“Did you make a pass at my husband?”

Shelly stopped and looked at the woman in her shop, she looked close to sixty, slim, with lovely silver coursing through her blonde hair. “That’s not exactly what happened.”

The woman looked more annoyed than angry, “So what EXACTLY happened?”

Shelly paused for a second then yelled in the back of the shop, “Mar, tea for three, in the alcove.”

There was a faint “Okay!”

“Please, come with me, and let’s talk.” She led the way toward the back of the pottery shop where there was a small area with a table and several chairs. Shelly cleared a few things off the table and bade the woman to sit.

She hesitated but decided to be civil about this, even though it pissed her off. She had known this little pottery shop had been here, but she’s never been inside. When her husband mentioned it, and then clammed up when she asked for more information, she knew something had happened and she wanted to know what. All she really got from Mark was a shrug and a “Nothing!” You aren’t married to someone for almost forty years to know there was something other than ‘nothing’.

She almost didn’t enter the shop, especially when she saw Shelly through the window. She had compared herself and found herself lacking. Shelly was big, big in her bust, big in her hips, and probably was six or eight inches taller. She was also at least thirty years younger, maybe even forty. She mused briefly before going in that it was getting harder and harder to judge people’s age as you got older.

After entering the shop she realized one small thing, there were some beautiful pieces of art amongst the more ordinary pottery. She had a small wish that she had visited it before today and not for such an aggravating reason.

After they sat, but before either could say anything, another lady burst from the back with a beautiful tea set, obviously made here in this shop. After the pouring, Margery joined them at the table. Her movements were rapid, almost jerky until she sat down and seemed to come to a standstill with one exhalation. “Hi, I’m Mar, this is Shelly, and you are?”

She looked annoyed again, “I am Barbara, the woman whose husband one of you made a pass at.”

Mar looked hard at her. “That’s not how it went, and I am pretty sure your husband didn’t use those words. He’s not the type.”

“So what the hell did happen?”

Shelly broke in, “What did he tell you?”

“He didn’t tell me anything, he was telling me about the shop and when I asked who owned it, he started getting evasive. It told me something happened, I want to know what!”

Mar leaned back and laughed. “It’s not all that bad, we just asked him to father our babies.”

Barbara’s brain stopped for a moment, “What?”

Shelly took up the story, “He came in and said he was looking for a gift, that was all. We talked for a bit, he seemed like a nice guy. We had no idea he was married.” Shel pointed down at Barbara’s ring finger, “Neither you wear wedding rings.”

Mar continued, “Shel was talking to him and I came out at one point and she introduced me as her wife. He didn’t bat an eye — like it was the most normal thing here in rural Ohio. That’s when Shel got an idea. We’d been talking about having kids but were worried about who the father would be. We thought about going to the artificial insemination route, but neither of us liked the idea.” As she said it she held up a hand and mimed squeezing the bulb of a turkey baster. Shelly laughed and even Barbara smiled at the image.

“Well, while he looked around, she dragged me in the back and brought up the idea. We know a few gay guys who might volunteer, but we were trying to be really selective. We wanted someone who had a good head on their shoulders more than just nice shoulders. The fact he was older was actually in his favor because we weren’t looking to have a permanent guy in our lives. We hadn’t made a firm decision, but decided to bring it up to him.”

Shelly shook her head, “I know some guys might have jumped at the chance because Mar mentioned it as she did the clerking thing and was wrapping up his purchases. She also mentioned that we were talking about old-fashioned sex, no cups, no turkey basters, but a series of unprotected sex with the two of us until the rabbit died, metaphorically. You should be proud of him, he turned us down flat. That’s when we found out he was married. He even politely thanked us for an interesting offer, but declined.”

Mar added, “We were both a little disappointed, he seemed a good candidate. Of course, there would have been some background checking and medical tests to make sure. We weren’t talking about stripping down and taking him right then and there. But after that, he beat a hasty retreat and got back on his bicycle, and pedaled off. We never expected to see him again.”

Barbara thought carefully, “I guess I had no right to be annoyed, after all, nothing happened. But he wouldn’t even tell me about it.”

“I think the whole thing might have embarrassed him. I’m surprised he told you anything about our shop,” Shelly mused.

“The other day was my birthday and he gave me what he had bought here. It was when I asked him about it that he started getting evasive. He doesn’t do evasive well.”

Mar looked at Shelly, “Another point in his favor.”

This time even Barbara laughed.

Mar got a thoughtful look on her face as Shelly looked at her, knowing she was thinking hard. “Would you have objected?”

Now it was Barbara’s turn to look think carefully, “We have children and now grandchildren of our own. I don’t think...”

“Before you complete that thought, can I talk to Shelly in the back for a minute?”

Barbara couldn’t imagine what they had to discuss, but she sat there sipping her tea in a much better frame of mind than when she came into the shop. In a minute they came back in and there was an interesting look on Mar’s face while Shelly looked thoughtful again. Then Shelly nodded to Mar.

“We would seriously like you to consider it. We’re both in our thirties and figure if we want to have children, now is the time. Of all the guys we’ve met, your husband is the closest one to what we have been looking for. He’s intelligent, nice looking, and obviously has an honorable streak and an open mind at least about lesbians. Now, if you tell me he goes to an Evangelical Church, we’ll stop right there.”

Now it was Barbara’s turn to laugh, “Evangelical? Not hardly! You should hear him talking about our previous President! But I don’t think he would go for it. You mentioned an honorable streak. He’s had the opportunity to cheat on me and to the best of my knowledge never has. Not even with a lady I know he really liked and one who made it pretty clear she was willing.”

“Actually that is one of the things we liked about him, the fact he said no so quickly and even so politely. But Mar has an idea for that.”

Barbara watched Mar gather her thoughts and thought about the two women, who were so unlike each other. Shelly was not just everything Barbara wasn’t, she was very different from Mar as well. Shelly was tall and full-figured in a terrific way, Mar was slimmer but almost as tall. Shelly moved with a dancer’s grace while Mar was much more in constant motion, small and almost jerky motions of a nervous bird. The two were so opposite, that if you looked up the maxim that opposites attract, you might find their picture.

Mar finally found the words and actually knelt on the floor next to Barbara and took her hand. “We did mention sex with two women thinking it might be tempting for your husband. But how about if it was sex with three women?” Mar lifted Barbara’s hand to her face and kissed the upturned palm gently.