Andrea Xandros flinched slightly and a grimace appeared on her beautiful face as the buzzing of her pager shattered the quiet of her office. Gathering her frayed nerves, she picked up the pager and closed her cerulean blue eyes as tears of shame and guilt quickly filled them when she read the number silently.

 

The small screen read: 1983NYT. Andi knew it was her lover. It was the message Jamie sent every time that she wanted to meet. The whole torrid affair was wrong, but Andi felt powerless to stop it. When she thought she’d finally worked up the nerve to do it, Jamie would send her one look with those green eyes and all of her will power would disappear.

 

Andi had been cheating on her wife Sharon for the past two of the nine years that they’d been together, half of the time that her son Mikey had been alive. Andi’s head dropped back against the headrest on her leather chair and she dropped the pager into her lap as she let the memory of that one fateful night run through her mind.

 

Andi sighed as Sharon shook her head in exasperation. Sitting down next to Sharon, she propped her elbows on her knees and thought about how to phrase her excuse. “I’m sorry, Honey. I know you were looking forward to it being just the two of us this weekend, but he is my twin brother. It’s not every day that he gets married. I have to be there at the bachelor party and we both should go to the wedding.”

 

Sharon sighed sadly. Her brown eyes finally looked into Andi’s eyes. “I know. I’m just a little disappointed.”

 

Andi stood and smiled, bending down to place an almost chaste kiss on Sharon’s lips. When she stood up, she noticed the sad smile on Sharon’s lips and as always, she pretended it was about another missed opportunity instead of the fraying bonds of their marriage. “I’ll be back tomorrow and then we’ll go to the wedding. I’d come back tonight but you know how my family gets.”

 

Sharon snorted and shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, rowdy and randy,” She used Andi’s siblings’ favorite phrase with sarcasm. “I just hope that you can keep the randy part to yourself until you get home tomorrow.”

 

Again, Andi ignored the half-serious tone of Sharon’s voice. “Don’t worry, Babe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

Andi briefly shook her head as she thought about her own ignorance on that evening, then her mind continued to the moment when things started to go wrong.

 

Andi stood next to her father, Mikhael, who despite being in his early sixties could pass as any of his kids’ twin with the exception of a few wrinkles. They both looked up when they heard Andi’s older brother Drake, her older sister Randi, and her twin brother Drew give out loud whistles. She then smirked when she noticed the group of co-eds that had entered the bar and drawn their attention. Her eyes were drawn to the back of the group to a small strawberry-blonde who was blushing furiously at the whistles coming from Andi’s family.

 

An hour had passed and Andi was sitting next to Drew across from Drake, Randi and their father. Feeling Drew nudge her in her left side with his elbow, she turned to look at him and raised a finely sculpted eyebrow.

 

She drawled, “Yes?”

 

Drew had smirked and gestured toward where the group of young women had sat at a table not far from them. “You’ve got an admirer, it seems. The little blonde chick has been scopin’ you all night, sis. You gonna do somethin’ ‘bout it?”

 

Andi snorted and shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder if you really went through all those annoying classes at Harvard with me or if it was a clone of yours that I don’t know about.”

 

They went through another hour and more alcohol and Andi was definitely feeling a high buzz from the alcohol by the time she noticed the blonde approaching them out of the corner of her eye.

 

She leaned back against the back of the bench seat lazily when the blonde stopped in front of their table and leaned down slightly to be eye to eye with Andi. “Hi, I’m Jamie. I couldn’t help but notice that this was a party and I was wondering what the occasion was.”

 

Andi could barely focus on the words as her mind was confused at which to stare at; Jamie’s breasts barely covered by the nearly bursting white tank top or Jamie’s amazing emerald green eyes. Finally after a few seconds, Andi was about to answer when Drew leaned in front of her and answered. “It’s my bachelor party. I’m Drew and this is my twin sister, Andi.”

 

Andi finally blinked out of her stupor when a small, well-manicured hand was thrust in her direction. Gently taking it in hers, she’d turned it and brought it up to her lips. Placing a soft kiss on the back of Jamie’s hand and releasing it reluctantly, she murmured. “The pleasure’s all mine, Jamie. Would you like to join us?”

 

Jamie had smiled softly, accepting the space offered when Drew and Andi had scooted over. Jamie bought them a few more rounds before one of her friends approached the table. “Hey Jamie, we need to go. It’s past 1 A.M.”

 

Andi had frowned in drunken annoyance at the curly-haired blonde for interrupting her conversation with Jamie. Jamie looked back at Andi and noticed the frown on Andi’s face. “I was hoping that I could hang out here for awhile. I’m sure these guys wouldn’t mind if I caught a ride home from them.”

 

Andi had smiled wolfishly and she shook her head. “Nope, wouldn’t mind a single bit.”

 

Jamie just grinned impishly and returned her attention to her friend. “I’ll be fine, go on home, Lacey.” Once Lacey had gotten out of sight, they’d all returned to their conversation with the alcohol still flowing freely.

 

It was three A.M. when they’d all stumbled out of the club, their alcohol having been shut off by an annoyed bartender. Andi had her arm wrapped around Jamie’s waist and Jamie’s arm was holding just as tightly to her waist. They’d stumbled to a cab that was parked out front and they all managed to find a way to get in; Jamie sat in Andi’s lap, Randi was sitting in Mikhael’s lap and somehow, Drake had managed to settle into Drew’s lap because of Drake being shorter than Drew.

 

The cab had dropped Mikhael, Drake, Randi and Drew off at Mikhael’s large home but Jamie still didn’t move from Andi’s lap as the cab made its way toward Jamie’s shared apartment. When the cab stopped in front of the apartment building, Andi had meant to send Jamie on her way but for some reason she couldn’t say no to Jamie’s request for her to come up for a cup of coffee.

 

They’d gone up the stairs to the apartment and entered the darkened kitchen. Andi had expected Jamie to turn on the light but was surprised when she felt Jamie press into her against the refrigerator and pull her head down. Jamie kissed Andi passionately and Andi moaned. Shocked at hearing the sound of her own voice echo off the walls of the apartment, Andi pulled away from Jamie’s searing lips.

 

Gasping, she protested. “We shouldn’t... do... this.”

 

Jamie panted, “Why not?”

 

Andi knew it was a weak protest, but she had to try because she couldn’t bring herself to turn Jamie down. She was so drawn to Jamie that she felt as if she was being pulled by some unseen force. “Your roommate could walk in.”

 

Jamie smirked in the darkened room and pulled Andi toward the hallway by the belt loops on her tight jeans. She said, “Lacey’s with her girlfriend. We’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about.” They were both quiet as they walked toward the bedroom, the only noise being their slightly elevated breathing.

 

Once they were in Jamie’s bedroom, Jamie had turned a lamp on and then pulled the tight white tank top she’d been wearing over hear head exposing her firm, large breasts to Andi’s eyes.

 

A playful pout appeared on her lips and she peered up at the dark haired woman through her lashes. She playfully asked, “Unless you don’t want me?”

 

Andi had felt as if something had snapped inside of her as she watched the playful display. She’d pulled Jamie to her and kissed her harshly, all the while pulling both of their clothing off of their bodies.

 

When they separated for air, Andi picked Jamie up in her arms and laid her gently on the bed before climbing on top of her like a panther after its prey. Seeing the desire in Jamie’s green eyes, Andi forgot all about the real reason as to why they shouldn’t do this. They made love all through the night, something she hadn’t done with Sharon since before they’d gotten married.

 

The next morning, Andi had awoken with a hangover and Jamie’s back was pressed against her front. She didn’t feel the guilt crash down on her until she shut the door to the bathroom that she’d gotten up in search of. It was the same guilt that made her quickly use the bathroom and hurry back to the bedroom to get dressed. She convinced herself as she got into a cab in the parking lot that she’d left the note and her pager number because she needed to apologize to Jamie for misleading her.

 

When she’d gotten home, she’d taken a shower and then woke Sharon up to make love to her. When they’d finished, Andi had felt ashamed and guilty.

 

Over the time period of the affair, Andi’s shame had started to turn into an emptiness that was slowly killing her soul and she knew nothing could stop it. Andi couldn’t leave Sharon, Sharon still loved Andi and Mikey needed them both. Every morning that Andi left Jamie’s arms, she’d make a promise to herself that the next time Jamie paged her she would break it off; only to have that promise run out the door as soon as Andi looked into Jamie’s emerald green eyes filled with desire for her.

 

The tears in Andi’s eyes flowed down her cheeks as she silently admitted something to herself that she’d never allowed before. ‘I love Sharon, but... Jamie completes my soul, makes me feel a wholeness that Sharon never has.’

 

Once the flow of her tears stopped, Andi felt resignation strongly pulse through her. Her eyes closed briefly before she opened them and picked up her cell-phone from the corner of the desk. Pressing the speed dial number that she knew would dial Sharon’s number; she cleared her throat and waited. It didn’t take long.

 

“Hello?” Sharon’s smooth southern accent came through as clearly as it could on a cell-phone.

 

“Hey, Honey. I’m sorry, but I have to go on another business trip.” Andi lied easily, and then thought guiltily. ‘Jesus, I’m getting too damn good at that.’

 

She heard Sharon’s sigh of resignation and then a rustle of paper before Sharon replied. “It’s okay, Andi. It’s not like we had anything planned tonight.”

 

“I’m glad that you aren’t mad, but I need to get going now if I want to get to the airport in time.” They said their goodbyes and then Andi stood from her desk chair. Picking up her black leather briefcase, and re-attaching her cell-phone and pager to her belt as she made her way out the door.

 

When Andi got into her silver BMW, she closed her eyes as she felt her soul fill with the calmness that always signaled that she would soon be in Jamie’s arms again.

 

 

The End

 

Continued in Unraveling