A plan to keep the spouses at bay
This is part of an ongoing series. If you don't read the earlier episodes, you are missing out. I recommend starting from the beginning. Each one builds on the other.
My sister-in-law, Jane, has teased me and finally tricked me into having an affair with her. My name is Ben and I have tried to come to terms with it. My wife, Sara and Jane's husband Ron are completely unaware of what is going on. We are going to try and keep it that way.
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When we were last together Jane had told me she was coming up with a plan to help protect our affair. I was curious to see what she was scheming. The next time we were over at their house, she got me aside and said meet for lunch Wednesday and told me a time and place. She mentioned it was just to talk, so I figured this was about the plan.
We met at the agreed time and I could tell she was almost giddy to tell me, she started in as soon as we set down.
"I know you, so you are going to be negative at first, but hear me out," she says.
"Come on Jane, you have helped with that. I won't be negative."
"We'll see. So here it is. We get Sara and Ron to have a thing for each other and we will be in the clear."
"WHAT? Jane, that is ridiculous."
"See I knew it. Negative right off the bat. I can read you like a book."
"This is ridiculous, you are ridiculous. Where do you come up with something like that?"
"Are you ready to hear me out yet?"
I shake my head. Maybe she has already caused me to shake something loose up there because I have been shaking my head a lot because of this woman. "Ok, I've got to hear this. How did you come up with this?"
"It's perfect, just listen. You know how Ron and Sara are all prim, proper and moralistic?"
"Yes, and that makes it so easy for them to suddenly have a thing for each other. And neither one of them are very sexually experienced. They have not had but a couple other partners other than you and I between them"
"No damn it, you just listen and shut your yap and let me finish."
I nod for her to continue.
"They are so much alike, just like you and me are so much alike. They really have a lot in common. If we can cause them to even just think they may have a thing for one another, they will be so embarrassed about it and feel so guilty they will never question us. If they suspected something was going on with us, they would be afraid to say anything in fear that their feelings may be exposed."
Some university should really study this woman's mind. It is amazing to me how it works. And what is even crazier, it is logical. I mean crazy logic. But what she is saying is true.
"Ok Jane, let's just say for a moment I agree with you. How do you propose we get them to think they have a thing for one another?'
"It will be easy. You know Sara and I and Ron grew up in the same neighborhood, and went to school together. And you know Ron is older than me and closer to Sara's age. What you may or may not know is that Sara had a thing for Ron when we were growing up. She was always too reserved to let him know, but she certainly told me. I think it kind of subsided when it went on for so long with nothing happening. But she was furious when he asked me out."
I interjected, "I knew you two had a sibling rivalry thing going on. Sara even told me you stole a couple of her boyfriends."
Jane kind of chuckled, "Yes, that was some other guys, although she may include this. I didn't really steal Ron. He just straight up asked me out, and I really wasn't that excited about it at first. As a matter of fact, we quit dating, because he was too boring for me then and it wasn't until years later when I was finishing college that we hooked back up."
"Ok Jane, so you think we can just rekindle this flame for Sara. But what about Ron? Did he ever have a thing for Sara?"
"You don't worry about Ron; I can handle him."
As she said this, I had no doubt. I didn't know how she was going to go about it, but Ron had no chance once the master manipulator decided to go to work. "Ok, so how do we rekindle this flame for Sara?"
I realized how ludicrous this was. Here I was asking how I could seduce my wife into falling for another man. But Jane had a way of making reality seem like something foreign and we were just talking about a plan.
Jane says, "It will take some time, and we have to take it slow. But that will make it fun too. We can watch this unfold as it goes along. I think it will make our couples night really exciting for me and you. It will be like a game."
She continues, "the first thing you have to do is start talking up Ron. Say things to her like, Ron really is a nice guy. Tell her you really like Ron. Maybe you say something like you know Ron really is a smart guy. Just anything positive, any time it is even remotely appropriate. We will step it up later, but you surely could do this, couldn't you?"
"Yes, I could do that. But let's just think this through. If we do this, what if we are completely successful and they fall for each other?"
"That's perfect. We would be completely off the hook then. Maybe we could even have a foursome."
I started to ask if she would be ok with her husband having an affair and then I realized she was already having one. And the same thing for me. How did I have any room to be mightier than thou. And if it was just her and Ron and not someone else it wouldn't be that bad. This was crazy and here I was considering it.
Then she broke the pregnant pause with, "look, we don't have to get them screwing, we just have to get them to feel guilty about their feelings is all. That shouldn't be that hard."
"How do I let you talk me into these things?"
"Good, so you're on board then. You just start with praising Ron. I am going to start spicing up our conversations when we are together. You just go along with it. Don't go overboard and try to help me, just don't try to stop it."
"I'm not sure what you mean about that last part."
"Just wait, you'll see. I think you will be able to figure it out. It will be more natural if I don't tell you ahead of time."
And then she goes on, "Another thing we will have to meet like this regularly to check on progress and make adjustments as we go along. I think we should never meet at the same restaurant twice. Let's pick the same day of the week and time now so we don't have to contact each other to establish it."
She goes on with other details, it is like a high-level spy operation or something. I get tickled at her, but she has it all planned out. And really, it is good ideas to be sure we are not caught.
I joke with her when she is finished, "ok, let's synchronize our watches."
She actually chuckles, but says, "oh shut up. But look if we are serious about this, I am sure it will work and then we are scot-free."
We finish our lunch and leave without ceremony. I start my assignment to talk up Ron. I don't have many opportunities but when we plan our next couple's night I say, "you know, I have come to really like Ron, he's a really nice guy isn't he." Sara agrees heartily.
They come to our house for this visit, later in the evening after we all have had plenty to drink, Jane looks at Sara and I and asks, "how often do you two have sex."
I had just taken a sip of my drink and like you see in the movies I spewed it out into the air. I apologized and headed to the kitchen to get a towel. I hear Sara and Ron chastising Jane.
Jane calmly and coolly says, "we are all adults here. I think it is a valid question. We all know each other and there should be no judgment, but I think it is healthy to talk about these things with people you can trust."
She has disarmed them just like she does me. They both look kind of at a loss for words. I'm back at the table now and Jane looks at me and says, "Ben, I know you can be adult about this, do you have any problem talking about these things?"
"I don't, but Jane, you know there are limits. As long as we all feel like we can stay within those limits we should be able to talk about these things freely." I felt so proud, because of Jane's smile I knew I had performed well.
"So, what is it?" Jane says and looks at me.
"I'll be happy to answer for us, but I would like to give my wife the chance to answer first if she would like." Damn, that was good. Maybe I should have been a politician.
Sara is blushing and looks at me bewildered. I nod for her to go ahead.
"Well, I don't know. I'm sure Ben would like more but we probably say average about once a week. You know once you have a family it makes it hard."
It was amazing it did loosen up the conversation and we discussed the difficulties and that we should try harder. The rest of the night and next morning everything felt more comfortable between us all.
At our next lunch meeting, I got glowing remarks from Jane. My next assignment from Jane was to find a way to spend some time with Ron alone and once we bonded, I was to talk to him about Sara's body. She gave me some suggestions about comments to make and she was going to do something similar with Sara.
I wonder how much prodding it took from Jane, but in a few days, I get a call from Ron asking if I would like to go fishing this Saturday. I accepted and I was able to complete two assignments. When I told Sara, I said, "you know, there is something really likable about him."
Sara said, "yes, he's a great guy. I'm glad you two are bonding."