“Look,” he said. “We’ve gotten here differently. You strike me as a one woman man that life smacked over the head with two life mates. You’re damned lucky. You probably never would have hooked up with Mary Beth if Dawn hadn’t come into your home. And if you didn’t already have the casual nudity thing with Mary Beth you might have never hooked up with Dawn. It had to happen with both at the same time. But after a year of living with two women and bedding a few more you’re still basically a “one woman man” type, right?”
I nodded again.
“Me too,” he said.
I looked at him.
“Hey, I have morals. I’m not a hound. But give me a break, I AM single. The women in my life have come into it one at a time, by choice. I’ll admit that I’ve enjoyed myself a lot. But since I was a teenager I’ve really only wanted to be with my sister Tina. When I realized that I could actually have her I told her that I would give up the other women to be with her, but she wouldn’t let me. She loves her mother, of course, but she also loves the other women and she loves this lifestyle. I don’t know what’s going to eventually happen to all of us but I do know that whatever comes, I’ll be with Tina.”
I thought about that.
“I’m not going to have sex with Tina,” I said. “I know you’ve given us your blessing to do that, but I also think I understand why. She’s let you have sex with other women but she hasn’t had sex with other men so you feel you owe that to her. And you think I’m an okay guy and that I won’t try to steal her away from you. But you don’t really want the sex to happen. So it’s not going to, at least not with me.”
He stared at me.
“That’s a pretty good analysis,” he said. “Okay. Dawn and I aren’t having sex either.”
“Hey,” I said. “That’s Dawn’s call.”
“Excuse me, that’s both Dawn’s and my call. And I recognize why your analysis was so spot-on. It’s because it’s the way you feel, too. And I’m going to honor that.”
I didn’t know what to say. I watched as he stood up.
“Well, I’m off to the spa,” he said. I stood too. We looked at each other kind of awkwardly for a moment, then he stuck out his hand. I shook it.
“I’m glad we met,” he said. “I have a feeling that we’re all going to get to know each other very well over the next few months.” He turned and walked towards the spa, where my girls and his were talking and laughing.
I sat back down. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. I didn’t want to get into that spa. Dawn thought she was going to have sex with Thomas and Tina thought she was going to have sex with me. There would be awkward banter, and touching that wasn’t reciprocated, and feelings that were going to get hurt.
My iPhone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket and read the message. I read it again. I had a hard time just breathing. I put the phone back in my pocket, stood up, and headed for the sliding glass door.
“Johnny,” Dawn said. “Johnny, where are you going?”
I stopped and turned to her. Naked, outlined by the spa light, her breasts sitting just above the water, she was beautiful. Mary Beth was next to her, different but just as lovely. Thomas’ women were all around them, ready to cavort. I wished that I wanted to be in there with them. I wanted things to be okay and easy. It made me feel like an ass.
“Meyer’s been shot,” I said. “He’s at Cedars-Sinai. They don’t think he’s going to make it.”