More often than not, the shared belief in the terrific-ness of Douglas Richardson was not enough. The truth was that her husband was an ageing pilot who lied about the rank he held in order to keep up the pretence of being a mighty sky god; if there was one thing Helena had learnt earlier in their marriage, that was never to take the words of a reformed alcoholic at face value.
She was beyond tired of being taken for granted, especially by a man that was quite older than she was; not to mention that she'd started suspecting she might have a rival in Douglas' young captain – a ginger, skinny little guy most people wouldn't even look twice at.
Helena wasn't as naïve as her husband thought she was; she'd noticed how he carefully avoided mentioning his colleague, or changed the subject if she ever dared to bring it up. Given the fact she'd known all along that Douglas was actually bisexual, it didn't take a lot of imagination for her to put two and two together.
His derisive snort of laughter when she eventually confronted him did nothing whatsoever to quell her suspicions; if anything, it just confirmed that he had a guilty conscience and wasn't telling her the whole truth. And if he wasn't, then there was no reason why she shouldn't give him a taste of his own medicine.
xxx
The infamous Richardson luck must have run off on her, because she didn't even need to look for the little Captain; she happened to run into him one evening when Douglas was away, and she was sitting at the bar with a glass of Martini.
"Would you like to buy me another?" she said smoothly, smirking when the man turned about as red as his hair.
"I – I suppose I could do that," he stammered, gingerly inspecting the contents of his wallet.
"Barman, another Martini for me," she waved in a subtly seductive gesture. "And one for my friend – I'm afraid I didn't catch your name?"
"Martin."
"It's a Martini for Martin, then," she chuckled, making sure to show off her cleavage. The ginger didn't have a cat in hell's chance, she decided as she took in his pink cheeks and dilated pupils; it was like shooting fish in a barrel, really, and she was going to enjoy every second of it.
xxx
The boy lived up to his promises, she conceded once he'd fallen into a deep slumber; a bit inexperienced, that was true, but his odd intensity more than made up for it. Still she couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that was lurching in the pit of her stomach; he looked so young in his sleep, young and incredibly vulnerable, and she didn't know what to make of it.
Helena took a good look around the dingy attic, wondering how he could live there at all. Surely he should be able to afford a far better place with his captain's salary, no matter that he worked for a pathetic excuse for an airline.
In the end she simply slipped back into her clothes and tiptoed out of the shared house. This revenge thing wasn't as satisfactory as she'd anticipated, and she was damned if she was going to turn into a cheap version of Mrs Robinson from The Graduate.
If she was looking for a lover, then her Tai Chi teacher was definitely more to the point.