Thank you for all your kind messages!

(And by the way, I don't like Chloé, or Joe, either but I will, unfortunately, keep them for a while I'm afraid...)

First exam last Monday, writing is helping me a looot!

Reviews are always welcome, and helpful!

...

"Ouch!" Elsie screamed. "Oh, hello baby girl."

"Mum, are you alright?"

Elsie put her burnt finger under the water and her phone on speaker.

"Yeah! I just burnt myself. My ringtone startled me."

"Sorry." Anna apologized.

"Don't worry sweetheart. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I just wanted to tell you that Sybil and I are coming home this weekend."

"Oh, really! That's great!"

"Could we sleep at your house?"

"Sure, but it is just the two of you?"

"Yeah, John couldn't come."

Elsie turned off the water and grabbed a towel to put around her finger.

"Are you coming by train?"

"Yes, on Saturday."

"Do you want me to pick you up? I'm not at work." Elsie checked her calendar.

"Well, Sybil had called Dad and he said that he doesn't mind picking up us.

Elsie remembered when she and Charles used to go to the train station to put their girls on or pick them up from the train.

"Okay, well… Tell him that he can drive you here."

"Right. Anyway, how are you?"

"Fine!"

"How is Joe?"

Elsie stayed silent.

"Joe? Well Joe is fine. Me, on the other hand… I'm starting to ask myself why we are together. He is nice, funny sometimes, in bed he is good, nothing too earthshaking, but nice..." Elsie wanted to answer. But instead she just said.

"Good. But how are you?"

"Great! Did you go to Igor and Violet's party?"

"Yes. With Beryl and Bill."

"Did you see dad?"

Elsie stopped for a moment.

"Yes, he was there."

"Did you talk?"

"What kind of question is that?" Elsie thought.

"Just a little."

"Were you with Joe?"

"Sweetheart, I didn't know that you became a police officer." Elsie joked. Anna laughed.

She wasn't really annoyed by Anna's questions, she just didn't know where she was heading with them.

"No, Joe was not there. Oh, I didn't ask you, how long are you staying?" Elsie tried to change the subject.

"Just for the weekend."

Elsie was disappointed.

"Oh, right."

"Don't worry mum, we will come back during the holidays."

Elsie smiled. Anna and Sybil were grown up but couldn't stay away from home for very long.

"I'm glad."

"Mum, I have to go..."

"Alright, goodbye sweetheart, see you this weekend. Love you."

"Yeah, love you too."

Elsie hung up before putting her eggs on her plate.

"My babies are coming home. Charles will pick them up. Will he take this woman with him? Stop that Elsie, that's none of your business."

But she just couldn't help herself. She wondered if this woman was fine with him, if she did things that Elsie only used to do. Like woke him in the morning by playing with his hair, curly from his sleep. Or put her arms around his waist from behind and kiss the back of his neck. Or even worse, if Charles did things to that woman that he did only with her. Like playing with her hair late at night when he was still awake. Or the way he nipped her bottom lip. She always moaned but laughed every time he did that. Nipping at her lip had been something that she had done since she was a little girl. Beryl had noticed it, Isobel too, probably even Joe now, but only Charles had played with it. When she bit her lip, Charles would come close to her and nip it with his own teeth.

"And what he said after." Elsie thought.

The memory did something to her stomach, and even a little lower.

Each time that Charles released her lip he would whisper into her ear.

"Darling, if you want to hurt that lip, please, let me do it."

"Fuck Elsie, what are you doing? Stop that."

But Elsie felt suddenly jealous. What if Charles does that with his new girlfriend. What if she liked it, what if it made them laugh and ended with a roll in the hay.

But her thoughts were interrupted by her phone.

"Hello Elsie."

"Hi Joe, how are you?"

"Good, very good actually. I wanted to invite you for dinner on Saturday night."

Elsie stayed silent for a moment. Her daughters would be there on Saturday night. Did she want Joe to meet her girls? And then, the picture of Charles nipping at his girlfriend's lip during their… well…. sexual romps came to her mind, and she heard herself saying.

"Yes, with pleasure Joe. But my daughters will be there on Saturday, so you..."

"So I will meet your beautiful daughters. I will pick you up at 8:00. Alright?"

"Yes, yes."

"Okay, put on a beautiful dress and some make up. I want you to look amazing, I'll take you to a new place."

"Oh, okay."

"Fine, good bye Elsie."

"Bye, Joe."

Then Joe hung up. Did he just ask her to be beautiful? Did he not think that she was always beautiful? It made her a little angry…

Then, a memory came in her mind.

"I'm sorry. Just two seconds… Mrs Carson here, what can I do for you?"

"Mrs, hmm? That's too bad..."

"Charles? Is everything alright?"

"Sure! Am I not allowed to call my wife at work?"

"Of course you are, but I am with some clients actually."

"Oh, okay. Well just wanted to tell you that I made a reservation for tonight, at 7:00. So you come home, throw on whatever clothes and shoes that you find and wait for your wonderful husband to pick you up."

"Excuse me ..." Elsie apologized to her clients.

She stood and took the phone to the back of the agency. She was smiling.

"What? But Charles, what about the girls?"

"I called Isobel. Everything is under control. I just want to have you for myself for one night. To be a very selfish husband and hide you from anybody we might know. So, what do you say?"

Elsie stayed silent, as if she was balancing the pros and cons.

"Well, I say that I don't mind at all having a very selfish husband for one night. But it's a very dangerous thing to say that I don't even have to choose my clothes, I might put on a potato sack..."

Charles laughed and hung up.

That night, he was waiting for her outside, leaning against his car. She kissed her daughters and went out. The moment he saw her, a big smile appeared on his face.

"Very nice potato sack, Mrs Carson."

He bent down to kiss her. She deepened the kiss a little, his hands trailing down her spine. She smiled against his lips.

"After you, Mrs Carson."

He opened her door.

"Thank you, Mr Carson."

"Well, Joe, you will soon see that I can be very beautiful...".