Above

The father knew that Shirley only wanted to hear how she was better.

"Well, this ass is tighter than hers," he said as he squeezed. "And these tits. This mouth takes cum. I love that you swallow, she would never do that. Drink her own cunt, too, she would never do that. She wouldn't undress in a park and get nailed on a public bench."

Shirley pushed in and kissed.

"So I'm better to fuck than her, right?"

"Completely."

"You're hard. Do me again?"

"Climb up. You do me."

—————-

"I thought you might bring your daughter?" Wendy said, given it was a Saturday they met.

"Tracy. This is her," he smiled, opening his wallet showing a picture.

"Beautiful. And that's her mum?"

Hugh Wills nodded.

"I don't want to whitewash her. She might be back, you know?"

I didn't sense he really thought that were true.

"Does Tracy understand any of it?"

"At first I told her work. Then holiday. Then got caught up doing things. Kids, I don't know what to say. She keeps asking if mummy doesn't love us anymore?"

"Does she say love us, or love her?"

Hugh thought.

"Us. Definitely us."

"Okay. As bad as it is, 'us' it good. She's not taking it as just leaving her. It means her connection with you is good. It's a start."

"So does mummy still love us? What do I say?" Mr. Wills asked.

"Yes. Absolutely. 100%. Even when mummies can't be here, they never stop loving."

"That's probably true," Hugh conceded with a sigh. "Tracy's having a play date with a friend. It will give us a chance to talk."

We ordered a light lunch and a tall bottle of sparkling water. He gave me some background without details. Him and his wife, Evelyn, Eve, had got into some stuff. He could keep it in check, she couldn't. He pulled them back, but she kept going at it herself until one night she didn't come back. At first it was missing persons. Then her cards were showing up making purchases. In-store CCTV showed she was 'not under duress' as he described.

"She's gone," he sighed.

"She might be back. If she can get sober," I suggested.

"Ha! Alcohol is the least of her worries!"

"Sorry. You know what I mean..."

"Eve's not the type. Once she was done with something or someone, there was no going back. Ever. Never saw it happen."

"Family is different."

"Her own wasn't. Her father and brother have been 'out' ever since I've known her. Anyway, if we can get over this, I'm not sure coming back is the right thing."

"Hugh, I know it's hard, but promise me, if there's ever a chance, one day, don't stop Tracy from having a mother. No matter what she's done. You don't have to deify her; you can be honest about the bad choices she has made. But don't take the choice of having a mother or not away from Tracy."

Hugh nodded, not necessarily in agreement, but as if he'd think about what I'd said.

"Can you help?"

"What do you need?"

There was no way I could turn back having met and heard Hugh. He was lovely. Early forties, attractive, nice. His body looked fit and strong but his voice and manner was gentle. Little Tracy must adore him.

Three hours a night for three nights a week. Hugh would make us all dinner while I worked with Tracy. I told him fifty per hour plus dinner was too much. He laughed and said it would be more than compensated by the cancellation of Eve's credit cards.

"She never worked?"

Hugh laughed. I took that as a no.

"What about your au pair?"

"Gone. That was just for the holidays so I could work. I've got a helper now that takes her to school picks her up from after-school care. She'll stay with her until you or I are home."

I shook my head. What a tough life for little Tracy.

"I'll make her as happy as I can. I promise."

"Me too," he grinned.

The rest of the lunch was a little like a date, talking about ourselves, gossiping. He was one of those guys that went out til late on weekends, then punished himself the next day through exercise to burn it all off. He knew Shirley's tutoring father was sleeping with her. They didn't know he knew, but he said it was pretty obvious.

"What if the wife finds out?" I asked.

Hugh shrugged. "Never can tell with those two whether she would care."

"Does she know already?"

"No. He wouldn't be sneaking around so much if she knew. Some Friday nights when Tracy's had a sleepover, I drive down to the flats to run. I've seen your friend laid out naked on one of the picnic tables they have there."

"Having sex?"

"Happily."

"Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. But chances are more people know than they think."

"You want me to tell her?"

"I don't know. Perhaps let me speak with him directly."

"Okay."

—————

The sessions with young Tracy went well. Really well. I used all of my study to determine the attitude I should bring with me, and mostly it worked. We developed a lovely routine. It was nicely balanced. She looked forward to me coming, but was appropriately behaved when I left. We set good boundaries, I wasn't a mother replacement, I was a teacher. There was no moodiness at the end of our session, just a see-you-next-time. Her permanent guardian was her dad, we all made sure she knew that.

I was really proud of Hugh. He wanted to learn. He followed advice wonderfully, even from Tracy. She would teach him the routines we developed and he happily followed along. After a couple of months, we had her back in bed at a more sensible 8pm, and he said even the nights I wasn't around little Tracy drove the schedule fastidiously. It got so the last hour of my stay was a cup of tea across the kitchen bench.

"I can't thank you enough," Hugh said genuinely. There was no sadness in the comment, no helplessness or pity. Just joy. "She's...I don't know how to say it. Normal? Back to herself. I feel like I have my Tracy back."

"It would have happened anyway. We just sped it up," I blushed.

"You're being polite saying 'we'."

"Hugh, I can't understate how good you've been during this whole time. You've been so focused on getting Tracy right. Ahead of yourself. It's been tough on you, too right? But you've done everything you can for little Tracy."

"It's been good. Work and her. It's a nice distraction."

—————

We had a standard Uber booking for 9:10pm, paid for automatically by Hugh. More and more often our hour between putting Tracy to bed and the car coming to pick me up got 'shorter and shorter' so to speak. We were getting on really well, time flew. And entirely appropriately, I might add. Not like my dear friend Shirley, who kept getting deeper into the quagmire with her student's father.

—————

An interesting twist was that after Hugh's chat with his friend, Shirley and her man gained a larger social circle - by one. It was obvious to Hugh that the affair had no end date, so sometimes on a Friday night they would come over. My Uber was pushed back to midnight and we'd drink and talk out on the deck, and on some occasions in the infinity pool. If it was warm enough, if we'd drunk enough, I'd end up in Hugh's departed wife's slightly big bikini - which was creepy - and Shirley and the father would skinny dip. Sometimes Hugh and I would sit by ourselves on the deck while those two made out in the water.

"Hugh, would you mind if I left a set of my own swimwear here? Every time we end up like this, I feel a bit awkward wearing this swimwear. You must feel weird, too."

"Of course it's okay. I'm sorry Eve only had bikinis. I worry you feel more comfortable in a one-piece."

"It's that easy to tell?"

Hugh smiled.

"Hey. Don't feel bad. You're normal. All this, it's a ticket to bring weird."

"What is?"

"This hill. The whole mountain. Having money means you don't have to worry about credit card bills or rent or schools. You have to find new ways to stress yourself out. That, for example," he said pointing to Shirley. "Banging your kid's tutor behind your wife's back. Whose got time for that down on the flat?"

"You weren't born up here?"

"No. I'm new money."

"You don't approve of being rich?"

Hugh laughed at stood up, leaning on the rail, looking at the lights below.

"Only rich people would be stupid enough to not want to be rich. I like this house. I like Tracy's school. I like my cars. Eve and I, we had a good time up here for a while."

"The parties?"

Hugh smiled. "It's like the Great Gatsby at times. People trying to outdo each other. There have been some wicked private parties. Hell of an experience."

"Like what?"

"God, where do I start? Horse racing in backyard swimming pools. Clay pigeon shooting off decks like this. Male strip shows. Fancy dress, masquerade. Lines of coke, pills, weed."

"That's what caused the problem?"

"Which one?"

"Your wife. Eve. The drugs?"

Hugh sighed. "I guess that was part of it."

"Part?"

Another sigh.

"We got into something. She couldn't keep it under control."

"What?"

"Maybe another time. I think the honeymoon couple are done."

I turned around to see Shirley full frontal nude stepping up the pool ladder. She walked around us casually looking for a towel, then brought it over to the father.

"Air drying? I scowled.

"It's night. No one can see. It's nice to stand around like this. We've spent so much time hiding away."

"Take a holiday, why don't you? Go to the Caribbean for a week," I said acerbically.

Hugh was in tune with me enough to know I was uncomfortable with Shirley's nudity. The father had a towel, but his bare chest was too much for me, knowing he was married to another.

"Come on Wendy. Let's forfeit the deck to them. Head into the air-con. Leave them to their foolish youth."

Hugh took me by the hand and led me into our favorite kitchen bench. I saw Shirley pull the towel off the father as we left. It made me shudder.

"I feel so bad for his wife."

"I know. But people having affairs is as old as marriage itself."

"Did you ever do that?"

Hugh poured us cold Chablis from the wine fridge.

"No, not like they are."

It was a strange answer.

"What does that mean?"

"I never had sex...with anyone behind Eve's back."

"But you flirted?" I smiled.

"Everyone flirts," he said casually.

"Kissed?"

"Like I said, nothing to find out about behind my wife's back."

"It's been a long time since she left, though. Anything you did since she left would be fair."

"I guess so."

"When will you start again?" I asked with care in my voice.

"Tracy is in a good place right now. I don't think I'd like to shake that."

"That's fair. But you can still take a girl to the movies. At night."

"Movies, huh?" he laughed. "That's been a while."

I blushed at how juvenile that must have sounded to a 'grown-up'.

"I'm sorry."

"Hey. I like movies. It's just not something that I've done much lately."

"What was the last one?"

"Shit. I don't know. Rocky Horror? Pulp Fiction?"

"Those are older than me!" I laughed.

"I'm surprised you even know them."

"Hey. They're classics," I defended.

"Yes," agreed Hugh. "Yes, they are."

"You had Tracy late, huh?"

"I guess so. 35. Eve's younger though. 8 years."

"That's a big gap."

"Not as big as ours. And we get on fine don't we?"

"We do," I smiled, holding up for more wine.

—————-

Shirley and I had lunch together less and less. Her student's father had been booking lunchtime hotel sex for them at a dodgy little place near college. No one the father knew would see them there. The times Shirley and I did catch up, it was all about him and the sex.

"That guy is seriously in love with my pussy," Shirley would grin mischievously.

"Aren't you sick of it yet?"

"Not even slightly. Aren't you sick of not having sex with your Hugh?"

"No! Don't be silly. We're not like you."

"Well perhaps you should be. His wife away so long, the poor guy must be gagging for it," she laughed.

It was probably the smirk more than the words. The disrespectful laugh. Instinctively I wound up and slapped her in the face.

I'd never done such a thing in my life.

Shirley was stunned, she wasn't sure how to react. For the longest time both of us stared at each other. I knew I should apologize but I was still too steamed.

"My god. You're really in love. Genuinely. Not my smutty porn love, yours is real."

I'd never thought about it. I'd never let myself dare think about it.

"I am aren't I?"

"Wendy I am so, so sorry."

"God Shirley, I hit you. Can you ever forgive me? That's an awful thing to do."

"I shouldn't have said those things."

If we weren't in a college cafeteria we probably would have hugged and cried.

"What are you going to do?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know."

"You can't tell him. For that little girl's sake, you can't tell him."

"I know."

—————

I tried to say no to movie and dinner, but over time I ran out of excuses. Truth be told, it was a dream date.

"Is it a date?" I asked Shirley the day before.

"To you it is. And you better dress nice. Make the poor guy feel good about going out of home with a woman. None of your frumpy church clothes."

"Hey. I don't go to church."

"You dress like it."

"I don't have anything else."

Shirley started grinning.

"By tomorrow night you will. Let's spend some of that fortune you're squirrelling away."

—————

Hugh picked me up from home, the first time he'd been there. Mom answered the door, scowl on her face. She didn't trust anyone from Above.

"Fancy cars and ways," she sneered as she saw his big white BMW pull up. "Think they can have anyone they want. You take that spray I gave you. And why you wearing that jacket in this weather? What you got on under there."

"Mom, stop nagging, I've got the spray in my bag. Open the door while I get my purse. And be nice!"

————-

"Do you have a cold?" Hugh asked as he sat me in the front seat.

"No, just, let's get away from Mama. She's probably spying out the window."

As Hugh got in and started up, he confirmed with a smile that she was.

"She called me a cradle-snatcher," he smiled cheekily.

"Oh god. That woman. I'm so sorry. Get going and I can take off this coat. It wasn't worth the fuss to let her see I have a new dress."

"Ah. That's why?"

I struggled to get the coat off as Hugh slowly rolled along the street. What I didn't know was my twisting and struggling to take it off gave Hugh an entire view of my right breast. My clothes were new from top to bottom. The soft maroon dress was stylish and had deep cleavage, and the lacy black bra fell away easily. The rookie I was, I had no sense my breast was out.

"Can I put this in the back?" I asked as the struggle was over.

"Of course."

As I turned the dress rode up, leaving Hugh wondering if I had a t-back, or perhaps no panties at all.

"Why are you grinning?" I frowned as I sat straight again, doing up my seatbelt.

"Just happy to be on a date!"

A tingle went up my spine. Did he really think this was a date, too?

"We're on a date?" I dared ask.

"It must be," he smiled. "You're wearing new lingerie."

"Oh my god," I shrieked. "How can you tell that?"

"Don't worry," Hugh winked. "It's our first date, not our third."

I blushed entirely, from top to bottom.

—————

We did movie first, then a late dinner. Tracy was having a sleepover, so our deadline was set only by how angry I wanted to make my mother. The fact he'd noticed and knew I had new underwear made me strangely relaxed about it. I could tell there were times my dress fell forward and Hugh would look in at my breast in the bra, but I was oddly comfortable with it. It was a warm feeling to show off a little to a man I liked. Conversely the feel of his hands politely on my hips as he directed us in an around theatre and at the restaurant gave me chills. Could he tell?

It was nice that we sat next to each other in a curved booth at dinner, rather than across from each other. It allowed us to talk more intimately and for a time after the meal we leaned back into the chair and on each other's shoulder, satisfied with the food and atmosphere. I knew my dress was bobbed forward, in a way I hoped he was looking. What I didn't know was so had my bra. Hugh was happily staring in at my breast and nipple.

"What would you be doing on a Saturday night, usually?" I mused.

"Looking after Tracy. You?"

"If she was away, though, like tonight. What would you do?"

"I don't know. One of the parties, I guess."

"What party would you go to?"

"I don't know. I haven't been to one since Eve left."

"What would you go to with her?"

"I don't know. Not sure how to describe it. Those parties are dangerous."

"How?" I asked, turning and looking up at him, smiling as I caught him looking down my dress.

"It's a nice bra," he defended. Looking around and seeing no one I pulled the shoulder of the dress down. It might have been accidental to look at, and from Hugh's spot he could see the whole right side of lace. He gave a low whistle.

"I'm glad you like it, makes me feel better about how much it cost."

"Shirley told you to?"

"Of course... So, you were telling me about the parties you took Eve to."

"Come on, I can hardly talk about that with you dressed like this."

Looking up at Hugh I said, "I can put it back if it helps?"

"I'm talking, I'm talking!" he said before taking a more serious tone. "There are types of parties that are pretty intense. If you can't keep balance, they can push you away from reality. I had work, but Eve only had home. Once Tracy started at kindy then school she fell into a group that had too much time to kill."

"All from the different parties?"

"Not really. Just this one. Happens every five weeks in a massive old money mansion near the top."

"Drugs?"

"Well, yeah, you can take them if you want. Everything you need."

"For free?"

Hugh laughed.

"It's hardly free. You pay an annual subscription. It's not cheap. Transferable, but you have to buy a year up front."

"She couldn't stop taking drugs?"

"Drugs weren't her problem."

"I don't get it. What happens there?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"NDA."

"What's an MDA?"

"N-DA. Non-disclosure agreement. Legally binding."

"Come on, you can't just give me a hint?"

"No. I really can't. Legally it is a binding secret."

"You kill people? Torture them? Fight dogs?"

"Come on. You think I'd do that?"

"Well, I don't know you."

"Yes you do," Hugh said calmly, confidently.

I do, I thought, it's true.

"So how do I ever find out?"

"You have to just go there."

"Can I?"

"You don't wanna go there."

"Yes I do. You don't know that."

"Hey, I know you too, Wendy."

Silence for a time.

"When the next party?"

"Tonight."

I leapt forward, pulling up the strap.

"We can go. Now."

"Cannot."

"Why not?"

Hugh took a deep breath.

"Apart from the fact it's not for you?"

"Apart from that."

"I don't have the passes."

"Go home and get them."

"You're not dressed for it."

"What do I need?"

"You need a costume."

"Eve had them?"

"Wendy, enough," Hugh said gently. "We're not going tonight. And if we ever did go, you wouldn't be wearing anything of Eve's. You'd have to go buy something new."

"I bought all this," I defended myself.

"Wendy, can we drop this. Please? My wife left off the back of those parties. I don't think Tracy and I could lose you too right now."

"I'm strong," I assured him. "You're not going to lose me."

"I know. You're not her. Not her type at all. All the more reason to keep you away from those parties."

I dropped the topic. There was no more point to push it that night. Instead we talked about where I bought my clothes. My lingerie. How we felt about Shirley and the father. What sort of boyfriends would be acceptable for Tracy one day. What made my mother grumpy. Life.