Chapter 29

When Denise walked into The Firm's reception, she gave Elaine a peck on the cheek and went off to make coffee. It was still a good fifteen minutes before most of the staff would arrive, and before Denise would normally have started, herself. She brought the coffee through to Elaine, and soon the two were sipping coffee, just contemplating the events of the previous night, and what they would mean. Again.

"You know Laney, when we were together I'd thought of a threesome, fantasized about it I mean, but the opportunity never arose. That was more than just a little fun last night. That was a first for me!"

Elaine smiled. "I met Susan in a three. It was after we split, obviously, and I'd gone out with this other girl a couple of times, and we hit some bars, and, well, it just seemed to happen. She seemed disturbed by it, and we split very soon after." Elaine's eyes grew distant as she remembered. "But Susan and I just seemed to grow together from there on in."

They sat in the comfort that only two people who have grown close can manage. A few early starters came in. One or two gave the girls a curious look, most were still concerned with getting started themselves.

After five minutes or so, Denise stood, gave Elaine a peck on the cheek and told her, "I'd best be off and start seeing to work, Laney. I'll speak to you soon."

Denise went to her desk, and Elaine began sorting through overnight messages ready to pass them on as people came in.

Anne and Stan came into The Firm together. Both were smiling, happy, content. Stan had his fingers unconsciously entwined in Anne's as they came into the reception area.

As it was only Elaine in there, Stan glanced at Anne and leant in to give her a kiss, which Anne returned with interest — and considerable reinvestment!

"Hey you two! As they say over there, 'Get a room!' " Elaine laughed.

Stan and Anne glared at her, then smiled again to show they didn't mean it. They kissed again, and then each went their separate ways.

Stan entered his office area, noted that Elizabeth was in, as usual, and that Bob had made it in already as well. Elizabeth was watering his plants.

Stan said a cheery "Good morning!" and went behind his desk to turn on his PC. Bob called out "You're cheerful this morning!" and Elizabeth echoed with "Someone's happy!"

Stan paused on his way to get his morning coffee. "Yes I am, this morning. Anne and I just had a nice evening together. She cooked some fish, we had some nice wine, listened to some music, read a little... just a nice evening. It sort of set me up for the day!"

"Nothing more to it, huh, Stan?" asked Bob, rhetorically. "I wonder if Anne's walking around as happy as our Stan, here?" he asked Elizabeth, with a smirk, but the twinkle in his eye showed that he was teasing.

Later that morning, Stan and Denise were in the Sales conference room, explaining their documentation program and its use. While the meeting went reasonably well, and most of the staff had no problems or comments, it was after the meeting that trouble occurred.

Somehow or another Ewan had divined that Denise was no longer with her boyfriend.

"Say, Denise, you fancy a drink tonight after work?" he asked, jangling the gold bracelet on his arm.

"No thanks Ewan, but thanks all the same."

"Oh, go on. You know you want to. You don't want to be spending the nights alone, do you?" Ewan asked. Denise could feel the oil ooze from where she stood. Besides, she told herself, she didn't have to be alone, did she?

"No, Ewan, thank you." She turned to go. Stan was simply watching the two of them. It was fascinating, in the same way as an impending train crash.

"Tomorrow night, then."

Denise halted in her tracks. She turned back to Ewan, annoyance now plain on her face, in her body language.

"Ewan. No! Not tonight, not tomorrow night, not any night. Do I have to make it plainer?"

Ewan sneered.

"Ah, I don't know why I bothered. You're probably not worth it anyway. You prefer old men who won't run too fast for you, if you know what I mean."

Stan bristled. Denise didn't bother; she reacted, lifting a hand to strike, but Stan, behind and on that side, automatically reached out and caught the arm, preventing Denise from getting herself fired. He was about to say something when Ewan stalked past him, out of the door.

"Remind me how he managed to get a job here in the first place?" he facetiously asked the mesmerised group still in the room.

"Well, when your Dad is one of the major shareholders and a former director..." someone answered.

"That's gotta be the reason!" snapped Denise, "Well, he'd better stay out of my way for the rest of the day at least. Sheesh!" Then she swivelled on her heel and looked at Stan, thoughtfully, her expression turning grateful as she said, "I guess I should say 'Thank You!' to you for stopping me from hitting him. I'd have got fired, wouldn't I?" By the end of the last sentence, Denise was looking guilty as well.

Stan reached out and lifted her chin with his forefinger. He told her quietly, "Denise, I think we'd all have said you were justified, but yes, it probably wouldn't have been good. Ewan's a snake, but as Tim said, he's pretty secure here what with his Dad and all that. Best to stay out of his way for a bit, huh?"

Denise nodded, eyes bright and glittery, and turned to walk away.

Ewan, it seemed, hadn't forgotten that Stan had been there. On Friday afternoon, after he'd been to the pub, he saw Stan walking out of the lab area with Anne. He called loudly to his long-suffering assistant, "Huh! There goes a guy who can't wait for his wife to be cold in her grave, he grabs the first thing that offers itself, and then discards that when something better comes along!"

Stan and Anne couldn't help but overhear, as was intended. He checked his stride, but Anne tugged on his arm, intent on avoiding a scene. Stan was at first surprised just how strong Anne was, but then he reflected that he shouldn't be — she'd handled him without apparent effort in bed.

With a low, hissed, "Come on!" Anne pulled him away and into reception. There, they met Denise and Elaine. It was apparent that they'd interrupted a conversation, so Anne again led Stan, this time through and towards the exit on the opposite side, but Denise called out before they got there.

"Stan, are you going to YB Studio on Monday night?"

Stan and Anne stopped. He looked at the blonde and on receiving a nod said, "Yes, Denise, we are. You?"

"Yes," she replied, heatedly. "I'm fed up with having to pussyfoot around people here, I'm damned if I'll do it outside work as well. If Tom's there he'd just better stay away from me, that's all!"

The redhead looked about ready to explode. "Do you want to come with us, Denise?" Anne asked, carefully.

Denise brightened a little. It seemed Anne would appreciate company. "Yes, please, Anne, I think that would be nice." She looked at Elaine, questioning. Elaine nodded her head minutely. "Yes, I'd like that a lot. We can work out the details on Monday."

That Friday evening, Denise was just finishing some housework when the phone rang.

"Hi, Denise?" It was Susan.

"Hiya, Susan! How are you? Everything okay?" replied Denise, happy to hear her voice. The young woman had come to mean a lot to her, after all.

"Fine, fine. Elaine and I just wondered if you'd like to come over..."

Denise grinned. "Just come over, huh? Sure. D'you want me to bring anything? Supper perhaps?"

Denise heard a giggle from the other end of the phone. "Rather depends on what you want to eat, Denise!"

Denise cracked up. She couldn't help it, she simply roared. "Once not enough for you, Susan? And I thought you were doing that for Elaine, and me?"

"Well," said Susan, "Come on over and we can talk about it, huh?"

"I'll be a few minutes, there's some stuff I've got to take care of here, then I'll race around there!" Denise said down the line.

About forty-five minutes later Denise stood at the door of Susan's flat, and rang the bell. She heard steps in the corridor beyond, and then Elaine opened the door. "Come on in!" she told Denise.

"Hi Laney! I brought a bottle anyway," she told the younger blonde, holding up a bottle of Pinot Grigio. "I popped into the supermarket on the way over."

"Good. We'll pop it into the fridge for later, Susan's just opening a bottle now," said Elaine, as they turned right into the kitchen. Susan was there, corkscrew in hand, just removing the cork from a bottle.

"Hello Denise. Ooh! A bottle! Terrific! Elaine, you want to pop that into the fridge while I finish up with this one?"

Shortly thereafter, the three of them were in Susan's living room, each with a large glass of chilled white wine. Susan and Elaine were on the sofa, while Denise had chosen the chair after (again) removing the bunnies.

"Cheers!" said Susan, and they all sipped.

"So," said Denise after a while, "what exactly did you have in mind for tonight?"

"Well, I thought we could have a bit of supper, watch a DVD and see how things go," said Susan. "I enjoyed the other night, and I know Elaine did, and I rather think you did too," she continued, "even if you did sneak out without waking me up for a good morning kiss." As she finished, she made a moue.

"I told you, we didn't want to wake you up, silly!" said Elaine, putting one hand on her lover's thigh. Susan put one of her hands on top.

"So, do you want this to be something more than just fun, Susan?" asked Denise, seriously. "The three of us?"

"I don't see why not, and neither does Elaine. We've spoken about it," and Elaine nodded as she went on, "and we both feel that we'd like to include you. If you're willing, that is, anyway."

"Um. I confess I'd not thought about this any further than a 'once or twice if I'm lucky' piece of fun."

"Yes you had, Denise," Elaine told her, "you just didn't realize it at the time. That morning, remember? You said that if we wanted to repeat, that Susan and I would have to remember that you're bi, and that you'd want to get a man in your life sometimes. So you were already thinking about it then, really."

"Yes, and to answer that specific point — Elaine and I have no problem if you want to date a guy outside of us. We'll not want to join in though, obviously! All we ask is that you're responsible, and that you let us know what's going on."

Denise replied to them both, "Okay. I'm going to want to keep my own place, and I'll probably sleep there sometimes too, to give you two some space to yourselves. I'm not stupid. I know that you'll be the most important things to each other, and that I'm, well, secondary. I'm the one looking in from outside. Don't try to give me the spare room, that's not enough distance. We can see each other, make love, or just hang out, or whatever, depending on how things work out, but you two are the main couple, I'm the add-on, and I'm happy with that."

Susan looked serious, but Elaine grinned at her. "I told you you'd been thinking about it. You just hadn't dared to bring it up, had you?" Denise looked guiltily down at her shoes, but she too was smiling.

Susan said, "You're important to us both, though, you know that, Denise. I thought I'd made that clear the other night?"

Denise stood, went to Susan, knelt by the sofa and took her hand. With a lump in her throat and glittering eyes, she said, "Thank you, Susan. Yes, I know. I feel for you, and for you too, Elaine. Well, you know that."