"Nothing happened," she said nervously, as she shuffled in the door at 7:30 in the morning. In my experience, whenever somebody says "nothing happened," something happened. This story is about that night 30 years ago when, in fact, something did happen.
Connie and I were in our mid-thirties. I was editor of the local paper. She gave up her newspaper reporting job when we got married, and has never recovered from the disappointment of her dream career lost. We're retired now, and our lively sex life together lives in memory rather than in reality.
Doug, our best friend in the town we had moved to just a few years before, was advertising manager at the paper. One Friday he mentioned that a consultant from the corporate office was coming in to work with him and his ad staff. Doug and this guy had worked together before, and he was going to spend the weekend at Doug's house. Mid-afternoon when I was passing through the ad room Doug introduced me to Bob. We chatted for a few minutes, and Doug said, "We're going out for drinks after work," he said. "Why don't you and Connie join us?"
I called Connie and she lined up a babysitter for our three-year-old daughter. At 7 o'clock we headed out to meet Doug and Bob at a popular dance bar near our home. Connie wore jeans and a nice shirt, I was in slacks and a casual shirt. Neither of us made a special effort to "fix up," because this wasn't that kind of place or occasion.
Connie was, and is, an attractive woman - auburn hair, fair skin, full lips and beautiful blue eyes. After the birth of our daughter she worked out every day to get her figure back. I was running back in those days and was pretty lean. My bald head and glasses probably notched me down on the sex appeal meter, but Connie didn't seem to care. Our friend Doug was blonde haired, athletically built and, like me, a shade under six feet tall. Bob, our out-of-town visitor, was stocky, balding and, to my way of thinking anyway, not particularly handsome. But he had a ready smile, joked easily and often, and as a "road warrior" had learned the art of being charming and making conversation.
We met at the dance bar and found a table that was not quite far enough from the speakers. The loud music made conversation difficult, but we did our best, commenting on the dancers, making a little shop talk, and basically shooting the breeze. Doug, Bob drank beers, Connie had a Seven and 7, and I drank Coke.
I should explain that Connie and I had been going through a rough patch with our relationship - with my drinking as a major source of tension. I didn't get drunk often, but evenings I was rarely completely sober. Connie grew up with an alcoholic mother, left single after Connie's dad died when she was little, and Connie did not like to be around slightly sloshed people all the time. So, in an effort to save our marriage, I went on the wagon, and on this occasion I was being a good boy. Connie didn't drink often, but when she went out she would let her hair down and relax with some cocktails.
As the evening wore on I hit my max on Coke, and as the others were continuing to drink round after round, their conversation became tedious. At one point Bob asked Connie if she wanted to dance, and they got out on the dance floor. Connie was a good dancer, and I was not particularly skillful in that area, so she enjoyed having a chance to do her thing with somebody who knew what he was doing. Doug and I sat and watched and tried to visit over the din of the thumping music.
At about 11 o'clock I punched out. When Bob and Connie came back to the table to have a drink and rest I told Connie we needed to go home and relieve the babysitter. She was having fun, felt like dancing, and decided she would stay with the boys and they could drop her off at home later. Fine with me. I went on home, paid the babysitter, and sat down to watch TV until Connie would be home.
Doug was our best friend in town. He had been through a divorce a few years before and still bore emotional scars from that experience. He spent many an evening and weekend at our house. Doug and I were running buddies, jogging together after work and often running 10k races on Saturdays. Doug and Connie also became close confidantes. Connie offered emotional support and helped to repair Doug's ego after his marriage collapsed - which he regarded as a personal failure. Doug also commiserated with Connie over her problems with our relationship - Connie has told me that without Doug's caring support she probably would have divorced me.
All this is by way of explaining why I felt perfectly comfortable leaving my wife in the company of two guys in a bar - I knew Doug would see that she made it home safely.
So, there I was, watching the Late Show and waiting for Connie. Midnight came, and no Connie. One a.m. came and no Connie. By 2 o'clock I was getting worried. By four o'clock I was half panicked. By six o'clock I was just pissed. No Connie, no phone call (this was long before everybody carried a cell phone) no nothing. This was completely out of character, and I didn't know what to think.
And then at 7:30 a.m. Doug's car pulled into the driveway and Connie got out. She looked like shit. She was clearly hung over, her hair and clothes were unkempt, and in her eyes were fear and embarrassment. "Nothing happened," she kept saying, with her head down as she came through the door.
"Where the hell have you been?" I demanded. "I've been worried sick!"
"When we left the bar we felt like having one more drink, so we went to Doug's," she explained. "We sat around talking, then Doug got tired and went off to bed. Bob and I still had drinks in our glasses, so Bob told him he'd drive me home. Bob and I got to talking, and the next thing I knew Doug came out from his bedroom and saw us. I guess we talked all night. 'Connie, what the hell is going on?' he demanded. 'Come on, I'm taking you home.' So I got up and we went out to his car and he drove me home."
Somehow she never filled in the blanks about what she and Bob 'talked' about all night. Knowing that Bob fancied himself a ladies man, and knowing that Connie can get amorous after a few drinks, I supposed that they may have had a make-out session, which Doug interrupted. She grabbed a Diet Pepsi and went off to take a shower and go to bed. Our little daughter woke up soon after, and I got busy tending to her for the morning. My sense of relief that Connie was alive and not cracked up in a ditch someplace overwhelmed my nagging sense that "something" probably had happened. And considering the shaky status of our relationship at that time, I didn't press the issue.
Until now. After reading a few cuckold stories online, the memory of that night all those years ago came back and reared its ugly head, and I got curious. So, last night as we lay in bed I asked her. "Remember that night you spent at Doug's house with Bob? You never really told me what happened after Doug went to bed and left the two of you alone on his couch. I always suspected that 'nothing happened' wasn't the whole story, and now, all these years later I'd like to hear the details."
Connie thought for a minute. "Are you sure you really want to know?" she asked. I told her I did. She swallowed hard, and asked for a minute to collect her thoughts. Then she began:
"You remember us going out, and then you went home. After you went home, things got interesting on the dance floor. Most of the dances were upbeat, but there were a couple of slow ones, and Bob got a little handsy on me as we swayed to the music. Nothing aggressive or over the line, but handsy nevertheless. I suppose I did too - I put my arms around his neck and rubbed his back. He slid his hands down to my fanny, rubbing a little. We never kissed, but our faces got close and we each enjoyed the feeling of our bodies pressing together. A couple of times I felt his cock pressing against me and I could tell he was 'stimulated.'
"He told me I was beautiful. He told me I was sexy. He told me if he were my husband he never would have left me behind and gone home. In fact, he said, he never would leave me alone at all. It was just a line, and I knew it, but it sounded good and I liked hearing it whispered into my ear. I don't think Doug recognized what was going on - he was sitting back at the table watching my purse and nursing his drink.
"Well, when we got back to the table Doug said, 'I'm tired, and I have some beer and booze at home. Let's quit buying these watered down drinks and go back to my place for a nightcap. We can drop Connie at home on the way.' Bob and I agreed, and we went out to Doug's car. Bob had left his car at Doug's house so we all rode back together. I sat in front with Doug and Bob sat behind me. Once we got out of the parking lot I told Doug, 'I'm not ready to go home yet. I'll stick with you guys.' Doug agreed and said he'd bring me home after that nightcap. Doug didn't notice Bob's hand sneaking over the back of the seat and rubbing my shoulder, or my hand going up and rubbing the back of Bob's hand.