November 24, 2023
"I hate to interrupt you, but are you saying that the first time you met Dr. Stone was not in Searcy but at a hospital? You were his patient?" Harvey Cox asked, shocked.
Taylor gave a long sigh and said, "Yes, but it is not what you think. I was only his patient that one time. Before you start asking too many questions, let me finish this part of the story. I promise it will all make sense."
Stone Cottage
Gulf Shores, Alabama
March 2012
The next day, Taylor did exactly as the doctor had ordered. She went for some low-stress walks on the beach and then spent time lounging in Edna's amazing beach chairs. As she did so, Taylor was forced to accept some prettyhard truths about herself.
She tried to take her marriage apart, piece by piece, and examine it for cracks. The one area that she kept coming back to was sex. Given her lack of experience and sex partners, she struggled to work out exactly where it all went wrong. After spending an entire afternoon contemplating it, she decided to reach out to the one person she completely trusted and who had enough sexual experience for both of them, Joules. Around 10:00, she rang her, hoping that by then, everyone would be out of the office and Joules could talk privately.
Taylor expected her friend to be working late on the campaign or out on a date. Though dating for Joules was almost a joke. She only dated men for cover and the occasional distraction.
The truth was Joules had been seeing a married man on and off for the last decade. Taylor had no idea what Joules saw in the guy. He was much older and had been one of her policy professors. Taylor saw no future in the relationship but given her recent relationship issues, who was she to throw stones?
Joules answered on the second ring. "Hey, what are you doing up so late? I thought you turned into a pumpkin at 10:00," Joules quipped as she answered, having already seen the call was from Taylor.
"The better question is, what are you doing? I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Are you still at the office or, heaven forbid, on a date?"
Chuckling, Joules responded, "No, I am actually home in bed. I am just lying here looking over some recent polls. What's up?"
"You're in bed? It's only 10:00. Are you sick?" Taylor was shocked. Joules was the original night owl. She never seemed to need much sleep. If she was home and in bed, that probably meant she wasn't alone. It suddenly occurred to Taylor that her friend might have someone there with her. If so, she didn't want to interrupt them.
"No, I am not sick, and before your overactive imagination goes into overdrive, I am alone. Harrison is not here. He is out of town. So, what's up?"
Taylor could hear how defensive her friend got whenever Dennis Harrison's name came up. Joules knew how Taylor felt about adultery. Given the events of the last few days, her prejudices against it were at an all-time high. However, she needed Joules to help her understand some things about her marriage, and if that meant talking about Harrison to do it, so be it.
"Um, well, I have been thinking and wanted to run some things by you. You know, to get your perspective on them."
Taylor was being vague. It was obvious that Joules didn't understand what she meant because she said, "Okay, what kind of things?"
Taylor paused for a moment and then said, "Sex things."
"Whoa!" her friend laughed out loud. "Let me get this right: you want to talk about sex things. Who are you and what have you done with my friend? You know Taylor Carrington, the girl who once told me it was not ladylike to talk about intimate details of sex."
"Point taken, I am being serious. I have been thinking about the first year Bennett and I were married."
"Yeah, and?" Joules replied, trying to figure out where Taylor was going.
"Well, I was wondering, is sex really that big of a deal? I mean, would bad sex have been enough to drive Bennett to cheat?"
"What? What do you mean by bad sex?" Joules could not keep the surprise out of her voice. Taylor could tell that Joules was not very comfortable having this conversation. "You know, bad sex. I don't know how else to describe it."
Joules seemed to consider the questions for a moment, and then she said, "Well, to be honest, I think sex is like pizza. Good pizza, okay pizza, or bad pizza, I am pretty much always up for pizza,and while some pizza is definitely better than others, I never turn down pizza. I think almost all men would agree with me when it comes to both sex and pizza."
"Okay, how about I describe it another way. Sex, good or bad, as a chore. Would that be enough to drive a man to cheat?"
"You mean you think sex is a chore?"
"Well, not always, but yeah, sometimes. Don't you? Or maybe not," fibbed Taylor, starting to feel very self-conscious. Maybe she was the only person who ever saw sex as being more trouble than it was worth.
"No, I don't. Of course, given my choice of partners, I don't get to have sex as often as I would like. But no, it is never a chore. Is that how you have felt about sex with Bennett the last few months?"
Taylor could tell Joules was uncomfortable talking about sex and Bennett, and she could hardly blame her. After all, he was her boss! Clearing her throat, she answered honestly, "Well, no, not the last few months. We haven't had sex in a long time."
