Page 150 of Champagne Nights

Is your sex life really non-existent because of porn, or are you using porn as the excuse for some other reason? Sit down one night and surprise him by watching some soft-core porn with him. You may surprise yourself and like it, plus it may enhance your sex life with your husband. If you’re open about it, he won’t need to sneak around and watch it behind your back. Communication is the key. You also need to explore other reasons why your sex life has become non-existent. Using something we hate as an excuse instead of facing the truth is very easy.

A couple of hours later, my phone rang. When I looked at it, I saw Charlotte calling.

“Hello.”

“Hi there. I have Piper and Keaton on the line too.”

“Hey,” they both said.

“How did it go last night with Ben and his family?” Piper asked.

“It went good. His family is really great.”

“I’m sure not as great as us,” Keaton said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” I laughed.

“So, was there anything else that was great?” Charlotte asked.

I rolled my eyes. “If you’re asking if we had sex, the answer is no.”

“How about the kiss?” Piper asked.

I sighed. “The kiss on my cheek was nice.”

“There she goes with that ‘nice’ word again,” Keaton interrupted.

“I’m sorry you aren’t getting the juicy details you called for, but I have to go. I’m in the middle of working. Goodbye, siblings.”

I looked over at Romeo and smiled as he lay curled up on the rug, sleeping. A thought came to my mind. One that hadn’t been around for a very long time. I clicked on the Word document titled: “She Writes Love” and stared at the one paragraph that sat on the screen. The only paragraph I could manage to get out of me before breaking down. I wrote that paragraph ten months ago and haven’t looked at it since. The only reason I opened it today was because of a conversation Ben and I had last night on the way home.

“Do you write anything else besides for your columns?” Ben asked.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Maybe poetry, short stories, novels.”

“I’ve always wanted to write a novel.”

“Why don’t you?” he asked with seriousness.

“I don’t know. I’ve thought about it.”

“I think you should think about it again.” He smiled.

That conversation made me think of the day I wrote that paragraph. If I would have kept going, the book would have beenfinished by now. But I couldn’t. I wasn’t strong enough. Even ten months later, I didn’t know if I was strong enough.

Ben

David was already sitting down at the bar when I sat down.

“Hey, good to see you, man.” I smiled.

“Good to see you too. How was your week?”

Damian set a bottle of beer in front of me and told me that my fish and chips would be up soon.

“My week was…it was good,” I said with a smile.