Beth was about to finish her protein shake when she heard her son's key hit the lock. She was wearing a sports bra and shorts to prepare for her afternoon workout.
"Hey Mom," her son Jay said as he walked in.
"Hey sweetheart," she said, "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, I live here," he said.
Beth smirked, "I know that smartass. I mean, why are you home? I thought you were going to hang out with the guys."
"That was the plan," he said, sighing, "But Dave's out of town with his parents, Tommy's grandparents are visiting, Tony's spending time with that new girl he's been dating, and Vicky's out of town till next week. So I have nothing to do today. So I figured I'd come home and surf the web or play video games."
Vicky was Jay's girlfriend, who he had been dating for just over a year.
"Well, I was about to get in a workout," Beth said before polishing off the last little bit of her shake, "You're welcome to join me."
"Sure. Let me go change." Jay said, heading to his room.
Beth was a former fitness model and had been featured in several fitness magazines in her younger years. She had even competed in a few fitness competitions. The apartment was decorated with several of the magazine covers Beth had been on and a few promo posters. She had to take time off when she got pregnant, but after Jay was born, she worked hard to get back in shape and worked for a couple more years before retiring to spend more time with her son. She went into business with her friend Natalie, and they opened a gym where Beth worked as a personal trainer.
As she headed into the kitchen to put her glass in the dishwasher, she suddenly thought about her ex-husband, Christian. She didn't like thinking about him, considering she hadn't seen him in five years. He was the literal definition of "went out for a pack of cigarettes." Beth, Christian, and Jay started the day five years ago like any other. They had gotten up, gone through their usual morning routine, and Christian kissed her, leaving for work. When he didn't come home at his usual time, she called his office to see if he was working late, as he sometimes did at his accounting job, but to her surprise, they told her he never showed up for work that morning. She called his cell phone, but the call went straight to voicemail.
Feeling a twinge of panic, she called his parents, but they hadn't heard from him either. When they tried to call him, their calls also went straight to voicemail. The worry creeping in a little more, Beth called the local hospitals to see if maybe Christian had been in an accident or something, she called three different hospitals but came up empty. She called his parents back to see if they could offer any more help. They had called a few of his friends to see if they had heard from him, but no dice. With no other ideas, she called the police to report him missing. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of it. It was as if he never existed. He didn't leave any kind of paper trail for them to follow; his car never turned up, and neither did he. The next time she tried calling him, she was met with a message that his number was no longer in service. She never saw or heard from him again.
She racked her brain to see if she had missed any signs that he was unhappy with her or if he was having an affair and had decided to run off with his mistress, but she couldn't think of anything she'd done or said to push him away. If he was having an affair, he had hidden it very well. He wasn't acting suspicious or out of the ordinary. He hadn't even touched their joint bank account. When she checked it, all the money was still there. After a month of no contact or leads as to what happened, Beth contacted a lawyer and went through all the legal channels to get everything that was owned jointly by her and Christian signed over to her. She also went through the proper legal channels to file for a one-party divorce since, at that point, she was pretty sure she would never see her husband again. Even if he did suddenly show back up, she had no intention of remaining married to him.
Jay was 17 when his father disappeared, so Beth didn't have to sugarcoat things. She sat him down and explained the situation to him plainly. Much like his mother, he went through a rollercoaster of emotions--confusion, worry, anger, sadness. Also, like Beth, he wondered if he had done something wrong to anger his father, causing him to just up and leave, but, like his mother, he couldn't think of anything he'd done to drive his father away. To avoid thinking about him, Beth collected all the pictures of Christian she could find. She didn't have the heart just to throw them out, so she put them and their wedding album in a box and stuffed them in the back of the closet. She had taken all his clothes and anything else he left behind, and whatever couldn't be donated was thrown out; she wanted as few reminders of him as possible.
After a few months, Beth and Jay had settled into their new life without Christian. For the most part, she concentrated on her work and barely thought about her husband after a year or so. The only two times she actively thought about him were on his birthday and their wedding anniversary. On those days (and the infrequent occasions when he'd pop into her head out of the blue, like now), she'd wonder where he was, if he was still alive. Sometimes, she'd hate him for leaving her, other times, she'd break down and cry and again wonder if she had done something to push him away. She sighed and shook her head, pushing the thoughts of him aside, and waited for Jay.
Jay had gone into his room, kicked off his sneakers, changed from his jeans to a pair of shorts, and switched out his t-shirt for a tank top. He had taken an interest in physical fitness after seeing how much pride Beth put into her appearance. When he expressed interest in working out with her at the age of seven, she helped him with simple exercises, slowly working him up to more advanced exercises as he got older. He had his own routine in his teens, but sometimes, he worked out with Beth. She had an exercise bike, some free weights, and a stand-alone chin-up bar and encouraged Jay to use them whenever he wanted. He also had a free membership at the gym and used it whenever he felt like getting in a high-impact workout. By the time he was sixteen, Jay was in better shape than most kids his age. He had kept up his routine because he liked how he felt, and the attention from the girls didn't hurt either. He also enjoyed working out with his mother because it allowed him to check her out. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help it. Beth was not as muscular as she was in her modeling days, but she was still in incredible shape for a woman in her mid-40s. More than once, he'd found himself staring at his mother's impressive rack, wondering what she looked like naked.
He collected himself and returned to the living room, where Beth was rolling out their exercise mats.
"Okay, Mom, I'm ready when you are," he said.
Beth looked up and her breath caught in her throat. She took in the sight of Jay with his blonde hair and blue eyes, broad, muscular shoulders, toned arms, and legs, and had to remind herself that this was her son. Much like Jay had found himself thinking impure thoughts about his mother, Beth had the same thoughts about him. But she didn't just wonder what her son looked like naked, her thoughts were more carnal. She wondered what he was like in bed. She wondered what his hands would feel like on her body. She wondered how his mouth would feel on her pussy. She wondered how big his dick was and how it would feel inside her. She always had to push those thoughts out of her mind, sometimes saying out loud to herself, "Goddamn it, Beth, he's your son!"
"Mom?" Jay asked, and he snapped his fingers. "Hello, Earth to mom."
"Sorry honey," she said, "It's just we don't get a chance to do this together as much as we used to. I'm usually at work, or you're out with the guys or Vicky. It may sound silly, but I kinda miss my little Jay Jay."
