This is a reimagining of "The Aftermath," posted by swingerjoe on 4/24/2017.
While I haven't been able to get swingerjoe's explicit permission to play with his story, I refer readers to part of Joe's comment to me: "if you want to pick up the ball and run with it from here, you have my blessing."
I'd like to thank stev2244 for an early read, though I doubt that he recognizes it!
Thanks as always to blackrandl1958 for her editing.
Ashley Cranston was in a fix. She had cheated on her husband. She knew what she was: a rotten cheating bitch. She knew she had no excuse for what she did, and would have given anything to turn back time and undo it, but she knew that was impossible. She would have gladly recreated Cersei Lannister's "Walk of Shame," but there were no easy fixes. What was done was done, and now she had to live with the consequences for the rest of her life.
Why did she do it? She had been asking herself that same question since it happened, and had come up with few satisfactory answers. She had read that most men have affairs because of opportunity, while women have affairs because they feel there is something missing from their lives, but she was happy with her life, and had few complaints. She and her husband Brian had been happily married for more than nine years when this happened. Their Haley had just begun second grade. Their marriage was rock-solid, they had a healthy sex life, their careers were flourishing, and they were heading in a good direction financially. In other words, she didn't cheat on her husband because she was unsatisfied with any aspect of her life or because she sought revenge for something that he did to her.
This wasn't some new hunky guy that all the women in the office were swooning over. In fact, before meeting him in person a few days prior to the incident, he meant nothing more to her than a friendly voice on the phone.
When it came time to re-launch her career when their daughter started school, she was both anxious and excited to be out of the house for the first time in several years.
Her new employers sent her on a business trip to California, 2,700 miles away from home, for a week-long training session. That is when she was introduced to a man named Russell Cochrane.
Russell had been with the company for many years, and was in the process of transitioning to a new position with another company. He was asked to stay behind for an extra week so that he could train Ashley.
At first, she was a bit intimidated by him, given his knowledge and experience. But he was very patient and reassuring, and his casual demeanor quickly put her at ease.
They worked together closely every hour of every day that week, as Russell taught her his tricks of the trade. Not only was it easy working with him, but she genuinely enjoyed his company. He was very charming and funny in a self-deprecating way, and he lavished subtle compliments on her throughout the week.
She had to admit that she was flattered. He was ten, perhaps fifteen, years older than she was, and his attention made her feel like a younger, hotter, woman than she perceived herself to be. Although he wasn't necessarily the type of man she normally found handsome, she found herself attracted to him in an inexplicable way.
By the time her training ended, she was so mentally-exhausted that she didn't even bother to change her clothes before heading straight to the hotel bar.
She didn't notice Russell when he entered the bar, as she was preoccupied with her cellphone. Until that moment, she wasn't even aware that he was staying at the same hotel.
She was startled when he suddenly appeared at her table.
"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked. Before she could respond, he pulled up a chair, placed his drink on the table and seamlessly engaged her in a casual conversation.
They chatted for quite a long time. She couldn't even recall what they discussed. She was simply grateful that the topic of their conversations moved away from the office. She was glad to have his company. He had some interesting tales to tell. She found him captivating, and he seemed to really listen to what she had to say.
She would have liked to think that her decision to sleep with Russell was completely spontaneous, as if it were guided by some invisible hand of fate over which she had no control. Perhaps she had too much wine at the bar and could no longer think rationally. Or perhaps she simply used drunkenness as an excuse to do what she did.
The truth is that at some point on that evening, she made the conscious decision to shut down the part of her brain that had dominated her every thought throughout her life and simply "live within the moment." She had always been completely faithful to Brian from the moment they first met. Her behavior that night was so completely out of character that she simply couldn't comprehend how and why it happened.
After several more rounds of drinks, the bartender announced that the bar was closing.
"May I walk you to your room?" he asked.
She knew that she should have said no, but she wanted to be in his company just a little while longer and figured there was no harm in it.
Although they had been flirting throughout the night, she convinced herself that she could, and would, put an end to it at any moment. When they reached her door, however, they had reached a point of no return. She could see it in his eyes. He knew that she felt the same way.
He pulled her toward him and kissed her. Her heart was racing, and her head was spinning. It was thrilling. It was naughty. She was fully aware that it was wrong. She had spent an entire lifetime trying her best to live a good and noble life, and yet she felt herself being drawn into a dark pit of temptation. She swiped her key card and opened the door to her room.
She wished that she could say that the night was filled with romance, or that it was the best sex of her life, but the truth was that it was very ordinary. Oh, she came, several times, but nothing that she hadn't had many times with Brian. She couldn't even say that his cock was especially impressive.
When she returned home, Brian greeted her with a warm hug and kiss, and Haley quickly followed, asking if she'd brought her any souvenirs. They all shared a nice dinner together that evening, reconnecting and providing updates on their week. They then read a story to Haley together at her bedside. That night, Brian and she made love.
Life returned to normal for everyone except for Ashley. She couldn't bear the weight of the guilt that hung like a lead ballast tied around her heart. After they made love that night, she quietly sobbed in the bathroom for nearly an hour. Luckily, Brian had fallen asleep immediately after their sex and hadn't noticed.
She carried that weight day after day. She desperately wanted to talk to someone about it, and nearly called her sister.
Ultimately, she decided that she would deal with it herself. For all intents and purposes, she had gotten away with the "perfect crime." No one knew what had happened except her and Russell, and Russell had moved on to another company and would never see her again. Brian could never find out about what she did unless she told him.
For days and days, she weighed her options. She and Brian always had a strong relationship built on complete and total trust and honesty. She had never kept even the most benign secret from him, and as far as she knew, neither had he. It broke her heart knowing that he didn't have a clue what took place in California. She felt that he had a right to know. She would have wanted to know if she were in his shoes.
Or would she?
"Ignorance is bliss," as they say. She knew Brian well, and this news would devastate him. He trusted her so deeply that he had never once questioned her faithfulness in all the years they had been together. If he learned the truth, it would shatter his worldview. He would question everything about her and their marriage. He would likely never trust her again. Every time she stepped outside the front door, he would wonder who she was with and what she was doing. Their marriage would never be the same again.
As the days since "the incident" turned into weeks, Ashley grew more and more paranoid. She was scared to death that she would slip up somehow. What she had done was bad enough, but not telling him about it seemed like an even greater act of deception and betrayal.
Brian would occasionally catch her while she was deep in thought.
He could always tell when something was bothering her, and would ask, "What's wrong, Honey?
She had always been a terrible liar, so she would simply tell him it was nothing. Of course, every husband knows that when his wife says, "nothing," that it's something.
There was another issue stoking her paranoia: They hadn't used protection. She didn't worry about pregnancy, since she had her tubes tied after Haley was born. But what if Russell had given her a sexually transmitted disease, and then she passed it onto Brian?
She began doing research about various STD's, studying symptoms and incubation periods. She considered getting tested, but which tests would she take? And what if Brian found out about it? Russell was an older man who was recently divorced after a long marriage. What were the odds that he was carrying an STD? After more than a month had passed, she came to the conclusion that she had avoided that potential issue as well. More so than ever, she began to feel that her infidelity would never be discovered.
Then she remembered her browser history and frantically erased as much as she could from her search history. Not that Brian would ever check, but she wanted to be absolutely certain that she had left behind zero evidence.
Her paranoia became her daily companion as she considered one scenario after another in which her misdeed might be discovered by Brian before she could have a chance to tell him the truth.
Ashley couldn't take the pressure of the constant stress on her emotions any longer. She had begun to lose weight, as she had trouble eating. She tossed and turned in bed each night. She had difficulty thinking straight, and began making costly mistakes at work. Although she was treating Brian like a king in an effort to overcompensate for what she'd done, she still felt as though she was cheating on him with each passing day that she didn't confess.
She reached a breaking point. Whatever the cost would be, she had to tell him. It was the right thing to do.
They sent Haley away to a week-long summer camp. If ever there were a perfect opportunity to confess, that was it. She imagined that Brian would be incredibly angry. He would likely shout and curse. Although she was sure he wouldn't hit her or become ultra-violent, she imagined that he might throw something against a wall or break something. She didn't want their daughter to be exposed to any of that.
Needless to say, she was as nervous as she had ever felt when the two of them sat at the kitchen table on that fateful afternoon. She had rehearsed what she would say to him in her head for so long, and yet when the time came to deliver this crushing news, her throat was so constricted, and her voice shook so violently, she was surprised he was able to understand a word she said.
As expected, he shouted and called her every name imaginable. He slammed his fist on the table so hard that she thought it would crack, and he paced across the kitchen floor like a caged animal. Before she could say another word, he stormed out of the house, knocking over the vase that he had given her as an anniversary present. She couldn't bear to throw it out, she just put all the pieces in a box and put it in her closet.
She waited all night for him to return, and fell asleep on the couch. She tried calling and texting his cellphone, but he refused to respond. She didn't know where he stayed that night, but he didn't return until the following afternoon.
When he stepped through the front door, she hardly recognized him. He looked as though he had slept in his clothes, and the expression on his face reminded her of a photo she once saw of soldiers returning from battle. That is the moment she began to question whether she had made the right decision by confessing her sin. While it may have alleviated her guilt, it had just dumped a pile of shit on Brian's head.
He didn't say a word. He simply walked past her and sat at the kitchen table. With great hesitancy, she eventually joined him. He stared at her for quite a while. She had trouble looking at him. The pain behind his eyes went straight to her heart. In that moment, she thought she had made the wrong decision by confessing. He would be so happy at that moment if she hadn't told him what she had done. Perhaps it was selfish of her to relieve her guilt at his expense.
"Why?" he asked. His voice was unusually raspy.
She shook her head. Tears streaked down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Brian."
"Why?" he repeated.
