A distant, familiar sound roused Faye Reed from her slumber as she rolled over and curled an arm round her husband Dave’s shoulder. He dismissed the alarm and twisted round to peck Faye on the cheek before hauling himself out of bed with a groan. It was 6am and already 20 degrees as the seemingly endless summer heatwave continued, and Faye didn’t envy Dave’s 10-hour slog on a building site. Today was her day off and an afternoon’s sunbathing in the park was about as much as she had planned today.
Stretching across the double bed, Faye managed to drift off back to sleep and to her surprise it was a little past 9am when she awoke. Padding to the bathroom, Faye paused to look in the mirror. She was black, naturally pretty and tended to hover between a size 16 and 18. Today felt like a size 18 day. Wearing only a pair of plum-coloured briefs, Faye felt she’d put on a few pounds recently but hers was a feminine, natural figure and Dave had always discouraged her from trying to change that.