Background: Please read the first two installments before reading Chapter 3. Chapter 3 will have a lot more meaning if you do!
Courtesy Notice: After some rather strong reactions to Chapter 1 and 2, I feel compelled to advise everyone that this story is about two married people being unfaithful. If you have a strong aversion to this topic, please consider not reading any of the chapters in this story. Thank you.
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After our intense mid-December daytime romp, the next couple weeks passed uneventfully. Rebecca and I were limited to neighborly greetings and couple-minute long, shallow conversations as we saw each other coming and going from home. As superficial as they were, I longed for any interaction with her, no matter how short.
It was now two days before Christmas and the forecast was calling for a few inches of snow on Christmas Eve. Like seemingly every other man in town, I was at the mall wandering aimlessly among the disheveled remains of the shopping season trying to find the gifts I wanted for my loved ones. Miraculously, I had already checked off my list of gifts I planned for Trisha and the girls but I didn't feel finished. I wandered the crowded hallways in a mental fog. I wanted to give Rebecca something but didn't know if I should. Even if I did, what would be appropriate? It couldn't be too expensive or over-the-top. I didn't want her to feel awkward about the gift. Something sexy would be fun but I didn't want her to get the impression I was only interested in sex. I really cared for her deeply. On top of that dilemma, it couldn't be something Jonathan would see and question.
After about an hour of wandering countless stores unsuccessfully, I gave up on the mall and decided to try our suburb's downtown area. I thought I might have better luck finding something in the little boutique shops that populate downtown. I packed the family gifts away in the trunk and drove ten minutes to a downtown parking deck. Once parked and walking toward the elevator, I was so deep in thought about Rebecca's gift that I nearly walked in front of a car leaving the deck.
I was parked on the 7th floor. My elevator ride down stopped on the 5th floor and a group of four thirty-something women joined me for the ride down. Obviously on a girls'-day-out, the descending metal box was filled with exuberant voices and laughter. The elevator stopped abruptly at street level and the five of us piled out of the opening door. The four women continued their cackles as they passed through the parking structure lobby and out onto the sidewalk. I was the last out of the elevator and followed several paces behind the boisterous group.
I turned south down Main Street and peered into the shop windows as I slowly strolled down the sidewalk. I noticed the four women that were in the elevator enter a store further down the block. I passed the first few shops realizing I probably wouldn't find anything appropriate in the specialty food store, haberdashery, or women's shoe store. It was after I passed an organic cosmetics shop that I realized where the girls'-day-out group went. Five storefronts away from the parking deck lobby was a high-end spa. It hit me immediately. The spa was the perfect gift! Rebecca would feel pampered, special, and loved. There also wouldn't be a physical object that Jonathan would find suspicious.
I opened the door and stepped into a sleek, modern reception area. Several hosts stood behind a black marble and glass counter. All smiled broadly at me as I entered. A tall blonde greeted me, introduced herself as Alena, and asked if I was interested in a Christmas gift-certificate package. I must have looked as out of place as I felt.
Alena patiently explained several spa treatment packages while I looked at the treatment "menu" with glazed eyes. I had never heard of half the treatments and had no idea what Rebecca would like. I settled on the "Unlimited" package. It included 6 hours of any treatments Rebecca would care to choose. Selections of hors d'oeuvres and champagne cocktails were complimentary. The 6 hours could be used in one appointment or divided into two separate 3-hour appointments. I then remembered the group of women on the girls'-day-out and figured Rebecca would want to enjoy the spa with a friend rather than come alone.
Alena kindly emptied my wallet of its cash and presented me with a sleek black envelope containing the two "Unlimited" gift certificates and a treatment menu. The matte finish envelope was about the size of a postcard and made of thick card stock that was difficult to bend. The spa name, "exhale", was imprinted in gold-leaf lower case letters across the front of the envelope. The spa address and phone number was imprinted in small letters into the cardstock on the back of the envelope just below a black wax logo that sealed the envelope closed. I told Alena thank you and returned to my car in the parking deck. Now I just had to find the right time to give the envelope to Rebecca.
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The next day, Christmas Eve, Trisha and I were both off work for the holiday. We both spend the day preparing for her parents to join us for Christmas Day. I vacuumed the carpet and generally tidied the house while Trisha put fresh sheets on the guest beds and began preparing some of the Christmas dinner food in advance. Once the cleaning was under control and the girls were occupied helping Trisha make cookies, I escaped down to the basement and began wrapping the gifts I purchased the day before. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when wrapping gifts so it took a couple hours. I like crisp, sharp corners with the paper pulled taut to the box underneath, a particularly difficult task when wrapping odd-shaped toy boxes.
When finally complete, I emerged from the basement with arms full of gifts to find the girls sitting at the top of the stairs. Trisha quipped that they heard rustles of wrapping paper and had been not-so-patiently waiting to see the gifts. She was talking about our daughters but Trisha also followed closely behind me to inspect the packages as I put them under the tree. I looked at the girls, wagged my finger, and said, "no touching". I then looked at Trisha, wagged my finger, and said, "no touching for you either".
I went back down and retrieved a bag of trash and the black spa envelope that I had wrapped in satin black wrapping paper and tied with crinkly gold foil ribbon. I took the trash out to a can in the garage and then placed the wrapped spa envelope in the center console of my car for safekeeping.
It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when I glanced out the window and saw snow beginning to fall. I played a few board games with the girls to keep them occupied while Trisha finished up a few more preparations for tomorrow's dinner. Around 6:00, we assembled some sandwiches and the four of us ate dinner while we played a card game. By 7pm, the tapering snowfall had left about four inches on the ground. Trisha took the girls upstairs to give them baths before bed and I headed outside to clear the snow so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning.
I started the snow blower and went to work clearing the driveway. As I did, Rebecca pulled her minivan into her driveway and unloaded the kids. Jonathan's car was not in the driveway and I guessed he was probably still at church after their Christmas Eve service. I finished clearing my driveway and sidewalks then started down Rebecca's sidewalk. When I was just about done with the driveway, she stepped out to sweep snow off the front porch then waited for me in the open garage. She was in a black knee-length winter coat with her usual frumpy angle-length blue dress underneath. It still amazed me how, despite the incredible drabness of her clothing, it couldn't begin to distract from her natural beauty.
I shut off the snow blower and said, "Hi beautiful. Is Jonathan still at church?" Rebecca smiled and replied, "Yes, he should be home soon."
"Wait here." I said. "I'll be right back."
