“The truth: that’s where I keep my coats!” Paige nodded, indicating that’s where the conversation with her sons would end.
“She just omits the fact that she’s wearing a schoolgirl outfit beneath the coat.”
Ryan’s eyes glazed. “Schoolgirl outfit.”
A vivid picture of Paige in a short, plaid, pleated skirt, and a white shirt, partly unbuttoned, coalesced in Jennifer’s mind. When her mind-Paige bent over, she saw that panties had been left out of the outfit.
Ryan noticed that Jennifer, across the table, had checked out, her glazed look intensely focused on Paige’s cleavage. “Jen,” he tried to whisper across the table to her, realizing the futility and foolishness as soon as both of the Shepards turned to look at him.
“She’s fine,” said Paige. “I’m happy she likes them.”
That snapped Jennifer out of it. “Oh, I.”
“It’s okay to like them.”
He watched the red flush crawl up Jennifer’s neck and into her cheeks as she avoided their gaze. He wanted to help, but wasn’t sure what he could do.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” she took a sip of her wine and shrank in her seat.
“Jennifer,” said Paige, putting her hand on top of Jennifer’s. “I’ve been looking down your dress every chance I’ve had. Your breasts are wonderful.”
That did it, Jennifer coughed on the wine and kept coughing, pressing her other hand to her chest. Bruce patted her back.
“Are you okay?” asked Ryan.
“She’s experiencing girl lust, give her a minute,” said Paige, moving around the table and crouching next to Jennifer.
Jennifer turned a bit toward her, still coughing, still flushed with embarrassment. Paige put her hands on both of Jennifer’s knees.
“Look at me,” said Paige, then pointed to both of her eyes. “Right here.”
Jennifer did as she was told, and the coughing slowly subsided.
A waiter approached, but Bruce shook his head and silently waved the man away.
“You okay?” Paige asked.
A nod, a cough. Paige moved up from the crouch, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips against Jennifer’s. After a moment, Jennifer closed her eyes, too.
Ryan stared, entranced. He didn’t know what he’d expected from this night, but seeing these two kiss hadn’t been on the list.
“See, Ryan,” offered Bruce, “stepping outside your comfort zone is fun.”
Ryan nodded an affirmation.
After the kiss became a hug, and Jennifer’s breathing returned to normal, the conversation turned to hobbies and families, drifting briefly through the religion and politics valley, though all agreed that they had far more interesting things to talk about.
“The game is Never Have I Ever,” offered Paige. “You say something you’ve never done, and whoever has, takes a drink.”
“I think you guys’re going to win,” said Ryan.
“I think we all win,” said Paige.
The game started fairly tamely, with talk of kisses, fondles, and childhood crushes, going around the circle. Ryan had been right, the Shepards drank far more often than they did.
When dessert came, the waiter brought a slender dark brown wine bottle. “This is ice wine,” said Bruce, pouring a small bit in each of their fresh glasses. “They harvest the grapes after the first frost, and that traps in the sugar, so it’s very sweet. From just outside Niagara Falls. The Canadian side, above their tribute to Branson, Missouri.” He winked.
Ryan felt Paige’s lips and hot breath near his ear as he took a sip.
“It’s so sweet,” she said, “Do you like sweet, Ryan?”
He wasn’t sure which was more intoxicating, the wine, or the woman asking. “Do I like sweet?”
“Wine, Ryan, stay with me.”
“Yes.”
“He does like sweet,” said Jennifer.
Paige turned to her. “I believe it’s your turn, my lovely.”
Jennifer thought for a moment. “Never have I ever been in an orgy.”
Both Bruce and Paige sipped their wine, Ryan was sure their sips were getting smaller every time. “How many people do you need to qualify as an orgy?”
“I think international standards say five and up,” said Bruce, “Sounds right, doesn’t it, angel?”
“Sounds exactly right,” said Paige, adding more wine to Ryan’s glass.
Ryan watched the glass fill with the thicker golden wine. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
Paige laughed.
He watched her and Bruce make eye contact across the table. Her eyes seemed to gesture away. Bruce nodded.
“That was subtle,” said Ryan.
“Now, now,” responded Paige, standing up.
“We’ve all had a good deal of wine here tonight,” said Bruce. “I don’t believe subtlety is on the table any longer.”
“We’re going to excuse ourselves for a moment,” Paige said.
“To talk about us?” Jennifer laughed, then became serious when she realized, “oh, it is to talk about us, isn’t it?”
“In the spirit of transparency, yes,” said Bruce, also standing. “In this thing, we don’t have the luxury of just excusing ourselves to the restroom to assess the situation. That’s the detriment of plural.”
Ryan laughed. “The detriment of plural.”
“You like that?”
“I do.”
“So we’ll be right back.”
Bruce and Paige disappeared toward the bar. When they were a bit out of range, Ryan jumped up and sat down next to Jennifer. “How’re we doing?”
“I have no idea,” she replied.
“Well, how are you doing?”
“Fun! I mean, I’m having a lot of fun.”
Ryan felt relief. “Good, yes, me too.”
She took a deep breath, and when she let it out she had a touch of sadness in her voice. “I really like them. But it’s making me feel like I never really connected with my girlfriends.”
He nodded. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“And.” She stopped, and looked away.
“What?”
“I don’t know if I can tell you.”
Ryan frowned. “Sure you can, you can tell me anything. I mean, didn’t they say that was a rule? That communication is key?”
“I feel like,” she started, “like Paige is really into me. And I feel sorta conceited saying that.”
He shook his head. “No, honey, look at me.”
She did.
“Paige is really into you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, like, to an obvious extent.”
Jennifer giggled to herself. “I really, like really, want to make out with her. Is that bad?”
“It’s new.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, emphatically. “Yeah, it’s new.”
“Not bad, not bad in any way,” he assured her.
“You don’t think it’s weird?”
Ryan stared at her and saw fear of judgment in her face. He put his hands on her cheeks. “Honey, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered back.
“I think it would be really, really awesome to watch you make out with Paige.” He laughed. “When she kissed you earlier, I, uh, I hit at least half mast.”
Jennifer laughed heartily. She straightened up, almost cocky, clearly aroused. “Yeah? You’d like that?”
“God, well, yeah!”
“Well, something might interest you,” she said, “that I was thinking about.”
“What?”
She dropped her voice to a whisper coated with devilish overtones. “I want to see you fuck her.” Embarrassment overtook the devilishness, and she looked away.
“Yes,” said Ryan, taking the comment in. “This idea would also… not… be… in any way… a bad… idea.”
“This is weird!” said Jennifer, affording herself a quick glance back to Ryan.