Bouncing Back Ch. 02

Wayne raised his face and the couple looked at each other. Then he moved forward. Moved forward and kissed her. And Cathy felt the immediate desire to pull away. But she stopped herself. Told herself that was unfair, that she should try to make things up with her husband, the father of her children.

And so they ended up in bed. Wayne had gone wild over her. His passion for her had clearly not dimmed. He undressed her, smothered her in kisses. But Cathy felt cold, detached, uninvolved. As Wayne penetrated her, she felt none of the excitement and hunger of old. Instead she saw Sarah's face. She fought against the image, tried to suppress it, but failed. When Wayne had convulsed, and moaned, and finally rolled off of Cathy spent, she went and cleaned up.

Getting back into bed, Cathy pecked Wayne on the cheek. He sounded sleepy and content when he spoke. "Thank you, babe. That was amazing."

Cathy lay on her side, facing away from Wayne, looking at the wall, and thinking of Sarah. It wasn't as if this brought her any real happiness, it felt like the opposite. But she couldn't shut the thoughts out. Eventually she fell into a restless sleep.

When Cathy woke, Wayne was showering. Checking her 'phone, she had a message from Sarah. Just a simple thank you, but she'd added a red heart. Cathy felt her own organ skip a beat at the sight. Not for the first time, she told herself that she was acting like a teenager. Still, a heart was a heart. Cathy replied and finished her message with a kiss. She surveyed her work. She deleted the kiss. She typed it again. She pressed send.

Cathy got up and stretched. Her thoughts turned to the previous night. Maybe it had not been so bad. Perhaps she and Wayne just needed some more time to reconnect. Maybe she'd talk to him. As she mused about her marriage, her 'phone vibrated. It was a short message, the same kiss emoji that Cathy had used, but repeated three times.

Through the week, the two women regularly messaged. Sarah had set up a meeting with Izzy and there had been a flurry of communication before and after that. It had gone well, Sarah thanked Cathy, who again felt like a fraud. But their interactions were also just friendly. Sarah in a store sending a photo of a dress she was considering buying. Chit chat about their work. And, repeatedly, each saying that they were looking forward to Saturday.

At home, Cathy spoke to Wayne. She asked about maybe trying intimacy again, but at a slower pace. With the kids at camp, both took a midday break and it had been better, less one-sided. Cathy had even had a mild orgasm. It had been nice, but -- for Cathy -- the spark was still missing. It felt like that spark was located somewhere else.

Cathy found herself confiding in Sarah about her and Wayne. It was odd for sure, writing to someone that Cathy recognized she had sexual feelings for about what she got up to with her husband. Then a lot of her thoughts were confused and conflicted at the moment. Sarah was understanding, but claimed little experience with men.

And then, on Friday afternoon, while Cathy was waiting for the kids' buses to arrive, Sarah sent another photo. As before, she was considering a clothes purchase. But there the similarity ended. Sarah was in a fitting room and wanted an opinion on the lingerie she was trying on. She said that she had been feeling a little dowdy and wanted a lift.

It wasn't exactly an uncommon thing between two friends, but it set Cathy's mind racing. Was Sarah's intent different to just getting some advice? Was she trying to be provocative? How did she expect Cathy to react? But these thoughts were pushed to the rear of Cathy's mind by the photo itself. Only the lower part of Sarah's face was in shot. The angle was awkward, the light terrible, but the burgundy bra and panties were at the lacy and semi-transparent end of the spectrum. Sarah's nipples were peeping through the material, and a black triangle was clearly visible between her legs.

Cathy stared at her 'phone slack-jawed. She was aware of her heart beating timpani-like in her breast. She imagined running her finger-tips across Sarah's toned abs, unclipping Sarah's bra and feeling her soft flesh against her face.

"Hi Mom! What are you looking at?"

Cathy hadn't even heard Mabel's bus draw up. She hastily hit the side button on her 'phone and put it in her back pocket. "Nothing, Mabs. Just a message from Daddy."

Mother and daughter stood side by side, waiting for the first grade bus to arrive. Mabel happily babbling about her day. Cathy's mind filled with the image she had just seen. When James arrived, they walked the short distance home, and Cathy locked herself in the first floor bathroom. Hands shaking, she typed, "looking good, the color suits you."

Cathy pressed send and tried to get her breath back. Then another thought entered her mind. A terrible, risky, bad thought, but one she just couldn't suppress. Feeling that she was merely observing someone else doing it, Cathy woke her 'phone again, and her fingers flickered over the keypad. "I'd love to see it on you IRL."

No. She couldn't. It was too much. Cathy put her 'phone on her lap and her head in her hands. What was she thinking? She'd ruin their friendship. What did it mean for her marriage? As Cathy pondered these problems, eyes closed, her 'phone bleeped again.

"We could arrange doing that sometime soon." Sarah had finished with a grinning emoji.

What the fuck? There it was, the message that she had not meant to send, sitting on the right side of the conversation in blue, and Sarah's reply on the left in gray below it. Fuck!

Endnotes & Acknowledgements

• I wrote some thanks at the end of Chapter One, those still apply here. As promised, I'll also provide a fuller set of acknowledgments when the story ends.

• However, my thanks go to Djmac1031 and onehitwanda for both reading elements of this story as I wrote them, and for being very useful sounding boards for the overall plot.