As usual, Henry was exhausted. Factory work was hard, harder than many people would imagine & he often worked 12 hour days when they needed to fulfill a large order that the bosses hadn't planned well. His back ached, his eyes were dry, he could smell his own strong body odour on himself & knew he'd want a long, hot shower when he returned home. The shower he'd taken at work hadn't quite been enough.
Still, he made sure to pick up the bouquet of lilac & cream roses he'd ordered. Their wedding colors. Hopefully, Mia would like them. It was their 24th wedding anniversary. 24 years, two children, both kids basically adults themselves now. He wished he had more energy to celebrate with his wife, but they both worked hard & now that Tyler was at college all their scrimping & saving was paying off. He wanted his kids to have more opportunities than their parents. He was proud of them, proud of their achievements both academic & sporting, but also, proud that they were growing into such hard-working, humble & above-all kind people.
Tyler & Jess were a beautiful reflection of the principles he & Mia had tried to teach them. Jessie was so much like her mother, in appearance & nature. Like her mom she had a natural head for mathematics. It was why Mia was such a fantastic accountant. It was also why Mia had made sure they paid for Jess to attend the week-long STEM camp she was on. He missed having Tyler at home, almost as much as his heart swelled in pride when he thought of him attending college classes. Sometimes he'd feel a pang of yearning when he started his truck in the morning, under the shadow of the basketball hoop bolted on the side of their house.
So it would just be Henry & Mia home tonight. He knew Mia had been planning on the usual dinner she prepared for him, he'd noticed the chicken marinating in buttermilk & spices in the fridge. His favorite recipe, his mother's, which she made on special occasions. He loved his wife. Perhaps after a good, revitalising sleep, he'd suggest they do something romantic tomorrow. A Sunday drive? Or they could go dancing? Like they had when they'd been Tyler & Jess's age? He was considering what gesture he could make when he pulled into the driveway, he could smell the mouth-watering aroma of roast potatoes & smothered chicken & gravy before he even got his boots off.
Mia felt her husband's hands wrap around her from behind while she shelled the peas. She laughed & then scrunched her nose at the hard-working smell he brought with him. She hoped she didn't end up infected by that stink too, she'd spent longer than usual grooming herself after work for their evening. She kissed his rough, scratchy cheek & smiled her wide, dazzling smile when she noticed the bouquet of roses on the kitchen island behind him. Her husband, her man, she hoped he enjoyed the anniversary celebration she planned for him.
Henry's stomach still did somersaults when she smiled at him, he felt the same as he'd felt a quarter of a century ago when he'd first met her. They were introduced to each other by his cousin before going to see Scary Movie with a small group. They'd shared snacks & he'd been smitten from that first, warm, confident smile & then her wicked laugh. After only a couple of weeks dating he told his mom he was going to ask her to marry him. She'd laughed but a year later they'd exchanged vows at St John's. They'd had their ups & downs, like all couples, but he'd never regretted proposing to her.
When he was showered & dressed in fresh, comfortable but slightly formal clothes (he was following her lead, he'd noticed the knee-length dress she wore tonight) he helped her set the table. Usually, when the kids were away, they'd eat on the sofa in front of the TV, but it was a special occasion, Mia had even thrown a cotton tablecloth over the formica kitchen table.
"Happy Anniversary, darling," he told her, raising his beer in a toast. He was about to say more when she stood up.
Mia's hands trembled a little. She'd been nervous all day. She'd even left work early to try & prepare herself, promising the office manager she'd work two more hours on Monday to make up for it. She'd tried to calm herself with deep breaths, but not much had changed.
The closer the clock had ticked towards dinner, the more anxiety she'd felt. Was she making a mistake? It was so risky, SO risky. Should she have talked with Henry before arranging everything? She'd been on the verge of calling the whole thing off several times.
What if she was about to ruin their lives? Ruin the happy unit they'd created together, destroy all the trust & love they'd put into their home & family & marriage. None of her friends would do anything like this - they'd be shocked if they ever found out. They'd probably never believe her if she even raised the idea with them. Or they'd avoid her forever, change aisles in any supermarket they ran into her in.
Henry's toast caught in his throat, he hadn't noticed at first but Mia looked pale. She was usually so confident, so poised. Now her face looked bloodless, her dark skin, which usually glowed with health, looked sullen, ashen.
He was horrified when she started to talk & her voice shook, she was usually the designated public speaker out of the two of them. In fact, he couldn't remember ever SEEING her nervous. He knew she HAD been, on occasion, but she'd always had the better poker-face. She'd managed to fake confidence in almost all situations, only confiding later when she'd been worried or insecure. He searched his mind for a reason for her nerves, tried to think of some way to reassure her.
But, after taking a little sip of water & clearing her throat, Mia spoke. "My darling man, I love you. I adore you. Thank you for your friendship, compromise, support, thank you for all the ways you make me laugh & even the ways you drive me crazy sometimes & for our children & for our life together. I will always love you."
There was a pause & Henry said "I love you too, gorgeous" & would have said more but she held up an elegant, long-nailed hand & kept talking. It seemed to take effort to get the words out. There was a hard lump in his stomach, what was this about? She continued...
"A while ago you told me about a private fantasy you had, a one-off experience you wanted to try with-"
He tried to cut her off. He couldn't believe that after all this time she was feeling so insecure about a silly sexual fantasy he'd never once intended on acting on. Hell, they'd BOTH shared sexual fantasies on occasion, he could kick himself for offhandedly admitting to one that had obviously been torturing her to the point where she felt compelled to raise it during their own wedding anniversary. He sighed, hoping they wouldn't fight tonight. It would be horrible to spoil such a delicious meal with such a silly argument. "Sweetheart, I-"
"A one-off idea that I haven't ever really stopped thinking about & I hope that this shows how special you are to me, how grateful I am for your love, & how deeply & fully I love & trust you too. You can come in now!" She called out to the house.
Confused, Henry heard the door to her sewing room click open & he was surprised & confused when a pair of white kids, maybe in their early twenties, walked smiling into the kitchen. The strangers had been lurking in his house without him realizing, He felt vaguely angry, they'd simply emerged like proud intruders.
The girl was blonde, blue-eyed, with hair pulled into a high pony. She wore a black & white striped jersey dress, long bare legs, pink lipstick. The boy had tousled dark hair, & a lean, subtly-muscled body like a swimmer. He wore jeans & a white singlet that clung to his flat stomach. They were beautiful, like a pair of Calvin Klein models. It seemed to make Henry's home invasion vibes even more confused. Mia had called out to them. What the Hell?
He looked at Mia in shocked surprise. He was speechless. Who were these young people? What were they here for? What was going on?
Automatically, he stood, & turned to pull in a couple more chairs to the table, now, he assumed the strangers were going to join them.
Mia giggled nervously & whispered "they're not here for dinner, baby." He looked at her, bewildered. "Sit down," she said, "enjoy your meal. Happy anniversary."
"Who-?" he asked to the room, but Mia just sat herself down opposite him, as if nothing strange was happening at all. She glanced at him over the pair of candles she lit as she poured a little white wine in her glass.
"So? How was work?" She asked.
Beside the table the boy & girl started to undress, neither speaking a word, just smiling coyly while they did it. The girl's face was flushed a little pink, as the boy removed his jeans & underwear he realised the kid was aroused, his cock pointing at the high kitchen cabinets behind Henry's head. He gaped at them. The girl was slim, she looked almost like a teenage boy compared to the curves of his full, ripe wife, but she had enticingly natural, if small, tits, & her pussy had been shaved perfectly bald. The little white vagina peeked out from her upper-thighs.
"Please Henry," Mia whispered, "try the chicken. You can chew AND watch."
His eyes flicked back to his wife, was this really happening? Was he dreaming? He felt like Dorothy, emerging from her hurricane-dropped house to find a strange world painted in bright colors.
"What's going on?" he sputtered.
"Come on baby, you know. Just let yourself enjoy it. I promise, I'm OK. More than OK. Tell me about your day."
In the back of his mind Henry thought he was forgetting something, some piece of vital information that would make the weirdness settle into a picture he could understand, but the details eluded him. She'd been talking about a sexual fantasy he'd shared...
The girl was the first one to get under the table, crawling on hands & knees until he could feel her sitting in front of his knees. He shifted uncomfortably, his instincts still telling him to stand up & get her a chair. The boy too, as naked as the girl, had gone under the table somewhere.
"Tell me about your day, Henry." Mia urged him.
"I-" he tried, he really did. "It was... we finished the first shipment for Cali" he mumbled.
"That's great," Mia responded, he noted she was looking far more relaxed, even amused. "Is Wallace going to hire more people for the next run?"
