Sure something's the matter," Dana responded.

"I've known you too long not to see

it. We have always been able to share our problems. Come on."

Mary Ellen took a deep breath. She was dying to tell Dana but didn't want to burden
her with personal problems. It was now or never she thought. "It's... it's just
that... oh I don't know, something's missing in our... in Richard and my
relationship lately. He doesn't seem to pay any attention to me anymore." She knew
that she was dramatically understating the issue.

"Have you tried sexy underwear?" Dana laughed.

"I'm serious," Mary Ellen said and a little tear came to her eye.

Dana saw her eyes start to tear up and realized that she was indeed serious. "I'm
sorry Mary Ellen. However, I wasn't entirely joking when I said to try new
underwear."

"It's more than that," Mary Ellen said and paused.

"What then? Don't tell me you're old. I'm older than you are. Besides, you have the
body of a teenager." The older woman looked at Mary Ellen's slim form and sighed.
"I would love to have your shape. Nice sized boobs and a dynamite ass," she said
with a wide grin.

"Nice sized boobs? They're too small, especially compared to your 36C's. And, my
ass is much too big."

"Well, 36C aren't all they are made out to be. Gravity has a way of taking care of
that. You will never have that problem. As for your ass, Drew drools over it. And,
when you wear those little pink short shorts in the yard... well, I practically get
raped." The older woman laughed loudly. "I should buy all your clothes for you,"
she added with a coy smile.

"He does? Drew drools over my ass?" Mary Ellen asked and then realized that she was
acting a little too interested in what her friend's husband thought of her. Her
face turned red with embarrassment.

"Yeah. Last week you were out back planting flowers and he saw you from his office
window. I don't know how long he was watching you but when I came in to ask him if
he wanted lunch... well, I thought you would have heard me scream. Boom, right over
the desk." Now Dana's face flushed as she remembered what had happened that day.
She knew that Drew was an "ass" man from the time that they met. In fact, they had
started to have anal sex the first year they were married. Sometimes she thought
that that was all they did. Not that anal sex was bad... no she loved it...
sometimes it just seemed that she couldn't satisfy his lust. She worried about
that.

"I never knew," Mary Ellen said thoughtfully. "Sure, I see his eyes on me but every
guy does that." Again, Mary Ellen realized what she was saying about noticing her
friend's husband's admiring glances and added, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sure every very guy 'does' look at that ass of yours," Dana laughed. "Even I'm
amazed by how trim and shapely your hips are after two kids. If I was a man..."
Dana paused and then said, "Now I'm embarrassing myself," and she suddenly looked
away from the younger woman and blushed. If she told her the truth, sometimes she
had a difficult time keeping her eyes off of the younger woman. Dana had never had
a thing for women but if she did, Mary Ellen would be on the list.

Mary Ellen blushed again as well. "Well, thanks for making me feel better."
After a long and somewhat uncomfortable pause, Dana took a deep breath and said, "I
still think you should consider the underwear angle. I hate to tell you this lady,
but you need to spice up your wardrobe."

"What's wrong with my wardrobe?" Mary Ellen said defensively.

Dana looked at Mary Ellen and bit her lip, trying to decide if she should go any
further. This was a touchy subject, especially because she was already obviously
feeling depressed. Dana didn't want to make the problem worse but she thought that
if your own friends won't tell you the truth then who will. Finally she sighed and
said, "It has been getting a little shabby lately. I think some new things would do
wonders for your sex life."

At first Mary Ellen looked shocked and hurt, but then her face showed resignation.
"I guess you're right. I have been neglecting myself lately and I'm probably in
just as much of a rut as Richard. The truth is that I'm willing to try anything."
She fell silent for a minute and then said, "Maybe you could go shopping with me
sometime and help me pick out some sexy clothes?"