The Lifting of the Morning Fog

Thomas twisted and groaned as the light of the office peered into the window behind him. He had slept on the small couch in his office to avoid Rachel after their argument. She hadn’t stirred when he came back from his walk to shower, but for whatever reason he didn’t feel right about getting in bed with her. As he shifted and stretched, feeling the pain of the night before, he was reminded why he didn’t sleep on couches anymore. The couch technically pulled out to a bed, but he had been so exhausted he fell asleep almost instantly after curling up under the blanket.

Rubbing his eyes he played back the argument with Rachel as he looked around the room. It was bright and as he looked over at his desk... “Shit, I’m late!”

Thomas rushed over to his laptop and flipped it open and attempted to log in quickly, but he was already a couple of hours late. The door to the office was closed, but he tried to listen for sounds of Aubrey and the kids, but it was silent so they were either outside playing or had already left for their daily activities.

After a couple of failed login attempts Thomas was hit with an error message in his attempt to remote into the company network. His brain then snapped back to Aubrey and a wave of memories flooded in from the night before.

She was with him at the pier. They talked. He watched her dance under the pier and then…

They fucked.

In his head he wanted to say they made love, but that felt wrong on so many levels. He didn’t love Aubrey and the memories in his head weren’t tender moments between two lovers, but animal lust and desire that felt uncontrolled.

A queasy feeling boiled up in Thomas’ stomach as the memories of last night faded in and out. It wasn’t like a dream that blurred and dissipated like most dreams, slipping from reality the more the world of consciousness broke through, but this memory was something different. As far as Thomas knew he didn’t have any repressed memories, but he wondered if this is what it felt like to unearth one. There was a part of him that could distinctly remember and… feel what he and Aubrey did under the pier and yet there was a part of him that wanted to deny it, dismiss it, or write it off as some vivid, erotic dream. But the memories felt too real while at the same time, not quite real enough.

Thomas’ phone buzzed and the queasy feeling grew as he anticipated the message being from Rachel. It was a text from his friend and work partner, Greg.

Greg: So are you coming into the office? Or do I have to finish this project myself?

Thomas stared at the text again and was confused. He then checked his other messages and saw a few others from the IT department and a few from his boss. They were experiencing some major network issues and any staff working remotely and on time sensitive projects would need to come in. He fired off a few quick replies to Greg and despite their project falling behind, he and Greg had game planned to make up for the few delays and Thomas knew that their team could handle it. Nonetheless, Thomas wasn’t sure how to feel about everything crashing down around him or was this just the beginning of the storm? Maybe a trip back home and to some semblance of normal would help clear his head or at least help him figure out what was going on and what was going to happen next.

After sorting out a few more things with work, Thomas mustered the strength to make some coffee, but his appetite was non-existent. His mind raced with all the trauma, chaos, and fallout of what would happen once Rachel knew. And then there was Aubrey. Had she seduced him for some purpose? ****? Manipulation? Was there a dead rabbit and a mad-eyed Glenn Close impersonation in his future? This summer was supposed to have been about him and Rachel reconnecting, not him fucking the nanny.

Thomas snapped out of his spiraling thoughts when Aubrey and the kids came home about an hour later. He played it cool when Lucy and Nathan greeted him, but felt confused on how to be around Aubrey.

“Okay, you two. Go get showered and we’ll work on some of your lessons afterwards,” Aubrey called out, stopping them from their original path to the couch and TV.

The kids groaned, but complied. Aubrey then looked at him and smiled, but it wasn’t a knowing smile. It was the same, sweet, innocent smile she’d always had around him.

“How was swim class?” Thomas asked, not really wanting to know but trying to get a read on her.

“It was good. They’re practically fish.”

Thomas looked back over his shoulder to check for Lucy and Nathan, and then stepped in closer. “Listen, Aubrey, we need to talk about last night.”

“It’s fine. Like I said. I’ve been around plenty of couples and I know that fights happen.”

“No. I mean, the other part…” Thomas paused. “The other part of last night. The pier?”

“What do you mean?”

“Aubrey, please. If this is some sort of game. I’m not going to play. I know what I… what we did... and I’ll face the consequences. But if you think…”

Aubrey stepped in closer and put her finger gently on his lips. “Ssh.”

He stopped talking and looked at her. She cocked her head to the side and gave him an odd look, almost as if she were confused by him bringing it up. Was this the Glenn Close moment?

And then a soft grin spread across her face.