We had been hunting for several days and hanging at the bar at nights. As I realized now the subject of conversation seemed to always center around Nancy. Sometimes it was nothing serious and sometimes more personal. He wold always ask about my trust. If I ever worried about her cheating and what would I do if I found out she had. I would always end up saying I didn't worry about it and he would always add that I should be. He would bring up how pretty she was and men would always be men around her. After a few of these conversations I did begin to wonder what was going on. After a few days I began to wonder if he and Nancy had something going on and he was trying to tell me. I even asked him jokingly at one point but we both laughed it off and I never gave that a serious thought again. The questioning continued though more and more frequent. I was becoming more and more suspicious of something but not sure of what.
I had called home a couple of times and talked to Nancy about it and she was confused by the conversations also. She asked if I was worried about it and we both laughed but by then I think she laughed better than I. This all went on for our two weeks away and I was thinking more about them but at the same time growing numb to them.
One afternoon at a lunch break it finally happened. He asked me what I would think if he told me he was seeing Nancy on the side. With a lump in my throat I asked him if he was. He kinda laughed and said "No, of course not. We are friends." After a very awkward silence he continued on. He said he asked because he had often thought about it. He had been thinking about how pretty and nice she was and it was his fantasy to be with her. He was feeling very guilty and asked how I felt about it. I told him straight up, Bob, I don't know and never thought about it. I did tell him I probably wouldn't kill him like I would anyone else.
There are many hours in a deer blind everyday and too much time for the mind to wonder. That talk was all I was thinking about. I was bothering me. That night I called home and told Nancy about the new developments. She said she was surprised but not shocked. She laughed and asked me if I had not seen the way that he looked at her, the extra attention he would give her. She had been noticing it for a long time. I asked her what her thoughts were about it. She did say she was flattered and sometimes embarrassed especially when she knew he was noticing her noticing. I asked if it turned her on or off. She did say that of course it turned her on but in a weird way. We were all such good friends and she didn't know how to take it.
The call ended like that and I am sure we both had plenty on our minds. The conversations became were more intense and more personal. He wanted to know if she liked kissing and hugging. Did she like holding hands and sneaky intimate touching. Somehow he even managed to ask how often we made love. Not in those words of course but the meaning was the same. I answered everything very truthfully and I did tell him he was killing himself. I told him he was infatuated and it wasn't healthy. He outright confessed there was nothing he could do about it and he was feeling awful. I did understand how he felt.
Headed home I thought about everything. Every word we had spoken and every scenario we had talked about. My head was spinning. We stopped along the road at one point and had a coffee and donut where I made a call home. I told Nancy I didn't have much time but...what would she think about letting Bobby have her for an evening. I explained how bad he was hurting. Dead silence was the only answer. Then she spoke and said that Bobby did turn her on but she just didn't know... didn't have a real answer. She had never thought about anything like that. Like I said earlier, Nancy had never been with another man intimately. That was a lot I just put on her and I knew it. I told her that we would be stopping for fuel in a couple hours and for her to think about it...seriously...stop and think. Going down the highway my head was really spinning. What would she figure out. If she said no that would end everything and be a relief of sorts. If she said yes could she really go through with it. Could she handle that situation and not panic at the most crucial times. Could she go all the way?
So at my suggestion we stopped for gas after an hour or so and I practically ran for a phone. What, what? was the first thing out of my mouth. Another long silence and then she said yes, and very confidently. I was relieved and shocked too. She said he was nice, he was very nice to her, and he did turn her on now that she had been thinking about it. I begged her to be sure and she said she would handle it and even if she couldn't,,,,she would.
