Meanwhile, across town, Tom and Nancy Owens were sitting down to their breakfast.
"You have a meeting with the ladies this afternoon, don't you?" Nancy Owens asked her husband as they sat together in their favorite trendy morning coffee shop they breakfasted in each morning.
"Yeah," Tom said. "I don't usually attend, but Karen told me that there was some big thing that all the ... non-employed junior executive spouses needed to discuss. Mrs. Bishop is going to be there to lead the meeting this time, I think."
"Hmm," Nancy said, blowing the steam off the huge mug of tea with which she started her day. "That's a little unusual. You usually skip them. Why are you going today?"
"Thank you," Tom Owens said to the young woman who brought them their breakfast. Eggs and toast for Tom; oatmeal for his wife. He shook his head. He couldn't eat that stuff but Nancy didn't seem to mind.
"Um, well, because Karen asked me to make sure to attend. She said something about the ladies need to make sure they all look after one another," he shrugged. "Not really certain what that has to do with me, but I figure that I might learn something that will help you so I said sure."
Nancy nodded and they each attended to their respective breakfasts, lost in thought.
"You want to go out to the club again tonight?" Tom asked. "I got a crew coming over to help pour the concrete for the pool, but I made sure that Scott and his guys will be at the house by about 10 this morning. I should have the whole thing done by early afternoon so I can get back to the studio."
Tom was a well-known sculptor in metalwork. Through his art he had connections with many in the art and music community. They were both big fans of jazz, and there was a new club that had opened a few weeks ago. They had been there the other evening and had had a good time.
Nancy paused and looked at her husband over her mug of tea. "Aaahh, I have a ... sales meeting this evening with Mr. Borges, so ... maybe the second set."
Tom looked away. "Fuck," he muttered under his breach. "Sorry, I forgot that he moved up the Friday evening ... meeting."
He took a deep breath. "Fine. Second set starts around 9 or so. We can get
dinner there or after, I suppose." He rubbed his face.
"Hey," Nancy said after a moment, taking her husband's hand in hers. "I'm going to be fine."
"Oh, I know. You're tough. I just fucking hate your evening 'meetings' with Mr. Borges," Tom said. "This is really difficult. It just is. You doing what you ... do, all those beautiful women prancing around me all the time and me not getting even a taste ..."
Nancy started to pull all the pieces of a scowl together. She put her lips in a thin line and her brow started to furrow.
After seven years of marriage, Tom knew how to read the signs. "Whoa, whoa there, honey. I know you are doing the heavy lifting here. All I'm saying is that I really don't like sharing you, and ... well, you want to know why I avoid the ladies' meetings?"
There was a pause as Nancy tried to decide whether to put the pieces of the scowl away or double down. Before she could respond, Tom answered his own question.
"Because I am neither a woman nor a eunuch. You and the other wives are just absolutely beautiful, and I know that all the other junior executive guys are getting laid by all the other wives. I know they are. And I'm not. And I know the agreement that we reached together at the start of this, but asking me to go to these meetings, chat with the other ... you know ... 'working women' and just sit there and be a potted plant? No thank you."
Nancy's face softened. She sighed. "You know that I do not enjoy The Arrangement ...". She stopped as Tom cut in.
"I've seen you have an orgasm with Mr. Borges," Tom Owens said angrily. "I've seen you."
Nancy sighed again. "I know, but that's just my body," she said. "It's not my heart. And you know why we are doing this. You wanted enough money to open your own gallery and concentrate on your art. I want to make enough money to open my own business."
She sipped her coffee with a stern look. "If I have to spread my legs a few times ...", and Tom snorted at the term 'few' which she ignored, "then that is not all that different from what other women are doing, and for far less in return."
"A couple more years, and then we are free," Nancy said, putting her hand on her husband's when he did not immediately respond. "I will try to ... loosen up with your freedom with the other ladies. The problem is, if you sleep with them, then ...".
"Then their husbands will expect you to reciprocate," Tom said, finishing the sentence he had heard before. "So the fuck what? You are already fucking other men. What will a few more dicks inside you really mean?"
This time all the pieces of the scowl fell into place. "Because it is different for a woman in business, Tom. You know this. I have explained it to you. If I have sex with my colleagues, then I give up my control at meetings. I won't be able to face them, person to person and expect their attention and their confidence."
"Jesus Christ," Tom muttered. "You know, you are not the only one whose got problems. I should be dealing with the junior executive men. They reach out to me to go to ballgames or hit the links and I always say no, because you asked me to. And I stay away so I don't get tempted by the other wives and it is fucking hard to do!"
Tom pushed his breakfast away angrily.
"I have no friends in The Arrangement. My friends that I have outside of the goddamned Arrangement I can't talk to about our goddamned marriage. You think this is easy? I don't like sharing you, but you want to know what?" Tom said, standing up. He leaned down to his wife and spoke quietly in her ear so as not to make too much of a scene. "I think I'd rather you fuck all your colleagues if that's what it takes for me to actually have a life."
"But Tom ...", Nancy called out with a stricken look on her face as Tom walked off.
He glanced back at his wife. He almost ran back to the table when he saw the tears standing in her eyes but he steeled himself, shook his head and walked out of the restaurant.
======
Sam, being a somewhat eager cuckold and still shocked at the fact of it, was hard as a rock on his drive to the office. He had difficulty even thinking about work related issues.
Of course it did not help either than his first task that morning was to find Steve Borges and give him the two remote controls to the garage door to he and Carrie's home. It was clever the way that Alphia Corporation had systemized the whoring out of their own employees and spouses. Every little step seemed to have been thought out well.
He parked the car in his usual spot, glanced at his phone to see no further messages from his wife, scrolled through the spam in his email and walked towards the elevator. Here, at Alphia Corp, he was senior staff level.