This work is inspired by "The Reward" by Azil.
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My family came home about an hour after I finished with the Prince family clones. Charlie greeted me with a chaste kiss on the cheek. She was tired from driving, and still a touch annoyed with me for backing out of the trip, but she commented on how good a job I had done (having Power) clean up the place while she was away. I had made spaghetti and meatballs, about the limit of my repertoire, which everyone quickly set about consuming.
I gave Charlie an edited version of the weekend: I mentioned walking around the park (without the cave), getting ice cream (without mentioning Lisa), watching movies, etc. I worked in an edited account of my hookup with Beth, telling her she came over for a swim and we got to talking and were now friends.
"Hey dad, can I have some friends over to use the pool after school?" my daughter Sarah asked at one point during dinner, acting like the pool hadn't just appeared while she was gone.
"As long as it doesn't become some crazy party," I replied after a second, pleased that the pool being normal thing had taken.
"Not everything teenagers do is a party," she replied, rolling her eyes and returning to her food.
Having spent several hours in the back of a car and before that a weekend around relatives, neither of my kids were eager to hang around after dinner. I noticed my son John heading up to his room without his usual practice in the back yard, then realized I had inadvertently gotten rid of his practice space; where there had been a large flat grassy area perfect for soccer practice, there was now just a pool. I quickly changed it so the old yard was just next to the pool, not caring this meant the yard was now much larger than should be able to fit on the property. Keeping the ball out of the pool wouldn't hurt his handling skills. He was in mid stride up the stairs when he, for lack of a better word, 'glitched', suddenly appearing at the back door holding a soccer ball. I was a bit disconcerted, realizing I had just altered history by mistake. It was nothing major so I wasn't worried, but I made a mental note to Power to warn me about that.
After dinner, Charlie settled into the living room with a book on the recliner, while I idly flipped through channels. Charlie had her black hair cut very short, because she didn't like having to worry about it. She dressed fairly basically, her normal outfit consisted of a loose blouse and pants theses days, though she had once been into dresses when she was younger. I thought she had aged well, but I think she was self conscious about her body (though she never told me that), as I had noticed her shifting toward looser clothing after her pregnancy. At 47, she looked the quintessential suburban mom, and acted the part. I had gone on such a sex binger over the weekend because we didn't have much of a sex life. Our relationship had never been about the physical, and after the kids it had all but dried up completely. Charlie was just the kind of person who didn't like sex. I tried to make her feel good, but she was not very responsive, nor was she at all experimental.
She was my perfect match in every other area, so I was not one to complain, but especially after this weekend I had to admit I wished there was more in the sexual arena between us. I considered changing that up, imagining her younger and more interested in sex, but I couldn't think of a way to do that without fundamentally changing her, so she remained lost in her book, oblivious to my musings. On the other hand, if she didn't want to be involved anyway, she couldn't really say anything about me having as much sex as I wanted elsewhere, I justified.
The following morning was business as usual. Everyone got up, got breakfast, the kids got going to school. I kissed Charlie on the way out of the house. I still hadn't decided what I wanted to do about work, so I went as usual.
As I was backing out of the driveway, I saw Mike also pulling out. Beth was waving goodbye to him. She waved to me too as she saw me waiting for Mike to clear the way. Even in a casual outfit, just jeans and a shirt, she looked good... and then she pulled up her shirt and flashed me her bra-clad chest quickly, before turning to head back inside. I did a double take, then prepared to finish pulling out as I didn't want to be late, when I remembered that was not a problem.
I thought about how I was trying to 'return to normal' after the weekend, how I had just had several days full of sex, how I had just fucked Beth for the second time in two days yesterday... but I was horny again, and it wouldn't hurt anything with time frozen... Rather than turning to go down the street, I kept backing up (the driveways were directly opposite each other) and pulled into her driveway.
Beth had been about to go inside, but came back over and knocked on my window with a bemused look on her face as I pulled to a stop. "Can I help you?" she asked when I rolled down the window. I gave her chest the side eye. "See something you like?" she asked, leaning in and playing with her shirt, pulling it taut to outline her bra-clad breasts.