She's Cheating on You

The activity must have brought Lily out from her emotional distress, because she looked to the pool, then to me, then to the tissues and water. Her eyes were puffy and the mascara she was wearing earlier had run, badly.

I picked up a tissue and wiped away her tears, then poured her a small glass of water and handed it to her.

"Here," I said. She sipped the water quietly, then settled into my arms again. "Are you alright?" I asked.

Lily shook her head, then looked up at me, then nodded. "Yes, thank you. I didn't know that I needed that."

I smiled, "it's all good, when I divorced Bridget, Shona did something very similar. I most likely had worse makeup runs than you do."

Lily laughed, looking at the tissue in her hands, "She really is special to you. Shona, I mean?" Lily asked me.

"She's my best friend, always has been. Shona and I have been through hell and back together, anytime I have truly needed her she's been there for me," I replied.

"Even in your divorce?" Lily asked, I could sense she was trying to find her balance, asking about my relationships.

I nodded, "Even then. Sure, there was a lot of yelling, and while we got Maddie out of the deal, we never should have married. But in the middle of it all, I realized I was better with her than without her. Just not married to her."

"What about you're other wife, Bridget?" Lily asked.

I sighed, "I hate to admit it, but I married Bridget on the rebound, not my smartest move and if I had looked at things clearly, I never would have done it. Bridget was cheating on me for quite some time. I loved her, or thought it was love, but all the evidence I gathered, showed she never loved me, I was just a meal ticket."

Lily looked up at me. "I'm sorry to hear that Tim. Despite the impression of a first-class bitch I gave you at our first meeting, you come across as a lovely man. Bridget was an idiot; any girl would be lucky to have you."

I raised an eyebrow, "Any girl?" I asked.

Lily nodded, "yeah, if only I could be so..."

She didn't finish the sentence, as I just went for it. I placed my lips over hers and kissed her. For a moment her eyes went wide, then they closed and I again felt this hurt, angry, but beautiful woman melt into me. Though this time it was not for comfort, but attraction.

When we pulled back, we both smiled at each other and Lily, grabbed my hand.

"That was... unexpected," she said smiling at me.

I frowned, she noticed.

"But not unwelcome," she quickly corrected.

"This is the way," I said repeating my earlier comment. Lily giggled.

For the next hour as the sun dropped lower in the sky, Lily and I talked. We both went deeper into the pain of our past love lives. She told me her ex was now in prison for numerous charges including assault and driving under the influence. That evening where she was assaulted by him, he had driven home almost three times the legal limit. Prison was a good place for him.

By the time the sun was set and the lights were on, Shona and the kids came out, followed by Rick with a pizza from Mumma's. Fresh and hot with homemade Italian sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil on a traditional pizza crust, and cooked in a proper wood fired oven.

Conversation was a little tense for a few minutes, however Lily deftly bridged the gap to Shona and Rick that we had been talking through some hurts from our past. She never went into details, but gave enough of the tale that it appeared to appease Shona's inquisitiveness. I knew Shona would grill me later.

After dinner we all retired inside, Maddie was with me this week, Shona and Rick were taking Greg and Lily home with them. The hug that Lily and I shared was awkward, but held a note of affection that neither Shona nor Rick missed. As Maddie and I prepared for bed, Maddie let me know she didn't miss it either.

"Dad," my daughter began in that tone that told me she wanted to talk with me about something serious. I sat down on the end of her bed as she brushed her hair.

"You like her don't you?" my perceptive daughter inquired of me.

"I think so, Maddie. She's been through a lot. In some ways more than what we went through. But we've only known her a couple of days, let's give it some time. We don't want another Bridget on our hands do we."

Maddie snorted, "I don't think Lily is anything like that bitch." I frowned at her language; Maddie noticed. "Sorry dad, I meant, that unworthy woman..."

I laughed, Maddie was growing up fast, in another few year's boys would be upon us and then watch out world.

"It's alright Maddie, Bridget was a bitch," Maddie and I smiled at each other. "But just watch your words please. And Lily, who knows. But what do you think?"

Maddie chewed her bottom lip for a second, continuing to draw her brush though her dark blonde hair. "You're right dad, she's not like Bridget, and Mum and I were watching you two this afternoon."

"Oh, you were, were you?" I asked smirking, Maddie, blushed.

"She likes you dad, a lot if mum and I are right. Just be sure dad, I don't get the weird vibe I got from Bridget, but she's also damaged, we can all see that."

"That she is, she has dealt with a lot these last few years and none of it her fault," I told my daughter.

"Like what?" Maddie asked.

"I can't tell you pumpkin. Lily told me in confidence and I won't betray that."

I thought Maddie would argue with me, but she gave me a curt nod. With that we turned to school and homework, doing the usual thing that parents do, pushing their kids to be ready for the school week.

Later I was sitting down in my study, running through emails and planning my week when Shona called.

"I don't know what you said or did, but that woman is totally besotted with you," Shona said, feeling like I was being told off.

"Well hello to you too," I laughed, transferring myself over to my Bluetooth headset and calling up our software sprint schedule for the next month. While Shona spoke, I started moving tasks around the board ready for our development teams to review next week.

"I'm serious Tim," Shona told me in a conspirator's tone. "Lily has done nothing but talk about how awesome you are all the way home and right up until now when I called you. Rick tells me he has never seen her so devoted. Apparently, her old Boyfriend was abusive and it didn't end well."

"It didn't," I confirmed quietly.

There was a pause on the end of the line, I could hear Shona mentally grinding gears.

"She told you all about it didn't she?" she asked me.

"Yes, she did," I confirmed. "Shona, Maddie asked me about it earlier, and I'll tell you the same thing as I told her. That woman has been through things that make our issues seem small and insignificant in comparison. But she also told them to me in confidence, and while you're my best friend and I love you; I cannot say anything more."

Again, Shona was silent as I continued looking at the sprint boards in front of me.

"So, you like her too?" she said simply after a minute.

I stopped looking at the boards and turned to face out my study window. It was dark outside and not much could be seen. Though in the distance you could catch a glimpse of passing container ships, their pilot lights able to be seen as they rocked gently back and forth.

"Yeah, I like her. She's articulate, witty, like's sci-fi, doesn't mind I'm a geek.." I started; Shona laughed.

"And don't forget drop dead gorgeous," Shona finished.

"I hadn't noticed," I said trying to keep the humour from my voice.

We both laughed for a minute, poking fun at each other.

"Seriously, Tim," Shona reasoned as we settled down into the relevant conversation again. "She likes you a little more than just a passing flirt. In between talking about you, she's been questioning me a lot about our relationship, as well as Maddie. She's a little worried about you and me though."

I laughed, "She shouldn't be, if there is really something there and between talking with Lily this afternoon, Maddie earlier and now you, I'm starting to hope there is going to be life after Bridget."

"There will be Tim," Shona said seriously. "Are you okay if I go to bat on your behalf, as your first love and your best friend, I've got unique insights to either sell or scare?" I could feel Shona arching her eyebrow.

I thought for a moment, Lily was everything we said before, and more. I had glimpsed a beautiful woman that was worried everyone in the world was out to get her. Loyalty was never going to be an issue, but love...

"Sure Shona," I responded. "Not sure if it will go anywhere, but go for it."

I didn't hear anything from Lily or Shona for three days after that, Maddie was suspiciously quiet, and during dinner gave me looks like there was something going on. Me, I just buried myself in work and let the geek take over. It was Wednesday evening, I had just gotten back from the office and I found, Maddie, Shona and Lily all sitting in my living room. Shona and Lily had a glass of wine each and I could smell something like a carbonara, that distinctive and delicious white sauce and bacon smell wafting from the kitchen.

I greeted the ladies and excused myself for a few minutes, walking into my office and setting up my work agenda for the evening once Maddie was in bed. I wasn't sure where things were going with Lily, so I just thought I would play it cool.

"Tim," Lily said walking into my office, "Dinner will be on the..." she trailed off as she looked around the room. Her eyes going wide, she looked at the computer setup, it was an impressive multi-screen affair. But unless you knew a lot about computer hardware it was the usual thing you would expect from a geek like me. However, what had caught her attention was the posters and frames on the wall.

For close to two minutes, Lily walked up and looked at the posters and the awards on the wall beside it. What was impressive was that I had a picture for each of the games that had been successful, and then a frame for each of the awards that it had won beside it. It was a reminder to me of everything I had built within Other Gaming and I must admit I had a little pride in seeing it there. In my office we had the awards in a frame on the wall, but here, in my private space, I liked to see the games I had created.

"I know this game," Lily said, pointing to one of the posters. "I ended up spending several hundred dollars to buy the bonus packs, it was a good game." Then she looked at another poster. "This one too, the hours I spent trying to level up."

Then she looked at another game, pulling out her phone, showing me she had the game. "This one got me through that time in the hospital. I loved the puzzles, when things were darkest, I retreated into these games..."

"Why do you have them on your wall Tim, I know you work in programming. Do you work for the people that create these games?"

"Open up Puzzle Build and look in the bottom right of the loading screen," I asked her in reply, noting the game title she was talking to me about.

She did and her eyes went wide, "Other Gaming, that's you?"

I nodded, "Years ago I created Other Gaming, and all these games are my creation."

"You mean you design them, you own the company, these games..." she asked, her eyes wide, a note of disbelief evident in her tone.

I chuckled, "Since I was nineteen."

"So, when you told me that Bridget was a gold digger..." she asked.

I laughed again, "Yeah, I'm worth a little bit more than most, but honestly, most of it is tied up in the business."

"Okay," she said, her face dropping a little, I just came to tell you that dinner was ready.

Dinner was wonderful, Maddie and Shona had let Lily in and she had used my kitchen to prepare an amazing Fettucine Carbonara, grilled Garlic bread and finished it off with vanilla bean ice cream. By the time we got to the end of the meal everyone was stuffed to the gills.

Shona was eyeing Lily; however Lily was surprisingly depressed, despite the platitudes of praise that Shona, Maddie and I were delivering. Afterwards, Shona went with Maddie to help her get ready for bed all the while hinting for me to talk with Lily.

I poured us both a small glass of a lovely local desert wine, it was sweet and the taste mellowed on your tongue as the perfect accompaniment following ice cream. Lily and I went and sat down in the lounge.

"Are you alright Lily, that was an amazing dinner, but if you don't mind me saying, you didn't appear to enjoy it as much. Did we do something to offend you?" I asked.

"No," Lily said immediately. "No, it was, I mean..." she sighed, then kind of slumped against the couch, deflating a little.

"Tim," Lilly said, quietly, a note of resignation in her voice. "Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you would at last be able to rise above the bullshit, that you might at last be able to find something worth holding onto, but then in one moment of clarity you figure out that it's never going to happen, the gulf is too wide to cross?"

I studied Lily for a moment, I wasn't entirely sure what she was on about. But I figured it had something to do with our serious conversations about her past. I sipped my wine.

"I suppose, in some ways my break up with Bridget was like that. I did love her and when I learnt the truth, it broke something inside me, something that still feels empty. But I can't figure out how to fix it, but I know I need to, that is my ravine I'm trying to cross. Does that count?" I asked her.

Lily nodded, "I think in some ways it does," she looked at me. "Tim, you're my ravine."

I laughed, not the right reaction, judging by her cross look. "Sorry, I don't get it, how am I that gulf, that gap to you?"

"Tim, I think we both know there is something between us, I mean that kiss..." Lily smiled and blushed slightly, brushing a lock of hair back over her ear.

I smiled too, "It was pretty awesome." I admitted. For a moment she beamed, then she lost the look and feel into despair.

"For the past week, we've hung out, I've gotten to know Shona and Maddie, I've gotten looked after by Rick. I've gotten to know you, the man who had kids at his birthday party push me into the pool just because I wanted a smoke," she smiled as she told me, so did I.

"And that kiss. Oh my goodness Tim, that kiss, I have never felt like that from just a simple kiss. I never wanted it to end." I again smiled at Lily, and put my hand on hers.

She brushed it off and I looked at her confused.

"But tonight, I saw in your study that you're a gap I can't bridge, I can't be... that..." she said.

"Be what?" I asked confused.

"Tim, I'm nothing, I work in admin for local council, I'm from nowhere and I can't hold a candle to the social circles you walk in." Lilly looked at me, tears in her eyes as it felt like her heart was breaking. "I earn a little under sixty thousand a year, I'm broken, and I can't... I mean I won't be a gold digger..." Lily was on the verge of crying.

Sometimes, I am just thick, this woman was pouring her heart out, feeling that with my money that I would think she was a gold digger, just like Bridget. She had been abused, lost a child and was angry, but for some reason, even before she knew anything she opened up to me.

I suddenly knew what I had to do.

"Lily, come with me." I stood up, holding her hand and walking her out the back. We walked hand in hand and I could feel hope radiating out from her, her fingers tightly wrapped around mine as we walked down the path out the back. There were no lights on, but the moon was full as we started walking by the pool.

Suddenly without warning I picked her up, held her tight to me and jumped, both of us fully clothed landing in the pool. As we went under, I let go of her, and we both came to the surface, I started laughing, Lily sputtering just like she did a week ago. The look of confusion and anguish she uttered, gave way to a groan of lust as I pulled her to me and planted my lips directly on hers and wrapped her in my arms. For a moment I thought she might hit me, but then she threw her arms around my neck and I felt her tongue dance with mine. Minutes flew by and our kissing continued, I could feel rock hard nipples against my chest and I know more than once she felt my hard cock against her thighs as we danced in the water, balancing on tippy toes as we made out.

I pulled back and looked her in the eyes.

"Lily, I don't care about your background, I don't care that you're broken. To me you're not nothing, you're beautiful, talented, you cared enough tonight to make an amazing meal, before you walked into my office I am guessing Shona and my daughter had seen that you liked me and were encouraging you to chase after me, right?"

She nodded, her arms still around my neck.

"Lily, if either Shona or Maddie thought you were, as you say a 'gold digger' then you would not have gotten anywhere near me tonight, let alone had the opportunities to talk with me this week. Trust me, they don't think you're nobody. If you will let me, I'd be more than happy to date you and we can see where this goes?"

Lily, kissed me again, "Okay Mr Other, but only if you promise to stop throwing me into pools anytime you think you need my attention."

I laughed, "Sorry, but that's a no deal."

"Well next time at least let me take my clothes off first..." Lily said, a note of lust in her voice as those rock hard nipples poking through her shirt to my chest again.

I swallowed and Lily laughed, however, before anything more could be said we heard the door open.

"If you two need them, I'm leaving a few towels here for you, Maddie is in bed and will turn her light out in a few, she's going to leave you both alone and I'm heading home," Shona told us, her smile evident as she placed the towels down on the table. Then she walked over to the edge and sat down on a chase lounge. Smiling at Lily with her arms around my neck.

"I love him Lily," Shona told Lily, giving her an intense stare. "I love him like the brother I never got, there is no one more important to me in the world than the man you have in your arms right now. So, I will tell you this once and once only. Treat him right and never take advantage of him. He deserves to be loved, loved for the amazing man he is. He will always have Maddie, Rick and I. But he needs a partner, he needs to be able to hand his soul to someone who will handle it with care and give it the respect it deserves. I think you could be that person Lily.

"But. If you hurt him, I will do everything I can to protect him, even against you. Bridget is only now beginning to find that out. Treat Tim right and you'll never have a worry."

With that Shona got up and walked away.

She paused a half dozen steps away from the back door, looking back at us with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Lily, beware Tim's tongue, he knows how to use it very well. Even better than Rick," she smiled and I kind of blushed.

"Goodnight you two, we're going to do dinner out tomorrow night, see you then."

Lilly, looked at me holding me as Shona headed inside, "What did she mean?"

"Shona has a very defensive streak when it comes to those she cares about," I told Lily as we continued to float in the pool our arms around each other. "She never really liked Bridget, but tolerated her for my sake. If she has done something, then I am sure we will hear about it."

I looked at Lily in the moonlight.

"But you. You just got her blessing to chase me, believe me, I have seen a number of women try over the past year and they never even got a date. Maddie and Shona seem to be able to figure it out."

We swam over to the shallow end, kissing some more.

"So, before we were interrupted you were saying something about clothes?"

Over the next few minutes, Lily and I slowly undressed for each other, only the moonlight casting its lights for us. It wasn't long before we were naked in the pool, our wet clothes piled on the side as Lily arched her breasts out of the water with both her hands on the shallow step underneath her.