“That’s a tall task, but what the hell. I can’t feel any worse.”
“Okay, well, meet us at the Cliff Side Inn in an hour.”
“I’d rather not. Just come out to the house. I’m sure you know where it is.”
“Actually, I don’t, but I have the address and I can find directions on the Internet. See you in forty-five minutes?”
“Fine.” I got up and showered and changed into this lounging set that Robert had bought for me right before he died. It was a dark blue, our favorite color, and for some reason that soothed me. I twisted my hair up into a bun, the way he always liked, and then poured myself a drink. I curled up into the big wicker chair that had the comfy cushion in it and watched the only thing I’d allowed myself to look at since the funeral, our wedding tape. It seemed like I knew very little about my husband in retrospect, but I know that I loved him, which is why this was hurting so much.
Forty-five minutes after we hung up, Tanya was at the door with the other women in tow. “Can we make this quick? I have a bottle of wine to finish before bed.”
They all looked at me for a second and then introduced themselves.
“My name is Denise,” said a tall, light-skinned woman who was about twenty-five. Janet and Nicole followed; they looked like twins but weren’t related. Both were chestnut brown with dark hair in the short Toni Braxton cuts. The last woman was Jasmine. God, I hated her. She was the embodiment of that mythical brick house. Except that she was mixed, maybe half-Asian. Regardless, I suddenly felt even less attractive than I did five minutes ago.
She began speaking first. “I don’t want to make this any harder on you, but we all loved Robert, too.” They all shook their heads in agreement. “It would have been strange if we hadn’t showed up for the funeral, even though we could have probably come by the graveside later. We all knew each other and had been comforting each other, so we decided to take the risk and come together. If we had known about the others, we wouldn’t have come. I promise.” Once again with the nodding.
“So why are you here and what do you mean, comforting each other?”
That’s when one of the Doublemint twins spoke up. “I’m sure that it would be hard to make you think any less of us. We were sleeping with your husband and all—”
“Do we have to keep saying that?” Jasmine’s voice was sort of hypnotic,
though. Very pleasant. Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice that she had moved closer into my personal space than I normally like women to be.
“Anyway, the only reason that all of us knew Robert is that all of us were sleeping together, too.”
I’m sure the dumbfounded look on my face said a lot, but since I didn’t kick them out the other twin, Janet, started talking.
“I know you’re probably wondering why five very attractive women are sleeping together instead of with men. Well, we do sleep with men but we have more fun together. And before you ask how, let me just say that we had all left really bad relationships before we were initiated, so to speak. But every woman in this room had the right to stay in our little sorority or leave after we comforted her.”
“What in the hell does this have to do with me?”
Denise spoke up then. “We all loved Robert. He was very good to us and despite the fact that he loved you dearly, he loved the hunt even more. That’s what we were. Part of his hunt. We entered that role willingly but realize that you were never given a heads up on his outside activities. We know how much this hurts. Believe me, we’ve been there.”
“Yeah, right, and monkeys are going to fly out of my butt soon.”
“Well, we all better duck and your ass is going to hurt.”
I started cracking up then and moved back into the living room. “Would you ladies like a drink? And then someone can explain what you are doing here, because I still haven’t heard the reason.”
Denise and Janet nodded that they wanted some wine, but everyone else just sat down.
“Let me continue. Chelsea, we are here to initiate you. We figured that anyone that Robert loved could be someone we love. If nothing else, it could help you hold on to a piece of him.”
“Look, I have all the pieces of him I want. I have the house, the car, and all the things we filled this house up with. I have my memories and I have just enough anger to not dwell on the fact that he isn’t going to make any new ones with me.”
Tanya walked over to me and put my wineglass down. She led me over to my wicker chair and proceeded to untie my bun.
“Don’t you like it better when your hair is flowing around your face?”
“I like it when strange women don’t fondle my hair.”
But she didn’t stop. She kept running her fingers through my hair and over my cheeks. I don’t know if it was the wine or my general sense of exhaustion, but I just gave in to the sensation. It felt nice to have someone touching me again. Before I knew it, the others descended on me. I guess my lack of resistance was their cue because I felt my slippers and pants being gently removed. I felt hands making circular motions over different parts of my thighs before someone reached for my panties. They were off before I even thought to object. Tanya straddled me and pulled off her top, then mine. She leaned in and for the first time, I felt my naked breasts touching another set of naked breasts. It felt strange but nice. I couldn’t believe I was doing this but I had no intention of turning back now.
“Do you mind if I kiss you?”
I just shook my head no and then it happened. I kissed Tanya. I was kissing my husband’s mistress and, for some reason, that thought made my kiss more urgent. I thought about all the times he must have kissed all of them and then I felt my tongue seeking hers out. She wrapped me in her arms and started grinding her hips on top of me, and then I felt a tongue snake up the thighs that had been continuously stroked since they were bared. Suddenly it hit home. There was no hesitation or clumsiness. It probed into me so hard and fast that all I could do was moan.