Karen sat in the lounge, picking over the remnants of the pizza she and Jenny had shared, and poured two further glasses of the luscious Montepulciano that had helped both to warm to eachother’s desires. It had been quite a night. Her change of clothes during the evening had been right. They had fucked beautifully and she had needed freshening up. Now Jenny was doing the same. Karen as looking forward to some “aprá¨s” when Jenny returned!

She perhaps didn’t know what to expect. Probably Jenny would go for night-wear now. After all, it was dark outside and getting later.

Jenny’s music centre caught her eye. Why not have some music? Karen thought.
Her eyes scanned the tower of CDs…… how appropriate, she thought……. And her gaze drilled into where she found Dusty Springfield……..

The Look of Love was in your eyes………

I can hardly wait to hold you, feel my arms around you………

……Don’t ever go…….

Dusty’s haunting voice flowed around the room. Her face gazed out from the sleeve…… Vinyls were better — the pictures were something else……… Karen mused…..

Redheaded heroines? Who were the ones Karen admired??? Rita Hayworth — before she was born! Maureen O’Hara too. Marilyn Monroe — who started life as a redhead! Dusty Springfield — another blonde who’d been born red. Rená¨e Russo — now there was one sexy lady actress, from The Thomas Crown Affair. England’s Rula Lenska — Polish-born actress, and very sexy with it. The X-Files’ Gillian Anderson/ Oh, yes! Julia Roberts? Of course! Nicole Kidman? Definitely! Geri Halliwell — that Spice Girl!!!
There weren’t that many! Blondes…. Nah! 10-a-Penny, they are!

Karen was suddenly aware of a presence behind her…….

**********

Jenny had worked fast……. She had scaled the stairs already with a plan in her mind. She had quickly washed her own hair and rummaged through the limited selection of hairdressing products that she kept at home…. Why she did, she didn’t know…… She knew there would be what she was looking for…. In the box of colours……. Temporary colours, in vivid shades……
“Ahhh……” she grinned to herself in the mirror. There it was. It should cover her own, currently natural brunette shade……. ‘Vivid auburn’.

She was going to recreate the Ginger that was Lucille Ball………

Well, it wouldn’t be as bright, because of the natural base shade, whereas Lucy’s red would have been a tint on a blonde base — totally ginger! But she could make an impact. Her own hair was long enough to be styled in an up-do, like Lucy’s, and it was curly enough to be set in curls on top……… Jenny hoped Karen would appreciate the thought!
She hurried through the rinse and left the colour to develop for just a few minutes….. Enough time to change into ‘something more comfortable. She chose her pink satin ‘all-in-one’ lounge suit; ideal for lounging about and snuggling up with a lover, and easy enough to get inside if, as she hoped, the ‘night was yet young!’

The colour developed well and was soon rinsed away in the hand-basin. The colour of the water was a vivid red!

She had been away for nearly 15 minutes……. “Won’t be long!!” she called down to the lounge., but Karen didn’t hear her. That was Dusty she could hear floating sounds up from the lounge…. Jenny too loved that woman……. No worries…….. Enough time just to dry the hair and brush it up, quite severely, into a top-knot. This left the curls, her natural condition, crying out to be fashioned into a set of ginger rolls; just like Lucy wore…… The curling tongs were warm enough so Jenny got to work. The eventual ‘look’ was perfect.

Karen would be wondering where she was. Time to make an entrance………

**********

She stood behind Karen and put her hands over her lover’s eyes………. “No peeking!” she exclaimed and she moved forward around the sofa where, moments later, she revealed her new ‘fun’ look…….

“Oh, you beauty!!” Andy shouted and grabbed Jenny round the neck, forcing his lipstick-laden mouth onto Jenny’s smiling face……..

**********

Soon, it was breakfast time the next day……. They had an hour before Jenny would leave.
“Tell me a little more about your marriage……. Honey, please, so’s I can understand you better. Don’t worry if you don’t want to but……..” Jenny had chosen her moment carefully. It was the next morning, after a wonderful night’s sexual encounters of different kinds, role-plays and flirtations followed by him-on-her, her-on-her, other her-on other her. We make lovely lesbians, thought Karen….. idling away her time…… before this question broke her thought pattern…….

“Well, my marriage……. Yes, well, whatya wanna know?!”

Buying time. What would he say?

Andy did still love his wife — in a different sort of way to that thirty years ago. It couldn’t be the same…… She was conventional, in a very real sense….. She hadn’t ever been close to her own mother…. Never ‘felt good enough’ in the old Witch’s eyes……… Never really loved herself enough…. That’s why, when they met and married, she appeared quite devoted…. As he himself probably did…… Perhaps it’s easy to love someone when you’ve never felt loved yourself — and they give you that love………

**********

He explained these thoughts almost verbatim, knowing that Jenny would see where he was coming from……. He wanted to make it clear that his wife had done nothing wrong…… her reactions had been entirely predictable… maybe not what he’d hoped, but quite likely to be most women’s reactions when they found their husband has a ‘second side’.

Their married life had been conventional to all outside impressions. The kids were marvelous. Andy was a great Father to them, his Wife a model Mother — although always the one to impose the discipline when needed. Andy never was there in the daytimes when school work had to be done and television needed to be restricted…… And…. And….. all those things that Fathers miss out on too……

His “secret side” was never forgotten though, and rarely was it deeply buried. It might have been expected to be thrown in his face at any argument….. and, to be fair to her, it only broke through in times of particular stress.

Most often, this was in times of sexual tension, increasingly with age, as Andy found the physical demands of a preparedness for a good fuck to be beyond him.

It wasn’t that his libido wasn’t strong, it was just the physical side of “being able to get it up” had a detrimental effect on him psychologically. All of which meant that his Wife felt rejected — doubly so — when she thought back to his preferences.

She did blame him. And he knew it.

And he sought relief in dressing more often, albeit very secretly. Perhaps she knew, perhaps she didn’t.

**********

Jenny knew she had to go to work. Time was running out. Andy’s confessions, and to a certain extent, his feelings of guilt were too much to bear. She shouldn’t leave him, but she had to….

“You said you’d come to the salon this afternoon, remember?….. make it later on, perhaps around Four or Four-Thirty, eh? We can have a little fun and that’ll make you feel better than you seem to be feeling now….. OK?”

Andy was silent… He smiled weakly. Jenny kind of wished she hadn’t opened what turned into something of a Pandora’s Box of emotions. But she had to go….. still auburn though not piled high like Lucy!

Jenny thought, Perhaps he would spend much of the day going over these troubling things in his mind’s eye….. Looking back at what had been and, inevitably, what had not been done, said, or not done, not said…. Whatever!

**********

Jenny’s day at the salon was tedious. Routine work…. No interesting clients, no interesting gossip or scandals…… By the time she was expecting Andy to arrive…. or rather Karen, she was fatigued by boredom…….. either the very worst, or the very best, preparation for an evening with Karen. Who could tell? Certainly not Jenny. She didn’t know him well enough, yet!

Much would depend on how Karen was when she arrived. The salon was quiet, with only one lady client left, and she was near to Jenny’s completing her weekly ‘do’. It was Mrs. Bouffant again….

And, to Jenny’s surprise, in walks Andy….. all clothed in male gear, admittedly, for a man of his age, looking very attractive indeed….. but she hadn’t expected to meet him this next time as a male!

What a surprise…. A shock, in fact!

Mrs. Bouffant had to be finished…. And got rid of…… This needed an explanation!
Jenny smiled at Andy across the small salon. One of her wonderful “pleased to see you” smiles!

Andy smiled back but shifted his eyes elsewhere in the room. He didn’t know what to do next.

Mrs. Bouffant got her final cloud of lacquer that would fix everything on her head through a Force 10 gale if one occurred. She smiled at Andy as she paid Jenny for her afternoon of pampering…. And she duly left the salon.

There was a moment’s silence…..

“You look good…” started Jenny, meaning exactly what she said.

“You do too……” Andy started, meaning to go on…..

“I wasn’t quite expecting you “as you” but I’m pleased you’re here…..” Jenny said, warming to her welcome as she crossed the floor in three or four steps, taking Andy by the hand and offering her lips to be kissed…… He engaged in the kiss with gentle force. She had noticed he was carrying a small holdall bag. “What’s in the bag?” she asked as the kiss ended.

“Oh, noting much but…..” he paused, “….. if it’s alright with you, I wondered…..”
Jenny put her head on one side, wondering what was coming next.

“…… er…. wondered yes….. well, hoped really, that I could leave a few things with you for times, you know, when… er…. when I need to be dressed like this……. I mean, you’ve bought me some lovely things for Karen……. Well, she, I mean, me.. er.. I, need some guys things too.”

Jenny was over-joyed at the thought and said so… “Of course, of course… I’d love to look after some of your things…… maybe just a few, but, well… you could always leave more whenever you wanted…….. What about your own girly things? Could I look after them as well?” Jenny offered, hoping Andy would say yes to that idea…… It would work well for him, not having to hide them, and it would encourage him to keep coming back to her…. Method in my madness!

“I’ve been thinking a lot today……” Andy started to say…. Jenny kept silent. Worried.

“You know, we talked about me wanting — or not wanting to live as a girly…..” Still worried.

“That’s still not for me, I think you understand, don’t you…….” No longer worried!

“You know how much I feel I love you now, you’re my new love……….” Thrilled!

“I’ve been thinking how I just can’t hurt the woman who’s been my wife, not hurt her any more..” Then Jenny was confused, but immediately reassuring……. Was he saying this is the end?

She rallied her emotions quickly……… “You must live the way you want, my honey. I’ve found a new love in the last few days and I’m thrilled you’ve been so open with me…… Thank you soooooo much! Whatever I can do to help you resolve what your feelings are, I’ll do for you!”

Jenny meant that more than almost anything she had ever said. She was determined not to lose this lovely man. She couldn’t bear the thought that he was now saying he had to stop … but he’d brought clothes to leave… He had said I was his “new love”……… What could be better than hearing that!?.......... What was he going to say next?

“What I’m trying to say is “can you bear the idea of sharing me?” because I still need the ties of the life I’ve been leading…… Is it too much to ask…….?? I mean, there are lots of people who coul make a clean break with the past and…. I don’t .. well, I can’t really, I can’t ….. I’m not ready to do that…….. Oh… heavens… I can’t do without you though… Can we make the most of times together…….?? You must know that I love you now…… help me, please, help me get through this to a way that will make you happy too……”

He was asking her if it was Ok, some would say, “to have his cake and eat it” — to live his former life, with its sadnesses and its high points, and also to live a new life with me….. Jenny possibly saw it that way…..

And she was delighted with that! She hadn’t had much time to really assess her own feelings in this tsunami of emotions that had engulfed them both since he walked in to the salon only a short time before…… But she had at least realized that this was not an “affair” that would break a marriage… unless it was already broken… and, though it might be damaged, this marriage wasn’t ready to break… or rather, SHE wasn’t ready to break it. She needed to make her position clear…. And NOW.

“Honey, sit down here, next to me. Let me tell you that you have no need to worry. What we have.. and what we have had, has been the most wonderful interlude in my life that I could ever have imagined. You’ve taught me a lot about what people can feel for eachother….. And I thought I knew a thing or two, as a single woman of 44 years of age!”
Andy smiled. The difference in their ages didn’t seem that much really…… 16 years….. A mere blink in time!

Jenny went on, hardly pausing for breath. This was important! “You are the most wonderful, sensitive man I’ve met in years. I’m single because there are too few of you about. OK?! Yo’ve shown me how you’re dealing with conflicting loyalties….. first to a woman and a family you have loved, and second to someone like me who could just be a passing fancy…… I do hope you don’t see me like that, by the way……..

I do love it that you can handle both….. and I want to stay as part of you… However you choose that role for me to play…..”

Andy smiled even more and just said “Thank you, honey, for being so understanding…… I do want to be Karen when I’m with you… well, most of the time I’m with you…… She does love you lots, you know that!” He reached forward to her and kissed Jenny again, fully on the precious lips that he could taste.

“Tonight, you look like you want to be Andy though?” Jenny asked, enquiring when she could see the answer staring her in the face………. Recognizing his reaction, she went on: “I thought so! So, where are you taking me? We’re going out for dinner……. And, by the way…. I hope Karen’s undies are beneath this macho outside!”

“Well, actually, they are — the lovely ones you bought yesterday!”

Jenny, and Karen, both had the same thought at that moment: Leopards can’t change their spots!

They laughed as they planned where to go out for dinner.

“You do realize that this means you miss out on a very special hair-do, don’t you?”

Jenny teased him. Andy remembered the promised refreshment of his colour. “Well, that’ll have to wait until tomorrow, if that’s ok with you — is the salon busy?”

Jenny’s answer was simple: “I’ve no idea but we do try to make spaces for special customers…!”

“Well, I’d love to have you do me the same colour as you are now — last night’s trick was a dream!”

Andy had wondered just how Jenny had guessed how much, as a child, he had loved that Lucy programme…… It had even been in black and white, but he had seen those magazines…..!
“Let me just style your hair nicely, for a guy, and then let’s go home. I need a shower and a change. Today’s just gone so slowly…….” Jenny looked forward to a sparkling evening…. And maybe a sparkling night to follow!

The two lovers agreed on a restaurant they both knew on the harbourside at St. Ives. Quite chic. But nice and busy, with good food and wine. A good place for a guy and a girl to be going. And a good place for two girls, another time? Jenny thought.
They left the salon. Back at her home, Jenny left Andy choosing music again in the lounge while she went into the bedroom to change. He could hear the shower running at full pressure. Some rock music would be right. Status Quo started banging out their beat in one of their biggest songs…… Andy was ready to rock and roll!

Jenny emerged from the shower and was kinda pleased that the bright auburn of her ‘overnight sensation’ was consigned to the waste — you can have too much of a good thing! she thought. She dressed quickly, in one of her favourite most feminine dresses, a flouncy purple number with folds and folds of fabric beneath a low-cut neckline. It showed her ample tits off to great effect. She would have Karen nibble them later!

Karen was to drive, because they had left Andy’s car in the parking space outside the salon. They climbed into her 4x4 Volvo station wagon and set off the six miles to their destination. Parking the car was always a problem in St. Ives so a walk from the car to the restaurant was involved. Easy when Andy was in male attire, but another time, Jenny mused, Karen might have to be careful on the cobbled street in her stilettos”
“The car’s very good for the work I have to do with my horse…” Jenny explained. “I’ve had a horse since I was a teenager. He’s only the third one I’ve had. Merlin is his name, ‘cos he’s very dark black, with a white flash on his nose! I love him lots. He’s been the only man in my life for several years.” Jenny was enthusiastic in her description of the horse and her relationship with him. She spent as much time as she could with him, despite his being ‘at livery’, in other words cared for, by his stables.
“Then he’s a lucky one, that’s for sure…… having your undivided attention!” joked Andy as they reached the little seaside town with its harbour and crazy little network of cobbled streets.. Nowhere to park, except a little car park that held a dozen cars, just beyond the harbour wall, up a back street, and a walk away from the restaurant that was now behind them.

As they walked the harbourside, Andy was struck by the wonderful way he was living this week. There had been a great change in him from the moment that he’d had the courage to enter Jenny’s salon. Here he was now, by his own choice, walking dressed in his male clothes going for dinner with a woman who would be equally happy if he were dressed in female clothes, made-up and hair done, as a lesbian couple might.

“Here we are”, he said as they reached the restaurant. “…… Let’s get a table upstairs by the window if we can…… They’re the best, with views over the harbour as it gets dark….” In fact, Andy had made the reservation and asked exactly for one of only two tables upstairs with that view. Romantic.

They dined superbly and each enjoyed the other’s company tremendously. Both of them had their individual thoughts and maybe dreams while the evening went on. Andy was conscious of wearing wonderful underwear but had determined that he would fuck Jenny’s brains out before the went to sleep. Jenny, on the other hand was in torment, trying to decide if she wanted her brains fucked out by the fabulous man, or whether she wanted to get home and snuggled down for a long night’s sex with the woman she had recently discovered.
Neither asked the other what they were thinking…. The night would take care of itself.
Andy took the chance to ask Jenny more about herself because, as he told himself, I know virtually nothing about her…

“Jenny, d’you know something……? I’m falling in love with someone about who I know almost nothing…. I’ve done most of the talking… You know most of what there is to tell about me…. Some things I ever dreamt of telling anyone!! Come on, you must tell me more that what I know!”

“OK, so what d’you know about me?, she asked… teasingly, licking her lips seductively.
“Well, let’s see……” Andy thought and said quietly, “You have sex with a woman called Karen!” He laughed and so did she, but she did blush fearing that people near might hear, or more importantly, might be customers that she hadn’t recognized. “And you’re a superb hairdresser….. And you own the business you work in. And you own a horse that you love….. And you worked on cruise liners some years ago……. And you own a 4x4 vehicle…… And you love your food and good wine…… And Cornwall’s your home ‘cos you love it here…….. And you have a lovely home of your own, with some fabulous clothes…… And you’re brilliant at make-up and beauty stuff……. And that’s about all…… Oh, and you have a customer called Mrs. Bouffant!”

Jenny thought for a moment…. He’s right! What have I told him???!!! Nothing!

She realized, he was right…. Maybe he hadn’t asked, and maybe all the questions had been about him…… Perhaps she should’ve asked less questions…. She seemed to know a lot about him…Now was the time to open up a little……… She felt suddenly shy….

“There’s not much to tell, my lover…….. (A nice Cornish expression, she thought). I’m a local girl, that’s right, born up the road in Truro. You know how old I am… well, I was married when I was 20 and that lasted just three or four years……. Don’t want to talk about that much really. He was a bastard, treated me really badly, but then most wives who divorce their husbands can say that, can’t they……?? Never thought we’d have children from very soon after getting wedded… We just lived together. He’s long gone. Not a part of my life. Incompatible, we were.”

Jenny looked ruefully into her wine glass…….. How much to tell him???......

“I’ve never since wanted to be classified as ‘someone’s other half, or wife, or partner, or whatever’ because I’m stronger as an individual…………. I hope you understand……………”
Enough of the media terminology……

“I didn’t go to university so I’ve probably only got half the brain you have but I really have learnt loads about life and people and stuff like that……. Makes me proud… like starting my own business…. I came back off the cruise boats and didn’t know what to do… but I knew I was good at what I do, and I’d saved some cash, so I invested in what was a failing business… and I’ve turned it round, enough to get nice people like you coming in…..!!”

Andy smiled… he was loving this…… after being quite so open about himself and everything, even his sexuality… he was getting inside Jenny’s head more now than he had hoped he could.
“You should be proud. It’s a big thing owning your own business —the buck stops with you, doesn’t it.” Statement of fact, but admiration too. Andy never thought of owning a business….

“And then there’s me and how I love other people….” Jenny was sailing into uncharted territory. She paused. It’s OK, he’s a close friend now, and I don’t mind him knowing……

“I’ve always spent a lot of time around woman and, well, I was at an all-girls school for example, and then I got into work that’s mainly with women.. and I love the chance to make each one I meet more beautiful than when I first meet them…….. You see, that means I get very close to them….. I spent a lot of time listening to them… You’d be surprised at the secrets I pick up…. I can’t help getting close to them, in a sense……”

The right words weren’t coming easily…… Jenny paused again before really opening up…..
“What I mean is……. Well, ever since school where I had some really close friendships……. I’ve always seen myself as ….. well, what Dusty Springfield — her again — once famously said….. “I’m as equally moved by a woman as a man….” If you understand what I mean…. They call it “Bi-“ but I don’t like labels…….!”

“I think I love you more for it…” Andy whispered. They were both talking very very quietly now, in a crowded bar/restaurant. These were immensely private revelations to be talking about.

Jenny continued….. “I’ve had lovers of both sexes and enjoyed every one of them. What matters is the person inside……….. Like the person inside you…… Karen…… Andy.. I love you both!”

**********

Their conversation continued as the meal came and went. It lasted long into the late evening. The view over St.Ives harbour was exquisite. The lights shining, the boats floating. It was chilly when they emerged from the restaurant and walked back along the quayside. Jenny snuggled into Andy’s arm to get closer. Soon they were back at her car and the drive home began.

“You will play Karen for me when we get home, if not tonight, tomorrow?” Jenny asked, sensing that Andy was troubled by how next to go on from where they had reached in bed.
She was right. He had purposely ‘come out’ tonight as Andy. It didn’t mean that Karen wasn’t there inside all the time. He was wearing Karen’s knickers for God’s sake!
“My love, I’d be there as however you wish…. I thought tonight might be different… and it has been… And you look so beautiful and feminine tonight, I adore your dress and hair…. So maybe if you can put up with getting close, to me, as I am…….?”
Of course, she could….. and did!

**********

The fucking that night was wonderful. When they arrived home there was no time for anything but to get to bed, clothes littering the hallway……. Andy’s feminine underwear only served to remind them both of recent past pleasures…. Andy was soon on top, nuzzling Jenny’s tits just as she had planned… Jenny practised her scissors grip with her legs around Andy’s waist, allowing her fanny to be full for seemingly hours! Andy found remarkable, and surprising, stamina — if that’s the right word — and felt he could go on all night….. something he hadn’t felt for years!

Oh, Boy! This is the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met!, he thought.

Jenny, too, was amazed at her own appetite which, owing to lack of practice in recent months, had been more dormant than she would have liked. Instead, she was hungry for more… and more!

Go get him, Girl! I could have danced all night, and still have asked for more!, she nearly said….

Together, they lay, near exhausted, as the time passed three a.m.

Jenny reminded Andy that he had promised…… he had promised that she could make love with Karen before the morning sky meant that Jenny would be going to work. They both had to sleep, at least a little, before morning. So Jenny just left the bed for a few minutes to lay some clothes out for Karen in the morning. Her “Bi-“ side needed satisfying just a little.

How wonderful! Andy thought. How wonderful! Jenny thought. How wonderful, Karen thought!

Andy drifted of to sleep, thinking of, or rather wondering, what his wife would have thought…

CHAPTER 15 FOLLOWS
…… AND THE END OF ANDY’S WEEK AS KAREN DRAWS TO A CLOSE