“Get over yourself, Nick. I’ll get my career jumpstarted and then we can go back to the way things were. You’ll see, this will be good for us.”
“The only thing I can see is that this will absolutely be good for you: us, not so much,” he said, rising from his chair and spilling his beer on the table. “I’ve thought about nothing else for the last few weeks. I LOVE YOU, Aubrie. This is killing me. It’s eating me up from the inside. I think I’ve got an ulcer working.
“I don’t want a divorce, but I’m positive I won’t be able to handle you dating… no, fucking other men, for whatever reason. I can tell you I’ll try, but we both know the truth… sooner or later I’m going to divorce you or kill you. You’re not leaving me any good options!”
Aubrie was aghast to see tears flowing down her husband’s cheeks. The only other time she had seen that was when his father had died five years ago.
“I need this, Nicky… not for me, but for Skye. I can’t just walk away from this part of my life. I can’t go back to being a housewife. I’m Skye Avalon, one of the top romance novelists in the country. I need to keep moving forward, and I need this to do so,” she said.
Nick noticed Aubrie’s emphasis. He also noted that she didn’t—or couldn’t—elucidate that emphasis. As he went to the sink to get a sponge to clean up his spilled beer, he was struck by another thought.
“So, do you already have a man picked out to be your… first?” he asked.
“No, of course not,” she replied. “I keep telling you. I’m not looking to have an affair… well, at least like you’re thinking. I’m just looking to have… some adventures so I can use them for future books. One of the things I need to do is go home with somebody from a night out. I need to know how that really feels, both intellectually and in the pit of my stomach. I need that excitement… Skye needs that excitement.”
“Skye needs that excitement,” Nick muttered. “Jesus, Aubrie, listen to yourself, talking in third person!”
“Baby, consider this research that I can use for multiple books. All of my old research has been used up after a quarter of a century. I’m just going out to get research for the next quarter-century,” she said.
Nick saw the tears in her eyes and knew that his wife was sincere about what she was spouting. Sincerity, however, wouldn’t make her actions any less horrible in his eyes. He grabbed a second beer from the fridge and sat back down.
“You said you would be discreet, but you’ve already told Mimi what your plan is, haven’t you? You’ve already told one person. How many are going to know that your plans is to cuckold me for a while… maybe forever?”
“No baby, not forever. I’m telling you the truth. It will be just long enough to gather some research.
“I had to tell Mimi if we’re going out together. I need her help because she’s been divorced for several years and this is her world. I’ll probably go out with her several times,” Aubrie said.
“You do remember that she has been married and divorced twice, just like Wanda, so maybe listening to her just may not be the smartest thing to do,” Nick said.
“God, Nick, I’m not taking marital advice from her. I’ll be taking dating advice,” she said.
Aubrie could see in his eyes that Nick wasn’t convinced. She tried to plaster a confident, serene look on her own face.
“So explain to me what the outline of this game plan looks like, Aub. I know you well enough to know that you’ve got some sort of a plan. You always do an outline for your books. I know you’re not just winging this,” he said.
Aubrie did indeed have some sort of a game plan, but the wheels in her head started to spin faster as she had to quickly decide how much of that plan to tell her husband. She decided to be economical with her words.
“I just need to get some more experiences,” she started. “Maybe feel what several different men are like since I’ve just been with you for so long. I’m not looking for anything long-term; this isn’t about love, it’s about lust. After all, that’s what I mostly write… stories about lust.”
“So you’re going to be mixing it up, not having a long-term lover that you might fall in love with,” he said, working hard to keep his voice neutral.
“Exactly,” his wife answered, knowing full well that she wanted to try at least one man several times so she could get the “affair experience.”
Nick nodded, his eyes blank. He knew his wife was being sparse with her plans, so he was trying to be sparse with his, as well.
“Then when you’re done gathering ‘your research,’ you’ll go back to being my faithful wife and we can grow old together,” he said, trying to sound upbeat.
“So you understand then?” she said, cautiously optimistic that he really did understand.
“Sort of,” he responded.
“So you will let me have this?” she queried brightly.
“No, I won’t let you have it, but I will let you take it. I won’t give you away. You’re a grown woman and can make your own decisions. I will not condone this, but I won’t stand in your way. But I can’t guarantee that I won’t change my mind and file for divorce at some point. Consider that you are taking my acceptance at gunpoint,” Nick explained. “You’ve already told me you are going to do this whether I’m on board or not.”
Aubrie’s face reflected her sadness. She was hoping to get a more positive acceptance from Nick.
“Just remember, Nick, it’s you I love. It’s you I will always return home to,” she stated.
“It will be tough to remember you love me while you’re having sex with other men. And maybe after you start having sex with other men, I won’t care if you return home to me,” he said.
Aubrie’s mouth dropped open at that statement.
“Why are you making this so hard on me, Nick?” she whined.
“Because I don’t want you to have sex with other men. Isn’t that obvious? You’re my wife. Mine. You shouldn’t be having sex with other men,” Nick said.
There wasn’t too much more discussion in the Lance home the next few days.
Aubrie was upstairs in the couple’s bedroom getting ready for her first date in more than 25 years that Friday when Nick trudged in the door after work. This time he headed for his liquor cabinet, pouring three fingers of Glenmorangie single-malt in a leaded crystal glass. He didn’t put the bottle back in the cabinet.
He took his scotch with him when he went upstairs to change out of his work clothes. He encountered his wife humming happily while she got ready for her date. He barely acknowledged her presence, although he did notice the new dress she had hanging on a hook and the sexy new lingerie she was wearing.
“Fuck me,” he muttered to himself as he changed into jeans and a T-shirt.
Aubrie walked into the family room looking like a walking wet dream, Nick thought. Her dark blue dress was open to the middle of her large breasts and finished about five inches above her knees. It flattered her curvy MILF body, and Nick was very aware that she hadn’t dressed like that for him in a very long time.
Her blonde hair was combed out straight over her shoulders, and she had more eye makeup on than he had ever seen her wear before, which played up the dark, radiant blue of her eyes.