"Tell me again why we're doing this?"
My husband looked at me for a moment, and then leaned in close. I could see his face better, now; the street lights and porch lights on the house in whose driveway we'd just arrived didn't do much for the inside of our parked car. Proximity helped.
"You know why." He cast a nervous look at the large house.
I shrugged. "Yes, I know why, but I'm still not sure this is a good idea." He swiveled his head towards me, eyes widening. "Convince me."
He grunted in annoyance. "This is stupid." After a moment of silence, he sighed heavily and continued. "Those pictures we took of you... of us... last week were on my tablet, and I left it in my boss's office this afternoon." His hands fidgeted nervously in his lap. "We just came from there and didn't find it, so he must have taken it home."
I remembered that night. Sexy poses and lingerie, ending up with some POV pics as we concluded the festivities. It was fun at the time, but now it didn't seem like such a good idea.
He pointed at the house. "So unless you want Roger looking at pictures of you naked, of us fucking, and maybe posting them on the internet, we need to get that tablet back."
A thought occurred to me. "He doesn't know the password, right? So how can he log in to it?" Mike didn't say anything, his eyes focusing downward on his suddenly still hands. "You... do use a password to log in, right?" Mike shook his head slowly.
"Damn it, Mike!" He hadn't mentioned that before. "What kind of idiot doesn't password protect his tablet?"
He glared at me. "I made a mistake, all right?" He shifted in his seat to turn more towards me. "Can we just get this over with?"
"Well, why can't I sneak in and look for it while you keep him and his wife busy?"
"Have you ever been in his house," Mike countered, "do you know where his study is?"
I sighed. "No." I fought it for a moment more, then acquiesced. "Okay, you sneak in the back, and I'll keep them busy in the living room." I hefted the packet we'd brought, eighteen pages of bureaucratic forms required by the City's sports league. "I'll try to get him to sponsor Samantha's soccer team. Filling these out should take a while."
"Right." Mike kissed me on the cheek, then opened the door. "Try to give me at least fifteen or twenty minutes. I'll text you when I find it." And with that he was gone into the darkness, the closing door sounding very loud in the suddenly empty car.
The walk to the front door wasn't long, but it seemed so. The cool night air pebbled the skin on my arms. Bracing myself for a moment, I smoothed the strapless sun dress I was wearing of imaginary wrinkles, and then rang the doorbell. It opened far sooner than I wanted it to.
Roger opened the door, his trim, athletic body dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. No shoes. He looked puzzled.
"Can I help you?"
I stuck out my hand. "I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Sandy, Mike's wife."
Recognition dawned on his face. "Oh, yes, we've met a few times." We shook hands in greeting.
I nodded. "Do you and your wife have a few minutes to spare?"
He stepped back and to one side. "Certainly." I entered and headed in the direction he indicated as he closed the door and followed behind me. The living room was a spacious one, and I couldn't help jealously comparing it to ours at home. Wow. The flat screen was huge and was easily visible from either of the two recliners, as well as the couch.
He indicated the couch, and I sat down as he headed towards a small bar against the wall near the TV.
"I'm afraid Cynthia isn't here tonight; she's visiting her mother and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon." He poured himself a drink and cast a glance at me. "Would you like anything?"
I demurred. "No, thank you."
He crossed to the recliner nearest me and sat, placing his whiskey on the table near his right hand.
"Now, what can I do for you?"
I was still nervous, but I launched into my spiel.
"Samantha... our daughter... plays soccer in the city league, but their normal sponsor said he may not sponsor them this year. Mike mentioned that you've sponsored some teams in the past, so I figured I'd ask if you'd be willing to do it again."
He nodded slowly. "Yes, we've sponsored teams before, mainly boy's baseball. We've never done the girl's soccer bit." He glanced at the papers in my hand. "Are those the forms I'd have to fill out?"
I nodded. He picked up his glass, took a large swig of whiskey, then set it back down and crossed to the couch. He sat down at the far end and held out his hand. As I passed the papers to him, my phone bleeped.
I shrugged in embarrassment. "Text message. Let me check that real quick." He glanced at me once, then began reading the papers I'd handed him.
The text was from Mike.
"I'm upstairs. Keep him busy. Remember, if he finds me in his house, I'll probably get fired. Thanks!"
Asshole.
I locked the phone and placed it on the end table, then looked back up. At some point, Roger had shifted position and was now sitting next to me, still looking at the papers. His knee brushed mine lightly.
"Well," he said after a while, looking up at me with a serious glint in his eye, "these look in order, but I'm not positive it's something I really want to do at this juncture."
I looked disappointed, pouting my lips just a little. "Really?"
He placed the papers on the coffee table, then slid closer and put one hand on my knee. "Convince me." With that, he kissed me.
I was too shocked to move immediately, and he must have taken that as encouragement, as he moved even closer, and I felt one hand gently cupping the back of my head.
Now, Mike and I have been married for almost ten years, and we've never been fans of open marriages. Oh, he wasn't my first, not by any means, but he was most definitely my last. So I was out of practice at responding to this kind of thing.