Chapter 2

The next day Kelly went to work, and I was alone with Ralph. That was distinctly uncomfortable.

“Listen Tom, I’m sorry about what happened. With Kelly I mean. I misunderstood, I thought you guys were into that sort of thing, you know, sharing.”

I grunted an acknowledgment.

“Anyway, don’t worry, she’ll get bored of me after a while. I mean, I’m sure she must have had an affair before at some point, and she stayed with you.”

“We’ve been faithful to each other since we were kids.” I said, wondering why I was telling him that.

“Come on, you’ve never screwed anyone on the side, even once? I bet Kelly has. She’s...”

“Did she tell you that?” I demanded.

“No. but ... hey, sorry Tom, I didn’t mean to upset you or anything. It’s just that in reality, everyone does it at some point, you know?”

What could I say? How well I know my wife? Actually, what he said made sense. It helped explain her actions; was it possible she’d cheated on me before? More than once?

“You must have had rough patches.” He said, breaking into my thoughts, “When She seemed a bit distant, you barely had sex? She probably said something about stress at work or something. And worked late a lot of nights? Maybe she’d give you head or something, quick like, but no sex?”

I looked at him in some shock, and he grinned at me sympathetically. “Sorry buddy.” He said. “But at least this time, everything’s out in the open. And as long as she is into me, you’re both welcome to stay.”

I realized that the last line was the point of the whole conversation.

“Kelly said you run every day.” Ralph said, “I do too; maybe you could take me around your route.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I said.

“I swore I wouldn’t have a relationship with a younger woman again.” He said later as we stretched out in front of the house before starting.

“Why not?” I asked curiously.

“They want to try out the daddy thing, it’s a bit of erotic fun. Very naughty and all that. Then when they get bored, they go. That was fine when I was younger, but I don’t really have time to waste now, if you know what I mean. Kelly will want to go back to you soon; well, eventually. Then where will I be? Alone again, but that much older. It’s harder for us to find people than for you kids, you know. There aren’t a lot of older women available without a lot of ... well, that aren’t fat and ugly.”

We set off, and thankfully the babble stopped. From him and from my own confused mind as well. That bastard actually had me feeling some sympathy for him for a minute.

“Hey Tom, when was the last time you were tested?” Ralph said the next day as we got ready for our run.

“Tested?”

“Yeah, you know, for STD’s, AIDS, all that.”

“I’ve never been tested.” I said defensively.

“Kelly and I are going this evening, I’m going to pick her up at work. You should come too.”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s just good to know. Hey, maybe you’ll meet someone you want to have fun with; wouldn’t it be good to know you’re clean?”

Clean; what an odd label.

“Kelly and me, we haven’t actually ... hell, we can talk plainly at this point. We haven’t really done it yet. Just oral.”

“Really?” I said with a mixture of curiosity and relief.

“Oh, she wants to. I mean, you know how she likes a licking, but now she wants to feel that good old simultaneous orgasm. But I hate condoms, they put me off, and smell funny.” He said, “So I told her, first we get our tests! Right?”

“Well, yeah, I guess so.”

“Anyway, if we take your car, any of her friends who see us picking her up won’t think anything of it, you know?”

Which was the point; Kelly didn’t want her friends to know her picture perfect life was a shambles, her marriage was on the rocks, and her lover was the retired orderly.

And I was happier to keep it “in house” as well.

After we got our results, there was a lightening of the air in the house. I found that kind of odd.

“Tom, can I ask you something, um, delicate?” Ralph asked me when we were alone. “Kelly keeps it shaved. I’ve never been with a woman who did that, and I’m wondering, am I supposed to do it too?”

“What, shave your groin hair?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I never did. But I never thought about it either. I guess you should ask Kelly.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Tom.”

Later, I heard them in their room, doing it.

Bang, bang, bang. Grunt, sigh, moan. He was fucking her; worse, he was making love with her. They were sharing physical intimacy and pleasure. Bonding, coupling.

I masturbated sadly. If they were going to do it, I would rather watch than not, I admitted to myself.

I moved all my equipment into the guest room, my room for now. For as long as my wife continued her affair with Ralph.

I boxed up anything that wouldn’t fit, and put it in the loft above the garage. I worked at my computer, making slick presentations to try to drum up some work.

I had to stay near LA if I was to have any hope of landing any movie or TV work. That meant I had to stay here. Kelly seemed to want to keep our new arrangement secret too, so externally we still appeared to be a successful happy young couple. We went to social events in the nice clothes we’d bought when we had money, in the nice car I was trying to keep. It would work for a while.

In the evenings when Kelly came home, we’d have a little while to talk while Ralph cooked. He always cooked, and I did the cleaning. We never said anything about it, we just did it. Kelly would tell me about her day, as usual, as if she wasn’t going to sleep with Ralph.

She sat close to him after dinner as we all watched TV together. Cuddling, touching. Sometimes, during commercials, they’d make out a little, kissing and so on.

Once, Kelly pulled out his cock, and stroked him as they kissed. Right there, in front of me.

It had been established; I liked to watch. And they didn’t mind, or maybe even liked me to.

The program came back, and she packed it up again.

I’d never asked Ralph if he had kids. Now I didn’t dare bring it up. What if he talked her into it? I’d kept telling her we needed to wait.

I was massaging Kelly’s feet [I was still allowed to do that] before dinner. She was on the sofa and I was sitting on a cushion in front of her.

It had always been our ritual; I’d thought of it as something sensual, but now I realized she really just liked her feet massaged.

Ralph came in and sat down next to her, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against himself. They kissed, and her hand went to his chest.

I could have moved away; but I didn’t. I kept massaging her feet.