Melting Away, Slowly... Pt. 04

"Ahhh...." I stammered.

"Don't pay any attention to them," Steph said with obvious affection, "this is my sister, Alice, and my sister-in-law, Marge. And you two — be good! This is Mark, and he's an old friend of mine and John's."

Then to give credence to the teasing, Steph got right up next to me, and took my arm in hers, and put her head over on my shoulder.

You know what? It didn't offend me in the least.

We passed a couple of hours at the Blue Parrot, listening to jazz, dancing when the mood struck us, and having a relaxed time.

As we were getting ready to leave, I turn to Stephanie, to ask,

"Stephanie, would you mind taking in a refugee for the night?"

She looked at me skeptically, thinking I was joking, and then she realized I was being serious.

"Are you telling me you want to come to my place and sleep with me tonight?" she asked her voice husky and full of desire.

"Well, I wouldn't need to sleep with you, I suppose. You have a couch?" I teased.

"Don't even joke like that. big boy. If you are in my condo for the night, you are in my bed. Are you being serious? God only knows how much I would like to have you the entire night," she had an almost desperate look on her face.

"I'm serious. I need a place to stay. I'm too tired to face Martha tonight," I assured her.

"You'll have to explain that to me," she replied, her eyebrows rising on her face a little.

"When we get to your castle, all will be revealed," was my promise, as I put my arm behind her, and gently guided her to the door.

We did spend the night together in bed, but there was no wild sex.

I was too tired from a long day, followed by an exhausting evening. Not just physically from the dancing, but I was emotionally drained as well.

By my acts this evening, I more-or-less declared war on Martha, or at least Martha's idea of what our marriage would be. I hadn't necessarily intended it to be my line-in-the-sand, but that's what it had become.

Stephanie and I spent an hour or so talking about the situation before we decided to go to sleep, and I was completely honest with her.

My emotional feelings toward Stephanie were pretty damn strong. She was providing for my needs the way that I believed a wife should for her husband and not just physically. Martha was not.

In return, I was fulfilling her needs as well. It was she with whom I was sharing the intimacies, the conversation and companionship, the willingness to do things for her. In her case, she was also desirous of the sexual intimacy, the confirmation of her continuing feminine appeal. Stephanie was enthused about sharing a bed with me; she assured me that I didn't have any repellent attributes that she could detect, and that my breathing/tossing/turning/snoring was better than John's had been.

It was an unusual situation. Most of the time, when a man and a woman start to fall in love they go through this 'infatuation' period, where the object of their affection can do no wrong. Then after a year or so, the infatuation diminishes and they suddenly see the 'real' person, warts and all.

But Stephanie and I had known each other for years — indeed for over a decade, so we already had a friendship going. I'm not sure that I was 'infatuated' with Steph, but I knew I was really fond of her, and infatuated might have been an appropriate term for how I felt about sex with her!

I had such mixed feelings, as well as the fact that I just didn't feel right about abandoning Martha without allowing her some opportunity to understand how seriously in trouble our marriage is.

Steph and I slept in each other's arms (so to speak) that night, but in the morning, I was going home to have it out with Martha.

To Be Continued...