The Grass Could Be Greener

by Constance Masters

  “Why would they wanna go and do all that?” Josie asked.

  “For an experiment,” Sarah said. “And for the money. The money will come in really handy.”

  “Can we at least watch the show if we’re going to be on it?” Josie asked.

  “No, not all of it. It’s not a kids show,” Joe said.

  “Well that’s not fair. If we’re going to be on TV, we outta be able to watch the show.”

  “Don’t be fresh,” Sarah reminded her.

  “Well, it’s not, Momma!”

  Sarah bit back a grin. If they were to take a vote in their house, the thirteen–year–old would be voted most likely to get in trouble out of all four kids. She reminded her so much of herself at the same age. Outspoken, questioning everything and rash in both actions and reactions.

  “Josie,” Joe said. “Enough. When the show is finished, I will find some fun stuff from the footage that is suitable for you kids to watch and we’ll have a movie evening.”

  “Lucky us,” Josie muttered.

  “That’s it,” Joe said. “Reflection chair.”

  “Because I had an opinion?”

  “Because you obviously forgot to whom you were talking when you muttered your opinion under your breath but loud enough for me to hear.”

  Josie managed to bite back the sass that was dangling on her tongue and stomped towards the thinking area.

  “Josie Wilson!” Joe barked. “Walk, don’t stomp.”

  Josie flicked her red hair over her shoulder and walked the rest of the way, with as much enthusiasm as she dared.

  “Can I have some more cereal?” Matthew asked with a grin.

  “Yes, Matthew,” Sarah answered, pouring more cereal into his bowl and topping it with milk.

  “Thanks,” he said, happily chomping.

  “You’re welcome.” Sarah stroked the silky hair of the happy–go–lucky member of the clan. Nothing fazed him. “Are you going to be ok with all this, Matty?”

  “You’re coming back aren’t ya?” The eight year old asked. “In two weeks? Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  “I’ll be ok then,” he said with a smile.

  Sarah looked down to find Hannah tugging at her skirt. “Hi, Honey,” she said.

  “Mommy, can I come wif you?” Hannah begged. “Please?” Her large brown eyes were filled with tears. At five, she was the baby of the family and very much a Momma’s girl.

  “I’m sorry, Honey, but you can’t this time. This is something that Mommy has to do on her own.” Sarah looked at Joe with a flash of despair. She hated hurting her children and had never left them before.

  Joe immediately scooped up Hannah and sat in the chair next to his wife with his daughter in his lap. “Josie, you may join us again,” he called. When a contrite Josie sat back at the table, Joe smiled at her.

  “Mommy and Daddy have decided to do this thing because we think it’s a decision that will be good for our family,” he said. “Mommy won’t be here, but I will be and I’ll make sure that you’re ok. I expect you to be polite to the new Mommy and to treat her with the same respect that you show your own mother. Ok?”

  There was an assortment of nods and affirmations around the table.

  “Good,” he said. “Now it’s Saturday morning so you know what that means.”

  “Yard work,” they all said.

  “Let’s get to it and then we can do something fun.”

  “What?” Hannah asked, now hanging off her Daddy’s neck.

  “Yard first and then we’ll be going on a picnic! Better get cracking.”

  Sarah giggled as the kids all tore outside to get started. “Guess I’ll be packing a picnic then?” she teased.

  “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  “I don’t,” she said, leaning over to kiss him.

  *****

  “Joe?” Sarah asked as she lay in the dark.

  Joe turned to face his wife. He could hear in her voice something was wrong. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “Something’s wrong.”

  “Joe, are you going to spank her, your new wife?”

  “My new wife,” he said with a chuckle. “So that’s what’s got you worried.”

  “I just want to know if you’re going to spank her.”

  “Hmmm. I guess I will,” he said, sitting up against the headboard. “If she needs it, I probably will spank her.”

  “Oh.”

  “Are you pouting?” he asked.

  “Maybe,” she mumbled. No sooner had the word left her lips than she found herself flipped over her husband’s knee.

  “Now,” he said smoothing her pajamas over her bottom. “I’m going to show you the difference between the way I would spank you and the way I would spank a naughty stranger.”

  “You could just explain!” she squeaked as his hand fell across her pajama–clad bottom.

  “No, no. There is no way I’d let my wife go away unsure of what was happening at home,” he said, punctuating his words with solid smacks.

  “No, you wouldn’t, really, I get it,” she said as her bottom twitched and clenched against her husband’s hard palm. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

  “I’m glad you did,” he said, slipping his hand inside her pajamas to rub and squeeze her warm cheeks.

  Sarah was just starting to relax when his hand slipped back out of her pants and started once again to bounce off her warm cheeks.

  “Stop, Joe, you’re hurting me.”

  “Don’t be a baby now, you’re still wearing your pants.”

  “They’re not helping!” she hissed.

  “Now you’re going to have to use your imagination here, Sarah, because the lady that’s coming to stay will not be wearing pajamas if she happens to end up over my knee.”

  “What?” Sarah yelped.

  “Relax,” he said, spanking each cheek several times. “She will definitely not be naked either.”

  “Oh,” Sarah said allowing the relief to penetrate her addled brain. “Good.”

  “How could you think such a thing?” he said spanking her bottom eagerly. “That I would spank another woman’s naked bottom.”

  “I... I wasn’t really. I just I didn’t know what you meant.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m going to make sure that you know what I meant.”

  She wriggled and squirmed and kicked her legs wildly as her stubborn husband continued to heat her bottom to scorching.

  “Imagine that your pajamas are clothes. Jeans, a dress, whatever. Clothes.”

  Each word was punctuated with a smack that made her eyes blink and her pussy twitch wantonly. She didn’t know if it was Joe’s bossy voice or the spanking itself, but draped over his knee getting spanked soundly always made her want him. None of that changed the fact her behind was sizzling.

  “I get it,” she wailed. “You can stop now.”

  “No, I have to make sure,” he said, his hand still bouncing off her bottom. “That’s how I would spank a stranger.”

  Suddenly the spanks stopped and Sarah sucked in a cleansing breath.

  Her relief was short lived though as her her pajama bottoms headed south. “But you’re finished,” she said, trying to turn around. A large hand pressed her back down and remained on the small of her back.

  “Not yet,” he said. “You’re my wife.”

  “Ow,” she cried “I know.”

  “I’m not sure that you do,” he said. “You’re my real wife.” His hand bounced off her now very pink and naked bottom although they had slowed a little to a steady pace.

  “Okay,” she sniffled.

  “You’re the only wife I will ever spank like this.” He slapped her bottom hard and low across both quivering cheeks.

  “I believe you.” Those were the words he appeared to be waiting for because he stopped immediately. She sighed with pleasure as the hand that had punished now rubbed out the sting. “Ahhh,” she breathed with contentment as
Joe slipped a finger between her cheeks.

  “This bottom is the only bottom I’ll ever touch,” he said, running a finger delicately over her tight pucker before skimming down between her slick lips.

  She whimpered when he worried her swollen nub. “Ooh.” She pushed up towards his busy fingers.

  He moved her next to him and held her close, pinning her down with one leg so she couldn’t turn away. “You are the only woman that I ever want to make love to.”

  At peace once more, Sarah laid back and wrapped her arms and legs around her husband as he moved on top of her.

  “I trust you,” she whispered into his ear.

  “Good. You don’t have a thing to worry about,” he said as he slipped deep inside her. “Oh, but I’m going to miss you, girl.”

  *****

  Jamie stood in the hall and blinked back the hot tears that were forming behind her closed eyelids. She felt so dejected. Jeremy could be so cold when he was angry and it hurt her deeply. Sometimes she wished he would just get up and fight, and tell her why he was angry! At least give her a chance to explain. But that wasn’t his style. His style was to close down and shut her out. Oh well, time for a nightcap. Might as well, she thought, there’s no way she’d be able to sleep without it in a cold bed knowing that her husband didn’t want to be with her. If Jeremy wanted to freeze her out then she wouldn’t beg for his attention, she thought as she drained the glass.

  Another glass of wine in hand, the deflated young woman sat on a bar stool at the kitchen counter where Jeremy had left the contracts. She flicked through them without really paying attention to their content. Jeremy was the careful one, although he was angry, he still would have looked them over thoroughly. She was a little surprised but pleased when she realised he’d done as she asked and signed the sections with crosses on his sections, despite his latest sulk. That put a little wind back in her sails. A small victory, but a victory all the same. With a smug smile she plucked her favourite feathered pen out of her bag and signed her name on the dotted line of several papers that were in a pile on the counter, not even noticing that the extra that Jeremy had added to the pile was a little different.

  “No going back now,” she said draining her glass of wine. “Maybe after a week with someone else’s wife, you’ll see I’m not that bad.” She guzzled the contents of the glass before pouring another.

  Chapter 2

  “Can I help, Mom?” Josie asked as she watched her mom pack her bag. She’d never seen her mother pack a bag before. Probably because she’d never actually gone anywhere.

  “It’s okay, honey. I’m nearly done, but thank you,” Sarah smiled at the young girl who was clearly shaken by this change.

  They had talked to the kids a lot over the days leading up to the swap, making sure they understood that it was only two weeks and she would come home and things would be the same. They made sure that the kids understood that while there might be a few changes made by the other mom on the second week, their core beliefs wouldn’t change. As she watched the emotions flickering across Josie’s face, she worried if what they were doing was the right thing for the kids. Still, they were the adults and it was up to them to make the final decision. She knew that Joe would keep the kids safe, even from themselves if it all got too much. It was obvious to Sarah that Josie was excited about this even if she wasn’t willing to admit it. There was a war going on inside her daughter’s head. Guilt at being excited over this new unknown experience versus being a little bit happy that she was about to experience something new. She hoped she managed to have some fun... she was such a good girl, really.

  “I’d like you older kids to help out with the younger ones,” Sarah reminded.

  “We will, Mom,” Josie said. “I’m going to miss you though.”

  “I’m going to miss you, too.” Sarah didn’t miss the sparkle that was in her daughter’s eye. “It’s okay to be a little excited, you know.”

  “I’m not, not really,” Josie said, worried and embarrassed that her mom might think she was trying to be rid of her. Nothing could be further from the truth. “I love you. I think you’re the best mom in the whole world.”

  Sarah’s eyes teared up at the unusual and genuine catch of emotion in her daughter’s throat. “I know you love me. I also know how it feels to be thirteen and feel like things are always the same. It’s exciting when something changes.”

  “Yeah. I was upset in the beginning, but when I got to thinking about it, it might be a little fun.”

  “It might at that,” Sarah said with a reassuring smile. “All packed.”

  “Hi,” Joe said. “May I have a moment with your mom, please, Josie?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she said. She stopped to give her mother a hug on her way out.

  *****

  “All set?” Joe asked. He ran his fingers down her cheek with a featherlike touch.

  “Yes and no. This is the first time we’ve been apart since we married. It’s the first time I’ve left my babies.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  “Not all the time. I’ve set the schoolwork out.”

  “I know. You showed me. I’ll show her.”

  “Explain to her that she needs to keep an eye on Mattie. If she leaves him to study on his own, he’ll just stare off into space.”

  “It’s in the diary you’ve written for her but I’ll tell her.”

  “It’s going to be ok, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it will,” he said, pulling her in for one last hug. “I have to tell you, though, this will be the longest two weeks of my life.”

  “Me too.”

  *****

  “Are you going to miss me?” Jamie asked.

  He ran his hand over her hair in a show of affection that hadn’t passed between them for a while. “Of course,” he said. “It was I that was worried about you going, remember?”

  “I don’t want to argue. I was just hoping we could have a nice moment before I left.” Jamie was so confused. This was what she wanted. She’d gotten what she wanted and yet it felt like she’d failed somehow – like they were poles apart and this could widen the gap. She was at a loss. It was too late now to change her mind even if she wanted to, which she didn’t. She wanted to do this article. She also hoped that absence would make the heart grow fonder. She wanted him to be so lost without her that he’d never want to let her go or to sleep in another bed. Crap, they sounded like selfish reasons inside her head.

  “I wasn’t trying to argue with you.”

  “Good. Well? Will you miss me?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I’ll miss you. I told you, didn’t you hear me?”

  “Sorry, I was distracted.”

  “Uh–huh. You’ve been distracted and I’ve been missing you already for quite sometime.”

  “Maybe we might find some answers through this. Find a way to make this better.”

  “Here’s hoping,” Jeremy said.

  Jamie was startled when Jeremy pulled her into an embrace that could be described as commanding. His kiss just about melted her bones. He held her to him tightly with one hand while the other wound in her hair making it impossible for her to pull away, even if she’d wanted to. Her insides squirmed and her nether regions thumped desperately. Now he takes charge, she thought, just as she had to leave. Just as there was a camera waiting and her lipstick would get smeared.

  “I, um, just need to use the bathroom,” she stammered as he finally loosened his hold. Oh why had he waited until the last minute? She escaped to the bathroom and leaned against the door feeling like she’d just cheated on her husband with a stranger. She would like to get to know this man.

  “You fixed your lipstick,” Jeremy said as she returned to the curb and the waiting car. “Sorry, I messed it up.”

  “That wasn’t what I went in there for, it’s just...”

  “I know. The cameras.”

  Damn, cold Jeremy was back.

  Caroline met them at the bottom of the stairs. She was d
ressed smartly and she had her going out face on with the pink lipstick. The girls were dressed in pretty dresses and their hair had been tamed into soft pretty curls with hair ribbons that matched their dresses. Poppy was smiling but when Sophie caught sight of the suitcase, she clapped both hands over her face.

  “Are you going to give Mommy a hug, Soph?” Jamie asked, trying to act as calm as you can when your daughter is acting strangely in front of a television camera. Sophie allowed herself to be lifted into her Mommy’s arms but she kept her hands firmly over her face. It nearly broke Jamie’s heart that her daughter wouldn’t even look at her, let alone say goodbye.

  “I love you, baby, Mommy’s going to miss you. Take her Jeremy so I can take a picture with my phone.”

  Jeremy took his daughter and tried to get her to remove her hands without making a scene but she had no intention of complying so he did the only thing he could. He shrugged.

  Jamie clicked a picture with a smile that she wasn’t feeling and took Poppy from Caroline.

  “Mommy will miss you, Poppy,” she said, repeating the words she’d said to her oldest. Poppy seemed to like the camera and was young enough to be pretty oblivious to the fact her mommy was leaving for longer than a trip to work. She smacked her mommy’s cheek with a big kiss.

  “Bye, Momma,” she said, turning to smile at the camera like a pro. Jamie clung on to her baby for a little while longer until the producer gave her a wind up signal. She kissed Poppy one more time and bent to kiss Sophie but ended up kissing her curls as the little girl turned her head away.

  The family walked out to the cab with the camera following, Caroline doing her best to keep up in her heels.

  Jamie went to the much–loved nanny first. She’d already said her goodbyes to the children and she didn’t want to torture them anymore by drawing it out, so she kissed each of their cheeks and then hugged Caroline.

  “Thank you for everything, Caroline. Please look after my girls.”

  “Of course, Jamie,” she said. “I always do.”