Life had taken a completely new direction. While, just six months earlier, sex had degenerated to nothing more than just a little side activity to maintain our status as husband and wife, it now seemed to have become the main ingredient of our rejuvenated relationship.
Starting from Tina's secret fantasies, and later our role-playing games, a new reality had evolved where love and sex were no longer shackled by suspicion and jealousy. During our night of passion with Dave and Jill, we had shared totally unconditional joy and satisfaction.
Being "unfaithful" together with mutual consent, respect and understanding had strengthened the bond between us as a couple, and we now looked at ourselves as a unit rather than as two individuals.
Tina could no longer be considered the innocent wife she had been for so many years. But I liked this new Tina with her uninhibited sexuality.
Life does not always have a predictable course. Our love affair with Dave and Jill had to be abruptly put on hold when, just three weeks after that wonderful weekend, Dave received notice of an overseas posting. The couple had to leave within three days, and were expected to be away for at least six months.
While we were happy for Dave and Jill, we also felt sad about having to miss their company for the next few months.
Now we were back to square one. We needed some good company to keep our lifestyle going. Our sex was sizzling, especially when we spiked it up with some hot pillow talk. But we needed another couple to keep us at that higher dimension of lust and passion.
We were beginning to wonder whether we would have to start all over again at the swingers club. But there was no guarantee that we would find another compatible couple like Dave and Jill.
Then, quite unexpectedly, I bumped into Fred, our next-door neighbor, at the local supermarket.
Fred seemed overly excited to see me, and he was quite keen for a chat. We decided to catch up on the latest over a cup of coffee at the in-house cafe.
"You had some company over at your place last month?" Fred asked, trying to sound very casual.
"Yeah," I replied, "Just a nice couple we met at a party."
"They stayed overnight?"
"Yeah," I answered in a matter-of-fact way, "It got a bit late into the night, so they decided to stay on."
"Quite a night the four of you had," Fred continued, with a mischievous smirk, "Tina was certainly having the time of her life."
Fred went on to tell me that he and Annie were quite surprised to hear Tina screaming away into the wee hours of the morning. He was sure that some of the other neighbors would also have heard her delirious and joyous cries.
"Must have been the drinks," I tried to explain, but Fred was quite unconvinced and persisted in a suggestive line of questioning.
He had noticed Jill's scanty outfit. He had also observed how Tina was draped in nothing more than a small towel when the other couple were leaving. And he hadn't failed to see the long goodbye kisses that Dave and I had shared with each other's wives.
I realized that Fred had already added two plus two, and was only trying to get me to confirm his hunch about the goings-on at our place that night.
At first I thought of just telling him off and asking him to mind his own business. Then I suddenly had a foxy idea.
"Maybe we should invite you and Annie over one of these days," I suggested, trying to test his line of thought.
"Good idea," he responded, sounding quite enthusiastic, "We've never really got together before, I'm sure we'll have a great time."
"We could even get Tina to give a repeat performance," I teased him.
"The whole night?"
"Yeah, why not? If you can handle her."
Fred was a bit taken aback by what I was obviously implying. But he tried to act cool.
"And what about Annie?" he asked.
"Why, worried that I might take advantage of her? Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."
It looked like we had got the message through to each other. I couldn't wait to let Tina into this new development.
"When can we invite them over?" I asked Tina as soon as I got home.
"Who?" she asked.
"Fred," I blurted out without hiding my excitement, "Fred and Annie."
"You mean our neighbors?"
"Yeah, who else? What about the last weekend of the month? The kids will be off from school for a week. They'll love to go to their granny's."
I told Tina about my conversation with Fred. I told her how Fred appeared to have guessed what such a get together implied. But I cautioned her to keep a hold over her expectations and not to be disappointed if things did not go the right way.
"He's been giving me strange looks recently," Tina noted, "I'm sure he knows what to expect."
"We'll have to lead them on, darling," I suggested, "You'll have to lead the way with Fred if you want things to happen. You do want things to happen, don't you?"
"Of course, I do. You know how I would love to have him between my legs."
"But we can't take any chances," Tina continued, after a little thought, "They'll have to go for the medical checkup."