Things had changed, as their daughter had. Janice seemed much more distant. Their bedroom antics which were always pretty adventurous, or so it seemed compared to most of their friends, had become much more plain-vanilla. Now, in retrospect, he realized how much he missed the ways things were, and how good he’d had it.
Now she was always irritated with him, blaming him for the way that Heather was turning out. He’d given up on the hellion years ago, letting Janice spoil her rotten, and guaranteeing that no matter what the brat did, there’d be no consequences. When she’d brought home her first F’s at 15 years old, after 9 years of A’s and B’s, Janice just wanted to console her and took her out for a spa day. When she’d started lying to them all the time, Janice covered for her. When she’d wrecked her car, Janice had tried to get it secretly fixed so he wouldn’t even know. He’d argued. He’d yelled. He’d threatened. He’d even pleaded, but in the end he couldn’t make any changes in their daughter, with Janice sabotaging every effort. It had broken his heart, and he’d found himself bitterly angry with his wife, who was so good in so many other ways.
She was off in Manhattan, doing who knows what with whom. He didn’t trust her boss a whit, and in her latest mood, he wasn’t sure how far he trusted Janice. Now he was stuck with the monster child, a completely out of control brat. At least for once, he could show her that behavior had consequences, without Janice interfering.
He did need to think about what to do with his life, especially with Heather headed off to college at the end of summer. No need to rush things, however. He’d worked hard for over 20 years. He deserved a little break. And his new computer was opening all kinds of new vistas to him. A couple of weeks of R&R, especially with his wife off of his back, checking on his job hunt progress everyday. And he had a little ‘fund’ the wife wasn’t even aware of – his vacation and sick pay came in a different check, that she’d never even seen. Sitting in a brand new bank, with a brand new ATM card, and a brand new mailbox that received the bills.
Of course the cloud hovering over the whole situation was his irresponsible headache of a daughter.
Decisions, decisions.
* * *
Janice hung up the phone, after the abrupt conversation ending with Heather, and took a deep breath.
“Everything Ok?”
She looked over to Roger, who sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for her to get ready before going out to dinner. He’d shown up early and made himself at home with same cocky confidence he did everything.
Roger was a big man, in every way. At 6’3″, he still had that jock look from his college days. He still carried himself with confidence, and why wouldn’t he? A VP at just 45 years old, devastatingly handsome, he had the golden touch. Which was one of the reasons she took the project. With Roger working on it, it was almost guaranteed to be a success. His were coattails she wouldn’t mind riding.
He was big in other ways, too. When they had danced together just three nights ago, she had felt him rubbing against her, and she almost fainted when she realized the size of the bulge that was pressed against her belly. Harold was above average in those things, but this man was a giant! When his huge hands held her, touched her, it made her seem to small, so fragile. So different.
He made her feel like a woman. A highly desirable woman.
Now he was sitting here, in her hotel room, watching her finish getting ready. They both knew that there was electricity between them. Janice just had to wonder if she was ready for this. In over twenty years she’d only strayed once, more than 15 years earlier. If she crossed the line this time, she didn’t know if she’d come back.
Lost in her thoughts, she’d almost forgotten to answer his question. “Everything’s fine. Well, maybe not fine. Our daughter’s feeling a little frustrated with her father. He’s a good bit stricter than I am. She’s screwing up, and he’s showing her that there are consequences.” Janice went back to the bathroom where she could finish her hair, but she left the door open so they could still talk.
“Sounds like that’s a good thing. I’ve heard your stories. She’s out of control.”
His voice sounded louder, and she looked over in the mirror, and saw him standing in the door of the bathroom watching her. His eyes devoured her, and she felt wanted – more so than she had in years. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her ass, tightly encased in her skirt. She was acutely aware that underneath she was bare except for her pantyhose, not wanting any panty lines to ruin the look.
“Yeah. I’ve tried to be a friend to her, and help her out. Give her all the advantages I never had. Help her be popular, which I never was. Maybe I should have been stricter.” Janice said, bringing her arms down and turning to face Roger. “Ready.”
“You look delicious,” Roger told her, and she knew he meant it. “Let’s get going – I want to make sure everything’s in place before the clients arrive.”
When he placed his hand on her upper arm, it nearly undid her. Her legs grew wobbly and she almost fell off her 3 inch heels. She never could get used to those things.
Oddly, as they headed out the door, she thought of Harold. She felt bad. Not for what she was considering doing here, maybe that very night. No. She’d left him with a spoiled, out of control brat for the summer, and she was hoping beyond hope that somehow he’d be able to reel her in, get her under control, help her straighten out her life. She could privately admit she was mostly responsible for the way things had ended up with Heather. And now it seemed like it was too late. As a mother she was a failure.
Perhaps taking the summer off between jobs would be Ok, if it meant he could dedicate some of that time to a last ditch effort to help their only child. She wasn’t a bad kid. Not really. Was she?