Chapter 2: First Date and Consummation

Mindy sat in the car in shock looking at the ring. She’d look at me and then at the ring. Her incredulity showed.

She said, “You don’t even know me.”

I laughed, “And vice versa, but we are engaged.” I popped open the glove compartment opposite her and pulled a folded page out and gave it to her. “Read this. We’ll get your lawyer to go over it, too. It’s my proposal for a prenuptial agreement – just notes at this stage. See if there’s anything you don’t like.”

Mindy silently read the single-spaced type on the page. The agreement was simple. What was hers and her business’s stayed hers. What was mine and my business’s stayed mine. What was ours we split, and I gave her $400,000 up to our first anniversary together and two million at anytime thereafter. The agreement lasted twenty-five years and then became null and void. There were no conditions other than divorce to trigger the agreement.

Mindy asked a few questions and I answered as directly as I could. I also told her I’d pay for her lawyer to look at it. She didn’t have a lawyer, so I explained how she could find a good one that wouldn’t be tainted by knowing me.

We went to lunch since it was twelve-thirty. The place was a quiet restaurant off one of the main highways. They had outdoor seating under sun umbrellas. For April, the weather was perfect. There were a few other couples there and a group of four men.

Mindy and I reviewed the menu and made our orders with the waitress. I could see the waitress gawking at Mindy’s engagement ring. She made it kind of obvious the way she pointed to things on the menu with her left hand as she ordered. She was good at that. An innate skill that materialized in all new fiancées, I presumed.

When the waitress had left I said, “Okay. Please tell me about Mindy Marlow. Facts first, and then we’ll get to the other parts of ‘you’.”

Mindy started with her birth, schooling, and college, even telling me her GPA. She’d been a business and marketing major. She told me about jobs she’d had, and how she’d gotten a small inheritance that allowed her to start-up her western boutique. She talked about the business and her store managers a little. She shifted gears and briefly talked about her best friends – the other four women who’d been at the table with her the night before. She prattled on, sticking on ‘safe’ subjects as I sat and listened.

When our meals arrived I took over and gave her a similar description of myself. I then asked her, “So, after you know the ‘facts’ about me, what do you want to know?”

Mindy looked surprised, “So much more. I don’t know how you THINK about anything or what you believe is important in the world or in a relationship.”

I teased, “Neither do I.”

Mindy thought for a long time then said, “I guess I have to come clean. Now is when you’ll reclaim your ring and run for the hills. Just please don’t think ill of me or spread the truth about me. I’m still trying to keep a lid on things.”

“The truth? A lid?” I pondered out loud.

“Yeah,” Mindy said as she blushed a little. She hitched forward in her chair closer to the table and thus to me. She lowered her voice to a near whisper and put one hand beside her mouth so the others on the restaurant’s patio wouldn’t hear her.

Mindy said, “All that stuff you probably heard about me being the ‘Ice Queen’ is pure propaganda and bullshit. I studied marketing in college and learned how to create an image or brand for a person; in my case that Ice Queen image is far from accurate. I am anything but that. I’ve been pretty slutty, in fact. I happen to like sex – a lot. I’ve managed to keep it contained to a few boyfriends and their friends, but I’ve also had my wild one-night stands.

“I’m bisexual. I like women as well as men – fifty-fifty based on experience. I was planning on raising several points about this in our impending marriage. I would like to have an open marriage. I’d like to keep some of my intimate friends. Oh, you are welcome to join in if my partner doesn’t mind, but I don’t want to stop what’s been going on.”

I asked, “The girls at your table?”

Mindy nodded. “All of them, but occasionally an outsider so to speak. Tina, the one who’s engaged, has already negotiated for the same privileges in her marriage. I’ve already fucked her fiancé. You’d like Tina. She already expressed an interest in having you fuck her senseless.”

I sat back and wondered if this was a most intriguing turn of events or the largest pile of bullshit I’d waded into in the past decade. The pile seemed to be getting deeper with every sentence. I decided that Mindy was testing to see how I’d react. I decided to meet her head-on.

I said in my best negotiation tone, “Well, Tina was very attractive and she’d be a delight, I’m sure, but I’d only want to play with her if you were there. Set it up. The others at your table, too; you were all smashingly beautiful, but you’re the rose among the weeds.”

Mindy smiled, “Thank you. I think the expression is a rose among the thorns, but I get the idea. You really are a nice guy. Besides the girls, I have some fuck buddies I’d like to keep in contact with, too. They’re not really old boyfriends, just male friends that have learned which of my buttons to push. I’m very orgasmic as I hope you’ll find out. I do hope you like sex.”

I said, “Oh, yes, I do – a lot, and I really look forward to understanding how to really turn you on. My greatest pleasure will be to pleasure you. By the way, is there reciprocity? Does your request also imply that I can also keep in touch with some of my female friends – non-romantically, of course?”

If we were going to tease and learn about each other, I figured I’d communicate some boundaries to her that would match hers. I did feel equality was an important part of a relationship. I also was not one to play the role of doormat or cuckold.

“Certainly,” Mindy said firmly. “I don’t like the idea of a double standard. I’m glad you raised that. Do try to see if your female friends would like to have me join in. I’m always up for some new pussy.” She giggled.

I laughed and decided to push her a bit around the same subject, “Were you drawn to any of my buddies that put me up to the proposal and bet?”

Mindy grinned, “Yes, all of them. I’d do any of them if they promised to be discreet and preserve my Ice Queen façade.”

“Well, let’s see where all this heads in the future. Maybe we can get all your girlfriends and all my buddies and have a really hot orgy some day.” I was sure by that point that Mindy was teasing me. I let things ride at that point.

I paused and decided to shift our discussion back to something more revealing about ourselves. I said, “Most of the women I’ve met over the past five or six years have some inner list of qualities that they want in the ideal husband. What is your list?”

Mindy sat back with smile. “Damn good question, and I’ll ask the counterpart to you in a minute. Yes, I did have a list and you blew it all apart and made it moot last night. First, he has to have a sense of humor. We are going to have rough spots and such, and we have to be able to laugh at ourselves to get through them.

“I want someone that is reliable – that does what they say they’ll do. I can lean on them when I need to, and count on them to stand up for me. I want someone that is considerate and kind. You said you’d never strike a woman, and I believe you, but more than that I want someone that thinks about how to do small things for me or people we love, and how you’d reach out to them if they were ever in need. I guess part of what I want too is someone that feels empathy for someone else, and better yet knows what to say or do as a result.

“I guess somewhere I need to mention I want someone that loves me and who is loveable in return – they can accept my love. I want to be able to count on that love and feel surrounded by it constantly. I want someone that is affectionate and touchy-feely. I want to receive and give little hugs and kisses, little love notes, and a million other romantic things that always say I love you to a partner.

“How about you? What’s your list sound like?” Mindy asked.

I sat back in my chair, “I never wrote mine down and I like your list. I will try to be all those things to you and for you. I want someone that’s mature and not flighty. I want someone that knows what they want and will move heaven and earth to get it. I don’t want someone that feels insecure all the time. I hope I’m on the upward journey and not in the way for my partner. I don’t want anything in our pasts to get in the way of us building a new future.

“I want someone that is independent, but is going along on the ride through life with me not because they need to be propped up, but because we’re having fun together. I also mentioned respect earlier. I put that way up the list. I need to respect my mate and have them respect me. I will never badmouth you to someone else; I expect the same in return. You’ll find I have a limit about how far I’ll tease you about something.

“I will need some alone time. This isn’t work time. It’s time when I go off and think about things – my partner, my life, my work, my direction, and my lifestyle – the whole package I am and am becoming. I honor that time for others as well.

“I expect my mate and I to be highly communicative and very open with each other. The only secrets we should ever have are small ones about some gift for a special occasion or a surprise party. Any of the big stuff should never be a surprise. We should talk about the important things like money, children, issues, and so on. I guess I’d put freethinking on that list. I think we should share crazy ideas, our wish lists, and our fantasies – particularly the sexual ones.

“I want a mate that is willing to put in more than their share into the relationship. I’ve heard people talk about a relationship being ‘fifty-fifty’. Well, that’s not good enough for me. I want to be in a relationship that is ‘one hundred-one hundred’. We both have all of ourselves in the relationship. By the way, that doesn’t mean that we shut ourselves off from others. It means that we always make sure those others don’t interfere with our relationship in some deleterious way.”

I paused and asked, “How do you define ‘Work-Life Balance’?”

Mindy smiled, “You’re going for the jugular again. I guess I define it as creating equilibrium between spending all my time focused on the relationship and family with all my time wrapped up on work – which I am prone to do. It’s a time issue. It’s making sure to devote time to the things that are important, and making sure those priorities are the right ones in my life and my partner’s life.”