his eyes turned bloodshot and glassy as a single tear rolled across his cheek. Horrified at his own emotional breakdown in her presence, Tom squeezed his thumb and forefinger into his eyes to staunch the flow of tears, but his body lurched intermittently despite his attempts to suppress the sobs.
Instinctively, Cathy moved to the couch beside him and draped an arm around his broad, trembling shoulder. Instinctively, Tom turned and buried his tear stained face full into the side of Cathy's firm, heavy breast. She cradled his head against her mammary and caressed his face as she gently rocked him until his sobs subsided. Tom's tears had soaked through the white cotton sleeveless ribbed T-shirt she wore, revealing that Cathy was wearing a pink bra.
Tom slumped back into the couch as Cathy removed her arm from his back. He wiped the remaining tears from his face and looked at Cathy.
"Sorry," he said.
"Oh, that's OK. I'm sure you must have loved her very much," said Cathy, trying to keep this from getting any more awkward than it already was.
Tom looked at Cathy again, and again he stared openly. She felt the intensity of his gaze and knew what was coming, but somehow couldn't stop it. Tom leaned toward Cathy slowly and deliberately until only a few inches separated their faces.
"She had a mouth like yours," whispered Tom and then he stole a kiss. It was light, gentle, moist and sweet. Cathy found that her eyes had closed momentarily as she had been taken in fully by the sheer tenderness of that kiss. She opened her eyes, her lips parted slightly, and she watched him studying her mouth. Slowly he raised a finger and touched the diamond stud that dangled from a delicate gold chain around her neck. The jewel was positioned over the threshold of her cleavage. As she looked down at his finger he quickly brought it up under her chin causing her to start and jerk back giggling. When she looked back at him playfully he leaned in again and gently stole two more kisses, each about two seconds long.
Cathy had inadvertently closed her eyes again, and when the third kiss did not land when she thought it would she opened her eyes and found him staring into hers once more. Tingles of excitement ran all about her body as he again leaned forward. His open mouth covered hers as his tongue danced across her lips and into her mouth to wrestle and taste and excite.
Cathy brought both of her hands up and pressed them firmly into his chest as she tried to gently but firmly push him away.
"I'm married, remember?" protested Cathy.
If he heard her, he didn't acknowledge the fact. His kisses became more passionate as he nuzzled her neck and tickled the exposed ridge of her collar bone with the tip of his tongue. Cathy shivered and felt her nipples tighten in her bra. She realized her hands had been caressing the taught muscles of his chiseled chest having forgotten that they were put there to slow his advances.