watching january (25 page)

I shook my head, since after all this time I still didn’t understand him and his motivation.  “When I hear you say who’d live in the Langmans’ house it sure doesn’t sound like an open marriage, or whatever you’d envisioned.  Do you think that if we’re living with Griffin and Nadine you can sleep with me any time you like?”

It was Roger’s turn to shake his head.  “There probably was a time when I dreamed we’d be that open, but I’ve faced the reality that you’re happy being with Griffin and that it is true love. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we’ll never have sex again, and although that’s a gigantic loss as far as I’m concerned it’s also Griffin’s big gain, and I’m happy for both of you.  Think about it, would we even be here together, having this conversation if you hadn’t hooked up with Griff?”

“No, I most likely would have left by now, so I guess you’re right.  But then again, you’re always right.”

He laughed and said, “Did I detect the sublime January sarcasm in that last statement?”

Now I laughed.  “You are one of a kind.  I’m glad we’ll still be friends regardless of who we’re sleeping with.”  I made the move.  I stepped into his arms and we kissed.  When our lips separated I whispered, “If I were you I wouldn’t give up on having sex with me again.  You are still my husband after all.”  I felt his usual erection on demand, so I added, “Not now big guy.  We’ve got things to do.”

“Tease,” he called me.

Perhaps that’s what I was.  “Speaking of teasing,” I said, “Explain the purpose of this weekend’s planned excursion to the nightclub. If you ask me the place sounds too wild for a bonding exercise.”

“I admit the upstairs room is for a different kind of bonding, yet overall Vibe isn’t wilder than any other nightclub, unless you attribute wildness to uninhibited lesbians.”

“Or transgenders,” I said with a chuckle.

“Well, yes, they make it a bit wilder but their presence also amps up the fun.  I’ve done a bit of soul searching and concluded that the draw to the place for me… a straight guy… is the sexual openness.  Nobody puts on airs.  Nobody tries to pretend they’re something other than who they are.”  He named another bar in town and said that unlike that place, if someone hits on you at Vibe and you demur, the hitter would graciously move on.  “Nothing is heavy-handed.  I know that a woman as hot as you are will be hit on.  Bask in it.  Enjoy the flattery while at the same time you’ll be on Griffin’s arm, and I bet the attention will turn him on so much he’ll be a dynamo later.”

“You didn’t feel out of place?” I asked him, remembering that it wasn’t the first time.

“I don’t know.  Maybe I’m too easy going anyway, but the Clits are a lot of fun to hang with.  Like I said… no airs.”

“The Clits, huh?”

“Yep… as in beginning with ‘C’… there’s Carolyn and Chloe and Carly and Candy, and especially young Clarice.  She’ll hit on you for sure and I’m not so sure you won’t hit back.  Since you’ve been with Nadine and Carolyn then I’d think that a roll with Clarice would be a slice of female heaven.”

“I take it she’s that much of a doll?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Did you…?”

“No, she’s all lesbian.  She took a particular liking to Heather. That’s why I know she’ll be after you, babe.  Carly’s the bi one.  We… shall I say… had some fun.”

“I bet you did.”

Griffin called me a few minutes after Roger and I spoke.  He reiterated what he and my husband discussed, putting his own lawyerly spin on the idea of us all living together.

“Have you talked about it some more with Nadine?”

He said, “She’s still in shock, but she just left to visit Carolyn, so I guess she’ll make her own pitch.  Can you come over?  I miss you tremendously.”

“I think I can do that.  How about ordering something in for dinner?”

“Sounds good.  I love you, Jan.”

“I love you too, Griff.  I’ll be there shortly.”

Roger wasn’t happy about eating dinner alone, but that was the new paradigm, it seemed.  I didn’t tell him that, but I figured if I wasn’t sore from being with Griffin I’d fuck Roger later tonight for old time’s sake.  After all we were still husband and wife.

As soon as I arrived at his house I was in Griffin’s arms and his tongue between my lips.  All I could think about was having his tongue between my other lips.

We didn’t order out.  Instead, Nadine and Carolyn arrived soon after I did.  Nadine put together a light dinner, and in between bites the four of us talked about “the idea” as we came to call it.  Mostly our conversation was on whether Nadine and Griffin would be happy and have no regrets. 

Carolyn voiced her concern for Roger.  “I really like the man,” she said. “I can’t imagine what is driving him… and the idea… but he certainly isn’t a cuckolded husband, right Jan?”  I nodded in agreement.  She continued, “Roger doesn’t seem like a lot of men, and I would be stupid to second-guess your marriage issues.  I just think it takes nerve and keen perception to play matchmaker with your own spouse.  He must have sensed the connection you two had,” meaning me and Griffin.

Nadine said, “It’s funny in retrospect.  Roger and I were never friendly and yet he thought of me too in all of this.  He really didn’t want to be a marriage wrecker.  He’s fun to watch at the club too,” she added with a laugh.  Her hand snaked over the table and met Carolyn’s halfway.  She lifted her wine glass in the other hand and said, “Here’s to Roger, the silly matchmaker who is man enough to work at making himself the odd man out.”

We drank to that, before a heretofore pensive Griffin entered the conversation.  “I’m not sure about the ‘odd-man-out’ categorization.  I think Heather has fallen for him.  I don’t think Roger purposely pursued her but there is something going on between them.”

I said, “I agree. I don’t think he chased Heather at all but she has shown an infatuation beyond how we might pigeon-hole it.”  I was looking at Griffin when I said that.  Griffin and Nadine didn’t have to be reminded that Heather’s relationship with her father would forever color our judgment of her sexual partnerships, especially if her partner was an older man such as my husband.  And I was sure I didn’t know all the sordid details, nor did I want to know.  For Griffin I believed, anything that happened between father and daughter was water under the bridge—now that he had me.

“Another toast to Roger,” Carolyn said while raising her glass.  “Considering how he carried on with Carly and Jackie he’ll
NEVER
be the odd man out.” 

We drank to that.

I hoped my husband wouldn’t be left out in the love department.  I still loved him even though my heart and my body now belonged to Griffin.

The conversation switched back to that coming Saturday and the planned “Vibe night.”  Griffin announced that if we were all going then we were going in style—he was hiring a limo.

“I take it,” I said, “that Roger won’t be in the limo and that he’s on his own, date wise?”

Griffin chuckled and said, “You don’t know, then?  He’s invited Mary-Clair from my office.”

Nadine was surprised.  “You mean the old lady?”

Griff chuckled again.  “She may be over sixty but she’s
not
an old lady!”

Carolyn chimed in, “One more reason I like the guy.  We’ll have a great time.”  She was still holding Nadine’s hand and she gave it a noticeable squeeze, looking warmly at her lover.

“Yes we will,” I said while gazing at
my
lover.

I found myself enjoying all the positive views being expressed about my husband, probably proving (as if I needed more proof) that I still loved him.  The four of us retired to the patio with refilled glasses.  Nadine and Carolyn were touchy-feely so their time outside would soon end.  The lesbian lovers’ contact wasn’t lost on Griffin as he quickly asked if I could spend the night.

“I need to sleep in my own bed so I’ll be fresh for what looks like a busy day at work tomorrow.”

“With Roger?”

That disappointed me regardless of how natural a question it was.  “Yes, with my husband.  Oh Griff, I thought we were past that stage of jealousy and possessiveness.”

“I’m sorry.  I love you and I want to be the one sleeping with you.  Is that too difficult to understand?”

“I love you too, but—”

He put up a hand in a surrender gesture as he cut me off, “I know… I know… we have to get past any possessiveness.  I promise to try harder despite my twenty-four-hour yearning for you.”

As we kissed I almost caved in.  Deep down I knew that if I went into his bed now we would fuck all night and I’d be useless in the morning.  “Do something for me, okay?” I said.  “Be a little like Roger tonight and be a watcher.”  His expression told me he didn’t get my drift.  “Watch Nadine and Carolyn make love.  Enjoy the sight of freedom you’ve given your wife.  Watch Carolyn glow, and think about your role in making her happy by giving her Nadine.

I said my goodbyes and headed home.  Roger was already in bed by then, reading a book.  “Did you have a good time?” he asked, and when I told him I had he wanted to know if we decided on Saturday night’s Vibe Club visit.

“The four of us—Nadine, Carolyn, Griffin and I—are going in a limo.  It’s Griffin’s idea.  I heard you’re bringing Mary-Clair.  You think you can handle her?” I asked with a light laugh.

“She might be more than I can handle, but isn’t that all the fun?”

“How come not Heather?”

“Heather and I are friends, that’s all.  She doesn’t need me chasing her around for a piece of tail… even though it
IS
superb tail.”

Perhaps tiredness dulled my thinking.  Perhaps I wasn’t thinking at all.  Alternately perhaps my libido was doing the thinking for me.  As if Griffin didn’t exist I stripped in the bedroom in Roger’s full view before I walked to the shower.  After I dried off I eschewed either a towel or a robe, walking back to the bedroom with Roger’s eyes glued to me.

“As I’ve said before, I hope Griffin appreciates your amazing beauty.  Strike that: he
MUST
appreciate it because you’re absolutely aglow.  I’ve missed seeing you like this.  I only wish it was me and not Griffin who solicited it.”

He was shirtless and probably pantless too, though his lower half was covered.  Although covered, his reaction to seeing me produced a bedsheet tent that begged not to be ignored.

I didn’t ignore it.  I climbed into bed next to Roger and immediately dove under the covers and took him into my mouth.  I remembered my vague insinuation earlier today: “If I were you I wouldn’t give up on having sex with me again.”   He looked good and lonely so now was an excellent time.

“Oh honey!  You’re the best,” he moaned.

“I’m the best at a lot of things,” I said as I straddled his solid erection and proceeded to fuck him like a cowgirl on her favorite bronco.  I wouldn’t tell Roger that I was fantasizing about Griffin while I rapidly bounced up and down.  When I screamed in orgasm I made sure I didn’t holler out the wrong name at the ultimate moment.  That would’ve been uncouth.

“How’s my glow now?” I asked him as we cuddled in post-coital dreaminess.  We fell asleep without him answering.

Chapter 34

Roger

The week didn’t fly by.  In fact a snail would have been a better metaphor for the passage of time than an airplane.  Jan’s evenings were spent with the Langmans so the only time I really saw her was late at night when she came to bed and then in the morning for a few minutes as we dressed for work.  No sex, so I assumed she and Griffin were getting it on as often as they could.  At this stage how could I complain?

Late Thursday afternoon on my way home from work I got a call from Heather.  Saying that I was either a genius or a madman, she talked about how animated her parents were lately.  “You should see them, Rog.  It’s like they’re friends again, and my mom, Jesus, she’s like a new woman.”

I said, “Since I’m living the bachelor life lately, how about dinner tonight?”  I mentioned a restaurant.

“If you make it a wings place with good beer you’ve got a date.”

I laughed, “A cheap date.  I love it.”

Then she laughed, “You haven’t seen me with a pitcher or two of beers.”

“Sounds like it’s worth seeing.  I take it you have a wing joint recommendation?”

She mentioned a place I knew to be good and set a time for me to pick her up.  My heart fluttered when I saw her as she walked to my car.  She was summer personified with a colorful halter top and a pair of white shorts.  I wasn’t sure which one did the best job, the top accentuating her breasts or the shorts showing off her great legs.  My heart wasn’t the only thing that fluttered, I admit.

In between splashes of buffalo wing sauce and swigs of cold beer she continued to relate to me the changes she perceived in her parents.  I was heartened by what she said, since it spoke of the possibility that Jan and I could remain friends.  Our conversation remained one-sided as she shifted the topic to her upcoming college life.  As I usually am in social settings, I was comfortable letting her dominate the exchange.

At one point I reached across the table with a wet-nap and cleaned a bit of the orange-colored buffalo sauce from her chin.  She smiled and held my hand for a few heartbeats.  “You’re fun to be with, Roger.  We need to do this more often.”

“We do seem to have fun together.  Why don’t you join us at Vibe Saturday night?”

“I heard you already have a date… the older secretary at Dad’s office.”

“Yes, Mary-Clair.  But one thing I’m learning is at that club the more the merrier.”

“I think I’ll skip the grand get-together this time, although I’d love to be a fly on the wall and watch Dad.”

“You’re right, it will be interesting.”

“No Vibe, but I do have a suggestion.  Why don’t we finish the beer and go to your house?  A dip in the hot tub would top off the evening.  You agree?”

I agreed wholeheartedly.

As she stripped to climb into the bubbling water of my hot tub she asked for another beer.  After my trip to the fridge for two icy bottles it was my turn to strip.  As I climbed into the tub our eyes met, though not before I had to tear mine away from her magnificent chest.  She chuckled and said, “Do you have like an ‘on’ switch for that thing?” as she pointed to my near instant erection.