“Hi, Girlfriend, I was just getting ready to call you.”
“Great minds think alike. Do you think you could come by this evening?”
“Sure, no problem. Should I bring James?”
She hesitated before saying, “No, I just think that we need to talk.”
“That’s funny, I wanted to talk to you, too.”
“That sounds ominous. Should I be worried?”
“No, no, I don’t think so. Should I come by at say, seven o’clock?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Should I bring anything?”
“No, just your sweet self.” She hung up before I could ask her any more questions.
That was mysterious. I know she said not to worry, but I was nervous anyway. I wondered if she wanted to talk about the same thing that I did.
“I’m going over to Cecilia’s,” I told James as we cleaned up after dinner.
“Can I come?” he asked in that eager puppy dog way that could be endearing, but was beginning to be annoying whenever Cecilia was involved.
“I already told you no, besides, she specifically asked for just me.”
I could see a pout coming, so I rushed to reassure him.
“I’m sure there’s no problem; she probably just doesn’t want to be distracted by your charm.”
He knew I was bull-shitting him, but decided to play along.
“Do you know when you’ll be home?”
“She didn’t say, I don’t think I’ll be late, I’ll let you know.”
With that, he went to watch TV and I went to get ready.
I wasn’t sure what to wear, so I decided on casual, just jeans and a top, put the final touches on my make-up and went to the door.
“Bye, Honey, I’ll talk to you later.”
He didn’t respond. I figured he was just sulking, shrugged my shoulders and closed the door behind me.
Cecilia met me at the door, barefoot in jeans and a t-shirt. We gave each other a big hug, and I could smell the scent of our favorite perfume on her neck.
She already had two glasses of wine on the coffee table, along with the open bottle. I was wondering if we were going to need the whole bottle.
We sat on the couch silently sipping our wine, when she took a big gulp, set her glass down, turned towards me and took one of my hands in both of hers.
“Sharon, I don’t think that I can see you and James anymore.”
I nearly spilled my wine before I could put my glass down.
“But why? I thought we had something special. I thought you loved us.”
“I do, that’s why I can’t see you anymore.”
“That makes no sense! If you love us, you should want to keep seeing us.”
“That’s the point; I do want to keep seeing you, but not like this. I need more.”
A light was beginning to dawn on me. This was my opening to express the feelings that had been building in me.
“That’s a funny coincidence, I’ve been thinking along the same lines.”
“You mean…”
“Yes, I was going to ask you to move in with us.”
“Whoa, isn’t that kind of a big step?”
“Huh? I thought that was what you wanted.”
She hesitated for a moment.
“I… I guess it was, but somehow I didn’t think that it would happen so fast.”
“Well, I do have to talk to James, though I doubt that he would have an issue with it, and we have to figure out the logistics.”
I could see a weight get lifted off her shoulders, and we fell into a warm embrace and just sat there for a few minutes.
We sat up and finished our wine, just the one glass each, and I got up to go home to sound out James on the plan.
“Should I come along?” Cecilia asked.
“I don’t think so. I’m sure James won’t have an issue with it, but I don’t want any distractions, and I want James to be able to talk freely.”
Cecilia nodded, we hugged and kissed and I went home.
I sat in the car for a while gathering my thoughts. Worries about James not going along with a more involved relationship with Cecilia were zero, whether she moved in or not.
I also knew that he had a one-track mind; he would simply think about all the sex. He wouldn’t be concerned about all the logistics, how we would deal with family and friends. What about children? How would Cecilia’s interests be protected?
I decided that nothing was going to be decided by me alone sitting in my car, and went in to face James.
“Well, Sharon, how did it go?”
“Quite well, actually. I… We, have a… a proposal to make, and I don’t want you to respond right away, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, a little hesitantly.
“Cecilia and I were thinking that she could maybe move in with us…” I had to shoot a glare at him to get him to cool his jets.
“Listen, this isn’t going to be a sex party. There’ll be responsibilities and commitments for all of us. What happens if we don’t want Cecilia to be with us? Or if she wants to leave? What about kids?”
“I hadn’t thought about all that.”
“Of course you didn’t, you were letting your little head do all of your ‘thinking.’ I think we should just sleep on it for now.”
“I guess you’re right,” he said, and we just cuddled as we fell asleep.
Fortunately, Monday was a holiday, and I woke up early and called Cecilia as early as I dared to invite her for breakfast and to discuss our situation, and she agreed readily.
Cecilia came in and gave us each warm hugs and kisses, then we sat down to eat. We didn’t talk much, our minds churning over the discussion to come.
By unspoken agreement, I took the lead.
.
“Cecilia, James and I, if you agree, would like to expand our current relationship, possibly including you moving in with us.”
That was met with a hopeful look from James and a confused look for Cecilia.
“I won’t say that I’m not intrigued by the idea,” she said, “but how would that work?”
“That’s what we would have to work out,” I said. “First and foremost would be how to protect you.”
“Protect me? How? Why?”
“The why is simple. If James and I split up, there are laws in place to protect both of our interests. There are no laws to cover your situation. The how is the big question. My guess is that we would have to talk to a lawyer, get some sort of an agreement, sort of like a prenup, drawn up.
“I know it seems cold, but if it saves grief later, it’ll be worth it.”
“Okay,” she said, “I think I get it. I’ll obviously have to think it over. What else?”
“Well, another biggie is children. James and I expect to have children eventually. We don’t have a problem bringing them into this relationship, but how do you feel? Would you feel comfortable helping to raise our children? Would you want children of your own? Would you want them with James? It can get very complicated, and it can tie back into the other issue if you decide to have them in a monogamous relationship with another man.”
A silence fell over our group.
“Whew,” she said, “I guess it’s not all fun and games now, is it?”
We all laughed.
“No, I guess not,” I said as we held hands around the table. “We don’t have to decide anything today, just that we should all start thinking about how we see this all working. James, you’ve been pretty quiet.”