chapter 5

Scott stuck to his promise to start working out again and Candace started finding more excuses to go downstairs to watch. She started strategically scheduling her laundry so she could ogle her formerly fit husband as he struggled to even jog a mile.

The sight that greeted her as she opened the door to the basement was glorious. He had kept up his habit of running in only a pair of shorts and no shirt. Candace could hardly tear her eyes from the sight of his lusciously round rump pistoning up and down with each step. The mesh of his shorts was stretched ludicrously tight across his expanded rear.

Just above that, his considerable love handles jutted out on either side. As Candace walked around to take in his profile view, her eyes were drawn to his protruding belly as it bounced hypnotically in front of him. It didn't jiggle much, moving as a solid mass. His puffy pecs, however, did jiggle noticeably. Candace had thought about teasing him by offering him a sports bra, but thought that might verge on being mean.

After all, he was trying to lose weight.

Of course, that's easier said than done. As much as anything else, Candace had enjoyed how humbling it had been for Scott over the past several months as he had tried to shift some of his extra weight. For the first time in his life, he was getting a taste of what it was like to struggle to get the body he wanted.

Each day after his shower, he'd get on the scale and lean forward to see past his stubborn belly. Then he'd let out a grunt of frustration as the number confirmed that he had still failed to lose any weight. Although his workouts felt much harder now with his extra pounds, he was actually burning fewer calories than he used to.

And then there was the food. Candace had been pleasantly surprised that he was having such a hard time with his portion control. It seemed he had grown accustomed to big, heavy meals. At first he had tried a very strict, low-cal diet but slipped up several times and binged his way up a couple pounds. Now he was just trying to hold steady with his intake while increasing his workouts. Unfortunately for Scott, the more intense workouts just led to a greater appetite.

Not to mention that all the women in their group of friends were actively trying to sabotage him. Candace may have let it slip that he was going to try to lose some weight.

"Well, I have to admit, I did miss having that eye candy," Melanie smirked. "He seriously blimped up."

"Yeah, I'm kind of surprised," Erica added. "He always had such great self control. Once he relaxed a bit, he really let himself go. I bet he couldn't even finish a 5K anymore."

Of course the next time they were all together they still plied him with chips and brownies and all sorts of fattening treats at the same time they gave him diet advice. Candace was pretty sure they all looked forward to seeing him so they could ask about the diet as they poked his still-growing belly.

She did appreciate that he stuck with the exercising. Even though he wasn't losing weight he was getting into better shape. It actually inspired her as well, she started spending a bit more time on the treadmill herself.

Still, any additional exercise only slowed the ascent of the numbers on the scale, it certainly didn't reverse it. Shortly after Scott's gain passed the 40 pound mark, she caught him standing in front of their full length mirror wearing only his underwear.

"Looking for your six pack?" Candace teased, wrapping her arms around him from behind and hefting his significant paunch.

"Well, you wanted me fat," he said.

"And you sure delivered," she giggled, grabbing his belly in both hands. "Look how big this is! I thought you were going to start losing a few."

She laughed again as his face turned slightly pink.

"Aw, I'm just teasing," she told him. "It was a good run and I have plenty of pictures of you when you were all ripped and muscular. I like that you seem more . . . comfortable. C'mon, breakfast is ready."

"I don't suppose it's an egg-white omelette," Scott remarked.

"Of course not silly," Candace replied. "My chubby hubby doesn't eat that stuff anymore. I made a frittata and bought a bunch of danishes from that bakery you love."

"Oh, I can't say no to those," he groaned.

~I know~ Candace thought as she bit her lip and patted his belly.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and Candace was up early. Scott was still sleeping soundly, knocked out by the copious amount of food and eggnog he had devoured at a party with their friends the prior evening.

Candace had wasted no time filling up a plate of finger foods for him when they got there. And for the rest of the night, every time Scott turned around Melanie or Emily or Erica was handing him another plateful. Candace had tried to estimate how many calories he had consumed but had given up around 3,000.

She scrolled through photos on Facebook from the party, licking her lips slightly as she scanned each photo for her steadily enlarging husband. Finally she found one that made her mouth drop open and a warmth build in her lower stomach.

It was Scott in profile, one hand holding a plate filled with food and the other bracing his lower back as he leaned back slightly. His large, spherical gut protruded well out in front of him. His shirt clung to every curve, doing nothing whatsoever to hide his corpulence. His rounded buttocks completely filled out his slacks and even his thighs now looked quite chubby.

In the background of the photo, a couple of the women were caught openly smirking at him, doubtless remembering the prior year's holiday party when they all felt like the fat ones and Scott strolled around looking tight and toned. Now he had ballooned by over 60 pounds and was possibly the heaviest one there.

~What a difference a year can make~ Candace mused.

She closed the browser but kept the image in her mind as she rose from the table and went upstairs. She knew exactly how she wanted to wake up Scott.

FIN