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CHAPTER 027

Rick Diehl approached the whole thing like a research project. He read a book on the female orgasm. Two books, actually. One with pictures. And he watched a video. He ran it three times, and even took notes. Because, one way or another, he had sworn he would get a reaction from Lisa.

Now he was down there between her legs, hard at work for the last half hour, his fingers stiff, tongue aching, knees sore-but Lisa’s body remained completely relaxed, indifferent to his every attention. Nothing the books predicted had occurred. No labial tumescence. No perineal engorgement. No retraction of the clitoral hood. No change in breathing, abdominal tension, moans or groans…

Nothing.

He was exhausting himself, while Lisa stared at the ceiling, zoned out like she was at the dentist’s. Like a person waiting for something vaguely unpleasant to be over.

And then…wait a minute…her breathing changed. Only slightly at first, but then distinctly. Sighing. And her stomach was tensing, rhythmically tensing. She began to squeeze her breasts and moan softly.

It was working.

Rick redoubled his efforts. She responded strongly. It certainly was working…working…she was grunting now…gasping, writhing, building strongly…her back arched…And suddenly she heaved and screamed,“Yes! Yes! Brad! Yessss!”

Rick rocked back on his heels as if he had been hit. Lisa threw her hand over her mouth and twisted away from him on the bed. She shuddered briefly, then sat up, pushed the hair out of her eyes, looked down at him. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes dark with arousal. “Gee,” she said. “I’m really sorry.”

At this awkward moment, Rick’s phone rang. Lisa lunged for it on the bedside table and handed it to him quickly.

“Yes, what is it?” Rick snapped. He was angry.

“Mr. Diehl? It’s Barry Sindler here.”

“Oh. Hi, Barry.”

“Something wrong?”

“No, no.” Lisa was off the bed, getting dressed, her back to him.

“Well, I have good news for you.”

“What’s that?”

“As you know, last week your wife refused to undergo genetic testing. So we got a court order. Came through yesterday.”

“Yes…”

“And confronted with the order, your wife fled rather than submit to testing.”

“What do you mean?” Rick said.

“She’s gone. Left town. No one knows where.”

“What about the kids?”

“She abandoned them.”

“Well, who’s taking care of them?”

“The housekeeper. Don’t you call your kids every day?”

“Yeah, usually I do, but it’s been busy at work-”

“When was the last time you called them?”

“I don’t know, maybe three days ago.”

“You better get your ass over to your house right now,” Sindler said. “You wanted custody of your kids, and you got it. You’d better show the court some parental responsibility.”

And he hung up. He’d sounded pissed.

Rick Diehl leaned back on his knees and looked at Lisa. “I gotta go,” he said.

“Okay,” she said. “I’m sorry. See you.”