Chapter 19

Sandy Goodwin pulled her Toyota Corolla to the curb in front of Barbara and Bobby's house, and parked it behind Raul's van that was already there. She marveled again at how the little four year old car purred like a kitten, before she shut it off. She picked up her beach towel with her swimsuit rolled up inside, and the two bottles of wine she'd brought, and headed for the front door of the house.

She couldn't help but stop half way to the door to look back at the car, unable to keep a broad grin from her face.

Raul had suggested that they focus on Toyota's in their search. Although they could often cost a little more than other used cars to buy, he said they were still usually the most inexpensive over their lives because of their fuel economy and low maintenance.

When they found the Corolla, the car was posted with a price out of her range. But it ran roughly when they started it up, and Raul pointed out to the salesman the numerous costly repair items that would have to be done to it. The dealer had eventually brought the price down to a figure she could easily afford — even less than her old Volvo had cost!

From there they had driven to Raul's shop, where in minutes Raul and one of his mechanics had the car running like a Swiss watch. When she asked Raul what she owed him for the work, he'd laughed. He said, "All it needed was a few adjustments really. No big deal."

"Okay. When should I get all the other work done that you talked about at the dealership?"

The mechanic working with Raul gave him a puzzled look. "What else does it need, boss?"

Raul grinned. "Well, I might have told the salesman that it needed a new exhaust manifold and a few other little things."

The mechanic caught on. "Oh you did, eh?"

"Yep."

"So when should I have that done Raul?" asked Sandy again.

"Sandy, I hope you won't think less of me when I tell you this." He paused and leaned towards her before he said in a loud stage whisper, "I lied."

Sandy looked at him reproachfully. "Raul! I'm shocked. Now what am I supposed to think. Isn't the name of your shop 'Honest Auto Repair — Honest!'?"

"Yes it is. But I wasn't repairing your car. I was buying your car. Now that I'm repairing your car, I'm being very honest with you. It's in great shape! You got a fantastic deal."

Sandy hadn't been able to wipe the smile off her face since, and was wearing it now as she approached the door of Barbara and Bobby's house. Besides her smile, she was wearing an off the shoulders peasant blouse that came down to just above her navel, which featured a piercing that consisted of a silver stud with a dangling pair of glittering two inch long silver chains. She wore a pair of short shorts, and flip flops on her bare feet. Her short curly hair provided an unobstructed view of her elegant neck, bare shoulders, and upper chest.

The net affect was that all her naughty bits were fully covered, while at the same time she was showing vast amounts of flawless, firm, sexy bare skin, without a tan line in sight. In fact Sandy's body had almost never had a tan line in her life, and she was very comfortable with people seeing her body. She'd been raised as a nudist.

She and her parents often went without clothes when they were home alone, and they arranged their annual vacations to visit a nudist camp. She often thought fondly of her long vacations at the camp called The Pines. There were always plenty of other kids her age to roam the grounds with, while her parents enjoyed spending time with the other adults that they had made friends with over the years.

As she got older, she would make some money baby sitting the younger kids at the camp for their parents. She found that she really liked working with children, and the experience was a small contributor to her later decision to look into teaching as a profession.

Also as she got older, it was at the camp that she became pretty sure that her parents were swingers. They were always discreet about it, but Sandy just had a hunch. It had only been in the past few years (her late teens, early twenties) that she finally put her finger on it.

The way they acted around a certain group of people at the Pines seemed more intimate than with others. There would be frequent touches and hugs, and intimate teasing banter back and forth. There were the times that her parents would go on long hikes to the falls with another couple from "the group" as Sandy came to think of them. And there were the evenings that they spent with that entire group of people indoors with the shades drawn, unlike with other camp members where they were always outdoors.

Noticing those things made her remember similar patterns at home in Columbia, with two other couples that had children her age. When they were going out to dinner and a movie by themselves or with most of their friends, they would find a baby sitter to stay with her. But when they were going out to dinner with either or both of these particular two couples, she would be taken to a friend's house to spend the night.

For herself, at this point in her life Sandy's self image was as a bisexual serial monogamist. She started dating and was sexually active at a young age, having three serious boyfriends while in high school. She'd found that she enjoyed having women lovers as well during one memorable summer at the Pines. When she went to Columbia College, a private, liberal arts women's college, she'd found plenty of opportunities for a woman with her outlook to further explore that aspect of her sexuality.

But she had yet to have a partner, either male or female, that she felt would be accepting of an open relationship. While she was not reserved, she was not a wild party girl either. She valued her monogamous relationships too much to risk losing partners over her desire to experiment.

As a result of observing her parents and how happy they were with their lifestyle, and her own openness towards both sexes, there was a lot of curiosity and desire built up inside her; it seemed ready to burst forth with the right encouragement. And at the moment, she was between monogamous relationships, having recently broken up with her last girlfriend.

She wasn't sure how much to expect tonight, but after Barbara had included in their last conversation a discreet query about having recent clear health tests, she was tingling at the possibilities. Sandy had obviously connected with Barbara immediately, and she found Raul very attractive as well.

She licked her lips with nervous excitement, and pushed the doorbell.

The conversation during the first two bottles of wine had been warm and wide ranging.

Raul and Barbara were increasingly charmed as they got to know more about the young school teacher. They discovered that Sandy's mother had attended the same school as Barbara, the University of South Carolina, and that Stacy Goodwin now owned and managed her own marketing and advertising firm in town. Sandy's father Jason Goodwin was a CPA for a local manufacturing firm, as well as for other major clients with his business partners.

The two women managed to pry more information out of Raul about his Marine Corp days than Barbara alone had managed to extract to date. Raul had been fresh out of basic training when he was included in a 650 man force deployed to Panama at the beginning of America's concerns about the Manuel Noriega regime in 1988. Their original mission had been to ensure the security of American citizens and property, but it also involved skirmishes with Noriega's "Panamanian Defense Forces" that attempted to engage the Marines.

Because the Marine contingent eventually began rotating its personnel every 3 months, his exposure to live fire situations had been short, and he was not involved in the later invasion and arrest of Noriega. But his time there had involved some close quarter situations that he refused to describe for the ladies. He did admit that those experiences were a large factor in why he valued martial arts training so highly, for himself as well as his daughter.

To lighten the conversation, Sandy asked how Barbara and Raul had met and fell in love, which Barbara enjoyed recounting in great detail (as most women do!). In turn Barbara asked if there was a "significant other" in Sandy's life. Sandy shared that she'd regretfully ended a relationship recently, when her partner had moved away to take a job in another city. Barbara and Raul silently noted that her references were carefully gender neutral.

To explore Sandy's preferences further, Barbara talked about a similar close relationship she'd had in college that she'd also been sad to see end, but how she'd been glad when she later met and married her late husband. She made it clear she was talking about a male partner in college to gauge Sandy's reaction.

Sandy realized what Barbara was probing for, and animatedly talked about a boyfriend she had that sounded very much like Barbara's college beau. Both Raul and Barbara did little to hide their pleasure as they confirmed that Sandy liked both men and women.

The menu for the evening's meal was for a classic all American spare ribs barbeque. Preparations began about mid way through the third bottle of wine.

When Raul announced it was time to start preparing the ribs for and headed for the back yard patio, Barbara took Sandy's hand to help her up from the couch. Sandy blushed but grinned with pleasure as Barbara continued to hold her hand as she led the young woman outside.

Raul filled the role of grill master. The first role filled by Barbara and Sandy was ingredient preparers. That was closely followed by grill master quality assurance inspectors. The tackled the latter role with great enthusiasm.

The helpful observations began with input on the best shape for the pile of briquettes. Barbara offered that a short thick pile would work best, while Sandy shared that while that was true, tall thin piles could also work well if used properly.

From there it moved on to giving input on where the best application of lighter fluid would be. The girls debated the relative merits of base versus tip for fluid application, and which would bring the briquettes to completion the quickest, versus what the briquettes would enjoy the most.

Raul's choice and handling of utensils was next to be debated. Sandy encouraged Barbara to demonstrate the proper grip pressure to apply to a spatula: firm, but not so tight as to restrict fluidity of movement. Barbara attempted to do so by pressing her body against Raul's back, standing on tip toe and reaching over his broad shoulders to reach for the hand holding the spatula. When she couldn't reach it, she hooked her left arm around his neck and climbed up his body to advance her reach, her legs clamping strongly around his body as she wriggled higher.

Sandy was impressed as Raul was able to largely ignore the woman squirming up his backside as he went about calmly flipping the meat. Barbara eventually gave up despite Sandy's encouragement. Barbara suggested that Sandy give it a try. Once again Raul had a woman pressing her breasts into his back, her legs clamping around his torso, as she attempted to reach his hands over his firm shoulders. Sandy also had to eventually give up and return to the gallery with Barbara. When Sandy suggested the two of them try together, Barbara gave her a wink and a sultry smile, and said "Later."

Soon the ribs were done, and they sat down to devour their feast.

"That was fantastic," said Sandy, pushing back her plate. "I don't think I can take another bite."

"Yeah, I'm toast too," groaned Raul happily.

"That makes three of us," added Barbara as she sipped her wine.

"How about that hot tub you promised me?" asked Sandy. "Doesn't heat help dissolve calories?"

"Well it's worth a try anyway," said Raul with a chuckle. He walked to the tub and began to pull off the insulating covers, while the ladies went inside to change into their swim suits.

"Would you like to change with me?" asked Barbara tentatively. "Sure," replied Sandy without hesitation. They went to Barb's bedroom, and Sandy began to take off her clothes.

When Sandy noticed Barbara's hesitation, she offered: "I'm not self conscious about my body Barb," said Sandy. As if to prove her point, she quickly kicked off her sandals, doffed her blouse and pushed down her shorts and panties to step out of. Barbara couldn't stop herself from looking the younger woman up and down in admiration and only partially concealed lust.