“Get you two all bright eyed and bushy tailed. God, I feel rough.” Lorna slumped into the chair, I poured her a black coffee. “Thank you, I hope you made plenty, one cup will definitely not be enough.” Heather and I laughed.
“Phil staggered into the kitchen, he looked terrible. “That was some party. I feel like hell. Is there any coffee on the go?” I poured Phil a coffee, Heather got up and started cooking breakfast. We talked about how much fun we all had, I felt guilty about fucking Heather, she carried on as if nothing had happened.
As Lorna and I drove home later in the day, I was thinking of what happened in the garage. I knew there was no way I could tell her. As we neared home I reasoned that if Heather could act as if nothing happened, then I could try the same. Later that evening Lorna reminded me she was away this coming weekend, it was a hen weekend for one of the girls she worked with.
“No problem, I’ll find stuff to do here. If I get bored I can call over and see your Dad.”
“Don’t forget he plays golf on Saturday.” Lorna reminded me.
Thankfully the first few weeks back at work are quiet, most of us sat and talked about what we did over the holidays. Some of my colleagues had kids, one told us his kids were awake at 5am on Christmas day. After listening to him, I was glad we didn’t have any kids.
I saw Lorna off on Saturday morning.” Have a nice time, don’t get too drunk.”
“After last weekend, no chance. I’ll be okay, I should be back sometime Sunday afternoon. If you like, we can go out for dinner, save one of us cooking.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you on Sunday.” I kissed Lorna goodbye and watched her drive off.
I did a few jobs inside the house, mostly minor things like oiling a squeaky hinge and changing a tap washer. I had been sitting down in front of the TV for a short while when the doorbell rang.
I opened the door, Heather was smiling at me. “Come in,” I gestured to her.
We sat making general conversation, I had a feeling Heather had something on her mind. So I asked her.
“It’s awkward, Ray.”
“Try me.” I sat and waited.
“It’s about New Years eve, you know, what we did.” I looked at Heather for an explanation. She sat there quietly. “I want to do it again, this afternoon, here and now.”
“No fucking way! What we did was wrong, it was a mistake. God knows I should have turned and left the moment you started kissing me. Did you stop to think what would happen if Lorna or Phil found out?” Heather stayed quiet. “No, I didn’t think so.”
Heather, I love you and Phil like you were my own parents. I never thought I would ever cheat on Lorna, let alone with her own mother for God sake.”
“You didn’t cheat on Lorna, she knew.” Heather muttered.
“Bullshit. I know Lorna well enough to know if she found out I’d be a dead man, she would tear my balls off and shove them down my throat. That’s if Phil doesn’t get to me first.”
“It’s true, Lorna knew. She gave me her blessing.” Heather sat up, she had found her voice at last.
“Ray, there are things you don’t know, if you give me a chance I will explain.”