Free Lost Desires by Rachael Orman

Chapter 1
    Pushing back from my desk, I sighed. I had seen enough half nude bodies for the day. Well, okay, time for a break at least. Standing and stretching my back, I watched my two kids play with their toys on the floor. A half wall separated their space from mine, and some days, that was all that kept me from losing my sanity. My son was five, and my daughter was three. They got along most of the time, but the days they didn’t might as well have been a week long. When the kids were fighting, every second ticked by so incredibly slow. That’s how life was though, right? When I needed time to crawl so that I could get my work done, it sped by. When I wanted it to go by faster, it hit the brakes. It was worse than normal during the summer since I had both kids at home instead of at least one at school.
    Turning, I went into the kitchen to get dinner started. Once I got the casserole in the oven, I emptied the dishwasher, the sound of the dishes clanging together not helping my headache, and reloaded it. Shooing the kids to the bathroom next so I get them bathed while the smell of dinner baking began to fill the house. Once I got the kids dressed and at the table to eat, Ian, walked through the door. The children holler at their father in pure delight.
    “Hi , Dear,” I called out as I plated food for the kids and set it in front of them. I grabbed a plate for myself and joined them at the table.
    “How is everyone?” Ian mumbled , pulling at the tie around his neck. Both kids answered him before spooning food into their mouths. I’d made one of their favorite meals, so they weren’t going to fight me to eat tonight.
    “How w as work?” I asked between bites as Ian looked through the stack of mail I left on the counter for him.
    “Just another day, ” he answered, distracted. Taking the bills with him, he retreated to our bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes. He usually stopped by the bathroom to relieve himself before finally showing up at the dinner table. I had cleaned off the kids’ plates and my own before he came out, which was the norm. He sat at the table, and I brought him a plate with silverware before gathering up the kids and carrying them one at a time off to bed. After chapstick and backrubs, they were finally tucked in for the night.
    I returned to the kitchen to pu t the chapstick back in its hiding place, so little hands wouldn’t find it and make a mess out of it later. Leaning back against the counter, I eyed my husband as he opened and read whatever had been in the mail. He was still the same handsome man I’d married ten years ago. His dark brown hair had little shoots of gray peppered throughout it now, but it was still kept in the short, semi-military haircut he’d worn since I’d met him. His daring, green eyes had dulled over the years and were now simply worn down green framed with fine smile lines. His once hard body was still firm but had softened as his metabolism slowed. Not that I really should speak. I had aged too. My shiny brown hair was now a shade that only a bottle could give me. I carried around an extra sixty pounds, thanks to two pregnancies. Neither of us were the people we had been when we got married, but we were still very much in love as far as I knew.
    I listened as he talked about his day at work. Another dull day as an accountant. Once he had recounted his day, he asked how the kids had been. My usual ‘good’ came out without thinking about it. I knew he cared for their wellbeing but wasn’t really interested in how they’d been. I was the one who got to deal with them so it really only impacted me how they behaved. Sighing, I gave him a brief kiss on the lips before heading to take a shower. When I finished, feeling more refreshed now that I’d washed away the day, I found him sitting at his computer. I returned to my desk to get in some more work in before turning in for the day. My job was to get new merchandise listed for an online lingerie