The Good Neighbour 4

Tom had moved into the house directly across the street from our small terrace about a year earlier. In that time, we had become very friendly with him, and got to know quite a bit about his life. He was in his 30s and divorced, and while he had had a couple of girlfriends around in the last year, we knew that he was lonely and hoped that he would meet someone with whom he could settle down in the near future. After all, he had not wanted his last marriage to end, but his ex-wife sounded as if she had really not been interested in being married, and just walked out one day. In any case, not one to give up and feel sorry for himself, Tom had picked himself up, bought the house across from us, pressed ahead with his work, and carried on trying to be as successful as he could possibly be under the circumstances.

I knew that my wife, Katherine, thought Tom was attractive. She was not one to express herself very openly about such things; nor had she. But she had commented on his arrival the day he moved in, and she always seemed quite happy when he would stop by, whether for a drink of some sort, a periodic meal, and even a movie on one or two occasions. And she certainly noticed when he would bring a girlfriend around, subtly expressing her disapproval or commenting on some feature she had noticed about the other woman that she didn't like. In fact, Tom had become pretty much a fixture on our street and at our house. He was certainly not over every minute; it's just that, as part of life on the street, he happened to be close to us as a family.

At the same time, I can see why Katherine was attracted to him. He was about six feet tall, with wavy black hair. He had a mysterious, broody look about him, augmented by the dark stubble that seemed to appear by about 5 p.m. every day, the dark brown eyes, and heavy eyebrows. At the same time, as a single man with no children, he had been able to stay in great shape, and would spend hours with me on a bike most weekends as well as weightlifting and doing other sports. But Katherine's attention to him did not remotely concern me; indeed, I welcomed it, as it attested to the fact that she was still sexually alive and interested, and I loved the idea that she might actually be wayward enough to get turned on by someone else. Which, whatever her protestations to the contrary, I know she did, because sex between us after Tom had been over was always slightly more animated.

In any case, it was on one of our weekend rides about a year after he moved in that Tom told me he wanted to ask me something, but felt nervous doing so.

'Paul, I have a huge favour to ask. This is a bit weird I know, but I have a major event coming up at work that will involve a canoe trip on the local river followed by a black tie dinner at Grand Hotel, and spouses are generally expected to attend.' He paused.

'Right, and...' I replied, wondering why he was so nervous.

'Well,' he continued, 'I was wondering if you would allow Katherine to go with me for the day, and then accompany me to the dinner in the evening. Just as friends, of course; but it will certainly help me if the higher-ups think I am somewhat settled. I am being considered for management, and I don't want the company seeing me as one of those unmarried, irresponsible thirty-somethings that cannot be relied on. I think that having someone with me on the day who is enjoying herself, would let them see me for who I really am: which is someone who is responsible, and would like to be settled.'

'Hmm. Sounds reasonable enough,' I said. 'But I'll put it to Katherine. From my point of view, it's entirely up to her.'

'Great,' he concluded, as he pulled ahead of me on the bike, 'thanks for that.'

By the time I got home, showered, and changed, I had forgotten about Tom's request, and wasn't reminded until he stopped by later that evening. Katherine answered the door, and from the top of the stairs, I heard her say 'Hi, Tom,' when it came back to me.

I ran down, not wanting it to seem as if I had ignored his request, but he was stood in the front hall, still wearing his cycling clothes and explaining the situation to Katherine himself. I got there in time for the last sentence.

'So what do you think?' he concluded by asking.

Katherine was smiling uncertainly, and turned to me.

I raised my shoulders nonchalantly and answered her unasked question. 'Tom had asked me about this when we were riding. I said that it was fine with me, but that it would be up to you. I can easily manage with the kids around here, and you never get to do anything like it. So I'd say if you'd like to, go for it.'

Katherine decided. 'Alright then, I'll go. Did you say it was two Saturdays from now?'

'It is,' Tom said. We need to be at the rowing club outside the city by 10:00. We will finish there by about 2:00, then we will return to the city with enough time to get ready for the dinner. I believe a limo will pick us up by about 6:30. Sound good?'

'So now you are Tom's surrogate wife,' I said to Katherine, jokingly, and much to her and Tom's embarrassment.

The two weeks flew by uneventfully. Katherine and I made plans for the day that would mean the kids would be properly taken care of, and I would know what I was doing around the house. Then, on Saturday morning, having all had breakfast together, Katherine went up to our room to get ready. When she came down after half an hour, she looked like a very sexy athlete, dressed as she was in black lycra running tights, running shoes, a thin, close-fitting top under an unzipped fleece, with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She smiled when I whistled, and we shared a quick kiss before Tom knocked at the door to see if she was ready. Then, after saying goodbye to me and the kids, and gaining assurance from me that we would all be okay and that we would do something fun, she left the house as Tom's 'surrogate wife'.

'Katherine, thanks so much for doing this with me,' Tom said almost as soon as they pulled away.

'No problem,' replied Katherine, 'I'm sure it will be a good day,' she added awkwardly; for in spite of knowing Tom well, and having spoken with him many times, the circumstances made her nervous.

'Well, we should probably talk about some ground rules before we get to the rowing club,' Tom took in Katherine's form as he said this, glancing at her as much as he reasonably could while watching the road. 'As you know, besides the fact that I think today will actually be quite fun and that I have this chance to enjoy it with you, I also need us to give the impression to my colleagues that we are together. There may be times, then, when it would be helpful to put our arms around one another, or something, in order to make it convincing. Are you okay with that?' His heart fluttered in his chest as he asked this, hoping that she would say yes, and that he would get a chance to feel her body close to his.

'Yes. Paul told me he figured that would be the case, so we kind of expected it. I think it's best if we do it as little as possible, though, and only if necessary,' Katherine said.

'Are you willing to take my lead on that, though? Or will you take the lead so that we stay in your comfort zone? Or should we just trust each other, and the fact that I will try to do only what I need to in order to leave them with the impression that we are together?'

'I think we can trust each other,' Katherine responded with a smile. 'Just remember that, even though I am your 'surrogate wife', I really am married to someone else.'

'Of course,' Tom smiled, patting her hand where it rested on the seat, 'but I do like the sound of 'surrogate wife'. I shall have to remember to thank Paul for the term.'

After that, they drove in relative silence for the next half hour: Katherine alternating between her discomfort with the situation, her unacknowledged pleasure at being with Tom for the day, and her anticipation of canoeing -- an activity she had always loved; Tom thinking about how lucky he was to be spending the day with Katherine, how much he wanted to reach out and put his hand on her thigh, and how he was going to control himself for the next eight hours.

At last, they arrived at the rowing club, and Katherine was greeted as Tom's 'partner' by all of his colleagues and their girlfriends or wives. It was an almost-all-male firm, although there were two women there, one of whom had come with her husband, the other of whom was a feminine lesbian and had come with her slightly less feminine, but nonetheless attractive, girlfriend. In any case, once introductions were made, couples were assigned to canoes and given safety instructions, they embarked and began to paddle down the river.

There was much laughing, some conversation between canoeists in close enough proximity to one another, and moments of quiet talk when there was enough distance from other boats; for Tom, though, the afternoon was about one thing: enjoying Katherine's companionship on various levels -- not least of which was the fact that she sat in the front of the canoe, her black lycra-clad rear end constantly displayed before him, her elegant appearance his to enjoy for a few hours. He longed to touch her, to connect with her on a level he knew he wasn't supposed to, but he decided that, if he was going to have to live within respectable limits, he was still going to try to live as much as he could.

When, by mid-afternoon, it was time to return to the docks, Katherine and Tom were laughing easily with each other. Having disembarked, they hauled the canoe together onto land and as the group gathered around, it was decided that they should all have a photo together. For this, Tom put his arm around Katherine's waist and held her close, but after the hours spent together on the boat this did not seem remotely inappropriate to either of them, and Tom enjoyed every second it took for people to gather and stand for the various snaps. Eventually, though, it had to come to an end, and he released Katherine while they made their way to the car, everyone having expressed their anticipation of seeing each other at the dinner later in the evening.

The journey home passed quickly, as the masquerading couple chatted and laughed about their afternoon's adventure, and grew in ease with each other to such a point where Tom even deigned to touch Katherine on the thigh at one point. Indeed, by the time they pulled into our street, they were nothing short of fast friends. It was with some excitement, then, that Katherine came through the door, greeted us all, and proceeded to head upstairs to prepare for the evening. I sat on the end of our bed and chatted with her about her day with Tom, and drinking in her feminine beauty as she got ready.

'So what was it like today? With Tom I mean. Did he hit on you?' I asked with a grin that made it both a joke and a wish, even as I reached out to touch her lycra-covered rear end.

'No. It was really good. Tom was good company, and we had fun on the river,' Katherine replied as she slipped off her top, followed by her running tights.

'What sort of people were there? What are his colleagues like?' I asked as she moved into the bathroom to get into the shower.

'They were fine. All except two of them were men, and of the two women, one was a lesbian. But all of them had come with their spouses or partners, so I can understand why Tom wanted to take someone. Now give me a minute,' she concluded, as she stepped into the shower.

I knew what clothes Katherine was planning on wearing for the night, so I got everything out and laid it on the bed while the water ran in the bathroom: a layered black chiffon dress with white accents, sheer black tights, and high heels. The dress wouldn't allow her to wear a bra, so in terms of underwear all I laid out for her was a small, sheer black thong. Then, just as I was getting impatient for her to get dressed, and for us to resume our conversation, the water stopped, and out she stepped.

'How was your shower?' I asked, just to get us talking again.

'Good,' she smiled. 'Feel my legs. They're freshly shaved,' she added flirtatiously.

I reached out and ran my fingers up her calf. 'Hmm, very nice,' I said, an erection forming in my pants.

Katherine proceeded to blow dry her hair with her white towel still wrapped around her body. When the dryer stopped, I returned to my questions.

'So what was it like being in a canoe with Tom all day? Was he nice to you? Good to talk to?'

'Yes,' Katherine replied as she slipped on her black thong, though not without giving me a faux-exasperated eye roll as she picked it off the bed. 'He did a lot of joking with his colleagues, but with me he mostly asked about my experience swimming and boating as a kid, and talked about his experiences growing up. That was as long as no one was in ear shot. If someone was close, we just said the sorts of things any two people might say to one another.'

I good-naturedly put more questions to her as she put on her dress, inwardly hoping that there might be some indication that they flirted with one another. 'Did he say anything about how sexy you looked in your running gear?'

Katherine smiled and shook her head. 'Sorry to disappoint you, but he didn't. He did put his hand on my bum as he helped into the car, though,' she added as she sat down and began sliding her sheer tights delicately over her feet and up her legs.

Suddenly excited but not wanting to show it, I said, 'Really? He did that?' My eyes searched her face momentarily for a hint of what she was thinking when she said this, but her own were concentrated on the task of getting the tights on without laddering them, so I returned instead to staring lustfully at her legs.

She responded with a giggle. 'No. Not really. The closest we got to touching was for the group photo just before we got back in our cars for the return to the city. Someone was going to email out the picture, so you'll be able to see exactly how close when that comes through.'

I was slightly disappointed, but let my mind carry on imagining that Tom had, in fact, touched her. She stood up now and began to do her makeup in the mirror. I could only stare in wonder at how beautiful she looked, yet how oblivious she seemed to her own erotic power. I reached down to run my hand over her calf once again, feeling the silky smoothness of the tights over her soft skin, for which she scolded me before telling me to go down and check on the kids while she finished up.

When she came down, it was a matter of minutes before Tom walked over, handsomely turned out in a dinner suit with a crushed velvet waistcoat, and I was just able to get a picture in before the limo arrived in the street to pick them up. Katherine looked gorgeous, and it was evident that both Tom and I thought so, for we stared together as Katherine said goodbye to each of the kids and gave them a kiss. He thanked me again for letting Katherine go with him, and then they walked the few metres to the car, where the driver got out to open the door in order for the two people he clearly assumed were a couple to get in. The kids and I were now alone for the night, and I watched my wife drive away with my neighbour with butterflies of excitement and butterflies of longing competing for place in my gut.

Once moving, Tom opened by saying to Katherine, 'Thank you so much for doing this. You are really making my day. And can I add that you look absolutely stunning right now?'

Embarrassed, Katherine simply responded by saying thank you, and giving a nervous laugh. Tom continued.

'When we get there, I think we will be greeted by someone who will take us into a drinks reception first. The people we were with today will be there, but so will a lot of others, including a celebrity or two. In fact, I think they got some band to play for us, and to stay for the dinner.'

'Wow. Do you know who it is?' Katherine replied.

'No. I expect it will be someone less well-known than Adele, but somebody who can still attract some interest. The whole point of these affairs is that the company can build its profile, both with its own employees, and with the outside world. And while they're at it, they're looking around to see who they find capable or interesting enough to move up the ladder. I think, actually, that that's why I got invited this year. And it's also why I am so glad to have you with me.' Now Tom boldly placed his hand on top of Katherine's, which was already resting on the seat between them. His thought was to affectionately pat it, and then take his away quickly if the contact seemed to cause offence, but when Katherine did not even flinch, he took it as a signal that he could keep his hand where it was.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, except in Tom's mind, which was focused on the beautiful woman he felt extremely lucky to be with, and what it was he wished he could do with her. As much as he decently could, he looked at her, and let his imagination run wild. Yet, decent as he was, he made no specific plans to seduce her into doing anything she wasn't fully interested in doing herself. He simply hoped that, flirt by flirt, he would get closer to her.

Once at the hotel, the two were let out of the car, and greeted on the steps by one of the many people hired to act as stewards through the evening. Led up the stairs and through the lobby, they were taken to a bar where many of the people Katherine had met earlier in the day already stood, along with a number of others, all dressed in cocktail dresses and dinner suits, all talking amiably with each other, couples standing together and introductions being made. The first people to greet them were the lesbian couple.

'Hello. Good to see you again,' the one Katherine remembered as the more feminine said to her, extending her hand. 'We didn't talk earlier today, but I must say that you look beautiful tonight.'

'Thanks,' Katherine smiled in reply. 'I'm Katherine.'

'My name is Holly, and this is my partner, Leah,' Holly said. 'So how long have you and Tom been together? He never told us he was with someone.'

Tom put a protective hand around Katherine's waist. 'We've been together for just over a year,' he cut in. 'About the same time as I moved into my new place,' he added, making the story as close to the truth as possible. 'What does it matter to you, though, Holly?' Tom joked. 'Were you wishing you had have met Katherine first, and turned her like Leah turned you?' This was an in-joke from the office, as Tom and pretty much everyone else knew that Holly had been dating a man before Leah met her and seduced her on a holiday less than a year ago.

She responded to the jibe: 'Nice one, Tom, but be good. You know that Leah and I are very happy together. It's just that you are so private about your love life, while the rest of us tell you pretty much everything.'

'It's all a part of my mystique,' Tom quipped, bringing the subject to an end. 'But both you and Leah look great tonight yourselves. Have you been planning your outfits for a long time?'

Indeed, both women looked stunning, with Holly in a short metallic dress and Leah in a long, chiffon apricot dress. There wasn't a man at the reception that wouldn't have noticed them. As they answered Tom, though, Katherine thought about her own lack of experience of such people: gay people, lesbians, even people in single-parent situations. Simply because she had not been in the workplace for a long time, she had not had the chance to talk to many people different to her, and the parents on the school run -- even if they represented different social classes -- tended to be in traditional domestic situations. Yet here she was now, standing closely with a man who was not her husband, talking to two lesbians who looked and acted completely different to what she had supposed they would look and act like. This fact didn't distress her, but it certainly crossed her mind as something considerable.