Bittersweets_Terry and Alex

by Suzanne Jenkins

  “Alex and I got married last Friday, and I’m pregnant!”

  “Already?” Arvin asked, looking confused.

  “Arvin, really?” Tina asked, shaking her head. She got up to embrace Terry. “Terry, I’m so happy for you. I know how much you mean to Arvin, so as soon as he gets his head out of his ass, I’m sure he’ll be happy for you, too.”

  “Do you work together?” Terry asked.

  “We work at the same hospital,” Tina explained. “I came down to the ER to review a scan of a patient with a head injury and Arvin was the physician in charge that day. I flirted with him, but he ignored me.”

  “Arvin ignored you,” Terry said, incredulous. “What was that all about, Arvin?”

  “I was trying to be good,” he said. “But Tina has to admit, by the next day, I was interested.”

  “That’s true. He paged me and asked me for coffee. Then he told me the whole story about trying not to be such a bad boy. That very day he said he thought I might be the one.”

  “You are the one!” Terry cried. “You two are perfect together!”

  “I know!” Arvin said. “It’s like Tina was made for me.”

  “Oh, my God, this man’s ego is out of control,” Tina said. “It’s more socially correct to say we were made for each other, Arvin.”

  “Small steps, small steps,” he said.

  “Well, you two are perfect for each other,” Terry said, thinking, finally, someone who can tame Arvin.

  Rick arrived with Jason. Rick looked like he was ready to go on a deer hunt, with a plaid flannel shirt, jeans, a vest that had places to stash shotgun shells, and a red plaid Stormy Kromer hunting hat.

  “Where’s your rifle?” Alex asked.

  Jason, on the other hand, dressed for a Dickens event, wore a white silk ruffled shirt, black velvet jacket, satin pants and a top hat.

  Terry was right all along about them, that they would make the perfect couple, and she forgave Jason who tearfully apologized for his prudish denial.

  “I’m so glad you’re together!” Terry said. “You’re perfect for each other.”

  As soon as she put the music on, Rick and Jason slipped into each other’s arms and danced song after song, only stopping to eat.

  “How do you feel about Rick being with that guy?” Alex whispered.

  “I’m really glad,” she said. “They’re so well matched, they are as opposite as two people can be.”

  Brenda and Larry practically oozed sexuality. From their friends’ point of view their attraction for each other hadn’t diminished at all in the three years they’d been married. The husband continuously gazed at his wife with complete adoration, the wife aware of the power she had over him. Regardless of the social setting, they didn’t waste a moment when desire erupted.

  On New Year’s Eve, they were the last to arrive. Standing on Terry’s porch looking slightly disheveled when she answered the doorbell, it appeared they’d already had a round of sex in the car, but apparently something had gone awry.

  “Are you guys okay?” she asked, concerned.

  Brenda stepped over the threshold, pushing Terry in the house. “Go on up Larry, I’ll be right behind you.”

  “I’m sick,” he said. “I need the bathroom.”

  “You know where it is,” Terry said. “Top of the stairs, through the bedroom.”

  They watched him slowly climbing the stairs, and for a second Terry thought he was going to fall backwards.

  “Is he drunk?” she asked, ready to catch him.

  “Yes, but he’ll be fine. You have to help me,” Brenda said. “Paul and I are having an affair.”

  “What?” Terry gasped, grabbing Brenda by the arms.

  “Shut up and listen. We got carried away and I was late getting home from work last night. Larry was up all night downloading every email I’d ever written, screenshots of texts on my phone, you name it. I need you to say you were with me at happy hour if he asks.”

  Stunned, Terry couldn’t believe it. Paul? Paul and his wife were upstairs already, sitting with Alex and Jason playing poker.

  “He’s here,” Terry said.

  “Oh my God, how? You invited him?”

  “Alex did,” Terry said. “How were we to know? Anyway, the man is my business partner. We had to invite them.”

  “I’ve got to get up there before Larry sees Paul,” she said, running up the stairs.

  It was safe, however. Larry was still in the bathroom with his head in the toilet, none the wiser. When Paul saw Brenda, he lost all concentration and dropped out of the game while his wife cleaned up the table, stuffing the money in her tiny beaded bag.

  “Stay out of the living room,” Terry said. “You can help me put the food out.”

  For the next twenty minutes, they set up a buffet on the top of Alex’s barrister bookshelves, all the while Brenda and Paul making eyes at each other.

  By midnight, only Terry and Jason were sober, Paul and his wife left after calling Uber, and Larry decided to show Brenda who was boss in full view of the rest of the guests.

  “What happened next?” Alex asked the next morning, wide awake now.

  “He was just getting ready to pull it out when Rick stepped in. ‘Hey buddy, don’t take your unit out in front of all these strangers,’ he said. The distraction was enough to make Brenda come to her senses, getting up to call for a car. By the way, there are six cars that don’t belong to us in our driveway.”

  Laughing, Alex shook his head.

  “I’m glad I missed it,” Alex said. “I guess I’d better get in the shower.”

  “I’ll bring you coffee,” Terry said.

  “Our friends are insane. Did you have to lie to Larry?” he asked.

  “He never asked,” Terry replied. “I hope she breaks it off with Paul. I had no idea! I can’t imagine beautiful Brenda with crabby old Paul.”

  “Me either,” Alex said. “I guess we’re really lucky. Our drama isn’t as bad as our friends’ is.”

  “You’re not kidding,” she replied.

  Brenda was sleeping on her side, curled up into a ball, her back to Larry. He was on his back, mouth open, every five seconds he’d snore loud enough to wake up Brenda, who finally put a pillow over her head. Their bedroom smelled like whiskey and methane gas from Paul’s beer farts.

  Unable to sleep any longer, Brenda got up and in spite of the freezing temps outside, opened the window. They lived on Pine Street, their bedroom facing the front of the house. For a holiday, there was a lot of traffic with masses of people flooding the city from New Jersey and parts surrounding to see the Mummer’s Parade.

  Unconcerned that the noise would disturb Larry, Brenda knew from past experience that when he was this hung over, it would take more than a horn honking to wake him up.

  Walking around the room picking up their alcohol stinking clothing, Brenda felt a cesspool of negative energy coming from…herself. Remorseful for her infidelity, she cringed thinking of Paul and how the relationship between them had unfolded.

  After Alex took over clerking for Terry and Brenda moved over to Paul’s office, the other employees told her it was a coup to clerk for a partner. Paul was harmless enough, his inappropriate comments about Brenda’s clothing meaningless, a pathetic attempt at flirting with her for the five years she worked for him. Everyone agreed that Paul appeared to be losing a battle with a mid-life crisis. His wife, Suzette, was a lovely, successful woman, so no one blamed her for his behavior. Perhaps trying to build his flagging ego, any female who crossed the threshold of their office was fair game, but he was usually ignored, too needy for even the middle-aged Fed Ex lady who once told Corinne they needed to get Paul psychiatric help.

  Brenda felt like a complete failure the afternoon their affair started. Her desk piled high with orderly file folders; the success at work wasn’t enough to compensate for her absence of self-esteem. Even Larry’s attention couldn’t combat the latest flood of depression overtaking Brenda.

  Pau
l came to her office to hear an overview of the upcoming case he was representing.

  “You do the nicest presentation of any law clerk, or any lawyer, Brenda. This is excellent. Organized, to the point, well-documented, you did a good job.

  Unable to help herself, she burst into tears. Paul put his arm around her to pull into a hug. He petted her, smoothing her hair, and he could smell her, softness and floral, something exotic that went right to his balls. Enjoying it, he kept petting her, and before long she threaded her arms around his waist and held him against her body. Being in his arms was so comforting; she could have fallen asleep standing up.

  “I guess we’d better get back to work,” he said. “Do you want to go to lunch with me today?”

  “Okay,” she said.

  The two of them going to lunch wouldn’t seem unusual at all, they’d gone out before, but what would make it different this time was that Paul would nod to the hotel across the street from the deli they usually went to.

  “I’d like to get a room. Are you interested?”

  Brenda looked up at Paul, he was as familiar to her as anyone she worked with, they’d been in the same office for a long time. Their fights were legendary. She’d never considered it before, but maybe having sex with him was a logical next step.

  “Okay, we could do that,” she said.

  They walked into the hotel lobby together, and Brenda was suddenly concerned that someone they knew might see them.

  “I’m going to wait by the elevator,” she whispered.

  “That’s a good idea,” he said, not entirely au courant with traversing an affair.

  An upholstered bench between the elevators provided a place to rest and think. Were they just having a screw? Or did Paul want to be with Brenda? Was it just horsing around? Or something serious? He’d never given her an indication that he was interested in anything more than simply harassing her.

  Walking toward her, putting his credit card away, she stood, nerves finally kicking numbness out of the picture. It wasn’t too late to run back to the office. But she didn’t want to stop whatever was happening between them.

  They stepped off the elevator together, and Paul took her hand. The room was at the end of the hall. He let go of her hand to open the door. It was a standard boring hotel room overlooking a parking garage, a slight smell of grease coming from the Chinese food place she could see from the window.

  Emptying his pockets and taking off his coat and jacket, it looked like Paul was in it for the long haul.

  “Come here,” he said, using the same tone of voice he made commands with around the office.

  She bit her lip, wanting to laugh. But she went to him, and he unbuttoned her coat. “Take this off,” he said.

  Sitting on the bed, he watched her do as he said, watched her walk to the closet and hang her coat up next to his.

  Motioning for her to come back, she did, standing in front of him. Reaching down, his hands on the back of her legs under her skirt, he ran them up to her waist.

  “Do you want me to take my skirt off?” she asked.

  “Not yet,” he murmured, his hands on her ass.

  His fingers crept under her garter belt, he felt for the elastic of her underpants, and grabbed it, pulling them down. Brenda was shaking, so many intense feelings; desire, suspense, fear, embarrassment.

  Lifting her leg for her, he had her step out of her underpants, a slip of lace, not a thong exactly, more coverage, but she shuddered, hoping they weren’t damp. He put them on the bed, and motioned for her to turn around so he could unzip her skirt.

  Closing her eyes, the first thing he saw was her bare ass as he pulled the skirt down to the floor. She stepped out of it, kicking it away from the bed. The unknown, wondering what was going to happen next was almost too much and then she could feel him spreading her cheeks apart, and his tongue went right there. Electrical charges came next, as his face and hands and tongue explored deeper.

  It happened so fast she didn’t have time to be embarrassed; he twirled her around, practically throwing her on the bed, and went down on her until she was out of control, whatever would happen would happen. There was no turning back now. When she was finished, panting, grasping the coverlet, he undressed, stripped naked, and pulled her on top of him, not wasting any time getting inside of her.

  “Get rid of this,” he said, grabbing at her blouse. She didn’t even try to unbutton it, pulling it over her head instead.

  She had little breasts, but was wearing a pretty bra, so hopefully that would be enough, she thought, inadequacy making a late appearance while he moved slowly, fondling her. “Take your bra off,” he said.

  “I don’t have very much on top,” she said, apologetic.

  “I want you,” he said. “Let me see you.”

  Leaning forward, she unhooked her bra and let it fall off. He sat up, still inside her and started to kiss and suck her breasts, and she closed her eyes, the sensation fabulous, Larry didn’t bother with her breasts much, encouraging her to have them augmented, but she was afraid of surgery. Now here was Paul, his wife had big boobs, and surprise, surprise, he was getting into Brenda’s little breasts.

  “They’re beautiful,” he said. “I love your breasts.”

  He came soon after that, and they laid together on the bed, resting, not saying much. At one point, he got up on his side and pulled her to him. “I love you Brenda,” he said.

  “No you don’t,” she replied.

  “Yes I do,” he said. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to do about Suzette.”

  “You’re going to go home to your wife tonight,” Brenda said.

  “I might do it tonight, but I won’t want to. I guess you don’t love me?”

  “No. You’re my boss, Paul. You yell at me all day.”

  “What if I show you how I really feel about you? Do you think you’d give me a chance?” he asked.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said, a lie.

  Larry was a great guy. She loved him and she knew he loved her. He was smart, funny, handsome and successful. The problems they had were not to due to anything Larry was responsible for. He’d told her from day one that he would support anything she wanted to do. She stayed at her job instead of telling Vince or Paul that she wanted more because she was afraid.

  Throwing the laundry into the hamper, she walked back into the bedroom. Larry wasn’t in bed, so she walked through the dressing room and found him standing at the toilet peeing, his hair a mess, his buttocks flexed. Addicted to the tanning booth, Larry always had a golden tan, even in the dead of winter. He was fit, muscular, and she often wondered how on earth she got someone as hot as he was.

  “I wish I had a camera right now,” she said. “Do you have any idea how smokin’ hot you are?”

  “Why’d you fuck that old man then,” he said, sniffing.

  “Are you crying again?” Brenda asked. “Larry, you’re imagining it.”

  He turned around, and she felt awful; he was crying. She went to him and reached for his hand.

  “Let me prove to you that you’re the man I want. This is the body I want,” she said. “You are perfect, Larry. I don’t have any complaints.”

  Deciding that even if Larry had a video of her screwing Paul, she’d deny it, she’d say she’d been drugged. She went to him and fondled his penis and what was underneath, and he leaned against her, moaning.

  “I’ve got to get into the shower,” he said. “Do you want to join me?”

  “Okay, that sounds like a plan,” she said. “But I’ve got plans for you. I want to do things to you that I can’t do in the shower.”

  “Is that right,” he said, pulling her to his body. “I’m sorry I’m such a pain in the ass.”

  “You’re not a pain,” she said. “I am. I’m a big pain in the ass.”

  While she undressed to make love to her husband in the shower, she decided that on Thursday when she went back to work, after she t
old Paul they were never going to have sex again, she was going to ask Terry to help her start really practicing law. She’d do something with her law degree, and hopefully that would fix whatever this funk was that she’d found herself in.

  And if not, well, she had the rest of her life to work it out.

  ***

  Chapter 19

  February 1st

  The phone rang at two AM, jarring them awake, the ridiculous melody irritating.

  “Who the hell would that be?” Alex groaned.

  “Answer it,” Terry said. “It’s yours.”

  He looked at his phone. “Oh shit, it’s Jennifer,” he said, placing it back on his nightstand.

  “Answer it, Alex! She might be in trouble!”

  Although not a warm fuzzy relationship, Jennifer and Terry kept things respectful for the sake of the baby. When it was Alex’s turn to have him, Terry would be the mother figure in the household. It behooved everyone to behave nicely.

  “You okay?” he said into the phone. “What? You can’t be in labor. You’re not due for two months.”

  Terry sat up, listening to the garbling coming from his phone.

  “Who’s taking you to the hospital?” he asked. “If we leave right now, we should be there by four.”

  “It won’t take that long if we cut across,” Terry said. “We can go north and grab the turnpike. It’ll only take about an hour at this time of night. We’ll be the only ones on the road.”

  “Us and the carjackers,” he said. “Jennifer, Terry said we’ll be there before four. We have to get dressed. Okay, see you then.” He hung up.

  “Who’s taking her?” Terry asked.

  “Her business partner,” he said. “Ben Marks. He’s a good guy, but I’m not sure how he got roped into taking her to the hospital. I’m sure his wife is thrilled.”

  “Well let’s get going. I want to be there before she has it,” Terry said.