We were sitting at the table and I was pulling on a longneck while she was sipping her vodka tonic and watching the dance the floor. Actually she wasn't watching the dance floor as much as she was watching one of the dancers. He was a lean, tall man of about thirty and he had become Amanda's favorite dance partner since I broke my foot. There was a mutual attraction between the two of them and everybody at the Silver Palace, including me, knew that they would eventually end up in bed together. Well, almost everybody. Amanda didn't know it, and while Toby might have hoped for it he certainly never expected that it would happen.

Amanda and I had been coming to the Silver Palace at least twice a month for the past fifteen years. Mandy loved to dance and while I wasn't all that keen on it I was willing to do whatever it took to keep her happy. Mandy came along late in my life and I was still amazed that the raven haired beauty had wanted me enough to chase me until I finally caved in and asked her to marry me. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, had warned us not to get married and I knew that they were right, but Mandy owned me by then and I would do anything that she wanted. I warned her several times myself that the twenty years between us in age was going to be a major problem later on, but she said, "Bullshit! You either love me or you don't. If you love me now you will still love me later and that's all that counts."

She had been right about that part at least, I did love her then and I loved her as much if not more now. But the naysayers had been right too and now I was in the position that I'd known I would be in, but hadn't been able convince Mandy of. I was sixty-five to her forty-five and I couldn't get it up anymore without the help of a little blue pill, and the pill didn't always work. To make matters worse Mandy was in her sexual prime and even though she would not admit it she was suffering from a lack of sex. After thinking long and hard on the situation I finally sat down with her and told her that it wasn't fair of me to keep her tied down at this point in her life and I offered to let her go free. She laughed at me and told me I wasn't going to get rid of her that easy, "I knew this day would possibly come, but I loved you enough to marry you anyway. So stop being an asshole and trying to get rid of me."

A couple of months went by and I noticed that about twice a week she would get cranky and irritable and I knew what the problem was so I sat down with her again and told her that she needed to take care of the problem.

"You are not cheating on me sweetheart, not if you have my permission and blessing. Do what you have to do to take the edge off. I'm not going to stop loving you and maybe, just maybe, you will stop being such a bear to be around."

She kissed me and thanked me for loving her enough to trust her with something like that, "But I can't do it baby, I belong to you, heart and soul."

And now I'd let her down again. Couldn't make love to her and now I couldn't even do her next favorite thing - dance. I'd broken a foot trying to break a horse and I'd been walking around in a cast for a month now. I'd been bringing her to the Silver Palace every weekend since I'd broken my foot so she could at least dance. There was no lack of partners and she would be on the floor for most of the night. It didn't seem to matter who she was with on a tush-push or other line dance, or who she did the western swing with, but I noticed that she always managed to do the slow ones with Toby, especially the slow ones where they could get close. And I noticed the times she left the bar with Toby to get some fresh air. They were never gone long enough to do anything and somehow this saddened me. When we got home she would toss and turn and I would lay there on my back staring up at the ceiling and curse the fact that I couldn't help her.

I took another pull on my long-neck and looked at Mandy watching the dance floor and then I said, "Mandy, go ahead and do it. You know you want to and you know it's all right with me. Will you please do it? If not for yourself, do it for me. It's killing me to see you this way."

She turned and smiled at me, "Sorry baby. You're right, I do want to, but even though you say you won't care there is always the possibility that once it happens you will find out that you really did care. I not willing to risk what I have in you on anything less than a sure thing and that animal just doesn't exist."

On the drive home that night I thought about what she'd said and as I laid on the bed next to her as she tossed and turned I thought about it some more.

The next morning I went out and made some arrangements and then I called Toby and told him I had to go away for a few days and I asked him if I could hire him to take care of the stock while I was gone.

"It's a little too much for Mandy to do all by herself."

He said he would be glad to help out and then I went and broke the news to Mandy. She just looked at me and asked, "What are you doing?"

I smiled at her and said, "I'm giving you the chance to do what you really want to do without me being around. If you don't do it, so be it, but in the back of my mind I'll always believe that you did and my attitude toward you will be the same as if you did and I knew about it. I'll be gone four days. Have fun and remember that I love you and always will."

Then I went and packed what I needed and loaded it in the back of my pickup. Toby showed up and I took him down and showed him the bunkhouse and told him what needed doing. Then I went and kissed Mandy goodbye, got in my truck and drove off. I really didn't have anyplace that I needed to be, but I had to give Mandy a chance so I faked the trip. I actually drove about three-quarters of a mile up into the hills and settled into a hide that I'd set up earlier. I've been a hunter all my life and patience is something that a hunter learns early on. I got out my field glasses and settled in to watch.

I watched Mandy hang out the laundry and Toby feed and water the horses. That evening I watched as they ate their supper on the screened in porch, sat and talked for a while, and then watched as Toby made the trip to the bunkhouse. And I was watching two hours later as Mandy, in the light of the full moon, walked down to the bunkhouse. I watched for another hour and when she didn't come out I smiled and crawled into my sleeping bag. I was behind the glasses the next morning when a naked Mandy walked from the bunkhouse to the main house. Five minutes later Toby, clad only in Levi's, followed her to the house. I watched as Mandy, still naked, served Toby his breakfast on the back porch and when they finished eating she took him by the hand and led him into the house. I gave them ten minutes and then I took out my cell phone and called the house. Mandy answered on the fifth ring and after the hellos were out of the way I said, "Behaving yourself?"

She said, "You are an evil man, but I love you anyway. No, I am not behaving myself. I had to stop sucking his cock to answer this phone and he's waiting for me to come back to the bedroom and pick up where I left off. I sure hope you meant what you said about not caring because by the time you get back I'm liable to be Toby's slut. When you set this up did you realize that he has a cock the size of a horses? The stock might not get taken care of baby because I might never let him leave the bedroom until you get back. I'll talk to you later baby. I need to get back to him before he loses that beautiful hard on. I love you baby, and baby - thank you."