Chapter 1: A Memorial Day
"Tara, are you up there? We are out of margarita mix."
"Yes, Bob. I'll be down in a few minutes." As I try to catch my breath and wrap my mind around what just happened.
I am a church going, 40-year-old married mother of one son. I work part time as a book keeper and really don't think of myself as anything but a plain Jane homebody. I am 5'3 about 110 pounds, long straight auburn hair, green eyes, and not very gifted in the chest area, I am a small 32B. My husband, Bob, and I have been married for twenty years. He is a very conservative man that is a business lawyer, and loves his golf. Oh, and he is much older than I, he just turned 54 last month. We met at a church picnic and he has taken care of me so I have had no worries, but he has never been an exciting person.
Now that you know about me, let's go back to that day two years ago, when my world changed.
It was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and Bob and I have always thrown a big party for all of our friends and family. There were about 50 people there, having a great time eating, swimming, playing games, and, of course, drinking. It was about 6pm and it was still hot so I decided to soak in the pool just to cool off for a few minutes before going back to playing hostess. I was in a lavender and white flowered bikini top with a matching bikini shorts bottom. As I was just standing in the shallow end cooling down, a bunch of kids and other people were clowning around in the pool. All of a sudden, Josh grabbed me from behind and picked me up. I screamed "NO! Put me down," as I was kicking my legs, but too late, Josh pulled me backwards with him and under the water I went.
Josh is my my best friend Krista's 20-year-old son. Krista is a friend from church, and is 5 years older than I am and recently divorced after her abusive husband took things a little too far. I have watched Josh grow up as he is only two years older then my son, Colton, and they have always gotten along pretty well.
So there I was gasping for air, standing in the pool looking like a drowned rat. I had had no intention of getting my hair wet, just a little cool down in pool. So, I climbed out of the pool as everyone had a good chuckle at my expense, and I just laughed along. I grabbed my towel and dried off some and decided I would go upstairs to take care of my hair. I looked around to find my husband to tell him so that he could play host. As I glanced around, I saw he was busy playing horseshoes and decided not to bother him. I told my son, who was having fun playing chef on the grill, that I would be back in a few minutes. He said that he had things under control, so I went in and walked upstairs to the master suite.
I walked into my room, only partially closing the door, and walked into the bathroom, leaving that door wide open. I was standing in front of my vanity with a towel on my head drying my hair, and when I took the towel off my head I looked in the mirror and jumped Josh was standing right behind me.
After my heart slowed down some, I looked at him in the mirror and asked, "What are you doing up here?"