It all started innocently enough, but things haven't been the same since.
I'd spent a couple of years in the Navy with a guy we'll call "Jack" - we were stationed in the same command and had become friends, but had drifted apart once I got assigned to a ship on the other coast. Jack and I had cruised chicks together, worked in adjacent shop spaces, lived down the hall in the barracks - the usual stuff that you do when you're in your twenties and on your own for the first time. But we'd never done anything that might have raised eyebrows, or anything else. We were, after all, in our twenties, and on our own for the first time, and besides, I hadn't even considered wandering from the straight and narrow yet, as I was having way too much fun chasing (and catching) women.
As often happens, we stayed very busy, and gradually drifted apart as the years passed, going from occasional phone calls to occasional letters to just an annual card during the holidays. It was the way of the world, and though regrettable, I didn't think much of it, and I doubt if he did, either.
After two tours I got out of the navy, and settled down in the last city I'd been stationed in. It was near enough to my home town that I could see my family when I wanted, but not so close that they'd be dropping in on me unexpectedly, and it had a far better social life than the one-horse town I'd grown up in. It also had some amenities that were only becoming popular, or even acceptable, then, and I began to explore other aspects of myself. This was, of course, before deadly diseases were as commonplace as they are now, and even so, I was (and still am) very careful. Jack stayed in, and the last I'd heard from him he'd gotten several promotions, and was well on his way to wearing khaki and digging himself into the early grave of middle-management.
So I settled down, went through the usual variety of shallow relationships that tend to make up the life of many guys in their late 20's, and did some (relatively) basic and innocent experimentation. But I hardly ever thought of Jack any more.
Until one day, when I got a phone call from Jack, telling me he'd been assigned to a ship that was ported near my new home town. I thought that was great, as I'd settled in pretty well in my new home, and knew a few places where the music, beer and ladies were very likely to bring back memories of our 'glory days.' So I gave him directions on how to get to my place, and we made plans to get together the next Saturday afternoon.
* * *
Saturday I spent some time in the morning getting all of the clutter and laundry out of the way, doing the dishes, even vacuuming - the last impression I wanted to make, especially to someone who probably still held regular inspections, was of someone who'd let himself go without oversight as so many guys do when they get out. But I was still surprised when Jack showed up at my door - he wasn't alone.
"Hey, Mike," he said, pulling the very cute blonde woman standing next to him close, "I'd like you to meet my wife, Jeannie."
The SOB had a grin across his face you could park an Aegis Cruiser on, as he knew I'd never married, and had assumed that he was also the sort that would never settle down until he was forced to. And I must admit, I was surprised, but not shocked. Jack's background was even more staid and traditional than mine, and Jeannie appeared to be the sort of woman who could catch any man she set her mind on.
I guess it's time for some description: I'm medium height - about 5'10" and slender (150 pounds) - used to be downright skinny, but time catches up with all of us. I'd added a bit of hair at the back so you could tell I wasn't navy any more, but it was apparently pulling the rest back - my hairline had receded about a quarter inch for every inch of hair I'd grown. Jack had taken a more traditional navy route, and while keeping his hair had gained a small, but noticeable, belly. He was an inch or so shorter than me, a touch broader in the shoulders, and while neither of us had yet picked up substantial amounts of grey, he was slightly ahead of me there - one of the reasons I'd gotten out was the killing stress that military service can put on you. Jeannie was tall for a woman, being about 5'7", and nicely curved (somewhere between a B and C cup, and full in the hips without being 'broad') without being flabby or absurdly endowed. Where Jack and I were wearing jeans and polo shirts (a sure sign of the times), Jeannie was wearing a knee-length cotton sun dress with the top two buttons undone, tantalizing me with a dynamite silhouette from the bright summer sun, and the occasional glimpse of nicely rounded flesh. Her strawberry blonde hair reached just below her shoulders, and her amber eyes added a sparkle to her ready smile.
Anyway, I invited them both in, and after asking their preferences went into the kitchen and grabbed three cold beers and chilled mugs from the 'fridge.
It didn't take long before the three of us were hitting it off as though no time at all had passed. It turned out Jeannie was a woman from Jack's previous command, working in the same field, and her 'war stories' were similar enough to allow all of us to have a lot in common from the start.
Anyway, time raced past, and after a while we'd sat around the coffee table, had a couple of beers each, and polished off a bowl of chips and salsa when Jack gave her a funny look, and excused himself to visit the 'head.' When he left the room, Jeannie was up wandering the room, looking at the photos that were framed on the walls. One was a collage of various old navy buddies (including Jack), while three more were of various 'significant' ladies I'd known in the years since getting out of the navy. She quizzed me about each of them, and completely caught my attention when, commenting on the last, she said "this one looks like she must've been great in bed."
I was a little bit thrown, but our conversation had touched briefly on my varied flings and romances, and she had indeed picked out the most physical of the three woman.
