I only had sex with one person in those fifteen months I waited for my divorce to come through. Just one person in all that lonely period. And then only twice with them. Once the day I kicked my husband out after finding heād been unfaithful, yet again, and once a week or so later. But that sex was wonderful. It was different to any Iād had before, it was invigorating, exciting so satisfying and it was with a woman.
But after Toni I stopped. It somehow didnāt seem proper. I didnāt have the inclination. I didnāt have the will to leave my twelve year old daughter to go on dates. I didnāt also feel the need to āhave a drinkā with husbands of friends who once I was separated found that ātheyād fancied me for yearsā or that ātheir wives really didnāt understand them.ā I hadnāt realised how popular Iād been all these years Iād been with Kevin. Silly girl!
And at thirty five there doesnāt seem to be that many eligible single men and after the hurt Iād been through there was no way I could do that to another woman so married ones were out. So, a combination of being emotional and very morose, disillusionment with men, a general lack of availability and trying to bring some semblance of order to my shattered life all signalled one thing. I became almost a recluse in my new Docklands fortress where I remained barricaded up against any marauding males with my daughter, Sarah, for over a year.
I spent that year working hard on the divorce that, thankfully, in the end turned out to be fairly amicable. Both Kevin and I wanted it to be as easy on Sarah as it could be and we went out of our way to avoid any unnecessary acrimony. Fortunately money was not really too much of a problem for Iād helped him build up his small company into a much larger one and he was able to buy out my shareholding. He was also generous, but then he always was and with more than money. I found out as my lawyer delved into his past that he was a serial adulterer. As it turned out heād been unfaithful to me throughout the marriage. The bastard.
Although I had nothing to do with men and after Toni I had no sex at al, it was, looking back, an interesting time. I got a new apartment in a trendy area of London, Docklands. I started playing golf and tennis again. I got a new car and I got a job. Calling on old contacts I started writing copy on a freelance basis. Mainly, as it turned, out for recruitment ads but also some technical stuff, a little scriptwriting and a few speeches for a big company whose marketing director Iād known for some time. He badly, it seemed, wanted to get into my knickers so we had numerous meetings about the speeches he had to give as he briefed me in person. I took his briefs but never gave him my knickers, after all ānever fuck a clientā is an old ad industry dictate and, in any case, he was married.
It was different once the divorce came through. Once that weight was lifted from my shoulders I felt better. I felt more able to start rebuilding my life. I stopped being the reclusive celibate. I bought a whole new wardrobe as I set out to become a woman of the 21st century. A liberated female. One who could take or leave men. One who recognised sex for what it was. Basically a commodity to be enjoyed. Not something that was mixed up with love and affection but a pleasure. An indulgence, something I would do because I wanted to. No other reason, no other motives.
Oh yes, as I signed the final divorce papers sitting in my lawyerās office in my new Janet Regar thong and ridiculously skimpy bra under the tight leather trousers and low cut top, I was sure that Iād now be able to āfuck āem and leave āemā just as men do us,
And for a while it worked just like that. For a weird year and a bit I did āfuck āem and leave āem.ā I may well have actually fucked a few too many and certainly I left too many for at the end there were none left.
Was I promiscuous? Of course. Was I an easy lay? Well fairly? Was the sex good? You bet. Was I happy? Was I by fuck? No I wasnāt.
My first date after the divorce was a salutary lesson and an amazing experience for me. It was also quite funny, sad, all mixed up and, overall rather disappointing!
He was someone I met at a golf tournament. We got on well as we played and we chatted easily at the following dinner. Older than me in his early forties, Peter was a widower with two children. Well-off with his own house he met me at an opportune time just a couple of weeks after the divorce was finalised which was the time I had set myself to re-enter life! Well at least to make an effort at it. Now over a year without any form of physical, let alone sexual contact, I guess I was close to being so frustrated that even a glance from a good looking man could start things moving in me.
When he asked me out I at first found myself starting to refuse as I had done throughout the previous year or so But then I remembered my pledge to myself so I accepted. We had dinner and then I met him for lunch and we went out a couple of times for drinks. Other than a few brief pecks on the cheek and one fairly energetic goodnight kiss there had been nothing physical between us although clearly the time for that was approaching. I could feel the pressure of the āif you donāt like the heat get out of the kitchenā or more crudely, but probably more accurately, āpee or get off the potā being applied. After all people of our ages donāt go out to purely talk about golf do they? And as in fact we didnāt have much else in common that was what we largely chatted about. The moment when I, excuse me, was supposed to pee came with the suggestion from him, that I have now learned is quite prevalent amongst the ānew manā age that had passed me by, of āCome round to mine, Iāll cook dinner.ā
In the two days since he had asked my mind had been on little else.
I just could not get my head around whether I would go to bed with him if that was proposed. On the one hand I wanted to. I needed sex and I wanted to have another man. A man free from the impositions of wife-swapping, revenge affairs and the red mists Iād had in the latter days with my ex. I needed to know whether I would be able to respond to and accept his advances. Whether I would become aroused and indeed whether I would be able to have an orgasm? Iād had no physical contact with a man for over a year and, although I had found relief and a degree of satisfaction from other means, I knew that I was enormously frustrated. I was also concerned at that for I was worried that I would appear rather inexperienced and that I might climax too quickly and make a sexual fool of myself. Was dating worth it I wondered and began to doubt it?