by Mia Moore
As I wet my finger and tried to erase the raccoon look, Don drove the truck from the parking lot.
He glanced over at me and smiled. “When this is all over and the test shows it’s nothing,” he nodded his head up and down a few times, “I’m taking you out to dinner and then we’re going dancing.”
The thought of dancing, with this weight on my shoulders, made my legs weak. I glanced at him and my heart was full. I loved him so much watching him try to cheer me up, think positive. I took a deep breath and smiled in spite of my fear.
“If and when this is all over, and it turns out to be nothing, I’m going to make some changes in my life.”
His face was drawn, eyebrows pulled together when he looked at me. “Oh yeah? What kind of changes? You’re perfect now.” He reached over and rubbed my thigh.
The knot in my stomach loosened a little. “You’re sweet. I’m not perfect, not by a long shot.” I looked out the side window at the people on their lunch hours, trying to get some Christmas shopping in and also get something to eat. I knew what THAT was like at this time of year when the days leading up to Christmas started to fly by at warp speed.
I looked over at Don again. “One thing I’m going to do is slow down on the things that really don’t mean anything in the long run. You know, work, especially working overtime. Life’s too short.”
He glanced at me and then back to the road, nodding his head.
“I want to have more fun. Do crazy, exciting things and laugh—be more ME than I’ve been in years.” I used to be like that in high school, before I married Jeff. What happened to me? I sighed. Life happened to me.
It’d been a bit of a struggle after the divorce and I HAD to be careful…careful with money, looking after the house, meeting men.
Careful, really boiled down to one thing—fear.
But aside from the obvious now, fear of the Big ‘C’, what did I have to be fearful of? I had Don. We loved each other, had more than enough money and security...But there was something still missing.
“Okay, so you want to do crazy stuff…like what?” His head swiveled and eyes opened wider. “Are you talking about sex?”
I gulped a breath through lips that were parted and blinked a couple of times. Yeah. That was something which could get crazier, more fun and excitement between us. Our sex life was good, loving and always satisfying… but…
“Sara?” He glanced at me a couple of times. “What we did last night…you talking dirty, watching the video with the couples swapping…It WAS hot. Is that what you mean?”
I pictured us in bed, how turned on I’d been and felt a flutter low in my stomach. “Yeah. It was different,” I smiled at him, “a little dirty and naughty even. I’m ready to try it again. ”
He grinned at me and squeezed my leg. “More group sex videos? I’m in. I can download all the gangbang flicks you want.”
I squirmed in my seat at the sudden thrill that shot through my pussy. The thought of laying in bed with Don, watching porn was always pleasant but now, what we’d be seeing was even more exciting and…forbidden. This time it was my hand that stroked HIS thigh, rolling it ever north, not really surprised to find the chubby in his groin.
We turned a corner and I looked around, my stomach once more sinking through the trucks leather seat. The hospital and the test were just up ahead. Back to reality.
Don’s hand reached out and he stroked the back of my head. He was silent but his eyes communicated volumes. He was as worried about this as me.
Chapter 3: It Doesn’t Matter, Don
Once more I lay on the sterile white surface, arm draped up, behind my head, bare from the waist up. It was a different room, different ultra sound tech, even having Don present was different. Inside my guts were churning and my heart raced, the same as it had the first time.
The tech was a middle aged, pretty brunette with a warm, reassuring manner. She was about to squeeze the warmed jel onto my breast when the door opened and a doctor wearing green scrubs walked into the room.
“Mrs. Elliott.” He smiled at me while squeezing his portly body by the chair Don was sitting in, and finally stood next to the tech. “I’m Dr. Skylar.”
I murmured a small hi but couldn’t quite manage a smile.
He leaned close to the monitor where the image of the first scan, done a couple of days earlier, showed. He clicked on the mouse and the image became larger, focused more on the mass, or so it seemed to me. I watched his head tilt to the side and his eyebrows pull together. The tech paused with the tube of gel in her hand, her eyes also focused on the screen.
They exchanged a glance and his eyebrows rose.
My heart thundered in my chest. “What’s wrong?”
Don rose and walked to the other side of the bed next to me.
“Let’s get a new image, Rose.” He turned to me and his mouth pulled up at the corner. “I’ll know better in a few minutes.”
Rose squirted the gel and applied the wand to my breast, rolling it slowly over the lump. Don held my hand and we watched the face of the tech and the doctor.
“Right there. Keep it there for just a few more seconds.” His voice was low, almost inaudible. He continued scanning the monitor for a few moments and turned to me. “There appears to be a lot of fluid in the mass which makes it more likely to me, that it’s a cyst we’re dealing with. The picture today shows that more clearly than the first set of images.”
I gasped and raised my head. “A cyst? Oh my God, that’s good news, right?” I felt Don’s hand squeeze mine and slowly exhaled, staring into the doctor’s dark eyes.
“Yes.” He nodded and gave me a tight lipped smile. “But just to be on the safe side, I’m going to take some fluid and tissue. Don’t worry, the freezing will hurt more than the needle, and it’s just a pin prick.”
I closed my eyes and for the first time took a really deep breathe, felt relief flood through my body.
“Why didn’t you guys see that the first time? She’s been a nervous wreck.” Don’s words were fired like bullets from a machine gun.
I opened my eyes and saw the set of his jaw, the muscle working.
“It doesn’t matter Don. This is good news.” I gripped his hand, straining upward from the pillow.
“Sometimes, just a couple of days makes a difference in something like this, to get a cleaner image.” The doctor held a syringe in his hand, squirted it and then injected it into my breast.
I jerked but it was probably more from the shock than actual pain. I’d had worse needles at the dentist.
“I’m going to use a thin needle to take some fluid. With the ultra sound I’ll be able to see the mass and get deep into it. It won’t take long.”
He pulled up a chair and reached to a tray of instruments to the left of him. That was when I turned to face Don. I don’t mind needles but I hate looking at them going into me.
Don’s eyes actually were watery looking down into mine. He blinked a few times and smiled.
“How long until I’ll know for sure?” I turned my head and watched the doctor’s face.
He was focused on the monitor, watching it closely. “The pathology report takes a couple of days generally speaking. It will be sent to your doctor.”
“But you’re pretty sure it’s just a cyst right? How sure?” Don was direct but at least he wasn’t as angry sounding as he’d been.
“Well…I’m pretty sure it’s a cyst. If I had to put a percentage on it, I’d say ninety-five percent certainty, and if that’s the case, then your chances of any further complications are almost nil.” He sounded so casual.
My eyes filled with tears, but this time they were from relief. Thank you God. “Nil. Did you hear that, Don?”
“Sure did.” His voice cracked and he leaned over and kissed my forehead, stayed there for a few extra beats. When he rose, there were tears spilling over onto his whiskery cheeks.
“Hey mister, you promised me dinner and dancing.” I bobbed my chin up, grinning up at
him.
“First we’re going shopping—get something really special for you to wear.” He squeezed my hand and winked.
Chapter 4: Slutty?
When we got back to the truck, we held each other for a long time. The doctor hadn’t said for absolute certainty that the lump was a cyst… there was still the pathologist’s report but something told me that everything would work out fine.
Don eased back from me and his face was somber when he looked into my eyes. “I did some thinking about what you said earlier. You know, living for today, having more fun and excitement.” He held my cheek in his palm. “When I think of how scared we were…what could have happened—“
For just a moment my throat grew tight. “Still could, Don.”
“No way. That doctor looked like a pretty sharp guy. There’s no way he would have said anything, given us any false hope, if he didn’t know. You’re going to be okay.” He pushed a lock of hair that had fallen onto my face, back. “What’s more, you’re getting a really sexy dress for tonight. I’m going to show you off. Other guys are going to wish they were me.”
I grinned at him and took his hand, kissed the palm. “Then we’d be even. I know other women envy me when they see me with you. Look at that Laurie chick in the grocery store. And she’s not the only one. I see other women checking you out.”
“All I see is you.” He shifted in the seat and turned the engine on.
The snow had stopped, leaving a fresh blanket on the ground. Even though it was late in the day, the sun tried to make a showing, spreading glistening sparkles of light on the pristine surface. It was a day for new beginnings.
****
I slipped out of my coat and hung it up in the change room. The florescent lights overhead lighting the row of small cubicles usually bugged the hell out of me. It was a wonder anyone bought anything at all after seeing themselves in such horrid, glaring light.
I pulled the sweater over my head and then slipped my leather boots off. When I turned sideways, peering into the mirror, there was hardly any fullness in my tummy and my ass was still shapely and high. I wasn’t even going to bother checking out my boobs. They’d had more than enough attention in the past few days. All in all, I looked pretty good for a woman in her mid forties.
I slide the jeans over my hips and then reached for the first dress. It was red, low cut and tight enough to show every curve of my body. Don had picked it out. The ones I’d picked were more conservative, black, simple elegance.
When the dress was on, my mouth dropped open. Holy hell, it didn’t leave much to the imagination. A seam from the V of the neckline to the scalloped curve of the hem drawing high between my thighs, drew the lycra fabric tight. The cloth on both sides of that line puckered, the same way bathing suits designed to draw the eye to feminine detail are designed. And just like a bathing suit, the fabric clung to me, hugging every curve.
I opened the door and scampered out of the room, going out into the main store area as he’d requested.
His eyes, the gaping mouth and double take, told me I didn’t need to bother with the other dresses. He’d hit it out of the park, picking this dress. “Holy cow, Sara. That’s hot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything that short and the neckline…whoa Mama.”
I grinned at him and struck a pose, all Madonna like, hips thrust out and arm high in the air. To the left and behind him, a man, probably in his thirties out shopping with his wife, stopped mid-step, his head tilting to the side. His eyes roamed over my body, slowly down and then back up to my face. Oh my God. He’d gone beyond ogling and was in fantasy land.
Don turned to see what I was looking at and then faced me once more, a broad smile on his face. I saw the guy’s wife glare at me and then tug at her husband’s hand, dragging him away.
Wow! I pulled my shoulders back, girls pointing north and wiggled my hips walking back into the change room. A young guy, in his early thirties checking me out? Sure, guys often gave me the eye but this one…if he’d been a dog, he’d have been humping my leg!
In the cubicle, with the door closed, I looked at my reflection from my legs to my face, turning this way and that, as if seeing it for the first time. It was no wonder that Don and the young guy had reacted. I was fucking hot in this dress.
When I’d struck the pose, playful confidence had shone through, an effect I’d seen countless women display. Even women who weren’t all that pretty could catch a guy’s eye if they ACTED confident and desirable. Sure I was pretty, I knew that. Flawless skin, high cheekbones and wide blue eyes. Hell, my body was almost as shapely as I’d been in my twenties.
I frowned into the mirror. When was the last time I flaunted, strutted my stuff? I clutched the soft red fabric of the dress to my breasts. Probably when I was in high school, with Phil. And now, with Don, I was sexy (God knew I could match his sex drive and then some!) but I was never…what? Teasing? Enticing? Even Slutty?
Sure, sometimes I’d wear negligees, sheer wisps of gossamer, cloaking my body, but suggestive—kind of like the curve of a cheerleader’s thigh before the crease and swell of her ass. That had been as far I’d gone in the past while.
But this dress! It blew past flirty, mainlining straight to seduction, as enticing as the dance of a stripper. I just needed the heels of the ‘fuck me pumps’ to complete the message of the dress.
Don enjoyed the sexiness of the dress and was delighted when the other guy had been turned on looking at me. That was going to happen more often. I may have to ditch my turtleneck sweaters, start buying tighter jeans, wear dresses more often…It was worth it to see the look on his face and…I smiled into the mirror…it made me feel good too.
After what I’d been through in the last few days, I sure as hell deserved to feel good.
Chapter 5: Step One
“A change would do you good.”
Yeah. Sing it Sheryl! Don’s arms went around my waist when I spun on the dance floor, my back and ass tucked into his body. We moved together, swaying our hips from side to side, my bum softly rubbing against his crotch.
The dance floor in the bar was half full, the DJ playing popular hits of the nineties to a crowd fast approaching middle age. So what if it was Thursday night? A lot of people liked to get a jump start on the weekend. Me? I was getting a jump start on a new life!
Don was a great dancer and we moved well together. It was a toned down version of the dirty dancing we’d sometimes do when a song we both liked came on the music channel at home, dipping and diving in the kitchen.
From the corner of my eye, some of the other couples were smiling, watching us as they tried to keep the beat with their partner. And from the look in a couple of the guys’ eyes, it wasn’t my moves but the flash of thigh and cleavage that had their attention. Yeah, this was a great dress and I’d had just enough to drink to really show it off.
“Let’s take a break.” Don’s words were followed by his hand taking mine and a long scowl at the tall, dark haired guy who’d been giving me the eye.
He led me back to the table and once more gave the guy the evil eye before taking his seat.
“What’s wrong?” I eased close to him and put my hand on his thigh.
“Didn’t you see that guy? Fuck, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. If I’d stayed up there I would have said something to him.” His eyebrow raised and a smirk appeared on his face before he raised a finger signaling to the waitress for another round.
I looked at the guy he was talking about. Sure he was pretty good looking, about our age give or take a year. Ahhh…Unlike the young guy in the department store, who’d been in his thirties and married to boot, this one, in Don’s eyes, was more of a threat.
A smile spread on my lips. I couldn’t stop smiling, even though Don’s lips and eyebrows were straight lines, obviously pissed off.
“You don’t have to be jealous. There’s no other guy for me in this room, but you. Sure, that guy finds me attractive, and I’m flattered, don’t get me wrong… bu
t, he can’t hold a candle to you.” My hand rose to stroke his face and I leaned into him and kissed his lips softly.
“Jesus, Sara, he was undressing you with his eyes. It’s a wonder his wife or girlfriend or whatever she is, didn’t slap him.” He shook his head, doing an eye roll.
The waitress appeared with another beer for him and a gin and tonic for me. Blonde curls fell over a toned, bare arm, and the low V of her blouse gaped, revealing a flash of ivory flesh and pink lace of her bra. Her gaze travelled down my bosom and stayed there for a couple of moments. When she looked into my eyes, her lips parted and there was just a twitch of her eyebrow.
I was frozen in my chair, spellbound, in her blue eyes. They were startling in the lightness, framed as they were with long dark lashes. She took the twenty that Don held up, only glancing away briefly to gather change from her pouch. When she turned to leave, the corner of her lip rose in a small smile.
My hand rose to my throat, feeling a tingle. “Don?” My voice was soft watching her walk away, the sway of the short pleated, plaid skirt, just barely covering the curve of her ass.
I looked at him and gave my head a small shake. He too, watched her walk away, eyes focused on her ass.
“Don!”
His eyes swiveled to me. “What?”
“The waitress…I think she was checking me out, kind of coming on to me.” There was a fluttery feeling in my stomach, my jaw almost on the floor.
This time he did a double take, his eyes narrowed. Slowly the corners of his mouth curled up, a slight shake of his head. “WHAT? You’re kidding.”
“NO!” I patted his arm as he reached for his glass of beer. “I’m serious! I don’t think I’ve ever had a woman check me out and give me the eye like that. She never so much as glanced at you! No, she was interested in me AND my boobs.”