Lip Service

By Jason Cosnett

Twenty-three years of marriage had seen plenty of ups and downs for Louise and I, but most of the memories we shared were good ones; two healthy daughters, a sound stable of friends, and a decent size house in the well-to-do area of Amberley-on-Heath were but three examples of what our married life had propagated. Though it wasn’t entirely the grandeur lifestyle we had envisioned when we first tied the knot and mortgaged ourselves to the hilt, we lived a comfortable existence, minus the fast cars and fancy boats that our neighbours seemed to accumulate. Once the girls finished their private high school education, we reasoned we would also be able to indulge in such toys that the residents of this upmarket suburbia expected. But that was a few years off yet; for now, the garage was occupied by the estate in lieu of the coupe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jason Cosnett
• Release date: Jun 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463944479

Jason Cosnett

There's a guy in the place who's got a bittersweet faceAnd he goes by the name of Ebeneezer GoodeHis friends call him 'Ezeer and he is the main geezerAnd he'll vibe up the place like no other man couldHe's refined, sublime, he makes you feel fineThough very much maligned and misunderstood

Book preview

Lip Service

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2019 Jason Cosnett

"Kiss, kiss"

Twenty-three years of marriage had seen plenty of ups and downs for Louise and I, but most of the memories we shared were good ones; two healthy daughters, a sound stable of friends, and a decent size house in the well-to-do area of Amberley-on-Heath were but three examples of what our married life had propagated. Though it wasn’t entirely the grandeur lifestyle we had envisioned when we first tied the knot and mortgaged ourselves to the hilt, we lived a comfortable existence, minus the fast cars and fancy boats that our neighbours seemed to accumulate. Once the girls finished their private high school education, we reasoned we would also be able to indulge in such toys that the residents of this upmarket suburbia expected. But that was a few years off yet; for now, the garage was occupied by the estate in lieu of the coupe.

Louise was forty-two with twinkling blue eyes and a smile to melt your heart. I was a few years older (one should never reveal one’s exact age suffice to say you can take ‘few’ as a literal meaning and perhaps even double it). I liked to think I kept myself in relatively decent shape for my age, and have always prided myself as a fine male specimen; twice weekly workouts and restricting all night booze-ups to every second month seemed to keep father time at bay, and many people often commented that I looked much younger than my years implied. And whilst I enjoyed a smoke, I wasn’t quite a pack a day kind of fellow. But for all my outward appearances, I had of late noticed a decline in my most masculine of attributes: passion with the love of my life Louise. And this, dear reader, is where the trouble started.

At first, I had put it down to a couple of stressful work deadlines and an office restructure that had me come within a hair’s breadth of a redundancy payout, but that was over six months ago now, and whilst my desires and urges for Louise were as strong as ever, it just didn’t translate into an acceptable performance under our duck feather duvet. Louise had noticed the difference too; our love-making was less frequent and intense, and whenever she broached the subject, I found myself shutting her down with a cursory comment that my effort was the result of feeling tired or that I had other things on my mind. Which was partly true at least, but it wasn’t the main reason behind my lacklustre bedroom routine. And truth be told, I hadn’t a clue as to what it was.

I could understand if I saw Louise as a less attractive woman than she was, or I had a bit of fluff on the side that was occupying my masculinity in another queen size bed. But it was neither of these things. I loved Louise dearly and had no inclination whatsoever to consider having an