CHAPTER 4
On their next to last night at the resort, with the men off on a late night hiking excursion that held little appeal to their wives, Bree and Valerie found themselves at the seaside bar downing shots. After having enough of them to wash away her inhibitions, Bree found herself broaching the subject. As soon as the words had left her mouth, however, she immediately felt that she’d gone too far over the line.
To her surprise, rather than be offended, Valerie had laughed and said that if Bree ever really wanted to find out, then she didn’t have a problem with her doing so. Thankfully, come the following morning, the question seemed forgotten and Bree chalked it all up to the two of them having been just a bit drunk.
“You’re sure I wouldn’t be in the way,” Bree asked, bringing a smile to Valerie as she saw her friend was finally at least considering the idea.
“I just need three or four hours on Saturday to meet with Alfred,” Valerie again explained. “Then we’d have the rest of the day and half of Sunday to ourselves. I usually take the three-forty train back home.”
“I guess I could use a day or two away from home,” Bree finally admitted.
Valerie beamed; she had won.
Bree had been depressed of late and the reason was obvious. This month, next week in fact, would be the second anniversary of Frankie O’Connell’s death. Bree had come to grips with his loss in an industrial
accident a few months after that Caribbean trip, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel low at times because of it.
Frankie and Bree had been high school sweethearts, deeply in love, well, lust at least. So much so that she found herself pregnant at graduation and married before the summer was over. In the years since Kellie had been born, however, that love had cooled until, by the time of the accident, they were doing little more than cohabiting. The shared vacation had been a last attempt to rekindle the fires. But even with that being true, she still missed him at times.
Between the insurance settlement and her job at the Food Mart, Bree managed to live a simple but comfortable life with her daughter. It also helped that her father in law, Steve O’Connell, a successful businessman, doted on his only granddaughter and saw that she wanted for nothing. He had made the same offer to Bree, not understanding why she felt the need to work, but she’d declined. His paying her bills was where she drew the line.
Come Saturday morning, bright and early, Bree and Valerie were at the train station to catch the seven fifteen Northbound Limited, and, three hours later, stepped out onto the streets of Douglaston. After checking into their room, Valerie went off to meet Alfred Dukes and Bree headed downtown to check out the shops. She really didn’t plan to buy anything, but it was fun just to browse.
They met up for a late lunch, after which they spent a few hours sightseeing, winding up at the Museum of Art. They’d been admiring the exhibits there about two hours when Valerie drew Bree’s attention to an item of interest not found in the little booklet they’d been given on the way in.
“Don’t look now, but that guy is checking you out,” Valerie said in a whisper, leaning close to Bree so that only she could hear.
“What?” Bree said in surprise, her voice loud enough to be heard by nearby bystanders.
“To your right, over by the painting of the girl on the swing,” Valerie clarified in the same low voice. “The cute one with the short black hair,” she added, identifying him among the three men standing there.
Curious, but not wanting to seem interested, Bree managed to take a look without being too obvious about it. She timed it just right, as she did indeed catch him checking her out. At least five nine and well defined, he looked to be in his early to mid-thirties. Well dressed, she decided Valerie did him an injustice in only calling him cute.
“God, he is, isn’t he?” she said in surprise, her tone now much lower. “What do you sound so surprised?” Valerie asked.
“I don’t know, I guess it just feels a little bit strange,” Bree replied.
“I don’t know why,” Valerie replied. “You’re an attractive woman, single and available. Or did I miss something when you finally took off your wedding band and went out on a couple of dates a few months back?”
`”I only did that to make Steve happy,” Bree said, referring to her father in law. He felt I needed to get out and start living my life again.”
“And in that at least, he was right,” Valerie said, having not always agreed with the older man. “So what was the problem?”
Before she answered, Bree glanced around her to make sure no one was too near. No one was, but even so, she pulled Valerie off to an empty
alcove where they could talk in private.
“Because it didn’t take long for me to realize that all any of the men that asked me out were looking for was to take me to bed,” Bree said.
“And you say that like that’s a bad thing,” Valerie questioned, thinking that she knew a few single women Bree’s age who would’ve been quite happy with that prospect.
“You don’t understand,” Bree said.
“Obviously not,” she countered, “so why don’t you enlighten me?”
“Men assume that since I’m a young widow I’m perpetually horny and that, given the chance, I’d fuck just about anyone that asks,” she said.
“And that’s not true, right?”
“The hell it isn’t,” Bree replied without hesitation. “I’ve been going through batteries so fast these last few months that I feel like I should be investing in Duracell.”
Valerie resisted the urge to laugh. She could sympathize with her friend, because her own night table also contained an assortment of battery powered toys.
“Then why you didn’t just fuck one of those guys you went out with?” Valerie asked. “It’s the twenty-first century: no one expects you to marry a guy just because you share his bed a few times.”
“If I was back in the city, I’d agree with you,” Bree replied, “but as much as I love it, North Cambridge is a really small town. You have no idea how hard it is to keep a secret there. Back when Frankie was alive, I used to hear him and his buddies talk all the time about which women in
town were easy lays. Guys like to talk worse than women, especially about who they’ve slept with.”
With David gone more then he was home, Valerie never had to deal with things like that, or have someone like Sarah Wilson living next door who watched not only her coming and goings, but who might be spending the night. Of course if she had, Valerie was certain she’d have had it out with the nosy old bitty long ago.
“Trust me, it’s not as hard to keep a secret as you might think,” she offered, “but I can appreciate your concern.”
She paused a long breath.
“But we’re not in North Cambridge now” she added. ” So if a guy expresses an interest, why not see where it might go?”
“Val, you know I’m no prude,” Bree said. “I gave it up to Frankie on his eighteenth birthday, and some of the things we did after we were married, well, I never imagined myself doing half of them. But as horny as I’ve been, I don’t think I could ever do it with a stranger.”
As they stepped back into the main chamber, the point proved itself academic. The man who had expressed such an appreciation of her assets was now long gone.
It was almost dinnertime when they got back to the hotel, but neither woman was feeling especially hungry. What they both wanted, however, was a drink. So rather than head back up to the room, they instead found themselves in the hotel bar.
“Oh, that is good,” Bree said as she took her first taste of the cocktail she had ordered.