I bent down to fix the leash on my beautiful English bulldog, Petunia. I am very proud of her, because she is of national grand champion stock and one of the cutest bulldogs you would ever see. I was getting ready to take her on our morning walk around the lake in the park across the street from our house where my husband and I had lived for the last three years. The morning walks were my favorite time of the day, and it helped keep both of our figures nice and trim. As usual I had chosen to wear tight jogging shorts, a sports bra and my trademark ponytail. Being a creature of habit, it was almost exactly nine in the morning when it was still pretty cool. Bulldogs don't handle heat well and nine was nearly perfect.
I closed the door behind us and walked across the street and was walking over the strip of grass to the sidewalk that circled the lake when I noticed a tall black man approaching our interception point. Almost unbelievably he had a bulldog with him. It was not just a bulldog but just about the best looking male specimen I'd ever seen. His owner was damn good looking, too. Just as it is with Harley owners, bulldog owners have a special camaraderie because of the breed and their uniqueness. We trotted over to them and I said "Hi, this is Petunia, I'm Beth and your dog is the most striking bulldog I've ever seen. He is absolutely gorgeous!"
"Well, thank you, and his name is Percy. Oh, and I am Cal." Almost as an automatic movement, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card which I glanced at and noticed that he was a real estate broker.
"Calvin Roberts and in real estate, huh? Amazing, because my husband is an agent, too. Don Jeffords is his name and he works out of the REAL PROS office downtown at Court and Main. You know, I've walked around this lake almost every day for three years and I have never seen you or Percy before. Do you live nearby?"
"Yes, I just moved into the townhouses over there," pointing back up the street a couple of blocks. "I moved in two weeks ago. Would you like to walk around the lake with Percy and me? We can get to know each other a little better. I have been very busy and you are the first person I've met in the neighborhood." Petunia and Percy had already completed their introductory sniffing ritual and seemed ready to get busy walking. So I said that I would love to and away we went. We chatted like old friends and by the time we got around to his townhouse I had learned that he was single, and that he lived alone. He was very busy and had six agents that he employed in his brokerage. I told him many details of my life, but I didn't get into telling him about the swinging lifestyle that Don and I enjoyed. I was already smitten and knew that I would welcome getting to know him much better.
We stopped in front of his house and he said that he really enjoyed walking together. I told him that I walked every day at nine o'clock and that I would look forward to seeing him again. "You can bring Percy, too. I think our dogs would like that. See you later." I then turned away and started down the walk toward my house. When I had gone about twenty feet, I turned back and saw that Cal was still standing there looking at me. I immediately blushed and on a whim, I blew him a little kiss. He waved with a big smile on his face and I knew I would be seeing him again.
I spent the rest of the day fantasizing about Cal and thinking about my husband and our life together. We had been married for a bit over five years. We had a really outrageous lifestyle and had started having multiple sexual partners even before we got married. Two years ago we had actually joined a swing group, which met regularly on Friday nights. There were about twenty couples in the group and usually six to ten couples would show up on any given Friday evening for some good fun. We had some longer lasting on-going affairs too. I wasn't currently tied up with anyone but I knew Don was seeing another agent in his office a couple times a week. I knew he looked at me as his trophy wife. I think he loved me but I had a suspicion that he loved our lifestyle more. I don't think I was deeply in love with him either. It was very hard for us to be tightly connected when we had so many emotional bonds outside of our marriage. I guess I wasn't really happy with the situation but that was what we had. We had talked about this on several occasions, but things never really changed. Two months ago we had decided that maybe it was time to start a family. I wasn't completely convinced that this would solve anything but I did agree to go off the pill and suspend my outside activities. Of course he would continue with his, including the Friday night get-togethers.
By the time Don got home I had already decided that I would pursue anything that might occur with Cal. Don and I exchanged pleasantries and I told him I had met one of his partners in crime. He wanted to know who and I told him "His name is Cal Roberts and I met him walking the dog today. He has the most beautiful bulldog."
"I've never met him but I sure have heard of him. He owns a really hotshot agency. Each of his agents has a male bulldog and they use their dogs in their marketing programs. Everyone seems to like their little slogans like 'once we get our teeth in a job, we never let go'."
"That is cute," I replied. "You know, I think maybe we ought to get some black couples for our group. Are you going tonight? You might as well. I started my period yesterday so I'm not pregnant and there is no reason for you to stay home with me." I hoped that he might stay and keep me company but he said that he would be going. It sort of ticked me off.
"I take it that this Cal is black?" Don asked me.
"Yes, and he is very good looking and very sexy."
"Well, maybe after you get pregnant, we can ask him if he might want to join. He is married, isn't he?"
"No, he's single."
"You seem to know quite a bit about him. Are you interested in seeing him?
"I don't know. I only talked to him for a few minutes."