Chapter 15

The next morning Sandy and Bob set the table for breakfast, while bacon fried in the skillet on the stove. Outside, the birds chirped. Inside, Nancy and Bill hadn't chirped yet. "What will their reactions be?" asked Bob.

"Interesting."

"You know what I mean."

"How should I know? You were the 'diddler'. You should have a better take on the 'diddle-e'."

"The diddle-e was drunk-e. A sobering thought this morning."

"We'll soon find out. I heard the toilet flush up there. Go get Stan and Jan, so we can put on a united front."

"My mouth feels like some animal crawled in it and died," said Nancy in their bedroom. "I wonder if we could bum a toothbrush?"

"Let me check the medicine cabinet. Bingo! Two brand new brushes wrapped in cellophane and a fresh tube of Crest. They do things first-class."

"How about morphine, codeine or aspirin? Some Indian is beating his tom-tom inside my skull."

"Tylenol."

"Shake me out a handful."

"Two's all you're allowed."

"Three then."

"Fine. I'll have one myself. I'm okay though. Must have burned up all those alcoholic calories while exercising my pecker last night."

"Did it start by doing push ups in the hot tub?"

"No, but things did get a bit out of hand."

"I saw where your hand was. Down Jan's top."

"You're right. I drank too much and one thing led to another. I apologized to Jan and Stan before I came up to bed. I was afraid I had destroyed our relationship by my stupid actions."

"Was Stan mad?"

"Nope. He told me not to worry. He even apologized for not warning me about the combined effects of booze and soaking so long in the hot water."

"Stan was making out with Sandy. I watched them."

"In the dark?"

"The moon lit things up enough to see."

"No kidding."

"You were too busy fondling Jan to notice."

"Did Bob put any moves on you?"

"I would certainly hope so. I'm not exactly ugly. And with everyone else sexing it up, we didn't sing hymns."

"How far did you let him go?"

"I can't remember exactly. He did kiss me."

"Did you kiss him back."

"No. I spent the whole time cheerleading for you to score with Jan."

"Be serious. I want to know."

"Sorry, swinger, if you were interested you should have kept your eyes on me, but all I saw of you was your back. And your wandering hands."

"Let's make a pact. I love you, Nancy, and I made stupid mistakes. The four of them feel comfortable with swapping around, but it's not for us. If you're honest though, we had the greatest sex last night that I can ever remember."

"I have some ideas about juicing up our sex lives that involves only you and me. We don't need out-of-bounds foreplay to make our marriage exciting." Nancy took Bill's little finger and hooked it with hers. They vowed to never stray again.

"I feel silly going down to breakfast in my party dress. At least you can shuck your coat and tie. I hope they're no recriminations this morning. I'm not up to it."

"It'll be fine. No sweat."

"Welcome back to the world," said Sandy, as they came down the steps.

"On Saturday morning, up by ten o'clock is about par for the course around here," said Stan. "Grab a bloody Mary. You look a bit frazzled."

"Did you sleep well?" Bob asked, with a wink.

"It was a night to forget and remember," said Bill, with a smile, "I'll have a small, very small, 'bloody.'"

"How about you, Nancy?" asked Jan. "You're dressed for a party."

"I could use one. But small, like Bill's."

They all sat at the table eating bacon, eggs, toast, sweet rolls and coffee. When they finished, Bill drained the last of his "bloody," and said, "We have to get moving, but Nancy and I have to tell you that last night was a new experience for us. Incredible, actually, and it's not that we didn't like it, but we're not prepared for it yet. We envy all of you for being so open and being able to take things in stride, but we're still a bit naive and not mature enough to handle it."

Nancy squirmed at his last remark and thought, how dare he? They were adults too. Mature as they were!

"I hope you understand."

All four gushed with assurances that they understood completely. It was a natural -- even tame -- game for them. "Innocent" peppered all explanations. Jan shoveled in a dig about their immaturity, but it was honey-coated. Nancy felt its sting, no matter how sweet the delivery.

At the door when they were leaving, Sandy said, "We've made plans for your birthday, Nancy. Next Saturday, we're taking you two to dinner and celebrate our friendship and your special day."

Nancy said, "You've done so much for me already, but it sounds great. I'll call you in a day or two and maybe we can get together before Saturday." She sounded quite pleased.

Back at the breakfast table, Stan said, "Pour me another slug of joy juice. I think we've lost the war."

"Just this skirmish," said Jan, "a gleam appeared in my dreams."

"Thank goodness," said Sandy, "Jan concocts the best gleams in the whole world."

"Listen to this. We've discussed putting in alarm systems and now's the time. You can get miniature TV cameras placed in strategic locations, and they can be well-hidden."

"So?" asked Stan.

"So, we have at least two placed to spy on our respective patios. If I get Bill alone, I can do a number on him, and if we can work it so Nancy sees, it'll crack their pact like an earthquake tears up pavement. There's a lot of payback lurking in us women."

"Mostly, not well disguised," added Sandy.

"And we have our last resort," said Stan. He saw the blood rush to Jan's cheeks. "Don't you start on me again." said Stan.

Jan relaxed and continued, "It will take some pinpoint timing. I'll need a signal to deliver the coup de grace."

"And what's that?" asked Bob.

Jan put her hands beneath her breasts and hefted them. "These."

"How do we get Nancy into action?"

"I'm betting that once she sees Bill and me, she'll get hopping mad," said Jan.

"But we want her hot. Sexually hot, not mad," said Bob.

"Watching a porno movie might point her in the right direction to get even with Bill," said Sandy.

"That's my girl. Great thinking," said Bob.

"But I suggest you guys pick it out."

"Done," said Stan, "now let's call and see if the security people are open on Saturday. You women are something else. Where do these ideas come from?"

On Monday, Nancy debated about getting more sun. She decided against it. It might be betraying her pact with Bill to tease the voyeur. Plus, Sandy's advice about him being too close made sense. But she did spy on her Greek God a few times and on Sunday she got a better look at the tall blond. She wore a gold ring that matched her hair, but it wasn't on her third finger. She was pretty, if you liked that type. Nordic cheekbones, prominent breasts, startling blue eyes, perfect posture, and generous lips. Much like Bo Derrick -- if you liked that type.

When Nancy called on Monday, Sandy made a date for her to come by two days later. On Wednesday, Nancy arrived at eleven o'clock to see a van with a logo advertising West Coast Security Systems parked in Sandy's driveway. At the front door, Sandy brought her inside and said, "The house is crawling with workers, and the hammers and saws are driving me loony. We're having a stupid security system installed. Jan's waiting for us at her house. Her installation starts tomorrow."

"Welcome," said Jan, when they arrived, "come in and I'll shut the door. It helps keep the racket down. Tomorrow I'm living at your house, Sandy. I hate noise and clutter, so let's go to the other end of the house where we can talk in peace."

The other end of the house was the master bedroom. Jan chose to sit on the bed and faced Sandy and Nancy who sat in two matching fiddle-back chairs. Both had light blue silk cushions on the seats. "So how are things around your house?" asked Jan, "have you recovered from the hot tub party?"