This is a follow on from 'The Window Cleaner's Photograph' and although it is a self contained story in its own right, you'll probably get more from it if you've read that one first.
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Glen's fortnightly window cleaning round had finally brought him back to the rather exclusive and opulent road where Mrs Clifton lived, and he had been dreading the day when he would have to call there again. The last time he had called she had persuaded him to pose with her for a photograph with them both naked and with her sucking him off. He had to admit to himself that he hadn't taken much persuading, even though Mrs Clifton was about twice his twenty four years, but ever since he had vacillated between regretting it and not.
The reason she gave was that she had discovered a photograph of her husband doing exactly the same thing with another man, and now she wanted him to know how it felt to come across such a picture. That was fair enough, a kind of tit for tat, he had persuaded himself, but he wondered what might await him in consequence. At best he figured an embarrassed Mrs Clifton would cancel his services and at worst an irate husband would be waiting to kick his teeth in. He had never met Mr Clifton, but in the photograph he was clearly no pansy and certainly not someone Glen wanted to meet on a dark night.
But maybe, with a little luck, neither of those things would happen, he wouldn't have been recognised in the photograph and she would prefer to pretend nothing had ever happened, and so things could continue as before. There was only one way he was going to find out.
When he finally got there Glen stood at the gate for several minutes gazing down the length of the gravelled drive, trying to get up the nerve to crunch his way to the Cliftons' large and expensive house and wondering if he should give the place a miss, just this once. But then he sighed to himself, knowing that if he missed the call this time it would only be harder the next time, and he couldn't afford to lose customers.
All the same he found himself instinctively tiptoeing down the drive and putting his ladder against the wall as quietly as he could, as if that was going to make any difference. He was still going to have to knock on the door for payment in the end but he felt he had to limit the contact as much as he could. He worked his way steadily around the building, looking carefully into each room as he got there, half hoping to see nobody and half hoping to see just Mrs Clifton. Just so long as he didn't come across Mr Clifton lying in wait.
In the event he saw no one and he felt a surge of relief that the house was empty, the gods were smiling on him today. He gave the bell a quick ring, just for appearances sake, and began writing out a 'sorry you were out' card just to prove that he had called. With his head down and his back half turned to the door he didn't see it swing quietly open.
'Hello Glen, Come in.'
She held the door back and stood aside for him to enter; wearing the self same grey slacks and crisp white blouse as last time, as if deliberately reminding him. He prayed it wasn't an omen, but allowed himself to be ushered into the same well appointed lounge while she headed for the kitchen.
'Sit down, I'll bring coffee.'
As far as Glen was concerned things were not looking good, for this was exactly the way things had begun before. He obediently sat down and waited, although all he really wanted to do was collect his money and leave before her husband turned up.
'I won't be long.'
'It's all right, Mrs Clifton, you don't need to go to any trouble.'
'It's no trouble, and I need a word with you anyway.' He voice drifted back over the sound of cups clinking. 'And please call me Audrey; I think we know each other well enough to be on first name terms, don't you?' There was a hint of amusement in her tone.
He didn't answer; he just waited, silently listening for any sign of her husband's presence while remembering the last time and wondering what 'word' it was that she needed this time.
Within a couple of minutes she bustled in with two cups of coffee, placing them on the little table in front of him and taking a seat opposite. There was an uncomfortable silence while he watched her considering what she wanted to say, but eventually she looked directly at him.
'I owe you an apology.' She began. 'You must have thought you'd come across a mad woman the last time you cam - or a sex mad woman if nothing else. To be honest I was too angry with my husband to consider your feelings, and that was wrong of me, so please let me say I'm sorry.'
'It's okay; I wouldn't have let it happen if I minded.' He answered with a partial truth.
'Thank you for saying that, but it's not really okay and I do apologise.' She looked at him repentantly before her face abruptly brightened. 'But I also want to thank you, because you helped me bring things to a head that had been brewing for a long, long time.'
He looked at her curiously.
'I want you to know that the photos we took worked. In fact they worked better than I expected. He found them, just as I thought he would, and we had a god-awful row, just as I thought we would, and it ended with him walking out on me, just as I hoped he would. He's now gone to live with his boyfriend, and good riddance.'
'Oh, I'm sorry....'
'No! Don't be. It's the best thing that could have happened.'
His curiosity turned to blank disbelief. She was thanking him for the break-up of her marriage?
'For thirty years I was married to a man who didn't want me, who preferred his own sex and only married me for the sake of appearances. For thirty years I've put up with a sex life that was boring and infrequent, very infrequent in fact, because he tried every way to avoid having to touch me more than he had to. You see, I didn't know Jonathan was gay when I married him, or that he looked on our marriage as a smokescreen for his inclinations.'
Glen watched distaste settle on her face as she said that last word, but then once again her expression cleared and she brightened.
'But now I'm rid of him. I'm free now to catch up with the thirty years of sex that I've missed out on, and I do intend to catch up. There is so much that I've never tried. I'm going to do anything and everything. I'm going to find myself an adventurous lover and do anything he wants me to, and if he wants me to be kinky, then I'll be kinky. And you know why? Because now I can.'