Cindy sat at her dining room table and sipped a glass of wine. In front of her were two letters and two small piles of photos. Aside from some soft music coming from the stereo the large house was empty and quiet, as it had been for much of the past six months.
She finished addressing the envelopes and set her address book aside. She sighed heavily and reached for the stamps. She knew writing letters was a little old fashioned, but there was something far more satisfying about a letter than an email. She had been writing a lot of letters lately, but she had to do something to keep in touch with her family. She put the postage on one envelope and sat thinking for a moment before cursing herself for not writing down the necessary postage for her other letter. With all the letters she had sent recently she should remember the correct amount by now, but the amount escaped her and she had to go to the post office to find the correct amount. Maybe she did it subconsciously to give herself something to do. She had been alone now for most of the past six months and she wondered if she intentionally forgot the postage just to give herself an errand to run.
About six months earlier Jim, her only son, left for an overseas study program. He had been accepted into an exclusive program and would be spending his junior year of college studying overseas. Cindy was overjoyed for him and very proud, but she also knew it meant she wouldn't see much of him for about a year. Other than a winter break, he wouldn't have the opportunity to fly home. He had several other breaks from school, but none were long enough to warrant spending the money to fly home.
Jim was Cindy's only child and had always been the apple of her eye. This was, by far, the longest amount of time she had gone without seeing him. She was very much looking forward to his winter break that was now about 7 weeks away.
This time away from Jim had been especially hard since Dan, Cindy's husband, had been away from home a lot lately. Just before Jim left for his exchange program Dan had been transferred to a new position with his company. The new job offered lots of exciting challenges and a healthy raise, but it also meant he would be traveling most of the time. He would now spend almost 80% of his time on the road, at least at first, but Dan assured her that once he got settled into the position he would be spending a lot less time on the road. It turned out, much to Cindy's disappointment, that Dan actually spent much more than 80% of his time on the road. Even when he was home it sometimes still felt like he was on the road. He was so absorbed in his new job that it seemed that was all he could think about.
Although Cindy had been very lonely for most of this time, it hadn't been all bad. Mostly out of boredom, Cindy started going to the gym. At first she was just looking for something to do and going to the gym seemed like a good way to kill an hour or two each day. When she signed up for the gym membership it came with a few sessions with a private trainer. Cindy was almost embarrassed at how much she enjoyed these sessions with her very handsome, very young personal trainer. His touch on her arm and back sent electric charges through her body that served to remind her how lonely and horny she was. Maybe it was the attention from the trainer, or maybe she was just thankful for something to do, but she really enjoyed the gym and made a habit of spending a long time there each day. She found herself looking forward to the gym more and more, especially after she began noticing the changes to her body and her attitude.
Cindy had never worked out regularly before and it wasn't long before she noticed the effects of her workout regimen on her body. She wasn't grossly overweight by any means, but she knew she had been carrying around more than a few extra pounds for a few years now. She tried to be careful about what she ate, but the years of not exercising added up. Once she noticed the pounds disappearing it was like an addiction. She started paying even more attention to what she ate and got more serious about working out. Instead of just going to the gym to hang out, she now went to work out and made much better use of her time.
In a surprisingly short amount of time she found herself much closer to her "ideal" weight and feeling better than she had in years. Her new look soon led to a new, more confident attitude. She did some shopping and almost completely replaced her wardrobe. Her new clothes had a slightly sleeker, sexier look than the clothes she had worn for years. After a while, the face in the mirror didn't seem to match her new body and attitude. She invested in laser eye surgery to eliminate the thick glasses she had worn for almost as long as she could remember. She then visited an upscale salon and received a full make over and new look. They not only changed her hairdo but also advised her on new styles and colors of makeup that really made Cindy look and feel great. With all these changes she barely looked like the person in the family photos on the mantel, but she loved her new look and the way she felt.
As she felt sexier and better about herself she found that she felt more honry than ever. She looked forward more and more to Dan's stops at home, and yet each time she was more and more frustrated and disappointed when Dan left again. Despite her new look and how much more sexy and flirty she felt, Dan paid very little attention to her and almost completely ignored her sexually.
Each time Dan left Cindy questioned what she was doing wrong and wondered what she did to make him so disinterested. Deep down Cindy knew that whatever problem there was had existed for a long time. The fact that Dan was traveling so much and only home periodically served to amplify something that had actually been going on for nearly two years. Dan had gradually been drifting away from their relationship and had slowly become more and more engrossed in his work and other activities. His new job gave him added reason to focus on work at the cost of ignoring Cindy. She had hoped that her new look would catch his interest and spark things, but every time he left she had to confront that whatever was going on with him was much deeper and caused by things that a sexy new look wouldn't be able to fix.
Still, Cindy felt like she had to try as hard as she could to rekindle things with Dan. She still loved him, or at least she loved who he used to be, so she felt like she had to keep trying. She felt nervous and a little self-conscious about her latest attempt, but she knew this was something very likely to grab his attention since she had always resisted this kind of stuff before. Gathering her courage one last time she hurriedly shoved the two stacks of photos in the envelopes. She knew it was silly, but she felt like she had to hurry or else she might still chicken out and change her mind.
Finally, once the envelopes were sealed, she felt calmer. Now, somehow, it felt like there was nothing she could do, so she grabbed her keys and drove to the post office. She bought the postage for the overseas letter to Jim and dropped the letter for Dan in the mailbox. She knew the letter to Dan would get to the field office where he was currently based the next day and that it would take a few days longer for Jim's letter to arrive. Her stomach fluttered and she wondered how long she'd have to wait for a reply.