Reclaiming the Past

Reclaiming the Past

by bonesquick

Chapter 1

Stepping into the cool, sterile glow of the pharmacy, David was immediately greeted by the familiar scent of antiseptic and the low hum of fluorescent lights. The bell above the door tinkled softly, announcing his arrival to the elderly woman behind the counter. She looked up from her magazine, her eyes hidden behind thick, bifocal lenses, and offered him a smile.

"Evening David," she said, her voice a warm, gravelly whisper. "Usual prescriptions ready for your wife?"

David nodded, returning her smile. "Yes, thank you, Mrs. Hayes.

I appreciate your promptness." He took a moment to glance around the pharmacy, noting the familiar surroundings that had become a part of his normal routine since Renee's diagnosis. The row of shelves lined with colorful pill bottles, the humming refrigerator case displaying insulin vials, and the faded posters warning of the dangers of unprotected sex--a stark reminder of the life they'd left behind.

Mrs. Hayes shuffled towards the back of the store, her orthopedic shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor. David's mind wandered as he waited, flashes coming into his mind of happier, sexier times. It happened often with him the last few years.

He met Renee when he was 19. David grew up in a medium sized town in west Texas. During his senior year of high school, he started playing the drums, and started a band with his best friend Larry shortly after graduating. They had a lot of fun playing a biker bar on the weekends. They hardly made gas money, but they were just happy playing music, and the people there really enjoyed having them. Sixteen months later, they decided to move to Arlington TX, and try their luck in a bigger city, with an actual music scene. It didn't go as planned. They had no connections to anyone, no place to even rehearse, and struggled just finding work and affording the basics. We met a few other local bands, and that's when i met her.

She had recently broken up with a guy in another band, like two months before I met her, and from what some people said that knew him, we looked just alike. Not the most assuring way to start a relationship with someone, but we did get to know each other, and spend more and more time together. She was wanting to move out of her parents house, and I was wanting someplace more stable myself so we decided to move in together after dating just a few months. She was a year younger than me, but more sexually experienced than I was. Renee was my first real girlfriend, and we had fun learning about each other, and I enjoyed learning what made her feel good. What made her cum. She was my first for pretty much everything sexual for me.

A few months after we had our own place, we went with my buddy Larry, Renee's closest friend Denise, and two other guys we knew to an abandoned tombstone factory that was turned into a live music venue. I was not a drinker, but it was a BYOB kind of place. We enjoyed hanging out, and everyone else I was there with drank, which was fine cause I would be driving. When we decided to leave, everyone other than me and Denise, who also wasn't a drinker, were very intoxicated. I even had to stop a few times on the way to Larry's apartment so someone could get out and throw up. Renee was sitting right next to me, with Denise on the other side of her against the passenger door, and all three of the guys were in the back seat. At one point I glanced over and saw Renee had her head turned around and was erotically sucking one of Larry's fingers. I said nothing, very caught off guard that she was doing this right in front of me, until Denise noticed as well and gave her an elbow, which brought it to an end. I drove the rest of the way to Larry's in a stunned silence, wondering how she could just do that right in front of me, and then make no apologies after the fact. I chalked it up to her over indulgence of beer.

When we arrived at Larry's, people stumbled out of the car towards his door. He lived in a small one bedroom apartment. Larry seemed to be having trouble just walking, and my girlfriend took it upon herself to help him along. She had an arm around his waist, helping him stay upright so he could unlock his door, and then she said she was going to help get him into his room. Someone turned on some music while Renee walked Larry around a corner and into his bedroom. Me and the other two guys sat down, and Denise came over and said Renee was helping Larry get his shoes off. After what seemed like more than enough time to get someone's shoes off, she still wasn't back, and it started to feel awkward for me, but I wasn't really connecting any dots. I never got up to check, or yell for her or anything, but something just seemed off about it. Denise walked back and forth, and would tell me, he was sick and she was helping him, or that she'd be out in a minute, which I guess kept me from going totally crazy. Her being my first girlfriend was also a big part of it. I didn't want to come off as a jerk, or some insecure worry wart, so I sat there for what had to be thirty or forty minutes before she came back out. We left to go to our own apartment, with Denise of course, and I never asked or said anything about it.

"Mr. Barnes?" Mrs. Hayes's voice pulled him from his thoughts. She stood before him, holding a small paper bag. "Here you go, dear. Make sure you tell your wife I said hi."

"I will, Mrs. Hayes. Thank you." David paid for the prescriptions, his mind still on the past.

As he walked back to his car, he couldn't shake the feeling of longing for those days of passion and excitement. He missed the raw, primal edge that had once defined their sex life.

When he got home, his daughter Abby was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. She looked up as he entered, her eyes softening at the sight of him.

"Hey, dad," she said, a smile playing on her lips.

"Hey," he replied, leaning against the counter. "Picked up your mom's prescriptions."

She nodded, turning back to the stove. "That's cool."

Her eyes flicked back to him briefly. "Any hot nurses at the pharmacy?" she teased, a mischievous glint in her eye.

David chuckled, "There are no nurses at pharmacies." He said, placing the small bag in the refrigerator. "Did you get those blueprints and numbers over to Millerton?"

David had gotten into commercial real estate after Abby was born, and had his office in the house. When Abby was 16, she started helping him with his paperwork, and office things that her dad couldn't seem to ever get to, even traveling with him sometimes to meet clients and view property options. Now that she was out of school, she was able to help him full-time, which was a huge plus. Not only was she good with numbers, and filing and all the clerical parts of it, but she was also very outgoing and friendly, and his clients sure didn't mind seeing her when she came along. Maybe that's why him and Renee only had one child. They couldn't have topped Abby. She was smart, shared the same sense of humor as her dad, and was gorgeous beyond words, but never carried herself or acted like she thought so herself.

Abby looked at her dad, "Yea, he's got everything he needs, just have to wait on him now." David gave her a thumbs up, "Awesome, we'll see what he decides."

Abby stirred a little and said, "I'm going to get this finished and go out in a little while."

"Out? Where to?" David asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Just a party with some friends," she replied, brushing it off.

"Nothing big."

David nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Be safe, okay? Let me know if you need a ride home."

Abby rolled her eyes. "I'm not a kid anymore, Dad. I can handle it."

David smiled, ruffling her hair. "I know, sweetheart. I just worry, that's all."

He walked out of the kitchen, through to the living room finding his wife relaxed in her chair, working a jigsaw puzzle.

She looked up as he entered.

"How was the pharmacy?" she asked.

David leaned against the wall, his eyes taking her in. "Same old, same old," he replied, his gaze lingering on her. "You look... comfortable."

Renee smiled, "The puzzle is a welcome distraction, a nice way of relaxing." David made his way to the couch, grabbing his usual spot on one end of it. This had become their routine, the way they shared time together, talking and being company for one another. Nice and safe.

"How was the glucose battle today?" Ever since her diagnosis, its been two years of first recovering, then learning to manage her sugar levels. Counting carbs, limiting certain foods, avoiding others, learning how many units of Insulin you needed for what she was going to eat. Some days it seemed like she just couldn't get it right, her glucose spiking one way or the other, and it was frustrating to watch her struggle with it. My role was to be Mr. steady, being what help i could be, and offering whatever opinion i could when asked.

Her diagnosis came out of nowhere. No one in either of our family has it, and for a woman to be 39 and her pancreas just suddenly decide it doesn't want to work anymore? It just doesn't make sense, and doesn't seem fair. Our life was great for us, and her illness came along and said "Nah, we're gonna throw a big wrench right here."

So i sit in my usual spot on the couch, staring at whatever show she is half paying attention to herself, and often think about certain parts of our lives we lost. Mostly, one certain part specifically. It's selfish of me to think this way sometimes, I know it is, and it's not just because i miss that part of our relationship, the pleasure and fun she got from dating and seeing other men, but I miss the confidence she had, the way she loved buying outfits for her "dates" and showing me before he came by. I miss the Renee that was truly happy, ever since we started that journey twelve years ago, and i know she misses it too, just not as much as I do. Now her confidence and self esteem isn't what it was, thanks to a little weight gain from the Insulin and the fact she wears a glucose monitor on her arm. I constantly tell her that she looks great, and that all the men she used to see would have agreed with me 100% and would have broken speed limits getting here if she just gave it a chance, but she hasn't and none of those men have called or even sent a text in over a year. Time waits for no man or woman, and that's certainly true in the Hot wife lifestyle.

Before anyone thinks they need to feel all bad for me, understand that my wife still loves sex with me, and we are quite active. After her illness, it took her several months to gain back weight she lost, (which was substantial) and to feel close to herself again. Just regaining her energy to do what needs doing day to day took time, but our sex life recovered, and we are as active together as we've ever been. So shed no tears for me, but I still think back and miss her extra playtime with other men.

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We got married about a year after we started dating. My friend Larry had also decided to move back west by that time, so my only social connection to the area was my wife. She had her family here, and friends she grew up with and went to school with. Sometimes we would visit some as a couple, but a lot of times she would go by herself to see friends. I wasn't worried about her being out honestly. We were a lot stronger couple by that time, and I knew she cared a lot for me and wouldn't want to ruin that. She would come home at one or two am a bit tipsy, or worse, and want sex. Being the good young husband I was, I was more than happy to fulfill that.

Those first few years we were married, we still lived in an apartment. It was a nice complex, and it had a nice pool, which we enjoyed taking advantage of in the summer. My wife is 5'4 with dark auburn hair and brown eyes. Her curves and her 36C breasts were very welcome sights in a bikini, and I started to wonder if every man in that complex wasn't watching out their window for her to show up at the pool, cause it was always busy there when we went. My wife went about her business, but by this time I knew she loved the attention, and I felt like a king showing his greatest treasure to the poor slobbering masses. Shame those men couldn't see her and know her like I did. How she felt under me. How she wrapped her legs around my waist and gave her best to me and for me. She was always the youngest woman out there, and at best there might be two of three older women there at the time, so Renee had all eyes on her. Many of the men would strike up conversations with her, sometimes with me there, and sometimes when she was on the other side of the pool by herself. She was always friendly and smiling, laughing at things they said. I knew the men loved the close up view and had the same thoughts most men would have in that situation, and that was a boost for me. To be coveted for being married to Renee was a great feeling of pride, and I could not blame them for wishing they could have a turn with her.

Watching her interactions with these men in the pool, I would think back to what I now called the "Larry Incident." By this time I was pretty certain something went on in his room, and now a few years removed from it, I was more intrigued by it than I was upset about it. There was still a little burn left from it, that feeling that she betrayed me somehow, but we were very early in being boyfriend and girlfriend. Neither of us declared the other as their one and only, so my interest in it far outweighed any negative feelings I had about it. I just wanted to know exactly what happened, but I was never going to ask her. I just held on to the fact that whatever happened with Larry, here we were. She was my wife and I wouldn't do anything to ruin that. I watched her in the pool with other men, keeping that in the back of my mind. Of course men would want her to play chicken in the pool, or volleyball, or sometimes just want to pick her up and throw her in, any excuse to touch her or have her company and attention in any way. They would finish and she would climb out of the pool, and the poor men would have to stay in a while, waiting for the blood to recede from their dicks.

When I was 23, we moved into a house. I had been taking courses in real estate for a while, and decided to go into the commercial side of it. I was like a duck to water, it just clicked with me and I found success with it quickly. I was somewhat surprised that the pool men didn't throw a big farewell party for us, but moving into a house was a great upgrade. We had also found out that Renee was pregnant, so the extra room came at a perfect time. We bought all new furniture, got the nursery ready with everything Renee wanted, and even traded our old car in for something new. Three months after Renee's 23 birthday, Abby was born.

When Abby was 4, we had a new couple move into the house next door. Scott and Lisa were an early 40's couple with two boys that were 8 and 10. We went over and introduced ourselves to them after they were here a few days, and liked them from the start, even though they were almost 20 years older than we were. Scott was a very large man, 6'4 with big shoulders and arms. He was a football player in his college days, and had enjoyed being an amateur body builder ever since then. He had his own workout equipment in his house, and it was very obvious he still used it regularly. Lisa was a sweet and fun person to be around, and we quickly found ourselves hanging out at each others house, going out to eat, or having them over at our pool. It was also around this time that me and Renee started traveling some. I already traveled kinda regular for work reasons, and she would always say she'd enjoy seeing this place or that place, so we started going to places. Abby was a good traveling kid, and it was great to visit places as a family. We liked taking Abby swimming at the hotel we were staying, since she had recently taken swimming lessons, and like it was at our old apartment, Renee caught the eyes and attention of any man that wasn't attached to another female there. She was friendly and talkative to any guy that approached her, like she always was, but this time I had to pay attention to our daughter in the shallow end, or the kiddie pool if they had one. Sometimes I would look over and she would be in the middle of a group of guys, all of them talking and laughing and enjoying themselves. I'm sure most men would feel threatened and jealous about this, but seeing the way Renee had their attention, and the way she ate it up and enjoyed it so much I felt more happy for her, and just proud for being her husband. She would touch them sometimes during conversations, playfully slapping or pushing one of the guys for something he said.

On one trip we took to Atlanta, my wife decided to bring a bikini that she hadn't worn since Abby was born, but was one she really liked. She tried it on before we left, and was happy with it, even though her boobs stayed just a little bigger after Abby was born. Once we were in Atlanta and got to the pool, she found out that walking and moving around in it, she had to be careful her boobs didn't fall out of the top. She complained about it, and I just told her not to stress over it too much. Worse things in life happen, plus we didn't live around here. As usual, Renee drew a crowd of guys around her while I was keeping Abby going in the kids pool. There were quite a few other parents and kids in the pool when we were there, so i had a harder time keeping an eye on things in the regular pool. After we had been there a while she came to check on us, looking not as happy as I would hope for. She told me that she had looked down three different times and noticed she had a nipple sticking out of her top, and of course, none of the guys around her bothered to point it out. I laughed and asked her if she really expected them to.

She gave me a playful shove and said, "No, I guess not. Just kind of a bummer. I don't want anyone seeing my nipples but you." I told her she looked great, and that any man would be lucky to see them. She rolled her eyes and said, "You're so full of it." I laughed and told her "Baby, you know I never lie to you." She smiled and said "Alright, I believe you." I told her she should go back up there and enjoy the attention.

That's when she laughed and said, 'You're a filthy old man, David Barnes," she teased. "Making your own wife show off to other men."

David chuckled, "Well, I think you know I'm not old, and I'd never do something like that. I just want you to feel good about yourself. You're still the sexiest woman I know, plus if you didn't like the idea, you would say so."

Renee's eyes softened as she looked at him, "I know you do, baby." She leaned over and kissed him, her hand cupping his cheek.

"You're my filthy old man, and I wouldn't have it any other way," she whispered against my lips. She pulled back, her eyes gleaming with a mischievous spark.

"So, do you have things under control here?" She spread her arms wide while she looked at me, like I was somehow in charge of the whole kiddie pool area.

I told her, "Yea, I got this" She smiled at me and asked if I needed anything to drink. I told her I was doing fine for the moment, so she said she was going to get her some water and would be back. I watched her sexy ass wiggle away, through the gate and back over to the big pool. On her way to the complimentary water, a few guys she had been talking with before got her attention, and she stopped beside the pool and talked with them briefly, before she slipped back into the pool with them. The water there was only about three feet deep, and they stood there and resumed their talking together. Anytime I looked over, they were laughing and having a fun talk, my wife's big smile never leaving her face. I looked over one time and saw my wife listening to something one of the guys was saying, her eyebrows raised in an "are you serious" kind of way. She laughed, and looked up at the sky briefly, like she was thinking on something. Then she looked back at the guys, smiled and lowered herself in the water, so only her head was above it. She said something to one of the guys, and he lowered himself down as well, but completely submerged himself in the water for 10 or 15 seconds before coming back up in the same spot. I couldn't really see the guys faces from where I was, only Renee's, but I assume he was smiling right back at her when he came back up from the water. Renee was laughing as the next guy did the same thing, and they each did this 2 or 3 times, until Renee stood back up in the water. After another fifteen minutes of talking to the guys, Abby was getting bored with the pool, plus we had dinner reservations, so I got our things together, got my wife's attention and we said goodbye to the pool.