This story is the seventeenth in a series. The prior stories will give context and character background. Hopefully, however, this story may be read enjoyably by itself.
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The departure of Jane and Lucinda from our office, after only a brief stay, went amicably enough. Carla and I were busy enough that there was no real revenue hit for us. Demonstrating yet another aspect of her fine mind, Erin had come up with some ways to market the practice that were also bearing fruit. In short, despite the tumult of the last year, we were ok.
Late one afternoon, Carla buzzed our internal com line and asked if she could talk with both Erin and me. Since the three of us lived together as well as worked together, Carla's request could have been about anything. As Erin and I walked into Carla's office, I could see that she was stressed.
Taking a chair, I asked "What's up?"
Carla responded, "My sister wants to visit."
Carla had never talked much about her family. I knew that she had an older sister who taught somewhere in the D.C. area and that her parents were still alive. Once or twice a year, Carla would take a couple of days to go east and see her sister, but the sister had never come here. As far as I knew, Carla had not seen her parents in a long time.
Erin asked, "Why is that a problem? We get her a nice hotel room, take her to dinner, and you two can go do whatever you need to. Harry and I don't have to hang around."
Carla replied, "It is not quite that simple. She wants to stay at the house and see the office. The reason is that my sister has decided that she's going to broker reconciliation between me and my father. She knows that my life has gone somewhere outside the bounds of what Dad would consider normal and she wants to assess how far."
"Does your sister know about your lifestyle?" Erin asked.
"She knows that I go nude some and that I'm 'seeing' an older man. She doesn't know that I work and live naked or that I'm in a relationship with an older man and a younger woman."
"I see," Erin commented. After a few moments thought, Erin offered "We could put on a front of normalcy for her. You know, wear clothes at work and at home. I can stay at my folks' house while she's here so it looks like only you and Harry are living together. There's no reason she needs to know all the details of our life."
Carla thought for a few moments. The look on her face became stern. "No. I'm proud of whom I am and I'm very proud to share a life with the two of you. I'm proud of what we're accomplishing here. I'm not ashamed of anything I do, and I'm not going to act like I am. If Cammie can't handle it or decides that Dad couldn't handle it; it is their problem, not mine."
"Carla," Erin said, "sometimes not giving someone the complete picture can avoid hassle and hurt. I'm not seeing how you, we, or your family is harmed if your family thinks that you live a more conventional life than you actually do."
"Your parents know exactly how we live," Carla retorted. "They've participated in some of what we've done. Hell, they saw Harry making love to me and then to you as a display at one of Claire's parties. They're ok with it."
"Yes, but your family isn't obligated to have the same attitude as my parents," Erin replied.
Carla looked at me. "You're keeping quiet, Harry. What do you think?"
I had hoped to remain quiet. "I think that the overriding consideration is how the side of yourself you present to your sister is going to affect you. As far as I know, you don't have any contact with your parents now, but you do keep in touch with your sister. If you make full disclosure to her of how you live and she ostracizes you because of it, can you live with that? On the other hand, if you give her a misleading image of how you live, are you going to feel anxiety about keeping up the lie for her and what happens if she later learns the full truth? We aren't exactly secretive about our lifestyle," I said.
Erin said, "I see Harry's point and I think he's right. Our concern is what is best for you."
Carla thought for a few minutes. "I have to be who I am. There's nothing wrong with who I am or what I do. I'm not hiding any aspect of our life from Cammie. She can stay at the house and we'll go naked and sleep together like we always do. If she wants to come to the office, she's just going to have to deal with us naked."
More or less in unison, Erin and I said, "Ok." However, I was a bit dubious.
Carla talked to her sister again and arranged for her to come in the following Friday. No departure date was discussed, but I think that Carla was hoping that her sister would only stay the weekend so that we could leave the office part out of it. It was a warm summer day when we picked Cammie (short for Camella) up at the airport. All three of us were, of course, fully clothed.
Waiting outside security as the passengers off of the flight from National (I will not use the actor's name for that airport) came through security, our eyes, and everyone else's were naturally drawn to the casually dressed tall blonde. I guessed, correctly, that it was Cammie. To me, at least, she did not look like a "Cammie." I knew that she was about four years older than Carla, which put her in her mid-30s. Like her sister, Cammie was a very physically beautiful woman. Her walk was very erect and there was something "commanding," for want of a better word, about her presence. As we followed Carla towards her sister, I saw more clearly a beautiful and intelligent face and alert, inquisitive eyes.
Carla introduced me to Cammie simply as "Harry." Introducing Erin, Carla added that she worked with us and that she was "a very close friend." That description of Erin brought a slight raise of the eyebrow from Cammie, to which Carla responded, "I'll explain it more thoroughly at home."
We put Cammie's bag in the SUV. Carla drove with her sister in the front passenger seat. Erin and I sat behind them, a bit nervous and both trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. In an effort to postpone the first potential confrontation, Carla offered to stop for lunch. However, Cammie explained that she had eaten a large breakfast before leaving home and wasn't hungry.
"Besides, Car, I'm dying to see where you live," Cammie added.
As we drove up our driveway, the house came into view through the trees and Cammie was, I think, suitably impressed. "This is nice," she said. "How long does it take you to get to work?"
"About 15 or 20 minutes, depending on traffic," Carla answered.
After putting Cammie's bag in a guest room, we gave her the nickel tour. "This is really nice," Cammie said, "although it seems rather large for just the two of you."
"Well, it isn't just the two of us," Carla replied.
"Oh? Who else lives here?" Cammie asked.
"Erin lives here too," Carla disclosed.
