Chapter 10: Fostering Friendships

Monday at work, Dave had a surprise visitor right before lunch. Nancy escorted Donna into his office with a grin. She said, “This woman from executive row told me she just had to see you today. Of course, she has no appointment, but she is kind of pretty, and I know how you like gorgeous sexy women...”

Donna did a curtsey to both Dave and Nancy, who laughed. “I just had to come and tell you once more how much I enjoyed your party and EVERYTHING that happened around it. I’m especially grateful that you let me sleep over with your family and then be part of your relaxing Sunday. I am in love with you and everyone in the Circle. I do have one other message to deliver to you. Derek passed it to me this morning and asked me to give it to you. It’s from Emily, I believe.” She held out a small envelope.

Dave laughed, “Did you peek?”

Donna rolled her eyes at the obvious nature of the answer, “Well, a girl has to stay informed. She wants to meet you somewhere for lunch on Thursday. Your calendar is open. I checked.”

Dave rolled his eyes, “Do I need to write a response or is telling you that I accept adequate?”

“I’ll make sure she gets the message,” Donna beamed and thrust out her chest in an immodest display of pride and a blatant display of her breastworks.

Thursday, Dave strolled into the Bijou Café right at noon. Emily was already seated at an isolated table, and sat perusing her iPhone. He walked up, bussed her cheek, and then as they both made greeting noises, sat next to her in the small booth. Their conversation was obviously designed to promote a closer understanding of each other – even an intimate understanding.

Emily was a gorgeous woman in her mid-fifties. Dave guessed maybe even as old as fifty-five. She came across as experienced, dedicated, open, sharing, and willing. She didn’t have that rough edge that some older women develop – aggressiveness to insist on their own way. If she were a cougar, she hid it well except for her previous expressions of hope for a sexual liaison with Dave.

Emily also had been fortunate to have a body that hadn’t suffered the ravages of time too badly. She was on the thin side with only slightly broad hips, pretty legs, a generous bust line, and a pretty face framed by carefully crafted and frosted blonde hair. The sleeveless dress she wore showed that she worked out. She also had a tan, at least on the exposed skin that revealed a generous helping of freckles, including right into her desirable cleavage.

Dave hadn’t dined at this upscale restaurant, so accepted Em’s recommendation about a luncheon salmon salad. He also felt she’d dined here many time before, and that he was perhaps on display to some of her friends as the place filled with other mostly middle-aged and senior women. Emily stood apart from the others, who tended to look frumpy and overweight.

Their conversation was eclectic and all over the map regarding topics. He learned that Derek and Em had an adult son living on the west coast who was married and had granddaughter that she doted on long distance. Dave also shared his entire background, emphasizing the loosening up process that he and Alice went through a few years earlier.

Emily admitted to feeling something like a sense of doom regarding her age. “Truthfully, it’s one of the reasons I’d like to forge a relationship with you ... and I guess some of the others in your Circle ... namely, trying to hold onto some semblance of a normal sex life. That’s not the only reason, but honestly it is a concern.” She blushed as she told him. “I’m being very open with you. I like you – a lot. I like your lifestyle, your wives – who I spent some time talking to at your party, and your friends and close neighbors. I think they like me, but maybe not enough to be a ‘friend’ the way I want to be.”

Dave suggested with a chuckle, “A friend with benefits?”

Em nodded. “I was hoping for friends – plural – with benefits. I came to that conclusion at your party. I know Derek gave approval for you, but I talked to him about extending his permission to everyone in your Circle.”

“Permission?” Dave said, with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, he gave it.”

“He owns you?”

Em started to answer and then paused. Finally, she said, “In some ways he does. He was very old school when we married over thirty years ago, but I was, too. Now, I avoid doing things that upset him, but that’s rare and usually involves me buying something he thinks is over-the-top and frivolous. As far as sex partners are concerned, he turned me loose when he told me his performance started to wane. Later, he confessed that he had a close friend that he was routinely intimate with. I was shocked, and sat stunned long enough to see the potential in my own life if we stayed together. The economics of the situation auger in my favor whether I stay or go.”

“Did you put him up to propositioning me back at the two parties?”

“NO!” Emily protested. “That was all on his own. It’s funny; we love each other in our own way despite our infidelities and idiosyncrasies. I think, like you, we mutually dispensed with the monogamous pledge in our marriage. I’m now not the least bit put out that he has taken on a mistress. I think I even benefit in many ways, the least of which is I have a happy and content husband.

“OH, and I want to correct an impression that my husband may have given to you, namely, that I have had a long string of lovers frequent my bed ... or me in their bed ... or whatever. I haven’t. When this shift started about ten years ago, I did have a fling and after that another. I didn’t like how I felt about what I was doing and so stopped. I haven’t done anything since, although I’ve teased Derek about my string of young, virile men waiting to service me. That’s my own bravado and it’s all fiction and fantasy.”

Out of the blue Dave asked, “Did Donna ever sleep with Derek?”

“No, never, unless she’s the best liar this side of Honolulu. She teases him, but I’m very sure they agreed to keep it business and not complicate things. I know from her that the two of you connected and that she’s another convert to your way of thinking and living. She is madly in love with you and your clan.”

Dave chuckled, “She fell into that pretty quickly.”

“She did, and I’m kind of jealous. I have to run a gauntlet and she didn’t.”

“Oh, she ran a gauntlet. I’ve known and talked to Donna for years. We’ve had many lunches, too, only in the company cafeteria. We had come to know each other like I promise we will. I confess to having tried it the other way, and this way is better for all concerned. You should know that I’m human and not consistent, but don’t take that personally.”

“By ‘the other way’ I assume you mean just meeting somebody and hopping into bed with them?”

“Exactly. I have attracted some converts to the Circle that way, but I also attracted a person or two that ended up liking me, but not the rest of the package that I come with. When you get me, if you do, you also get the Circle. That’s something to think about, in case you’re at all skittish about sex with men and women, and having many partners.” Dave thought of Jenn Whitaker, and how she’d struggled with all the philosophies that made up the Circle and hence Dave’s way of thinking – or perhaps it was the other way around.

“There were several men besides you that I met at your party that I especially liked and hope to eventually connect with on a more serious and sexual level: Jack – your architect, Dev – the hunky and kind of dangerous guy with a dragon tattoo who’s married to Wendy, and Mike Holliday. Dev showed me his tat. I had nice discussions with each of them at your party, enough to know that they turned me on.”

“And you learned about how they think, what they do, and what their thoughts about the Circle and society are?”

Emily chuckled, “You know I didn’t get deep enough with anybody. It was a party; we made mostly small talk. You’re trying to trip me up. We barely scratched the surface of conversation but I felt the vibes with each of them and I hope they felt mine.”

“No, I’m not trying to make you stumble, more like showing you that you need to advance your thinking on a broader front. Moreover, some of the things you discover about people might shock your sensibilities and make you run the other direction.”

“Like what?”

Dave smiled. He knew he wasn’t revealing anything that wasn’t open knowledge. “Mike Holliday probably mentioned that he was a photographer and videographer?”

“Yes.”

“He makes adult films – porn. He was no doubt sizing you up to be in one of his next films. He’s always looking for new talent and you’d be a natural. Would you like to star in one of his films, say one where a mature woman gets wildly fucked by two or three younger men?”

Emily held Dave’s gaze for a full minute over their lunch. Dave felt she was evaluating whether he was teasing her with some made-up story, but decided that wasn’t the case. Finally, she said in a matter of fact tone, “It would be my wildest fantasy come true. Fuck, yes, I’d do it. I’ll do it now – even this afternoon. I assume that other than the STD test there are no intimacy requirements for THAT job.”

“Do you want me to call Mike and let you two talk?”

“Yes. Right now.” She sat up and broke into a huge devilish grin. “Oh, this is so exciting. This will stretch my thinking in some really nice ways.”

Dave pulled his cellphone out and punched a number in from memory. After Mike answered, he explained to Mike what was going on and the discussion, even took a quick photograph of Em across the table and sent it to him, and then gave the phone to Emily. Their conversation started with each of them reconnecting from their superficial meeting at the party.

Em eventually ended the call. “It’ll be a week from Saturday unless something comes up or I hear back from him that he couldn’t get the rest of things scheduled. He’ll let me know where to meet him if it’s not as his home; and, yes, I’m to bring my test results.”

Dave laughed. “Be careful what you wish for or fantasize about, you’re apt to get your wish with this crowd. The Circle has an informal goal to fulfill people’s fantasies, especially the sexual ones.”

Emily probed, “Name a fantasy someone had that wasn’t sexual that got fulfilled?”

Dave stated, “When my wife Heather first met a few of us she wanted to attend college but was far from having the means. She’s now a sophomore on a full scholarship the Circle arranged and burning up the campus with how smart she is in computer science and engineering.”

Dave sauntered upstairs to Derek Wilson’s office about four o’clock on Friday afternoon. He wasn’t headed to see his boss’ boss. He wanted to see his assistant.

Donna Klaubert looked up and gave him a megawatt smile as he appeared at her office door – the gateway to Wilson’s inner sanctum.

After their greeting, Dave said, “I didn’t want to impose on any plans you might have for tonight or the weekend, but I did want to extend the invitation to come and stay with us, and be the Circle’s and my plaything for the weekend ... if you at all find that proposition interesting.”

Donna shot up out of her chair and into his arms. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, I’ve been debating with myself about whether it was acceptable to drop by tomorrow. But ... wow, the whole weekend. I’m blown away. YES! Can I come over right after work?”

“Yes. We like you – a lot. Me especially.”

Donna hugged him, “The feeling is so mutual. I love you. I’ll love you even more if you do that thing you did to me last weekend again ... or Nancy can ... or anybody can.” Dave briefly had that feeling he had a puppy in his arms saying she’d do anything, just do it so long as you play with me.

Dave chuckled, “I’ll be sure you have one of those ‘scrape you from the ceiling’ orgasms.” He bid her goodbye and told her to come by whenever she wanted and that she was expected. He suggested she be there for cocktails.

About two hours later, Dave welcomed Donna into his home. Alice was there with him and she gave Donna a long kiss with lots of tongue with sensual and sapphic promise. Donna eventually pulled away, breathing heavily and knowing that the sexual agenda for the weekend was already underway. Pam and Julie also welcomed Donna with deep kisses, and then Sean and Owen got in the act as part of the welcoming committee since they’d come to Dave’s house to be part of the welcoming committee.

Dave said, “Let me put your bag up in our guest room. Please don’t think that you have to sleep there, or even in the house. One of the reasons we built the cohousing project as we did was so we could easily walk between houses any time, day or night, without it feeling like a walk of shame past neighbors who would judge us and cast dispersions. Here, the worst thing that might happen is that you get a further offer to come and play.”

“I don’t know that many people here,” Donna said in a mild protest to what he’d implied.

“You may not know us, but we know you. I’ll tell you a little secret, but promise not to draw too much inference from it. I brought up your name and showed everyone a couple of pictures of you at the member meeting last night. I told them that you wanted to get closer to all of us and probably become a member or affiliate member, or at least that you were thinking about it.”