A few days later Beth was telling Anne about her wonderful days off. Instead of complaining about Martin being away, as she was wont to do, Beth spoke gloriously of being alone and of the terrific date she had enjoyed that night. Anne was intrigued that a woman could give herself so much pleasure, and for such a long time.
"Three and a half hours of fucking yourself?" she said incredulously. "How can you possibly do that?"
"I wasn't fucking myself every minute, silly. I took it slow and easy and made sure I had lots of juice, mostly my own, too! It doesn't hurt to have enough fantasies to carry on that long, either," answered Beth.
Their conversation turned innocent as they discussed their plans for the coming weekend. Anne told Beth that she had been invited to a pyjama party at a her neighbour's house out in the country south of town. It turned out that the party was in celebration of the woman's son moving out of the house. He had just turned eighteen and had moved into town. His mom, Charlene, had decided that she wanted to have a party and thought that by inviting over some girlfriends she could use the theme of being young again.
Beth thought this was a great idea and asked if she might join in for the night. It took one phone call and Anne told Beth that Charlene would be happy to have them both come along. After all, "the more, the merrier," she had said on the phone.
"So it's a deal," confirmed Beth.
"Yes, but you have to bring something," replied Anne, "how about that wicked cheesecake you make? And bring your bathing suit, too. She has a big hot tub on the back deck." With that the plan was set for the following Saturday night.
Saturday arrived sooner than Beth expected, but was no less welcome. The week had been great in the store, but the price was exhaustion by the weekend. She and Anne both were ready for a little diversion, and a dip in a hot tub, of course.
Beth drove out to Anne's, and left her car in her driveway. They then walked over to Charlene's together. They arrived early with their overnight bags and some goodies for dinner. Charlene greeted them warmly and showed them into the downstairs play room where everybody would sleep tonight. There were foam mattresses and pillows spread all over on side of the big room. On the other side was a giant screen television and a wet bar. Beside the bar were french doors that opened up onto a big cedar deck upon which sat an immense hot tub.
"What a great setup you have, Charlene," complimented Beth. "You are sure equipped for a great party."
Anne followed up by asking who else was expected. Charlene answered that she had invited about six women, but that only three others had been able to get away. "There's Geri, one of my best friends, and we'll probably see Cara-Lynn and Kayla, too."
"Anne, you might know Kayla, she's Jason's girlfriend. And Cara-Lynn is her best friend from school. They both graduated last June." Anne cast a subtle glance over to Beth who responded with a sly one of her own. This was going to be one fine party.
"I'm going to get some snacks ready upstairs. Why don't the two of you get your swimsuits on and make yourselves a drink at the bar. I think I've got just about everything," offered Charlene.
Beth and Anne each tossed their bag into the corner near the largest foamie and headed right for the bar. They soon decided on a big pitcher of margaritas, though choosing blackberry was a tougher decision aided only by an agreement that this was only the first pitcher.
By the time Charlene had returned with a tray of fruit and goodies, Beth had already changed into her bathing suit, a rather conservative purple number that showed only a bit of her buttocks but was very generous with her cleavage βjust the way she liked it. Meanwhile, Anne had mixed the drinks and was only now suiting up. As she came down the stairs, Charlene realized that she had walked in on Anne half-naked as she was putting on her bikini top. She quickly apologized for not having knocked first.
"It's your house, silly. Besides, we're all big girls here and a breast of two shouldn't be too shocking," replied Anne. This proved to be rather prescient, it turns out.
All three women walked out to the deck and took up spots on the lounge chairs near the hot tub. The sun was warm and inviting, as an early September sun can be in this part of the world. It was hot enough for the bathing suits but not so bad that they needed shade for protection. Little was said for the first few minutes as all three enjoyed their cold drinks. Anne broke the ice by asking when the others would be arriving.
"Geri should be here any minute, but the girls will be around after they get off work around seven o'clock."
With two hours to go before then, there was lots of time left in which to anticipate the arrival of the teens. Somehow both Anne and Beth were having the same thoughts; and each had the same expression on her face. It was a bit anticipation mixed with no small measure of hope.
Geri arrived just a bit later. She was already wearing her bathing suit, a revealing two-piece covered up with a short terrycloth robe. Her knapsack went into the corner with the two others and she made her entrance to the deck with a brash "Ta-da!!"
"With an entry like that, you deserve a drink," offered Beth immediately, and poured her a margarita.
The four women sat around the deck, sunning themselves and enjoying the idle chit-chat and gossip that seems to always find its way into conversations. The talk was mostly about gardening, sewing and a variety of complaints about the men in their lives, or missing from their lives. They also spent time debating the relative merits of the technology IPO's that were the rage of the market, but that died down when the liquor started to work its magic. The four of them were starting to get a bit tipsy now that they were finishing up the second big pitcher. The snacks had pretty much disappeared, too.
Sandwiches and a veggie tray were the ideal dinner fare for the deck and all enjoyed the light meal. Geri joked about being careful not to eat too much before getting into the hot tub. "After all, we don't want anyone getting a cramp and drowning, do we?" she kidded.
"That's no problem. I know CPR," chided Beth.