Prelude, how did we get here.
Sarah:
I just could not believe it when Diane steered the conversation to lesbians, she was baiting Billy, my husband. He tends to be anti gay, why had she picked now to start a fight with him. Even at dinner, Diane had been pushing the conversation to the sexual. Now with the four of us just sitting alone in her family room, the sexual tension seemed almost unbearable. It had been that way for me, the moment Billy and I got off the plane, the minute I saw Diane. Weād been skirting around swinging with each otherās husband for a long time now. I had felt sure tonight was the night.
I was ready, Iād been ready for a long time, Billy had grown complacent in our love making, he never really tried very hard, a little petting, if I was lucky a brief moment of oral and then heād be on top of me. What a lie that is, Billy had never been anything but complacent. It surely hadnāt been his sexual prowess that had convinced me to marry him. Granted he had seemed to try harder when weād first started dating, and for the first few years of our marriage but alas Billy is a selfish man, selfish men think of only their needs. I could lie and say I didnāt see that before I married him but that would be just so much rubbish, I knew he was selfish, I thought I could change him. Sure Iād had better sex before Billy, but nothing spectacular, I guess I just thought I could change Billy. Ten years and two children later, Billy hasnāt changed, I have.
Change him, is that really what I had thought, or did I marry Billy because I felt he was safe. A good man to be the father of my children. Billy was successful, only out of college a few of years and he had already moved up the cooperate ladder. He is intelligent to, graduated near the top of his class from Harvard, a quality I wanted my children to have. Selfish yes, but we also had fun together, and even more importantly we talked, if only I had realized his treating me as his intellectual equal, was an act. Love, I donāt know maybe I did, Iām not sure I had a concept of love, I know Iād never felt it for the other men I dated.
There was something there, if not love, perhaps I was just ready for marriage, I know I wanted to start a family. Each of our biological clocks run differently, mine told me I wanted a baby. Conventional wisdom, I was very conventional, tells a woman she needs a husband for that. I was dating Billy, he wanted to marry, the two seemed to fit, my wanting a baby, my needing a man, he asked, I accepted.
Diane, Jim, Billy and I had come close to swinging once before, it had happened two week before our move. Weād played strip poker, coming so very close to having each otherās husbands. Iām sure I would have, it was Billy that put a stop to it. Diane had been the instigator that time, just as it had seemed she was going to be this time, what changed, was Diane now getting cold feet. I hardly believed that possible, Diane is not afraid of much when it comes to sex.
Diane, what can I say about her, sheās the person I feel the closets to in the whole wide world, is that enough. Sheās the most vivacious person I ever met. She is one of the most beautiful woman I ever been close to, what an understatement that is, ravishing, gorgeous, a goddess. She is so unlike other beautiful women Iāve known, she just isnāt stuck up, sometimes I wonder if she even see herself as other do. Diane is so openly sexual, itās part of her nature, Iāve met other women this way, but they seem to be acting, they come off as sluts, that isnāt Diane. I suppose there is one other thing worth mentioning about Diane, ok about me, that is the way I feel when Iām with her. My life is pretty much non sexual, I just donāt have sexual feelings often, I used to but I have by necessity driven those feelings deep down to the core of my being. When Iām around Diane, when I talk to her on the phone, when I think of her, that part of me escapes, I become very sexual. Did I mention I get this warm, tingly feeling when Iām near her.
Diane is always teasing me, flirting with me, constantly pushing me to admit I was bisexual. I think, if it had been anyone else doing it I would have been offended, but with Diane I enjoyed it, I looked forward to being with her, her teasing me, coming on to me. Maybe Iād been lying to myself, but up until a year ago, I didnāt feel I could be turned on by another woman. OK, OK that is a lie, I knew I could, deep down in that hidden place, the little room in my mind where I put those desires that scare me.
That little room seemed full lately, thoughts of cheating, thoughts of making love to strangers, thoughts of two men, neither being Billy. Carnal lustful thoughts. It was a wonder that room wasnāt overflowing, ten years, ten long unhappy years with Billy. Not that my life was unhappy, it hadnāt been until six mouths ago, I had my children, I had my friends, I even had, had a rewarding career, that is until Billy moved us all the way across the country in his quest for self fulfillment. Who ever heard of a mid life crises at thirty seven years old, who gave up a good job, good pay, for what, to find himself. For christ sakes, he had children to support, he had a wife, who now was out of a job, to support.