For several weeks after his wife Janet confessed to her affair, Dave did his very best to be as normal as possible.
But each day he woke up with the incident of his own down in Dallas on his mind.
"Incident?" What a poor word to fit the situation. A married man, out of town, in love with his own long term wife finds himself involved in a brief but steamy sexual encounter with a woman that is almost a stranger?
That can't be called an incident, really. What it was, was a disaster. His wife Janet, the three kids, the close to perfect relationship and everything they had built together was now threatened by what he had done.
If Dave could have just allowed that to slide into the past, fade into something that happened to someone else, perhaps become more like a story than truth, things might have been better.
That way no one needed to ever know.
That is what he tried to tell himself but he had gotten so very close to a confession anyway. His thoughts were to admit it, try to explain, beg her for her forgiveness.
Then Janet had confessed her own indiscretion. In shock at that revelation, Dave opened his mouth to speak but the well rehearsed words would not come.
Instead, his reaction had appeared to be almost cold, calm, unconcerned. Wrapped totally in her own fear at what Dave would do, Janet missed what should have been obvious. There was no sign of real upset in her husband's reaction to her blurted confession.
That first night she put on the little nightie she knew he liked, and even attempted a sexy pose. She knew that Dave delighted in looking at her, the way his expression would change was a wonderful thing to her.
"I suppose that guy saw you like THAT?" He snapped when he saw her.
Janet stifled her tears, managed to protest that she had never brought the man home, never. Not in their own bed.
The very next evening she came to bed naked, all she got was the same reaction from him. Finally with effort he did make love to her, if that was what it could be called.
Dave did snap at her at times, make comments, but other than that he was cold and distant. It was like he was going though the motions of their marriage but not really involved. Janet felt it all coming apart, slipping away.
Determined to save the more than a decade and a half of what had been a good and loving relationship, Janet went to see her mother. She managed to blurt out her shame, concerns, her worries.
Her Mother's advice was to try to be as normal as possible, love her man, pour all of her energy into being the perfect wife. She also mentioned that it can be best to just let some things fade into a memory, although it was far too late for that.
Careful to do her best to not hurt Dave any more than she already had, Janet lied and passed her own affair off as almost nothing when Dave pressed her again for more details.
That meant even more lies, but in the constant effort she made to find some buoy of normalcy that they could grasp to, her own period of depression lifted.
Telling her husband that Randy was a poor lover and no match for him appeared to help, Dave made love to her, fully firm for the first time in quite awhile. He was overly gentle with her, more so than he even normally was.
Janet faked her own orgasm very well. Then she lay there quietly for a very long time, listening to her husband's soft snores. For awhile she had hope, but things did not improve much.
She was aching for his light kiss as he left for work, the buss he would place on the tip of her nose when he got home. The way he would always say thank you when she brought him a cup of Tea without being asked? Those simple touches he would give her as he passed by to do something.
All of that was normal, done without thought, just signs of love and caring. Most of that was now gone, Janet desperately wanted that all back.
Her wonderful life was sorely damaged by her moment of weakness, now compounded by her lies to her man that it was nothing to her.
The real truth was that it had been amazing sex, she had felt sensations she didn't know she even could with Randy. So much so that she had felt no will to resist. Her mind had protested no but her body did not that first time. After that, the brief but intense affair became an total orgy of sex.
That first time with Randy had been almost accidental. It was certainly an accident that he happened to be there in that bar, when she stopped for a drink, for some peace and quiet with her thoughts. All she knew of the man then was the few dances they had shared more than a full year before, he was good at it, and he made her laugh.
Janet felt unloved that night, ignored, all alone. The man was again fun to talk to, fun to talk with, he filled a need. Somehow he had managed to cancel the incredible depression she was engulfed with.
She became almost giddy, she felt alive for the first time in a very long time. Randy had teased, with such an easy manner and at the very moment in her life when she needed to laugh.
She felt much better when she got home that night, and she even slept very well. When Randy called the next afternoon to ask her if she would like to share a meal with him, she accepted without concern.
Janet showered carefully, shaved her legs, even to the point of carefully trimming her pubic hair. The thoughts in her mind were of Dave, she wanted to be sure and look good for him when he got home in a few short days.
She thought quite awhile on what to wear for dinner, finally selecting a conservative blouse and skirt. She had tried on a couple of her nicer dresses, but they looked to be a bit too fancy for just having dinner.
There was no point in giving Randy the wrong idea, although he had been so polite she wasn't concerned.
Randy was just a friend, he happened to be a man but still, that was all it was. It was only a meal, conversation between two people that were becoming friends, totally innocent. They had a few drinks, talked, even danced. Janet loved to dance, and Randy was a fine dancer. There was no groping, nothing out of the ordinary. If he had, that would have ended it right there. It was like Randy knew exactly what to say and do, so she felt completely comfortable with him. Forgotten was her husband, thousands of miles away, busy with his work. There was just the moment, and fun.
Randy had proven to be quite expert at techniques of seduction. He did not attempt making a pass, he simply gently steered her mind and emotions, then followed along, placing himself in the right place at the right moment. A few drinks to relax her, a few comments to build up her comfort level and he felt she was ready. He was sure of it when while dancing, she settled against his body and allowed herself to flow with his motions.
He knew she could feel the warmth of his body, and he could see that she was basking in his complete attention to her.
