It had been over 6 months since Donny and I, Rudy and Debbie had our winter skiing getaway in the mountains (see ‘A Relatively Fun Weekend’). Things had cooled between the four of us, mostly due to our various schedules, kids, etc. Actually, I believe none of us was prepared to take the ‘open marriage’ thing to the next level. I looked back on that experience more as a singular circumstance of chance, fascinating indeed, but not life changing. The whole spouse-swapping lifestyle just simply wasn’t worth pursuing.
Nothing was said by any of us, but it became kind of an unwritten law that we wouldn’t pair off with each other’s spouse, if at all possible. Our greater need was to preserve the lasting relationship between us and our families. We still saw each other on the rare occasion throughout the past 6 months, but always in the context of family outings and holidays.
We planned an upcoming dual family outing for July. Donny and I and our 19-year-old daughter, Meg were to join Rudy, Debbie and their two younger kids for a weekend of nature hiking and swimming. My brother’s kids and our daughter always got along famously, so having Meg join us would be like having a built-in babysitter for the weekend. All the arrangements and lodgings were finalized for the upcoming weekend, as the seven of us looked forward to a break in our summer routine. That was until we got a Tuesday night phone call.
“Well Babe, I’m afraid this weekend might be off,” said Donny, hanging up the phone.
“What do you mean?” I worried.
“Just talked to Rudy; Debbie’s Great Uncle passed away today in Boston. Even though she wasn’t very close to him, her family expects her to fly in for the funeral,” he said sadly.
“Dam, that’s a shame! We were so looking forward to… oh well –stuff happens,” I shrugged. “What did you mean, MIGHT be off?” I wondered.
“Rudy mentioned that Debbie said we should just go ahead with our plans without her,” Donny said.
“That’s nice of her. I mean we DO have reservations and all. What do you think?” I asked.
“I guess, if Rudy and the kids are OK with it…hell yes, we might as well go ahead,” Donny figured.
“Fine then; I’ll call him back and tell him we’re still ON!” I said, with renewed excitement.
Rudy and the kids were elated at our decision to go ahead with the trip.
“So glad you guys decided to go. I think we would have felt guilty about leaving without Debbie, thanks Sis,” Rudy said.
“As long as we have her blessing, we can’t see any harm in going,” I added.
Working as a private contractor for a computer consulting company, my husband’s free time was at a premium lately. After two solid months working with his current client, he was finally ready to get them up and running.
“I’m so ready to put this Hazelton thing to bed and get away this weekend!” Exclaimed Donny.
“So, it’s finally a done-deal? I know, you’ve spent a lot of extra time with them,” I added.
“Yeah, there were a couple of tough nuts to crack in Accounting, but everything should be ready by Friday,” he said, with a sigh of relief.
Meg and I packed for warm weather, considering the recent heat wave. A sophomore in college, Meg hardly needed my attention or advice regarding just about anything. So I was taken back, when she started discussing her latest boyfriend, Steve.
“He really likes me in this one,” she said winking; holding up a tiny white string bikini.
“Oh, I’m SURE he does, Meg –doesn’t leave much for the imagination, does it?” I laughed.
“Come on Mom, I’m sure you wore stuff like this, when you were my age,” she suggested.
“Nothing quite THAT revealing!” I stated, trying to imagine her tight petite frame in the skimpy suit.
Steve is Meg’s latest, greatest summer suitor, whom her father and I have yet to meet. Since the two of them have been pretty much stuck like glue lately, I was somewhat surprised she found time to spend this weekend with us. I found out later, the young stud had previous plans for the weekend.
“Here’s a black bikini, Mom. It’s too big for me, but I bet it would fit you,” she said, handing me what looked like the remnants of a handkerchief.
“Meg, you can’t be serious. I’ve got worn out dish rags bigger than that!” I snickered.
“Oh come on Mom. Take it along. Dad would love to see you in that,” she spouted.
“Yeah… right!” I said, shaking my head and tucking it in my suitcase to appease her.
We finished the rest of our packing without incident. As was our ritual, we sprawled out on our king-size bed to relax and discuss the latest the latest gossip, etc. I was privileged to hear, yet one more time, what a great lover Steve was and the latest nonsense her sorority sisters were up to. Call it female bonding, whatever. We both cherished these stolen moments; just being together and hanging out.
“Seeing how we’ve got to be up with the birds, we’d better get some sleep, Baby,” I yawned and began to undress for bed.
Meg was plenty tired, but was slow to pull herself off to bed. She continued chatting away, as I threw off my clothes and shimmied into a nightgown. I could tell by her disjointed comments, she was past tired.
“So Mom, did your friends ever make fun of your big boobs?” She asked out of nowhere.
“God, where did THAT come from?” I asked slipping under the covers.
“It’s just that some of the girls give me a fair amount of grief about mine,” she admitted, gazing down at her 32C chest.
“Oh, those girls are just jealous, Baby,” I quickly reasoned, trying to end the conversation and get some sleep.
“You’re probably right. They’ve just been acting strange lately, you know,” she started.
“I’m sure that’s all it is, Meg. Don’t let them bother you. Now let’s get some sleep. We’ve got to be on the road by 9:00 am,” I prompted her.
As she slinked off to her bedroom, I could sense there was more she wanted to share. However, with a nice long weekend facing us, I was sure there would be plenty of time to discuss whatever it was. I slipped off to sleep and only lightly stirred when Donny slipped in next to me. Our blurry digital clock read 4:00 am.
FRIDAY
“God Donny, what time did you get in last night?” I said, turning off the alarm.
“Geez, I don’t know –3 o’clock I think,” he mumbled and rolled over to hide his eyes from the morning light.
“How about four? What’s wrong; not that Hazelton thing?”
“Afraid so Babe. Some idiot accountant threw a wrench into everything last night. I don’t see how we’ll hit our deadline for transition, unless we work all weekend. Sorry Barb,” he answered.