Our couple dealing with change, Sharon and Rich, have now become a foursome dealing with change; Sharon, Rich, Jill, and Cam. Twenty years ago they were two young couples just starting their marriages that lived next door to each other. When Cam retired he and Jill returned to California and purchased the house next door. Not having seen each other for twenty years they are again next-door neighbors; two mature couples trying to redefine their marriages to improve their respective sex lives that faded away over twenty years of raising children, pursuing careers and all the other things that happen over time. Sharon is the primary narrator, but each of the couples will describe their perspective on their first month of living next door to their old friends in a new open sexual relationship. The story picks up after the night of a debauched couples swap that initiated their relationship as a foursome.
Morning After—One
What have we done?
On our return from church the guys were still sitting on the back porch each with an open laptop before them. Jill and I wore the bright colorful sundresses we had chosen for church. The guys were sitting naked at a table protected by a shade umbrella from the bight mid-day sun.
"Hello ladies," Cam said. "You girls look charming. How was church?
"Church was lovely," I said, "and the two of you look lovely and . . . well naked. You should know however that I'm still a bit worn out from last night."
"Me too," echoed Jill.
"Don't worry about it," said Rich. "We're the same way. Last night was great . . . but we're not like we were when we lived next door twenty years ago. We just took our clothes off to reinstate our practice of a clothing optional backyard. We need to work on our all-body tans."
"Got it," I said. "I was afraid for a minute that there a couple of middle-aged perverts who had taken up residence in my back yard."
Jill laughed. "No such luck, Sharon. It's just a new dress code."
"What are you reading?" I asked. "Not porn I hope. I'm not sure I have the energy to service the two of you again today."
"Not to worry Sharon," Rich said. "It's not porn . . . well maybe some people would consider it porn, but I don't."
"We're reading about polyamory," Cam said. "Sharon you said last night that we were all going to be living in polyamory and we all agreed. Now Rich and I are trying to figure out what we agreed to. The problem is the more I read the less I understand."
I laughed. "Well let's not let the internet scare us off. Last night was fun. How about if Jill and I make a nice salad for lunch and then the four of us can sit here with a bottle of wine and talk about how we're going to do this."
"Fine," Rich responded. "I'll go down to the cellar and get a couple of bottles of rose. It's a nice summer day for some well chilled rose and a discussion about living in sin."
By the time Jill and I had the salad put together Rich had chilled the wine down and we were sitting on the back porch in the shade. Jill and I were also naked. No point in reinstating a dress code if you don't take advantage of it, I thought.
"So gentlemen," I asked, "What can you tell us about polyamory?"
"Yeah what is it?" Jill asked.
Cam laughed. "I think it's pretty much defined by what it is not."
"Okay what isn't it?" I asked.
"Well it's clearly not a classic male-female two-person monogamous relationship. That's the one thing everyone seems to agree upon."
"You mean like what you and I had before last night?" Jill asked.
"Right," Cam responded. "Although you and Sharon got a head start on me while I was in New York."
"That was an accident," I said, a comment that generated eye rolls from everyone.
"But that's about where agreement on the internet seems to stop," Rich said, returning the topic to polyamory instead of my and Jill's gun jumping.
"Okay, it's not what we had before we moved in next-door to these perverts," Jill responded. "But what else isn't it?"
"It doesn't seem to be a legally sanctioned relationship under the laws of any state. I suppose you could have a contract but it would not likely be enforced."
"You mean like a pre-nup?" Jill asked.
"Yeah only this would have to be a no-nup," Rich quipped.
"Is polyamory illegal?" I asked.
"Yeah if the people involved are already married," Cam responded. "Adultery is illegal in many states but those rules are rarely enforced. Of course polygamy is outlawed throughout the country, but that is not what we are talking about here."
"How many people are involved?" someone asked.
"Well more than two," Cam said, "You need three or more, classically four, but it could be even more although at some point I guess people would just call that a hippy commune or a swingers club. Those don't seem to meet the definition of polyamory."
"Living arrangements? I mean all in one house or what?" Jill asked.
"Whatever."
"The people involved need not even be living in the same state," Rich added then he laughed and added, "So long as they get together and fuck occasionally."
"Is love involved?" I asked.
"Well there seem to be differing opinions on that. Some people think that everyone involved must be deeply involved with everyone else in the group and that is a major part of making it polyamory. Others think it's not so important. And there are a few writers who focus more on the emotional relationships and don't seem to think sex necessarily needs to be involved."
"What? No sex? That would kind of defeat the purpose of what we are trying to do here," I said.
"Relax Sharon," Rich responded. "That view seems to be in a minority."
"Is it always male-female sex?" Jill asked.
"No that doesn't seem to be a requirement. People in a polyamorous relationship can match up pretty much any way that suits them."
"Good," Jill responded. "I recently discovered that as much as I like sex with men I also like it with women." There were more eye rolls in response.
"Can people have sexual relationships outside the group?" I asked.
"Maybe," Cam said. "Depends on what the rules are."
"Good because Rich's slut in Oregon is going to be very unhappy if he can't fuck her anymore," I said.
"I wasn't planning on giving her up," Rich responded.
"And I don't think she was planning on giving you up," I said.
"There are rules?" Jill asked, again taking us back to the primary question—what had we agreed to do?
"Some people seem to think they need a lot of rules, even scheduling of who has sex with who and when. Others not so much. Do you remember how when you were little," said Rich, "there was always one kid in the sand box who would say, 'Let's make a rule.'?"
Everyone groaned.
"Elma Richardson," Jill said. "Oh she was the worst."
"Well those people haven't gone away," Cam said.
We all agreed that idea sounded awful.
"Yeah," Jill said, "I don't want to walk up to Rich and say, 'I want to suck your dick,' and have him respond, 'Let me check the calendar'." Everyone laughed.
The conversation went on through both of bottles of rose and a few conclusions were reached: "We all still wanted to do this; we didn't want rules and scheduling; we would remain living in our own houses and paying our own bills although sleepovers might occur; we would not keep secrets but there was no need to seek permission from our spouses in advance; and after a month we would see how it was working." That seemed to be an adequate set of rules to begin with.
We also agreed it was time for a nap since sleep had been a scarce commodity the night before and the two bottles of rose had somehow magically emptied themselves. Without asking or debate we all four adjourned to our own bedroom with our own spouse. There seemed to be no issue of who was going where, not that anyone thought that a commitment for the future.
Our Performance Review
How's it working?
A month later the four of us sat down after church for another light lunch and bottle of wine. Jill and I were wearing the same sundresses we had worn to church the morning after we had initiated our spouse swap and the guys were wearing loose fitting shorts and T-shirts.