*For the purpose of this story, her name is pronounced 'Ruh-shell'
My wife came home close to 8:30pm. She looked energized, rather than exhausted, which I found surprising in a way. Her smile was infectious and her body language was glowing.
"So, it seems like you had a good time! So how was your companies 'open house'?" I asked.
"It was a lot of fun, we met a lot of people from our clients and vendors. It helped that we were serving wine and champagne," she said as she sat next to me.
"Me and Juliet had the task of greeting them at the door as they arrived. Jake, from the mailroom, gave everybody a tour of your new building. Tom, our CEO, held a presentation in our meeting room, which has a huge mega-screen for Zooming with other companies."
"Did you meet any of the folks that you deal with in accounting?" I ventured.
"Oh yeah! Lot's actually. In fact Juliet and I hit it off with one particular lady, she does accounting at a contractor firm that does a lot of our electrical, plumbing and drywall. And, she works not too far from us! So we were saying we had to hang out sometime. Meet up for lunch or something. Robin, that's her name, Robin Leonard from QTR Contracting said she can put it on her business card and expense it has 'vendor relations'. Isn't that neat? She exclaimed.
"Oh heck ya! Something a teacher like me never gets to enjoy. Well I'm really glad it didn't turn out to be a chore like you thought it might be."
My wife, who is extroverted, went on to tell me about all the dirt and gossip she could find out about people. I listened and nodded appropriately, asking a clarifying question from time to time. It's not that I shut out her story, but I have long since learned not to get in the way of her storytelling. For me, the interesting part was the lady she had met, this Robin Leonard.
For the last year or two, I had noticed my wife viewing habits included more than a few lesbian themed romances and stories. She had watched "Duck Butter" on Netflix, and more recently "Blue is the Warmest Color" on Prime. Carol, with Cate Blanchett, we had watched together.
I had avoided bringing this up to her, but I had a suspicion she was bi-curious. Unlike me, she had not been able to finish college. She had married young and had a child to escape her cult-like religious family. I came into her life when her daughter was between 9-11, early in my teaching career and long after her divorce. I took for granted that if a girl is going to experiment with lesbian sex, it most likely happens during the college years. Since she had not had the opportunity, I was ambivalent about her trying it out with a girl.
That's a lie, actually.
I wanted her to have sex with a woman.
There is no one reason I can point to, as to why I wanted her to have sex with a woman. I didn't want a threesome (but I wouldn't say no if they offered), and I was happy with our marriage. The closest thing to a good reason for my desire was simply this; I wanted her to be happy.
I figured, decades from now, we would both be facing the sum of our lives on our deathbed. I wanted her to be able to look back and feel she had lived her life to the fullest. Also, I honestly believe in the old adage: "If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't, it was never meant to be."
************
About two weeks after her company's open house, my wife let me in on her lunch date with Robin.
"So guess what? Wednesday Robin reached out to me and asked if I had plans for lunch today, Friday. I told her, 'nothing set in stone.' So, she offered to pick up lunch at a swanky new eatery between our two companies. It's called Medii's Cuisine, and it's so good! You know how much I love Mediterranean food. Well, we met up for lunch and it was dee-licious!"
My wife went on to describe the food and her drink. I listened attentively, and at a stopping point, I quickly asked.
"So are you going to meet up for lunch again, or was this a one time thing?"
"Oh, we are definitely meeting up for lunch again!" she said flamboyantly. "Next time it's on me. Any ideas where I should take her? Right now, we are planning on meeting in two weeks."
"What about that vegetarian restaurant, the Greenery one?" I chimed in.
"Greenery Bistro, that's not a bad idea," she nodded. "See, you can be useful!"
"Har dee har har," I joked. "Well, I'm glad you made a new friend. I know how you like to get girly with your 'sisterhood'."
"That's right! Hear me roar!" she said as she fake punched me.
I grabbed her boob, and that began a pseudo wrestling match. Being in a marriage can be really demanding, and I loved that more than a decade together, we could still be playful. After we finished our reindeer games, we were both laughing and in stitches.
"Okay, I guess it's time to start making dinner." I said. "I'm thinking chicken alfredo, with roasted brussel sprouts."
"That sounds good, but maybe broccoli would taste better?" she added.
"Sure, why not? Anything to keep my wife happy." I smiled.
She helped me make dinner, since I was a teacher I got home earlier than she did. So, I had become the de facto chef for dinner over the years. She sometimes helped, or went to work out, depending on what mood she was in. We talked about the kids and their upcoming sports seasons. Once dinner was ready, we called our kiddos in and ate at the table. We tried to have a table dinner at least once a week. Sometimes we even had it 2 or 3 times a week. But mostly our kids ate first, and by the time my wife and I were sitting down, they were already running off.
"If you're getting along so well with Robin, why not meet for lunch once a week?" I said as we washed the dishes.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, maybe we will. But for now, we are meeting our agreed two weeks apart." she finished.
The next time they went to lunch, two weeks later, she was just as enthusiastic about their girl time. It was clear to me she had made a new friend, which is not typical of my wife. While she extroverted, her family had driven into her to be leery of 'new people'. I found that habit very cultish, she said they were just protective. She ended with,
"And guess what? We are going to start meeting each Friday. See? It happened on its own," she smiled triumphantly.
"Cool, sounds like you have a new girl friend."
"No! I don't have a girlfriend," she gave a stink eye.
"No, I said 'girl' 'friend'," sounding it out for her.
"Whatever," she dismissed me. I chortled at her.
************
After the second month of their lunch dates, I took it upon myself to reach out to Robin. I wasn't jealous, in fact, I wanted to encourage their friendship. I googled her company's name, and followed the link. Once it had it, I looked for the directory and found her contact information.
I sent her an email politely introducing myself and asked how she was enjoying her lunches with my wife. Also, I offered to pick up the tab for some of their meals, offering to mail her prepaid credit cards.
She wrote back, "I love my lunches with Rachelle, she's such a great person. You are lucky to have her. You don't have to feel the need to pay for our lunches, it's paid for by the company. But she should thank you for being so supportive."
I wrote back, "She doesn't know I emailed you, and honestly, I would like to keep it that way."
"Okay, that's a tad bit mysterious. What's going on, if I can ask?"
"I want you to seduce my wife."
There was no point in beating around the bush. So I said it as directly as I could. This is where I might very well have given my wife grounds for divorce. It also depended on what Robin thought of my hair brained idea.
She didn't reply.
My stomach churned, had I just signed my divorce papers? I waited and still nothing. Just as I was about to give up, her reply popped up.
"Sorry, I had to step away from my desk. And I find your request...intriguing. Why exactly do you want me to do that?"
"In short, because I think she would love it. I suspect she is bi-curious and due to her religious upbringing, she would never take the initiative on her own. I'm of the mind that she should experience life, even if that might mean being unfaithful to me."
"Oddly enough, I am attracted to your wife," she replied. "But I didn't plan on trying anything because she seems so happy with you. She talks quite a bit about you at lunch. So, before I agree to anything, I want you to think long and hard about what you asked me. If you are completely sure, email me before Friday with your answer." She ended.
"I'm sure," I didn't need time to think about it. I had been mulling over this idea for years.
"Okay," she replied simply.
************
Friday arrived, for everyone else it was the day before the weekend. For me, my stomach was filled with butterflies. I didn't know if this would be the day, but it seemed likely. So I went about my day as best as I could, trying to put it out of mind. The hours slowly dragged on, and the work day eventually finished.
Rachelle and I had an unofficial practice of eating out on Friday nights, and this Friday, we were going to check out a new Indian restaurant in town. When she came home, she didn't immediately start telling me about her lunch date. So I thought maybe they hadn't done anything. Towards the end of dinner, I asked her about lunch with Robin.