Eleanor sat upright abruptly, she was flabbergasted and at a loss for words, instinctively reaching for her wine glass while her brain attempted to process what she had just been told. A lifetime of liberal thinking and open-mindedness had not prepared her for what her son Ryan had just divulged.
Over the years she had been completely open and approachable with her children, both of them able to come to her and discuss any problems or questions they had without her making any kind of personal judgement. As they got older and asked questions, she would answer truthfully, never dodging the subject, no matter how potentially embarrassing their query may be.
Taking a large gulp from her glass, she pondered as to how she should respond to his statement, should she remonstrate with him or try to laugh it off, did she take it seriously or was he in fact, pulling her leg and winding her up and his words were some kind of perverse joke.
It was her own fault that she now faced this dilemma, with the day being as hot as it was, they had started drinking far too early. Ryan at nineteen and Jemma at twenty-two were both old enough she had told them, to take responsibility for their own alcohol consumption.
It was the first full day of their holidays; they had not managed one last year due to work commitments and so this year she had splashed out on a villa in Spain. Unfortunately, she had not listened to her own advice and had drunk more than she should have done. It was too hot to eat a proper meal and so they had had a light lunch and dinner but because of the heat, the drinks kept flowing.
As the evening drew to a close, they were all tipsy with Jemma finally calling it a day and retiring to her bedroom. Eleanor and Ryan continued out on the patio as the evening cooled, discussing a variety of subjects, often going off at tangents and laughing and joking all the while. He would return to university this autumn, continuing to study law, something he had set his heart on at an early age. And then at some point, the topic turned to his love-life or lack of it.
'Don't you think it's about time you found yourself a girlfriend who lasts more than a few weeks.' His mother had teased.
What she had said was correct, Ryan had been in quite a few relationships, none of which lasted longer than a month, most only lasting a couple of weeks. The problem he had found, was their lack of maturity, more concerned with their friends and being seen in the right places and less interested in the relationship.
'I can't see the situation changing for the foreseeable future,' he responded, 'The type of woman I would like just isn't out there. Tell a lie, they are I suppose, but are just not available.'
Eleanor laughed at the way Ryan responded to her question, he never had been one to give you an easy answer, in short, he would make a perfect lawyer.
'Rubbish,' she shot back at him, 'We live in a town with hundreds of young women, you're trying to tell me that not one of them takes your fancy?' But Ryan just shook his head.
'So, tell me, what is it you are looking for, surely it can't be that hard to find someone?' Perhaps, she thought later, she should not have asked, she was not prying, she was just interested and wanted to see her son happy.
He took a moment, his finger resting against his lips as he gave it some thought, a glint of mischief in his eyes as he spoke. Well, she needs to be in her mid to late thirties or even early forties, slim, but with a nice figure, it shows she has taken care of herself over the years.
'She is incredibly attractive with auburn hair and a great sense of humour. But she has a maturity about her, she is caring and approachable, and as sexy as hell'.
It suddenly struck Eleanor that apart from the 'sexy as hell', he could have been describing her, but she shrugged it off as her vain imagination.
'Surely you've seen someone that you find attractive, though I can see your problem with the age group you're aiming at,' Eleanor said, suddenly getting a fit of giggles at the thought of her son fancying older women.
Ryan sat calmly watching his mother laughing, the slightest of smiles playing across his lips, 'There have been a few that I've considered and wondered what my chances would be, Carol for one.'
It took Eleanor a moment or two as she tried to put a name and a face together with his description of his perfect woman, and then it hit her, a look of shock on her face, 'Do you mean, my Carol?' By that, she meant one of her friends who was married with two children.
'Then there is Alice, Donna, Amanda, oh and Joanne, we had better not forget Joanne, she is definitely, one hot lady,' Ryan had continued with a chuckle.
Eleanor was stunned, every one of the women he had named was either friends or associated with her. She could understand him having the hots for Joanne, she was thirty-seven but looked like she was thirty and was a fitness instructor at the local gym. Her body was toned to perfection and her chest really was a lot more than a handful, and she supposed most of the men in town lusted after her. The other women though, she just classed them like herself, as middle-aged and whilst they had all been pretty when they were young, the years had caught up with them.
Once she had got over her surprise she was intrigued and sure now that he was intentionally pulling her leg. What else had he never told her, she wondered, all of this being something that her son had kept secret from her and so she decided to humour him as they continued their conversation. They had carried on drinking, Ryan getting from his chair as he topped up their glasses and Eleanor noting that he was slightly unsteady on his feet, she was about to tell him to slow down when she realised she was in no better a state.
'Right,' she laughed, 'If you could have just one of them, which one would it be?' She was sure he was going to pick Joanne, in his position, she would. 'Just wait till we get back and I tell the girls,' she was thinking when he delivered his answer.
Ryan kept his face emotionless, even though he wanted to smirk, he was not as drunk as he appeared and had slowly but surely, brought the conversation around to this point. 'Well, if I could pick only one.....it would have to be my favourite,' he paused for a few seconds watching her lean forward slowly as she anticipated his answer, 'It's the person I think about the most when I imagine the perfect woman.....it has to be.....YOU,' he said, embarrassing her.
And that was why Eleanor was flabbergasted. When finally, she found her voice, it came out sounding slightly high pitched and strangled, 'You fancy me......you have actually thought of sleeping with me?'
Ryan looked a little flushed 'Who said anything about sleeping, you said if I could 'have' any woman...... then my choice would be you.'
He had got her, she had asked the question, and as she had brought him up to do, he had answered her truthfully. Her mind was in turmoil, how should she act, what should she say? Ryan had more or less said that he wanted to have sex with her. She fumbled for words, stammering and stuttering until the most obvious obstacle sprung from her lips, 'But......But......I'm your mother!'
Ryan had waited, fairly sure he knew what she was going to say before she said it. 'But you are also a woman, are you not? Are you a mother first or a woman first?' he asked her.
Eleanor knew he had got her again, those were her own words spoken long ago when she was explaining something to her children, 'I am a woman and a mother' she had said, 'But I will always be a woman first, with dreams and desires, and a mother second.'
It was something Ryan was able to do, he watched, and he listened and then he filed it all away until such time as he needed it to win a debatable point. As her children grew up, Eleanor would impose rules, telling them that if they could put forward a reasonable argument as to why her rules were wrong, then she would acquiesce and change her mind. Jemma had never got the hang of it, preferring to argue the toss and then storm off when she did not get her own way. But Ryan was different, he would go away and think about it, perhaps an hour later, or even the next day, he would come back to her and put his case, remembering words that she had spoken in the past and forgotten to help him win his argument, and he was good, winning far more than he lost.
'It's wrong' she stammered 'And it's against the law'.
He watched her face closely, 'Have you ever smoked weed mum? Have you ever broken the speed limit?'
He already knew she had, both, 'Are not each of those things against the law, but you still chose to do them.' 'Dad was wrong for you, but you still made that choice, even though gran advised against it.' It had been over ten years since his mother and father had split, a marriage definitely not made in heaven as Ryan still remembered.
Eleanor was flummoxed, no matter what she said, she knew she would never win this argument with him but for the life of her, she could not see an easy escape route.
Ryan was in his element now, his words silky smooth as they twisted and embraced his mother.
'Let us imagine a hypothetical situation' He began.
'You are in a room alone and bound to a bed, naked except for stockings and suspenders. A hood covers your face and you may not utter a word upon pain of death.
'You lay there listening, all your senses alive when you hear the door open. Someone enters, a man, a woman. You have no idea. The mattress moves as the person joins you on the bed and then a finger softly caresses your nipples as they become hard and erect, the tiny goosebumps around your areole getting harder as that first sense of arousal begins.'
