Fuming, I yanked open the door to my office building and stormed out. I drove home maybe a little faster than I should have. When I got inside I knew exactly what I needed: stress relief. In my closet I pulled out my hidden femme clothes and after a quick shower got dressed. I didn’t bother with shoes, makeup or hair; just feeling the lingerie and dress on me was enough to dramatically decrease my stress levels. There was a chance they might go back up soon, though, because this was going to be the day Nicole found out about my dressing.

I brought two glasses into the den, poured myself a half a glass of wine and sat down in the recliner with the footrest up. Ahhh.

I relaxed there another twenty minutes before I heard Nicole’s car.

When she entered the house, she called out, “Honey, are you home?”

“Yeah, I’m in the den,” I called back.

She fussed around doing something in the kitchen before she walked in and saw me. Her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m relaxing. I had a bad day at work.”

“But, but, why are you wearing a dress? Are you some kind of… pervert?”

“I find it relaxing, and no, I’m not a pervert. Do you think what I wear makes me a different person?”

She sputtered for a little while. I took another sip of wine.

“Come on, have a seat and have some wine. I brought a glass for you.”

“There’s something wrong here.”

“Really? What would that be?”

She looked angry.

“Men don’t wear women’s clothes.”

“Oh? I guess I didn’t know that, because I’ve been wearing them for many years.”

“What?! I think I do need to sit down!”

I poured her a glass of the wine, but she didn’t make a move to take it.

“I don’t understand. You just look wrong.”

“Well, I’m sorry about that. I know I make a pretty ugly woman, but looks are not really why I like to dress up. It just gives me some stress relief, and it does no one any harm. I’m not sure why you’re getting so excited about it.”

“It’s kind of a shock to come home and find your husband in a dress.”

“Well, okay, that part I admit must be true. I never told you about my dressing, partly because I didn’t know what kind of reaction you would have. But today, as I said, I had a really lousy day and my stress level was through the roof. I couldn’t be bothered to hide it from you anymore.”

I could kind of see some of the built-up steam releasing in her as I said that.

“What happened at work?”

“There’s someone there who has been trying to make me look bad, and they got me in trouble with management. I have no way to prove my innocence, but I was raked over the coals and threatened with termination.”

“Oh! Tom, I’m so sorry to hear that. Do you think you’ll be able to find the culprit and exonerate yourself?”

“I suspect I know who it is. To me it seems like there’s only one person with a motive, but how to catch him in the act is the question.”

She tilted her head and looked me over some more. She reached over to pick up her wine and took a small swallow.

“You wouldn’t make that ugly of a woman,” she said.

“Oh, come on, Nicole! I’m kind of broad-shouldered, square-jawed, heavy brow ridge. I’m not even a very good-looking man! A pig in a poke is still a pig. Anyhow, I have never even considered going out in public.”

“I guess I understand that. I don’t find you bad-looking as a man. But if you took some time and tried makeup and a hairdo, at least you’d be less jarring for your wife.”

I looked over at her with raised eyebrows.

“Does this mean you don’t think I’m a pervert anymore?”

She smiled.

“I can understand stress relief, although I don’t get why wearing a dress helps.”

“Well, I can see why a woman wouldn’t think so, since you-all can wear dresses whenever and wherever you want. For some men, though, for whatever reason, it really helps. I can’t even tell you just how much better I felt as I put the dress on. Wow. It was like one of those TV shows where they show you a gauge that’s dangerously inching up into the red zone, and then the hero does something to make it go down just before the place explodes.”

“Gee, that does sound like an awful lot of stress!”

“I couldn’t yell and scream at work, so the level just rose. I couldn’t wait to get home and rip off that suit and tie and get into something softer and more comfortable.”

“So, you’ve been doing this for years?”

“Yep. I started invading my sister’s closet when I was about twelve years old, and as time went on I discovered I felt a lot more relaxed when I was dressed up. I’ve had my own stash of clothes for years now. I don’t dress very often, but I always enjoy it when I do.”

“And I just had no idea…”

“Sorry, Honey. It’s kind of a touchy subject with a lot of people. A cross-dresser is always afraid of reactions like yours, but today I just decided I didn’t care how you took it. I was prepared for much worse, even with my lousy day.”

“I’m sorry, dear.”

I reached over and took her hand. We smiled at each other.

“Thank you, Honey. You’ve just helped my stress level drop a lot further.”

She sat back and sipped her wine.

“So, how do we catch this scummy guy?”

“I have a sort of an idea. On a regular basis he’s been hacking into my accounts and changing numbers. What if I hid a webcam somewhere behind him in his office, and recorded him in the act?”

“Sounds good. The camera would have to be good enough to show what he was doing though.”

“I can think of a shelf with some clutter on it I think I could hide a small webcam on.”

We got up and went to the computer and looked up Nanny Cams. We found a micro HD video cam that was about as big as the cap of a magic marker. That would be easy to hide! And it wasn’t that expensive either. I ordered it.

-o0o-

Two weeks later I presented my collected video evidence and the jerk was fired. The resolution on the images was good enough to see him opening up my accounts. He had wanted my job ever since he was hired, and apparently trying to work his way up to it had never occurred to him.

Nicole and I went to dinner to celebrate. When we got back home she finally asked to see my collection of women’s clothes.

“Hey, you have some pretty nice things here. Too bad they wouldn’t fit me.”

“Nicole, you have excellent taste, and you always look great.”

She turned to me and gave me a sweet kiss.

“Will I ever see your alter-ego again?”

“That will depend on how stressed I get.”

The End.