Chapter 9- The Adjustment Meeting
The next two weeks passed quickly and for their second full weekend together, Emily planned the weekend which included a picnic by the lake where they made love outdoors for the first time. She also took them to a musical that was being performed and had him mow the back yard while she did laundry.
The following Saturday, Emily and Rod prepared the grill and patio, as the group was coming over at 2:00 to hold their follow-up meeting. Outwardly, Emily showed confidence and calm, but inside she was almost shaking in the fear that someone or thing would upset the apple cart. She had not seen or heard of anything that appeared to be a problem but the potential for issues still existed.
Jay and Paula were the first to arrive. He knocked even though he now had a key of his own. Wendy and Jordan arrived shortly afterwards. Jim and Nikki arrived last having had to drive the farthest. They all settled into chairs on the patio. The only conversations were quiet and almost stilted. Several men had a beer while most of the women had tea or a soda. Emily could see that there was an underlying tension hovering over everyone and she knew what it was because she felt it herself. She stood up and took the reins.
"OK, let's get the most important issue settled right now; then we'll get to the other issues after awhile. How many of us want to stop this arrangement?" Everyone was silent. No one showed the slightest inclination to stop. "Alright, let me ask the same question in a slightly different way. How many of us would go back to the way it was before if they had to?" Every hand was raised. "How many of us would go back to the way it was if they didn't have to?" No hands were raised. "OK, unless someone has something else to say, I think that it is safe to say that we all like what we are doing and want to continue and enhance it even more. Does everyone agree?" Everyone said yes. "OK, this part of the meeting is over. We can all breathe now. We will start discussions on the 'what ifs' and other refinements a little later. For now, let's relax and enjoy each other."
Everyone started talking to each other in animated ways. Over the next thirty minutes, people started moving around. Where everyone started with their spouse, everyone ended next to their 20. Nikki was actually sitting in Jordan's lap even though there was an empty chair next to him. Chips and dip were eaten and several of the women were now drinking wine.
Emily decided that it was time to get the next step going. Without standing, she said, "Does anyone have anything to tell about their trial period experience that might help the rest of us? Paula was the first to speak.
"I want to thank you Emily for suggesting the bit about coming up with a story in case we ran into someone we know. On the very first Sunday, we went to a store and ran right into Jim's boss. Jim handled it beautifully just like you suggested. That proved to be very important."
"I second that," Wendy added, "Rod and I have spent a lot of time on the boat and we ran into a couple of people who he knew. He handled it like he was a pro. But we also met a couple that we liked immediately. They invited us to their house for dinner. After talking about it, we decided to put it off until after today. I think we both want to get to know these people better and it now feels good to know that we can without feeling out of place."
Emily looked at Jordan and Nikki. Nikki looked a little shy but then spoke up, "We didn't have any of those experiences but I want to comment on one of the first things we girls talked about. I have always loved to garden. But gardening with someone who also likes to garden makes it five times more fun than it is alone. Jordan and I spent all day last Saturday putting in a new garden at our house. We did have our first disagreement though. He wanted to plant one variety of tomato and I wanted to plant another one. So we compromised, we put in two gardens, one for each variety." Everyone smiled and everyone agreed that Nikki's comment about sharing common interests was really good.
No one else had a story to tell; so Emily shifted subjects. "Before we start on the things we all want to talk about, I want to ask about an already open issue. Three weeks ago, Wendy brought up that we needed to stop pussy footing around each other and I have noticed on our Friday nights and today that that point has sunk in. No one seems to feel awkward around the rest of us anymore. Is that so or is anyone having a problem with it? You may notice that it is one of the issues that has been raised."
Jordan was the first to speak. "I admit to being very nervous that first Friday night together. I guess I was afraid of what the rest of you would think about me or about Nikki. I was afraid of what Wendy might think. But after Wendy spoke up, it was like a light bulb went on. We all know what is going on and we are all involved. There is no reason to hide from it. So I want to thank my beautiful wife for cutting right to the heart of a critical matter."
"Rod take me to the emergency room, I may be having a heart attack. Jordan said I did something good in public." Everyone laughed including Jordan and Nikki.
Jordan replied, "Bullshit, you know that you are almost always right about everything except in the kitchen and I tell you that frequently."
"See he just told you all that I'm full of shit."
"Wendy, we all already knew that." Nikki said. Wendy buried her face in Rod's chest in feigned embarrassment. Then she sat up and looked at Nikki with a fierce look.
"OK, little girl we'll go to fist city later, out back, no holds barred."
"Riiight. We'll do that but I warn you have secret fighting talents.
"Like what?"
"I can scream real loud and run fast when I need to." Once again everyone broke up at the light hearted banter.
Emily interjected, "Well I can see that isn't much of an issue any more except for some 'what ifs'. Anybody else have anything before we start on those?" No one did.
"OK, I got about twenty e-mails from everyone and at least one from each one of us. So I can tell you that everyone seems to be taking this seriously. But the twenty questions or issues could be condensed down into five main subjects. Number 1 was special events which we all knew was coming. Number 2 was vacations. Number 3 was about someone out of town or sick or unavailable for some reason. Number 4 was about emergency communications. And last was about one couple getting together with other couples. I will say that I've thought about all of these and I don't have a strong feeling or recommendation on any of them. I hope you guys have some that we can hash around."
Jay interjected, "I want to add something before we get too deep into these discussions. Emily and I talked one day..." Paula snickered and said, "I'll bet they talked." Jay continued with a smile on his face. "As I said Emily talked one day and she pointed out something that I hadn't thought of but is really a critical thing to think about during these discussions. That is that anything one couple does or doesn't do affects all of us not just the two people directly involved. For example, if Jim's boss had taken offense with him being with someone not his wife, that would have had a direct impact on Emily and I which would have an impact of Rod and Wendy and so forth. As a result I've come to agree with Emily about taking this slowly and allow things to develop over time rather than jumping in with both feet. If we can't come to an agreement easily, I suggest that we postpone a decision to think it through more rather than just agreeing because most of us want something."
There were several murmurs as people talked it over. There were several nods indicating that that point hadn't been thought over very deeply.
