David and Jen

Jen considered this. "Well ..."

"Where is he?" said Anna, rapidly evaluating the options.

"I don't know. On his way home I guess."

"Might he still be at the pub?"

***

David was nearly at the bottom of his third pint of IPA and getting pleasantly mellow while he read the newspaper. He would have to make sure he visited the gents before leaving the pub otherwise it would mean braving the toilets on the train.

It was starting to get dark, and his train was due in half an hour. Almost time to leave the snug warmth of the pub.

He became aware of someone standing beside the table and looked up to see Jen's sister.

"Anna!" he said, aghast.

Anna frowned at his reaction and then decided on balance that it wouldn't hurt for him to be on the defensive.

"May I sit down?"

After a moment David waved at the other chair and braced himself for whatever was to come as she composed herself across the table from him.

David eyed her warily. Like her sister, Anna had the benefit of her Italian genes. She was slim, dark of hair and eyes, and blessed with poise. Eyelashes to die for, naturally ... and an inner core of Latin temperament.

She was quite a different kettle of fish from his wife. He was reasonably certain that Anna thought him a waste of time, so this did not bode well.

She held up her hand as he started to offer to buy her a drink.

"This won't take long. I assume you're on your way home?"

"Yes, the 16:34."

"Do you have to go today?"

"Err ... no, I don't have to, but I'll be wasting my ticket."

"I think that would be an acceptable loss in the circumstances."

Now what was going on?

"Where would you stay if you didn't get the train?"

"I don't know, find a hotel I suppose. What's all this in aid of?"

"It's quite simple. You want her back so you're going to have to persuade her. And you won't do that by bragging about your exploits."

"I wasn't bragging!" he said, indignantly. "She asked for the truth, and I told her the truth!"

"Suitably embroidered to show you in a flattering light, no doubt."

Buoyed by Dutch courage, David snapped, "I didn't plan any of it. I was lonely and I made a mistake. I owned up to that straight away. The rest happened ..." and he tailed off.

"Yes?"

"Events, dear boy, events," he murmured.

Anna snorted impatiently, what was he talking about? Her voice clipped, she said, "Get to the point, if you have one!"

"The point, my dear, is that chance has its part to play."

He looked at her steadily. If she wanted a fight, she could have a fight.

Anna realised that things stood delicately poised. If she didn't choose her next words very carefully, he would get on the 16:34 and Jen's life would be in tatters for the foreseeable future.

"You want Jen back?"

"In an ideal world, yes."

He could be maddeningly opaque! What was that supposed to mean?

"Either you do, or you don't!"

"I want the woman I married. I don't intend to spend any more of my life navigating my way between silences."

"That's not her fault! She can't help it!"

"I know that," he shrugged, "but it doesn't change anything."

"You're unbelievable!"

"I'm David, that's not negotiable," he said, smiling.

Anna sat back and looked away, drumming her fingers on the table. What to do?

Suddenly he leaned forward.

"I have an idea."

She looked at him sideways.

"Let's hear it."

"Before I do, I want to remind you that you came to me, not the other way round."

He turned dour.

"You don't like me very much, do you, Anna? Even before this you thought I was a loser."

Anna started to protest, and David cut her off.

"A basic prerequisite for negotiations is honesty with each other," he finished, acidly.

She flushed and glared at him, framing a riposte, and then biting it back. He was deliberately needling her. She was supposed to be in control of this, yet suddenly he was in the ascendant.

He continued, "I propose a reset."

Anna looked at him askance. "How so?"

"I want to court your sister!" he said delightedly, as if he'd unveiled the master plan, and sat back to watch her reaction.

Anna blinked, this was a complete volte face, as though he'd switched personalities between one statement and the next. Whatever else he could be, David was not predictable ... or dull.

She started to get a sense of what had drawn Jen to David in the first place. This was a different person to the one she remembered. His confidence was unnerving.

"What do you mean?"

"Take her out on dates!" he laughed. "Go to the pictures, take the kids to a fun fair."

She scoffed, "Now you're being ridiculous! You're already married to her for God's sake!"

"Imagine a scenario where I've just met an attractive single mum!"

Anna shook her head, this was mad! Now what was he doing?

David produced his phone.

"What's your parents' number again?"

She started, "Christ no! My dad might answer. You're not flavour of the month right now and if he's found Jen in the state she was in, he'll reach through that thing and strangle you!"

David frowned.

"What state?"

"She was really upset when she got home."

"Ah."

"She thinks she's got nothing, David. She thinks you have the winning hand."

"That's absurd!" he burst out; "If things had gone differently, I could have ended up in jail!"

Anna cocked her head and regarded him quizzically. There was obviously an interesting story to be had from her sister when the opportunity and sufficient wine presented itself.

David shifted in his seat and looked away across the bar which was starting to fill up with the post work trade.

"The events of New Year were like the first domino in a line. One thing led to another, and I could have been in a very different place. I didn't plan any of it, I was only ever reacting. If I have a fault,"

"If!" she snorted.

He pressed on.

"It's that I'm too passive. I'm hoping that things will calm down now. Once I move, I can put that firmly behind me."

"You're moving? Where to?"

"I work in London now and the commute's a -- ah, unpleasant. I'm looking at one of the towns on the mainline. It'll make getting to work easier. It makes this place more accessible too."

Brightening, he returned to his proposal.

"So, what do you think?"

"I don't know. There's your infidelity to get over first."

He groaned. "I don't know what else to say apart from I'm sorry which just sounds completely inadequate."

"It is that," Anna said, getting to her feet.

"But Anna," he said, reaching across the table and taking her wrist, "something had to happen. We couldn't have gone on any longer the way we were."

She looked down at his hand and he let go, suddenly aware of how it might appear.

"I'll ask her when I get home. How long can you stay?"

"A couple of days. Beyond that I'll need some supplies."

Anna pursed her lips.

"You reckon yourself a clever boy, David. I'm sure you'll work it out."

***

Resolutions

David sat on a park bench at the upper end of the common. From here he could see all the way to the housing estate over a mile away in the bottom of the valley. Beyond that he could see the rows of terraced houses climbing the other side.

Status depended where on that slope you lived. Live at the top or at the bottom and you could cut the house price in half. In the middle were the big, detached mansions that the 19^th century industrialists had built for themselves. Once proud in their isolation, they had been absorbed by the rising tide of development.

His hands were stuffed into the pockets of the new military jacket he had bought earlier that day, and he turned his collar up against the wind. It was grey and overcast and without the sun's warmth the breeze had some real bite.

He wondered how much longer Jen would be and possibly whether she would turn up at all. Anna had assured him that she would.

And there she was, walking up to the bench, wrapped in a calf length wool coat and boots. David nodded his appreciation of the ensemble. Jen had no make-up on that he could see, and her face was very pale. The wind whipped her hair in all directions, and she kept reaching up to push it from her face.

He stood and fell in beside her as they headed in the general direction of the boating lake. Very faintly the scent of her perfume carried to him, and his heart lifted in appreciation. There were moments in London when someone would trail it in their wake, and he would be almost immobilised.

They walked in silence for ten minutes when abruptly she stopped and turned to him. "How much of that story was true, David?"

One side of his mouth lifted, half smile, half grimace.

"All of it."

She huffed. "It's just so fantastic. Would you believe it if someone had told you the same story?"

"I guess it would depend on who was doing the telling."

With her boots she was nearly eye to eye with him; it was amazing what a difference that made. She could tell he was perfectly serious. The characteristic minute quiver at the corner of his mouth, and the widening of the eyes that told you he was thinking of something absurd, were both absent. He looked ... he looked like he had when he had asked her to marry him.

Her eyes pricked with tears, and she dropped her head. A moment later his handkerchief appeared in her field of view and her mouth quirked up. She dabbed her eyes and lifted her head.

"You cheated on me," she stated, flatly.

"I did," he said. "I didn't plan it, I'm sorry it happened, and I wish I could take it back."

He looked away for a moment and then back to her.

"In the pub I tried to tell you everything, to be honest with you so that everything was on the table, no more secrets to reveal. It's very strange how the last year has unfurled. I can hardly believe it myself sometimes."

She looked at him for a long moment and he waited to see what would happen next.

"And you've told me everything?"

"Well, not everything. Would you like some details of the orgy? Women servicing other women with a strap-on?"

"David!" she exclaimed, her mouth in a moue of distaste.

"Well then."

There was a pause. Inwardly he wondered what she would say to the Rosemary and Alice episode. Maybe later. Maybe never.

"Anna told me that you're moving house; leaving the village."

"Yes. I need to make a clean break from everything there. I feel as if everyone's talking about me when I walk down the street. Well, they've had their fun and they can find something else to pull the wings off."

David uttered the last with some vehemence and Jen came to realise that perhaps the violence had not been the most painful event of recent times.

"Where are you going?"

He shrugged.

"Somewhere on the main line to London. The commute's too time consuming at the moment. I sometimes have some long days at work and it's no fun getting home at midnight when you have to be up and out again at six."

They walked some more in silence.

"How many bedrooms would this new place have?"

"Yes!" David shouted and leapt up, punching the air, his fist above his head.

Several other walkers looked over curiously.

Jen looked at him severely.

"Don't get any ideas, David. We're not even at the starting post on this."

His grin faltered and he stood abashed, with his hands down by his sides.

She looked at him sideways; there was a tell-tale gleam in his eye and against her better judgement, she smiled.

***

Jen and the children had come down on the train from her parents. When David met them at the station, Tilly had run to him shrieking, "Daddy! Daddy!" He'd thrown her into the air before gathering her in for a big hug and setting her on his hip. Josh, not to be outdone had strained at his reins as his mother made her way along the platform.

They kissed each other on the cheek and Jen's perfume made David's head spin. Her smirk told him she knew exactly what was happening. He smiled happily, took one of the bags and led them to the taxi rank.

"Taxis, Mr Piper? Such luxury."

"Yes, Mrs Piper. I think you'll find we enjoy every modern convenience here. Why, there is hot and cold running water in most every dwelling, whether rich or poor."

The taxi driver gave him a look in the mirror, unsure if David was being rude about his hometown or making some complicated kind of joke.

When they pulled up outside the small, terraced house, David gave the driver a tenner and earned a 'thank you' together with a hand up to the front door with the bags when he waved away the change.

Inside, David ushered them into the front room where the fire burned invitingly. He'd lit it before setting out for the station and the room was cosily warm. Jen flopped into a chair and helped the children out of their coats whereupon they ran to explore the rest of the house.

"I've not got stairgates," he said.

"Neither have Mum and Dad," she replied. "They've learned to manage. Is the house safe otherwise?"

"I guess so although it's been a while since I had children around so I'm sure there's plenty of opportunity for trouble! Glass of wine?"

"That would be wonderful," she said gratefully.

***

October

A few weeks later, Jen watched her smart, confident (ex?) husband walking along; holding Tilly's hand as she skipped and chattered. This was only the third time they'd met since he'd come to see her and she felt, well, she didn't exactly know what she felt.

Part of her hankered for their old life but another part knew that that was gone. There would be a new dynamic now.

Something Anna, pragmatic Anna, had said to her before she'd got on the train, came back to her.

"You're going to have to decide if you want him, Jen. He's yours for the taking, anyone can see that. But, if you do, Jen, then the taking is the easy part. Then you've got to keep him."

She knew that her mood had lifted. The days were brighter even as they had grown shorter, which was normally the cue for the blanket to settle over her.

God, how much easier was it with two?

They had had a wonderful day out at the zoo. It had been sunny, but the air was bitterly cold. They wrapped up warm in jackets, hats, scarves, and gloves.

Josh, whom David could hardly believe was now four, and Tilly were like weebles. He joked to Jen that if they got tired, they could simply roll them home.

The children were yawning by the time they got back to the house and Jen hustled them up the stairs for their bath. David busied himself setting and lighting the fire. He found two glasses and the nice Italian red that he'd discovered in the wine bar round the corner from the office.

He sat on the corner of the sofa wondering what he could do to make things better. Shortly he discovered that he could do that by reading the children a bedtime story.

The pair of them were asleep within minutes and he tip-toed out of the room and turned the light out. He left the door ajar where just enough illumination seeped in from the hall to give them some comfort if they awakened in the night.

Downstairs he found the wine had been poured but Jen was absent. He pushed her glass across to be beside the chair she'd taken possession of since coming to stay. David settled himself into the corner of the sofa and waited.

A couple of minutes later she came in and David's jaw headed south. Jen was wearing a fitted white blouse and a pair of near skin-tight dark green trousers. She'd put her hair up, securing it with ... were those chopsticks?

"Wow," he said.

She took two steps and flopped down beside him.

On the sofa.

Next to him.

Her proximity threatened to undo him. He quickly reached for his wine and stuck his nose in it to buy some time. The evening had taken an unexpected turn. Hadn't it?

"Hey! Wait for me!" she said and raised her glass to him, waiting for him to toast hers with his.

***

Later, he sat on the edge of the bed as she slowly undressed in front of him: their eyes locked on one another. Finally, she stood in just a cream silk camisole and white lacy knickers, her dark hair tumbling about her shoulders.

Speechless, he reached out his hand to take hers and draw her to him. She jinked to sit sideways on his lap. He closed his eyes to revel in the touch and the smell of her and then, most wonderful of all, the lightest, most delicate brush of her lips on his.

It was so all consuming it was more like a religious experience. He smiled and she knew that something had amused him.

"What is it, David?"

"I love you, Jennifer Piper, body and soul. Which, given that I'm not even a believer, is nothing short of miraculous!"

She pushed him down on to the bed and crawled up to loom over him.

"You'd bloody better love me!"

She started to undo the buttons on his shirt, and he lay with his arms above his head in submission. Her cool hands ran over the smooth skin of his chest, and he shuddered at her touch. Her camisole was shrugged over her head, and she cast it away from the bed.

Her breasts stood, taut and pert above him, milk chocolate areolae and nipples as he remembered them from when they were first dating, sneaking illicit moments under her parents' notice. He reached up and caressed one, moulding his hand to its wonderful shape, watching her eyes follow his to the contact and then back to him.

Jen reached between them to find his still confined erection and then, with a few quick movements, freed it to where she teased him with little strokes and squeezes. He gasped, arched, and strained against her weight astride his hips.

"Jen! I beg you!"

In answer she tugged the crotch of her knickers aside and mounted him. Little by little she took him in until she rested her thighs on him.

Then she leaned forward until her hair fell around his face and whispered fiercely, "What, David Piper? What do you beg me? Tell me what you want, David. I need to hear it from your lips."

"I want you to love me," he said.

"Goof!" she said, tears starting in her eyes, "I have always loved you."

He gathered her to him, and they lay together.

A little while later when they had become calm, she realised that he was still firm inside her. She grinned and gave him the gentlest squeeze. He started and then his hands came up around her shoulders and abruptly he twisted so that she was underneath, and he was on top.

She regarded him seriously.

"Well, Mr Piper, are you going to exercise your conjugal rights?"

Propped on one elbow, he frowned at her.

"I believe I am entitled."

"Entitled you say! Do I not get a vote in this?"

"Actually," he mused, "it was you that, so to speak, seized the high ground. Having lost the initiative I don't think you get to determine what happens next."

"And what does happen next, David?" she whispered, lacing her hands around the back of his neck.

He smiled and elicited a gasp from her with a gentle thrust of his hips.

"They lived happily ever after."

***

December

The reception was at some art gallery in Hyde Park.

"Is it much further?" grumbled Jen, who was wishing she'd brought some pumps for walking in.

David still wasn't used to London and knowing that the gallery was in Hyde Park had opted to get off at Hyde Park Corner tube station. They'd been walking for ten minutes and there was still no sign of the gallery.

"Can't be far now," he said confidently and smiled reassuringly at her.

She looked stunning with her dark hair piled up on top of her head and ringlets dancing beside her face: apparently it was called a 'messy up do'.

Under the thick coat, she was wearing a black dress with a plunging neckline to show off the solitaire pendant he had bought her for her birthday. It twinkled as it caught the lamps lighting their way.