"Isn't it time you got over it?"
For Mandy, there were no harsher words.
"When you lose somebody you love, it destabilizes your world-view," a therapist told her a number of years ago. "You view life as fragile. It is normal to temporarily lose faith in the stability of life. You believe that at any moment, you could lose the things you cherish the most."
Mandy appreciated his help, but his words were clinical and hollow. Mandy was alone, truly alone. As she participated in the world, she saw happy, smiling, busy people everywhere leading their own lives. Mandy felt different, as if she didn't belong.
"That should be me and Alex," she would think to herself. "It should be the two of us shopping, buying for our children, enjoying life."
Friends and relatives began setting her up with blind dates, all of which crashed and burned.
"You need to get out and meet men," they would tell her. "Alex has been gone for awhile now, don't you think it's time you got over it?"
Those words stung. She was distraught, grieving and her closest friends and relatives saw her grief as a problem that needed to be fixed.
"Get over it?!" she once retorted. "Oh, gee, the love of your life died and I guess you're supposed to just move on like you burned your fucking tv dinner."
In time, Mandy isolated herself even from these acquaintances. It wasn't their fault, she supposed. They didn't understand. How could they? As outsiders, they approached the issue logically, but there was nothing logical about any of it. Mandy was proud of Alex and knew, even in passing, that he would remain a part of her life. She did not want to let go of that feeling and simply move on.
She remembered how Joe and Melissa welcomed her into the neighborhood. Smiling and helpful, with open arms. She also recalled how depressed they seemed, how trapped they felt with their marriage and their restaurants. Like her, they seemed lost and lonely, in search of something. Both Joe and Melissa responded warmly to Mandy, intrigued by her optimism and energy.
When Mandy brought her new friends to the cemetery and told them about her relationship with Alex, they listened compassionately. She loved that they didn't try to give her advice, or try to change the way she thought about Alex, or, for god sake, tell her to move on. Indeed, Joe and Melissa were drawn to her, because Mandy had a passion that they had been lacking.
Passion. Joe and Melissa appreciated the very thing that others saw in her as a weakness.
- - - - -
"It may be nothing, but look," Joe whispered to his wife, handing her a pair of binoculars that he had retrieved from his basement closet. Melissa went to the window, peering out between the blinds.
"How long has it been there?" Melissa asked.
An older model vehicle was parked down the street from them, near an intersection approximately one half block away. Someone sat silently in the vehicle, smoking. Only the orange tip of the cigarette gave away the presence of a person inside. The sun had set hours ago, and the vehicle was parked away from any street lights.
"At least an hour," Joe whispered back. There was no need to whisper, but they did anyway.
"Do you think we should call 911?" Melissa asked.
"I'm not sure..."
"Women have to be so damn careful," Melissa muttered, shaking her head. "Especially when they live alone..."
Joe looked across the street. Through two of Mandy's windows, you could see inside just enough to make out the location of some of her furniture and who might be home. Mandy was home, but not in any of the rooms a person could see. Joe looked back at the car. It was facing directly toward Mandy's house.
"Yeah, do it, let's have the cops check this out."
- - - - -
"Son of a fucking bitch," he muttered. "I am so fucking stupid."
He saw someone in the house on the far left side of the cul-de-sac watching him for just a moment. A brief glint from behind one of the windows caught his attention just enough for him to know he had probably been seen. He was enshrouded in darkness, however. No chance they got his plate or even the make of his car. He started his engine and slowly drove down the street, lights off until he cleared the area.
He arrived back at his apartment ten minutes later, safe from the cops and safe from the scrutiny of nosey neighbors. He sat down at his kitchen table and opened a manila file, containing candid pictures of Mandy as she worked in her yard or walked her dog. He shuffled through several small index cards on which he had scribbled notes. He looked at each one until he found the one he wanted.
The note simply said:
Mandy. Wednesday. Walks dog alone. Park - lots of trees. 9 AM.
"You're mine, you fucking cunt," the man said aloud while he puffed on another cigarette.
- - - - -
On Monday, Melissa and Joe asked Mandy out to dinner and a movie.
"You're asking me on a date?" Mandy asked with a chuckle. "That's unique."
"Yeah," Joe smiled. "Will you join us?"
"I don't know. I've never been asked out by a married couple before."
"Kinky, huh?" Melissa laughed.
"Yup," Mandy smiled. "Of course I'll go."
At dinner that night, Mandy and Melissa both enjoyed a glass of wine – or two - with dinner. Joe was content with a T-bone steak and a baked potato. The girls talked while Joe tried earnestly to pay attention. He was distracted by a television showing a college football game.
The girls chuckled at something. Joe turned to see what was so funny.
"You know, Joe, a girl is not obligated to sleep with someone just because they paid for dinner," Mandy teased while leaning over the table, as if she were passing along a trade secret.
"We were, ummm," Melissa began laughing and Mandy soon followed. Joe grinned as Melissa tried to collect herself. "Not...thinking of sleeping."
Mandy and Melissa began giggling uncontrollably, a side-effect of the wine and the apparent hilarity of the joke. Joe didn't think the joke was quite so funny, but he understood that beneath the humor was the assumption that the three of them would go back home and...not sleep.
- - - - -
Joe found that their still developing three-way relationship posed many challenges, but among the joys were having images that he had only been able to dream about become live, three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood reality. One of these moments came soon after arriving back home after the film. Joe offered to pour iced tea for himself and both girls. By the time the glasses were filled, Melissa and Mandy were already in bed snuggling, stripped down to their panties. Joe realized just how surreal this scene was; watching his own wife of twenty years be attracted openly to another person was a curious thing. Having this other person be an athletic, sensual woman was another step beyond.
"Come, join us," Mandy offered.
"Mind if I just watch for a minute?" Joe replied. "You are both breathtaking."
Joe set the drinks on an end table and observed. Melissa held Mandy's neck and kissed her so gently that Joe didn't dare make a sound, afraid that the slightest noise would shatter the moment. Joe contained his excitement – barely - and focused on details. Mandy and Melissa's breasts pressed together. Melissa's tongue inside Mandy's mouth, barely visible through their kiss. Mandy's leg draped across Melissa's. How their toes danced with each intimate touch. The small imperfections in their otherwise smooth skin – bumps and moles – that made these women more real than any fantasy he ever had, and, as a consequence, far sexier.
Joe silently slipped into bed behind Mandy, no longer satisfied to be a passive observer. He wanted to be involved, to touch, taste and smell both women.
"Don't mind me," Joe whispered. The girls accepted this as an invitation to continue unabated.
Joe moved leisurely around both women, feeling and kissing exposed flesh wherever he desired. The women were very aware and inviting of his touch, but they kept their attention on each other. Joe's powerful hands massaged their way in and around both girls. He fondled and squeezed their breasts, thighs and ass cheeks. Both women shifted slightly and spread themselves, making them fully available.
Joe was particularly fascinated with the cute little bulges hiding under the girls' panties. He marveled that he could see his wife's slit through them, with a small area of wetness forming in the center. One at a time, he grasped their panties and pulled them taut. He proceeded to kiss their soft little bulges as they strained against the fabric. Joe moved between Mandy and Melissa, savored the smell and heat emanating from each woman. Every time he pressed his mouth or tongue against their panties, he heard a cute sigh or moan escape from somewhere above.
Joe pulled Melissa's panties to one side and licked her just as Mandy rolled Melissa on her back and sucked a nipple. Allowed no apparent say in the matter, Melissa adopted a submissive posture. Joe and Mandy happily took over.
Mandy loved pleasing Melissa's nipples, but she soon joined Joe down below, at her opening. They each held one leg firmly and took turns kissing her pussy lips, then, in turn, kissing each other. Mandy's lips were full and sensuous – kissing them made Joe's manhood ache. Mandy leaned down and poked her tongue inside Melissa, her face pressed against her mound, penetrating as deep as her tongue would allow. She pulled out and kissed Joe, allowing him to taste his own wife on her lips and tongue.
Melissa closed her eyes and retreated inside herself, close to climax. Mandy gingerly pulled back the fleshy hood covering Melissa's clit and licked the swollen bump below. Joe took his turn and did the same. Joe and Melissa traded off, hoping to provide Melissa with a slow, luxurious climax.
"Oh god..." Melissa wailed. "Oh fuck..."
Joe loved it when Melissa swore, because Melissa never swore.
"Ooohhh fuck...fuck..."
Melissa covered her face and climaxed hard. Both Joe and Mandy knew right away; there was no mistaking the rhythmic tightening of the muscles between her thighs. They continued to eat her as her body erupted, enjoying the taste of her orgasm every step of the way.
"That feels...oh my god...so good..." Melissa gasped.
"You are so sexy when you come like that, baby," Joe chimed in. Mandy nodded in affirmation.
Each one took a turn that night to be ravaged by the other two. When it was Mandy's turn, Melissa planted herself between her legs while Joe kissed her and played with her breasts. Mandy, not normally one to simply rest and let others do the work, had no choice this time. Joe was a large, strong man. He had Mandy pinned as he lay atop her, rolling her nipples between his fingers. Mandy had gorgeous, large, dark brown nipples. Joe loved teasing them, making them erect and holding them between his lips. Mandy playfully struggled under Joe, but she was thrilled to allow Melissa and Joe free access to her body.
