Fallout

"It's not mine, Sam; it's my sister's. I never had another relationship after our break up. It's just Linda and me."

"What happened to Nathan?"

"He left town about four months after you left. Linda still spends time with his parents, but Nathan probably saw her twice until he died two years ago. Probably a good thing, he most likely would have done something else to mess up her life like he did ours. He was one sick son of a bitch."

"Did Linda ever acknowledge her part in breaking us up after seeing her 'daddy' leave again?"

"No, Sam. Linda was the center of my world before you entered my life and then again after you left; and I spoil her. That's my life."

Debra's eyes started to tear and I needed to get away at this point. I was tempted to say something stupid, like - "Get a Life!" but kept my mouth shut. What a waste!

So, let's get back to when Debra and I broke off the engagement and I moved to Portland. Here I was, thirty-two years old; one failed marriage, one broken engagement and with my heart broken once again. The distance from my hometown and all the reminders of failed love affairs would do me good.

There was one positive aspect to my sorry life. The startup business that my friend asked me to join was a brewpub. Kevin Daniels, who I met in college and spent many an evening during our college years sharing a beer or two, decided to get into the microbrewery game. It turned out he had a knack for brewing exceptional ales, but no real experience in running a business; hence, his call to me to come out and join him. I'd run the business side, he'd brew the beer and manage the kitchen.

We made a good team; complimentary talents and all, and our business grew and prospered. Within three years we opened a second location, we were clearing six figures each and pouring more money into the business besides. My social life kind of sucked; I dated some and bedded a few women. Overall, life was good; not great, but good.

Then I met Gwen.

Gwen was the single woman, the only single woman, at a dinner party given by Kevin and his wife, Sally. It was another obvious attempt by Sally to help me find someone to share my life. The set up was obvious to Gwen as well; and the two of us had some fun with it. We did have a few moments during dinner to talk and I found Gwen to be an intelligent woman with a beautiful smile and a nice figure to boot. Just after dessert Gwen said she had to get home. I asked her if I could call her some time for a date; she said "yes", but to give her a little warning because she would need to arrange a babysitter for her two children.

Needless to say, I didn't call.

About a week after the dinner party Sally came into the pub and walked into my office. Sally looked pissed.

"I thought you were going to call Gwen and ask her out? She said she hasn't heard a peep out of you and I think she's very hurt."

I really liked Sally and I certainly didn't want my partner's wife pissed at me, so I replied to her in an as nice manner as I could (really).

"Sally. Gwen has children. You know my history with Debra. Do you think I need to get involved with another woman, only to have her kids mess things up again? No, thank you."

Sally stared at me a moment. "Wow, I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry. I just thought you two seemed to get along last Saturday. I forgot about Debra and what happened."

"Apology accepted. If you talk to Gwen, please tell her I thought she is beautiful and intelligent. Please tell her I'm sorry if I led her on. If you must, tell her why I won't be calling her."

"OK, Sam. I'll take care of it. Sorry." Sally walked out of my office and I got back to work.

Two days later I looked up from my desk and Gwen was standing there. She was even prettier than I remembered from that Saturday dinner.

"Hi Sam. Can I come in?"

When am I going to learn? I got up and ushered her in, closed the door to my office and held a chair for her to sit. She was wearing a mid thigh skirt and her legs were longer than I remembered. Her white blouse contrasted nicely with her dark complexion. Then I noticed her eyes, kind of hazel with a touch of green specks. I don't recall ever seeing eyes like those before. Her dark hair fell just below her shoulders. I had to concentrate on her words because I was half drunk looking at this beautiful woman.

"Sam, Sally told me why you haven't called. It makes perfect sense why you'd be kid-shy after that experience. But, I'm not that other woman and I think if you met my two children, you'd see they're different, too."

"What about their father?"

"Their father lives across the river in Vancouver. He sees them twice a month and for a month or so in the summer. He has his new family, which just happens to be my former best friend that he just happened to fall in love with and get knocked up. Now the two of them have two kids of their own."

"That's pretty lousy. Ain't it the pits when you find your loving spouse is getting it somewhere else? What's with people?"

"I thought Sally said you broke it off before the wedding?"

"Sally didn't tell you, but I was married before the Debra fiasco. My wife decided she needed a little extra and we divorced. But, let's get back to your situation; so - the 'ex' isn't going to pull any stunts if we start dating?"

"I won't get ahead of ourselves here, but let's just say if I re-marry, his alimony payments disappear, although he'll continue paying child support. He keeps asking me when I'm going to find a man - the asshole. Now I've probably scared you off, talking like this. Sam, I enjoyed meeting you and I'd like it if you came over next week and had dinner with me and the children. Just a nice, casual dinner. Is there something I can make to bribe you?"

"Anything but what we serve here in the pub. I end up eating here five or six days a week. Do you do Italian?"

"I have my mother's Lasagna recipe. I could make that with some garlic bread."

"Lasagna? Really? What night?"

Gwen smiled; I could get used to that smile.

I showed up the next Tuesday with a bottle of Chianti and a small bouquet of flowers. I met Jake, aged seven, and Robin, aged five. Two very cute, very polite kids. It was still a half hour or so before dinner would be ready, Jake asked me if we could play catch before dinner.

"I didn't bring a mitt, Jake."

"You could use one of Dad's. He left a couple here."

I looked at Gwen. "A couple?"

"Matt played for the Portland Sea-Dogs double-A team, that's where I met him. Long story that we can discuss when the kids aren't here."

I thought there was a slight blush on Gwen's face as she related this.

Jake grabbed two mitts and we headed out to the backyard. The kid had a great arm and could catch, which surprised me since he was only seven years old. After twenty minutes of this, Gwen and Robin came out and watched for a few minutes before calling us in for dinner. The smile in Gwen's eyes as she watched us sucked me closer to the vortex.

It was the second month after Gwen and I started to see each other; I was invited to accompany Gwen and the kids to a bar-b-que for Jake's little league team prior to the season starting; a kind of get together thrown by the coach to get the parents on board before the first practice. It was more likely the coach's shot at getting the parents to buy into his program, to include convincing the parents of all these future major league all-stars to shut up and let him coach the kids.

Much to our surprise Matt was there; Jake must have told him about the BBQ, because Gwen said she hadn't. I recognized him from a photo Robin keeps on her dresser. I noticed Matt was alone and my senses started to tingle, waiting for the altercation. Matt came up to us, both children ran to give Matt a big hug; then he straightened up and held out his hand. "You must be Sam, both Jake and Robin told me about you. Thanks for helping Jake with his pop flies, he's improved quite a bit in the past couple months, Jake said you're working with him on that."

Matt looked past me at Gwen. "Hi Gwen."

"Hello Matt, where's Nancy?"

"She didn't want to come this afternoon after what happened the last time. Said this was about Jake and not the adults. I think in the back of her mind she's still embarrassed how everything worked out. Let's leave it at that. OK?"

I looked at Gwen and saw it in her eyes, she'd never really be OK with her best friend stealing her husband. But then Gwen did something that just surprised the hell out of me, she looked me right in my eyes and gave me a smile that made me smile.

Have you ever met someone you were prepared to absolutely hate, but ended up liking? That's what happened the day I met Matt. He had this easy, charming manner that put a pin in the balloon of vitriol I was storing up for when I met the man who broke Gwen's heart. While Gwen was off talking to some of the other mothers, Matt came back and we spent another twenty minutes or so getting to know each other.

He walked away and joined another group of fathers when he saw Gwen coming back. But just before the BBQ broke up, he approached me again. "OK - maybe this is when I get the warning" I thought to myself as he walked my way.

"Sam, I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, but only one thing that I'm actually ashamed of. Gwen never deserved to get dumped on like Nancy and I did to her. She's a great lady and mother. My love for Gwen wasn't strong enough to resist temptation when Nancy and I started flirting around and then fell in love. I won't make excuses for myself, but I do wish Gwen all the happiness in the world. I know her well enough to see something in the way she responds to you. Good luck to the two of you."

With that he turned around and left.

And over the course of the next year and a half, as Gwen and my love grew for each other, as we got engaged and then wed, at school and sporting events; Matt turned out to be a decent person and a good father to my two step-children. Little did I know the threat to my marriage wouldn't come from Matt, but from another source.

Within the first year of our marriage, Gwen and I purchased a nice old home in a great part of town that sat on a half-acre lot. Both Jake and Robin were getting settled into their new schools and seemed excited when Gwen and I talked to them about our plans to have one or two more children; Robin was actually thrilled at the prospect of becoming a big sister. Jake was at that age when he was more like - how does this affect me?'

It was a friendly neighborhood, a few of our new neighbors came over to welcome us with small gifts. The Greens, Donald and Joan Green, who lived next door, were the friendliest of all. Within a week of moving in, they had the four of us over for dinner. Gwen and I were invited to a small party of three other couples the Greens were hosting the next weekend.

"Maybe a little too friendly." was Gwen's comment when we left the party the following Friday evening. "How many times did Joan stick her tits in your chest this evening?"

"What?" I smiled because I really couldn't remember it happening, typical clueless male.

Gwen continued to undress for bed, watching me for signs of deception, but she recognized my confusion and just smiled back. "C'mon, don't tell me you didn't notice. I saw her press against you at least two or three times. And when Donald asked me to dance I thought he was trying to hump my leg. Damn, I felt like we were back in high school."

I thought back and did recall watching the two of them dance, at the time I thought Donald was just a piss-poor dancer, now I knew better. What a horny goat; I'd have to keep an eye on him. "That's hilarious. But it was a strange party. When I was talking to the Collins couple I felt like I was being interviewed for a job or something. And when we said we were leaving, the Greens seemed disappointed, but the others looked relieved. Like they couldn't wait until the door closed behind us."

"The ladies invited me to join them at a spa they're going to on the coast next month. I'm not certain I want to go."

"Why not, when's the last time you had a chance to have a girls' weekend? Not in all the time I've known you. And you're always saying how you wish you had a few female friends. Think about it."

By now we were both naked and Gwen threw me back on the bed, straddling me with her legs. "Trying to get rid of me, buster?"

"You know better than that." I answered as I kissed her.

I've avoided saying anything about our sex life to this point. I always considered myself fortunate that the two previous women in my life were very good lovers. I'll only state that, with Gwen, I'm not missing a thing.

The following month Gwen was set to join the ladies for a two-day weekend at a high end spa. I was invited to join the husbands at Donald's house for poker.

We had been playing poker for a couple hours; the booze was flowing freely, the language and topics becoming more and more ribald. Hal Collins even shared some intimate details of their sex life, more intimate than I was willing to share, although I could feel the three pair of eyes on me, waiting for me to loosen up.

After another ten minutes or so of banter, Collins told David, "Why don't you break out that other pack of cards? These aren't bringing me any luck."

David laughed before standing up to grab a pack of playing cards from behind the bar. At first, I thought the cards would be marked and I would start losing. But then David shuffled the cards, Larry cut the deck and David dealt us each five cards. Before picking up my cards I examined, as discretely as I could, the back sides for some marking. When I turned the cards over to see what I'd been dealt, I got the shock of my life. Every card contained a photograph of Joan Green. In two poses she was naked and alone, but on the other three cards Joan was obviously getting fucked by someone other than David Green. The three of diamonds was a photo of Joan being split roasted between two guys. The Ace had her sitting on some guy's lap with her feet on his knees, she's smiling, facing the camera with the guy's cock rammed up her ass.

I looked up; all three men had flopped their cards on the table, face up - here were fifteen more images of Joan Green - with women, more men, on the bed, out by the pool. I looked from the cards into three pairs of eyes staring at me, stupid grins on each face. David was the first to say something.

"What do ya think of those, Sam? I had 'em made special." The three of them started to laugh at my silence.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, we're swingers. And we'd like you and Gwen to join our group."

I found my voice. "Not going to happen, neither Gwen nor I are into cheating."

"Sam, it's not cheating when you agree to swap. And I wouldn't be so certain that your little innocent Gwen is all so innocent. What you don't know is Joan and the other girls have been talking to Gwen and Joan tells me that Gwen has sounded more than a little curious. Why do you think they planned this getaway at the spa? To give us a chance to talk to you and convince you that you can have your cake and eat it, too."

I started to stand up. "Bullshit."

David tossed two of the cards at me. "Take a look at those, Sam." The first had a large black cock resting at the tip of Joan's vagina, the second with that cock fully implanted inside her; the look on Joan's face was a combination of rapture and pain. "Do you think any women could resist having that at least once in her lifetime? We won't introduce Gwen to Juwann there until after the three of us get a few tastes first. Don't want to spoil her too early. Get a little "X" in her and she'll be panting for Juwann just like the rest of the girls have. It's a sight to see."

I was so pissed I thought I could take the three of them on and beat them to a bloody pulp. A part of me kept my sanity and realized I didn't believe their statements regarding Gwen's part in all this. I needed to talk to Gwen before I did something that would land me in jail. I walked out the patio door and back to my house.

As I stood in my kitchen, I had to think. I had the phone in my hand, ready to call Gwen, but waited. For this conversation I needed to be looking in Gwen's eyes. When I ask her if she was a part of this, if she was thinking of swinging with these perverts, I wanted to look at her and know if she's telling me the truth. It was already 2:00 AM, Gwen would be home in ten hours. We'd talk then.

Unfortunately, Gwen's parents dropped Jake and Robin off at the house a half hour before Gwen made it home. This was not a conversation I could have when the two kids might overhear us. The situation was made worse when I saw the look on Gwen's face as she walked in the door; something was wrong. She gave me a wonderful hug, kissed my lips, but there was a sadness in her eyes. My heart wanted to burst, what was going on?

"Gwen, we have to talk."

"Yes, Sam. We have to talk, but not with the kids here. I'll take tomorrow off, can you? We'll talk when the kids go to school in the morning, all right?"

Gwen and I danced around each other the rest of the day, concentrating all we could on the kids to help the time pass. The toughest part was going to bed; we went to bed two hours later than normal, I spent those hours in the shop. When I finally did come into our bed, Gwen scooted over and wrapped her arms around me. "I love you" was all she said. I took a sleeping pill, I expect Gwen had done the same. I was out in a matter of minutes.

I woke up with the sun shining in the window, a good sign for Portland. I headed downstairs just as the kids were leaving to catch the school bus. They each kissed me on the cheek, told me they loved me and were out the door. A typical school day morning that I hoped wouldn't change after the conversation Gwen and I were about to have. I felt the sword of Damocles hanging over my head as I sat waiting for Gwen to join me.

How does a woman - who woke up, made breakfast for the kids, is dressed in a bathrobe with her hair in a ponytail - look so damn gorgeous?

Gwen started right in.

"Sam, what's this nonsense about wanting to swap partners with the neighbors and their sleazy friends?"

"Why do you think I want to swap? Isn't that what you and those bitches have been talking about?"

"Wait - you're blaming me for this? I never said I wanted to swap. They told me you and the boys have been planning this shit. Said that's why you talked me into going to the spa with them. I told them we were both divorced because of cheating spouses and we had an iron-clad pact against cheating. They told me it's not cheating when the husband and wife agree to swap."

"That's the same bullshit line they used on me."

Gwen and I looked at each other, it may have been early in the morning, but the light bulbs went off simultaneously in our heads.

"Son-of-a-bitch! We were being played!"

Gwen had tears in her eyes. "Now I wish we had this conversation last night. I spent all day yesterday worried we were going to have a knock-down, dragged-out fight over their suggestion to join them."

I proceeded to tell Gwen about the card game, the playing cards with Joan Green's sex acts and the conversation that ensued.

Gwen told me the women's attempt to play her the same way. They made it sound as if I was interested in the swap and wanted her to get on board with the plan.

We were going in circles, I finally had to ask, "Why would you think I'd be interested in those women? Haven't I said you my ideal?"

"Sam, you have to know by now that almost every woman, especially when they reach their mid-thirties, is at least a little insecure. And I saw all three of those women buck naked this past weekend, they all look great, especially Joan. I don't know if she's had work done, but the woman is built."