A Family Reunion 7

This story is a work of fiction. Some real institutions are mentioned, but they are used fictitiously. Insofar as the author knows, no real person affiliated with any of those institutions has ever behaved as described in this story. Any similarities between any character in this story and any real person are coincidental and unintended. I encourage comments on this story, both favorable and unfavorable. Thank you for reading.

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I'm six years older than my sister Megan. I was off at college before she started high school. Between hanging onto the wrestling scholarship that paid for college and levering that scholarship into a degree in geotechnical engineering. I didn't get home much. I followed my bachelor's with three years of law school in Michigan, which was also hard work. After law school, I went to a firm and worked like a dog for a couple of years. I left the law firm for a consulting firm. Primarily, the consulting firm advised and represented real estate developers in securing permits, permissions, and variances for their projects from local governments. Relative to the rest of our firm, I had some ability to be the front or spokesman for our clients, meaning I was the person who travelled around to meet with planning and zoning boards around the country.

At age 30, I simply hadn't seen my sister much. Megan was a state champion high school tennis player and parlayed that into a college scholarship. In college, she wasn't a star but played regularly from freshman year on. On those occasions when I got home to Columbus see Mom and Dad; Megan was usually playing tennis somewhere. After her graduation, Megan entered the university's master's in sports administration program and became a graduate assistant tennis coach, so she was still travelling with the team. In the dozen years since I left high school, I doubt that I'd seen my sister for more than a few hours.

I had been with the consulting firm for three years when I turned 30. I'd travelled all over the country for work but hadn't had a vacation in that time, apart from an occasional day off which I used to rest or clean my Chicago apartment. Everyone at the firm agreed I needed a vacation. My enthusiasm was limited. Time permitting, I had been dating an attorney at the firm I used to work for. Amanda and I finally agreed that spring that our careers were more important to us than each other. We split up.

When my firm ordered me to take time off, I couldn't get enthused about an expensive trip alone. I decided to stay in Chicago, see the Cubs, and see whether I still had any friends. Then Mom called.

Dad and Mom had both done very well financially, Dad as an investment advisor and Mom as an OB/GYN. Although they were only in their fifties, they had retired. They had bought a vacation home on a lake in East Tennessee that I'd never seen. Mom invited me to spend the week of July 4 with them on the lake. "Megan's coming too," Mom said. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Uh, five years ago, I think," I replied. "We all met at Starbucks for a half hour on my way out of Columbus after a deposition."

"She's grown up a lot since then," Mom said. "The lake is great," she continued, "and cell phone service is terrible so you can really have a few days off." It didn't sound bad and I felt I ought to reconnect with my family, so I said I'd go. "Try to get here by July 2," Mom said.

Mom's call was followed a few hours later by a call from Megan. I didn't remember that she had such a great, low, sexy voice. "Are you driving to Mom and Dad's lake house from Chicago?" Megan asked.

I pulled up my calendar. "I'm in a meeting in Colorado Springs on the first," I said. "I'll have to fly back to Chicago that night, get some clean clothes and fly, to Knoxville I guess, the next morning and rent a car if I'm going to be there on the second."

Megan was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Tell you what, I can drive down from Columbus. Send me your flight info and I'll pick you up in Knoxville."

"Have you been to Mom and Dad's place on the lake?" I asked.

"No," Megan said, "but Mom gave me directions."

Arrogantly, I replied "I've got GPS."

July 2 was a day of surprises. The first came as I passed security at Knoxville airport. I had noticed a drop-dead gorgeous brunette standing outside security waiting. I felt a brief pang of envy at the thought she was waiting to meet a boyfriend. The brunette started towards me and said, "Will?"

I stopped. The brunette kept coming. I guess she saw the perplexed look in my face. "Will, it's me, Megan," the brunette said. The young woman approaching me had shoulder-length brown hair framing a beautiful face with big blue eyes, sensuous lips, and a mildly strong chin. Two moderately large breasts swelled under her white polo shirt and two firm, tanned legs extended from her shorts to her tennis shoes. I was having real trouble believing this beauty was related to me in any way. Megan chuckled, "You don't recognize me, do you?"

"What happened to the skinny, timid girl I saw in Starbucks five years ago?" I asked.

Megan did a quick spin. "She grew up and filled out a little bit." Indeed.

We got into Megan's old Toyota and left the airport. My GPS did fine while we stayed on I-40 and I-81. While we were cruising the Interstate, I asked, "so Sis, how's your personal life."

"Please don't call me 'Sis," Megan replied. She paused, before adding "what personal life?"

"I thought Mom said you were dating some golfer?" I replied.

"Bennett," Megan said. "There wasn't much dating because he was out on tour, you know, that secondary tour where they play in Dothan, Alabama and Fort Wayne? He didn't get his PGA tour card, again, last year. He did get a job this spring as assistant pro at some high-end club in Palm Springs. I'm not sure he meant it, but he asked me to go there with him. I've got a good shot at becoming head tennis coach in a few years right where I am. I'm not walking away from that. So, we split up a couple of months ago. What about you?"

I told Megan about Amanda. She laughed, "I guess careers are more important to both of us than getting laid regularly."

We exited where the GPS told me to and followed its instructions for about an hour until we came, literally, to a dead end. There were no lakes to be seen. Megan pulled out the sheet on which she had written the directions from Mom. After studying them a while, she said, "I think we should have gone north on 70 when we got off the Interstate." Having put the GPS device away, we reached a closed gate that matched Mom's description a couple of hours later. Megan picked up the phone outside the gate, dialed a number and, after a few moments said, "Mom, we're at the gate." A moment later, there was a loud click and the gate swung open.

On our left as we followed a blacktop drive, we could see an arm of a lake below us. There were houses scattered on the hillside above it. We'd gone, maybe, half a mile when we saw a gravel drive with a post bearing the number 8. "That's it," Megan said and turned into the drive. We went down the hillside through some evergreens until the drive widened into a gravel parking area in front of what appeared to be a recent, small, one story building. Megan parked next to a Subaru Outback with Ohio plates. We got out, went to the door, and rang the bell.

The door opened to the day's second, bigger, surprise for both Megan and me. Dad had opened the door. Mom was standing next to him. Mom exclaimed, "Megan! Will! It's so good to see you both at the same time! Did you have a good trip?"

Megan and I were both speechless. Yes, the people standing in front of us were our mother and father. However, they looked dramatically different than I'd ever seen them before. That was because they were both stark naked.

The silence grew. Megan and I looked at each other. Finally, Dad said, "What's wrong?"

Our silence continued for several more beats until Mom said, "We're sorry. We're so used to being nude, we forget that we don't have any clothes on. Don't just stand there. Come on in." Mom and Dad stepped back, and Megan and I tentatively stepped into a foyer with a staircase running down from it and a hallway on our left. "The main floor is below us," Mom said. "Come on downstairs and I'll get you something to drink."

I didn't move but did finally find my voice. "Uh, Mom, Dad," I asked, "why don't you have any clothes on?"

"Come downstairs and we'll explain," Dad said. Mom led Dad down the steps. Megan and I shared another look before Megan hesitantly followed our parents. I brought up the rear a few steps behind Megan. As I went down the steps, and unbidden thought entered my mind that Mom and Dad both looked good naked.

The steps ended in a large room with a picture window. There was an impressive view of an arm of the lake surrounded on three sides by hills with houses scattered across them. When I reached the bottom of the steps, Mom said, "We have pop, water, beer, and wine. What would you two like?"

Megan uttered her first words since the door had opened. "Mom, Dad, Will asked a really good question. Why are you naked?"

"We played a small trick on you," Dad said. "The whole area around the cove is a private development called Evergreen Cove. The development is clothing optional, meaning that you don't have to wear any clothes if you don't want to. In summertime, everyone who lives here usually goes nude. That's why people live here."

"We didn't tell you," Mom said, "because we were afraid that you wouldn't come if we did. We love this place so much, we wanted you both to see it."

"Ok," I said, 'but what possessed you to buy your vacation home in a 'clothing optional' development?"

"Well," Dad said, "you know we both retired about a two years ago. We were looking for something different, something outside of our everyday lives. We wanted to have some fun while we're still young enough to enjoy it."

"A couple of friends back in Columbus, Carla and Peter Stonik," Mom said, "bought a house here." Mom pointed in the direction of the picture window. "They live at number three around the cove. They invited us to visit them here."

"We accepted the invitation," Dad said, "but your mother and I agreed we weren't taking our clothes off. 'Clothing optional' means you can stay dressed if you prefer."

"Staying dressed only lasted for the first day we were here," Mom said. "Everyone else was at the beach nude. We felt out of place and uncomfortable in our swimsuits. We left our clothes off when we got up the next morning and they stayed off until we started the drive back. I'd never felt so free and relaxed."

"Heidi and I decided that we wanted that feeling as often as we could," Dad said. "So, when this house came on the market, we snapped it up. It's nice even in the winter, snuggling next to the fire with nothing on, watching the snow fall outside. We've been stuck here by the snow for three and four days at a time and didn't care. Thankfully, we still find each other so attractive, and being nude tends to get you thinking that way, that we've spent hours in this very room . . ..

Megan held up her hand. "Dad, I think that is more than we need to know."

Mom brought us both glasses of ice water. Megan and I sat in two easy chairs across a coffee table from the sofa on which Mom and Dad sat. I had to give Mom and Dad credit. They seemed perfectly comfortable naked. Megan and I, the two clothed people in the room, were the ones who were uncomfortable.

We listened to Mom and Dad extoll the virtues of living and socializing with no clothes on for another twenty minutes. Finally, Dad said, "but, as I said, Evergreen Cove is clothing optional so neither of you need to undress unless you choose to."

Mom added, "I know it's a little shock since we were all so plain vanilla at home. If our nudity really bothers you, Kurt and I can stay clothed while you're here."

I looked at Megan. After a moment, Megan said, "No. It's your home. You do what pleases you. You came here to live nude. We wouldn't want to deprive you of that."

Dad stood and went to the picture window. "People started coming in yesterday. All the homes in the cove will be full by morning with the owners and their guests. The Holiday starts here tomorrow. The focal point will be the beach. The whole community will be grilling there tomorrow night and on the Fourth. We're not right on the beach, but there is a path that leads there. It's about 200 yards, but its downhill. You just need to drink everything at the beach. Carrying a full cooler back up the hill is no fun."

Mom said, "The bedrooms are upstairs on the floor you came in. We only have the one spare bedroom, but it has two twin beds. You two can share a bedroom for a few days?"

I looked at Megan. We both stared laughing. "That's fine," Megan said, "so long as there's a bathroom I can change in. I know you guys are into getting naked but I'm not undressing in front of Will."

"Yes," Mom said, "the master bath is at the end of the hall on the lake side of the house. It has a large window that has a great view when the sun's coming up over the lake in the morning."

"There's also a shower outside on the side of the house," Dad said. "That's what Heidi and I use in summer. Showering outdoors is a great experience."

"The master bath will do fine," I said.

With our unplanned detour, we had gotten to our parents' house about three hours later than expected. Mom made a wonderful dinner and we spent the rest of the evening acting like a normal family, eating, drinking, and catching up on what each other were doing.

Megan had left Columbus around 3:00 a.m., and my flight to Chicago the night before had gotten in extremely late. We were both tired and went to bed early. I let Megan use the bathroom first to change. She came back into the bedroom wearing a long tee shirt. I don't know whether she had panties on, but she obviously was not wearing a bra. The tee shirt gave a clear and detailed outline of her breasts. I went to the bathroom and came back in the gym shorts I typically slept in. Megan was already in her bed, but she watched as I came back into the room.

"How long has it been since you wrestled?" Megan asked.

"Eight years," I replied.

"You've done a great job of staying in shape," Megan said. She quickly added, "so, what do you think of Mom and Dad's new lifestyle?"

"Jesus! What a shock," I said.

Megan laughed. "Yeah, it was. But they seem happy and much more relaxed than they used to."

"They're retired Megan," I responded. "Not working can make you relaxed."

Megan turned off the light. "Good night Will."

I threw on a tee shirt and Megan pulled on some shorts before we went down to breakfast in the morning. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Mom's version of a German breakfast with a variety of meats and cheeses, bread, warm boiled eggs, and strong coffee. After breakfast, Mom said, "I assume you two will be dressing for the beach. Go upstairs and do that. Kurt and I will put together a cooler of drinks and sandwiches.

Again, I let Megan change in the bathroom first. She came out in an electric blue one-piece that was cut low on her chest, high on her hips, and seemed damned near painted on. I started to say that, if she was going to wear that, she might as well go nude, but I bit my tongue. Megan looked gorgeous and very sexy. I didn't want her to change into something more conservative. When she turned to get something off the dresser, I saw that the suit alluringly packaged a splendid ass.

There were already about 20 people on the beach, our parents' age or older. Megan and I were the only people wearing swimsuits. There were wooden lounge chairs on the beach. Megan and I covered two next to each other with towels and sat down, although we were up frequently as we were introduced to Mom and Dad's naked friends.

The beach, which had sand Dad said was trucked in, was about 200 yards long, curving roughly from southwest to northeast. After we had met our parents' friends who were there, Megan and I decided to walk. We had gone, maybe, halfway to the other end of the beach. A speedboat with a huge outboard motor was anchored in the water just off the beach. As we came up to it, we heard a female voice from our right yelling, "Hurray up. The lake's going to get crowded."

I turned in the direction of the voice. What I saw was a nude woman with long blonde hair standing with her back to us. She had no tan lines. She held two water skis against her side with her left arm. The woman turned towards us and walked onto the beach. I guessed she was somewhere between Megan and me in age. She had a pretty face, small breasts, narrow waist and hips, and long slender legs.

Megan and I were between the blonde and the boat. She walked right up to us. "I hope you're enjoying your first time at Evergreen Cove," she said. "Hi, I'm Lauren."

Megan and I introduced ourselves. "How did you know it was our first time here?" Megan asked.

"Two reasons," Lauren replied. "First, I've been coming to my parents' house here every Fourth for several years. I know pretty much everyone who will be here. Second, you've got suits on. No one wears suits when they return to Evergreen Cove. In fact, no one keeps their suits on for their whole first stay."

Just then, a broad-shouldered, muscular man jogged onto the beach. He was also naked. He gave Lauren a quick peck and said, "sorry to keep you waiting."

To us, Lauren said, "this is my boyfriend Tony. He's taking me waterskiing. Have you ever waterskied in the nude?" We shook our heads. "You really ought to," Lauren said, "It is a blast."

Tony looked vaguely familiar. I had the sense he half recognized me too. Finally, I asked, "Have you wrestled?"

"Yeah," Tony said. "I wrestled 185 at Michigan State."

"Shit," I said. "I thought I recognized you." To Megan I said, "This guy beat me twice by a single point my senior season."

"Will Handt, Purdue?" Tony asked.

"The same," I replied. Tony and I shook hands.

"We're going waterskiing," Tony said. "You're welcome to come along. You do have to ditch the suits though."

"They're first-timers," Lauren said with a patient smile.

"Oh, ok," Tony replied. Turning to Lauren he asked, "ready?" Lauren nodded.

As Lauren and Tony splashed out to the speedboat, Lauren called back, "Nice to meet you. Most people here are older. I hope we see more of you."

Megan and I walked on. "Will," Megan asked, "do you think Lauren's 'hope to see more of you' meant she hopes to see us again or that she hopes to see us naked?"

"Probably both," I replied.

Megan and I spent the day at the beach in our suits. In late afternoon, more people showed up on the beach until there were, probably 50 people. At the center of the beach, just behind the sand, were a couple of oil drums which had been cut in half lengthwise and mounted on brick columns to form grills. Dad and some other the other men started fires in both grills. People, including Mom, brought meat, salads, corn, potatoes, beer, and wine from their houses. Someone had device with a playlist for music. Megan and I were, of course, the only clothed people at the cookout.

We were sitting crossed leg on the sand eating when Lauren and Tony came up carrying plates of food and sat down with us. Lauren had no hesitancy about sitting crossed leg even though that exposed her sex to me. We had seen them boat back into the cove about five hours after they left.

"Still have those suits on," Lauren said good-naturedly.

Not wanting to discuss undressing, I said, "Were you waterskiing the whole time you were gone?"

"No," Tony said, "probably only half of the time."

"We're not supposed to go nude out on the main body of the lake, but we do. No one ever says anything," Lauren said. She took a sip of beer and added, "some people we know had their boats tied up with some others. They were having a party, so we hung with them for a couple hours."