Chapter 3: Frank

AS HE SAT waiting for Katherine to join him, he remembered the first time he had met her. It was in her office about five weeks ago.

"You want me to find you a what?" she exclaimed incredulously.

"A travelling companion for a twelve month luxury overseas holiday" he repeated to her.

"So when do we go?" she joked.

But Frank then remembered explaining to her what he wanted and, more importantly, why.

He reflected even further back, back to his life as a teenager. He had grown up in Newcastle, the second son of a bus driver. His mother worked part time in the local bakery, so there wasn't a lot of money spare for luxuries like holidays or going out or even clothes, other than the basics. But he was always provided with what he needed for his schooling.

Being the second son, he had worn mainly hand-me-downs, until at 13 he had shot up quickly and was eight centimetres taller than his older brother, but very skinny, which made buying clothes even more difficult.

Frank had always enjoyed sport; football, cricket, tennis, basketball, table tennis; he played them all and most of them competitively. So he was a rather fit, albeit tall, skinny lad. Unfortunately, however, his sporting prowess did not translate into success with the girls. There he never seemed to have much luck.

He had enjoyed the odd date, sometimes even managing to have a repeat, but rarely much more and he never got beyond first base, as the expression went. Touching a girl on her breasts outside her jumper seemed an extremely sexy event for him, even in his late teens.

During university his sex life didn't seem to improve much, but his grades did. He regularly managed to get honours or at least distinctions in his exams. He still was able to play a lot of sport and was in several university teams.

He was lucky to be able to get a few tutoring jobs for year 12 students, which helped him pay his way at university, but he had to live at home. He was good at tutoring and fortunately that was generally early evening, which didn't interfere with his university lectures.

Finally, around 21 years old, he started to put a little beef on and became a little less gangly and a bit more attractive to the opposite sex. He never for a moment considered his own sex, not that he had anything against those that did. It just wasn't his scene.

It was halfway through his final year at university when he met Robin who was in her last year at college and four years younger than him. One good thing about sport, apart from the physical aspects, was meeting people. Robin was the younger sister of one of his team mates and they met at a team function.

Robin and Frank were an item from the moment they met and two years later, when she was 19, they got engaged. Up until this time, he had been permitted heavy petting, managing to place a hand inside her bra and fondle her breasts, but never with clothes off and certainly not to completion.

Once they were engaged, their affair seemed to quickly develop and soon he was permitted to engage in oral sex, but only cunnilingus. Robin refused to do more than kiss and fondle his penis, but it wasn't long after this that she surrendered her virginity to him. She refused to take the Pill, but did allow him to wear a condom, even though he wasn't really happy wearing one. He found them uncomfortable.

In hindsight, always easy he reminded himself, she wasn't particularly passionate with him, almost giving the appearance of meeting her obligations rather than eagerly participating. He was fairly certain that she never had an orgasm with him during intercourse, hard as he might try to satisfy her, but it was only now that he realised this.

He was, however, able to ensure she climaxed almost every time with his tongue and fingers. He became very adept at manipulating her clitoris and giving her oral pleasure. From the time he first managed to persuade her to let him use his tongue and mouth on her sex, she seemed to enjoy it and get great pleasure from it. Fortunately, Frank soon found that he too enjoyed doing it.

This situation continued even after they were married and no longer used condoms. Robin still refused to take the Pill, but by this stage, Frank was quite happy to have a family as he had a good, secure job in the Commonwealth public service.

It seemed though that this was not to be, as he was unable to get her pregnant, try as he might, not that she seemed to let him try that often.

Robin ended up not going to university, but was able to get a position in the same department as Frank. Naturally, Frank with his better qualifications and seemingly more drive and determination got quite a few promotions, while she only got a couple during her whole career. Frank sometimes thought that this was a source of irritation to Robin.

Both seemed happy to move to Canberra so that they could further their careers, but again it was Frank who benefited most from this and by the time he was 40 years old he had been promoted into the Senior Executive Service or SES as it was known in Canberra circles. This not only brought more money and perks, including a car, but also meant longer hours at work, which seemed to put even more pressure on their relationship.

In the next few years their sexual relationship started to go downhill quickly, despite Franks' best efforts. It took another year before he found out why.

Robin had decided that she preferred being in the arms of another woman rather than in his. When he was 44 years old he discovered that she had been having an affair with a single lady of 33, some seven years younger than her. Apparently this had been going on for some years. She had even flaunted her at their place while he was still unaware of their relationship.

It finally came out in the open, quite by accident, in the classic, almost scripted way. He was off interstate for yet another overnight meeting that was cancelled at the last moment, just before he left the office. He tried to ring her but without success. By the time he had finished up in the office it was 7pm when he got home.

Frank was surprised that although the lights were on, no one seemed to be at home. It was only when he went into the bedroom to empty his overnight bag and get changed that he discovered them, naked in bed in that classic pose – on their sides, head between each others legs, oblivious to their surroundings and making so much noise moaning their pleasure that Frank realised why his calls hadn't been answered.

Robin sat up, not bothering to cover her nudity, although her partner was a little shyer, and tried to pull the sheet over herself, but with little luck. At least, he remembered, he got to enjoy seeing her rather attractive naked body that he later found out had never experienced the joys of being with a man.

After a moment's hesitation, Robin admitted that this was her lover and preferred partner and Frank could do what he liked, but Heather, the girl's name he then discovered, was going to move in and live there with her. Or at least that was what Robin told him, naively believing that Frank would go along with it.

Frank decided to be a little facetious and stated that was fine as long as the three of them got to share the bed and their bodies, otherwise they could both get out or he was selling the house.

Frank today could laugh about Heather's reaction, she was aghast. The thought of sharing her bed with a man was an anathema to her. Robin by this stage of her marriage had realised that she actually felt the same as Heather and had expected Frank to move into the spare room, while the two women would enjoy the marital bed.

He decided that the best course of action was to get undressed and join them, which quickly forced Heather and then followed by Robin to get up out of bed, Heather attempting unsuccessfully to hide herself as she dressed. Both women then left the house as Robin, having packed a few things, insisted on going with her.