Darcy submerged her hands in the warm soapy water of dinner dishes and wondered why life's little chores didn't magically disappear even when your life was falling down around your ears. It had been a week since she'd discovered her husband fucking the neighbor.
She sighed as she rinsed another dish, wishing it was that easy to wipe the relationship slate clean. Since that fateful day they had talked for hours, cried and fought with each other. They'd even made love a couple more times, as if the threat of divorce had reinfused their passionless marriage with some kind of desperate sexual energy.
The sex was the most surprising part. It was the best they'd had in years. Maybe since there wasn't anything to lose they had both let go of their inhibitions. Darcy knew it was probably disastrous to have sex with an unfaithful husband, but after years of being in a sexual desert it was like a tall glass of ice water. It was just so nice to be touched again.
Plus, when they were fucking they didn't have to discuss their marriage for a few minutes.
She squeezed out more soap and a few bubbles floated incandescently through the air. She watched their journey along an invisible air current and wished she could do the same in life. She'd always held tight to her life plan, terrified of failure, and look what had happened. Brandy had happened.
Sean swore he didn't love her, that it was just sex. Could Darcy accept that? If she told any of her family or friends about the affair, they would tell her to pack it up and divorce the bastard. That was the problem. She didn't want a divorce.
She could still envision growing old with Sean. He was her best friend, not to mention her business partner. She loved this house, and their way of life. Starting over with someone new was unthinkable. She stared out the window and wondered how life got so damn complicated.
"Those dishes getting you down?" Sean asked from the doorway. He hated seeing her so sad, but at the same time he was glad his secret was out and they were communicating again. There was a tiny kernel of hope that they could snatch this marriage from the jaws of defeat. Maybe tonight would be the first step. "We've been invited next door for drinks," he said tentatively.
"Seriously?" Darcy turned to him, shocked at the suggestion.
"Yes, seriously." Sean took her shoulders, kneading some of the tension away. "I know it seems crazy, but Brandy wants to talk to you.
"I have nothing to say to her."
"Well, maybe you could hear her out. I think she wants to apologize." He winced when her eyes flared with anger.
"So fucking what?" She shrugged his hands off her.
"Darce, she's the only person that knows what is really going on here. Maybe this would be good for us." She deflated a little with that. He had a point. Not like she wanted to talk to her mother about their situation. She considered it for a long moment.
"Alright, I'll go." She huffed. "But I don't think the night's going to end with us braiding each other's hair and drinking margaritas."
They walked over through the same bushes Darcy had hidden in the week before. She couldn't believe she was going through them again to talk to the woman banging her husband. Just float like the bubbles, she told herself.
It was a balmy summer evening, so Brandy had suggested meeting on the back porch. She greeted them in a filmy floral dress that flowed over her golden sandals. Darcy couldn't help but notice how smooth her shoulders were under the thin straps of the sundress. She was the classic California girl next to Darcy's pale skin and dark hair.
The three of them stood awkwardly for a moment before Brandy turned to Darcy with a hesitant smile. "I didn't know if you would come," she said.
"Me either," Darcy replied drily. She settled into a patio chair as the other two sat on either side of her.
"Can I get you a drink?" Brandy asked in her husky voice. Even her voice was sexy, Darcy thought with a twinge of envy.
"How about margaritas?" Sean said, winking at Darcy. She rolled her eyes, but had to admit it was nice having a private joke in that moment.
When Brandy returned with a pitcher of frothy margaritas they all drank eagerly, wanting to ease the tension between them. Brandy was the first to address the elephant in the room.
"Darcy, I'm so sorry. I know you have no reason to forgive me, but if you could I hope we can be friends again someday." She looked so genuinely distressed, Darcy thought she was either a consummate actor or she actually did feel some remorse.
"Well, thanks for the apology, but I don't see how we could ever be friends. I mean, jesus, you've been fucking my husband for two months behind my back."
"Yes, I have," Brandy admitted, a little ashamed. "But I hope you know that's all it was. Sean really does love you."
"Then why was he fucking you?" The margarita had effectively loosened Darcy's tongue. Sean sat back and let them talk, hoping not to get caught in the crossfire.
"Haven't you ever had sex without being in love?" Brandy asked. "Your husband doesn't love me. I'm just the new cow." She toasted her drink in Sean's direction as the couple looked at her quizzically.
"The what?" Darcy asked.
"The new cow. I grew up on a farm," she explained patiently. "Farmers know that their bulls don't want the cows they've already screwed, so they have to bring in new cows. That's me."
Darcy shook her head. Maybe she had drank one too many. "Are you saying you're a cow?"
Brandy laughed and refilled their drinks. "No, what I'm saying is that I can give him something that you can't, for the moment."
Darcy raised an eyebrow. "And what is that, exactly?"
"Novelty."
Darcy's mouth clicked shut. She hadn't thought of that. "But why does he need novelty?"
