Hong Kong

She had known Tom for a year when he held her tight pulled her closer. It was a pool party; she felt herself flush in the warm water. Did he know how she longed to feel a man touch her? She suspected he did. Just as he knew his wife was glaring at them, the slash of her stained red lips set against her dark, expertly tweezed brows. Georgia knew at that moment that their marriage was sexless. She was familiar enough with that lookon the face of a frustrated woman. She gave a nod to the frisson and swam away.

Tom and Harriett separated six months later. Georgia was not the least bit surprised however she was surprised that no one else seemed to realize the marriage was in trouble. She gave herself a smug pat on the back for her superior observational powers and yes, she was just a little bit pleased.

Winter passed. He grew lighter, enjoying his freedom and success with women. “Tom is really letting his hair down. Making up for lost time.” people would say.

His wife suffered, her brow furrowed, smudged mouth, red eyes. She loved her husband and wanted him to come home. He still wore his wedding ring to kid her he might. It also served well as a warning to lovers not to get too close. He told them his life was “complicated”.

Georgia settled further into her new life. She was happy and it showed. She dropped her protective armour and started to let people come closer. She believed she could do anything. Suddenly she wanted to be seen.

He pulled Georgia onto his lap; he held her tight pulled her closer. A year to the day now freshly separated, fair game. Should she resist? A one night stand, a drought breaker was all. She kidded herself she did it for her health.

And yet she waited, hoped he would call. She knew she had to play cool if she wanted to keep him. It seemed important that he was the one dooing the chasing. He chased and they met for dinner. They both knew where they were heading later that night.

“Do you know Wei Wei?” he asked as there were walking back to her house.

Georgia had met Wei Wei a few times but didn’t know much about her. Canadian Chinese with pretty round eyes, an athletic physique and remarkably flat chest. She and her husband had two beautiful Eurasian children.

“Their marriage is volatile. She’s a bit unstable” he said. Or perhaps it was the marriage that was unstable and she a bit volatile. She can't remember now.

Tom and her Wei Wei's husband were good friends. They shared their woes about their troublesome marriages, their difficult wives, over a beer or two. “One never really knows what’s going on inside other people’s relationships” Georgia said with more insight than she knew at the time.