The Wrong Cot

When it was done, I kissed Allyson one last time. She smiled at Ady and then got up and returned to her cot, where Jason remained asleep.

DAY 7: What Happens In the Canyon, Stays in the Canyon

The last day was somewhat anticlimactic. There was no more sex (at least that I was involved with). No more nudity (no need to bathe in the cold river when hot showers awaited). And no one really seemed to want to talk about the sexual escapades of the last night (or the entire week for that matter). We rafted the last few miles and then were helicoptered out of the canyon in small groups. At Bar Ten Ranch, we all showered, shaved, and changed into clean clothes. It felt wonderful, but as we sat down to eat lunch, it already felt like everything that had happened in the canyon was something that happened in another life. I knew it wasn't something that would or could continue. It was unsustainable. And it needed to be contained if we wanted to return to some semblance of normalcy in our lives. We didn't even need to discuss it. We just all knew.

That was six months ago and nothing even remotely like those nights in the canyon has happened to us since. Ady and I have returned, at least for now, to our normal, monogamous marriage. But though we rarely talk about what happened, we haven't forgotten about it either. The memories, powerful as they are, will always be there, waiting for the right opportunity to lead to mischief.