When Julia went back home from the shopping center she wasn’t thinking about a fight. She wasn’t thinking about Marie-Claude either. Actually, she wasn’t thinking anything except that it was a gorgeous, hot, summer day, and that, rightaway, she would try this new swimsuit she just bought.
So, when she entered their big, two-stories, house, she shouted : “Hubby I am here! You’ll love what I bought!” But with a cigarette firmly held in her lips, her boice did not sound very loud.
There was no answer. Yet, Derek’s car was out, so he was home. The she heard music coming from the patio and she thought that her husband was on the patio, listening to the radio. That’s why he did not hear her calling him. So she closed the door, making as little noise as possible.
So she decided to surprise him and went, first to the kitchen to put the food she had had also bought in the fridge. She was careful to stay silent. She had become an expert at doing things with one hand and holding a cigarette with the other.
She could relish in advance her man’s eyes when he would see her in that flashy red, low-cut bikini. So she, very carefully, put the food items in the fridge and then walked to their bedroom. When she passed the staircase she looked up, wondering if Marie-Claude was there.
That little bitch.
But there was no noise coming from the room at the second floor and, since she hadn’t seen Marie-Claude’s bike, she concluded that her tenant was still at work, at that crappy restaurant in town where she was a waitress, or in a classroom at the local police academy where she studied to be a cop.
The idea of that chubby bitch as a cop made Julia’s sneer. She wondered what she would say if she ever caught a ticket from that bimbo. She would certainly have a hard time staying polite.
All that crossed Julia’s mind in a flash because she couldn’t wait to flaunt her bikini-clad body to her husband.
So she walked quickly, stopped at the bathroom to throw her cigarette in the toilet bowl and went to the bedroom where, in silence, she closed the door behind her.
Then she opened the bag from that expensive store where she had bought the bikini. She pulled away all the paper that made it look like she had a complete wardrobe in that paper bag and took out the two tiny piece of red lycra which she put on the bed. She also pulled out the white cover-up shirt she had bought with it. Then she took off her white linen shirt, unveiling her 38c bra, not much wither than her skin. She could see, in the mirror in front of her, that she really needed a tan, anyway. She still had love handles around her waist but she had lost at least 20 pounds since winter, by cutting down the junk food. Now at 142 pounds, she could even see her ribs when she breathed. She then pulled down her beige pants, showing her white panties and long legs. At 5’9 she taught she would look as good as anybody in a bikini. She certainly looked as good as any 52 year-old she knew !
She took off her bra. Now that was a bit disappointing and she did not lose any time looking at her breast. They were saggy, she knew that, but she was sure it would not show once she had the bikini top on. She took off her panties, revealing her grey bush. Quickly she put the bikini bottom, then the top. Then she looked at herself in the mirror.
She did look rather good in a bikini. She was no fitness model but her legs were great. She looked at herself from the side. Her butts were not bad at all. Just a bit soft, but no cellulite. She had a bit of a belly but it was less than half what it had been before the diet. It hardly showed when she hardened her abdominals. Her arms had a little bit of extra soft flesh under them but it showed only when she raised them shoulder height.
She had to admit that her breast still looked soft even with the bikini top. Especially when looked at from the side.
She also see that she still had some flab in her back, near the shoulder blade. Obviously dieting was not enough and, to get the body she wanted, she would have to go back to exercising. She had done boxercise in the past. Doing it again could be good. She would have to quit smoking though, because she knew how much breath it needed. And that would be the real challenge.
Anyway. All in all, she did not look bad at all, she tought. Her face was beautiful and, with her blue eyes and short blond hair, she looked rather younger than her age.
So she put on the white cover up, leaving it open so her bikini would show and she walked out the room, barefoot on the cold floor.
As she walked across the house, through the living room towards the patio door, she heard noises coming from outside.
There was the music, of course. Then there was voices. Two voices. Derek’s and a woman’s.
She stopped in her tracks. Her heart sunk in her chest. There was chit-chat and laughs. And she knew that laugh.
Marie-Claude’s.
She knew Marie-Claude frequently sunbathed on the patio.
That was part of why Julia hated her. She had noticed the way her husband stared at the 22-year-old when she exposed her body to the sun. Marie-Claude did not have any complex with bikinis either. And she looked good. Brown curly haired, brown skinned, 5 ft 8, 138 pounds. She looked a bit chubby, with large hips and a very round and firm 38c but her legs and her shoulders showed that she was more of the “beefy” kind. Nothing quivered went she walked around in her athletic, boyleg blue bikini.
Julia had told Derek to stay away from her. He had laughed it off, calling her “paranoid” and “jealous”.
She had also told Marie-Claude to stay away from her husband but the little slut didn’t even seem to understand what was wrong.
Marie-Claude did not have a boyfriend. She had said that she wanted one but did not have time to chase boys with her work and college.
Julia was convinced that she had views on Derek.
Jealous ? You bet. Julia had always been jealous.
And now, she was both distressed and angry.
She came out of her stupor and almost run to the patio. When she opened the bay window , she saw Derek, in bathing trunks with a shirt on, laughing out loud.
He was sitting on a chair, right next to Marie-Claude, who was sitting on a beach towel, in her blue bikini, near the out-of-ground swimming pool’s edge. She was laughing too.
From the movement of his hands, Julia could have sworn Derek had just pinched Marie-Claude’s waist.
-“You, trash!” she shrieked when she opened the bay window.
They both looked at her with an expression of total surprise on their faces.
Derek was red as a beet but he was the first to be able to speak.
-“What ? Julia ! What got into you ? That’s rude !”
Julia came out of the house and stood on the patio, her fists on her hips.
-“Rude ? Me ? And how do you call what you were doing with that little slut ?”
Derek stood up and tried to reason with his wife.
“For Christ’ sake, Julia ! What do you think we were actually doing ? We were just…”
-“Oh !Stop it ! Devious jerk !” Julia shouted. Her face was red and her voice seemed to hiss like a snake.
Derek’s attempt to reason with his wife when she was angry never lasted very long. He knew better. So, as usual, he chose the better part of valor.
He walked to the stairs and went down the patio, saying.
“I’ll come back when you are less hysterical!” Julia heard the car’s door opening and closing, the engine run and the car leaving the yard.
So Julia was left alone with Marie-Claude. The young woman was standing up now, her face still white from the insults Julia had yelled at her.
To be continued
The Masked Writer
