Chapter 2: I know a 3L

January 14, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“How does it feel to be starting your last semester of law school?” I asked Liz as she served us dinner in her small loft apartment in the West Loop.

“Weird. But what’s weirder is that I’ve known you for seven years now! Well, not quite. It’ll be seven years since we first ‘adulted’ at the end of May!”

“Seven years later, you still call it that.”

“It’s safer than saying the other words,” she sighed. “You know why.”

“Because you fell in love with me that day.”

“But before, really. I think it was with the first words you said to me, but if not, that very first French kiss during the game. Do you remember our second kiss?”

I smiled, “You had unhooked your bra.”

“And the third one?” she asked with an impish smile.

“I discovered you shaved! Though you’ve kind of gone back and forth on that until recently.”

“You’ve never expressed a preference, really.”

“Nearly every girl had pubic hair when I grew up, so it’s normal for me, but I know that’s changed now.”

“I still vividly remember seeing you, and then feeling you inside me as you took my virginity.”

“We shared it,” I replied gently. “I didn’t take it.”

Liz smiled, “That’s so ‘you’ to put it that way.”

“You know I fell in love with you, too, right?”

“I do. Do you ever wonder what it might have been like at a different time or place?”

“It’s one of the very few daydreams I allow myself,” I replied. “For the same reason you call our lovemaking ‘adulting’.”

“What would you call it?”

“Making love, because that’s what it is. Neither of us has ever lied to the other, and my wives know where I am right now and how I feel about you and how you feel about me.”

“I’m not looking forward to this ending,” she sighed.

“Me either, but you want kids and that is one thing I can’t ever give you, even if my wives would agree to something like that.”

She nodded and we ate in silence and when we’d finished, wordlessly went to her room and made slow, gentle love. The dishes didn’t get done until the next morning.

January 20, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“Do you have a moment?” Deborah asked from the door of my office late on Thursday morning.

“Pennyfull or Penniless?” I asked.

“Hardy-har-har,” Penny deadpanned as she always did when I said that.

“Penniless,” Deborah replied.

“I’ll give you the room,” Penny said. “I need to run some errands and I can do them before lunch instead of after.”

“Thanks, Pretty Penny!” I said.

She got up, kissed my cheek, then left the office. I was surprised when Deborah closed the glass doors, and we went to sit on the «zabuton».

“This must be serious,” I replied.

“I’m not even sure how to explain it.”

“One word at a time, in a logical sequence, usually works best, Counselor,” I replied

“You are SUCH a goofball!” she laughed.

“But I got you to laugh.”

“You did. Krissy is a finalist for a tenure-track professorship at UC.”

“As in University of Cincinnati?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not going to be happy at the end of this story, am I?”

Deborah sighed, “Probably not.”

“I assume she’s going to take the position if it’s offered? And that you’re going to move with her?”

“Yes.”

“I’m further assuming it would be for the Fall semester?”

“Correct.”

“I’ll call Ben van Hoek. I’m sure he’ll bring you on board.”

“I swear, you are the most emotionless, cold-hearted bastard in the history of cold-hearted bastards!”

“You’d prefer a temper tantrum?” I asked. “Or begging you to stay even though it’s not in your best interest? I could throw myself on the «tatami» mats, pound my fists and kick my feet, but I don’t think it’ll do me any good.”

“No, but saying you’ll miss me and that NIKA won’t be the same without me and that I’m very important to you would be nice!”

“Do you believe I believe all of those things?”

“Yes.”

I shrugged, “So?”

“Argh! I swear, I’m going to talk to your wives and borrow the floggers!”

“Get the strap-on, too!” I suggested with a smirk. “Mistress Elyse knew the proper way to discipline me!”

“You are IMPOSSSIBLE!”

“I am. And you know that as much as I wish the best for you, and want you and Krissy to be happy, I will miss you and wish you would stay. How certain is this?”

“It’s between Krissy and a guy from Texas. I know you’ll hate me saying this, but they want to hire a woman, so she’s going to get it.”

“If she’s the better qualified, which I suspect she is, then it’s no big deal. On the other hand, if he’s better qualified, then, yes, my opinion about across-the-board non-discrimination would come into play. When will she know?”

“In the next week. She had her final interview last week.”

“OK. When she finds out, let me know, and I’ll call Ben van Hoek. Will you be able to stay through the end of July?”

“I don’t see why not. Transition?”

“Yes. I have a 3L in mind who I am sure will jump at the chance.”

Deborah laughed, “Your twice-a-month Friday assignation? I think she’ll do great! But the New World Order?”

“Will continue,” I replied. “She and I were going to draw things to a close sometime after graduation. That was always the plan. I can’t start sleeping with NIKA people again; the risk is just too great.”

Deborah laughed, “Well, if you decide you want to, Charlie and I can give you a list of the new girls who would drop their panties for you in a heartbeat!”

“I do NOT want to know!” I chuckled. “My sister has enough headaches with business development and we’re all VERY nervous about the insane run-up in tech stock values. It simply can’t hold and nobody knows what will happen.”

“The proposed AOL-Time Warner deal just seems wrong to me. $160 BILLION? I don’t see it.”

I nodded, “That’s what has Elyse and my sister VERY nervous. The amount of money is staggering, and doesn’t remotely reflect a rational price. So many of these dot-coms have no revenue and people are betting on growth. That’s like saying you’re selling an item at a loss and you’ll make it up in volume! The other concern is something Samantha says is coming - interest rate hikes by the Fed. With everything leveraged to the hilt, increasing borrowing costs could create insane volatility in the market.”

“House of cards?”

“Could be,” I replied. “Think about the knock-on effects - suppliers, advertising, office space, computer equipment, support, consulting, and so on. And a glut of computer professionals out of work.”

“Suddenly your slow-growth strategy, and ultra-conservative approach looks genius.”

“It should! I am a genius, after all!”

“You can’t pull that off the way Penny does, Steve!”

“True. I didn’t ask, but what about John and James?”

“That’s the one thing that really bothers both of us, but Jake and Joyce are raising their kids similar to how you are, and Tony and Connie just had their baby, and according to Joyce they’re with the program, too. And we can visit, just as they do. It’s not perfect, but it’ll work OK.”

“You know you guys will always be welcome. I’ll miss you, a lot.”

“And I’ll miss you.”

We stood and I took her into my arms and held her.

“You’re not bad for a straight guy,” she teased.

“And you’re a lot of fun for a man-hating lesbian chick!”

“Oh, please!” she protested, swatting my butt. “You know that’s not true!”

“Just let me know when you know. I’ll leave it to you how to tell everyone.”

“It’ll have to be the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ first. I’d just feel terrible if one of them heard some other way.”

We hugged again, exchanged a chaste kiss, and she left the office.

January 23, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“NO! FUCKING! WAY!” I exclaimed.

“Actually, fucking WAS the way!” Elizabeth laughed.

“But you? A mom?”

“I know, right? But I’m not giving up my career! Does your co-op accept people who work in the Loop but aren’t working for you?”

“The co-op is actually legally separate from NIKA. We rent them space and neither Valerie nor Carey work for NIKA.”

“Cool. Who do I talk to?”

“Cindi Spanos. She’s still the head of the co-op even though her son is in school now. You know her, right?”

Elizabeth laughed, “Everyone knows ‘Tits’!”

“Congrats, by the way.”

“Thanks. I assumed that ‘NO! FUCKING! WAY!’ meant ‘congratulations’!”

“It did. Where’s Ben today?”

“Business trip. He left for California about an hour ago.”

“I take it you’re intending for your munchkin to become a ‘cousin’?”

“Damn straight! The rest of the world is going to hell in a handcart! The compound is an island of sanity in an insane world!”

“Something I would NEVER have expected ANYONE to say!” Claire exclaimed, coming up to where Elizabeth and I were standing.

“That’s the sick part, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked. “What the entire rest of the world thinks is insane is actually sane, and the people who think they’re sane are actually the crazy ones.”

“As the old saying goes,” I replied, “the inmates are running the asylum.”

“Speaking of inmates running the asylum, are we going through with Kara’s proposal?”

“The last of the ‘rap session’ kids turned eighteen last week, so I think so, yes. We’ll see who shows up.”

“Everyone,” Henry said from behind me. “They’ve been properly prepared.”

“Then I’ll stoke the fire to make sure the room is plenty warm!” I grinned.

I went over to the fireplace and Kara came to stand next to me.

“Everything OK?” she asked.

“Yes. Elizabeth is pregnant.”

Kara laughed softly, “Wow! There are three words I never expected to hear in the same sentence!”

“No kidding. Any changes to your plan?”

“Other than drawing cards for random sex partners? No.”

I laughed, “That is NOT happening, and you know it! I do have one concern.”

“Natalie?”

“Yes.”

“I talked at length with Elaine and in the end, she gave Natalie the option, though counseled against it. Natalie will be here.”

“I’m assuming Chris doesn’t know?”

“And still doesn’t know you and Natalie were having sex in Russia!”

“Things dads don’t know!”

“You’ll know! Your Pumpkin will give you a full report minutes after it happens!”

“Actually, I don’t think so,” I replied. “I think she’ll talk to me about it, but she’ll be circumspect about it. I think she learned a valuable lesson from the ‘coupon incident’.”

“True.

“Though when Rachel suggested there were enough for the entire Varsity and JV soccer teams...”

Kara laughed, “That would be extreme, even for you, Snuggle Bear!”

“But oh so fun!” I replied.

“Let’s go get naked!”

I chuckled, “I’m glad the girls are next door and Albert is at scouts!”

We called the rap session together, and as we had the first time, talked, and each time the timer rang, removed clothing until everyone was buck naked. There were a couple of ‘embarrassing reactions’, but they subsided fairly quickly. We finished the session with all twenty-two of us in the sauna, naked as the day we were born.

“Any thoughts?” I asked as steam wafted through the room and sweat poured from our bodies.

“It’s scary AND liberating,” Holly said. “But it’s weird that the first time I’ve been naked with guys is before I ever...”

“Remember,” Kara said, “nudity isn’t about sex. That’s a lie told by society because of all the hang-ups people have about sex. And if you’re concerned about the guys who had reactions, those are completely normal; teenage boys get hard in a soft breeze!”

Everyone laughed.

“Not to mention,” she continued, “usually you get naked and see each other before you do it!”

Everyone laughed again.

“Well, yeah, obviously!” Holly said.

“You aren’t the only one,” Sophie said quietly. “I’ve never ... either.”

She was one of our new students and had been VERY sheltered before she attended her first ‘rap session’ just after her Senior year began the previous Fall. She’d totally come out of her shell, which was exactly what the ‘rap sessions’ were intended to facilitate.

“If it’s ‘true confessions’,” Bill, another Senior, said, “Neither have I, and now more than a dozen girls have seen me naked! AND they all saw the reaction Kara mentioned!”

“Kara has that effect on everyone!” Becka said. “Including ME!”

Everyone laughed.

“She is the PILF!” I grinned.

“PILF?” Matt, another Senior asked.

“Like MILF,” I grinned. “Only ‘Professor’ instead of ‘Mom’!”

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Bother him?” Elizabeth interjected. “Not a chance! He GETS OFF on it!”

“It excites you that college kids want to have sex with your wife?” Sophie asked.

“It amuses me,” I replied, “especially because I know they’ll be completely frustrated!”

“But you...”

I nodded, “As we’ve said, Kara, Jessica, and I each manage our own sex lives. They elect to only have sex with me and each other. But there is no obligation other than what they’ve pledged to themselves. That’s our agreement. Remember, fidelity means keeping your word, whatever it is, not conforming to any social norms. Kara, Jessica and I have defined our relationship and we are all faithful to the promises we’ve made to each other.”

“Is it true you can do it with anyone?”

“No. There are rules, and I stick to them very carefully. For example, anyone who works for my company, works at the hospital, or works at the university is completely off limits. Being with anyone who works for or with us could cause all kinds of awkward situations, but also potentially legal ones at my work. Another rule, which has been my own personal rule since High School, is that I won’t be with someone who is in a relationship.”

“Wait!” Sophie protested. “You’re married, to two girls, but you wouldn’t be with a girl who is married?”

“Because it’s nearly impossible for me to understand how that would affect their relationship. Not completely impossible, but generally not worth the risk. I know exactly how Kara and Jessica think and will react to my dalliances, and we discuss every girl, usually before, but always after.”

“Can I ask you a question that might be totally out of line,” Matt asked.

“You can ask any question. If I can’t answer for some reason, I’ll tell you why.”

“How did you become so successful at getting girls?”

Everyone laughed.

“You can blame two of my female friends from High School. I won’t name them, but they brought girls to me and coached me on how to find girls. And I got a reputation, but ONLY amongst girls. I kept my mouth shut and didn’t brag. The girls did that for me. And that brought even more girls to me.”

“Seriously? I can’t get a girlfriend and you had girls bring you girls to have sex with?”

“It still happens,” Mattie laughed. “I was introduced to Steve by someone who had a VERY good experience and let me know I could have one, too. And it was beyond anything I could have imagined!”

“Seriously?” Matt asked incredulously.

“Seriously,” Mattie said with a smirk, “And, if you want to step next door into a guest room, I’ll pay it forward!”

There were gasps and expressions of surprise from the students, and soft laughter from the older crowd.

“You mean...” he asked, blushing bright red.

“I mean exactly!” Mattie said.

She got up and took his hand and led him, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights, from the sauna. She was safe, because Bethany had, when she’d attended a session in December, encouraged everyone in the group to be tested, even if they weren’t sexually active.

“She’s just going to do it with him?” Sophie asked after they left.

“Yes,” Claire said. “Why not? He wants to, and she wants to.”

“That’s just strange,” Sophie said. “I mean, sure, if you loved someone or were a boyfriend and girlfriend and had been together for a while, but just doing it randomly?”

“Everyone has to decide for themselves,” Patricia said. “If you want to wait until your wedding night, that’s up to you, and nobody here will criticize you or look down on you. But you should think about Mattie and Matt the same way, and not criticize them or look down on them.”

“That’s the most important lesson you can learn here,” Gabby said. “Don’t judge others, and so long as everyone consents, mind your own business.”

“I remember you guys teaching us that, and talking about it,” Sophie said, “but what just happened seems extreme. Just casually having sex? Without any kind of relationship?”

“If you don’t want to, then don’t,” Claire said gently. “But don’t tell anyone else what to do.”

“Is that how you raise your kids, Steve?”

“Yes,” Kara responded before I could answer. “They have to make this decision for themselves when they decide they’re ready.”

“Can I ask how old you were?”

“Sixteen.”

“And Steve?” Sophie asked

“Fourteen,” I replied.

“Whoa! Seriously?”

“Yes. Remember, each of us has to make our own decisions. Do you remember the very first session you joined? At the very end of your Junior year?”

“What about it?”

“When we did the questionnaire, the average age for those who had done it was seventeen-and-a-half. In the past, it’s been closer to sixteen. And in the past, there were fewer virgins at eighteen than now. Society is doing everything it can to treat teenagers as toddlers and to discourage them from doing something that comes naturally. And worse, denying them information that is vital to their health, and sometimes even to their lives. Some of you had ‘abstinence only’ sex ed, and frankly that borders on criminal. It doesn’t give you the information you need and creates all kinds of potential problems.”

“And you’ll be OK if your kids just do it with anyone?”

“It’s their choice,” I replied. “But to be honest, and I can say this because the kids are so obvious about it - Stephie will be with Nicholas Evans, Albert will be with Jane Todd, and Matthew will be with Chelsea Sanders, and there’s a very good chance none of those six will ever be with anyone else.”