Diana had settled in for another evening of Netflix, feeling a happiness she hadn’t felt in a long time. Travis might fall for her again, and she knew damn well she had never really stopped loving him. The love had faded some because she’d forced it into the furthest chambers of her heart and mind so she didn’t hurt every day, but seeing Travis, talking to him and laughing with him, had reminded her of it. The love was knocking on the doors to the outer chambers, and she wouldn’t be able to keep the door locked for long.

She was incredibly excited to see him the next day, and if the fantasies she’d had while driving home were any indication, she might invite him to her bed at the end of the evening. But is that really a good idea? she asked herself. Pushing pause on the episode of Breaking Bad, she’d started to retrieve her laundry to fold as she watched.

As she piled the towels in the basket she kept close to the dryer for clean laundry, she remembered how grateful she’d been when she found a cheap apartment that also had a washer and dryer. The idea of going to a laundry mat once or twice a week had been dauntingly depressing, and she’d passed over apartments in nicer areas to find one with the appliances.

She lifted and carried the basket of fresh-smelling towels to her tiny living room, only about ten feet from the “laundry room,” which was really an indentation in the wall of the kitchen with a curtain hanging in front of it so guests wouldn’t see the washer and dryer and any dirty clothes piled on top of them.

After pushing play on her show, she plopped down on the couch and began folding, her mind lost in the making of a science teacher/father turned drug dealer turned murderer. The show was a testament to the lack of decent pay and insurance teachers across the country faced. Walter White felt he’d make a better life for his family making and selling meth, which was true, a sad truth in the US.

She watched as Walter and his wife had a brief altercation, and her phone dinging on the charger in the kitchen was almost lost in their argument. She waited for the outcome of the fight before pausing and hurrying to the kitchen and picked up her phone, smiling, to read the text from Travis.

TRAVIS: I have bad news.

Her heart sank as she made the assumption he had to work and wouldn’t be able to keep their date. If that were the case, she decided with frustration in her heart, there wouldn’t be a second date. Their marriage had ended because the man couldn’t put his job second to anything, even his wife, and she refused to go down that road again. Her response, however, was somewhat joking just in case. The man loved gentle pranks, and this could be one of those. Better be, she mused as she typed.

DIANA: I hate bad news, but bring it on.

TRAVIS: I can’t get reservations for tomorrow…

Diana breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that wasn’t an excuse to blow her off.

DIANA: Okay. When can you get reservations?

TRAVIS: Well, I have an idea. A surprise for you, but it will have to wait until Wednesday.

DIANA: A surprise? I love surprises!

Diana’s heart sped up. She loved surprises, and Travis, despite his flaws, had always given her the best surprises. Once, out of the blue on a random Sunday afternoon, he’d told her to get in the car, assuring her that as long as she wore jeans, boots, and long sleeves, she’d love where he was taking her. They had driven about an hour outside of New Orleans into swamp country, and he took her on a swamp tour, where the mosquitos had been the size of sparrows and no amount of bug spray kept them away. Her long sleeves had saved her from four different types of malaria, she was certain. They had seen alligators, snakes, and all sorts of furry creatures that lived in the area. He’d produced her camera, and she’d snapped three hundred photos that afternoon, most of which had been good enough to print and put in an album, which she still had somewhere.

TRAVIS: I know you do. Since it’s so close to Halloween, I couldn’t get us in until Wednesday.

Her mind racing, she wondered where he could possibly be taking her if Halloween meant they were busy. Could be a haunted plantation tour, which they had done once, but there were dozens of them in and around New Orleans. Or she’d always wanted to tour the abandoned asylum that had been turned into a museum, roughly two hours away. What if he was taking her to a costume party? She had no idea what she would wear.

TRAVIS: Stop trying to guess and tell me if you can go on Wednesday haha!

Diana chuckled. He knew her entirely too well.

DIANA: Shut up. I wasn’t guessing.

TRAVIS: I could hear your mind whirring from across town.

DIANA: Intelligence is noisy.

TRAVIS: Good Lord, then my mind must sound like a freight train.

DIANA: Always bragging, Mr. Ego.

TRAVIS: It’s not ego if it’s true.

Diana felt her eyes roll into the back of her mind as she laughed at the standard argument. He was one of the smartest men she’d ever known, and he knew it, though his bragging wasn’t a real thing. He bragged playfully, an endearing quality because he was humble about his accomplishments when he had every right to brag. A full minute passed while she thought, and her phone pinged.

TRAVIS: Soooo, Wednesday?

DIANA: Is a special outfit required?

TRAVIS: Haha no. Not a swamp tour. But you know you loved it.

DIANA: Such fun. I was just thinking about that and wondering what I did with the photo album.

TRAVIS: I can’t believe you still have it.

DIANA: Pretty sure I do. If I find it, I’ll have it out on Wednesday so you can look at it.

TRAVIS: Awesome. Can you be ready by five?

Diana frowned. She didn’t get off work until five if Cameron wasn’t in the middle of a big case. As luck would have it, he’d just finished a big one and they had some down time before the next one began.

DIANA: I’ll have to ask my boss if I can leave a little early. I’ll let you know after work Monday.

TRAVIS: If we have to push it to six, we can.

DIANA: I can ask. I rarely ask for time off or to leave early, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

TRAVIS: Great. Talk to you tomorrow.

DIANA: Sounds good!

Diana tossed her phone on the couch next to her, a smile brightening her features. He said he would talk to her tomorrow, so even though they didn’t have plans, he was still going to call or text her. The thought pleased her…no, thrilled her! She felt like she was becoming involved in a brand-new relationship rather than rekindling an old one. They had changed quite a bit, so that wasn’t surprising.

The excitement was real, the little butterflies in her tummy were real when she thought about him, the titillation she felt at the idea of kissing him, inviting him to her place, and undressing him like he was a new conquest. Would they make love like they had before? Their love life had been outstanding, so she wouldn’t mind it. However, he’d probably had a fling or two since her, and she’d messed around with a couple of dudes, nothing serious. Maybe each of them had learned new things to add to an already wonderful sexual experience.

Rather than push play, she rose and meandered to her bedroom, where she dug out her waterproof vibrator and decided a long bath, a glass of wine, and a couple of orgasms was just the thing. While the hot water ran to fill the tub, she returned to the kitchen for her glass of red. She filled the glass more than halfway full since the bottle was close to empty, then tossed it into recycling, frowning when she heard it clink against another bottle. She remembered she hadn’t taken the recycling in three weeks and didn’t feel quite so guilty about the three bottles in there now.

She returned to the bedroom and stripped, grabbed the vibrator off the bed, and walked into the steamy bathroom. After putting her hair up in a messy bun, she tested the water, which was warmed to perfection. Her splurge on bath bombs a couple of weeks ago had not been taken advantage of, so she had three scent choices. She chose one called Ocean Spray, which sounded like the juice but was deliciously beachy in its fragrance once it exploded in the water. She missed the beach and hoped to go somewhere this summer. She hadn’t been on a trip of any kind since her honeymoon to Cancun, a gift from Travis’ parents.

Diana placed the wine and the vibrator where they would be easy to reach, slipped into the frothy water, and slid down until most of her torso was covered. The bathtub was woefully small, and because of her height, she often propped her legs up on the wall so her body could stay warm. She did so now, and rather than cross them comfortably, she propped one foot on the wall to her right, while the other leg lay over the ledge of the tub. Sighing, she sipped her wine—gulped really—before grabbing her vibrator and switching it on.

She let her mind wander, and rather than replaying an old sex scene she’d shared with Travis, she invented a new one. The vibrator splashed a little as she eased it into the water and over her clit, her usual masturbation technique. Rather than the impersonal toy massaging her clit, she imagined Travis’ tongue. He’d always had such a talented tongue.

He flicked it against her clit, sucking hard, then flicking it forcefully until she was writhing. He slipped a finger, then another, into her pussy, moving them gently back and forth as his tongue drove her to madness. Her head tossed back and forth as an orgasm built more quickly than even she had been able to produce, and with a cry of passion, she released the climax and felt her pussy clenching around his wet fingers.

Travis lifted over her, smiling, but he didn’t speak. In his hand he held her vibrator and guided her to hold it on her clit. He pushed her legs wider, holding one with his forearm so her foot was in the air, and plunged into her pussy with a cock she remembered as being larger than average. The man used his cock like a weapon of passion, driving it into her as her clit pulsated with the vibrator and her pussy began to clench tightly again.

She forced her eyes open to look into his, and when their eyes met, her orgasm clashed like cymbals and she cried out his name, letting the delicious sweetness of her pleasure and passion take her. He cried out as well, bellowing her name as he spilled his seed into her body.

Breathing hard, Diana frowned because the fantasy had barely started and she’d already come twice. She had always been a lucky woman because her body responded well and quickly to certain stimuli. She could come as many as three or four times if the man was talented enough, and Travis had been so good they’d set a record of eight in one three-hour session. With breaks, she heard Travis remind her in her mind and chuckled.

Sighing, she set aside the vibrator to clean when her bath was finished, lifted her wine off the counter, and relaxed again into the water, feeling content but not as pleased as she wanted to be. The vibrator wouldn’t cut it much longer; she needed the real thing soon.

* * *

Monday at the office, Diana was preparing her boss’ coffee though he often told her waiting on him wasn’t part of her job description. She didn’t mind, though, and wanted to butter him up so she could ask to leave early Wednesday. She doubted he cared, but a perfectly made cup of coffee first thing on a Monday morning couldn’t hurt her chances.

Cameron walked in at five minutes to nine, his usual entrance, and she had his cup of coffee on his desk waiting for him. He lifted it immediately and sipped, then hummed in satisfaction. “Thank you, Diana. I needed this today.”

“Didn’t sleep well?” she asked politely, though from his slightly ruffled appearance—which was odd for him—she knew the answer was yes. His hair, a beautiful brown, was clipped short and styled perfectly by his boyfriend. This morning, he had a cowlick in the back, and while his suit was perfectly ironed, his shirt was slightly rumpled and his tie was crooked.

“Well, you know Ronnie is out of town, which just screws me up,” Cameron reminded her as he flopped into his chair. “If I had a big case going, I’d lose my mind.”

Diana chuckled, wishing for someone to love her as much as Cameron and Ronnie loved each other. Surprised by her random wish caused by the touch of jealousy she felt, she shook her head. “Where is he again?”

“He went to Dallas for some convention,” he explained, eyeing her over his coffee rim. “Did you know hair stylists have conventions?”

“Apparently everyone has conventions, except lawyers and their assistants,” Diana told him, grinning.

“Too busy researching other people’s mistakes, I guess,” he grumbled. He shook himself, looking at her, and said, “I sound like I hate my job.”

“No, you sound like someone who isn’t sleeping because his boyfriend isn’t home,” Diana corrected. “When’s he coming home?”

“Thursday.”

Diana gasped as she rose quickly. “I’ll run out and stock up on coffee. And chocolate. And maybe some wine.” She put her hands on her hips, an expression of epiphany on her face. “In fact, I’ll come stay with you since you’ll have all my favorite things at your house.”

“Sit down, drama queen,” he said with a short laugh. “You’re impossible.”

“I’m irreplaceable. I’m sure that’s the word you meant,” she told him as she sat across from him again.

“Uh huh,” he answered, sighing as he rubbed his eyes, speaking without looking at her. “You seem chipper. Something brewing in your world that needs my attention?”

Diana laughed and nodded. “Well, I had a date Saturday for lunch, and it went really well. We chatted Saturday evening and yesterday. He texted me off and on all day! Which sounds annoying, but it wasn’t at all.”

“Ah, that means you like this one,” Cameron said, sitting up and sipping his coffee, ready for the gossip. “Do you have plans for another date?”

“Um, yes, actually, which I wanted to talk to you about,” Diana began, sitting back and wishing she had her own cup of coffee for this chat. He’d arrived before she had a chance to make her own. “He asked me to go out Wednesday night and wants to pick me up by five.” The question was implied by the look on her face.

Cameron waved a hand dismissively at her. “We aren’t busy right now. Leave at three so you’ll have time to get prettied up. Who is this lucky fellow?” Diana felt her face warm, and Cameron threw his head back and laughed. “He must be special if you’re blushing.”

“Shut up,” she replied, giggling and coyly looking away. “I have no idea why I’m embarrassed. It’s Travis.”

Cameron’s chuckling halted instantly as his expression changed to one of piqued interest. “Oh really? As in the ex-hubby Travis?”

“That’s the one,” Diana conceded, a broad smile on her face.

“Well, do tell,” Cameron cooed, leaning on his desk with his chin in both hands, much like a teenaged girl would while listening to a story about her crush.

Diana quickly told him about seeing him Friday night on her birthday and his buying her a drink, friending her on Facebook, and getting her number. After a quick summary of lunch, she said, “And now we’re going out again on Wednesday.”

“Oooo, where are you going?”

“He said it’s a surprise,” Diana told him, lifting her shoulders in excitement, her hands clasped. “He knows I love surprises.”

“Well, damn,” he breathed, watching her. “You’re absolutely smitten.”

“Always have been,” she admitted. Grateful for a boss she was close with, she leaned forward and added, “I’ll be honest, I never stopped loving him. Which scares the hell out of me.”

Cameron nodded knowingly. “I knew you hadn’t, even if you tried to hide it. That’s why you haven’t really dated since him.”

Diana pursed her lips as she acknowledged the truth in his words. “Yes, I guess that’s true.”

“And it’s definitely okay to be scared. The two of you struggled with personal demons that destroyed your marriage. I know you’ve conquered yours,” he continued, eyeing her, “but has he conquered his?”

Diana was no longer embarrassed when Cameron brought up her gambling problem. Part of the healing process, he always told her, was to talk about it occasionally to remind herself what she’d gone through.

“He says he has, and I believe him. He’s taking me out on a Wednesday night at five!” Diana exclaimed, shaking her head in amazement. “He never would have done that before. Mostly because he was at the office until eight or nine, but you know.”

“Oh, Diana, this is so wonderful! I’m very happy for you and hope it goes as you would like,” Cameron gushed. He slammed his hands down on the desk. “Damn. If Ronnie was here, he’d insist on doing your hair and makeup. The man wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off you.”

Diana laughed. “I wish he was too! But I’ve got Alyssa. She’ll come over and help get me dolled up.”

Cameron lifted an eyebrow at the mention of Alyssa. “That old bag. Hmph.”

Diana huffed out a breath. “Come on. I know you don’t like her, but she’s my best friend. Has been since high school.”

“I don’t mean any offense, but she rubs me the wrong way every time I see her,” Cameron explained for the millionth time. “I feel like she’s a bad influence on your good nature.”

With a grimace, she admitted, “You know, Travis used to say the same thing.”

“Aha!” Cameron threw a fist in the air. “We can’t both be wrong about her!”

“I know, I know, but she helped me a lot when I got a divorce,” Diana defended. “I’ll keep her around a while longer.”

“Well, all right. But I warned you.”

“Yes, a million and one times, thank you,” she responded, offering him her sweetest smile and adding batting eyelashes to ease the mean girl tone she’d adopted. “Enough gossip. What’s on the agenda today?”

“Ugh, more work, less gossip,” Cameron complained as he opened his appointment book to go through their schedule for the day and the week.