PEACE
(Six Months Later)
“Kate, it’s too hot. Get off me.” David tried, not for the first time that night, to extricate himself from Kate, who was glued to him. The heat was stifling, even at three in the morning, and it felt as if they were enveloped in a hazy mist of mugginess. The sheets had long been abandoned, as had any nightwear, as they lay naked, entwined around each other. The sound of the fan clicking annoyingly kept them awake, and even more frustratingly, was proving ineffective at keeping them cool.
“Sorry, you smell so good.” Kate nestled in further, snuggling deeper and deeper into David’s soft, warm flesh. She found sleep easier when she was cuddling him, but it was so hot.
“Really, Kate, you gotta get off me. I can’t breathe and I think I’ve just been bitten.”
“Bloody air-conditioning unit, why’d it have to break now? When did the guys say they were going to get around to fixing it?”
“Ma?ana,” David said nonchalantly.
“I’m in all morning but meeting Jamie for lunch. Will you be here?” Kate nestled in even closer, ignoring his request and throwing one leg over his.
“For what?”
“For the air con people.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll take the girls to school and then come straight back. I’m working from home all day. Go to sleep, and get off me.”
“I can’t sleep. I’m still thinking about doing the challenge next year.”
“It’s just the Inca Trail. It’s not Everest.” He disentangled himself to the sound of their skin squelching, sticky with sweat.
Kate couldn’t fall back to sleep. Her mind shifted gears, as if she were doing a Formula One circuit. During daylight hours, she kept herself so busy that she didn’t allow herself to overthink. But, it was in these moments, in the still of the night, with nothing to distract her, that the thoughts would sometimes slither back in.
In the early days, when the guilt would consume her, she blamed her low mood on hormones and, bizarrely, David seemed to accept this. Women's hormones were like a black hole where David was concerned. She found running helped, especially outside surrounded by the natural beauty. Just that week, she’d read an article about hiking the Inca Trail and, with a flash of inspiration, decided to put all the training to good use and signed up to do a charity challenge the following year.
“I’m too hot. I’m going to cool off in the pool,” she whispered. Silence. Kate slithered off the bed, went to grab her bikini bottoms, and then thought better of it. Who’d see her at this time of the morning? She’d just go naked. A nice little skinny dip in the pool, do some lengths, think, ponder, plan her Inca Trail trip. Anything was better than just lying in bed. If she could cool off, then she might be able to sleep.
As Kate slowly made her way across the garden, the blades of grass tickled between her toes. She felt a rush of adrenaline as she enjoyed the liberation of walking starkers, the utter joy of feeling so secure within herself, wild, free and totally unabandoned. As she reached the edge of the pool, she stretched out her arms and reached for the sky. The stars illuminated the vast blackness, just one more stretch and she could almost touch them. Wanting to hang onto this feeling, harness it, consume it and never let it go, she reached higher and inhaled deeply. At that moment, everything felt beautiful, and calm. She exhaled, letting go of everything that had ever held her back. Life was good. This … this was peace.
The cool water stroked her body as she lay floating on her back, looking up at the stars, which seemed particularly bright that night; it was as if they’d cast a wonderful candlelit glow around the garden. Kate closed her eyes and revelled in the ecstasy of the moment.
After months of torment and agony, she’d finally arrived at her destination. The recalibration process was complete, and the pain had dissipated. For the most part, she’d exterminated all thoughts of Robert. The sexual ache she’d had for that man, constrained by her newfound passion for physical activity and dare she say it—her husband. The excruciating agony that was her betrayal was replaced with a dull ache. An ache that she’d have to live with for the rest of her life. A small price to pay to save her family.
She’d been an idiot; such an idiot that she could’ve lost David. Yet, without risking it all, without feeling that all-consuming fear those months that ensued her encounter with Robert, she’d never have realised how lucky she was. Jamie had been right. Kate recognised that Robert had indeed been instrumental in her evolution. Without him, she’d still be feeling restless and frustrated. Without Robert, she’d still be walking around, oblivious to the sheer joy of the simple things that already existed within her life. Everything she needed, she’d had all along; she just hadn’t been able to see it. So, slowly, she’d stopped tormenting herself, stopped thinking of the incident as evil, and twisted it in her mind into something that had to happen; a wonderful and very secret encounter that had touched her soul and made her feel more alive and more beautiful than she’d ever felt before. Kate didn’t want to waste her precious life with feelings of regret when something good had materialised out of this. She’d experienced a wonderful passion that was never meant to last and could never have been sustained, but in its moment was so natural and pure that it took her breath away.
Suddenly, Kate felt strong arms wrap around her, pulling her legs under the water, and she smiled. David had silently slipped into the pool. He didn’t speak but also naked, came around swiftly, and folded himself around her.
“Mmmmmmmmm, thought you wanted to sleep?” Kate teased him, relaxing into his arms, slowly rubbing against him, and sensually massaging his body with her own.
“That was the idea, but images of you swimming naked woke me up.”
“You mean woke a part of you?” Kate jested as she felt David’s hardness brush against her back. Slowly, one hand circled her waist, keeping her afloat, whilst the other stroked her gently.
“Don’t you have a tennis match tomorrow? Don’t you need your sleep?” Kate continued to tease him as she turned around, wrapping her legs around his waist and nibbling his ear.
“I’m living for the moment. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me? Be in the here and now.”
Kate smiled and as their lips touched, his tongue entered her mouth. She felt The Seductress come alive, but alive to the caresses of her husband, her best friend and now her lover.