Throwing a party for twenty seven-year-olds is a thankless job. A lot of work goes into cleaning the house, then the guests tear everything apart in the first half hour. You're left with a bigger mess than when you started. If only you could collapse on the couch with a beer afterward while a tornado goes through the house and sweeps everything away. Preparing everything is even more work when you have a husband who disappears to the golf course the day before the party, I love my husband, Kurt, but sometimes it seems like he's trapped in a permanent adolescence. But it's his spontaneous nature that makes me love him. It's funny that what makes you love someone can be the same thing that annoys you the most.
Luckily, that day, Marie came to my rescue. Her husband, Brett, was out with their son, so she had some free time. Amazingly, she chose to help me set up the party, instead of relaxing, or getting her nails done. I had cooking to do, the house to clean and party favors to put together, so her help was invaluable. I couldn't imagine why she would give up a free afternoon to help me, but we had become much closer of late. Much, much closer.
Marie and Brett live across the cul-de-sac, and we became fast friends from the time they moved in, getting together for barbeques and such. But over the last couple of months, our get-togethers had become more intimate. It started with a couples' night out and a joke about swapping partners. Somehow, that joke turned serious, and Marie ended up in bed with my husband, Kurt, while Brett and I screwed in their living room. But that was not a one-time thing. When we attended Marie and Brett's Christmas party, Kurt and I ended up in bed with them again after all the other guests left. After that second encounter, there was no doubt that we were some kind of foursome, even though I didn't know exactly what that meant. My husband and I talked about it, but neither of us ever had a heart-to-heart with the other couple. I'd talked to Marie often in the intervening weeks, but I could never figure out a smooth way to bring up our extracurricular activities.
"Okay, it's break time," Marie announced. She'd just pulled a fresh batch of cookies from the oven, while I sat at the kitchen table assembling party favor bags.
"Yeah, we have been going at it all day. I could use a break too," I agreed.
Marie poured two cups of coffee from a fresh pot and brought them over, while I fetched the milk and sugar. I take it black, but she pours so much milk into hers it might as well be a dessert. "Just one thing missing," she said, disappearing with a wink. She returned with a bottle of Jamison's and added a nip to her coffee.
"Isn't it a bit early for that?" I asked.
"It's after lunch," she grinned, holding the bottle over my coffee. I shrugged and she poured.
"I can't thank you enough for your help. I would be so far behind without you."
"Don't worry, honey, I'll think of a way you can return the favor."
I laughed. "I'm sure you will."
"You can lend me your husband for a couple hours," she said. My shock must have been all over my face, because she added, "I didn't mean for that, although that would be nice. I've been after Brett to put the boxes of Christmas decorations back up in the attic and he could use a hand. I'm afraid I don't have the reach to be much help."
"Oh, sure, I know Kurt will be happy to help." I don't know how happy my husband would be that I volunteered him to move boxes, but I was annoyed enough by his disappearing act that I didn't care. And I could see where Marie would have trouble handing boxes up the ladder that leads to the attic. She's a petite thing, just over five-foot-three, with a crazy, curvy body that demands attention, even dressed down as she was in tight jeans and a green cardigan over a tank top. A couple inches of pale, freckled cleavage were exposed, as usual. Marie is so amply endowed that you couldn't help but notice. She's a beautiful, fiery redhead and I know my husband jumped at the chance to sleep with her.
"What did you think I meant, Eve?" Marie asked.
"Nothing," I mumbled.
She fixed me with her emerald eyes. She wasn't going to let me off the hook. "What if I did ask to borrow Kurt for a couple hours? Would you mind? Of course I'd return the favor with Brett. I know he wouldn't mind one bit."
"I...I don't know. I haven't thought about that." I can't say I'd turn down another roll in the hay with Brett. He was a great lover and a lot of fun. I was pretty surprised he was attracted me to in the first place, if Marie was any indicator of his type.
Marie and I could not be more physically different. Where she is short and curvy, I am three inches taller and slender. I've always been thin and I still run just about every day, keeping me in great shape at thirty-two, if that's not immodest to admit. Before the kids, I was really skinny, and I know Kurt likes that motherhood has put a little more meat on my bones. I have a tight, round butt, and while I am much smaller than Marie up top, I'm perky enough that I don't need a bra. Both Kurt and Brett have told me how perfect my breasts are. Marie is the very image of an Irish Lass, I've got fine brown hair and delicate features. She's always made up, I wear little make-up. She loves attention, I shrink from the spotlight. As I said, Marie and I couldn't be more different, so I'd always thought her husband's flirting was just playing around...until that night.
"Really? Given everything..."
"I mean, I've thought about Brett, sure, I just haven't thought about, you know, going off alone with him, or Kurt going off alone with you. You know, when we've been together, uhm, we were all, you know, together." I felt the heat rushing to my cheeks and hoped I was making some kind of sense. It was difficult to talk about swapping spouses, even with the person I was doing it with.
"Yeah, it's something that just seems to happen, isn't it? Maybe it's more fun when it's not planned."
"Could be," I agreed.
"Are you still okay with what's been going on?"
I felt so put on the spot, but I knew this was a conversation we needed to have, that we should have had a while ago. I sipped my coffee and finally met her eyes. "Yeah, we both are. We like you guys and trust you. It's been a lot of fun, so what's there not to like. As long as were all open with each other, I don't foresee a problem."
"Brett and I love getting together with you. Brett can't say enough about you," Marie smiled. She added more Jamison's to her mug and mine, but not more coffee.
"Really? You guys talk about what, uhm, what we do?"
