She'd felt his attention waning from her attempts at conversation for the last hour and a half. He seemed distracted; almost disinterested and sighing she stared down at her drink idly stirring the fruity mixture.
It had been his idea to come out to this new bar. She liked the atmosphere well enough. The live band was great, but the place wasn't so crowded or smoky that she felt smothered. It was perfect. Well, it would have been had Tommy been able to stop staring at the brunette across the room. She felt that old familiar sensation that had been nagging her for weeks. This was the beginning of the end of her relationship with Tommy. He'd been distant and withdrawn lately and nothing was the same between them. Gone were the late night chats that flowed into the wee hours about their future together. He arrived home later and later from work each evening and greeted her with only a perfunctory peck on the cheek before retiring to his easy chair with his laptop computer to trade stocks while the sports channel droned on in the background.
To be fair, she hadn't exactly been "Miss Congeniality" lately. In the days before, she had always had a warm meal waiting on the table for him when he got home. But lately, her new web design business had really taken off so she spent more and more hours in her high tech home office brainstorming and pitching ideas to her new clients. Usually she lost all track of time and would work straight through the day only to look up in disbelief when Tommy finally came home. Then there would be sparse conversation about the events of their days followed shortly by the ever-increasing silence. She hated the silence. Even though there was nothing hostile in it, it grated on her nerves. She'd have rather had a heated argument once a day than have to endure this. But they seldom disagreed enough on anything for even an animate discussion. The old passion between them had evaporated from every aspect of their lives together. Their sex life had dwindled to nothing. She wondered if this was it…if this was all she was going to get out of life.
Turning slightly in her chair, she paused in her musings to steal a glance at Tommy's handsome profile. Thankfully, she noticed that he had turned his attention from the pretty girl to the live band and was keeping time with the music by lightly slapping his hand on his thigh. She tried to clear her head and enjoy the show, too, but suddenly she felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck as she became aware that someone was staring at her.
Shifting her eyes slightly to her left, she found herself locked in a gaze with the same girl that had commanded Tommy's attention earlier. The young woman smiled. Hesitatingly, she returned the smile halfheartedly and quickly looked away. Great. This woman had seen her husband staring at her all night and now she was going to gloat about it. She'd always been intimidated by those self-assured girls that knew heads turned whenever they entered the room. And this girl was lovely. Model-slim, tan, with lovely long black hair that almost reached her waist and hung in soft tumbling waves. That hair was held back from her face with a jeweled clip and she was clad in lavender velvet pants and halter top so tight that it was obvious she wore nothing underneath. Up until then she had felt comfortable in her conservative and slimming black silk floor length skirt and red silk blouse whose roominess hid the flaws in her figure. Now she suddenly felt self-conscious and sat up straighter in the barstool flattening her stomach and trying to appear less dumpy.
Tommy's voice interrupted her thoughts and squirming in her chair. "I'm gonna get another beer. Want anything?"
"Yeah. I could use a fresh one," she replied handing him her watered down drink. He smiled and walked towards the bar. She watched his backside as he strolled away from her and grinned. He looked so cute in those pants.
Suddenly a soft, husky voice in her ear startled her. "May I sit down?"
She looked up to find herself again locked in a gaze with that girl. No. This was the last thing she wanted. Tommy was distracted enough. Now to have this creature at the same table as them was too much. But, she couldn't find discouraging words that weren't rude. "Um, sure," she replied and nodded slightly.
"I'm Jessica," said the pretty girl with a warm smile, extending her hand in greeting.
"Kandi," came the reply as she returned the gesture. Soft silky hands. Perfectly manicured nails. God. She curled her own fingers inward to hide the hangnails and cracked cuticles. Gazing over Jessica's shoulder she noted that Tommy was still waiting at the bar for the drinks. There was perhaps time for some polite chitchat then she could surely come up with an excuse to go join him, leaving this girl behind.
