Judy had been doing some thinking. A lot of thinking, but her train of thought wouldn't stay on the damned tracks. Every time she thought about how to help her grumpy lovely Jen learn to love herself more—and Judy swore she had every good intention—her thoughts turned to depraved fantasy. Before she knew it she was fantasizing about a marathon pussy eating contest and finding herself wet and horny as fuck.

It was unproductive to say the least, and to say the most it really opened her eyes to exactly how attracted she had grown to her best friend. Which scared her because there was a fear that this whole plot would backfire and Jen would reject her. She couldn't bear the thought of going through that again.

There was suddenly a lot riding (pardon the pun) on getting Jen in the mood because practically speaking it would be oh so perfect. Better than marriage in her opinion. Hmm, was marriage on the table in the future? All of both women's family needs, housing needs, and affection needs satisfied along with unfettered stability satisfied right in one package! Uncomplicated. The problem was just unraveling the mystery of Jen's non-existent libido to uncomplicate all the things. A trying task, but Judy was optimistic and hopeful.

The first step was gathering more intel through open and honest communication with Jen. Judy tapped sat back on the couch and took a sip of wine. She grabbed a notepad and pencil and tapped the eraser to her lips. Then she started writing down all of the questions she had.

...

Judy had forty questions and some ground rules written down by the time Jen breezed through the door. She instantly found her on the couch, "Whatcha working on?" Jen peered over her shoulder eyeballing the notepad that was basically a mindmap of that would make a sex therapist proud at this point. Judy clutched it to her chest and shook her head, giving Jen a weak smile.

"A project...for art," she added unconvincingly. She stood up, still clutching the notepad and stepped the around the couch to greet Jen properly. "Never mind, how was your day? How is your leg? You look really good."

"Oh, it was a shit show, the Graber's have a billion requests for the sellers. These people have all this custom furniture from their old house and it doesn't fit in the new house, and somehow that's the seller's fault? Like people are so fucking entitled." Jen waved off Judy's other questions and headed to the kitchen, dropping her shoes by the door on the way. "By the way, Lorna is still butthurt about our house and wants more time with the boys to show that we're not 'buying them away from her' or whatever. Which is rich considering last time they visited they each came home with their own Nintendo Switch. They can't share. I mean all she does is let them order whatever they want from DoorDash and play video games. Thankfully you're here to detox them on healthy shit when they get back otherwise I fear their growth will stunt."

Judy followed Jen to the kitchen listening to her rant about work and Lorna, and watched as Jen went straight for the wine. She finally relaxed for a minute as she poured them each a glass and nudged one toward Judy across the counter. Judy smiled when Jen looked her in the eye. "So how was your day? How's your art project?"

"Yeah, my day, um... good, Judy glanced at her notepad. On page six of her notes she'd began to compile known recipes that were aphrodisiacs' and she planned to start feeding Jen libido-increasing foods immediately. "I was thinking about making this Indian dish tonight, it's really tasty, but ya know we're fresh out of goat meat so I'll have to run to the store here soon. But we do has basmati rice so it shouldn't be that much of a hassle."

"Well, that sounds...tasty. I'm sure the boys will love to try some exotic cuisine and if not they love rice..." Jen ended the sentence by mumbling something under her breath, but Judy didn't catch it.

"I'll make a nice dessert too. Healthy and sweet," she promised to try and please the other woman.

"Oh, you know Judy, store bought isn't the devil. You don't always have to make everything from scratch," Jen tapped her hand.

"I like cooking for my family," Judy insisted. "So you should probably get off your feet and get your leg up. Do you have your PT exercise list?."

"Ugh, yeah, I probably should do those if I ever want to get rid of this limp. I can like feel the metal screws in my ankle. It's so fucking gross," Jen moved to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Charlie's at practice and Henry is with Shandy over at the neighbor's house working on a science project, but they will both be home at six for dinner." Judy grabbed her purse by the door. "Do you need anything while I'm out?"

"Just your swift and safe return, dear," Jen lifted her leg from the living room signaling she was starting her exercises and Judy smiled as she headed to the store.

...

"Is this like the baby goat that ate out of my hand at the petting zoo?" Henry was on the verge of tears ever since Jen told him what the meat was in the Indian stew. The crying 10 year old was definitely counteracting any aphrodisiac effects of the meal. Judy realized she made a bad call and was trying to rectify it with word vomit.

"No way Henry, those goats are way different. And I'm pretty sure this goat is a female or steer, male goats have too much testosterone and taste bitter," Judy swallowed a particularly chewy chunk of meat and grimaced.

"Testosterone?" Henry asked innocently.

Jen glared at Judy while Charlie chuckled quietly.

"I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert," Judy abruptly left the table and brought out the tray from the fridge. She cleared the bowl of green stew from view and was pleased when every Harding hand reached instantly for a strawberry.

"Good, right?" Judy sat down feeling defeated. She had many more recipes so she'd try again tomorrow.

...

Jen came down the stairs looking like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She sat down with a sigh at the kitchen counter and watched as Judy finished cleaning up after dinner.

"Henry had to learn about hormones and body changes sometime..." she trailed off and squeezed her eyes shut as her hand shot up to her neck and began to rub at what looked like a tender knot.

"Sorry about that, maybe goat was a little too exotic for a Thursday dinner," Judy apologized.

"Yeah, no, I actually didn't mind the flavor, the texture was a bit gamey. You could cook anything and I'd eat it though," Jen smiled. "Are there any strawberries left?"

"Yeah, lots," Judy brought out the tray and sat it in front of Jen.

"Thanks. Um, so I wouldn't ask unless I really needed it, but would you mind giving me a massage? Like everything is just kinda tight and on fire after today and I will certainly return the favor," Jen had that pleading vulnerable look and she was biting her lip. Judy couldn't believe her luck, a great excuse to get some tactile skin on skin contact.

Judy agreed right away, she loved giving Jen massages, "as long as I get to pick the scented oil."

"Oil? Oh, uh sure." Jen pouted a bit and looked down at the strawberries and popped the biggest one in her mouth, chunks of chocolate flaked off and juice dribbled off her lip. Judy grabbed a napkin and tried to go in to wipe her mouth, but Jen intercepted it and wiped her own mouth.

Judy stood back and cracked her knuckles. Maybe the night wasn't a total waste of her sexual awakening plan. "I'll go upstairs and get things ready for your massage. Bring the strawberries."