Blue, for once in her life, hadn’t been ridiculously overdressed. Stood beside the petite blonde woman almost half a foot shorter and certainly far smaller, she was sure she could wear her wedding gown and still feel underdressed. Dressed in a brown floral two-piece with a top that hardly covered her swelling breasts and skirt that hung from her ribs to her ankles, she was certain she could look the part of wealthy heiress she had been so well prepared to play. But looking at Sandra’s suit and luxury camisole peeking out from beneath, Blue couldn’t help but wish she’d traded her colossal canvas wedge heels for a pair of sneakers… she’d certainly feel all the same; plain, unextraordinary.
Staring at the third blouse Sandra had pointed out with the same forced smile she could barely muster, Blue wondered how much more pretending she could take for the sake of making the woman like her. Or even why she was trying to win her
Breaching the doorway, Vincent took in the sight he dreaded; Blue asleep.Back turned to him, light from the bathroom streaming steadily onto her back and carving out the spine peering from beneath her lifted camisole, he hadn’t the heart to eyefuck the ass on full display to him. Instead, he made a slow approach and drew the comforter that had ridden down to her feet over her hips—and sigh with relief as the woman grunted and turned to face him.Squinting into the light, she smiled softly—an expression quickly stolen by disappointment and a firmed frown. “You were meant to be home by eight—we were going to have dinner,”Sinking to a crouch bedside his wife, Vincent began to coax the knotted hair from the woman’s eyes. “I know, Richard had to travel so I had to pick up his slack,” The man spoke bitterly, as though his hatred for the man couldn’t grow further. Yet it had.“‘Travel
Staring at the whites of the ocean she could hardly see through the veil of night, Blue felt father cheated that the wait at the drive-through for dinner had stolen the sunset view Vincent promised so eagerly. Yet, despite that, she did find refuge in the city lights that twinkled from the peninsula’s bend as though peering coyly over New York’s very shoulder. Blinking rapidly with each twinkle. The smoke plume and fiery wick of a distant factory its exhale. And somehow, however slightly, the sight of the moon breaking through the clouds as though it was lone gnocchi surfacing from its murky, boiling water soothed the pretentious aesthete that had roused after Vincent had played David Attenborough instead of Mayday that afternoon. Turning to glance at her husband who sat quietly, his burger little more than a crumpled wrapper in the cupholder between them, she decided that co-existing with someone else wasn’t quite as awful as she had always thought it to
Blue found no joy in admitting that she spent more time with Sandra than she did with her own husband in recent times. Vincent left before she awoke; planted a gentle kiss on his sleeping wife’s shoulder before he dressed silently. He’d return by the time she begrudgingly fell asleep, that much she had gathered. Staring at the sleeping man as she awoke mid-sleep for reasons that eluded still, she admittedly wondered if Richard had succeeded in keeping them apart sans some diabolical scheme.But the dates that she longed for at a quiet cafe had become brunch with her mother-in-law; the change room quickies she’d enjoyed once upon a time had been traded for designer handbag shopping and tiny sandwiches. There was only so much “watching her figure” for the wedding she could feign before pregnancy nausea began to look like anorexia.“What are you doing at university, darling?” the question alone was enough to make Blue clam up with
Vincent had been staring for quite some time.Bordered by a simple frame sat a photograph that did far more harm than it did good. Blazoned by twisting silver arms, his wife’s smile enclosed in its abstract metal frame, peered back a woman so innocent. Bright blue eyes narrowed. Nose scrunched. Shoulders hidden by a tangle of blankets. Glittering wedding bands clutching the duvet over her chin. From their honeymoon. The rather last-minute trip he’d never felt more intentional. Days on end of lying in bed with his woman, hiding from the cruelness that had become her fortunes. Richard had been forgotten. All that mattered those few days were concerns over which restaurants they’d have time for or what films would best put them to sleep.It was hard to believe they’d married in secret, no matter how necessary it had been. He’d battled the urge to confess what he’d felt on the balcony the night they met. How as their lips met that first
“Any last words?” Staring down at his wife, Vincent smiled softly. Her face bright with a nervous blush. Lips red and bitten. Cracked, dry. Hair tangled where his own hands had wrapped. Mock neck blouse covering the blossoming bruises from his teeth creeping up her chest. Skirt creased where she had sat on his lap. She smiled back. Leaned towards him invitingly. An invitation he found rather difficult to refuse. “It’s not too late to leave,” “We’re already here, Blue,” “That’s for me to worry about,” “You stole my line.” “You weren’t using it.” “No one likes a smart ass,” Quickly, he took the woman’s face in his hands. Pressed his nose to hers. Breathed her every breath. Considered kissing her, stood at her mother’s doorstep. They’d be on the awkward first date they never had. Vincent would walk her to the door, fingers brushing, far too shy to twist his hand with hers. He would wrap her in his coat; give her a reason to telephone him
“You and your uncle seem awfully close.” Blue froze as Vincent spoke, halfway through shrugging off her jacket. He had been silent the whole way home. She’d considered fleetingly that he was upset another man had been attempting to slide a hand beneath her skirt. Though some part of her knew he wouldn’t have known unless he’d gotten to his knees and looked under the table. He hadn’t. Was he jealous? “What’s that supposed to mean?” “He’s more interested in who you have to marry than Richard is and you’re marrying the fool,” “Am I?” Suddenly, Vincent paused. He eyed his own two rings carefully, perched on the woman’s finger. Warmed by the sun where they’d been stored in his car cupholder. Catching on the afternoon through the windows. “Maybe you should.” “If that’s how you feel I think it’s a little late for that.” “I have to show you something,” While Blue hoped rather earnestly the man was about to unzip his trousers and present himsel
Hugged his sides with her knees as he scooped her onto the kitchen counter. Sighed in recognition as his hips rocked into hers and he pressed her with the very bulge in his trousers she was afraid would shatter her resolve. And as the fingers of his left hand laced through hers and she felt the cool press of his wedding band against her palm, Blue considered surrendering to the man’s mouth, lips on her neck with the love she wasn’t so sure of. Flipping the hem of her dress from her thighs and over her stomach, Vincent braced between her legs with his fingers as he had over and over. Traced her through her dampened underwear. Braced her collarbone with his teeth. Eyes cast to the ceiling, Blue found it rather easy to forget the ceremony that had meant so much to her had meant so little to her husband. The stranger suckling on her exposed breast as though he was the child she would bear him. Wrapping his large hands around her shoulders as though he’d prized her as much as he’
“Come to bed.”Blue glanced from the mirror, her hair cupped in one hand and a brush wrapped in the other. “In a minute. Let me freshen up.” She spoke quickly. Nervously.Richard’s house had been all she would expect. Timelessly decorated with cream marble and drapes, gold accenting the lot of it. Modern square edges replaced any baroque trims. White sheepskin throws hugged the couches. The master bedroom was much the same. Bright and heavenly. A dated French Provincial wooden chest wearing a marble chapeau sported a colossal paper-thin flat screen. The golden trim of the dressing table mirror fringed by a brilliant LED. Blue took note of how pale she’d gotten. The fur rug had more color.“I think your hair is brushed well enough,” Richard paused. Meeting the woman’s gaze in her reflection. She stared back coldly. He had always assumed their first night together would be their wedding night, the fact she&rsqu