The Perils of Paula Pt. 06

POST MARRIAGE BLUES

In this final chapter Paula struggles to define herself as she dips her toes in the dating pool, her affairs become increasingly erratic until finally an old girlfriend steps in with her own solution.

*****

You would think that after all the affairs I'd had over the years that breaking up with my husband would be like a breath of fresh air but in true style I went the opposite way. I mean I had the kids to consider and then there was a real need to stop the endless affairs and find myself. The affairs had started as a way of getting back at Robert but somewhere along the way I became addicted to the thrill of deceit. Admittedly in the end it was an open secret though, he knew damn well that I was going behind his back although he was somewhat surprised and relieved to discover that I was doing it with women. In his eyes that absolved him of blame because I was probably that way inclined in the first place.

For the first three months I was trying to sell the house because we'd agreed to sell it and divide the proceeds equally and for that I have to admit I admire Robert. Despite his faults he didn't want to come to blows over property and so he moved in with his current girlfriend, Amy and I stayed in Essendon until the place was sold.

After it was sold I moved back into the Eastern suburbs nearer to my parents and started working full time, but that was only because mum was now my chief babysitter. However, where hair and makeup had been my preferred vocation I was finding it incredibly boring and so I started casting my net further afield and wound up in a solicitor's office doing filing and front desk work.

My love life had been put on the back burner for quite a while and I was carefully checking out the best of both worlds without making it too obvious. I still found men attractive but having spent so many years chasing women I inevitably drifted towards gay women.

My first fling was some nine months after we'd separated, her name was Judy and she came into the office to arrange a divorce settlement. She was a good ten years younger than me and we gravitated towards each other because we'd both been married. Judy had just signed on as a sex worker at a local brothel and yes, that was the second thing we talked about because I really wanted to know more about brothels. I'd always imagined prostitutes to be big bosomed, loose women but Judy was incredibly moral and disciplined. For her it was just a job and the hours were quite reasonable with only two late shifts a month.

In contrast I discovered that in the state of Victoria, sex workers are required by law to get tested every month, condoms were mandatory and brothels had their own security staff to enforce this rule if a client declined to 'wear the raincoat.' Legalising prostitution has done more to clean up the industry than draconian laws, drawing it out into the open where it could be regulated. Judy was also funding her part time university course through prostitution and fully intended to become a counsellor when she graduated.

It was somewhat bizarre that my first sexual encounter after I broke up with Robert was with a prostitute, he'd used them for years whenever he was working interstate, although in my defence I wasn't a client and it was her first time with a woman. She candidly admitted that while men were attracted to her, once they discovered she was a sex worker you could divide them into two very distinct camps.

"There's the kind of guy who thinks I'm a prostitute twenty four seven and wants to bring another woman around for a threesome and then there's the guy who can't stand the thought of another man touching me. Why can't I find a guy who just accepts that this is what I do for a few hours a day? It's just a job that involves extra attention to customer service, if he wants you to dress up like a schoolgirl then you change into a schoolgirl uniform. It takes skill and practice to be a prostitute because you've got to pay attention to the little tells."

Judy and I only had a one night stand but remained friends nonetheless, I guess she felt a little weird about it and I was distracted by rumblings on another front. Tina, one of my old school friends who I've mentioned in a previous story had hit a brick wall with her partner, Gary. They'd been living together for quite a few years but a few months before my marriage ended they got married, he for the first time and Tina for the second.

I've got a theory about getting married once you've been living together for a while, if you're not falling out over who squeezes the toothpaste in the middle and you can still look at the other person and think they're the hottest thing on two legs then don't get married. Honestly, I know it's only one day, a very special day I might add but I've seen so many couples with good relationships who go down that track and wind up divorced a few years later. I'm not saying it always happens by the way, it's just something I've observed over the years and I can't even say why because the reasons for divorce are so varied. Suffice it to say that Tina had come to the conclusion that she and Gary would be better off divorced.

"It's like that wedding ring has changed him, I call it the curse of the ring," she complained one day as we pushed our trolleys down a supermarket aisle.

"Before we took the plunge he was so easy going, we actually thought we were married and even told people we were married but once we had this ceremony it was like he suddenly decided that he had to be this perfect husband," she picked up a tray of minced lamb.

"He was a supervisor at this factory for years, he quite liked his job but after we got married he told me he was going to move up in the world and at first I encouraged him. He got an office job, but the hours are longer, he comes home tired, too tired for me and the kids. He falls asleep in front of the telly and I wind up falling asleep in bed only to wake up when he comes to bed."

"Have you tried talking to him about it."

"That's the part that pisses me off the most," she muttered, "we used to talk all the time, I thought he was this nice, sensitive guy but since he got this new job it's like now he's on another plane of existence. Okay, he earns more money than me but that doesn't give him the right to treat me like a paid housekeeper and last week he raised the possibility of having another child. For fuck's sake we've got kids, but he wants me to produce another just because we're married? That was never an issue before I put this bloody ring on my finger."

"So, have an affair or at least threaten to have an affair, it usually brings men out of their caves," I nudged her playfully.

"Now there's a thought," she murmured, "maybe I'll root my best friend," she bumped her hip against mine.

"Stop it, now you're turning me on," I picked up a zucchini.

"Likewise," she wrapped her hand around it and moved it up and down the vegetable.

I burst out laughing, not just at her actions but the look on another woman's face a few feet away, she winced and frowned and that just made it all the more amusing. However that chance remark did lead to a hot and steamy session between the covers at my place a few weeks later.

The arrangement Robert and I had worked out was remarkably generous, we had joint custody of the children. He took them for every second weekend and one week a month, he'd even moved into the eastern suburbs to make it easier to run them to school. I never actually specified that kind of arrangement but I sure as hell wasn't arguing.

One weekend he rang me on Sunday morning to ask if they could stay overnight to catch a night football match and I said okay and just as I hung up Tina called to ask if she could come over.

"I need to get out of here for a few hours."

"Sure, no worries," I stared out the window, "you okay?"

"No, I need space."

"So why don't we head up the Dandenongs? We can grab a light lunch and you can talk and I'll listen."

"I'm not sure about the hills," she sighed, "I have to be back here for five."

"It's eleven in the morning, we'll be back here before you know it. Go on, get changed, put on your face and come up the hills with your lesbian girlfriend. What can go wrong?"

She chuckled at that and promised to do her best, but when she finally came around I had to take a step back to rethink things. She'd done herself up quite nicely and sported a nice white blouse that was open to her cleavage, tucked into tight blue jeans and accessorised with a black belt and boots, and a black waistcoat.

"You look ten years younger," I finally managed.

"Hot enough to fuck?"

"Hell yeah," I looked down at my tee shirt and jeans, "I might have to change myself, can't have you catching all the looks."

I chose a red satin, tie blouse and black jeans, which caused Tina to remark.

"You look hotter than me," she tugged at one of the ties, "love the tie."

"All the better to tie you to the bedhead and lick your clit," I slapped her buttocks.

She laughed at that and we set off not long after.

The Dandenongs are pretty awesome all year round, even in the winter when the mountain is wreathed in fog and the roads are as slippery as shit. In the summer a lot of people head up the hills rather than the beach because it's a couple of degrees cooler and you've got plenty of shade. But my favourite time of year is spring because the nurseries are a blaze of colour. I'd already decided to spruce up my back yard with some new shrubs and so we spent the first couple of hours just driving from nursery to nursery until I had half a dozen potted shrubs. We then went a café in Olinda for a late lunch and it was there that I noticed a change coming over Tina.

It started when I pointed out a lesbian couple sitting by the window. They were both attractive and well dressed, and to a casual observer they might come across as just two women having lunch until one of them reached over and kissed her partner. Tina didn't believe me when I told her but when she saw them kiss again it was like she couldn't keep her eyes off them. She'd glance over now and then as if she was looking out the window and when they finally left she let out a sigh.

"Now the tall one I do fancy."

"Tina," I peered over the rim of my cup, "are you saying you'd let the tall blonde lick your," I paused and lowered my voice," clit?" I nudged her leg with my foot and she winced.

"No, I," she looked down at the table as I drew my foot further up her leg, "okay, okay, maybe I would go all the way."

I let my foot hit the floor and chuckled.

"See, that wasn't so bad."

We left not long afterwards and headed back to my house in Boronia but Tina was a little muted on the way back and after I'd arranged the potted shrubs on the back verandah I thought she was going to head back home but instead she just sat down and stared out over the back yard.

"I don't feel like going home."

"Well you don't have to go home for another hour and a half," I checked my watch, "or you could tell Gary to cook dinner himself and stay here a bit longer."

"Can't, I've got to cook for the kids too."

"And Gary can't cook?" I raised my eyebrows, "what happened to your gourmet chef boyfriend? If he can cook for himself he can cook for your kids, but if you've got to go, you've got to go."

"You're right," she took out her phone, "it's time I put my foot down."

I disappeared to the toilet while she made her phone call and when I came back she had a strange look on her face.

"He said okay," she swallowed, "I just flat out lied and he believed me."

"What did you tell him?"

"That I'd had a couple of drinks and I was going to stay at your joint for a couple of hours, he says g'day," she paused, "this is the first lie I've ever told him."

"I can't believe that," I squatted by one of the new plants to examine it more closely.

"Most couples lie to each other, even if it's just little white lies."

"But you may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, so now that you've just told your husband that you're too pissed to drive I suppose we'd better get a drink into you."

"I thought you'd never ask."

I never intended to get Tina pissed that afternoon but a combination of emotional overload, warm weather and good wine saw her over the limit a couple of hours later. I wasn't much better but I was probably sober enough to drive.

"But you're definitely not driving," I slapped her leg playfully, "go lie down in my bed and I'll have a strong coffee waiting for you when you wake up."

But about half an hour later I started feeling sleepy and so I too went to bed and whilst she stirred slightly as I settled down beside her she didn't wake up and I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up a while later as the light was fading, I'd had this dream that I was talking to Gary and explaining why she couldn't come back right now and then I realised that it was Tina talking to Gary and my eyes opened as she ended the call.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"And I didn't mean to fall asleep beside you," I replied.

"You're forgiven," she rolled onto her side, "so, I've told my second lie," she fiddled with my tie, "I told him I was helping you do the housework but instead I'm in bed with you," she grinned.

"Don't worry he doesn't know you kick for the other team."

"Even now?" I looked over at her, "it's not exactly private."

"I just never told him," she replied, "he's always been conservative like that, I mean he's not what I'd call a homophobe. He thinks that gays have a right to love whoever they want, just as long as he doesn't know them personally."

"I wouldn't have thought that about him," I looked down as her hand moved up my front towards the knot.

"Trust me, his best mate came out a couple of years ago and when they had their civil ceremony we were invited but Gary changed his mind at the last minute and said he had to work late," she picked at the knot.

"So, here was me, dressed to kill with nowhere to go and Gary was just pretending that this was just another day."

"What did his mate say?"

"I never told him," she pulled at the knot, "I went all by myself and covered his slack arse. It was a really beautiful ceremony, they wrote their own vows but I got my revenge because I got a copy of their vows and modified them slightly to suit when we had our marriage."

"Nice one," I replied, "so did his mate and his partner turn up?"

"No," she loosened the knot slightly, "by that stage Gary had finally gone full blown homophobe and ended the friendship."

"You right there?" I looked down as she pulled the knot down further.

"Sorry," she released the knot.

"Don't be sorry," I replied, "I was just wondering where this was leading."

Tina stared at me for a few moments and then leaning over, pushed her mouth against mine and held it there without moving her lips. It was the kind of kiss a woman gives when she wants to show a guy she's interested but can't take it further right now. I waited for a few seconds and then stroked her cheek with the back of my hand.

"We really shouldn't," I murmured, "it's wrong."

Tina didn't reply as she put her hand on top of mine and turned it so that my palm was now resting against her cheek and then she leaned over until she was inches from my lips. When she did kiss me it was one of those playful teasing kisses. I responded in kind and felt her knee sliding over my leg until it was resting between my legs. This caused me to part my legs and she instinctively brought her knee up further as she kissed me again. This kiss was far more passionate and I knew then that if I didn't stop this we'd be naked pretty soon.

So why didn't I? Tina was my best friend and I'd always had a thing about fucking best friends, it wasn't that it couldn't happen it was just that it had consequences. I mean I'd lusted after Rachel for years but never made a move and here's where I have to admit a certain pragmatism. Rachel was not just my best friend, she was also my chief babysitter for years, and if we'd done the deed and broken up then there was real fallout. Tina on the other hand was my best friend but I had family, my ex husband and a few other friends to deal with that aspect of my life. I did feel some guilt over Gary but to be honest I barely knew him, she was always coming to my joint and I only rarely went to her place.

Thus when her knee reached my crotch I grabbed her thigh and held it there as I pushed harder against her mouth, I was hungry for sex and I sensed she was just as hungry because she brought her hand over to my left breast and proceeded to massage it slowly and methodically. I gave as good as I got, bringing my hand down to one of her breasts and I felt the shiver go through her as I manipulated her breast.

We parted for a few seconds and I sensed the hesitation as she stopped squeezing my breast and then I turned and pushed at the same time. Tina went with me and I finished on top of her with my knee between her legs. She exhaled slowly as I grabbed her upper arms and held them in place so as I could explore her lips. One kiss became another and then one more, followed by more kisses. I started moving back and forth over her breasts, bringing my own breasts in direct contact with an overt fucking motion.

I now know that Tina did want me to stop but she'd lost the will to fight back and by the time I let go of her arms and just straddled her it was all over bar the shouting. By then her hands were resting firmly on my breasts as I moved back and forth over her and by degrees one of her hands drifted further down until it was resting against my pussy.

Tina rubbed me through the material and I pushed against her until finally I had to stop and sit up to take a break. Judging by the look in her eyes Tina was long past the point of no return and I tugged playfully at the knot in my tie. She bit her lip and watched me undo it and when it was dangling loosely around my neck she brought her hands up my front and squeezed my breasts.

I leaned over and began a slow and delicate exploration of her body through her clothes, starting at her pussy and working my way up over her belly and breasts to her throat and then back down for another pass. This went on for some time and Tina's breathing became slow and steady until she finally brought her hand down to my crotch and unzipped me. I let her undo the two poppers and the fly sprang apart to reveal my blouse underneath. Not to be outdone, I unbuckled her belt and undid her jeans while she rubbed my vulva, at first she was almost reluctant but as my hand slid down over her moist lips she became more animated.

Her rubbing became more intense and when I slid my finger into her opening she closed her eyes for a few moments and purred. I went in deeper and bent my finger inside her to rub the front of her passage. Tina whimpered and her eyes snapped open as I found that spot and rubbed it. She swallowed hard and got her finger inside me, I parted for her and grinned as I pulled her trousers and panties partway down her buttocks.

"Try two fingers," I murmured, "and if you get adventurous I've got a nice selection of dildos."

"I want the red one," she moaned.

"Red it is then," I leaned over and opening the bottom drawer, took out my red dildo and some oil, "but first we have to lose your jeans and knickers."

Tina pulled her jeans and panties down over her knees while I lubed the dildo and then spread her legs and stared into my eyes.

"Don't you ever tell Gary about this."

"Just don't scream out his name when you're coming," I teased her opening with the tip, "you ever heard of rodeo style?"

"Nope," she shook her head.

"It's when a man takes a woman doggy style and just before he comes he yells out some other woman's name and then hangs on for dear life."