Let them go
"He loves me so much I'm sure he'll give this to me. It's not a big deal," Kelly Reed said to her friends as they sat at a local bar drinking mojitos. "It will just be for six months. That gives us a month to smooth over any rough edges, then we'll be married and together forever."
There was a lot of murmuring from the four women who were going to be her bridesmaids in seven months.
"Wow, babe. That's really pushing it to the edge, you know, even if he loves you as much as any man has ever loved any woman," said a tall blonde named Annie. "You're asking him to take a shot to the nuts, then come back smiling."
"Yeah, Jamie's the best, girl. Why would you want to do him like that? I'd take that man in a heartbeat," said a brunette named Karen.
"I just feel I need to do this... for me... before I get married and stay with one man for the rest of my life," Kelly answered. "I've only been with one other guy besides Jamie. I think I need to have more experiences... more men... before I commit to just one man for the rest of my life."
"Why? Has Jamie had so many women you feel you need to catch up?" Annie queried.
"Actually, Jamie says he's only had two other women besides me. So this would be good for him, as well," Kelly voiced.
"But why did you wait until now?" asked Rosie, a chunky, vivacious redhead. "It wouldn't have been that big a deal if you had done this before you two got engaged. Now, aye, aye, aye. This looks like you want to jump into a pool filled with shit."
"Yeah, my timing could have been better, but since we're not married yet... I think I deserve this. I think this will make me a better sex partner for Jamie in the future. This has nothing to do with me and Jamie as a couple," Kelly said.
"A better sex partner... Has Jamie ever complained?" the fourth woman, another brunette named Helen, asked.
"No, but wouldn't every man want a better sex partner..." Kelly started to answer before Rosie interrupted.
"Not if it meant he had to sit on his hands while she was getting that experience with other men!" Rosie announced.
"But he could be getting experience with other women at the same time. He wouldn't be sitting on his hands," Kelly rebutted.
"Did you ever consider that this could be the beginning of the end for you two?" Helen asked.
"I've thought about it, but have you ever seen someone more in love than Jamie is? I'll be surprised if he doesn't cry in relief when I tell him that it's just for six months, and we'll get back together in time to get married," Kelly said.
"Well, if I get a vote, I'm voting that you not do it," Annie said. "I don't see anything good coming out of this for Jamie.
"God, I'd kill for a great guy like Jamie. You all know that all of the guys I've dated couldn't add up to one Jamie."
The four other women at the table all nodded in agreement at Annie's statement.
"So when are you ruining his world?" Helen asked.
"I was thinking that tonight is the night," Kelly said. "It's Tuesday, so this way he'd have three days before my first date."
"Wait. Wait. Wait. You've already got a date lined up for Friday night?" Rosie queried.
"Well... nobody specific, but hope springs eternal, you know? Aren't we doing girls night out this Friday?" Kelly asked.
******
Jamie Breyer walked into the home he shared with his fiancée that night and smelled his favorite meal cooking: pot roast with roasted potatoes. For at least the thousandth time, he thought to himself that he was the luckiest man to walk the face of the earth.
Jamie and Kelly had been together for more than four wonderful years. They had met as freshmen at Michigan State University and were an item right from the start. He was enamored that the 5-6 blonde could be as sweet on the inside as she was beautiful and curvaceous on the outside. She was taken with his boyish good looks, curly dark brown hair, athletic body and a strong, quiet confidence she hadn't found in anyone else his age.
They both thought their love was storybook: love at first sight and apparently getting stronger by the day. He had asked her to marry him on their graduation day. She didn't hesitate to say yes.
Kelly had been with only one other boy besides Jamie. He had been with only two other girls besides Kelly. Their lack of sexual experience became a bond of sorts as they experimented, learned and laughed together, starting on their sixth date. They read books about sex together and spent literally hours trying different positions. Everything they did together was an adventure of epic proportions.
Kelly was sitting in the living room drinking a glass of wine when Jamie found her. She looked nervous, Jamie thought, as he went to her for a usual hello kiss before going upstairs to change into casual clothing. He noted that Kelly was still in her work clothes, something unusual for her once she got home.
"Jamie-babe, why don't you get a drink and join me back here before you go change. I've got something I need to tell you," Kelly said.
Jamie saw the serious look on Kelly's face and did as his fiancée bade him. He assumed something bad had happened during Kelly's day at Transglobal Shipping.
Jamie sat at the other end of the sofa from Kelly. He took a sip of his Jameson's Black Barrel Irish whiskey, and not for the first time wondered how the Jameson people could make their whiskey so smooth. He stared at his fiancée as she shifted in her place.
"Jamie, I have something important to tell you, and I need you to listen carefully before you ask me any questions. Okay?" Kelly said.
Jamie nodded silently. He was too concerned to speak, wondering if his fiancée was ill.
Kelly dropped what amounted to a nuclear bomb on Jamie's life. Several times he went to speak, but she held up her hand in a stop motion.
"You promised," she declared. "If I don't get this out all at once, I'll never finish."
Jamie's forehead was furrowed as he listened. His heart was breaking more with every sentence the woman spoke. When she finished, she nodded at Jamie.
"I thought you loved me," he whispered. "How could I have been so wrong?"
Both had tears in their eyes, Kelly because she knew how much she was hurting her fiancé.
"You're not wrong. I love you more than anything," she cried. "This is something I just need to do for me. I know it seems selfish, but if I don't do this, I'll wonder forever about what I missed, and it might pull us apart in the future.
"But the same rules that apply to me also apply to you. You haven't been with very many women. This will give you a chance to expand your horizons and knowledge as well.
"We would both be better partners for each other in the future."
"I don't need a better partner for the future. I love you just the way you are," Jamie said. "And I don't want to expand my horizons and knowledge without you. Is that what you want from me?"
Jamie was experiencing a mix of anger, sadness and confusion. He felt that the person in the world he most treasured and trusted had ambushed him.
"Let me get this straight. See if I follow you... You want both of us... to be able to date and have sex with other people for the next six months. Then we'll come together again, get married and live happily ever after. Is that what you want? Seriously?" he questioned.
"Yes. Exactly," she answered brightly, pleased that Jamie seemed to understand what she proposed.
"And what if I say no to this cockeyed proposal of yours?" Jamie responded. "I am not good with this. I won't share you with other men."
Kelly's face went from smiling to frowning in a millisecond.
"It wouldn't be like sharing. You'd have your dates and I'd have mine. They wouldn't have to involve sex, but they could. After all, that's how we'd both get more experience," she said.
"And this way, you could be trying out my replacement," Jamie said quietly, looking directly at Kelly.
"No. No. No. I'm not looking to replace you, Jamie. I love you. I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you," she claimed.
"You say you love me, but you want to rip my heart out of my chest and have sex with a bunch of other men before we get married. That doesn't sound like love to me. That sounds like lust. Lust. The same four letters in lust are also in the word slut," Jamie said.
"I am not a slut! I'm not going to be a slut!" Kelly insisted.
"I... I don't believe you," Jamie said. "I don't believe anything you say anymore."
"Was this your Looney Tunes idea, or did it come from one of your friends? I thought they liked me," he added.
"They do like you. This wasn't from any of them. This is all my idea. I just think I need to have more than two men for my entire life, so 10 years down the road, I'm not wondering... and thinking I need to step out on you to find out," Kelly said.
"I'm willing to have only three women for my entire life, as long as you're the one I end up with..." Jamie started.
"That's just it," Kelly interrupted. "You would end up with me. After six months, we would come back together. I promise."
"Like I trust your promises now," he said.
"I'm still the same me you've been loving for more than four years. I'll be the same me when this is over," she said, tears coming to her eyes. "Why can't you see that?"
"No, you won't be. The minute you spread your legs for another man, you won't be the same... not in my eyes, never again," Jamie said, a sad look coming over his face. "Hell, you're not the same in my eyes right now, just for telling me what you intend to do."
Kelly was stunned with this turn of events. Jamie had made it quite clear that he was not going along with Kelly's plan. She would have bet... hell, she was betting... that her sweet, loving fiancé would give her this. Yes, she knew he wouldn't necessarily be happy, but he loved her beyond reason; this would work out. She held that view for about a half-hour, until she saw Jamie coming out of the bedroom with two suitcases. She was sitting at the kitchen table, picking at her food when she saw him.
"Wait. Where are you going?" she whined as she jumped up from her spot.
"I'm gone. We're done, babe. I would have killed for you up until a little while ago. Now it's taking all my self-restraint not to kill you," Jamie said.
