Ruined Anniversary

All of the characters are fictional and of legal age of consent, and the story is not based on any true events. Constructive criticism will be happily accepted. Destructive criticism will be ignored.

***

"Hey, baby!" Alice says breathy as she wraps her arms around her husband's neck from behind, "I've missed you all week. I really want to talk to you about our vacation plans."

John snorts as he flips her arms off of him. "What vacation? I have three major contracts to close on within the next four weeks," he rebuffs her.

Feeling insulted, Alice steps back and straightens herself. "The vacation to a tropical resort that you and I have had planned for over a year. Remember? Our 20th anniversary?" she asks hotly.

"Oh. Shit. I forgot, darling." John replies. "I can't make that. I have these huge projects to finish."

Looking at him askance, Alice responds, "Yeah. I know. That's why I talked to your boss about handing them off to someone else to carry on without you."

"Oh!" the anger flashes across John's face. "It doesn't really matter. My supervisors realize that I'm the only one that can handle these projects." Looking at his wife, "These projects will set us up really well for retirement."

"We don't need that money, John." She replies looking at him through slotted eyes and crossing her arms. "What we need is to reconnect. You've gotten distant lately. I want my husband back. You know the guy that made me swoon? The guy that helped me through several pregnancies? The guy that was whispering sweet nothings into my ear as he rubbed my swollen belly?" She lists the memories off acidly. "I've been exercising like crazy lately to get you to notice me again." she states as she leans into his space. He's already back to his computer, and has stopped paying attention to her. "John! What am I supposed to do with two reservations for a tropical resort, if you're not going to even try to go with me?"

Without looking at her, "Find someone else to go with you, or more preferably get a refund, and put it back into the joint account."

Alice is in shock from her husband's statement. Her arms fall to her sides and her jaw agape. As she's getting ready to launch into a verbally abusive tirade, she hears a soft coughing from the doorway. It's their son, Joshua. He's looking directly at her, and waves his hand for her to follow. Not knowing what to do with her fury, she follows Joshua. He walks into the family room, well and far enough away from his parents' bedroom, where his mother was about to 'rip John a new one.'

Just as she's about to ask Joshua about what is going on, her cell phone rings. Her sister is calling. Holding up a finger to her son, she answers in her sweetest voice, "Hey, Court! How are you doing?"

As Alice talks with her sister, Joshua holds up a piece of paper that reads, "Will we talk in the morning? It's important." He crumples it as soon as she acknowledges it.

***

Joshua is cooking eggs, hash browns, bacon, and hominy with greens in the pale morning light. He watches his younger sister walk into the kitchen. "Hey, Liz. Want some food?" he offers.

"No, thanks," she replies sleepily. After stretching as she yawns, Liz replies, "What I want is to get away from Mom and Dad until they figure out this thing between them." She quickly ducks around Joshua. He notices that she has somehow managed to be awake enough to get her make up perfectly ready, and hair into a stylish braided plait. She grabs a couple of breakfast bars which she drops into her backpack, along with her meal prepped lunch. She bumps shoulders with Joshua and taps his shoulder with her head. "Thanks, bro. I love you."

"Don't forget to text if you're staying after school," he reminds her. "Being 18 isn't a good enough excuse in this house. Trust me."

"I'm 19 and in college, but yeah... I get it." she mutters. "Especially if Mom or Dad are on the warpath."

"Quick warning. Mom *is * on the warpath," Joshua informs her.

"Fuuuuuuuck." Liz groans as she lets her head flop backwards. "I wish they would just have angry make up sex and get it over with," she complains. She grabs his head and gives him a quick kiss. Her mind doesn't register that she is kissing her brother on the lips. He stands frozen and blinks furiously. Walking out the door she calls back to him, "Later, bro. Love ya."

"Love ya too," he echos.

Seconds later, Alice storms into the kitchen at a frantic pace. Joshua tries to start a conversation with her multiple times to only receive a shushing. She's out the door like a shot. Joshua listens to her car start up and then drive away. He glances at the doorway from the kitchen to the common areas of the house. He decides it's just best to drop the dishes into the sink and head out for his own classes. Before he sees his father.

***

For the next two weeks, Alice and John have been discussing their points of view on the second honeymoon trip. Well, that is if you consider discussion to involve yelling, begging, and pleading from Alice and complete silence from John.

John finally breaks his silence, "Why don't you take someone else with you?! I don't want to go! I have work to do! Here! Where my responsibilities are!" he shouts at her two days before their planned departure. "Take one of your girlfriends! Take Liz! Hell, take Josh! I won't even care if they think he's me! Just leave me alone!" John storms out of their shared bedroom, and stomps down to the guest bedroom, next to Liz's bedroom.

Once Joshua hears the door to the guest bedroom slam shut, he walks over to his parents' bedroom. Knocking on the door, he asks, "Are you ok?"

Openly weeping, she snaps at him, "No! Why would I be ok?" Her head is buried in her hands.

"Fair enough. May I come in?"

"Sure," she saying shrugging her shoulders, "You seem to be the only man that wants to be in here right now."

"I'm worried about you, Mom," he explains in the most soothing voice he can manage. "Dad? Not so much at the moment." She looks up momentarily. "What are you going to do?"

Sighing heavily, she asks the 21 year old, "What do you think I should do, Josh?"

Turning his head to stare at a distant wall, he replies, "Well, you can't get a refund at this point. You've always wanted to go to Martinique. My recommendation? Find someone who can and will go. You'll need someone that you trust around you while you heal." Alice nods to this logic. "What about Janice, Melinda, or Yvonne?"

"Are you serious?" she stops crying long enough to lift her head and look at her son for the moronic statement that just fell out of his mouth. "The three friends of mine that you can think of... are only the most bitter, jaded, and vindictive AND divorced bitches that I know... Seriously?"

"Melinda and Yvonne are divorced?"

"I don't share everything with you, but yes. Do you want to try again?"

Trying to find an exit from his idiocy, "Not really, Mom. The only other people that I know of that you know that actively travel are Uncle Joe, Aunt Lucy, and Mr. Hollingsworth. I can go since I just got my passport. But none of those are viable options." Joshua explains.

Looking at her son playfully, "Not even you? Knowing that your mother is hurting?"

Looking down at the floor, "I only have more bad news for you."

Sighing again, "Tell you what... you've been meaning to have some sort of serious conversation with me for a few weeks," she says as she gently pats his cheek, getting him to look at her directly again. "I promise to make time for you to tell me everything that you're worried about. The moment we're settled into the resort. I promise I'll make it worth you coming with me."

"Ok... No shouting. No throwing things. No punching things. No property destruction. No hurting people, yourself or others. Those are my terms," He stated plainly and clearly.

"Of course, darling. I love you too much to hurt you."

"Not what I was thinking, but ok." he mutters under his breathe as he looks to the side.

***

During their layover in Miami International, Alice is trying to get a hold of her husband so that she can check in with him. Joshua is trying to take a nap in the uncomfortable airport chairs.

After listening to his mother get increasingly frustrated, he grumbles, "Mom, there's no point in trying to call him. He's not going to answer." He taps the crystal of his watch to get her to notice the time. Realizing that John would still be at work, she sighs and hangs up.

"So what do we do for the next hour, Josh?" she asks blandly.

"Well, we could probably get something overpriced to eat. At least the airport food won't mess with our stomachs," he replies. Joshua sits up and looks around the waiting area. "Never mind, there's only a Starbucks and a greasy spoon diner looking thing." Pulling his carry on to him, he opens it up and looks inside. He pulls out two protein bars. He unwraps one and hands it to his mother, and then unwraps the other for himself.

Alice takes a bite out of the protein bar and immediately puckers her mouth. "How can you eat this? It tastes horrible."

"Ignore the flavor. Chew as little as possible. Drink lots of water to wash it down. I don't think 'health food' is supposed to taste good," Joshua replies halfheartedly. "Just eat, Ma..."

"You promised me that you wouldn't call me that. We're supposed to just be two friends."

"That just happen to look like (and in fact are) that they're related."

"Exactly!" Alice chirps feeling slightly more upbeat. Joshua rolls his eyes and groans. "So have you looked at the resort's brochure yet?"

"Yes, I have, Alice. I'm still trying to find something not romantic to do together." Joshua grumbles.

"Quit being so grumpy, Joshie," She chides him, and playfully slaps his arm. "I'm sure we'll find something. If you're not happy with the activities that the resort has arranged, maybe you can find something in the Google machine," she says knowing full and well that the phrase irritates her eldest child.

"Google machine? Seriously?" he asks through squinted eyes.

"Yes, of course, Joshie. They can send their response via a carrier pigeon." she answers smiling sweetly while waving her hand dismissively into the air.

"Gods damn it, Alice... You had me going for a second." He says as he slowly realizes that he got played by his parent. She laughs loudly.

"But I was serious about your searching for other entertainment through the internet," Alice states clearly. "I know that you're good at research. And the younger generations are typically more proficient with newer technology."

Still unsure of what she means, he nods his head. He then proceeds to spend the next hour looking up different tourist oriented locales and activities that are not the normal thing. Alice surfs the internet, as well. Expect, she's looking for things that are similar to what she would normally do to relax at home. They shut all of their technology off when they are called to board the plane.

Aboard the plane, they rent headphones to block out the noises of the other passengers at the first opportunity. Alice had to remind Joshua repeatedly to wait for the headphones that the airline provided, in order to avoid the ire of the flight attendants. They sit quietly with their books, pretending that the world around them doesn't exist. They quietly eat their meals with the headphones on. They ignore any and all sounds that make it past the headphones. Whenever they needed to communicate with each other, they would pass notes. The headphones finally came off when the flight attendant collected them, and no sooner. In order to pass the rest of the time in the airplane, they locked into a conversation just between the two of them. Joshua wanted to keep the conversation light. Alice kept trying to broach the topic of scheduling a time for them to have the serious conversation that Joshua had wanted weeks ago.

Joshua was finally worn down under his mother's insistence, "Fine, Alice. We'll go over everything that I have to tell you after we settle in. I was hoping to stretch my legs for a while since we've been traveling since the o' dark thirty this morning. We have what about three hours before dinner?"

Looking at her watch, Alice nodded her head. "Let's get a snack and head to the hotel. Agreed?" Joshua ducks his head in a shortened nod of agreement.

They gather their luggage from the carousel, and started dragging the bags to the taxi stand. Alice points to a sidewalk cafe to Joshua. He smiles and nods as he turns to drag his bags to the restaurant. At the gate to the sidewalk patio seating area, they see a server give a broad wave to all of the seating as they hustle by the window. Alice and Joshua pick their table and tuck their luggage between the wall and their table, and wait patiently.

A sharp looking woman flits by the table dropping off two glasses of water (no ice. Alice and Joshua ogle each other in confusion because of the natural heat of the Caribbean) and two menus. She mutters "Un moment." as she disappears into the crowd of tables. Confused, Alice and Joshua glance at each other and the menus. They hesitantly pick up the menus and browse the restaurant's offerings. Joshua fishes out his French / English dictionary. The book gets passed back and forth as they read the menu.

The server returns to the table to take their order. Alice waves her hand at Joshua to order for them. Joshua proceeds to speak in his most confident French. The server blinks multiple times while looking at him askew. "Maybe we should just use English. Because I'm pretty sure that you don't want to kiss an incestuous cow in the alley," the server responded. Joshua blushed three shades of red in front of the pretty young woman and his mother. His mother chokes on her laughter the best she can to not embarrass her son any further. Alice then ordered for them as her son hung his head in shame. She did her best to hide her mirth and schadenfreude, and failed spectacularly as Joshua remained quiet.

After their quick lunch, Alice and Joshua hail a taxi to take them to their hotel. Joshua slowly felt better as Alice chatted idly with him and pointing out various items of interest. She patted his thigh and stomach, and gently rubbed his upper arm. Joshua enjoyed the attention. However, Joshua felt a thrill when she leaned into him to point out his window as she runs her fingernails lightly up and down the back of Joshua's neck. Joshua deeply enjoyed the physical contact from her hands, arms and breasts. She whispered into his ear about the sights, which she knew nothing about, that she was pointing out. Her warm breath intrigues him. As he turns to encourage further contact, Joshua balks, realizing that it's his mother that is exciting him. He shifts uncomfortably in an effort to disguise his growing erection.

"Dude!" Joshua thinks to himself. "That's Mom! It doesn't matter how gorgeous she is, she is completely off limits." Joshua reprimands himself. "Even if she is the hottest fucking MILF I've ever seen... and that everyone reminds me of."

"Hey, Mm... Alice. Is that our hotel?" He asks, pointing out the windshield in an attempt to distract her and move away from him.

"OH! Josh, yes, it is. We're almost ready to relax and enjoy this vacation. I've desperately needed this!" She exclaims and the pulls his face to her and quickly kisses him on the lips. The relationship of the recipient of her kiss doesn't even cross her mind. She is excited to get into the hotel.

They both exit the vehicle after it pulls up to the hotel. Joshua confirms payment through his phone app. The cab driver waves as the cars leaves. Alice grabs Joshua's arm and squeezes it to her chest. "We're finally here. How about we check out the room, baby?" she asks. Alice still hasn't stopped to think about the fact that she is physically grappling her son's arm as if her were her husband's. Joshua dutifully grabs both suitcases and starts to wheel them into the hotel. Alice occasionally looks back at him to verify that he's still following her. The pure joy and exhilaration on her face quickens his heartbeat. He grins widely as he follows her. His eyes constantly drift down to watch her ass jiggle as she bounces and bounds through the lobby. Alice behaves in a manner much younger than she should.

Shaking his head, Joshua reminds himself, "Dude, that's your mother. Yes, she has a tight ass. Yes, she's as giddy as a little girl. Yes, she's acting like you're dad. Quit getting thirsty for her, man."

He walks up behind her at the main desk. Alice is speaking rapid fire. The hotel employee smiles as he looks over her shoulder to see Joshua. "Mr. Springer, I presume?"

Alice glances over her shoulder, when she looks back she blurts, "Oh, yes! This is my Joshua!" She reaches behind her for something. Her hand opens and closes repeatedly. Feeling confused, Joshua offers his hand. She immediately pulls him forward, causing him to bump solidly into her back. Looking up at him with doe like eyes, "Honey, you need to sign for you key card." She moves his hand to hover over the the paperwork. While Joshua is bumbling his way through the hotel's paperwork, the employee photocopies their passports. He swaps the paperwork for the passports and room keys.

With a large genuine smile, the hotel employee says, "Sir. Madam. Enjoy your stay. If there is anything that you require please let us know. And please remember that many of the usual services that are considered extra are actually included in your suite. It's all listed in your copy of the rental agreement. So, If you want to get settled in, the elevators behind you to the right will take you to your floor." He gestures over Alice's other shoulder. She smiles broadly and starts to drag Joshua along. Joshua is surprised by the strength in her grip.

He drags the luggage behind him as Alice chatters excitedly and looking about her at the hotel and the various amenities that it has. She spins absentmindedly in front of Joshua. He reprimands himself again, "Dude, quit imagining what's under her skirt as she twirls." He crosses his eyes in an effort to regain control. Instead he is treated to the image of Alice hopping and clapping her hands. His drinks in the view of the trimmed and heavily toned body. "Com'n, man. Quit ogling your own mother. Yes, she has put so much work into her body lately... I can't believe that Dad isn't paying attention to her! She is smoking hot."

"Joshua? Seriously, are you paying attention?" Alice is looking at him directly with her fists on her hips and head cocked to the side. All that Joshua can think of how adorable she is right now. Adorably fuckable.

Joshua blinks several times before responding, "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

Not wanting to believe that he wasn't paying attention, she puts her hand out. "Key card, Josh. How else am I going to open the door to let you in?"

Joshua numbly exclaims, "oh, yeah..." He digs into his pocket and quickly produces the key cards. Alice plucks one of them out of his hand while still eyeing him suspiciously. Joshua takes in the sight of Alice's smooth and angular features looking at him over her glasses."Jesus! Get a hold of yourself, man! You're lusting over Alice... Where does that rabbit trail lead?..." quickly shaking his head. "Stop it! This is going to be a week of NO SEX and taking care of your mother appropriately after you break the news!" He pulls the luggage into the large suite and looks around. "This is a really plush set up. It's like it's a... uh-oh."

"Hey, Mm... Alice?" he hesitantly speaks. She whirls around from her exploration of the suite, smiling widely.

"Yes, baby?" she asks expectantly as she leans back against the counter in the kitchenette. Her toothy smile is on full display, as she unconsciously pushes her chest out.