Sophie, Bristol - Four Years Ago.
Sophie was feeling content. It was a nice day outside and she'd just dropped both the kids at nursery. She liked spending time with the children but she loved it when they went into nursery for three days a week. Although she didn't work, she explained to Richard that nursery was very important for their social skills. She took them to toddler groups and had play dates but she was always there. Having her around all the time didn't give them enough space to grow, plus it was great practice for school. That's what she read somewhere on the internet and it seemed to her like solid reasons for them to both go to nursery from an early age. She didn't really care about those reasons; she just wanted some time to herself. It was hard work being perfect all the time. She wanted to physically be on her own. On her own, so she didn't have to wear her smile and say the right things and care about people's feelings all the time. She spent the first half of her life on her own and sometimes now enjoyed the solitude.
This was the first time in her life that she actually felt a close approximation to happiness. She managed to escape her past. No one in Bristol knew her so it was a good chance to start afresh. Too much had happened in London and she had to get away. So she managed to persuade Richard to buy a house in Bristol, his parents were here and the prices were cheaper. Those were practical reasons and Richard was always a very practical man.
Sophie had even managed to behave herself in the four years that they had been living here. She hadn't messed anything up yet. Never imagining herself as a stay-at-home mummy before, she managed to perform the role admirably. She arranged play dates, attended toddler groups and sat on the floor clapping to tedious nursery songs like 'wind the bobbin up,' and didn't actually hate it that much. Yes, it wasn't the most exciting of lives, but she was getting older and the thought of her life with her mum and what could have been kept her in check. Boring suburbia was much better than the life she could have ended up with. She had been lucky.
Straight after nursery, she went to the gym. She had a Pilate's class, went for a swim and had a massage. Afterwards, she stripped down naked in the changing room and admired her body. Childbirth had left no marks on it. Exercise and looking after herself meant she still had the body of a twenty-year-old. She could see some women eyeing her up discreetly from the corner of her eye. She didn't rush into getting dressed; she'd let them look as she enjoyed making them feel envious. Poor things, she saw some of them at the gym all the time and they still looked frumpy. She knew their husbands would much rather fuck her tight arse over theirs any day.
Feeling pleased with herself she got dressed and had a light lunch in the gym café. She went home and imagined the women at the gym going down on her and then their husbands fucking her. She found she had to masturbate a lot, otherwise, she might do something silly. Especially as Richard was away on business trips all the time and she felt the need for sex every day.
After a bit of trashy TV in the afternoon, she received a text from Julia telling her that the new neighbours were moving in today. Julia arranged to meet Sophie and welcome them to the street. Poor Julia, this was the social highlight of her year. She couldn't think of anything worse, but it was always useful to be charming to the neighbours. Potentially, they could be babysitters or play a role in her sexual fantasies. Not that any of her current neighbours did as they were all rather old and unattractive. However, some were useful babysitters and she found she could always persuade the men on her road to do her various favours. Favours such as going to the dump or recycling centre or dull tasks around the house that she felt were beneath her.
The two women met outside number thirty-five, the new neighbour's house. Julia, of course, had baked a cake; Sophie had just grabbed a bottle of wine. Sophie berated herself, she should have made more of an effort like baking a cake too. This annoyed Sophie sometimes as Julia was naturally so thoughtful and proper, she stayed close to her as she was a very useful person to learn from. People thought Julia was lovely, Sophie just thought she was boring, but she always knew the right thing to do and say. She never gossiped or disparaged anyone. Sophie did with everyone she met but only in her head. Luckily, no one could read minds. So Sophie always thought to herself in all aspects of life, what would Julia do? This train of thought had kept her on the straight and narrow for now and had helped people to warm to her and for Richard to love her more.
Julia wouldn't shag the gym instructor. Julia wouldn't stay out late getting drunk at night. Julia wouldn't let her children eat takeaways and junk food and shout at them sometimes. Julia wouldn't hate everyone and think bad thoughts all the time. These were the sorts of thing Sophie would do. However, she was settled here and didn't want to have to move again and she couldn't risk Richard finding anything out. She'd got away with her indiscretions so far but her luck could run out at any time. She'd grown quite fond of Richard since they'd moved to Bristol. He was her security for the rest of her life, so she wouldn't ever end up desperate and poor again.
They saw the removal men going in and out of number thirty-five, so it wasn't immediately obvious who the new owners were. She hoped it wasn't the sweaty looking man with his belly hanging over his trousers. That gave her a flashback of a childhood image that sent shivers down her spine. Then a pretty girl came out of the house, Julia waved over to the girl. The girl introduced herself as Lauren and she told the women that she and her new husband had just moved in. She was very excitable, it was rather adorable if you thought like Julia. She kept saying how she couldn't believe she was moving to this street. This had been her dream street for years and now they were finally here.
“Tom, Tom, come out. Meet our new neighbours,” she called.
Tom came out to greet them. He immediately put his arms around his wife's waist and nuzzled her neck. Sophie found this PDA a bit revolting, Julia “awwed” at them.
So Sophie cooed: “Look at the lovely young newly-weds, congratulations are in order I believe.” Pass me a sick bucket is what she actually thought.
They thanked her, but Tom barely took his eyes off his new wife. He briefly looked at Sophie but didn't take a second look; this made her feel rather angry. Everyone took a second look at Sophie, everyone! What was his problem? She thought. Now she had a point to prove.
Poor Lauren, thought Sophie as they walked away, she knew then, that she would have to fuck Tom.
Sophie was seething when she went back to the house. How dare he not stare at her? Men always checked her out; they could never take their eyes off her. She looked closely in the mirror, no obvious lines, her makeup was subtle but looked good and no grey hairs. Lauren was a pretty little thing but she was nothing in comparison to Sophie. Had she turned old without realising? Were men going to stop admiring her as she got older? Would she become jealous of Lucia just as her mum had become jealous of her? Had she made herself too nice and normal?
Contemplating these thoughts, she decided that yes, she would have to have sex with Tom just the once. She needed to prove to herself that she was still irresistible. If it was a one-off, then it would be unlikely that anyone would find out. Tom obviously wouldn't tell anyone once she'd finished with him as he also had too much to lose. She would let them settle in and maybe in a couple of weeks invite them over for dinner. This would give Tom the opportunity to admire her properly, be impressed with her cooking and of course, she would wear something subtle and sexy which would make her irresistible.
She chose a night for the dinner when Richard was at home, otherwise, it might look a bit strange with just the three of them. She managed to get the kids off to bed early so she could concentrate on her appearance. It was just dinner at the house so maybe one of her designer dresses might be overkill. Tom and Lauren looked like quite casual people. It annoyed Sophie that people never made much effort anymore. She would love to wear her beautiful dresses with killer heels all the time. Unfortunately, everyone in Bristol seemed to just wear jeans and even trainers out on a Saturday night much to her aghast but she had to fit in.
She opted for her best skinny jeans which highlighted how pert and toned her bottom was, complemented by a simple, cream silk top. She would dress to kill another time when she was left alone with Tom. The doorbell rang at seven forty-five, so she rushed down as she was expecting the food delivery order. They were slightly late so she made sure she did not tip. The oven was already switched on so she placed the meat and vegetables on a tray and put them in. She quickly stuck the sauces in the saucepan on a low heat, transferred the dessert onto one of her own dishes and threw all the containers into the recycling. Being a domestic goddess was certainly quite stressful and expensive. Richard never found out as he was always late for dinner and never checked her credit card bills. She had a backup plan if he ever caught her: that she'd just had a complete cooking disaster and had to order the food in. So far she'd never been caught out. She could cook simple recipes that Richard enjoyed. However, there was no way she ever wanted to be chained to the kitchen all day cooking a three-course meal, not to mention having to shop for all the ingredients. This is why mums were so frumpy these days. They were too busy doing the mundane stuff rather than taking care of themselves.
Richard walked into the house just after she had hidden the evidence. She kissed him and gently encouraged him upstairs for a shower. Then Tom and Lauren called over on time at eight. As she thought, Lauren hadn't made much of an effort. She obviously hadn't changed for the evening; wearing just jeans and a T-shirt with her hair pulled into a ponytail. She looked down at her feet and saw her in flip-flops. Flip-flops to a dinner party. Do these people have no standards?
At least Tom had made a bit of an effort. He had a nice shirt on, even though it was with jeans and he wore shoes which were a vast improvement over Lauren's choice of casual footwear. Tom joked he had his best shirt on for Sophie's benefit before handing over a bottle of wine. Sophie graciously took the wine and thanked them, remarking on how lovely it was. She checked out the label as she led them through the house. Just as she thought, it was a cheap bottle of wine on offer from the local supermarket.
She was so annoyed at all the effort she had gone to. She was providing them with a three-course meal in her beautiful home which she had made the cleaner stay for an extra hour that day. Unfortunately, she had just hired another useless cleaner. None of them took pride in their work and she was annoyed at having to pay people to do such a mediocre job. She would have done a much better job herself, but she didn't have the time. As a wife to a wealthy, successful man, she really didn't think she should have to either. So instead she had to direct them closely to make sure they did exactly as she wanted. Some wouldn't even bother moving the furniture so if she checked later, there would still be dust behind it. The last cleaner quit as Sophie had noticed a cobweb in one of the alcoves in her ceiling. She kept a note of how long it had been there before the cleaner noticed it. The cleaner never did so Sophie marched her into the room about a month later and demanded she looked towards the ceiling and clean the fucking picture rails. The girl was in tears, but Sophie told her to get a grip and if she did her job properly in the first place, she wouldn't have to shout at her. Annoyingly, she never came back after that and Sophie was getting bored in having to retrain the various cleaners that came and went. She wondered how long the new cleaner would last as she placed Tom and Lauren's cheap wine on the table.
She had gone to the wine shop and carefully selected various bottles of wine to accompany each course. It was wasted on these philistines, she may as well have just ordered some pizza. Lauren predictably wowed at everything in the house. She loved the furniture, the paintings on the wall and the kitchen was so modern. The food smelled delicious and Sophie, as always, looked amazing. Lauren called Sophie supermum. She enjoyed the praise but pretended it was nothing and that it was just all due to careful organisation. She was originally planning on serving them an aperitif before dinner but decided they weren't worth the effort. Besides, she didn't want their nasty wine, so she opened it up and gave Tom and Lauren two large glassfuls. She'd let them drink the cheap stuff and her and Richard would share the carefully selected wine.
Richard came down the stairs and greeted the new neighbours. Thankfully he had made an effort; he had on a nice pair of trousers with a crisp, ironed shirt. He was tall and handsome and complemented her well. The two of them always looked good together. Sophie had worked hard on him to make sure he always kept up appearances. She deserved someone sophisticated, that would look good with her and make other people envious of such a great looking couple who were completely in love. She felt a nice warm feeling for him when he walked into the dining room, especially since she hadn't seen him for a few days.
Sophie served the starters immediately as she wanted to get this ghastly evening over with. She didn't want to sit here all night with the scruffy, vapid Lauren. As they tucked into the scallops with lime mayonnaise and cucumber salad, Sophie checked out Tom. She hadn't really taken much notice of him so far, but she had better study him properly if she was going to seduce him. He was good-looking, thank goodness and he had a very casual confidence with her. Men either flirted with her, stared at her or were completely intimidated by her. Tom just treated Sophie like he would treat Julia or one of the other neighbours. Although she was a few years older than them, there was no way she looked older than Lauren. He couldn't possibly just think of her as a middle-aged mum, could he?
She made sure most of her conversation was directed at Tom to give him the opportunity to gaze into her beautiful, blue eyes. She found out that he was a freelance web developer who worked mostly from home. That was good to know, as she was at home too and their other halves were out during the day. She made sure to ask Lauren a few questions as not to be too obvious but she wasn't really interested in anything about Lauren. However, the girl wouldn't stop talking. Sophie had only asked her what she did for a living and this led to a huge monologue of how much she loved children. Lauren was a nursery nurse and she was desperate to start a family. She couldn't wait to be a mummy. Sophie lied and told her it was the most rewarding job in the world and this led to a horrible, sickly gaze between Lauren and Tom. They had been trying for a baby as soon as they got married and couldn't wait to have their own tiny bundle of joy.
Sophie was so bored of talking about kids, although she was happy to tell everyone how wonderful her kids were. Her's were the brightest at nursery. They walked and talked before other kids of their age and they were easily the best looking ones. She hated having to 'coo' to other mums about how beautiful their ugly little babies were. However, all this talk about her children would have appeared to be boasting so she had to rein it in and save it for Richard. Richard was quite happy to hear of his children's brilliance.
Seducing Tom would be too easy, Sophie concluded. He was home alone during the day and then his boring wife would come home after work and undoubtedly just talk about kids. They must have been having boring, procreative sex. Tom would appreciate a bit of variety and Sophie appreciated a man playing hard to get for a change.
However, during the evening she compared Richard and Tom. Although, Tom was quite a good-looking guy he was not a patch on Richard. Richard was taller and broader with nice blonde hair and deep green eyes. He wore the clothes, that she always carefully selected for him, very well. He always made an effort and looked and smelt good. He was well read and could talk about almost any topic from politics, sport, culture and fatherhood without sounding boring or arrogant. Sophie had known little of the world when she moved to London and always feigned pretence that she did. Over the years, Richard had always engaged her and encouraged her to take an interest in various aspects of life. She had become a better-rounded, more educated person due to Richard.
Then she looked at Tom. He was just cute rather than classically handsome like Richard and he was younger and less interesting. There was nothing he could give her. Was it worth risking her marriage for? Sophie realised she had been slightly crazy and decided then and there to give up on her quest of proving she was irresistible to any man. She knew she was and after Tom had come out of the honeymoon phase he would have been putty in her hands. No, it was definitely not worth it; she had nothing to prove. She could relax for the rest of the evening and maybe start to enjoy it especially since she had not put a foot wrong for a few years.
Richard seemed to enjoy the evening and liked their new friends.
“We must have them over again,” he told her after they had left.
Sophie agreed and said it was a great success. Although it hadn't been that bad in the end, she wasn't sure if she wanted to entertain them that regularly. They went upstairs and made love. They always made love whenever Richard was home. She always wanted sex and Richard was happy to oblige. It's what made their marriage stronger. However, the types of sex they wanted were probably quite different. Richard was straight-laced and just liked regular bog-standard marital sex. His repertoire consisted of about three sexual positions: missionary; her on top or doggy style. She would have liked to have been a little more adventurous and thought of some of the great sex she'd had in London years ago. In the past, she had broached the subject of maybe a threesome or a bit of S&M. She had to approach the subject sensitively as not to scare Richard off. She feigned insecurity by worrying that he might lose interest in her as he'd had quite a lot of lovers in the past and she was relatively innocent. So in comparison to all his past lovers, she might appear to be a bit boring in bed. Unfortunately, Richard never took the bait and insisted she was actually one of the best lovers he'd ever had. He had absolutely no interest in sharing her with anyone else and the thought of S&M had never appealed to him. She had resigned herself to their pedestrian lovemaking for the time being. Maybe they could spice up their sex-life when they were older?
Sophie snuggled up in Richard's safe strong arms and for once she actually slept well that night. Her moment of madness had passed and she'd managed not to screw things up. This is the life she wanted, just her, Richard and the kids. She was certain of it.
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