The empty chair - Part Four

 

Christine had put all my favourites into the salad she had left in the refrigerator. Crayfish tails, Bavarian smoked cheese, her special home-made coleslaw, cherry tomatoes and lovely crunchy lettuce; all washed down with half a bottle of chilled white wine. She can be very thoughtful that way.

As I sat with the tray of food on my lap watching yet more rubbish from our so-called 'finest television service in the world' (the BBC), I became painfully more aware of my increasing sense of loneliness. Chris's empty chair beside my own, where she would normally be sharing the warm glow of our fire, seemed to make the house hollow and unwelcoming; I missed her genial and amusing companionship. I was miserable without her and I had lost my appetite; the wine however was very welcome.

Unable to eat, I put the tray and the uneaten portions of food in the kitchen and went back to the lounge to try and relax position in front of the television. The sights and sounds coming from the large flat screen in the corner washed over me unseen and unheard, because all I could think of was the implications of my Wife dating another man. So I switched the television off.

The short dress she had put on for her date with Geoff, and the pretty lingerie underneath had been worn for a purpose. Not that she needed to, but it was a deliberate move on her part to make herself more attractive and desirable. Well what did I expect? She had made it very plain that she thought he was a 'hunk of a man'.

I don't know if other husbands whose Wives date other men, do what I started to experience that night - I daydreamed about them together. At first I visualized her in his car chatting to him as a friend as he drove, and answering his questions about my frame of mind before she left. "He was fine," she would say, and she would be right because I had made a special effort not to sound negative about her date.

A quiet dinner in a select restaurant after a few drinks was my guess and suddenly I could see them, in my mind's eye, talking intimately, their hands reaching across the table to each other. I could imagine her face, soft and beautiful in the candle-light, her eyes once more shining with desire, or was it something more emotional? With breasts straining at the halter to her dress, her nipples standing proud through the thin silky fabric indicating her deep attraction to this vital and good-looking man. They would be the most beautiful couple in the room and all others would look at them and know that they would soon be Lovers, if not so already.

Maybe there was a combo in front of a small dance floor playing romantic songs. I could picture them taking a slow dance; his arms around her tiny waist and hers around his neck, their bodies pressed together. Geoff would be enjoying the feel of her warm, lithe body against his; her breasts pushing against his manly chest.

What would she do if his hand went down her back and pressed gently onto her sweet round arse? I already knew the answer to that, she would push herself even harder against his body in response. Christine would love the feel of his strong body and the appreciable, but not too obvious, sensation of the bulge of his masculinity against her hips.

So while lost in the feeling of yearning for him, it would only be natural for my Wife to lift her head and search for his lips. The initial touch would be gentle, but Geoff would tell almost immediately that she wanted more and their first passionate kiss would happen right there on the dance floor. And both would know that it would be the first passionate kiss of many.

On and on my imagination continued as I sat alone in my darkened room. I could see them both together, kissing and petting like teenagers in his big car. Chris would be putty in his hands - willing putty no doubt, but she would be his beautiful toy for the evening. And to my horror, the very thought of her being his 'pretty toy' had caused my little penis to grow and stiffen inside my trousers and underpants. I had enjoyed what I had conjured up in my head, much to my shame.

'Do all cuckolds do this,' I thought. 'Possibly? Probably? Some? All?' It was unsettling. Perhaps it is inevitable that a hubby envisions what his Wife and her Lover will do when they are alone together. Maybe it's natural. And maybe the 'cuckold marriage' way of life is natural too.

My tiny pink shrimp was still standing proud when I heard his Bently pull onto my drive, the lights of the car extinguished and then there was silence and darkness ouside. It was also dark in the room so I knew that if I pulled the curtains slightly to one side I would be able to see the car and its occupants.

It was hard to make out at first but then it became clear that Geoff's and Christine's heads were very close together, so close that it was plain to me that they were not conversing - they were kissing. Not just a touch of the lips but a full, deep tonguing kiss that passionate Lovers give to each other; it was the kind of kiss that makes promises of more deeper intimacy in the future.

Until that moment, the idea of being cuckolded by my Wife had just been theory, something that may happen in the future but now I could see the reality. Christine was going to say yes to him and Geoff was going to have her, and he was going to enjoy her body sooner, not later. And with that very thought, my little extended penis became as a rock-like lump in my groin.

As my eyes grew accustomed to the dark I could clearly make out Christine's arms around Geoff's neck as they kissed, but his were nowhere to be seen. Were they somewhere out of sight? Was he intimately exploring my Wife's body with her full consent and encouragement? Had she told him that she wanted his hands on her, to sample the delights to which she would soon willingly give him full and unrestricted access?

All these questions, and more, I wanted to know the answer to. Or did I? Perhaps I wanted Chris to tell me without me asking.

The kiss eventually broke and with a little shimmy of her body Chris rearranged her dress while still in the passenger seat - no doubt readjusting her lingerie back to where it should be on her pretty arse. Then with a quick kiss on Geoff's left cheek she opened the door of the car and got out. A wave to him as he pulled away and then she was in the front door of our house. She was home, and the dreaded text on my phone had not been received; I wasn't a cuckold, at least not yet.

"You haven't eaten your supper," she said when she saw my half-full plate of food in the kitchen. It only took one look at me for her to understand the type of evening I had, "Oh Pete, you mustn't pine for me when I am with Geoff," she said as she swept the food into the organics waste bin, "you will only feel miserable. Wouldn't it be better if you were happy for me to have a Boyfriend. Didn't the three of us discuss this on Sunday and agree that he and I would go on dates together."

"It's just that the reality is so much different to the theory," I replied weakly, "and all I can think about is you with him."

"I'm sorry Pete," she replied with her voice full of sympathy, "but once I am sure that he is serious about me, I won't be coming home at all after our dates. So perhaps reality should bite sooner than later."

"I saw you kissing him just now. That was real wasn't it."

"It was Dear. Geoff said that you probably would watch us," she replied as she took my hand and led me upstairs again. "He said that it was quite normal for a cuckold to spy on his Wife and her Lover."

In the bedroom, Chris asked me to undress her, which was a duty I was happy to comply with. She was naked within three minutes and lay on her back on the bed with her long white legs spread apart. 

"You know the drill Pete," she said as she raised her arse off the bed to offer her pussy up to my lips and tongue, "so let's make this our post-date ritual between you and me."

"You wanted him tonight didn't you," I said as I stepped out of my 'Y Fronts'.

"I did! How can you tell."

"A hubby always knows," I replied as I buried my face into her pussy that was red, wet and swollen from the unrequited desire for penetration by Geoff's large manhood.

"A hubby always knows,"

Chris refused my offer to repeat our extended little piece of perversion from Sunday night and was happy with just my tongue providing the service I know she likes. And afterwards, we both slept like lambs.

The next morning, the roads from Guildford to Leatherhead were better than usual so I made it into work with ten minutes to spare. As I walked in through the main door, the Duty Receptionist in the Entrance Hall called me over. "Hi Pete," she said. "The Boss asked me to tell you to go straight to his office when you arrive."

'Oh Christ,' I thought, 'maybe he's got the hump over me spying on him and Chris last night.'

I need not have worried, Geoff was waiting for me with a big smile on his face and with an expansive gesture, he waved me to one of his office soft chairs. I sat down like the good employee that I am, and waited.

"Christine and I had such a good time last night and I want you to know that nothing happened between us that would cause you grief," he said.

"Apart from the kissing," I remarked.

"Oh you saw that, did you?"

"You know I did."

"I didn't realise just how passionate Chris could be," he remarked,  while brushing aside my comment and clearly forgetting that he was talking to the Lady's husband.

"That's good to know Geoff," I said, as I stood up to leave, "but was there something else you wanted to discuss. George and me have a meeting with the Union in twenty minutes.

"Oh sorry Pete," he exclaimed in apology, "It's just that I have to attend an Environmental Meeting at the London Guildhall tomorrow evening. I was hoping that I could take Christine along with me. It may be a bit boring for her, but I would appreciate her company."

It was a little too soon for comfort after their date the nignt before but I knew that Chris, being a closet environmentalist, would like to go. I had to give him an answer.

"Okay Geoff," I replied, "I shall ask her tonight. If she says yes - then it's yes. If she says no - then no it is. It's her decision."

"You can't say fairer than that Pete," replied a very happy Geoff.

And then it dawned on me. 'He's already asked her,' I realised, 'and she has said yes.'

The rest of the day I spent with tedious idiots nitpicking over salary levels for our cleaners and holiday pay. Five o'clock couldn't come fast enough.

I had a headache by the time I arrived home and was in no mood for games. "So what are you going to wear on Thursday?" I asked grumpily as Chris laid out the table for dinner.

She stopped what she was doing and looked at me, so realising that I had had a bad day decided not to play at being coy about her date on Thursday.

"Something smart but attractive," she replied, "but I haven't said yes to him."

I was annoyed at her obfuscation and the words just fell out of my mouth before I had thought about the implications. "Of course you are going to say yes Chris. You're in love with him."

Her face coloured up like a red stop light at my tetchy reply, but there was no doubt at all that what I had said had affected her deeply. 

"I hadn't realised," she said.

"What!" I replied, "that you're in love with him?"

"No! I didn't realise that you knew."

I was offended that Chris thought that I couldn't see that she was falling for Geoff, so once again my tone was less than friendly when I said, "I may not be Captain Fantastic like him, but even I can recognize the 'bleedin obvious' Chris."

Her bottom lip started to tremble at my sharp retort and I could see that she was trying to hold back tears as she finished cooking our supper and then put it on the table.

We had nearly finished our food when she opened up her thoughts to me. "I shouldn't be saying these things to you Pete. You're my husband, but you seem to want to know everything."

"That's what I already said, didn't I," I interjected.

"I'm in such a quandary Pete," she continued, "Geoff is such wonderful company. The perfect date in fact. But a girl likes to feel wanted emotionally as well as physically. I'm just wondering if the pain of his divorce has left him a charming but cold shell of a man."

I was confused. "You've only been on two dates. So what are you saying?" I asked.

"That's true enough," she replied, "but we have been meeting regularly on Sunday in Waitrose. We have often had a long chat in their coffe bar, so I know him a little more than you think."

This revelation that Chris and Geoff had been meeting regularly in a supermarket and had been getting to know each other hit me like a brick. "Why didn't you say?"

"It was all very innocent. We were just friends, that is, until he asked me to go to the dinner party with him," Chris replied. "So now I would like to hear from him just what he feels about me. Does he just want a pretty companion, or does he want someone to be in his life?"

I hadn't realised just how deep her feelings were. She is my Wife after all and above everything, I cared that she was happy.

"To be his Lover you mean." 

She nodded. 

"Well only he can answer that," I replied noncommitently. But I also had a plan.

I didn't sleep well that night. I was determined to make sure that my Wife was not being taken for a ride. It was risky, and my plan had many dangers and whatever the outcome, someone was going to be very happy and someone was going to suffer humiliation.

Geoff's car was already parked in his 'CEO' slot and I was early for work too. Tina, his PA wasn't in so I just knocked on his glass door and walked in.

"Just to let you know Geoff, that Chris will go with you tonight," I said as I stood in the doorway.

"That's good Pete," he replied, his eyebrows narrowing at my unusually offhand attitude, "but is there something I should be aware of?"

"I'm the Lady's husband, so it really isn't for me to say," I replied.

"But say it anyway please Pete."

"Do you know what is meant by that old saying, 'she's just another notch on his bedpost'," I asked him.

Geoff understood immediately and looked alarmed at what I had said. "Christ! That's not what this is about. I adore her," he exclaimed. He was immediately embarrassed as he realised what he had just said to me. Looking up into my face he said, "I'm sorry Pete, you should be the last person I tell that to."

"And I should be the last person to tell you to tell her what you just told me," I replied. And with that message passed, I left a worried Geoff sat in his big CEO's chair frantically dialling my home number as I went back to my office.

The rest of the day was spent writing up reports on the previous day's nonsense with the unions. In my view, my direct Boss, George, had been too generous with the Company's money. But then I had only just been told in the last few days that George is generous with his Wife too, so who was I to stand in judgement of 'Generous George'. I had just given another man advice on how to seduce my own Wife.

Chris was in the bathroom with her hair in a towel when I arrived home that evening. She was preparing for her date with Geoff, that was plain, but there was something else in her mood that told me that last night's insecurity was a thing of the past.

... last night's insecurity was a thing of the past.

"What have you been up to Pete?" she asked me as she removed the towel and started to blow dry her hair.

"I don't know what you mean," I lied when she switched the hair dryer off for a moment.

"What did you say to Geoff?" she said, before switching the noisy blower on again.

"Nothing much. I just happened to mention that you were feeling a little insecure. That's all."

She had finished blow-drying her lovely blond hair when she turned to me and said, "Well you had no right to interfere. But thank you anyway because he phoned me this morning and we had a long chat."

"Did you Dear," I replied innocently, "what about?"

“About me being his permanent Lady in his life of course,” she replied - her face colouring at the thought.

“You mean he wants you as his Mistress,” I said, “is that it?”

Chris looked slightly wary as she replied. It was clearly an answer that would affect us both. “He said that you had made him realise just how much I meant to him,” she said, watching my reaction closely, “and that he had developed strong feelings for me.”

“That’s nice,” I said sarcastically, “And did he tell you that he loves you.”

“That’s between him and me Pete.”

“Did he?”

Her voice quavered at her one word reply. “Yes!”

“And of course you told him the same.” I said.

“Yes! Naturally.”

“Well no surprises there then,” I commented.

Her tiny panties were halfway up her long legs when something stopped her. “Did you do that on purpose Pete?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know damn-well what I mean,” she replied. “You went to Geoff this morning and forced the issue. You went to make sure that he wasn’t playing games with me. Didn’t you!”

It was time to be honest with Chris. “Well what if I did,” I replied, as she stepped into the pretty and revealing dress she was to wear that night, “I have known since we were first married that one day you would want better than I could provide in the bedroom. It’s just taken longer than I thought it would; much to your credit."

"So you, as my husband, thought you would play Cupid for Geoff and me," she said as she balanced on one leg to fastened her shoe.

"So you, as my husband, thought you
would play Cupid for Geoff and me," 

"I just wanted the matter setttled, and I couldn't bear the thought of my Wife being messed about."

Chris had appliedher most expensive perfume which made my head swim by it's powerful bouquet as she enveloped me in her arms. "Don't ever forget that I love you," she said softly into my ear.

As she pulled away from me to fetch her coat, Geoff's car drew up outside.

"Your dress," I said.

"What about it?"

"That's a little wild for an Environment meeting at the Guildhall isn't it?" I commented.

"Oh we've changed our minds Pete," she replied, "we are going to find somewhere quiet and intimate instead, to discuss our futures."

"Well what about me Chris? Don't I have a say?" Was my plaintif and foolish request as she went through the front door.

"I said our futures Pete," she replied, "Geoff's, mine and yours."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

But there was no answer. The car door shut and I was left gazing at red tail lights disappearing down the road.

Christine's Chilli Con Carne is something that she cooks beautifully and she had left a good sized portion in the refrigerator. All I had to do was peel back the tray lid and microwave for four minutes - supper was ready.

In the same way that I had spent the two previous evenings when she had been out on a date with Geoff, I sat in the dark forking spicy meat, rice and kidney beans into my mouth without tasting. I was thinking about her with him. But this time it was different. She was different, Geoff was different and so help me, so was I.

This time I kept my mobile phone close to me. Would I recieve the dreaded 'I SAID YES,' text? What would my life be like if I did?

I picked my phone up a dozen times that evening, but there was nothing from Chris. At last, fed up with looking, I put it down on Christine's empty chair and drifted off into another daydream of my Wife lying naked in Geoff's bed.

To be continued