So Sweet a Changeling: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 6)

Chapter Twenty: Johnny, Wednesday

If anyone asked Johnny if he'd be having sex the evening after his father's funeral, he might have said, "Only if Val was up for it." Except Val wouldn't have been up for it, he knew. Very little made Val up for it lately, and going from genuine grief (because she loved his dad almost as much as her own father) to being ready for sex in the same day would have taken the same effort, for her, as climbing Mount Everest. For Johnny, it would have been the opposite; death would have inspired him to reach for any pleasure he could, to remind himself he was still alive, and what better pleasure could be had in the world?

So, here he was, with Melody again, after Val left Joe's house in a fury, with no reconciliation in sight.

To Johnny's relief, he was able to finish this time, also after another exhausting session that included the shower as a setting; Melody got her wish, but he came dangerously close to throwing his back out. He realized that he wasn't as strong and limber as he used to be. Was this why Val wasn't up for it anymore? Was he a disappointment in her eyes, now? Was he no longer her tall, slim, broad-shouldered basketball star? Had she become too content with treating him as a partner and a breadwinner? Had he ceased arousing her as a lover?

Val had thrown the fact, that she'd gone to another man's house to have sex, in his face with a bitter sort of relish that made Johnny sad rather than angry. He knew she was only doing it to get him back. She never even told him the guy's name. He knew for her sex was the extremest form of intimacy, that for her to just go out and sleep with a stranger would have taken a force of will akin to that of an airplane traveler with a fear of flying white-knuckling it into an airport with a landing strip jutting dangerously into the sea. She would have been clenched throughout the session, disappointing her lover as well as herself. She wouldn't have enjoyed it.

Johnny wondered briefly whom she would have chosen for this revenge fling. Was he better looking than Johnny? Not a high bar to clear anymore, but he didn't think he was at the bottom end of the scale for looks either, not if Melody wanted him.

And she did. After an hour of cuddling after that marathon, she was climbing on top of him again, and he hoped he'd had enough time to recharge.

"Did I tell you how glad I am that you messaged me tonight?" she asked again. 

He'd done so in desperation after Val had torn away from Joe's house, unwilling to tell him where she was going or with whom. She'd been coldly formal up until then, putting on a show for Mom's sake, but he knew she'd been about to blow even before she exploded at Joanie, of all people. Lauren, to her credit, had done her best to help them communicate while they'd been on the lawn, but Val wouldn't be moved. Vic and Tilly had been alarmed at her exit, of course, and become more so when their mother hadn't responded to their texts asking if she was okay.

"I'm glad you still wanted to see me after my confession on Saturday," he said as he ran his hands down her back and squeezed her considerable behind.

"You haven't reconciled with your wife yet?"

"No. I think things are even worse now."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It was my dad's funeral today."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, and my wife caught me talking to my brother and his friends in the office, and she started screaming at one of them when she should have been screaming at me."

Melody grimaced, and she climbed off him, having lost her ardour. Johnny couldn't blame her. "Look," she said, "I've been where your wife is right now, so I don't think I want to be your sounding board for complaints about her."