Chapter 17

"What happened to her?" asked the hostess as the two sat in the remodeled restaurant, Vivian suddenly quiet.

"She tried to go back to her husband but he told her it was over. She moved out west. I heard she got remarried, but it didn't last. After her second divorce she lived alone in a small town in Arizona. She died last week. Cancer."

"I'm sorry," said Rachel. "So now there's only you."

"Yes -- the last surviving member of the Infidelity Club."

"And what about you Vivian? What happened to you?"

Vivian took a sip of her drink. Her eyes revealed a deep sadness as she recounted her own story.

VIVIAN

Vivian heard of Laura's marriage breaking up. She called Laura to see if there was anything she could do, perhaps lend a shoulder to cry on or at least someone to listen, but Laura, though polite, was cool, almost as if she wanted to separate herself from that part of her past. As a result, Vivian, even though she felt Laura's pain, knew when they hung up she would not be calling again. She had urged Laura to call her if she needed someone but Laura's tone told her there would be no call.

Vivian had troubles of her own, however. Even though she continued to see Cherise, within three weeks of the infamous party and her run-in with Nancy, Vivian thought she detected a change in Terry. His overtures for intimacy dropped off radically and she noticed a certain evasion in his manner, how his eyes no longer held hers without looking quickly away. Fearing the worst she began searching his pants pockets. She tried to tell herself she was imagining things, blowing things out of perspective, but a week later while doing laundry she was about to put a pair of Terry's pants in the wash when she felt something in the front pocket. Reaching in she gasped as she held in her hand a book of matches from the Pussycat Club.

Despite her own infidelity, tears formed in her eyes not only from the fact that Terry had now obviously been to bed with Nancy, but frustration from the fact that she felt powerless to somehow intervene. Yes, she could simply tell Terry everything and beg his forgiveness, but Nancy had photos for God's sake! She felt once Terry saw those pictures their marriage would be over. She just couldn't tell him. She just couldn't!

Over the next few weeks the number of matchbooks in Terry's pants increased. What had started as an occasional occurrence was obviously increasing as the telltale matchbooks were showing up at least twice a week and now on several occasions it was Terry who was "working late" or "tied up" at the office.

Feeling absolutely helpless, Vivian tried fending off her troubles by spending more time with Cherise.

"I want you to have your nipples and labia pierced," said Cherise after an especially vigorous round of whipping and sex.

"But ... Terry..."

"Hell, from what you've told me he'll never even notice and even if he did you can always tell him you did it for him."

"Yes, Cherise."

And the following day, Vivian was sporting small gold rings through both nipples and her labia.

Perhaps Cherise was right, she thought. If I really want to keep Terry I have to compete with Nancy, Maybe the piercings are one way to do it.