Many Conversations
Author tnicholl wrote a story, 'Conversations', which clearly falls in the meme of long married wife meets someone while out with her husband, said someone convinces her that a weekend of sex with him will be amazing and that her husband will grudgingly tolerate it, so she does it, and their marriage is destroyed, or not, and they reconcile, or not, and the someone gets what's coming to him, or not.
(Maybe we need a shorter name for that genre, something like 'Casanova hall pass'.)
'February Sucks' also comes to mind as a similar story, and with it's own special treatment by many other authors.
So, here's my attempt to give the full 'February Sucks' treatment to 'Conversations' (with permission from tnicholl).
But, in a bold move, I'm not writing one new version of the story, I'm writing many.
I'll lead with the beginning of the original, and then fork it multiple times from the fixed point where I break off.
Hopefully it will be an entertaining read, and I plan on keeping with tnicholl's theme of the tale being about conversations, not about long steamy sex scenes.
Oh, and for those of you who think it's unrealistic that a woman would abandon years of a good or great marriage for one weekend fling, well, maybe it is.
Or maybe it isn't, or maybe there's something else going on.
Or maybe you should pop over to the non-human stories section and start telling them 'vampires aren't real', 'werewolves don't exist', 'hu-cows are preposterous', and so forth.
Also consider that in a significant number of stories here, the men often have huge penises (or tiny ones if it's that kind of tale), and the women often have ridiculously large breasts that never sag and could pass for twenty year olds despite their being in their fifties, etc.
It's all fantasy, at one level or another.
Try to just go with it and accept the author's vision of the world -- that's what fiction is about, after all.
So, with all that aside, and apologies to the reader for the length of this preamble, here's the beginning of the tale, as written by tnicholl.
- - - - -
Main Characters:
Jim Michaels, aged 47 married to Jill for 25 years. VP of Risk Management for ConCor Logistics. They are now empty nesters.
Jill Michaels, maiden name 'Brett', 45 CFO of Atlas Technologies. Mother of two adult children.
Dr. Toni Adams, 45 year old cardiologist, lonely, wealthy divorcee, and invited party guest.
Kyle Rittenhouse, 30 year old filthy rich playboy philanthropist and serial seducer of married women. (BD: Yes that's the name original author
tnicholl
used. Don't read anything political into it, at least in this story.)
Conversations
"You seem fixated on the beautiful woman in the striking little black dress flirting with that very handsome and polished looking young man by the fireplace."
She always looked good but tonight she looked equal parts goddess and sensuality. She should. She bought the black Dolce & Gabbana satin bustier cocktail dress just for this occasion. The same with the Manolo Blahnik Nadia jeweled satin 90mm pumps adorning her feet. They made her almost six feet tall. Her Victoria's Secret lingerie and stocking set and Tiffany glittering diamond earrings completed her look. It took her over three hours and several thousand dollars to look that perfect.
"That's my wife Jill, we've been married for over 25 years, and yes she is very beautiful. I would guess though that she is fifteen to twenty years older than him?"
She deflected my question by saying, "I thought so, I saw you two come in together. I'm surprised, you don't seem angry at her for being so flirty? You don't seem like one of those guys who get turned on by it either, are you?"
"No, but honestly, I'm not sure how I feel." I turned and looked at this.... well I'm not sure how to describe her. She wasn't beautiful, more handsome if you can say that about a woman. But she is obviously well to do, very bright and definitely exudes sex and class from every pore of her being. There were several women at the charity function who had looks similar to hers.
My immediate thought was she was a doctor or lawyer. I told her. "If I'm being honest here, it does excite me a little I guess, but you're wrong about the anger part. Right now anger is at the top of my list, but I'm also slightly jealous and frightened too I think. As you can see my emotions are all over the place. It's like all of them are taking little jabs at me simultaneously and I can't process them effectively. It's very disconcerting to say the least. It's been going on now for about 20 minutes. I'm trying to decide whether or not I should go over there and break it up?"
I turned back to stare at my wife and the gentleman who now had his arm around my wife's hip and was gently caressing the small of her back. She seemed not to notice and was obviously enthralled with what ever he was whispering in her ear. If I didn't know better and was seeing them for the first time I would easily think they had been lovers for years. Every move, each touch, seemed natural and well patterned.
"On the other hand, I want her to have a good time. She's earned it. She has had a rough go of it for awhile now. She lost both her parents and her only sibling in the last year. Work has been very difficult for her. She is the CFO for a tech company that has been trying to recover from some very bad business decisions. They have gone through several rounds of layoffs and the stress on her has been tremendous, but with her help they have started to turn the corner. In order to handle all of her stresses she has been on a rigorous diet and exercise program for over a year now."
"You seem very proud of her."
I sighed gently and turned back to this study this curious woman, "I am. It hasn't been easy for her. Tonight is sort of a coming out of the darkness party for her."
He was fondling the silver heart shaped pendant hanging from my wife's neck. It was the only item including her matching lingerie that wasn't specifically purchased for this evening. It was a locket with our pictures inside of it that I gave her on our first anniversary all those many years ago. It wasn't much, but we didn't have much then. She told me she loved it and 24 years later, even though she could afford much better, she still wore it every chance she got. I told her she didn't need to wear it tonight but she said it was worth more to her than the rest of her outfit and she wouldn't dream of not wearing it.
They were both saying something obviously about it as they appeared to study it. As he turned it over, feigning great interest in its simple design; he would let the back of his hand gently caress her breasts over her gown. She responded indifferently, as if this were the most normal thing in the world. It ratcheted up my anxiety level a great deal though.
While continuing to gaze at the two 'lovers' I asked the woman politely, "I'm sorry I didn't get your name?" When I got no immediate response I pivoted to look at her and saw that she was so mesmerized by what was occurring between the man and my wife that she apparently hadn't heard me? I took a moment to glance around the great room. It seemed no one but this woman and I had taken any notice of the couple that was the center of our attention.
I quietly inquired as to her name again as I leaned in close to her ear. As the party had progressed and alcohol continued to flow freely the noise level had gone up considerably.
She seemed startled, and broke her eye contact from them and turned to me, "I'm sorry, I guess I was engrossed with the two lov... I mean the couple. My name is Toni, Dr. Toni Adams." She grasped my hand and made a formal show of shaking it and went back to staring at them.
"Jim Michaels, Do you know the gentleman obviously trying to seduce my wife?" I queried without breaking eye contact from them.
"Are you certain it is he who is doing the seducing?" She said with a wry smile as we both watched my wife drape her arm over the front of his shoulder with her elbow and forearm resting on his chest as they clinked their crystal champagne glasses together in a toast of something. "No I've never seen him before. He is quite a handsome man though don't you think?"
We continued our conversation while never breaking eye contact on the couple who were now leaning into each other in a very relaxed and familiar manner. Anyone who should take notice of them would definitely believe they had been a couple for some time.
"Yes, I suppose he is." I was becoming very anxious and was trying desperately to maintain a calm exterior. I'm not sure how successful I was. I was trying in a practiced manner to speak calmly and in a quiet voice as was my habit in stressful situations. It was a trait that had served me well in my profession over the years. Most people under increasing stress tend to raise their voices, make threats, or babble incoherent incomplete repetitive sentences. I found it advantageous to do the opposite. It tends to embarrass and confuse those in an irrational state. Of course that was in a business environment and this was something entirely else.