Rachel sat a table in her small apartment at her laptop and with her head in her hands, the table covered by receipts and hand-written notes. She had been putting this chore off for weeks, but with quarterly filings due soon she had to face into this job sooner than later. Whilst her career as a professional dominatrix wasn’t remotely illegal, she knew the best way to keep the government out of her life was to have timely and accurate tax filings. It was against this backdrop that the sudden ringing of her personal phone was a welcome distraction.

“This is Rachel.”

“Rachel… hi, this is Chris, Mindy’s husband.”

Rachel remembered Chris. Mindy had arranged for him to have two sessions with her before she died. Chris had reached out to her to let her know about Mindy’s death and funeral, and she thought she would never hear from Chris again. But that was eighteen months ago, and here he was right now.

“Chris.. hi! It’s been a while. How are you keeping? Can I do anything for you?”

“I’ve been keeping ok, rebuilding my life.” He paused. “Um, this is odd, but I have a message for you from Mindy, and I was wondering if we could meet up over lunch so you could see it.”

Chris was right, thought Rachel, this was damn odd.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how do you suddenly have a message from Mindy?”

“It’s a fair question”, Chris conceded. “So about two weeks before she died, Mindy recorded a message and sent it to me, with the strict condition that I wait at least a year, and then wait some more, before I watched it. She was smart, so I respected her wishes on that. I thought about it a few months back, and decided I wasn’t ready, and a few hours ago I remember the message and felt up to watching it.”

That made sense, thought Rachel. That Chris followed Mindy’s request even so long after her death spoke volumes about the respect he had for her.

“And Mindy specifically mentioned me in this message?”

“She did. And look, it’s ok if you don’t want any part of this. I don’t know how I would feel if the circumstances were reversed.”

Rachel considered. She and Mindy were starting to develop a deep friendship until she died, and Mindy thought the world of Chris. Curiosity got the better of her.

“Sure thing, let’s have lunch. You Free tomorrow at 2 pm?”

Chris said he was, and Rachel sent him the location. After hanging up the phone, Rachel looked at the piles of paper and her laptop, and decided she was too distracted now to concentrate on taxes. She shoved all the paper into a box, weighed it down with the laptop and spent the rest of afternoon watching Netflix.

The next day, Rachel waited in her kitchenette for her morning clients. They were a husband and Wife who liked to be handcuffed to a chair and watch as the other one was fastened to the St Andrews cross and flogged as Rachel wore the skimpiest black leather outfit she owned. The room was set up and Rachel had the outfit on under her jeans and polo shirt, so she could greet the clients in regular clothes. Her phone beeped with a message. The clients had arrived at the coffee shop. Seeing no good reason to keep either herself or them waiting, she messaged back, telling them to come right around, and a few minutes later they knocked on her door. She let them in and they went through to the kitchen, Rachel following them. The three sat down at the table and after some small talk Rachel confirmed the session details with them. All agreed, so they were sent to the bathroom to Shower and Rachel shed her regular clothes.

Mistress Victoria stood in the room with the St Andrews Cross, this time with two chairs in front of it. She wore a black leather outfit that was basically strips of leather that covered nipples, Pussy and not much else, just the way the clients liked it. She wielded the flogger while she waited, then the couple entered the room. Both were naked. They stood at the entrance, waiting for direction. Mistress Victoria ordered them to sit on the chairs, then she securely handcuffed each of them to their respective chairs. She had them check the restraints, then picked up a riding crop. The crop flicked out, nicking the woman’s nipple. She gasped and flinched, but was unable to touch the nipple. The crop flicked out again, this time striking the man’s balls. He tried to cover himself, but the handcuffs held him in place. Mistress Victoria pulled a coin out from under one of her leather straps. Flicking the woman again on the nipple, she ordered her to call the toss. She called heads; tails came up. She was first on the cross.

Strapped in place, Mistress Victoria started flogging the woman. Lightly at first and avoiding the breasts, she worked her way up and down the woman’s body. The man, bound to his chair, watched, his erection growing by the second. Then the flogger found the Pussy, and the woman gasped. And again. Now it found the underside of a breast. A nipple. Then the other nipple. Soon her body was covered in red marks of varying degrees of anger. The flogging stopped, and Mistress Victoria released her. She turned around and was fastened face-first to the cross. The flogging began again, the woman now constantly moaning in pain.

The flogging stopped, and she was released. With relief, the woman collapsed back into the chair and was securely handcuffed. Now it was the man’s turn. His handcuffed were released and he stood against the cross, ready to be fastened, his erection hard. Mistress Victoria showed much restraint when flogging the woman’s breasts and Pussy; she showed no such restrain with the man’s cock and balls. She worked the entire from of his body, his Wife drinking in every blow. Then he was turned around and flogged on the back.

Then it was over. He returned to his chair and was handcuffed in place. Mistress Victoria exited the room, heading to the kitchen for some water. There was no conversation from the room; none was permitted, the crop ready to punish rule violations. Then Mistress Victoria entered the room again, released the couple and ordered them to the Shower. The scene over, they embraced before heading out. Mistress Victoria took off the leather outfit and Rachel donned her casual clothes, waiting in the kitchenette for the couple. They came back in; dressed and sore, some marks showing, they were happy. They debriefed the session, reviewing what they liked (all of it), what they didn’t like (too short, could it last longer?), and potential changes for the next session (maybe the crop whilst they were on the cross?). They left, and Rachel began the cleanup. All the equipment that had been used had to be wiped down and the floor cleaned. The bath towels needed to be washed and the Shower scrubbed down. The session notes needed to be entered into the CRM software. Finally, all the jobs were done, and – oh my god; the time! It was almost 2pm, and she was feeling dirty after all the cleaning. She wished she hadn’t agreed to see this message today, and considered cancelling entirely. But she knew if she canceled the would always wonder what Mindy had to say to her.

Sighing, needing a Shower but settling for a quick freshen up, she headed to the lunch and arrived ten minutes late. She spotted Chris as he waved at her, grabbed a sub and made her way to where Chris was sitting. After pleasantries and some small talk, they got down to business.

“The message is here”, he said, holding his phone. “I’ve watched the first half, which was addressed to me, but I haven’t watched the second half.” Headphones were already plugged into the phone as he passed it to her, and Rachel offered an earpiece back to Chris as she angled the phone so both of them could see the screen. Slightly nervous, she pressed play on the video. Mindy appears on the screen, looking thinner and grayer than Rachel remembered. The cancer’s progression was obvious.

“Hi darling!” waved Mindy from the past. “I hope you’ve waited until you’re ready to watch this message. You don’t want to be like Dad or Brian.” Rachel made a mental note to ask what that meant, as she could see Chris nodding out of the corner of her eye. “If you’re ready, I think you should reach out to Rachel. You’re far too nice a person to remain alone, and she’s a lovely, interesting person, and someone I think would be as supportive to you as you would be to her. So to that end, I want you to stop the video now and phone her. Ask her out to lunch, but make sure you let her let her know why. So stop the video, and where you’re both there play the whole thing. I’ll wait!” And with that, Mindy stopped talking.

Rachel paused the video and turned to Chris.

“And this is where you stopped? You didn’t watch the rest of it?” she asked.

Chris shook his head. Turning back to the phone somewhat surprised, she tapped play. Mindy sat still for a few more seconds, then started to speak again.

“Hi Rachel! I really hope you’re doing well. If Chris has followed my suggestions, you’re sitting near him watching me talk from the past. You told me you would like to be in a relationship with someone kind, supportive and understanding, but someone who wouldn’t get in the way of your career. Well, Chris is just that – and boy can he cook! I didn’t get to know you as well as I had hoped, but from what I do know I think you two would really work as a couple. So please, if you’re interested then take it from his deceased ex-Wife just how great he is and get to know him. And if this isn’t the right time in your life then that’s ok, I’m sure he can take the news. Anyway, that’s as much as I can think to say. Best of luck to the two of you, no matter how things play out after this”. And with that, Mindy seemed to collapse back into her bed before remembering to stop the video.

Rachel handed the phone back, her head spinning. She looked at Chris.

“Well, I can tell you that I’m not looking for a relationship right now.” She paused, considering. “But I’m not not looking, either.”

Chris nodded. “Same here. I barely know you; you were pretty much Mindy’s friend. But she did think very highly of you. Obviously.” He concluded with a wry smile, looking at his phone.

Rachel didn’t know what to do, an unusual feeling in her life. She needed time to think, and realized that neither of them needed to make a decision on anything right now.

“How about”, she said, “we think about this for a bit, and then Saturday night you can cook a meal for us and we discuss things?”

Chris laughed, and agreed. He sent her a message with his address as the agreed on 8pm, and parted company.

That Saturday night, Rachel stood naked in front of her closet, thinking about what to wear. She eventually decided on comfortable underwear, a nice blouse, comfortable jeans and heels. She decided to leave her hair loose, the red wavy mane falling over her shoulders and down her back. Her Uber arrived, and she took the ride to Chris’s apartment wondering what the night would bring. Life was too busy right now to be looking for a relationship, but by the same token Chris struck her as a pretty low-maintenance person who just might mesh into her life. But it was far too early to be considering that, she thought. All too soon, the Uber arrived at Chris’s apartment, and he met her at his door in jeans and a polo shirt. Breaking into a warm smile, he ushered her into his apartment, the rich smell of the meal he was preparing filling the rooms.

Rachel glanced around the small apartment. It was bigger than hers, but then again it was a couple’s apartment. Mindy was present in the room, but only subtly. Beautiful landscape prints adorned the walls, with a few smaller couples pictures dotted around. Chris and Mindy beamed out of the photos, obviously from far happier times. Chris gave her a quick tour of the apartment, pointing out the bathroom if she needed it. They passed Chris’ office, and she noticed a large upright object.

“That’s a cello, right? Do you play?”

Chris shook his head. “No, I play the violin. Well, learning to play. Mindy was the cellist. She had three cellos; her starter one, an intermediate one and that one there was her forever cello. The other two I gave to her teacher, with the instruction that these were to be given to students who loved the cello but couldn’t afford their own. I believe they were delighted with the instruments. I kept this one because it sounded so beautiful. I have to play it occasionally, just so it doesn’t close up. Just open strings, mind, but I’ve been thinking about getting some tuition on it.”

Rachel asked to see the cello, and Chris obliged. She didn’t know much about musical instruments, but this did indeed look beautiful. She asked Chris to play it a bit. He again obliged, and the deep sonorous tones of the cello filled the room. She could see why he didn’t want let it go. She asked about the violin, and Chris again obliged, this time playing a few waltzes. He played well, not brilliantly or professionally, but obviously loved the instrument and the sound. All too soon, thought, the oven buzzer went off and he put the instruments away and started to serve the meal.

Rachel sat at the table as Chris served the food and some wine. The food looked ok, seemingly consisting of chopped-up sausages and various vegetables, but the explosion of taste in her mouth more than made up for its appearance. The meat and the various vegetables each had different notes that combined and blended into a flavor that she had never experienced before.

“Oh my god, this is AMAZING!” she exclaimed. Chris returned a bashful smile.

“Thank you. It’s one of my favorites.”

“I can see why!” The meal was devoured much faster than expected, and soon they retired to the sofas. Rachel curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine, and started with a hatchet-between-the-eyes question.

“So, let’s imagine it’s some time in the future and we’re together. What do you expect me to be doing? Do you expect me to give up my career? Become a housewife to serve your needs?”

Chris looked taken aback.

“Of course not! You’ve got to pursue your dreams. And it would be a bit rich to expect you to give up the career that introduced us.” Chris shook his head. “No, if you have a satisfying career then you do it!”

Rachel couldn’t quite believe him. What guy wouldn’t be consumed with jealousy that his partner was supposedly lavishing all this sexual energy on other people? But then again, Mindy as emphasized just how supportive Chris could be as a partner, and he knew just how much “sexual energy” there was with Mistress Victoria. She filed this away as a potential red flag and moved on.

“What do you do, anyway? I know you shifted to working from home, but I’ve no idea what you actually do.”

“I’m an ERP senior technical consultant in the custom care team”, he replied. “I keep the a company’s systems running, maintain them, modify them, you name it. I didn’t start there, I started in implementation, where I’d plan how to implement the system, transition from their existing system, what modifications the customer needed, stuff like that. It was lots on on-site meetings with the customers. When Mindy started to get sick, I transferred to Customer Care. I could work from home, and my hours were a lot more flexible.”

Rachel kind of knew what he was talking about, but seized on one point.

“So why didn’t you transfer back to implementations, then, after Mindy died?”

“I found I liked it a lot. I built up a lot of long term relationships with clients, learned their systems and operations very thoroughly, and basically became their trusted advisor. And it’s that level of personal relationships I found I enjoyed and thrived in.”

Rachel liked this answer a lot. Someone who took the long term approach and built relationships with clients was right up her alley.

“Again, suppose we’re in the future. It’s evening and I’m coming in from work. What do you want to hear about my day?”

Chris thought about that for a few seconds. “What I would find fascination is your clients, their relationships, the issues they are facing and what they are doing to resolve it. Your pre-chat with me those times were probing, and Mindy had mentioned to me how you wanted to dive under the covers, so to speak, of our relationship, to get an idea of what you were dealing with. We use to watch a lot of reality tv such as Teen Mom and 90 Day Fiancee, not for the stories but for the relationship stuff. It was great to see an issue and see how they dealt with it in the context of their life experiences. It’s the sort of stuff Mindy and I would talk about after work ourselves; not so much the issues we faced but the people we dealt with in the context of those issues.”

Fascinating, thought Rachel. She was seeing more and more why Mindy thought they would be a good couple. He had either guessed right or had some sort of insight; the relationship issues her clients faced and how they wanted to resolve them was what kept her going back day after day. Well, that and the money was very good, and the imagination of her clients occasionally surprised her. But this still seemed too good to be true.

“I’m surprised you’re not interested in the kinky details of client sessions.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed slightly. He started to see what was behind these questions.

“Sure, if someone has something particularly kinky or unusual I’d be interested in hearing about it. But I imagine your day-to-day with clients is a routine sameness. There’s only so many ways you can wield a flogger or whip and make it sound interesting. But the pre- and post-chats; that’s where the interesting stuff lies.

“As far as I’m concerned, you wielding a flogger is no different that if you wielded a shovel. And yes, you wear brief clothing, or you’re topless, or even nude?” he asked. Rachel nodded; sometimes she did work nude for clients. “Big deal,” Chris went on. “So what? I’m sure you wear form-fitting exercise gear, and it doesn’t matter if you work nude or sunbathe nude, you wouldn’t be successful if you didn’t have a clear separation in your mind between your work life and your actual life. If what you do puts food on the table and you enjoy it, keep doing it. I couldn’t do what you do, and would you even want to do what I do?”

Well, Rachel thought, he certainly saw behind her questions. As a matter of fact, she had never sunbathed nude at a beach; instead she used a tanning salon to maintain just a hint of all-over skin color. The message came through loud and clear, though: he had no interest in trying to change her or her work. Which was just as well; she was trying to figure out what her next career might be, but that was years away.

As the evening progressed they asked each other even more questions, listened to the answers and generally continued learning about each other. Rachel found herself yawning, and glanced at her watch. It was 3 am. She preemptively said she was booking the Uber, and when it arrived Chris escorted her to the car. With an agreement to meet up again next weekend at Rachels apartment, they parted company.