William Cass
Breasts

<< continued from Part 2

He glanced up and saw that her eyes were closed, her lips in the same, small smile. He continued snipping. It was very quiet.

When Martin had finished both breasts, he used tweezers to remove the threads, placing them in a paper towel, and then wiped the incisions again with another anesthetic wipe. The new breasts were perfectly symmetrical, their nipples still erect.

"Okay," Martin said. "All done. You can get dressed again."

He busied himself throwing things away and replacing the instruments while she put on her bra and top. As he was closing the cupboard, she said, "You know, I haven't been with a man for several years. It just became too much.the way I was before."

"Well," he said. "Maybe that can change now. Hope so. New you."

He turned and extended his hand. She took it in both of hers. He lifted his away, but allowed their eyes to meet. She said, "When is your wedding?"

"Haven't set a date."

Leila nodded slowly. "I was married once. Many years ago. I'm sure yours will work out better than mine did."

Martin noticed that she'd left the top few buttons of her blouse unfastened. He nodded and left the room.

Two nights later, he came home much earlier than usual. When he entered the apartment, Gwen was sitting at the kitchen counter with her laptop. She quickly lowered the screen as he walked up next to her and kissed her forehead.

He asked, "Looking at something secret?"

"Not really."

"Want to share?"

She made a little roll of her eyes and raised the screen. She tapped a key, and the web site for the college they'd attended together blinked to life. It was opened to a link for admissions to the school's teacher education program. When he glanced with widened eyes from the screen to her, she returned a sheepish grin.

She said, "Just thought I'd take a look. See what would be involved."

"Good for you."

She gave a little shrug. "It'd be cheaper than law school, but we'd be without an income again. Just more student debt."

"As long as you're happy. Isn't that what you said to me the other day?"

"I guess."

He smiled, gave her shoulder a squeeze, and said, "I'm going to change clothes."

Martin went into the bedroom, got out of his work things, and into the shower. When he emerged afterwards, music was coming from the other room: one of Gwen's big band CD's, another curiosity about her. He thought he'd pay some bills before offering to make dinner, so he pulled on sweatpants and a T-shirt and lifted the pile of assorted papers they let accumulate on top of their dresser. He leafed quickly through the unopened envelopes until he got to the bottom where he came upon two brochures from clinics that did breast augmentation procedures. Each had asterisks marked in pen next to details about enlargement options. Gwen had also underlined several of the listed bullet points.

He thought about Gwen's family. She was an only child. Her father was a cold, distant man, aloof. He'd had a distinguished career as a lawyer before being appointed as a district judge, and never had much to say to Gwen's mother or her. Martin remembered Gwen telling him about how her mother had always doted upon him: dinner waiting for him when he came home, her hair done, make-up on, meeting him at the door and turning her cheek for the peck he seemed to grudgingly apply to it.

Martin's thoughts shifted to when he'd met Gwen early in their freshman year. He'd come upon her one night frowning over a textbook alone on the couch in their dorm's common room. He'd admired her from afar for several weeks but had been too shy to approach her. She'd looked up at him that night, smiled in a way that made him catch his breath, and moved over on the couch to free a spot for him. They'd talked until almost dawn, but he'd fallen hard before their first hour together had passed. She told him later that she'd felt exactly the same.

He shook his head and turned his head towards the music, then set the pile back down where it had been on the dresser, leaving the brochures on the bottom. As he did, Gwen appeared in the doorway, her eyes flickering merrily. She extended her hand, gave an identical smile as that first night, and said, "Come dance with me."

On Friday night, Martin and Gwen met for dinner at a restaurant halfway between the hospital and her office building. They stopped in the bar first for a drink and sat at a tall table just inside the entrance. After they ordered, Gwen excused herself to use the restroom. The place was crowded, and Martin busied himself with his cell phone, so didn't see Leila enter and approach until she was almost upon their table. She took her last couple of steps to his side with her familiar smile and said, "Hi there, doctor."

His stomach dropped. "Not quite yet," he said and set down his cell phone.

"Well, this is a nice surprise."

He tried to return her smile. She was wearing a lightweight blue sweater over a V-necked camisole of the same shade, white linen slacks, and sandals with straps. Her make-up was subtle and carefully applied.

He said, "It is, yes."

"How are you?"

"Fine." He glanced over her shoulder towards the foyer, but Gwen was nowhere in sight.

"You meeting someone?"

He shook his head.

"Want some company?"

"Actually, I'm with my fiancée. She's in the restroom."

Something in Leila's face fell. She said, "Oh, I see."

At that moment, Gwen came back into the bar's entrance and Martin nodded at her. Leila turned and followed his eyes. She watched the young woman settle onto the tall chair next to her and forced a smile. Gwen did the same and said, "Who's this?"

"A surgical patient from the hospital," Martin said. "I helped with her intake and follow-up a couple weeks ago."

Gwen nodded and her smile turned warmer. "I'm Gwen, his fiancée."

"Leila." The older woman nodded. "Nice to meet you."

The waitress came up to their table and placed two glasses of wine on cocktail napkins in front of Martin and Gwen. After she left, Leila said, "Well, then, I'll be on my way."

"Would you like to join us?" Gwen asked.

"No, thank you." She glanced once at Martin with the same fixed smile and said, "Enjoy your evening."

They watched Leila make her way through the crowd to the bar and find an empty stool. She sat and gestured to the bartender, who came up to her. Martin could read the bartender's lips when he asked, "Double?" He watched Leila nod. She seemed to him to be holding herself with intentional dignity.

"So, that woman, your patient," Gwen said.

Martin turned back to her. She was still gazing Leila's way. "Those are the breasts I want," she said. "Just like hers."

>> click to read: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

_ _

William Cass has seen over 150 short stories accepted for publication in a magazines including december, Briarcliff Review, and The Boiler. His children's book, Sam, is scheduled for release by Upper Hand Press in April 2020. He has been a finalist in short fiction and novella competitions at Glimmer Train and Black Hill Press, a Pushcart nominee, and the winner of contests at Terrain.org and The Examined Life Journal.

>> Back to Issue 22, 2019