A rare, quiet moment found Emma. She curled up on the couch, her camera in her hands. She ran through the memory card's collection of photos. Seth's birthday had been a week ago and this was the first moment she had to look at the pictures she had taken during the party. She couldn't believe her baby was getting so big. It seemed like just last week he was crawling across the living room like the devil was on his heels.The pictures were filled with smiling faces. Her parents. Steve's parents. Neighbors, friends, and children everywhere. She smiled at a picture of Justin shoving a piece of cake into his grandmother's mouth. Another of Seth trying to break the Hulk pi?ata he had insisted they buy for his celebration. One of Jen trying to hide the glass of wine she had snuck from the kitchen. And one of Steve, sitting on the back porch with a cellphone stuck to his head.She was going to have that thing surgically removed one of these days.It had been weeks since the night he came ho
The hairdresser pulled her hair back, tugging at it as she rolled it into the elegant shape that would be a French knot. Emma closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the pampering. But her thoughts were stuck on the charity ball all this fuss was about."Do you think there will be press from Dallas?""Of course," Jen answered.Emma opened her eyes and met Jen's in the mirror. Jen's hair was already done. She'd had it straightened and it flowed like a waterfall down her back. A makeup artist was applying foundation to her tan skin, smoothing it on in quick, gentle swipes."There'll probably be representatives from Houston and Austin, too.""Why?" Emma asked, trying not to wince as the hairdresser caught her nail in a tangle close to her scalp."Because this is a big deal. The first big event for the new mayor.""But it's Denton. It's not like it's San Antonio.""No, but Denton breeds the classier politicians. Everyone is always interested in them."Emma wasn't sure about the truth in
"Just two more months," Justin said.Emma smiled over her coffee cup. "Yeah, that's right," she said."Till what?" Steve asked as he walked into the kitchen, adjusting his tie."Till school is out, silly," Seth said."Oh, of course."Steve moved up beside Emma to pore himself a cup of coffee. He touched her lightly with his elbow and smiled when she looked up at him. She smiled back.He was trying, she had to give him that much. He had been home at a decent hour more often in the past month. And he tried to be involved when he was home, instead of setting himself apart with his cellphone stuck to his ear. It was the little things, she knew. The little things that made the biggest difference."What's the plan for this summer?""Soccer," both the boys cried at the same time.Emma shook her head. "Can't you just enjoy sitting in front of the television like every other kid your age?""Of course not," Steve said as he walked over to the table and ruffled Seth's hair. "Our childre
Lisa was scheduled to come clean today, so naturally Emma found herself scrubbing counters and cleaning up wayward toys as soon as Steve and the boys were gone. She thought about vacuuming, but she happened to glance into Steve's study on her way down the hall and decided she should clean off his desk first. Steve had this habit of leaving mail and personal paperwork scattered across his desk at any given time. She had been nagging him about organizing things practically since they got married. Somehow he was capable of keeping his business office neat as a pin, but when he was home it was a different story.Emma sorted through the materials, placing everything into piles. There was a file drawer at the bottom of the desk where, each year, she carefully placed folders marked for each of the important, paperwork generating aspects of their lives. Utilities, credit cards, house insurance, car insurance, health insurance. There was a folder for everything, yet the man could not possibly
Days passed. She tried to pretend nothing was wrong to the children, but she knew they could see beneath the surface, could see the tension that had suddenly appeared between their parents. And that was because Steve had refused to leave. He was smart enough to sleep on the couch in his study, but he was still in the house, still pushing himself into their daily lives.There was a time when she desperately wanted him to be home as often as possible. Now she wished he would just disappear.Every time she looked at him, she imagined him with another woman, kissing another woman, touching another woman. She wanted to ask what she had looked like, if she was a redhead, like her, or a brunette, or a blond. The one face Emma most often saw in the dark moments when she couldn't help but imagine the woman he had chosen was Liz's. His assistant had always been so possessive of Steve. It had occurred to Emma more than once that she would have jumped at the chance to be with him.Was it Liz?
It didn't occur to Emma to ask which spa they were going to until they had been on the road for nearly twenty minutes. As realization dawned, she leaned back in her seat and stared out the window, telling herself she should demand Jen turn the car around. She had signed on to get her nails done, not to have some compensated Lothario grope her.As though she could hear Emma's thoughts, Jen said, "They are nothing but discreet, Emma.""That's not the point.""You need this. You need to be treated like a woman."Emma shook her head. She couldn't argue with that, either. "But fighting a cheater by cheating seems counterproductive.""Don't think of it as cheating. It's not like you're in love with these guys. Though," she said with a chuckle, "you might certainly fall in love with their perfect bodies and perfectly huge cocks."Emma couldn't help but laugh. Leave it to Jen to twist things around and make the immoral seem mundane.Jen reached over and took her hand. "Listen, you don't
Emma followed Jen down the hallway some time later, her clothes, cellphone, and other personal items locked away in a room that seemed too luxurious to call a locker room. It was more like a suite in an ultra-expensive hotel. Her hands shook as she pulled the edges of the robe closer together. A group of three men headed their way, each dressed like a Roman slave. Their feet were encased in ropy sandals that looked ridiculously uncomfortable, their bodies hairless from their foreheads down, their hips wrapped in thick, white lengths of cloth that barely contained what hid beneath. Each one winked as they passed.Emma thought she might fall over from the rush of blood to her face."Unbelievable, right?" Jen whispered in her ear."Definitely," she replied.Jen grabbed her hand and led her down another corridor. They walked into a small room where another of the pretty French maids was waiting."Ladies," she said with a smile, gesturing for them to take a seat on a long couch covere
It was like no massage cubicle she had ever seen. To begin with, it wasn't a cubicle. It was a full room. And there wasn't just a massage table in sight.The room was filled with an array of things, some Emma had never seen. There were shelves along one wall that held every possible sex toy one could imagine. Emma found herself staring at dildos and vibrators in every shape and size, most of them reflecting the blues and purples of the room. There was a rack that had every type of whip imaginable draped over the pegs like winter coats. There were steel rings attached to the opposite wall at multiple heights and a few braced to the ceiling above. Off to one side was a contraption that looked nothing like the swing that hung from a tree in Emma's backyard. And it had what looked like a series of belts, as though a person needed to be seat belted in to use it.There was a settee off to one side, not unlike the one in Mrs. Hartley's office. But this one was missing the back, had straps o