If the three seminal events in this tale didn't happen to or affect me I might have considered it a Shakespearean farce, followed by a drama. Since the events did affect me, however, I'm not laughing. However like in any play I probably should set forth the main characters in this farce/drama trying not to bore the audience with unnecessary detail or physical descriptions.
-I'm Dale Britton. At the time of the first seminal event I was 35 years old, living in Wilmington, NC. I'm six feet one inch (1.85 meters) tall and weigh about 185 pounds (90 kg). I'm better looking and smarter than average though no movie star or genius, and although thoroughly un-athletic am in better shape than most guys my age (at least in the Wilmington area). I grew up in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D. C. I got my B. S. and M. S. degrees at UNC-Wilmington and loved the area so I stayed. I had had average sexual experiences before my marriage a year after I got my M. S.
-Jennifer Britton is my wife of eleven years and 33 years old at the time of the first seminal event. She has a B. S. also from UNC-Wilmington. She's five feet four inches (1.6 meters) tall and weighs about 115 pounds (52 kg). She is significantly better looking and smarter than average and has a quirky personality. She grew up in the Atlanta area but stayed in Wilmington because she also liked it, and married me a year after she got her B. S. I never talked with her about her sexual experiences before we met although from unconfirmed sources she might have been a little wild.
-Connor is my and Jennifer's son, eight years old at the time of the first seminal event, and Lizbeth our daughter, six years old.
-Audrey Johnson is Jennifer's mother, my mother-in-law, 50 years old at the time of the first seminal event, although she looks like Jennifer's sister rather than her mother being as well preserved as any 50 year old I've ever encountered. She had Jennifer out of wedlock when she was 17. Jennifer never met her biological father; he must have been small but good-looking, however, since Jennifer has a more refined face than Audrey and Audrey is significantly larger. Audrey is five feet ten inches (1.78 meters) tall and weighs about 135 pounds (61 kg), much of her added weight compared to Jennifer in the right places (at least as far as I'm concerned - her boobs and ass). Although uneducated (seventeen year old single mothers didn't finish High School in her day) Audrey is smart, and her hard early life has not made her cynical nor wrapped her personality. Audrey is a perfect grandmother and mother-in-law, always willing to help, rarely interfering, always upbeat, and providing unequivocal love for both Connor and Lizbeth without spoiling them.
-Wilbur Johnson is Audrey's husband and Jennifer's step father, 68 years old at the time of the first seminal event. Audrey was in bad shape financially and having trouble coping with life as a nineteen year old single mother when she met Wilbur. Being as charitable as possible, although Wilbur is a smart and successful businessman he is not in Audrey's league in the looks department. He is more or less a cold fish who I believe married Audrey because having a shapely young wife was good for his ego and business. He is sterile so Audrey's only child is Jennifer. Wilbur and Audrey moved from the Atlanta area to Wrightville Beach, NC (an upscale seaside community about ten miles (sixteen km) East of my house in Wilmington) about two years ago after Wilbur retired so that Audrey could be close to her grandkids who she adores, and so that Wilbur could be near the ocean which he adores.
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Jennifer and I met when I was a teaching assistant for a first semester biochemistry course that Jennifer was taking her senior year. I had seen her around campus before, and was intrigued, but had never met her. Obviously perturbed, she came in to see me when she got a C- on a research paper assignment about 1/3rd the way into the semester. I explained to her why she got a C- (she was used to getting all As and Bs) and gave her examples (with names and other identifying information removed) of three papers on the same subject, one that had gotten an A, one a B, and one a C+. Having recently exited a relationship of eighteen months and being impressed by her piercing gray eyes, lustrous mane that had a chatoyant quality and which she expertly flirtatiously shook, and shapely legs extending from her short skirt, I offered to help her with her understanding of biochemistry at a mutually convenient time.
Jennifer returned to my office a week later. "You know TA Britton..." she started out.
"Please call me Dale and I'll call you Jennifer instead of Miss Johnson," I interrupted.
"OK - Dale" - she continued, "I looked over the papers you gave me and I believe that I deserve a C instead of a C-. Here are the reasons..."
She then spouted off a half dozen points, most of which were legitimate. When she was finished I said "You convinced me. I'll change it right now." I got on my computer, used my passwords to get to the right program, and changed the grade and turned the screen so that she could see it."
"You changed it to a C+, not a C," she remarked with a cute smile.
"Your arguments and interest were worth a plus," I chuckled.
"OK - now that the grade on my paper is taken care of, I really do need some help. I'm somewhat confused by the relationships between the CHNOPS elements."
I proceeded to give her a mnemonic that I used to keep things straight that wasn't really part of the curriculum. She left pleased - and with an ass wiggle. I helped her understand various concepts maybe three or four more times during the semester, and she got a B+ on her midterm.
Just before the final exam Jennifer came to see me and asked if I would give her a call once the final grade was in since she was travelling right after the final exam. I gladly took her cell phone number since both she and I knew that I would not be a TA for any class that she was taking the next semester and her flirtations, and my interest, had increased exponentially during the year.
I like to think that I helped her get an A on her final exam, and an A- for the course. When I called to tell her I not too subtly asked when she would be back on campus and if we could get together socially. She was all for it. Within a month after the second semester of her senior year, and the last semester of my Master's program, started we were fucking up a storm, seemingly very compatible in the oral gratification and hide the salami departments. When we graduated we both got jobs in the Wilmington area, moved in together, and within a year had married.
While Audrey and I got along famously, and Wilbur didn't dislike me - he was actually slightly warmer to me than most people - for some reason my mother wasn't thrilled about me marrying Jennifer. I believe it had to do with my first love.
In High School, and until I dumped her in the summer after my freshman year in college, I dated Carolyn Watkins, the daughter of my Mom's best friend. Even though Carolyn was my first love, and we lost our virginities to each other, our relationship was more puppy love than real world. The longer I was with Carolyn the less enamored I was with her, and after dating several other women my freshman year of college realized that ours was not a life-long-lasting relationship material and ended it as gently as possible. My mother and her best friend took it even more poorly than Carolyn did, so poorly that I had to find a job in Wilmington for the summer after two weeks in Maryland to get out from under the shit storm.
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In the spring of the year that Jennifer had been out of High School for fifteen years she got an invitation to the 15 year reunion of her large public high school graduating class, coming up in two months. She was excited about it and as soon as she received it asked if I wanted to go with her since there were several events for spouses. It was at a very busy time of year for me at work, and also at a time when Audrey and Wilbur were going on a trip so that our normally reliable babysitter might not be available (actually Audrey was more than a babysitter - sometimes I thought she was more Connor and Lizbeth's mother than Jennifer was). Therefore I declined but seeing her excitement urged Jennifer to go.
I was surprised that when Jennifer told Audrey about the reunion there was not only no enthusiasm on Audrey's part but it was clear that Audrey was cool (maybe "icy" is a better word) to the idea. She never indicated why to me, but I believe that she had several conversations with Jennifer about it.
From a week after the invitation came until Jennifer left for the reunion I never was asked to accompany her again even when my work load unexpectedly eased up; and by her body language and word choices whenever we casually discussed it, it became clear that Jennifer would be going by herself as she laid out to me all of the activities for the kids the Friday through Sunday that she would be gone.
The kids were off school for the summer the Friday that Jennifer left, and since Audrey was out of town I took the day off and the kids and I drove a very excited wife and mother to the airport for her trip to Atlanta that morning. She gave us each a quick kiss goodbye at the curb departure area, and virtually sprinted into the terminal with only a perfunctory wave as she entered it.
The next three days were characterized by two things:
