Chapter 24

It’s been ten years since the gang of Charlotte or Charlie, Kerry, Mike, and I had graduated, but we had all kept in touch. I had recently sold the electronics business I started directly after leaving Uni in a multi-million-pound deal. Plus retainers of two and a half million for two years, and one and half million for the 10 years after that. One hell of a deal, all thanks to my gorgeous husband, Andy. He had insisted on the retainers as I had signed a clause saying I wouldn’t work in a similar field for that period of time.

Charlie, and her husband Lee, were doing okay too. Charlie had recently returned to academia, lecturing at our old Alma Mata. This after blitzing her Masters, then PhD in maths. Neither of them was short of cash either. Charlie has had a small part share in my company ever since I set it up, so she shared in the profits of the sale.

Kerry was yet again single, having just emerged from another short-lived but intense relationship. She also had her own company that had worked with and helped mine at times. So she had shared in the profits of the sale as well.

Charlie, Kerry and I were skype-ing, trying to arrange a get together for a long weekend at my new house on the south coast. We had decided that it would be a “hot” get together. The two couples were fine with this arrangement as we had hooked up a couple of times in the past, and the guys were happy with Kerry joining in with Charlie and me. We’d just sorted out the details when Mike joined the conversation, so we filled him in on what we had planned.

Mike said, “I need to talk to Mia about things. You know we’ve been married for two years now, but she is pretty innocent, and I wouldn’t want to expose her to you girls when you get going. But ... she has been talking about trying new things, and she knows all about what went on at Uni.”

“Look, Mike, she has to be fully willing, or it’s not on. We can get together another time without the fun times we have planned. You know how hot things can get when we are all together. Both Andy and Lee are cool with anything that will happen, but we don’t want to spoil things between you and Mia,” I said. Charlie and Kerry quickly agreed with me.

An hour later, Mike returned to the conversation and said, “Okay, we’re in.”

“Is Mia fully committed?” I asked. “We need to be sure.”

“Yes. Well, maybe. She wants to, but isn’t sure, but she really wants to give it a try,” said Mike.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” I said, “You and Mia come down on Friday around noon. She can meet everyone and see how she feels with the vibe. If she’s not happy, you can leave. The first fun session won’t start until about five anyway.”