Page 8 of Just Past Two

Angela blew a loose strand of hair off her face. “Abby, I’ve known you for a long-ass time. Including during college. I let you sleep on my couch for a month when you got kicked out of campus housing.” Abby winced, but Angela kept talking. “And you told me, you said, ‘Angela, I’m gonna turn everything around,’ and you did. Cold turkey. Stopped partying, stopped going out, stopped doing everything you enjoyed.”

“Stopped flunking out of college, you mean.” Easy for Angela to see it as fun, when she hadn’t been the one facing a cold dose of reality.

“And you stopped dating.” Angela wasn’t letting this go, her eyes locked onto Abby. “Until you got together with Sam, and you begged me. Begged me. Not to tell him all the shit you’d gotten up to. It was, ‘Please, Angela, I’ve started over,’ ‘Please, Angela, let me reinvent myself.’ And I kept quiet. I didn’t give anything away. And you locked away all the partying, and all the raunchy shit from college, and you’ve kept it locked away. You let it out a little bit when you get drunk, and when you’re hanging out with me, but with Sam, you’re totally buttoned up.” She stood back up to her full height. “Ten years is a long time to be buttoned up.”

Defensiveness rose inside Abby. “There’s nothing wrong with growing up.”

“Getting your grades right, paying off your debt, sure. But your sex life? What you want? That’s not about growing up. That’s squashing who you really are to try to please somebody who’d be happy with you no matter what.” Angela put a hand on Abby’s shoulder and gave her a gentle shove. “Let out Abby Wood If She Could. See where it goes.”

The risk, though. It was easy for Angela to talk about this, when it wasn’t her marriage stability hanging in the balance. Old Abby was embarrassing, and she’d been content to keep her irresponsible youth in the past, even if that meant quashing a few of her sexual desires in the process.

Angela waved her hand. “Just think about it. This could lead to a better marriage. A better sex life. To take things up from once a month missionary, or whatever it is you’re doing now.”

“Hey! Uncalled for.” Abby hoisted an entire humidifier off the bottom shelf, ready to dump it in Angela’s cart.

Angela wheeled the cart away quickly, laughing. “Stop it, you bitch! Put that back. I’m sorry I insulted you.”

Abby put the humidifier back. “Don’t get personal.” She dusted her hands off on her jeans. “So, what, you think I should just unload all my fantasies on him? I might as well hit him with a two-by-four.”

Angela nodded to the end of the aisle. “You could get one of those here.”

“Seriously.”

“Okay, seriously. You could wait for him to bring it up. Kind of a chicken move, but whatever.” Angela shrugged.

“I am going to stuff another humidifier in your cart if you don’t quit making fun of me.”

Angela grinned. “Fair. So, whatever, you play it by ear. If you’re really fine with the way things are, and Sam doesn’t bring up anything about the reunion, then you’ll know it was a fluke. And if he does bring it up, well, take him up on it.”

“Maybe.” There wasn’t much to lose, letting Sam take the lead. Even if it did feel a bit cowardly. College Abby never would have taken the backseat like that. But College Abby made a lot of bad decisions in her time, so she wasn’t exactly a reliable inspiration.

Angela turned the corner to another aisle and stopped in front of a whole section of ropes and chains. “Or instead, you could just take him here.”

Abby followed her gesture to the display and started to laugh. “That’s subtle.”

“You never know, right? Everybody’s trying this stuff now. One book series goes wild and suddenly it’s wall-to-wall handcuffs and leather. Maybe a sexy shopping trip.”

“To the Home Depot. Very seductive.” Abby picked up a length of chain, absent-mindedly letting the metal links slip through her fingers. Of all her kinks, bondage was one of the tamer ones, and she couldn’t imagine Sam tying her to anything. She shouldn’t hope for things to be otherwise, since that way led only to disappointment. Sam was good for her. She’d wanted to change, and once she’d done so, she’d been able to secure a relationship with the best man she’d ever met. She’d made that choice willingly, and if she had it to do over, she’d do everything the same.

“You got everything on your list?” Abby pointed to the notebook in Angela’s hand.

Angela put her notebook in her pocket. “I’ve got it all. Let’s check out.”

…

Ever since the party, Sam couldn’t look at Abby without a whole host of inappropriate thoughts. She was beautiful, and he’d always thought she was beautiful, always been attracted to her, but this was…different. He found himself getting distracted by the curve of her ass when she bent over, suddenly picturing her bent over the bed while he slid into her from behind. When she leaned her head back on the couch, he remembered the way she leaned her head back on his collarbone at the reunion, gasping as he rubbed her to orgasm. The most innocuous actions were leaving him stopped in his tracks all week, and it was pretty damn difficult to focus on anything else.

Usually, he didn’t bother her for sex during the week. They both had busy schedules, both balanced work and hobbies with their relationship. It was only respectful to give her time to sleep rather than interrupt that with sex. On the weekends, he would move in for kisses that lingered, deepened, intensified into passion, and then they would take their time together until both were satisfied.

Was she bored with him?

She’d clearly had an adventurous past. He’d always thought they were happy, but maybe she had been hiding some kind of deep dissatisfaction. Their sex life now certainly wasn’t what she’d been used to. Maybe she wanted more and had just never asked? He’d never thought to offer.

Tonight, though? Sitting next to Abby while they both read in bed, outwardly placid in their evening routine, his whole body twitched with pent-up energy. She’d been a different woman at the reunion, untamed and uninhibited, and he could not stop running that evening over and over through his head. Even her stories turned him on. Maybe, just maybe, with the right opportunity, she would indulge that side of herself again.

After setting his book aside, Sam slid over next to Abby. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Can I help you?”

“Want to put that away?”