Reggie didn't call me for a month. When I heard his voice on the phone I wondered if there was some sort of unwritten rule about the length of time one waits to call a man whom you had helped his girlfriend cuckold. I knew why he had called and it had nothing to do with having an extra ticket to the Celtics. Reggie wanted Lis again and from his tone he wanted her badly. Why else would he get back in touch with me? He had had his fun with my girlfriend during the summer and I thought maybe that would be enough. Obviously I was wrong.
The black man gushed about how glad he was to have met us and that the whole crew from South Jersey couldn't wait to see us again. I was very much on guard. I knew what he was angling for and as I had found out the hard way he was an expert at getting it. Still I couldn't avoid it. Not only was I no match for the older black man I had done nothing if think back to that night and what he had done to my girlfriend. During the conversation he played me like a matador circling a confused bull then letting me fall like a skewered animal into which he had thrust his sword.
"I just wanted to call and say that we all really enjoyed hanging out with the two of you during your vacation." Reggie said.
"Well some enjoyed us more than others." I brought up the encounter and quickly regretted it.
"Yea I guess you're right about that." The black man chuckled and then continued. "I want to tell you that you were a great sport. I am really glad that you enjoyed yourself along with Lis and I because it made for a fun weekend. This is why I called. Jodi and Eddie are having a party at the end of the month, on the 28th. It's going to be a Halloween bash, you know, costumes, the whole thing. They asked me to give you a call and see if the two of you could make it."
"Well Reggie, Lis and I want to save the Jersey shore for the summer. Besides I have to work that weekend." I wasn't lying. I had to be in Boston for a convention through that Saturday, the 29th of October. I could have gotten out of it but it was the perfect excuse to keep Lis out of Reggie's clutches. Still as I said it I could feel the matador putting the final sword into my back.
"That's too bad. It's going to be a hell of a show. Is Lis going to be away too?" Reggie probed.
"No she'll be around." I answered too quickly.
The conversation ended and I had no idea that I had been badly outsmarted. I felt that if I had told Reggie that Lis was going to be out of town there was no way that the lie would have held up. I knew that the black man was going to call my girlfriend and I didn't want a lie to cause a blow up with her. I could call Lis and tell her that Reggie was going to call and tell her that I didn't want her to go to the party but the heavy hand didn't work with my girlfriend. You didn't tell Lis what to do and I knew that's how the phone call would come off. On the other hand I knew that she would let me know about her conversation with Reggie and ask me how I felt about her going to the party. That would be the time to exert some influence, yet I never got the chance. I found out the next day when Lis and I were out to dinner. She came right out and said it.
"I'm going to be in Jersey the weekend you'll be in Boston." She said as an unequivocal fact and not as if she was interested in discussing anything.
"What do you mean?" I knew what she was talking about and who had taken advantage of my naivete.
"Eddie and Jodi are having a Halloween party. I thought it'd be fun." She nonchalantly took a bite of her tuna steak.
"Are you going to stay at their house?" I knew the answers to all the questions leading up to that one so I just skipped ahead.
"No I'll be at Reggie's. He asked me to be his date." My girlfriend admitted.
"And you're going? You didn't even check with me." I retorted.
"Denny I've fallen for you and we've become very close but I told you the way it was with Reggie. My emotions with him are purely sexual and quite frankly so are yours. If you weren't in Boston you'd be down there to watch us." My girlfriend admitted to me.
"Lis, you had fun that weekend but I think you're making a big mistake." I came back with as much of an ultimatum as I could muster.
"Denny I'm sorry but I'm going and I would love to have you come along if you could get out of Boston." Lis plowed right through the ultimatum and signaled her desire to change the subject. I thought about pushing her on it but admittedly didn't have the guts. I just wasn't prepared to risk our relationship.
Instead I tried to turn Lis off over the next couple of weeks. Although we lived apart we had become accustomed to seeing each other almost every day. Lis called me the first few days but she got the picture and gave me my space. For the first week or so I worked late or did some home improvement projects. It kept me away from Lis physically but I just couldn't stop thinking about her. The thoughts of Lis and I together and worse, thinking about me without her began breaking me down. One night I just couldn't take it anymore. I called her. It was a surrender of sorts and we both knew it. Still Lis was magnanimous in victory. She never mentioned Reggie or the party.
Meanwhile a few days before leaving for Boston Reggie called me. At first I thought he may have wanted to gloat, instead he was the perfect diplomat. It wasn't until I analyzed our conversation afterwards that I realized what he was really after.
"Hey man I just wanted to thank you for letting me take your woman to the party. I'll take very good care of her." Reggie started out.