At The Conference

At The Conference
By Lucy Bannan


Whether you want to believe this or not, I don’t really care. However, this is a true story.
After reading numerous stories from the internet I thought I’d put my story to you for your pleasure. The story is in two parts if you like this first part and you inform me of this then I’ll release the second part.

It all happened in London, September 1998.
My wife, Angie and I were going through a bad time in our marriage. We’d been married for just over twelve years by that time with two kids and a nice home. My job was relatively well paid and it kept us in good financial order. All that said my relationship with Angie was a different kettle of fish altogether. Since our daughter was born and especially in the last two years, Angie had lost her sense of fun, fashion and sex. Whether it was ultimately due with carrying and giving birth to Lucy, I’ll never know.
In reality, I thought I’d lost the woman I’d married.

Angie had forgone her sense of fashion from a fun loving attitude that gave her an eye for choosing just the right sort of clothing to set off her figure in the most delicate of ways that always made me want for more. She was a woman who loved to show her femininity sensuously that was never over the top or slutty looking; I always admired her for that.
Now she has become so conservative that she covers nearly eighty per cent of her body. Long skirts, jeans, baggy jumpers and high neck blouses gave her a dowdy look. I can’t remember the last time I saw her naked.
In that year, my employer had a large conference in London. The company had had its best year so far and for the first time it allowed wives and partners to come along to the Year End Ball. The conference was a two-day event-taking place in the Docklands area; all those going had a room in a hotel. In addition, because we were living down in deepest Cornwall we were given an extra night so that I was at the conference on time. It was to start on the Thursday and finish on the Friday night, and culminating with the End of Year Ball.
I used this opportunity to bring Angie out of her conservative attitude and hopefully get my wife back, the one I married.

So two weeks before the event I asked Angie, “Would you like to go to London with me for the conference?”
“Oh yes, that would be great,” she replied then suddenly thought about it, “But you’ll be at the conference all day and I’ll be stuck in the hotel bored out of my mind.”
“Not necessarily, you could go sightseeing see the Tower of London, Buck Palace.”
“Not on my own. Oh no, I couldn’t go without you.”
“I know you’ve never been to London in your life so why not take this opportunity, it’s free,” I said, “I really want you to be with me and we can go to the ball and dance all night.”
“Do you really?” Angie asked amazed.
“Yes of course I do however, there is a catch!”
“What do you mean a catch?” She asked suspiciously.
“It’s one you’ll like.”
“Well come on out with it.” She urged irritated.
“I would like you to go shopping and buy yourself some new clothes.”
Angie looked sceptical, “Why, why do you want me to buy new things?”
“Because I want to see you looking nice again wearing more fashionable clothing.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Angie queried her face again looking irritated.
“Angie you’ve changed so much over the last couple of years. It pains me to see you like this. As you are at the moment you’re not the woman I married.”
“Oh, Peter what do you mean?” Angie looked utterly horrified.

“To be blunt your dress sense has become non-existent our sex life pretty much the same, making our relationship pretty insecure.”
“But I thought you loved me?” Angie blurted out her voice now sounding fearful.
“Of course I love you, Angie but we both have needs. My need is to have you back the way you were. Before Katie was born, you were a fun loving exciting woman — the woman I married. Now you are the complete opposite.”
Angie went silent. She sat up in her chair, straight back looking down into her lap where she started to fidget with her fingers. This was her normal stance when we started to a conversation and it didn’t go her way regardless of the trivialness of the subject.
“Don’t you agree you have changed?”
Angie nodded.
“I’m not chastising you, Angie you know me better than that. All I want is for you to be yourself. I don’t know what’s gone wrong or why but let’s see if we can bring your confidence back.”
Angie looked up at me with those large black eyes of hers and I could have melted into her arms but I held firm.
She nodded in agreement.

“All I want is for you to go shopping and have some fun purchasing some new clothes, dresses, skirts and even underwear. I want to see you looking sexy again as you used to. But more importantly I want you to feel sexy and confident.”
Angie looked down into her lap and quietly said, “I’ll try.”
That was good enough for me.
The hotel was excellent. We had one of those large rooms with a king size bed and all the mod-cons such as separate shower furniture for more than one person sit in, satellite TV etc. I was well pleased.
We had arrived around four pm on the Wednesday so we found our room, showered had an early dinner and then went into Soho and saw a show.
Angie had been excited all day and everything was going well, that is until she’d changed to go out and her dowdiness again was there for all to see. I was livid that she hadn’t put herself out; she hadn’t put any make up on either. I bit my tongue and off we went.
The show we saw was excellent entertainment and due to the fact, Angie had never been to London before, she was in awe with it all. When we got back to the hotel, we had a nightcap in the bar. There was a man throwing some tunes together at the piano so we sat and listened for a while. The atmosphere was excellent and after a while, we went up to bed.
I made my advances towards her once we were under the covers but she rejected them saying she was tired from all the travelling. I again was angry and frustrated to say the least and fell asleep wondering if it was worth all the hassle.
I tossed and turned throughout the night and I woke even more frustrated and a deep bewilderment.
We went down to breakfast together and very little was said between us. Angie was still dressing in her dowdy clothes and just looking at her took me deeper into my gloom. In the end, Angie broke the silence.
“What time does the conference end today?” she asked as she drank her tea.
“About five,” I replied.
We fell silent again but then I asked, “You still going shopping?”
She looked at me and snapped, “Yes, that’s what you want isn’t it?”

“Don’t you want it too?” My gloom very quickly turned to anger with my voice indicating it.
Angie ignored the sound of my voice, “Yes, I think so. I want us to be happy.” She replied and finished eating her toast, “But I haven’t a clue where I should go or how to get there.”
“Well there’s Oxford Street that’ll be a good start.” I finished my coffee and stood up to go, “I’ve got quite a bit to do today so I’m going now.” From my wallet I took out a credit card and gave it to Angie, “There have some fun; you have twelve hundred pounds to play with.”
Angie’s eyes lit up with amazement.
I smiled to myself.
“When I get back tonight I want to see you dressed in some nice new sexy clothes.”
Angie was still in shock as she nodded in agreement.
As I entered the hotel that evening, I noticed an advertisement for an 80’s disco in the hotel that night and I thought Angie would love that as she loves to dance. Me I’d rather sit and watch while waiting for the slow dances to happen that’s when I like to be on the dance floor.
It’s been years since we had a smooch.
On approaching our room, I became apprehensive about Angie actually going shopping. If she’d backed out now how was I going to deal with it, something I hadn’t really thought about?
I entered the room to find a dozen carrier bags scattered across the bed. I smiled to myself and sighed with relief.

“Hello, I’m back.” I called out.
A voice came from the bathroom, “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.”
Loads of thought went through my mind as I wondered about what she’d bought. I switched on the TV and sat to watch the early evening news.
Five minutes later, the bathroom door opened.
I stood up like an expectant kid waiting for a gift.
There standing in front of me was my wife. The wife I once had. She was wearing a pale blue skirt suite. With a tailored jacket that had two small buttons, pulling the jacket tight over her breasts forcing them up and out.