"Jesus."
"Yes, exciting n'est-ce pas? This was it. I went in, still shaking a little but doing my best to hide it. Now I was in the room with them and that's all that mattered. Claire's first time. Our first time. We were in the club."
"Jesus."
"Yeah, was incredible," he says with a big happy smile. He leans across the table for a high five, which I reflexively return.
"Jesus."
"I couldn't believe it myself."
"Jesus. Can I ask?"
"What?"
"About you going in."
"Sure, what?"
"What did you see?"
"See?"
"Yeah, see....like...you know...see."
"What did I see? See right then?" Roger makes a face like there's a bad smell. He sniffs and says, "Hold on now dude. That's pretty personal stuff, just for the two, I mean the three, of us."
"Oh, sorry!"
"Not kosher talk out of school. What a man sees when he visits his wife and her man right after mowing her man's lawn to give his wife some personal time with the man, well, see, that's just asking too much."
"Yes, I'm sorry. That was insensitive. I didn't mean to..."
"Some things kinda private, even in the club, and you aren't even in yet."
I notice the word "yet" but shrug it off. He's right. "I hear you Roger. I'm sorry if..."
"Not like I'm gonna ask what you see when you visit Anna and her man."
"No! Of course not." Wait! That didn't quite come out right.
We let it sit there, Roger frowning, rolling his eyes at me and drumming his fingers on the table. I guess I must have looked sad or anxious or disappointed. Something. Because after a minute or two Roger studies my face, then softens and says, "Tell you what, Bill. You're a good egg."
"Thank you, Roger."
"I've always said that."
"Thank you Roger."
"I know you didn't mean any disrespect to Claire or to Franco or to me."
"Thanks Roger, I really didn't."
"And even if it was a little rude, in the future you wanna think these things through before you ask a man a question like that, you got me thinking myself, thinking like maybe I should tell, at least some?"
"If it's OK, I don't want to put you in a..."
"I'm not sure about this. But I am recruiting so maybe in this situation..."
"Whatever you decide is fine, not pushing here."
Roger pauses. Looks away, Drums his fingers. Turns back to me. Then away again. This is Roger thinking. Turns to me again, this time with a smile, and says, "Tell you what, here's an idea."
"What?"
"I'll text Claire and see what she says. My wife will know best."
"Aah, if you want, yes. Appreciate it. Thank you."
"Lets see what she says...if I can reach her."
He fiddles with his phone, slowly texting out the words, seemed like it took him forever. Then we sat there waiting. He used the time to ask if I had watched that Blue Jays game, was a blowout apparently, and did I think it would rain tomorrow, weather girl on Ch 8 thought so, but he couldn't sniff it and thought he had a pretty good nose for rain. Has his DVR set to record today's Jays game, early game but he can watch it tonight, don't say anything if I know the score. I was like Roger, I've been here with you all afternoon, how on earth would I know the score? He looked relieved at that and agreed it was unlikely. Finally his phone buzzes. He looks at it, then at me and smiles.
"Caught her while they're waiting to board the cruise. Good luck."
His phone buzzes a second and then a third time. His smile grows bigger.
"Leave it to my wife! She got him!"
"Got him? What do you...?"
"She beat William."
"Beat him? What...?" A beating? Claire beats them? I'm trying to picture this. What kind of screwed up thing is this guy into?
"You know, in mini-golf."
"Oh, aaah, yeah. Right."
"She loves that, competitive with the guys, really holds her own with them. Good for her."
"Good for them too I guess."
"You've got that one right my friend. Very good for them. They like a woman with spirit, like my wife, like Anna too I think."
I ignore the Anna comment. She has more spirit than he or those damned guys will ever know. I'm after something else.
"But what's she say about us? Our conversation? You know about you going in the room?"
"Oh yeah, of course. She says, go for it."
"Really?" Thank you Claire.
"Yes, says, you've been through a lot last night and today, the whole Anna thing, about how Farrell fucked her over and over, all those crazy positions, the naughty things he said about her cunt. Now the club. Says it might help you understand the club better, understand your wife better too."
My heart was in my throat. Over and over? Crazy positons? Her cunt? Now I'm the one sweating, not him. And he's about to tell me what he saw. Thank you, Claire, at least for that part.
"Now where do I start? Oh, right, I was going into the bedroom."
"I think, yes." I manage to croak out.
"You're a good man, Bill. I'm sorry I gave you a hard time about it."
"Thank you Roger. You're a good man too."
"So I went in. It's a very sizable bedroom, big beautiful bed with this padded, cushioned head board. For some reason I remember being impressed by the headboard. The whole setup looked great but it surprised me a little too, and I'll tell you why. There's this pale green decor, nice enough I thought, but it jumped out at me because the little symbol thing on the door was a much deeper, forest kind of green. Odd, by now I've seen all the rooms up there and this is the only one where..."
"Roger, you can skip the interior design. I've got it."
"Oh, right. Of course, just thought you might want the ambulance."
"Ambulance? Aaah, I get it."
"Obviously Claire and Franco are there in the bed, their backs up against that really nice headboard, why I remember it so clearly. They're just sitting up side by side. She's a bit red in the face but has this big loving smile. He looks at me kind of stern..."
"Sternly."
"Yeah, like he's watching my behavior, which I knew to be careful of anyway."
"Jesus."
"There's a pure white sheet up over their bottoms, kind of up to both their belly buttons, like a modesty thing so you can't see their private areas. I thought maybe I'd see his dick poking up under the sheet, but no. For a second it made me worry, like maybe something had gone wrong. But I guess that was stupid. He just wasn't hard then, which, you think about it, might mean anything at all."
"Good God, why would you want to see that?"
He ignores me and goes on. "Claire's breasts are out and I can see a purple hicky, not too big, on the inside of her left tit. So something had sure gone on. It definitely was not there earlier in the day when we were picking out her lingerie. Her breasts are so pretty."
"Whoa! You helped pick...? And, ummm, her breasts, yes they...ummm...really are beautiful Roger." My dick gave a quick hop at this image of her tits out. "I see her in those bikinis and I want to.... Well, sorry, let's just say you're a lucky man."
Each time I'd seen Claire at their pool or ours, or a few outings we had at the lake, those times were etched solidly into my brain. Anna saw it and used to jab at me about it, but in a fun way. She didn't mind me looking. We both knew she had great tits too, probably a cup size larger than Claire's.
"Thank you, Bill. But not that day. Franco was the lucky one. And the three of us are just staring at each other, me feeling pretty awkward...is it awkwardly?"