Strings Attached

The afternoon light coming in from the window cast a buttery glow over the decades old décor of the small hotel room. It softened the lines on their skin and washed out the grey of their hair. Cora felt as if they were in a Rubens painting and through her half-closed eyes, the chipped and stained walls were made of marble and the floral duvet and carpet were a real garden.  The fading light meant that John would be expected at home soon, so she gently nudged him awake and told him she was leaving.

As Cora drove home, she looked in the mirror to catch a glimpse of the pink and orange brightening behind her and thought for the hundredth time that day that she loved being “a mistress”. A month ago, she would have been sitting on her sofa in her pyjamas eating three-day old Chinese food and watching a re-run of “Law & Order”. The same night she’d had again and again for years. What made her giddy was that she would still go home and put on her pyjamas and eat take-out but with the adrenalin rush of the rendezvous still buzzing inside her.

John, too, was driving home though with a bit more unease than his recent companion. He looked in the mirror and saw the kind of asshole he never wanted to be. But it was fun, dammit, and he wasn’t ready to stop yet. And besides, Cora said they would stop immediately when it became “cringy or boring”.

The fact that Cora worked with John’s wife did not make the situation very easy to ignore. They’d met at a work function, waiting at the bar for a drink. Cora asked him how he’d been screwed into coming to one of the infamous “booze n’ snooze fests” and when John said he’d come to keep Kathy company and get free drink, Cora replied with an “Office Space” impression that made him spit out his drink in laughter.

When John returned to Kathy with their drinks, he said he’d met her colleague Cora. Kathy said she was someone who was a bit odd and kept to herself but always had people in stitches when she made fun of the managers.

The next day, John found himself on the company’s website, looking at the contact information for the staff. When he found what he was looking for, he sat in his chair for a very long time pretending to weigh pros and cons, but knowing exactly what he was going to do.

Cora had waited until five minutes before she was due to leave work to reply that an early matinee and a drink sounded like the perfect way to spend a Tuesday afternoon. She then sent an email to her boss stating she had a dentist appointment the following day and would be leaving early. The two emails made her giggle and she wasn’t sure if she was more excited to skip work or to meet a stranger in a darkened cinema.

They spent the entirety of the film looking straight ahead, their fingers barely touching over the chasm of the drinks holder. After as they walked down winding back streets, he pulled her into doorways for a long kiss, breaking away before they started groping. Over a pint in an old man’s pub, they talked and joked easily, their lack of familiarity with one another loosening any inhibitions. He ran his fingers up and down the inside of her thigh, thankful she’d worn a dress just this side of slutty.

John got them track phones and when hers vibrated in the early afternoons, she tried not to look in the direction of his wife’s desk as she tapped out her reply, heart racing and face flushed. When she did occasionally pass Kathy in the corridor or on the way to the staff toilet, she felt a shame that gripped her intestines and stopped her breath. But as she sat on the toilet, staring at the screen of the phone she justified the disgrace by reminding herself and later John, that their meetings were temporary and only physical.

That all changed the moment Cora walked into the staff canteen and saw John sitting across from his wife, a half-eaten salad on a tray between them. Her fork was poised gracefully over the leaves as she smiled and spoke animatedly. He sat, nodding and laughing. Suddenly, Kathy paused as she noticed the strings attached to her blouse at the cuff had come undone and were dangling into the salad bowl. John immediately put down his fork and gently grabbed his wife’s arm and tied the string into a delicate and perfect bow.

Cora’s hands shook as she took out the change for her bag of popcorn and Diet Coke and didn’t stop until she was back at her desk. As she munched and scanned news headlines, she tried to ignore the thoughts of John’s tenderness towards his wife.

At their next meeting John was surprised when Cora put a foot on his lap and asked rather seductively if he’d put a plaster on the blister on her pinky toe. He wasn’t about to touch anyone’s foot, especially one that had been crammed tightly into a shoe all day. Cora continued to make odd requests—shoulder rubs, splinter removals, and zipping up her dress, which he’d seen her undo on her own just 10 minutes ago.

She daydreamed about moments where he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear or kissed the tip of her nose. But they continued as usual---sneaky pints and hotel rooms that felt dingier as the sun began to set sooner. She began thinking about what to get for dinner before he even finished. They put their clothes on in silence, ignoring the creak of old springs. They didn’t kiss good-bye.

When she ended it, he was relieved, but had to know why.

“I guess I want strings attached after all.”