Washingtonian Magazine

Six Pandemic Sex Lives, in Six Stunning Photos

WRITTEN BY DANIELLA BYCK | PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAMIRA SABULIS | PUBLISHED ON JUNE 8, 2021

Gari & Reba Thomas

Before the pandemic, the husband and wife worked on opposite schedules, sharing a single day off in their Cheverly home to go through the motions of sex. (He’s 39; she’s 33.) But when Gari’s restaurant temporarily closed (he’s executive chef at Owen’s Ordinary), the two had the opportunity to slow down and talk through their fantasies for the first time. It was a pretty provocative revelation for Reba, a sex coach—after five years of marriage, she discovered she had a submissive side. “I learned that I wasn’t really connected to my desires—I’m the sex lady, right?” says Reba. “I can tell you all about all the things that you can do, but I didn’t know, out of those things, what I wanted for myself.”