It was late afternoon on one of those rare days in late July in northern England when it was warm enough to sit outdoors until late in the evening long after dusk had fallen. Anne and I were sitting in companionable silence on the patio of our friends Ellen and David with a glass of a nice chilled white wine in our hands. Our two teenage girls were knocking a shuttlecock back and forth on the lawn, their laughter mingling with the melodious sounds of nature. David had been fiddling with the barbecue for what seemed like ages -- I had often told him to buy a gas one, as they were relatively cheap and much easier to use, but he claimed that charcoal added a richer flavour to the food. As there was nothing I could do to help, I let him get on with it, and looked over to admire Ellen who was gracefully stretched out on a lounger beside us.
Suddenly, Ellen turned to us and said in a voice little louder than a murmur, "Oliver is coming home next weekend for a couple of weeks between university and starting his new job in London, it would be very nice if you could give him a specially good time whilst he is here."
Oliver had just graduated with a good degree from Bristol University, which was by coincidence the university where I had obtained my first degree. As an only child he had a very close relationship with his mother, as often happens in these circumstances, and my first thought was that she would want to spend as much time with him as possible before he ventured out alone into the big bad world of adulthood. I therefore dismissed her remark as a mere pleasantry and thought no more about it.
In truth, we had seen very little of Oliver even before he went to university. My personal recollection was of a rather serious and quiet boy with a pale complexion and a shock of blonde hair, and even though Anne had seen a little more of him when she went round to Ellen's for a gossip after work or at weekends, neither of us really knew much about him.
However, what had seemed to me to be just a casual remark had planted a very naughty idea in my wife's mind. In the short term the consequence of decision she made at that moment would merely be a few hours of intense sexual pleasure for her and Oliver. In the long term, however, it would have a profound effect on our all our lives, although we were not to know that at the time.
*****
At this stage I feel that I ought to tell you a little about us. Anne and I had met at Manchester University where she was in the first year of training as a speech and language therapist, whilst I was studying for a doctorate in neurophysiology. We were immediately attracted to one other, and after dating for a few months decided to get married, rather rashly in some people's eyes, as we had very little money to live on. By the time she graduated Anne was already pregnant with Gemma, our first daughter, and just over a year after Gemma's arrival our second daughter Nicola was born.
For the next eleven years Anne concentrated on being a housewife and mother, but when both girls were at secondary school she found a job at a special school for profoundly deaf and autistic children. At the time about which I am writing we had been married for just over twenty years. Anne was approaching forty and I was a few years older at forty-five. I was still at the university, where I had recently been awarded the chair in Experimental Neuroscience.
It was through Anne's job that we had come to know Ellen. She was in charge of events and fundraising at the school where Anne worked, and the two women hit it off from the start soon becoming firm friends. Our two families lived quite close by in a village on the edge of the peak District. It was inevitable, therefore, that Anne and Ellen could often be found at one or the other of our homes with a cup of coffee, or depending on the time of day, something stronger, talking about work, or just gossiping about the world.
We didn't see as much of David, Ellen's husband, as he often had to travel abroad for his work as an international patent lawyer. He was a rather serious man, but with a twinkle in his eye, and he was unfailingly courteous in his dealings with all of Ellen's female friends, which I know that Anne found rather charming.
In my eyes Anne, with her short red-blonde hair, shapely figure, and nice firm breasts and bottom, would always be the most beautiful woman in the world. Ellen, who was about the same age as me, was a little more voluptuous, with long blonde hair and blue eyes, but she had an air of sensuality about her that made her attractive to most men. As I got to know her better our relationship became more than a little flirtatious, even naughty, but that is the subject of another story, and there was never any question of risk to our marriages.
As a result of our wives' close friendship it was inevitable that David and I would also get to know each other well, and on Saturday mornings when he wasn't away on business, we would often play an hour or two of squash at the local courts. In all honesty, it must be said that we played energetically rather than well, although it did keep us fairly fit, and served to prevent the more serious consequences of a shared liking for good food and fine wines. However, neither of us could be described as hunks, just a couple of reasonably attractive middle-aged men.
*****
Now that I have told you a little about us it is time to resume my story of that evening, and all that followed from it.
After our meal, as we sat under the stars with our postprandial brandies, Ellen returned to the subject of Oliver's pending visit. She explained that he had been a little down recently despite the excitement of graduation day, which had ended with a splendid champagne and strawberry tea on the lawn of one of the halls of residence overlooking the splendours of the Avon Gorge. Even the anticipation of his new job in London, with a good starting salary and excellent prospects of promotion, did not seem to excite him very much.
It turned out that his girlfriend, with whom he had been in a relationship for the last two years at university, had abruptly dumped him without any explanation straight after finals, leading to the cancellation of their planned trip to Venice.
"Thank God she did it after he had finished his finals," said Ellen, "Otherwise I dread to think what would have happened, but it was still a bit of a bitchy thing to do; and she was such a pretty girl too. "
Then a sudden thought seemed to strike her, although in retrospect I don't think it was that sudden.
"Why don't you come round to dinner next Saturday night, you can meet Oliver, and I am sure he would like to meet your two girls again, they are quite grown up now. "
Gemma and Nicola were seventeen and sixteen respectively, so rather young for a young man of nearly twenty-two, but I was too polite to point this out.
Ellen turned to David, who was by then quietly dozing in his chair, nursing his empty glass on his chest.
"That will be all right, won't it darling -- Anne and Bill and the girls can come to dinner next Saturday night can't they?"
David sleepily mumbled his agreement, as he roused himself for a moment from his daydreams, before sinking back into that pleasant torpor which commonly follows a nice meal with plenty of alcohol.
So it was that the following Saturday we found ourselves again at Ellen and David's house. Before dinner the party split up on gender lines, Anne and our girls went off to help Ellen in the kitchen, whilst David, Oliver and I went up to his den where he took great pleasure in showing us the latest additions to his rather magnificent model railway layout -- Ellen always called it his boy's train set, which really didn't do it justice -- and demonstrating how he could control it all from his iPhone, which I thought was a bit nifty.
Oliver, however, was a revelation. Gone was the gawky and rather shy boy, and in his place was a tall and very handsome young man. I had remembered him as being rather skinny, but he had obviously kept himself fit, his bare forearms below the sleeves of his sweat shirt were nicely muscled, and as he moved there were hints of the firm body beneath his clothes. During our conversations about his time at Bristol, I learned that he had played both hockey and tennis for the university, although he said that sport had necessarily taken a back seat in the run up to finals, and that he really needed to get back into training.
"What a foolish young woman his girlfriend was," I thought, "To have thrown him over in the way she had. He would certainly be a hit with the ladies in our circle, it was just a pity he was only going to be around for a couple of weeks."
I knew that Anne was going to have a lovely time over dinner flirting with him, she had often said that having a young admirer did wonders for an older woman's self-esteem, particularly at that time of life when the children were almost grown up and the imagined terrors of middle age beckon.
I suggested to Oliver, "If you want to indulge a bit of sport whilst you are home, one of our friends have a private tennis court in their back garden which I know they would be pleased to let you use."
I then had a bright idea, "Why don't you ask Anne to have a knockabout. She doesn't get much opportunity to play these days, and I know that she would enjoy playing with you. I am a lousy partner for her. I was never very good at ball games as I was more of a runner when I was younger."
Dinner was a great success. Ellen is a great cook and over the years David had built up a rather splendid cellar. Anne had been placed by Ellen next to Oliver at one end of the table, and she spent her time finding out all about him. She talked very little, but listened avidly to everything he had to say, whilst looking deeply into his eyes in blatant adoration -- I am told that this always works with men. Smile sweetly and let them think they are the most important person in the world and they will tell you all their deepest secrets and desires, and Oliver was no exception to this rule.
Anne is an expert at making men feel special, so by the end of the meal I am sure that Oliver was more than a little in love with her. This gave me a definite thrill since I was the man she would be going home with at the end of the evening.
