I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew something wasn't right. My wife, Laura, was usually bubbly and happy, but for the life I of me I couldn't remember when I had last heard her laugh. This hadn't been going on very long, but it had been at least a couple of weeks since we had sex, and that seemed to coincide with Laura's change in mood. I asked straight out her what was wrong and I got the fateful, "Oh, nothing!" response. That was when I knew I had to do something.
For a week or two I did more than my share of the household chores. I cooked her favorite meals. I even volunteered to take her shoe shopping. It figures she took me up on that, but it still didn't do anything to get her out of the funk she was in. After another week or so of this I was at wits end. Nothing I did seemed to make her happy and I began to feel frustrated, and not just because we hadn't had sex. But, I figured she was a big girl and she would either tell me what was on her mind or work it out on her own eventually. I continued with the TLC for another week and then last Saturday marked the beginning of what was to be a completely new phase in our lives.
I had just finished cutting and trimming the yard and when I walked into our room to have a shower I found Laura laying face down on the bed. I could tell she wasn't crying, just moping, but still, this was really unusual for her. "What's wrong?" I asked?
"Oh, nothing." A pause. "I don't know! I just feel so... so... blah!"
"Well, I know one thing! We have got to get you to snap out of this. I have never seen you this way! What is going on?"
She didn't answer, but she sighed heavily a couple of times.
"That's it. We are going out. Tonight!" I said. "I am going to take you dancing!"
She looked at me quietly for a second or two and then she gave me a faint smile. "Really?"
"Yeah! Why not! We need to get you out and see if we can't get you out of these doldrums you are in!"
"I'd like that" she said quietly, but then she flashed me one of her smiles and I fell in love with her all over again.
"Good!" I said. "Why don't you go get your hair done and when you get back I will take you out for supper and then we can try and paint the town red!"
Not five minutes later she was backing out of the driveway. I had already seen a bounce in her step I hadn't seen for weeks.
A couple of hours later she walked in with one of those haircuts all women seem to get. I don't know what it is about hair salons, but they have no clue how to actually fix a girls hair. Laura saw the look on my face and smiled. "Don't worry! They gave me a great cut! Just wait until I have a chance to work with it a little myself before you pass judgment, okay?"
What could I say except, "Deal!"
Ninety minutes later I was ready to go, but Laura still hadn't made an appearance. I was busy fixing myself a Caesar when I heard I soft "Uh hum" behind me. I turned around and there stood Laura. She was stunning (even her hair)! She is always attractive to me, but when Laura puts her mind to it she has the ability to put on her face in a way that transforms her into someone I barely recognize. She would not have looked out of place at the red carpet outside of the Oscars. Unfortunately, she was dressed like she had been nominated for best actress.
I mulled over my next few words VERY carefully. "You look beautiful!" I said, quite sincerely. "But..."
"But what?" she asked with just a hint of anger.
"Well... uh..."
"What?" she asked again. Her anger was not quite so thinly disguised this time.
"Well... You look beautiful, but you look like you are going to meet the Queen! I want to take you dancing! You know, to a night club! Thumping music! Sweaty bodies! Maybe some dirty dancing"
She looked at me for what felt like a very long time. "Oh!" was all she said, and without another word she went back upstairs.
I finished the Caesar I had poured and I was halfway through another when I heard her walking down the stairs again. This time not only did she look stunning, I was stunned!
"Wow! Where did you get that outfit?" I asked.
"Like it?" she asked and did a slow pirouette. I did! She had on a black mini-skirt, not too short, but it still showed of half of her thighs, and the stilettos she had on her feet did nothing but compliment the rest of her long, slender legs. But, it was her top that got my attention. From the front it seemed fairly conservative. It was sleeveless, and it came all the way up. The collar was snug around her throat. I could tell she wasn't wearing a bra from the way the satin clung to her. It was the back of the blouse that blew me away. The collar was held together by a rhinestone chain that stretched nearly from shoulder to shoulder and the entire back was open all the way down to where you could easily see the curve of her lower back before the blouse finished in a cascade of folds just above the top of her butt. I had never seen anything like it, let alone on my usually conservatively dressed wife. She is not shy by any means and has often gone nude in hot tubs with friends, but rarely had I ever seen her in anything that was as blatantly sexy as what she had on tonight
"It's amazing! When did you buy it? I know it wasn't today."
"Believe it or not I have had this outfit since before we were married. It was one of my favorite outfits when I went out to clubs. I didn't think you would approve. I haven't worn it since I met you."
"You are right there! That shirt would be hard to forget!" I laughed. "But, for tonight I do approve!" So with that I offered my arm to the most beautiful woman I had ever had the privilege of escorting and we laughingly headed toward the car, dinner, and an adventure neither one of us suspected.
Dinner was wonderful, but my favorite part was walking in with Laura. You could literally hear conversation stop as we walked to our table and out of the corner of my eye I saw two women nudge their male companions to get their attention again. One guy even got his arm slapped! Too funny!
We sat in a round booth and throughout dinner we sat close and flirted. A couple of times I tried to slide my hand up her skirt to feel what she was wearing underneath, but both times she playfully slapped my hand and told me that was for later. I did manage to slide my hand into the back of her shirt and around to cup a breast a couple of times, so it was still all good. We kissed a lot. Nothing embarrassing, it was just that with her beautiful face so close to mine it was hard not to steal a kiss and it seemed like we did that every dozen words or so all through dinner.
After some espresso and Sambuca we made our way back onto the street and worked our way over a couple of blocks to "the strip". Along the way Laura got more catcalls and whistles than she had heard in years, and from the look on her face she was very pleased with the attention she was getting. Her mood had definitely improved.
When we got to the club Laura wanted to go to I was disappointed to see a line, and a long one at that. I was about to resign myself to a long wait or suggest we go somewhere else when Laura walked right up to the doorman and whispered into his ear. He smiled, shook his head, and much to the chagrin of the people in line, he opened up the velvet ropes for us and let us in like we were VIPs. Somehow I knew if it had only been me I would have found myself at the back of the bus, but I didn't care and into the throbbing club we went.
"Did you know him?" I asked as we walked.
"No. I just asked him if he was going to make a real woman wait in line with all those girls." she laughed in response.
Once we were inside it was quickly obvious there was no where to sit so we hung out at the bar for a while, ordered a couple of drinks and just took it all in. I hadn't been in a club like this for years and the beautiful people were certainly out in style tonight. I had thought I looked good walking out the door tonight, but compared to these people I was beyond dull. Laura on the other hand was in her element and a number of men and women remarked on her look as they squeezed by us. We danced a couple of times to some fast numbers and while Laura seemed to get into it I could sense a little ambivalence about her as well. Once we had made our way back to the bar and our drinks I asked her about it.
"What's wrong? You were having such a good time earlier?"
She stared at me a long time before she took me by the hand. "C'mon", she said. "We need somewhere quiet to talk. She led me out of the bar and back onto the street. She whispered to the doorman again, kissed him on the cheek, and said "You the best!
We walked about a block without saying a word and then Laura pulled me into a small park and sat me down on a bench. She took my hands in hers and looked at me for a moment or two as if trying to see inside of me.
"Do you remember Jennifer, the girl I went to college with?"
I said that I did, but I was wondering what that had to do with anything. Jennifer was married, had two great kids, and lived on the coast with her husband in an amazing home overlooking the Pacific. When Laura and I first met we partied with them a little, but we hadn't seen them in years. I didn't even think she and Laura communicated any more.
"She and Jack got divorced last year."
"What?" I exclaimed. "Why?"
"Jack cheated on her."
"That is too bad." I sighed. "She was... IS a great gal. Is that what has you so upset? You know I would never..."
"No, that isn't it at all. She called me a month or two ago and we have been talking frequently since."
"Ah!" I thought. The pieces of the puzzle begin to come together. "So what does that have to do with how you have been feeling lately?
"Well..." she said, and the story came out.
It seems Jennifer has been having the time of her life the past year. Having no interest in settling down she has been content to date and just have fun. She has been wined, dined, jetted to Mexico, Vegas, and Hawaii, and from what I gather, she had gotten herself royally fucked on a number of occasions. The Vegas trip in particular was memorable because she had let herself be picked up by a strange guy in a nightclub and the next thing she knew she was getting screwed on his private jet at 35,000 feet. It sounded as though they could have stayed on the jet all weekend for as little of Vegas she saw the next couple of days.
"So you want a divorce?" I asked?
"Heavens no!" she exclaimed. "I love you!"
"Whew!" I thought because that was really where I thought this was going and I could not stand the thought of losing her. "So what do you want? To get laid?"
"No. Not that. It is just... Oh, I don't know! Something is missing."
"What do you mean?"
