Rhonda sat down at the writing desk in her new office. Doug had builders convert the fourth bedroom to a new office for her, and Shirley's old office was now a box room. She sat and arranged her thoughts before starting a letter to Agneta.
It was five months to the day since she had moved in with Doug. They had moved her clothes and the set of drawers in Lizzie's bedroom, but she had never slept there. She had intended to sleep in the other bedroom and take things slowly, but after using the bathroom that first night, she'd snuck into Doug's room for a goodnight kiss and had stayed the night. The following day, they cleared all of Shirley's belongings, sent them to the OpShop, and then moved her in.
After sorting the bedroom, they tackled the kitchen. They cleaned out all the drawers, stacked everything on the table, and sorted out the best items to keep. Most of her utensils were better quality, and the spices were fresher. There were many other changes in her life. The most obvious were her relationships with her old friends.
The dynamics of all her previous friendships had flipped upside down. Her relationship with Ashley (Her supposedly best friend) was cordial at best. Ashley's husband, Mark, had taken her separation from Harry harder than Harry had. Over the years, he had flirted and sexually teased her, and she now realised it had not all been just flirting for him, as he was now ice cold with her on the few occasions they met. Not surprisingly, Ashley's loyalties had followed her husband's. Her other friend, Janet, had also cooled, her loyalties mirroring Ashley's.
However, they had become close to Jean and Mason, which was strange, as she hadn't been close to the couple before her breakup. Jean had been the most empathetic throughout and had given her a lot of support. Also, Doug got on well with Mason, especially when he learned that Mason owned a racehorse.
From the first day he had met Jean, Doug believed she had a crush on Rhonda. He urged Rhonda to develop this so he and Mason could sit on the sidelines and watch Jean and her make love. Rhonda was not ready for that, but after Doug had brought up the possibility, she looked at Jean in a new light.
Jean was blond, petite and pretty, but not like a model. She usually wore baggy sweaters and long skirts, nothing that showed off her figure. The girls had all thought Jean was very Victorian and joked that she was destined to be an old maid. However, Rhonda still didn't see any signs that Jean was anything other than a model housewife. Jean had asked her a few times how she intended to get revenge. So maybe there was a secret raver under that modest exterior.
Rhonda had kept Marie, the fourth member of her original friendship circle, at arm's length because she did not trust her around Doug. Once Doug had learned about Marie having seduced her, he had also hinted he would like to see them at it. However, as much as she wanted to please Doug, she needed time to work through some issues before she went down that road.
Her issues were related to her weekend away at the Langham Hotel with Marie. The group sex on that fateful Saturday night had left her in tatters. In a single night, she had changed from a puritanical faithful wife to a raving sex maniac. Rhonda was still struggling with how to cope with her newfound sexuality. Doug had been supportive. He listened to her, encouraged her, and never pushed her. At some point, she knew she was going to be confronted with Stan or someone like him again, and her relationship with Marie needed to be addressed. But Doug was all she could handle at present. They made love most nights, sometimes in the morning or when he sneaked in for a quicky with lunch. They'd been back to the river bank and the stables and had it off on the kitchen table and in the shower on more than one occasion.
Sitting at the desk and reminiscing brought to mind an emotional event a month earlier. When Rhonda finally opened up to Doug about some of what happened at the Langham. It was a rather sensitive topic for her as it was close to being Doug and her first argument. She pondered how much she should tell Agneta.
It had begun when a woman turned up at the roadside stall asking about Doug. It was not the first time a woman had come asking. But this woman was aloof and hoity-toity. She looked out of place in her expensive city clothes and treated Rhonda like she was the help. She didn't even consider that Rhonda may have been living with Doug and that that really pissed her off.
At the woman's request, she phoned Doug and found out he was in the barn. She had the woman follow her up to the yard, where Doug had come out to meet them. It quickly became apparent that they had known one another years before and that she was keen to get her hooks in him again. Rhonda stepped behind the woman and indicated to Doug that he should take her into the stables and give her a quick bonk. Doug looked at Rhonda, gave her an angry look, and shook his head. The woman turned and caught Rhonda nodding at the stables and holding her arm at the elbow and jerking it in a fucking motion.
Angry and embarrassed, the woman spun on her heels, strode back to her car and drove away.
Doug had admonished Rhonda, "When will you get it in your thick head that I do not want to sleep with other women? I want you, and only you. Yes! I'd like to watch you making love to other women. And I wouldn't mind sharing you with another man. But that does not mean I want to sleep with other women. You are more than I can handle, thanks."
That night, Doug was still acting cool when they retired to bed. Rhonda made overtures that she wanted to make love, and he retaliated with, "Why did you do that today? I was bloody embarrassed."
"I don't know why," Rhonda whispered.
"You must have some idea. I want us to talk and share everything. Don't clam up on me. Why?"
"She was a stuck-up bitch. She acted like she could march in here, and you'd come running. I got this ridiculous vision of my watching you fuck her over the tack table in the stables. Rough, like the first time you took me. And I would stand and watch and laugh at her submission. I don't know what came over me. I've never felt like that before. I was so happy when you got angry. It's finally made me realise I will be okay with you joining Marie and me."
Doug rolled beside her and told her he didn't want her to share Marie because it was his fantasy, but he wanted her to enjoy it. "Otherwise, I'd rather not go there," he snapped.
Then he added, "Look, the past is the past, but my mates and I sowed plenty of wild oats. Mike, Graham, Chris and I had knocked around since Kindy. In our teens, Mike and I became closer, as we were the ones who could pick up the girls. Graham and Chris seldom had any luck. Chris has only ever slept with two women, one of whom is his wife.
Mike was the real stickman. He got twice as many women as I. But Mike and I were like chalk and cheese. Our private nickname for Mike was 'Bone', as he always had a hard-on. He'd get hard if someone's grandmother walked in the room. He was kinky, too. He liked anal, bondage and threesomes. Most girls would not have a bar of his sharing them, but some were keen."
"What about you?" Rhonda asked.
"I was outgoing and could talk to anyone. But my mother taught me to be a gentleman with women. My steady girlfriends seemed to like that in me. But I had a few one-night stands with the girlfriends of the girls Mike picked up, and on the odd occasion, we would swap partners. And more than once, Mike shared his date.
"Did Mike not have long-term girlfriends?"
"He did, but not many. The first girl we shared was Gail Cummings, and Mike saw her on and off for a year or so. But he was a bastard; he had many other women while he was with her. Even after they broke up, he'd go to her when he lucked out. It is Gail who Mike eventually married. I told you I played up on one of our Fishing trips. Well, that was Gail. It was about four years ago when my marriage was struggling. The four of us guys were taking my boat out from Whangamata. However, Graham pulled out two weeks before because of business commitments, and Chris cancelled the day before as his wife got sick. So Mike brought Gail along for the ride. And I mean that quite literally. She fucked the two of us all weekend. It got very awkward on the Saturday night when she got drunk and proclaimed it had always been me she had wanted."
Doug went quiet, thinking about what to say next.
"It was funny, but when I got home, Shirley knew I had played up. I have no idea how. It had to be intuition, as no one knew that Gail was on the trip. Shirley fucked me silly for three nights before she reverted to her old self. Mike reckoned she was afraid of losing me. I felt like shit for weeks after. I know it was very different from your weekend, but that is why I told you I understand your dilemma."
He looked at Rhonda to see if she understood. Rhonda took his look to mean that he expected her to open up. And she had replied, "I can't give you all the nitty-gritty details. I'm too embarrassed. But as you know, Marie arranged for us to go to Auckland and meet with her Internet date and one of his workers. She'd been on at me to go for three weeks, and I was adamant I would never do that. But when I learned of Harry's infidelity, I relented and agreed to go with her. When we met Andrew, we found out he had brought his nephew along and Mark, who was meant to be my date. Mark's real name was Maaka, a very handsome Maori guy. I came close to bailing out, but I didn't, and as the night went on, I forgot all my inhibitions."
