Steps - The Real Day 4

Editor's Note: Due to a technical problem in the publishing of yesterday's installment of Steps, it was incorrectly labeled Day 4. Actually, it was Day 3. Today is Day 4. We regret any confusion this may have caused.
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Step 4 is the stumbling move
That takes the just
Happened and
Tries to
Hide
it

The afterglow of her encounter with Frank/Roberto took hours to fade from her body, slowing seeping into the void of day-to-day life. It took much longer before her soul would allow it to fade.

That night was just like any other night to those around her. But to Barbara, she was in a different universe – not one of those strange parallel universes – but a softer, quieter universe. Reality faded in and out, and even at its high tide, it was weak.

Barbara had supper with Howard, her husband -- take-out Chinese as usual for Tuesday. He didn’t say anything about how quiet she was, which would have confirmed he never listened to her anyway if she had been paying attention – which she wasn’t.

After supper, they both retreated to their normal spaces – Howard to the den and Barbara to the upstairs office. They both did this out of a habit of doing the same thing for the last fifteen years.

While tonight seemed the same for Howard, it was completely different for Barbara. Her body was on autopilot, but her insides were still experiencing Frank’s touch, his body, his passion. She looked at her hands, surprised to see that her inside trembles were not manifesting themselves in her hands.

As she sat back into her office chair, her fingers automatically got her laptop up and going. Email, Internet browser, task list, calendar all came up as if on auto-pilot.

It was thirty minutes later when her new world exploded … as she read the email.