Howard was scrubbing down his car in his driveway the following morning while Carl scampered about spraying him water from his toy pistol. He played along with him but carefully so as not to slip on the soapy water that had wet the ground and his feet. The sun was hot on his backside; sweat popped on his face profusely. An easier decision would have been to drive to a nearby carwash, but attempting that would only entice Carl to want to tag along. It would have given him the perfect excuse to give Becca a call and figure how they could meet later. Just the thought of her gave him a quick arousal. But he had Carl lurking around thus enabling him to swipe her off his mind and resume his washing.
He was on the other side of the car scrubbing the windscreen when April came out the front door wearing a t-shirt and summer shorts. Carl raced across to join her and together they came around to where Howard was squeezing his rag cloth into the bucket of water by her feet.
"You're going to get burned by the time you're done," she said.
"It's okay, I'm almost done here. You're the one who ought to go inside."
"I will. I just came to deliver a message," she leaned closer out of earshot from their son and whispered, "Your girlfriend called a little while ago."
The rag fell from his hand into the bucket the moment she uttered those words. Goosebumps broke across his arms all the way down his spine. He tried to remain calm resolve against April reading him for signs that she had finally caught him doing something naughty. Too late, she caught the glimmer of surprise in his eyes. That gave her a satisfying smile knowing she had him by the balls literally. She shooed her son away so she could have a quiet moment with him.
"You took up my hall pass after all," she said. Howard said nothing as he picked up the cloth rag from the bucket and returned to wiping the windshield vigorously this time. April waited for him to say something, then pressed on when he did not. "I thought we made a deal to be honest with each other henceforth."
Howard stopped and looked around for where his son was playing at. "Yeah, I took up your hall pass. You told me to, remember?"
"I'm not fighting you on that, honey. Just thought you'd tell me you'd done so. I was worried that you wouldn't."
"The woman that called, did she say what her name was?"
"Becca. Quite a name."
"Yeah, quite." He rinsed the rag cloth into the bucket. "She's my secretary."
"I see. Has this been a long-time affair?"
"No, it started a few days ago," he said. "She's been helping me cope with all what you revealed to me about your life alongside Jenny."
"I hope you're not going around telling everybody all that's going on between us."
"Give me a break, will you," he said. "I was in shock and needed someone to talk to at the time. And you needn't worry, she's not the tattling type."
"Why didn't you tell me of her earlier? Did you think I'd get upset?"
"The thought crossed my mind, yes. I didn't know how you'd take it. And yes, we did have an agreement to be honest with each other and I feel stupid right now not levelling with you. I've had other stuff on my mind and I just didn't think serious about it."
"Well, now we've got that out the way, you intend seeing her soon, like today?"
"I was thinking about that too, but right now I don't know."
"You haven't called her yet?"
He shook his head. He was staring down at his feet this whole time not wanting her to see the misery of having being caught in his eyes.
"I think you should go see her. I did tell her you'd come and see her and that I'd love to meet with her too."
Howard looked at her. "You didn't say that."
April presented him with her phone out of her pocket. "Give her a call if you think I didn't. I told her you'll be there around noon."
Howard looked at her warily but not before drying his hands on his shirt first and then accepting her phone. He checked her call record and true enough there was Becca's number there. He looked again at April not knowing what to make of her latest design. April was all cutesy smiles and there was nothing phony about it, Howard saw.
"I think it'll be great if we use this opportunity to strengthen our bond instead of playing hide-and-seek type games," she explained. "If you've anything else you'd like to share with me, stuff you previously wouldn't, I'd love to hear it."
"There's one," said Howard, feeling confident with himself now. "You recall that friend of Dave's who dropped by the house the other night? Olu Shango was his name."
"Yeah, what about him?"
Howard spoke as fast as he could, wanting to eject not just the words but as well the thoughts off his mind. "He and I have been talking lately and I told him about the . . . lifestyle thing and he talked about wanting to find time to meet you."
April said nothing at first except look about to make sure Carl was not lurking around. Howard thought maybe he had spoken so fast and she had not heard everything he said.
"You want us to meet and you want him to fuck me?"
Howard looked somewhat discomfited that she was throwing the words at him but as well felt glad to have unburdened himself to her at last.
"Yes, but not only that," he said. "I'd also want to watch."
April held his face with her hands and gave him a hard kiss. "That's the most unexpected thing I've heard you say in a long time," she kissed him again. "But more about that later. I need to hurry over to Jenny right now. Watch over Carl for me while I'm gone."
* * *
Howard did finish with his washing before returning into the comfort of his home. He called his secretary and even she was expectantly surprised hearing him call with his wife's phone. Howard soothed her nerves and told her he would be coming by her place around 3:00 pm. Becca replied that she would be waiting. The hour did arrive and Howard grabbed his keys and left with April in tow. They had already arranged for a neighbour's teenage daughter to come by and sit with Carl while they were away. Howard was not comfortable with April accompanying him. Twice he attempted talking her out of it, even complained about cancelling his visit but April had convinced him otherwise.
"You made a promise already remember?" she said. "Whine all you want but this is one appointment you're not going to break."
"It's funny you're this caring," he said in way of sarcasm. "Were this another time you never would bother about who I spent time with, let alone talk like this," he grumbled.
"That's the old me, darling. Out with the old and in with the new. Now stop complaining and learn to be happy for a weekend."
Howard tried to keep his mind focused and happy as they drove towards Becca's apartment. April did much of the talking while he drove. She enquired about his evening adventure of last night and of what he had discussed with Shango. Howard had already described the weird party he and Ted had walked into with Dave, including the part of them finding their friend getting sodomised by two black men. He shrewdly left out the part of him and Ted performing fellatio on one of the men in the room; he did not think April would be able to handle that part.