Steve Andrews listened to the voice on the phone, nodding his head as he absently kicked his feet in pool.
"Okay Chloe. Well, we'll see you tomorrow then." He listened more. "Okay, thank you, I'll let her know. Okay, bye then." He put down the phone on the tiles and returned his full attention to his baby son Angus, sitting in his swim ring and splashing about in the shallow end.
"Aunty Chloe's coming over tomorrow. That will be fun, hey buddy?" cooed Steve, jostling Angus as he laughed.
"Steve?"
Steve looked up from Angus, and saw his best friend Alex, and Alex's girlfriend Danny walking across his patio. Danny had a towel bag slung over her shoulder, while Alex carried a six pack of Canadian Club and Dry in hand. Steve smiled and greeted them as they walked up the steps and through the pool gate, hugging and shaking hands when they all came together.
Alex and Danny were over for a swim day. The winter had been surprisingly mild, and spring early and warm. Steve and Laurie's pool was still a little cool, but with the current humidity, no one was complaining about the water being a little nippy.
Alex was wearing a pair of swim trunks that were practically molded to his thick muscular thighs, a blue collared shirt, unbuttoned and open, and pair of flip flops. Danny was similarly attired for the weather in a billowy white coverall, floppy sunhat and aviator sunglasses. The coverall did nothing to wear Danny's shapely figure, hugging her hips and bottom tightly.
Alex peeled a Canadian out of the cardboard carton and gave it to Steve. He pulled another one off for himself, while Danny peered back into the house.
"Business call?" asked Alex, indicating to Steve's phone sitting on the pool edge with his foot. Steve had written a book that had had its public release two months ago, and from all reports from his agent, it was selling well. He was staving off press and marketing commitments for the time being, but it didn't stop the phone ringing more than ever before.
"No, no, that was Laurie's sister. She's coming up for a long weekend to see her mother and Laurie, and was just organising to come see us," Steve explained.
Alex smiled. "Well hopefully she gets here before your baby does." Steve grinned and nodded in agreement. Laurie was well close to term with their second child. If she went into labor that very moment, Steve would not have been surprised.
"So where is Laurie?" Danny asked.
Steve looked up from unscrewing the cap off his drink.
"Ah, she's up in bed, resting," he answered.
"Is she alright?" asked Danny, concerned.
Steve smiled. "She's fine," he reassured Danny. "She's just pretty close to popping and as big as a house. It's been a bit hard for her to get around for the last couple of months, so she's spending a lot of time in bed or on the lounge."
Steve looked at Alex and gave him a smirk, one that his friend mirrored, as they both knew that Danny had ulterior motives.
Nearly a year ago, both couple's relationships had had a shake up when a night spent between Laurie and Danny had started a secondary lesbian coupling between them.
Danny had always had bisexual tendencies, and while Laurie had considered herself straight beforehand, she had found that she enjoyed being with her friend physically; soft and familiar in certain ways that her husband wasn't.
The two girls had disclosed their night of fun to their partners, who had surprisingly been okay with them being together casually, and after a night of 'swapsies', had been given the greenlight to continue their coupling.
Despite this freedom, the girls didn't see each other too often. Danny co-owned a bar in the city and was in the process of opening a new one, while Laurie looked after Angus nearly full time. Combined with the fact she was growing another human being inside her and everything that came with that process, there just wasn't much time between them. But as often as their lives would allow, the girls found the time to go out together and have lunch, buy clothes, or see a movie. Or fuck.
Laurie's growing belly hadn't stopped the girls from experimenting, and her swelling breasts had only fueled their nursing sessions, as Danny couldn't keep her eyes or hands off them if they got a moment alone. Laurie may have been annoyed if the attention didn't make her feel so good.
Still, over the last few months, Laurie and Danny had been conspicuously absent from each other's lives, as work and family conspired to keep them apart. Danny certainly 'got her fill' from her massive and well-endowed boyfriend, but her only contact with Laurie over the winter had been phone calls and online messaging, and she was a little anxious for some face time.
Steve smiled at Danny reassuringly. "You can go up and see her. She wanted to be up then you guys got here anyway."
Joy sprang across Danny's face. "Great, I've got something I really need to tell her."
Without further comment, Danny walked out the pool area quickly and hurried into the house.
Steve frowned. "What was- ," he started.
Before he could continue his thought, a loud rustling in the neighbor's bushes behind Alex and himself caught Steve's attention. He peered between the fence palings, and his eye caught on the movement of a yellow fabric between the gaps.
"Morning Olivia, how are you?" he called out.
Startled, a thin blonde in a sundress jumped up from the bushes she had been pruning.
"Oh, good morning Steve, I'm just...trimming my hedges..." she finished lamely, waving a pair of shears at Steve and Alex to show them. Olivia's French accent clipped in and out of her speech.
Steve nodded. "They seem to need quite a bit of maintenance." He and Laurie seemed to catch her trimming those hedges quite often.
Alex smiled and waved.
"Well...I best go inside then..." Olivia said, and turned on her heel quickly, trotting back to her home.
"That was...weird," said Alex watching her retreating back.
Steve shook his head as he adjusted Angus in his swim ring.
"She's been like that since we moved in. I guess you'd call it...flighty? She only seems to come out when we're outside with Angus, but if you try to talk to her at all, she runs for her back door."
Alex chuckled and drank from his bottle. "You know what Danny's going to try to do when she gets up there right?" he asked.
