“The Last Slice” is a short fiction serial about the customers and staff of the The Last Slice Cafe.

Thomas paused for a moment to take a break from looking at the week’s takings on his laptop. It was Friday night and the cafe was closed. He looked over at his wife, Cat, who was sitting at a table with her feet up on a chair. Her eyes were closed, and unusually for Cat, she looked quite serene.  Even after all these years together, her beauty still took Thomas by surprise. Her small pretty breasts, and her round but muscular thighs - not even her chef’s whites could hide these treasures from him. And her face, her face…her beautiful face. He could look at her forever.

“There you go,” said Sandy, placing an open beer on the table and breaking his reverie.

Thomas smiled and thanked her. Sandy joined Cat at the other table. This was their Friday night ritual, and had been for years.

“How long have we known each other?” Cat would ask every week.

“Too bloody long,” Sandy would reply, and they would clink their beer bottles together and drink a toast to each other.

When Thomas had met Cat, he had no idea he would end up in a relationship with two women, or at least that’s how it felt sometimes. Cat and Sandy had met on the first day of kindergarten, and they had been best friends ever since. Very early on in his relationship with Cat, he had realised there were going to be times when he would feel like the third wheel. But he didn’t mind. He knew Cat loved him, but he also knew Cat needed space for her friendship with Sandy.

“These Olympics are fucked!” Cat had such a way with words.

“What about Anna Meares and Sally Pearson?” asked Thomas.

“I don’t care. We should have won more.”

“They need more Kooris. A couple more Cathy Freemans, and we would have won the lot!” said Sandy.

“What would you win at Sandy?” asked Cat.

“Housework, and not murdering your kids and husband…oh, and being great in the sack, of course.”

Cat laughed at her friend. “I still don’t know how you do it. Three kids, a husband…and you work here. How do you cope with all that?” asked Cat.

“You just do it,” replied Sandy, smiling grimly.

“Do you think I would have been a good parent?” asked Cat.

Sandy just reached over and held Cat’s hand. No matter how deep their friendship was, nothing could hide the elephant sitting between them. Sandy had something Cat had lost, and nothing could change that.

“Well, I better go,” said Sandy, picking up her stuff and kissing Cat on the cheek. She gave Thomas a quick wave as she left the cafe. A few moments later, the theme from Chariots Of Fire filled the air.

“She did it again,” Cat said, picking up Sandy’s phone from the table.

Cat ran out of the Cafe, but returned a few moments later. Sandy’s phone was still in her hand.

“What’s wrong?” asked Thomas. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“It’s nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew…but I guess it was someone that I used to know.”

To be continued…

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Featured Image by Peter Howse

New to The Last Slice?

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