*Author's Note: Two quick points. As I've said, I know from personal experience, older (even married) women will sleep with a younger man. Falling in love and actually marrying one is an entirely different thing. Without a job to support them, it's even more unlikely, and there are only a few jobs someone between 18-22 can have that earn enough (not a lot—enough) money: police, firefighters, the military, etc. So the younger man has to overcome a lot of hurdles and be able to support this attractive, older woman, to include financial support.
Second point. Abuse and neglect are powerful motivators for change. In both of my own personal experiences, the older, attractive woman was married but both felt utterly alone due to neglect.
Those are therefore often themes in my stories because no rational woman is going to up and leave her husband for some younger guy if all is well at home. Even if she is ready to move on, it won't be with someone 10-15 years younger in most cases, no matter what. In those few where it might happen, he's going to have to several things working in his favor to include a real job. Even if she has money, he's going to have his own job or career—one she won't be embarrassed to say her husband does. Even then, it's an uphill battle.
In a fictional romantic story, the hurdles can be reduced in size a lot easier than in real life. Here's to reducing those just hurdles a wee bit. :-)
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"I'd rather be doing something more substantial, but it feels really good to get out of the house."
"I don't know how you've put up with it for this long, Shandy. I know you guys have money so it's not like you need a job, but I'd go stir crazy staying at home. I always look forward to summer when teachers get ten weeks off, but by the time September rolls around, I can't wait to go back to work."
"And you have a child. I don't."
"Exactly. No disrespect but I really can't imagine being a stay-at-home mom let alone a stay-at-home wife."
"I hear you, Bets. But the good news is I have a job and even though it's only part time, it feels so good to get out of the house to do something other than go shopping."
"Ha! And yet you're working in the mall at a women's clothing store. How ironic is that? Do you spend your entire paycheck on new clothes?"
"Well, yes, but not at that store," Shandy said with a laugh.
"Yeah, you do have a very sophisticated palette when it comes to clothes. Then again, if I still had your figure, I'd dress nicely, too."
Betsy laughed then said, "Who am I kidding? I hate getting dressed up! If I could wear jeans to school every day, I'd be a happy camper." She gave her friend a serious look then said, "Shandy? Are you okay? I mean...you know, with Ted and everything?"
Betsy Callero had been her best friend since grade school. They'd been paired off many times because their last names were so close together and the friendship had stuck. Although they could get together as often as they liked, they still shared pretty much everything with each other all these years later.
Shandy Calveri-Jernigan wasn't okay. She was turning 33 in a month, had no children, and after eight years of marriage, spent most of her days and nearly half of her nights alone, and there was no good reason for her husband to be gone most of those nights. Ted was nine years older than her, and he'd told her from day one he wanted his wife to stay home and until now, Shandy had done just that.
He...they...already owned a half dozen restaurant franchises in the greater Seattle area, and were getting ready to buy another. Money had been rolling in beyond their wildest expectations for the last five years, and without children to raise and send to college, what good was earning more? But for Ted Jernigan, work was everything. It was his reason for living while he had always been hers.
Over the last two years that had slowly changed. The hurt had grown and the resentment built, and although it was hard to imagine ever leaving the only man she'd ever really loved—or at least thought she'd loved, it was even harder to imagine living like this. Every day was the same. Shandy lived each day just going through the motions. She kept up a smile on the outside, but she was hollow on the inside, and if something didn't change soon, she feared something deep inside her would die.
Out of desperation and boredom, she'd gradually persuaded her husband that working maybe 20 hours a week wouldn't be such a bad thing. She'd still be home to make his dinner—when he was home to eat it—and it would give her something to do besides knock around their big, empty house all day.
"And I'll be working in a store that sells women's clothing so it's not like I'll be around a lot of...people...or anything."
Shandy knew her husband was a very jealous man. It was his only real fault if one could overlook his being a workaholic and neglectful husband. Even though he paid little to no attention her in spite of the time she spent taking care of herself and dressing well to please him, just the thought of another man could send him into a rage. He'd never hit her or even cursed at her, but he could get so angry it scared her. Any look at another man, no matter how innocent or God forbid the man smiled at her or worse—spoke to her—could set him off.
And yet what scared her even more was the thought of never feeling loved or appreciated again, let alone being held...and loved by her still-reasonably-handsome husband. The loneliness was becoming unbearable, and she had to find something to do with her time; something to fill the long, lonely days spent looking beautiful for herself.
It didn't bother her in the least that her boss would be a 23-year old woman named Chloe who was just a year out of college. She was pleasant enough that it wasn't a chore working for her, and Shandy was as easygoing as they came making this a decent fit for both of them. In fact, she'd not only come up with a couple of very good ideas her much-younger boss had accepted and put into practice, Shandy had also served as a sounding board for the younger woman's relationship woes making her as much friend as employee.
It was ironic that Shandy knew just what to say or tell Chloe what to do, and yet she couldn't solve her own marital issues. Then again, Chloe's boyfriend was willing but clueless. Ted knew exactly what his wife needed and wanted but chose to ignore her needs in search of the next deal and the next big bonus from corporate headquarters.
Were she not so deeply hurt by it all, Shandy would have laughed when she parked her brand new, shiny, black Mercedes S-Class sedan next to Chloe's beat-up, 2007 Toyota Corolla. It was a gift from Ted to make up for his latest jealous outburst during which he'd gotten so angry he'd punched a hole in the wall.
"Nice wheels," Chloe had said the first time they arrived at the same time during the middle of April when it rained even more than normal.
As they walked inside together, she asked Shandy what she was doing working retail in some store in a mall if she could afford to drive a car like that.
Without further explanation, Shandy had replied, "I'm deceiving myself."
Chloe had given her a funny look but hadn't asked for clarification.
Shandy chose to work four hours a day, five days a week in order to get out of the house as often as possible. Most of the time she worked from 10am when the mall opened until two o'clock before things got really busy.
Even though 90-95% of her customers were other women, she enjoyed having a reason to look nice for someone other than herself. And while she tried not to flaunt her wealth, she did have very nice clothes and loved wearing them, not to impress anyone, but because it made her feel good about herself. Even when she was doing inventory or hanging new items on racks in the back before bringing them out for display, it just felt so good to look and feel this way again. Well, for 20 hours a week anyway.
Before her first shift, Chloe had talked to Shandy about shoplifters and 'unusual customers.'
"We have no tolerance or mercy for thieves," she told the older woman. "If you see someone take something, call mall security immediately. On the other hand we quite often get male customers who like to...look around."
"Is that really unusual?" Shandy had asked.
"No, not really. Some—maybe most—are trying to find a gift for a wife or girlfriend. We do have some however, who are well, shopping for themselves, if you get my drift."
Shandy's eyes got wide then wider as it dawned on her. "Oh. Oh! Okay."
"I would say most of them come in dressed as men, but we do have a few who um...don't." Another nod from Shandy and Chloe kept going. "Crossdressers spend a lot of money in stores just like ours, and we don't want to make them feel uncomfortable or run them off."
"I see," Shandy said having never really thought about it before.
"So if you see a guy behind a rack of say...dresses...looking at you repeatedly, just smile. You might walk by and without looking, just mention you'd be happy to help and move on. As long as they're not taking anything..."
"Got it!" she said.
In the month she'd been there she'd seen a grand total of one man dressed like a woman. He/she bought several outfits and Shandy was careful to refer to him as 'she' or 'her.' She'd seen someone else she couldn't be sure was male or female and laughed when she realized she was now looking for guys in drag all the time.
