Amanda shook her head then laughed. “Hardly.”
“I do,” said Tasha making the other two women laugh.
“Really?” asked Abby.
“No!” cried Tasha. “I do sometimes call him Mr Maybury to his Miss Winters, but not specifically in the sack.”
“Mr Maybury is just professional, like our relationship,” said Amanda seemingly intent on moving the subject of Jim back into safer territory.
“Bobby likes me to call him Daddy when things get hot,” revealed Abby, causing Tasha to almost choke on her mineral water.
“Daddy? Really?” Amanda smiled between Tasha and Abby.
“Yeah and he calls me Abigail or Daddy’s best girl.” She continued, making Tasha literally howl while Amanda shook her head but did chuckle.
“Dom hates talking during sex. In fact, he isn’t keen on noise full stop, except you know, normal sex noises,” said Amanda.
Tasha assumed Dom was her current husband.
“What about Jim?” Abby was eagerly seeking details.
Tasha wasn’t sure who Abby was speaking to until she laughed and clarified, “Sorry. I forgot either of you could answer, but I meant Tasha.”
“What about him?” asked Tasha.
“Is he a talker, I reckon he is.” Abby’s huge grin now made Tasha laugh.
“Let’s just say I like a running commentary.”
“I knew it!” Abby squealed momentarily before transferring her attention back to Amanda’s husband. “So if Dom becomes available I’m guessing you won’t want another of Amanda’s exes as he is a silent one.”
“Abby!” chastised Tasha, “You’re really embarrassing Amanda now.” If she was honest Tasha’s objections were for herself too as she also felt really uncomfortable at Abby’s questioning.
Amanda smiled and surprised Tasha when she spoke again. “I assume that whatever is said here remains between us.”
Abby and Tasha nodded.
Amanda continued, “Jim was without a doubt the best lover I’d ever had, but I wouldn’t exchange all that passion, adventure and variety for what I have with Dom. I should never have married Jim. He should have remained an exciting affair, but I did love him and I believe he loved me in his own way, but we were never like you and him. I was never going to be able to maintain that level of excitement. The day after we decided to separate I met Marcia and she didn’t even know we’d had a crossed word by his mood and yet with you, well, his mood swings in the direction of how his life with you is and even the most trivial disagreement puts him in a foul mood.”
Tasha offered a sympathetic smile but was unsure if it was for Jim’s lack of mood swings when married to Amanda or for the sheer intensity of them and their frequency that his P.A. was currently dealing with courtesy of her.
“I was a good wife to Jim,” Amanda continued. “I was loving and caring, I tried my hardest to be a good stepmother, I kept house, I worked hard at being interesting and I took good care of myself. I behaved in the way he wanted and gave whatever he wanted a try, but it wasn’t enough. So, I don’t ever feel that I failed in that marriage. I should never have been in that marriage, it’s that simple. I do, however belong in my marriage to Dom and we are both happy. He would never cheat on me, unlike Jim, but I am guessing you both knew about that.”
Tasha nodded, feeling reassured that whatever had been between Jim and Amanda was entirely over.
“I suspected. I think Jim may have met his match in Tasha though,” said Abby, reminding Tasha again about the entangled lives and pasts these people had. “I mean, apart from anything else she challenges him, whereas I think his previous wives thought if they behaved exactly as he wanted they would make him happy. Plus, she is beautiful, funny and very sexy. Oh, and is also clever enough to get the low down on her predecessors and learn from their mistakes.”
Tasha frowned at her and her summing up of Jim, his previous wives and her.
“Oh come on, Tasha. That is exactly what you’ve done with Sara. Philip is very open about the others and here we are with Amanda. It’s not a criticism, it’s inspired. I wish I’d done that with Bobby’s previous wives.”
“I am Dom’s first wife so I don’t have any predecessors,” said Amanda rather smugly making Abby and Tasha laugh. Maybe Amanda deserved to be the first after being left to feel that she was inadequate in her own first marriage.
“Do you miss the excitement of a controlling Maybury in your life?” asked Abby, possibly more fascinated by Amanda’s relationships than Tasha was.
“Not as a husband, no. I do still have one in my life during office hours and, oh shit!” She looked panic struck when she glanced down at her watch. “And he will be far from happy as it’s almost two o’clock making me very late.”
“Sorry.” Tasha felt guilty then slightly nervous as she recalled Jim’s warning not to send Amanda back to his office late. “You get off and I’ll call ahead and hopefully take some of the heat.”
