Chapter 8
DANNY & TESSA
Two days later, Danny came home and was greeted by Tessa with a martini and a long, wet kiss.
"Sure is nice to be home," he said with a wide grin.
"I missed you, sweetheart," his lovely wife cooed.
Danny took a sip of his martini and offered it to Tessa on seeing that she didn't have one. Tessa accepted it and took a small sip. "I should confess that I've already had one."
"Drinking alone? That's not a healthy sign, love."
"Oh, I was on the phone for over an hour. So I made a pitcher and ... well I had one while talking, or I should say while they were talking."
"And just who were they?"
"Cynthia and Ben Armstrong," she replied as if he knew them.
"Um, forgive me, but who are the Armstrong's?"
"Oh, that's right; you were out of town when we met."
"We?"
"Win and I were shopping at Lowes, and Win knocked over several cans of coffee and this gentleman helped me pick them up. Just as we were finishing up, his wife came around the corner. They seemed a very nice couple. They're a couple years older than us, but anyway, we had lunch today in town and then came back here and sat on the porch later and talked. While we were drinking cokes and talking, she looked at the pool and told me how nice ours was compared to theirs. One thing led to another and she mentioned they had occasionally enjoyed the privacy pools with tall fences like ours have and I asked her what she meant."
"What'd she do then?"
"She got a little quiet then turned to me and asked if I could keep a secret, you know, be discreet."
He laughed and nodded at Tessa's head to continue.
"I told her, sure, who hadn't had fantasies, and any she had would-be safe with me. She grinned and told me that it wasn't a fantasy that she and Carol sometimes traded pools and partners − one evening, one couple at a time − to break up their sex lives a little.
"I asked her who they did it with and she told me the group was Carol and Milford, her and Ben and Noah and Elaine then she got a little shy about it. I just nodded and grinned and told her I'd wondered about that; and then took a big plunge and told her about our experiment."
"Our experiment? What a quaint way of phasing. And then Cynthia said what?"
"Her answer was very soothing. She said I shouldn't be shy or feel guilty, then admitted that all three women had fantasized about making it with you and their husbands had all thought about doing the same with me. They just didn't think we would ever do it, so nobody ever said anything to us."
"Did you mention Vince and Margie by name?"
"No, I'd never do that. It's none of their business."
"That's a relief. I was wondering how to explain it to Vince. Still and all, it makes me a little nervous. Did you ask her how it works?"
Tessa refilled his martini and then nodded at her own nervousness. "You know me, Danny. Cynthia told me that one rule they have is that they never add more than one couple at a time. She maintains it's not group sex, but simply variety in a partner.
They also don't do it very often. The way they work it is to try and make it so that everyone has some dignity. Usually, a couple of the women end up talking and picking a Saturday night for a pool party with one other couple, knowing what was being planned, then the men take off after dinner and let the wives each get their house and pools ready. The guys are usually out for 45 minutes or so, and then they drive over to the other wife's house and knock on the door, pool gear, wine and grin in hand, and take it from there."
"Hmmm," Danny said, but left it there and sipped from his martini.
Tessa hoping he wouldn't reject the concept out of hand, hurried on. "With only the one couple at a time it stays private, and another thing is that they always end around midnight. Oh, and they usually kick off around seven."
"So it's not too far off from what we did with Margie and Vince."
"No, it isn't," Tessa chirped.
"I think I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway. What do you think? I can't see you matched up with Lambert."
"He is rather grossly overweight, I know..."
"Did you happen to mention that to Cynthia?"
"Um... no, I thought it might find its way back to the Lambert's."
Danny gave her his best smile, but said nothing.
"Wouldn't that be my problem?" she countered.
"Indeed it would. There's nothing wrong with Carol's tits that I can see. They are real, aren't they?"
"They are," Tessa huffed as if offended by his choice of words. "You must have thought so the way you stare at them every time we're together."
"I... I thought I was being discreet."
Tessa burst out laughing. She reached out and clutched his arm. "Danny... I love you, I truly do, but if you think you were discreet in checking her boobs out, you've got another thought coming."
Danny had a guilty grin on his face and nodded, accepting his being caught in a feminine trap, as so many men are. But he had a reasonably quick mind and diverted Tessa by asking: "And who might Elaine and Noah be?"
"I really don't know. Carol tells me I must know them; supposedly they go to our church, but for the life of me, I can't place them."
"They might be Joe and Jane average, you know, so non-descript that until you're compelled to recognize them they're invisible."
"I think you're right. Still, I'm bothered by the fact that I can't recall them."
"It's entirely possible they attend a different service then we do," Danny said.
"We do tend toward the 11:00 service every week," Tessa agreed.
"Well, let's sleep on any new partners for a couple nights. Maybe you and Margie will reconnect and we can repeat that night again." '"Yes, we do know what's entailed. No surprises with them."
"And no overweight whale bouncing on top of you either," Danny said with a big grin.
Tessa gave him a playful slap and laughed along with him.
CYNTHIA & DANNY
The following morning brought two unexpected phone calls to the Persons household.
First, Tessa heard from Maggie, who apologized for not returning Tessa's recent calls. The two women patched up any differences they might have had and Tessa agreed to drop her son, Win, off at her mother's and spend the afternoon at Margie's renewing their lovemaking.
The second, found Danny picking up to find Cynthia Armstrong on the other end of the receiver.
"I don't believe we've met," she said after introducing herself. "Is Tessa available?"
"Um, no, she's out at the moment. Can I help you?"
"I bet you can, Dan... or do you prefer Danny?"
"Either way is fine, um, Cynthia?"
"Yes?"