Jenny felt strange, parking in front of Dana and Ed´s house. ‘Dana´s been a great friend, I like Ed a lot, he´s sexy and funny,’ she thought. Then, her depression returned. Not wanting to deal with it alone, she walked to the door and rang.
As usual, Dana came to the door. She was dressed in a long, dark gray jersey shift that followed the outline of her body, clung to her breasts, tummy and thighs like wallpaper. There was a glass in her hand. She let Jenny in and put an arm around her waist, hugging her close. Jenny hugged her back, rubbing her hand across Dana´s buttocks. Dana chuckled, pulled back and gave Jenny the glass.
“Try some of this, Jenny. You feel good, look good. Keep up those hugs and we´ll never eat.”
“Thanks for asking me over, you look @so great.” Jenny undid the buttons on her blouse until the rise of her breasts was visible. “Mind if I do this?” Dana shook her head. “How come you´re cooking on a work night?”
“I usually do – cook, that is. I like to cook and I do easy stuff during the week. Sometimes Ed cooks, too. Just stew tonight... it´s ready, but come sit for a while.” She led the way into the living room. Ed got up, came to them. He took both Jenny´s hands, gave her a strong, friendly hug and let her go.
“Glad you´re here,” he said.
Jenny sat down next to Dana, and the three of them chatted their way through the glass of wine. When the bottom of the glass was in sight, Dana directed them to the table. Dinner was stew, a delicious, spicy treat of lamb and @feta cheese.
After everyone had stuffed the first mouthfuls down, Dana said, “Jenny, I really wanted to let us eat and relax a bit, but I have this feeling, that if we don´t get started on this, we´ll be here all night. Do you mind talking serious and eating at the same time? What were you crying about last night?”
“No, I don´t mind, not really,” Jenny said. “I guess I really don´t want to talk about it at all, you know? But you´re right, I was crying and I´m kind of in a mess, and – bless you – you always pick up on those things.”
“Well, whatever. What´s the trouble?”
Jenny considered, decided. “Sid´s left. I´m rattling around in that place like a pea in a box. I´m lonely.” She looked at both of them and smiled. “And I´m horny. That´s my problem. Really all of it.”
“When we talked last,” Dana said, “you told me you were a little worried about it. I told Ed everything you told me, you know.”
“Of course. I just assumed you´d tell him. No problem. I guess I ought to tell you more about it.
“I told you that Sid wasn´t too happy with the way I was changing,” Jenny grinned. “Since I got my mantra, you know. I think, looking back, he was really like those guys who took advantage of me – the whole Dominance and Submission thing – only not so obvious. He liked to tell me what I should do, and have me agree and do it. The more I got into the habit of making my own mind up, the less he liked it.
“I don´t really know what it was that tipped the scales, but about a week ago, I came home and he wasn´t there, he´d cleared out. Clothes gone – all that. Moved out. He left a note, said conventional things – how great it had been, sorry he had to leave – all that, and none of it meant anything. I´ve cried a lot, but really... Dana, Ed... I´m @glad he´s gone. It hasn´t been good for a long time, and that´s mostly my fault.” She raised her hand as Dana started to object. “No, that´s true... because I changed and he didn´t. I guess he couldn´t... that´s what it came down to, and I don´t blame him any more than I blame myself for trying to become a whole person.
“But the end of it all, Dana, is that I went to Wednesday last night and I saw all the rest of the guys – we´re mostly all couples – together and it really hit me, how alone I am. How alone I @feel. The place is too big; I´ve got to find a smaller place, move, all those awful things. That´s why you found me in the Ladies, washing my eyes to pretend I wasn´t ready to cry my heart out – again.” She reached across the table to touch Dana´s hand. “Thank you for picking up on it, for asking me here tonight.”
Dana got up and organized the empty plates, Jenny helped. Ed busied himself with after-dinner drinks. When they sat down again, it was in the living room again, Dana and Ed on the sofa, Jenny in an armchair.
Dana´s face was thoughtful, she hadn´t said much. Finally, she finished her coffee, put the cup on the table and looked at Jenny.
“Jen, I´m sorry about Sid. I know you cared for him and that you tried your best to do two contradictory things – meet his needs and your own. Now, it´s over and you´re in a @three-way bind. You´ve got a place that´s too big and expensive, you´re lonely and you´re horny.” She paused, looked at Jenny. “Have I got that right?”
“Dead on, as always,” Jenny said. “I still haven´t really accepted that I couldn´t have done something to... No, Dana, you´ve got it right. I just hadn´t put it clearly to myself. He needs something I used to give him, but I can´t do it anymore. That´s why he had to leave. Maybe someday, I´ll get a chance to tell him, thank him for what he @did do.” She put her own cup down. “He gave me the space I needed to be able to get where I am. He deserves at least a hug for that.”
“He does. That´s right.”
Ed spoke up, for almost the first time. “Jenny, I haven´t said anything until now, because you two´ve been settling things I don´t know much about. I mean, Dana´s told me what´s been happening, pretty much blow-by-blow. But that´s not something I know first hand. Now you´re here and you´re saying you´ve got a problem. We´ve talked about it. Can I offer a short-term solution?”
“What´s that?” Jenny asked. She picked up the balloon glass in front of her, sniffed it. Her eyebrows lifted, but then her eyes returned to Ed.
“Well, we decided, if what you said was what we expected – and it is – to suggest you move in here for a while. As long as you need, but not necessarily forever. Really, until you figure out where you´re going from where you are. What you´re doing is a process, and it´s not over – never is, for most of us. We think you need a place where you can work on it in peace. What do you think?”
Jenny looked defensive – her legs were tightly crossed, the glass in her hand held tightly across her chest.[I think a third "tightly" would be good. Just two makes it look accidental--so maybe change one tightly to something else?] “Dana just saw me crying last night, Ed. You´re making a pretty broad proposal, and you two´ve been working all day. Have you really thought this out?”
Dana chuckled. “Somehow I think @you have, Jen. And I´m glad you have. After we left Wednesday we talked a little about it on the way home – while Ed was groping me – and then again this morning. We understand what we have in mind, and we need to tell you what that is and see if it´s something you can use. Fair?”
Jenny relaxed considerably, peered into her glass. “What the hell is this stuff?” She looked at Dana.
“Calvados. Apple brandy, but from France – it´s not Yukon Jack. About 50 years old. Like it?”
“I´ve only smelled it and I´m an addict. So what´s the deal?”
Ed spoke again, “We agreed that I´d answer that question because I haven´t been involved before. You and Dana are buddies, you´ve exchanged secrets I don´t know – and don´t need to. They´re between you. But, if you move in here, we – all three of us – need to have the same agreement.”
“Fire away.” Jenny took a careful sip of her drink, rolled her eyes. “God, that´s fantastic.”
Ed took a sip of his own and continued, Dana cuddled into his side. “You move in, you pay one third the monthly payments, one third up front as deposit. You get the front bedroom upstairs. You get your share of the fridge, use the kitchen at will. Everything else. You put in a separate telephone in your own name. Okay?”
“Fine, so far. None of that is a problem because I know I can work out anything normal and reasonable with you two. There´s other things we need to talk about that are more, uh... difficult.”
“Agreed,” Ed said. “Why don´t you start?”
Jenny inhaled a little more of the Calvados. “Much of this, and I´ll forget it all... Mainly, what happens if I want to get laid?”
Ed grinned. “Dana said to me, ‘I think you´ll find her very direct´. I like that. You want to get laid, you either go to his place – her place, if that´s appropriate – or you bring him here. Is that simple enough?”
“Yeah. What if I want to cook for him?” She leered at Ed. “Or her?”
Dana interrupted. “Just let us know. We´ll either make ourselves scarce, or – well, we´ll work it out.”
Jenny looked into her glass some more, sipped from it, looked at them both. “This is a lot more than anyone could expect of friends, what´s the catch?”
Ed smiled. “Well, there are one or two small things. First is, we´re not used to wearing a lot of clothes around here. I guess you know that from your talks with Dana.” Jenny nodded, and Ed continued. “Well, neither of us wants to have to get dressed just because you´re here. We want to be able to go to and from the bathroom without clothes on without you getting all out of shape. Same for sunning.”
“No problem. It´s a habit I´m learning to like, too. But...”
Dana anticipated. “Let Ed finish, Jen.”
Ed looked serious. “Jenny, I think you´re a very good looking woman. You´ve got a pretty face and a great body. But I have to tell you that, even so, Dana´s the one I´m interested in. If you see me walk out of the bathroom naked, it´s because that´s the way I like to be, and I´m probably on my way from here to there, or from there to Dana. This is really important. No matter how much I, or either of us wants to help you out, I don´t want to give up the body freedom I´ve learned living with Dana. Neither does she.”
“That´s true,” Dana said.
“You´re telling me, I guess, that I need to change how I interpret signals. You mean that Ed´s naked body is not – necessarily – a threat to me, or an invitation, either.”
Ed sipped his drink and answered, “That´s right. If you think it is, you need to tell us, because there´s no way we should let something like that go...” He looked at both of them. “Is ‘undealt-with´ a word?”
“No, silly,” Dana said, rubbing herself on his arm, “but we know what you mean, and that´s how it should be.”
“Well,” Jenny said, “I guess that has to mean that, if I go around bare-ass, it´s not an invitation for Ed to climb all over me.”
“Fair enough,” Ed said, and Dana nodded her agreement. “So, what do you think?”
Jenny looked thoughtfully into her glass for a long moment, then drained the last of it. She turned to Ed and to Dana. “Thank you, both of you. Yes, I would like to live here with you for a while. I don´t know how long, any more than you do. But I want to do it because... Well, I can handle living alone, I´ve done that. But, why should I when there are two wonderful people who´ll share their home with me? How about I move in the end of the month?”