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  As he walked, unsteadily towards the exit from the bar, he thought that it was as well that Megan was coming home soon. Perhaps her arrival would help to dampen his growing obsession with his computer lover.

  Sasha and Simone watched his departure, the latter with colour rising in her cheeks as she felt the familiar, delicious throbbing that had already begun to moisten the crotch of her silken panties. Sasha’s face wore a look of awe, as she gushed to her mother, “Oh, shit, Mum! He looks just like Leonardo di Caprio! I didn’t dream you’d have clients like that! Is he married?”

  Regaining her composure, slightly, Simone responded, “I didn’t see any obvious signs of a woman in his apartment.”

  “You’ve been in his apartment?” blurted Sasha, incredulously. Then, with a mischievous grin, she continued, “If you get to go there again, let me know, and I’ll tag along and pretend I’m on work experience.”

  “Have you forgotten all about David?” asked Simone with a laugh.

  Then, beginning to gather her packages, she continued, “I think it’s time we headed home, now. And, by the way Sasha, thanks, I really enjoyed our time together tonight, and I love the clothes you picked out for me.”

  “That’s good, Mum, but I think I might have created competition for myself, and from my own mother, the way that Teale was looking at you!”

  “Don’t be silly, Sash,” replied her mother, her face once more beginning to redden. “Come on, let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Simone and Sasha clattered, noisily, into the kitchen of their home, talking and laughing as they went. They stopped dead in their tracks, however, when they saw Lee, sitting at the kitchen table, apparently deep in spirited discussion with a handsome young man whom neither of them recognized. An instant later, Lee looked up at them, his face registering surprise at the obvious happiness that was flowing between his wife and his daughter, and at the now rare spark of radiance that emanated from Simone to recapture her beauty that he had almost forgotten. At the same time, Simone was surprised by Lee’s unusually animated appearance.

  “Ah, Simone, Sasha, this is Brodie – George and Marj’s son. He’s just back from PNG, where he’s been involved in the making of a documentary for the ABC. He and his crew have agreed to sponsor a young lad from the highlands who suffers from a very severe facial deformity, and they want to bring him to Australia (as the first of many) for corrective surgery and other treatment. Brodie’s come over to pick my brain about suitable people, and how to put a top team together.”

  As Lee was speaking, his youthful companion jumped to his feet to greet Simone and Sasha, and extended his hand to each in turn.

  He was a tall man, who appeared to be in his early twenties. His thick, dark hair clung in tight curls close to his head. His blue eyes shone brightly out of his well-tanned face. He gave Simone and Sasha a broad, friendly smile, as his eyes took in their faces and their clutter of packages.

  After an exchange of the usual pleasantries, Simone leaned across to feel the coffee percolator, sitting on the kitchen table between Lee and Brodie.

  “Ah, good! The coffee’s still hot,” she said, smiling. “I could do with a cup after those hectic hours of shopping. If there were an Olympic medal for shopping, Sasha’d win it!”

  “I’ll have a cup, too, Mum,” piped up Sasha, taking a vacant seat at the table closest to Brodie. “And all I know about shopping I learned from you!” she added, giving her mother a wide smile.

  Simone brought two extra coffee cups to the table, and took a seat on the other side of Brodie. She had just poured a cup for each of herself and Sasha, and top-ups for Brodie and Lee, when Delia burst into the room, dropped her billum bag containing her books onto the floor with a loud bang, and exclaimed, “Hell! This is a rare sight! The whole family sharing coffee in the kitchen!”

  Then, reaching across the table towards Brodie, she continued,“I’m Delia. Who’re you?”

  “I’m Brodie, from next door,” replied Brodie, shaking her hand and giving her a quizzical smile.

  “You must be responsible for this unusual show of family unity,” added Delia. And then, making an exaggerated survey of Simone’s and Sasha’s packages, she continued. “Thank God you didn’t drag me along with you, Mum!” And, after only a brief pause to look her mother up and down, she added, “Wow, Mum! Has Sasha been giving you a makeover? If I were you, Dad, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight in that outfit.”

  “Yes,” cut in Sasha, “She drew a few eyes at Zoot’s Bar& Grill, including those of one of her handsome young clients.”

  In order to quickly change the subject and deflect attention from her, Simone turned to Delia.

  “Did you finish your assignment?” she asked.

  “Yes, Mum,” replied Delia, in an exasperated tone.

  “What are you studying?” asked Brodie.

  “I’m going to be a vet,” replied Delia, giving him a much more friendly look.

  “That’s interesting,” said Brodie. “I wanted to do medicine, at one stage, but George, who is a show-business promoter, insisted on me going into the entertainment industry, with a producer friend of his.”

  Noticing the inquisitive looks evoked by his use of his father’s Christian name, Brodie continued, “Oh, George is not my biological father. My real father died when my sister, Gai, and I, were very young. I called George ‘Dad’ until I reached my mid teens, but I then began to feel a bit uncomfortable about that, so I started calling him ‘George’, to his slight annoyance. Which only encouraged me! Mind you, in retrospect I’m secretly a bit grateful to George for steering me into show business, because that led me into what I’m doing now, making documentaries delving into some of the more unfortunate or unsavoury aspects of the human condition, and man’s inhumanity to man. The next one I’ve just started working on is about the Bangladeshi women who have been victims of acid attacks. My work sometimes brings me face-to-face with political corruption and its consequences, particularly for the poor and the downtrodden. It’s just one aspect of that that I came to discuss with your father tonight – how to secure some of the advantages of modern medicine for disadvantaged, third world children.”

  Delia was immediately fascinated by Brodie and his obvious interest and involvement in political issues that were close to her heart. The two quickly became involved in deep discussion about those issues which, although of some interest to the others present, did not stir quite the same depth of passion in them. Gradually, first Sasha, then Simone, and finally Lee, excused themselves, to prepare for bed. Before departing, Lee first advised Brodie that he would begin making preliminary enquiries about the setting up of an expert facio-maxillary surgery team, with all supporting disciplines, over the coming weeks, and that he would talk to him further about it as his enquiries progressed.

  As she deposited the packages containing her recent purchases in the walk-in wardrobe in her bedroom, Simone made a mental note to review her entire wardrobe, tomorrow, and to eject some of her older, more conservative clothes. Then, after once more admiring in the full-length mirror her appearance in her new outfit, she eventually unzipped the frock at the back and stepped out of it, before carefully hanging it in her section of the wardrobe. Just then, Lee entered the bedroom and paused, for a moment, to silently admire his wife’s curvaceous figure, as she stooped to remove her shoes, clad only in a lacy bra and brief, silken panties. For a brief instant he felt the urge to tell her how lovely she looked, and how he felt the interaction of the whole family, in the kitchen that evening, had rekindled, albeit briefly, the spark of vivacity in her that he had found so attractive, all those years ago. But he found the words dying in his throat, choked off by the undercurrent of resentment that had somehow grown between them over the years.

  Becoming aware of Lee’s presence, as she moved from the walk-in robe towards the ensuite bathroom, Simone initiated a conversation with him.

  “Brodie and Delia hit it off straight away, didn’t they? He seems a ni
ce boy. It’s the first time I’ve seen her so animated interacting with a young man.”

  “That may be because Sasha usually gets all their attention,” replied Lee. “She takes after her mother, it seems, judging by what she said about your impact at Zoot’s!”

  Simone was a little surprised by his last remark. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought she detected a little hint of jealousy in it. But, she dismissed that thought with a mental shrug, as her eyes took in their separate king-sized single beds, arrayed on opposite sides of the large bedroom. She stepped into the ensuite, then, closing the door behind her.

  A short time later, having dressed for bed in a plain, cotton nightdress, she emerged from the ensuite, and made her way out onto the balcony, as Lee took his turn in the bathroom. Not yet feeling ready for bed, or sleep, she stretched out, full-length, on one of the comfortable ‘lazy-boy’ chairs there.

  As her mind drifted back over the events of the evening, she felt her breath catch in her throat as she relived the electric moment when she had so unexpectedly come face-to-face with Teale. Then, as she thought, first, about how hungrily his eyes had lingered on her during that brief meeting, and then about the unbridled eroticism of their last sexual encounter earlier in the day, she felt her hormonal juices begin to flow again, and experienced the familiar, tantalizing throbbing deep in her genitalia. Slowly, she slid her right hand under the skirt of her nightdress, and felt for the intimate ‘G spot’, which she began to stroke, rhythmically, while, at the same time, rapidly, and repeatedly squeezing the nipple of her right breast between the thumb and forefinger of her left hand.

  Her breathing began to quicken, as the level of her pleasure induced by this secret self stimulation slowly increased. But, before she could reach the climax towards which she was striving, her erotic mood was snapped when, from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of bright light that appeared in the window of the house opposite, and then, framed in that light, the figure of a man, looking out of it, in her direction. She realized, at once, that this figure was Brodie’s, and wondered if it were he, not George, who had been watching her earlier from that same vantage point. This untimely interruption caused her erotic arousal to quickly subside, and she lay there, unsated, for some time.

  Her thoughts then reverted to Lee. Brodie’s presence certainly seemed to bring out the best in him, she thought. She hadn’t seen him as enthusiastic and animated about anything, for many years, as he appeared to be about Brodie’s project. That seemed to have led to the whole family sitting down at the kitchen table to have a pleasant, civil discussion, instead of the usual conflicted interaction, with either Lee or herself berating Sasha about her drinking, or Delia about her constantly running off to some undisclosed destination. Maybe if they all stayed home and communicated with each other more often, there would be less conflict and more cohesion within the family.

  With a sigh, she rose slowly, and retreated into the bedroom, where she found Lee already in his bed, with his face turned towards the wall. She switched off the light, slipped quietly into her bed, and, like Lee, turned her face to the wall.

  Lee heard Simone’s re-entry to the bedroom, but remained facing the wall, in silence, as she extinguished the light and slipped noiselessly into her bed. He felt saddened by the gulf, both physical and emotional, that existed between him and his wife of 22 years. She was an extremely vivacious 19 year-old, when he met her, was immediately and strongly attracted to her, and quickly impregnated her. Marriage and family had not been in his plans, at that time, but he married her because he felt ‘it was the right thing to do’. Although he tried not to, he now admitted, to himself, that he had felt some resentment towards her, which probably led to his not showing her as much compassion as she deserved when she miscarried, and not giving her the emotional support she needed when she developed post-natal depression following Sasha’s birth. Then, after his decision to re-locate to Australia, he had been so wrapped-up in the development of his orthodontic skills and practice that he had failed to appreciate just how hard it had been for her, with two young children, to settle into a new environment. Nor, he realized, had he given her sufficient recognition for the efforts and adjustments she did make, including how she developed into a consummate hostess for his business and professional colleagues when required, and how she later successfully pursued the adult education programme that enabled her to obtain the part time work she now so clearly enjoyed. He realized, too, that he had never expressed any real interest in her work. But, then again, he felt she had never displayed much interest in his professional life, beyond playing hostess for his functions, as needed.

  That thought caused his mind to turn to Nadine. With a brief pang of guilt, he re-lived, in his mind, the steamy sex they had shared that afternoon.

  His relationship with her had developed, it seemed, despite himself. He had always tried to maintain an arms-length relationship with his employees, but as his sex life with Simone had withered, and then died, he had found himself unable to resist the natural attraction he felt towards Nadine, as the nature of their work brought them into very close personal contact on a daily basis.

  In hindsight, he now almost wished he had accepted the escape hatch she had offered him today when she said, “I don’t think I want to do this any more.” But, when she said that he had already started to become sexually aroused by her body language, including the way she had partially unzipped her uniform to display her delectable cleavage, a move which had become part of the now familiar routine leading up to their sexual gymnastics. Once the heat of their passion had been spent, however, he had again felt that she was edging him into a corner when she proposed, quite insistently, that they spend a weekend away together, soon. He had managed to deflect that demand by making a vague promise to arrange something after Sasha’s 21st birthday party. But, he did not really want to commit himself to her to that extent. In fact, he was not yet sure that he was ready to fully commit to any other woman than Simone, and even if he were, he was sure that Nadine was not the one. He acknowledged that she had filled a void in his life, but, after Brodie’s visit tonight, he now felt that his proposal, which he found most exciting, offered a more satisfying and worthwhile distraction from the inadequacies of his family life.

  With that thought, his mind turned to the practicalities of Brodie’s proposal, and he was in the process of mentally ticking off a list of suitable specialists to contact about it when he drifted off to sleep.

  When he arrived home that evening, Teale felt that his night out had not achieved the purpose he had intended when he made the decision to go. Rather than clear his head of its conflicted and troubling thoughts about his betrayal of Megan with his secret computer lover, he felt even more confused as a result of his unexpected contact with her in the totally different environment of Zoot’s. When he first saw her there, looking so alive, relaxed and beautifully happy, in casual dress and setting, with her daughter, he could hardly believe that she was the same person who was, paradoxically, both ice-cool and wildly passionate in her private meetings with him. But, when their eyes locked together during that brief moment of recognition, he had again sensed the heat of her suppressed passion, and had felt himself once more drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

  So consumed was he by those feelings that he had hardly noticed the daughter to whom she had so perfunctorily introduced him. However, as he thought about it now, he felt some surprise that she was the mother of such an obviously adult offspring. His curiosity about her was heightened by this encounter, and he realized that he was becoming obsessed with the desire to discover every detail of her life and identity. What was her name? Where did she live? How many children did she have? Was she married, divorced or widowed?

  As these and many other questions were coursing through his brain, his eyes suddenly fell upon the large brief that he had been working upon when he received Megan’s telephone call earlier that evening. With a shake of his head, and a deep sigh, he
reminded himself that he would need all of his wits about him to handle that matter effectively tomorrow, and headed for his bedroom determined to try to put his disturbing thoughts aside in order to achieve a night of restful sleep.

  CHAPTER 4

  It was late in the afternoon. Simone was in the study, working on her computer, when she heard Sasha’s car in the driveway, followed shortly afterwards by her noisy entry into the house. From the sounds of voices, it was obvious that she was not alone.

  “Is that you, Sasha?” she called.

  “Yes, Mum,” came her daughter’s shouted response. “David’s with me.”

  Logging off from her computer, Simone left the study and made her way to the kitchen, from where she could hear the animated voices of Sasha and David emanating.

  “Hello, David,” she greeted him, as she entered the kitchen. “I didn’t expect to see you today. Have you finished your job at Hillsview?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Boothby. We got stuck into it and finished a couple of days ahead of schedule,” replied the tanned young man in neat tradesmen’s clothes, turning his attention away from Sasha.

  “That’s good. And, by the way, David, I’ve told you before. Please call me ‘Simone’.”

  “OK,” he said, with a slight blush, barely visible through the deep tan of his open, friendly face. “How’re the preparations for Sasha’s party coming along?” he added, quickly changing the subject. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

  “No, thanks, David. Everything’s under control, with the possible exception of Sasha. That’ll be your job, to keep her under control!”

  “I’ll try,” replied David, with a laugh.