Brookhaven Inn Ch. 04

Drew had her legs wrapped tightly around me. We had made love to each other enough by then to know what to do to get each other off. Sex with Drew was the ultimate experience of teamwork.

Drew could tell that I was ready to shoot. She dug her nails into the backs of my shoulders and began panting "come . . . in . . . me . . . now!" That was uncharacteristic of Drew and, I suspected, was for the benefit of our audience. I did come in her, hard. Drew had not yet come, so I kept working on the spot which I knew that she liked best. Not long after I had shot, Drew shuddered and clamped her legs even more tightly around me. She made a few barking sounds. Then she relaxed. She smiled and kissed me. We lay there and kissed for a while, with me still inside of her.

I finally pulled out of Drew, stood up, and helped Drew up off of the cushion. Janet, Jeremy, and Eve were all smiling. I couldn't read Brett's expression. Eve finally said, "Wow!"

Despite what I suspected were very mixed emotions, Brett had developed a hard-on. As Drew and I moved away from the cushion, Eve gently pushed Bret towards it. Eve got him on the cushion on his back, straddled him, and, as she lowered herself down, took his dick in her hand and guided it into her. Eve did most of the work riding Brett. She was a small, athletically built young woman with no fat. It was very enjoyable watching her muscles work under her slightly olive skin as she fucked Brett. I had the strong sense that Eve was enjoying being watched. Brett had an exciting girlfriend. I hoped that he appreciated her.

I'm sure that Brett came and I think that Eve did. She was up off of Brett quickly, helped him up, and turned to look at the rest of us with a huge smile. As a sort of curtain call, Eve reached a hand between her legs and wiped some of Brett's come off of her thigh with a finger. She put the finger in her mouth and sucked it clean.

The week after we had the sociology class at the Inn, Drew was notified that her father had died. Drew took the news more with resignation than grief. Her father had made good money and had benefits as a machinist until he was laid off several years ago. He had not found regular work after that and Drew's mother had gotten sick. Drew's mother had passed away the previous year.

I agreed to drive Drew and Denise to Toledo for the funeral. Hopefully, I could help them sort out whatever needed to be done with the estate. We took Cassie's SUV in case the girls wanted to bring anything back with them.

The house in which Drew and Denise had been raised was a solid, if old, house in a blue collar part of Toledo. The peeling paint and uncut grass suggested that their father hadn't invested much time on maintenance recently. It didn't take much effort from me to learn that, although he had owned the house free and clear when he was laid off; their father had since mortgaged the house for all it was worth. There was no equity and he had gotten behind on the payments. In fact, their father had no money anywhere that we could find.

The girls' aunt (their mother's sister) had already paid for the funeral, although I did get her to agree to let me reimburse her for half without telling Drew or Denise. The funeral was very sparsely attended. Both girls treated it as something which they had been anticipating. The girls visited with their aunt for a time after the funeral. The three of us went to dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant which the girls had liked growing up.

After dinner, we attacked the issue of what Drew and Denise wanted to salvage from their house. I was surprised at how little the girls wanted to take. It all fit in the SUV.

While the day of the funeral had been rainy, the next day dawned as one of those really pretty spring days we have in Ohio every so often. I was grateful for good weather for our drive back to the southeastern corner of the state.

Drew and I had slept together in the master bedroom. Denise had slept in the girls' old room. Drew and I were sharing the rather small shower when the shower door opened and Denise stepped in. Drew always claimed that Denise was the more attractive of the two of them. Drew was wrong. However, Denise was an attractive woman, especially naked.

No one said anything, and I certainly did not complain when both women started washing me. Although it was very cramped with three of us in the shower, I did enjoy the privilege of washing each of Drew and Denise, all over.

Although the three of us talked for most of the long drive home, no one mentioned our shower that morning. After we had dropped Denise at the apartment she shared (we would store her things from the house in Toledo at the Inn), Drew broached the subject.

"I hope that you didn't mind Denise joining us in the shower this morning," Drew said. "I think that she was feeling down and wanted some human contact."

"How could I mind showering with two beautiful women?" I replied.

Drew smiled. "You know," she said, "Denise likes you a lot." I left that comment alone.

Before we knew it, we were gearing up for the Memorial Day weekend, which was one of the make-or-break times of our year. Fortunately, the Inn was fully booked. Unfortunately, as it turned out, our guests included Tony and Cheryl Leland. It was about mid-day on Memorial Day when Tony knocked on our office doorframe and asked, "Cassie, Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Tony came in and closed the door. "You guys probably didn't know, but I sold my business in Pittsburgh late last year. A German outfit offered me such a ridiculous price that I couldn't turn it down. I've been looking for something to do since."

Tony paused. I wondered where this was leading. "Cheryl and I spend a lot of time in the winter at a resort in Florida. It has about 260 guest rooms, some condos, a nightclub, two restaurants, and the works. It is owned by a large resort operator. It's their only clothing optional resort and many of us who go there feel like the company just doesn't get CO. Anyway, I had heard that the company was trying to unload our resort a couple of months ago, so I bought it. Cheryl and I are going to move there. There's a condo unit we'll use initially but there's also some vacant land, so we may build a house there."

I was happy for Tony that he now had his own nude resort, but I still didn't understand why he was telling us. Perhaps he wanted us to know why he and Cheryl wouldn't be coming to Brookhaven any more. Boy was I wrong!

Tony resumed. "So, now I own a CO resort, but all I know about the hospitality industry is as a consumer. I'm an engineer, not an innkeeper. I need someone to run the place for me and it has to be a nudist. Anyway, it hit me: Caitlyn would be perfect. She obviously knows her stuff. She's very personable. She's a nudist. And she's drop-dead beautiful. Anyway, I'll give her complete autonomy except for things that call for a really huge expenditure. She hires all staff. She gets one of the condos to live in free. And I'll start her out at $ 100k. But, I know that the two of you are very close to Caitlyn, so I don't even want to mention it to her without your permission."

Tony had, undoubtedly knowingly, just put Cassie and me in a shitty position. On one hand, it would be devastating to us personally and to the business if we lost Caitlyn. On the other hand, it sounded like a great move for Caitlyn professionally. It would be unforgivably selfish for us to keep her from the opportunity if she wanted it. Shit!

Cassie had a look on her face like she'd been gut-punched. I said, "Well, we will have the original investors completely out of the business by this fall. We were going to give Caitlyn an equity share in the Inn when that happened."

Tony thought for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose that I could give her ten or fifteen percent of the equity."

"Tony," I asked, "would you let us talk to Caitlyn first? Give us a couple of hours and then you can offer it to her."

Tony gave what, in other circumstances, would be a very friendly smile. "Sure. I'll wait until around 3:00 p.m. Thanks."

Tony left the office. Cassie looked at me sadly. "We can't lose Caitlyn," she said.

"I know," I replied. "But, we have to let Tony pitch it to her. We just have to hope that she turns him down."

I went out to find Caitlyn and brought her back to the office. I let Cassie explain what Tony wanted to tell her.

Caitlyn's first response was, "No. I'm not leaving the two of you."

I then spoke words which I regretted for a long time. "Caitlyn, we love you. We want you to stay here forever. As soon as we're done paying off the California people, we're going to make you an owner. That will be no later than November. But, it does sound like Tony has a good career opportunity for you. It is a much bigger and better-known resort, more a hotel than our little Inn. And you can stay in the clothing optional part of the industry. You owe it to yourself to hear him out. But, I'll be honest; I hope that you turn him down."

I don't know exactly what was said between Caitlyn and Tony. We didn't hear anything more about it for several days. It was a warm Friday afternoon when Caitlyn came into the office and closed the door. She had tears in her eyes.

"Cassie, Harry," Caitlyn said with her voice cracking, "I've talked to Tony Leland about that job in Florida several times." Caitlyn stopped and looked at the floor. That told me that what I was about to hear was not going to be good news.

Caitlyn took a deep breath. She raised her head and looked at us. Cassie reached out and gripped my hand. "Harry was right," Caitlyn started. "It is a great opportunity and I owe it to myself to take it. I hate to do this to you. You have both been so great to me. But, I'm taking Tony's job. I'll start down there just after July 4. That gives me about a month to train Drew. She's very smart. She'll do a great job for you."

I felt like there had just been a death in the family. Cassie said, very softly, "Caitlyn, if it doesn't work out down there, you'll always be welcome back here." I wasn't entirely sure that I agreed with that, but now wasn't the time to say so.

Caitlyn said, "I'm sorry" and started to cry. She turned and went out the door. I looked at Cassie who was also crying. I hugged Cassie for a long time.

Finally, I said, "I need to find Drew and tell her what has happened."

I found Drew standing nude in the bar talking to our bartender about how we could improve our drink service at the pool and spa. I took her aside and explained that Caitlyn was leaving us. Drew had, I believe, mixed emotions. She was upset that Caitlyn was leaving because she liked Caitlyn. Caitlyn was impossible not to like. However, Drew also saw the opportunity to quit grad school and take Caitlyn's place at the Inn. I was not happy with that idea, but we were going to need Drew. She had experience with the Inn. She was very smart. She was a hard worker. She seemed dedicated to our lifestyle.

I must give Caitlyn and Drew both credit. In character for both of them, they worked very hard to give Drew all of Caitlyn's knowledge during the month before Caitlyn left. In other respects, our relationship changed, as I guess was inevitable. My conversations with Caitlyn became confined to business matters. Some combination of Cassie, Caitlyn, and I had made love together almost nightly since shortly after Caitlyn came to the Inn. However, neither Cassie nor I had sex with Caitlyn again. While Caitlyn officially still lived with Cassie and me in the manager's suite, Caitlyn found an unrented room to sleep in most nights during that month. It was sad. The personal relationship was ending along with the business relationship. Cassie seemed to take that very hard.

July 4 fell on a Wednesday that year, meaning that we were busy for the entire week. Fortunately, we were booked solid. That had two positive aspects. As was true every year, the Inn's financial survival depended on strong business around the three summer holidays. That year, being busy also helped distract us from Caitlyn's impending departure. We all agreed that Caitlyn would leave on Monday, July 8. We spent that Sunday helping her pack up. The things she needed immediately went into her car. Everything else was boxed and would be shipped to her on Monday.

Caitlyn came back to our bed that Sunday night. There was no sex. Caitlyn lay between Cassie and me and we both hugged her for hours. Very little was said. In the morning, it was obvious that Cassie had been crying. Despite the hot, sunny day, it was very dreary as we watched Caitlyn get into her old car and pull out of the Inn parking lot for the last time. Cassie and I held hands. There was nothing to say.

Cassie seemed lethargic. I attributed it to depression over Caitlyn's departure. That was until Cassie awoke about 3:00 a.m. one morning with very sharp abdominal pain. A long wait at the ED got her some pain meds, a referral to a GI specialist in town, and strict orders to see the specialist as fast as possible. The specialist asked a lot of questions, did some tests, and reported that she wasn't sure what was going on. She referred Cassie to another specialist in Columbus affiliated with the state's flagship university. We were told that the doctors in Columbus had access to much better diagnostic equipment than existed in our town. Again, Cassie was instructed to see the specialist as soon as possible.

To my slight surprise, Cassie was able to get in to see the Columbus specialist early the following week. That doctor ordered a number of scans, which I expected would take some time to schedule. To my greater surprise, the doctor got Cassie scheduled for CT and PT scans the next two days. We had an unscheduled stay over in Columbus. Dinner that first night at a restaurant near the university was very subdued. Cassie did not feel very well and the speed with which the health care system was attending to her hinted to us that someone thought that something was seriously wrong.

The next two days were an ordeal for Cassie and an ordeal of boredom for me. Despite their best efforts, medical waiting rooms are not pleasant places. When Cassie was finished on our third day in Columbus, we had a quick meeting with her specialist to be told that the doctor would be in touch as soon as the test results and images had been analyzed. Our drive home from Columbus was, if possible, more anxiety-ridden than our drive up.

Cassie got a call a day later asking her to come back to Columbus to meet with the doctor early the following week. I drove Cassie to Columbus for that appointment. With almost no wait at all, we were shown into a conference room in the doctor's office suite. We were introduced to two other doctors: a man and a younger woman. My heart sank when the younger woman introduced herself as an oncologist.

I've heard people say that extremely unpleasant events became a blur in their memory. I remember almost every word spoken in that meeting in Columbus. The doctors all concurred that Cassie had advanced liver cancer. The male doctor, a cancer surgeon, explained that the images taken the week before showed the tumors to be too large and too widespread to be surgically removed. Radiation, we were told, might be effective to slow the cancer's spread but was unlikely to cause remission.

Recounting the full agony of the late summer and fall of that year would be too painful for me and too depressing to read. Suffice to say that Cassie passed away a couple of days before Thanksgiving. During Cassie's illness, I devoted all of my time to her. In addition to a profound sense of loss, I felt intense frustration that Cassie had gotten sick and died and I hadn't been able to do one thing about it. If I couldn't keep my partner and lover alive, what the fuck good was I anyway?

One episode is seared into my memory. Cassie's condition had deteriorated to the point that we could no longer care for her at the Inn and had been forced to take her to hospital. Ironically, just a few days before that, we had made the last payment to SEOCOV, Cassie's original California investors, and they had sent the documents transferring their interest in Brookhaven Inn, LLC to Cassie.

Although we had never married, the hospital kindly let me stay in Cassie's room. Cassie was very weak and slept a great deal. However, when she was awake, her mind was a clear as ever. The Sunday before she died, she asked me to call Drew and ask her to come to the hospital. Cassie and Drew had a good relationship, but they were never as close as Cassie and Caitlyn had been.

After Drew came into the room, Cassie told us that Bill Haynes, the Inn's actual lawyer (I was retired from practice) had prepared and Cassie had signed the papers transferring her interest in the Inn LLC 50% to each of Drew and me. "That way," she said, "the Inn won't be tied up in probate."

While Cassie's body had been eroded by her disease, her face retained its beauty and character, and she was still capable of the intense look that told you that she was very serious about something. She had that look on that Sunday afternoon.

"Harry knows," Cassie said to Drew and me, "that I took the Inn clothing optional as part of a business plan, to create a niche in which we wouldn't face direct competition from all of the other accommodations which had opened in the region. I was not a nudist, but felt that I had to go nude if I wanted to understand and connect with our guests. That decision was one of the best decisions I made in my life. It is so very important that people have a place where they can go nude together in safety and comfort, without harassment. The two of you must keep the Inn operating as a nude resort. Promise that you'll do that!"

Of course, we promised. Cassie's expression softened. She looked into my eyes. "Harry," she said, "I'm so very sorry that I'm leaving you. There is so much I still want to do with you."

Intellectually, I knew that Cassie was dying and that she would be gone very soon. Emotionally, however, I just could not accept the reality that Cassie would no longer be in my life, or anyone's life. It was a good thing that a nurse came in just then to give Cassie another palliative injection. I stepped into the hallway and lost it. I was afraid that Cassie could hear my sobs through the wall, which wouldn't help her any; but I couldn't control myself. Drew gently put her arms around me.

The nurse left Cassie's room and, after a few minutes, I regained a low level of composure. Drew and I went back into the room. Whatever the medication was had given Cassie a slightly dreamy look and her voice was softer and tentative.

"Drew, Harry," Cassie said softly, "you are both very good for each other and the Inn needs you both. Promise me, please, that the two of you will stay together after I'm gone. Stay together your whole lives."

We promised.

Cassie's funeral, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, was very well attended. Despite our non-traditional lifestyle, Cassie was loved and respected in the community. The county commissioners were there. Debbie and Shay Anders were there. Caitlyn and Tony had flown up from Florida. The Inn's vendors were there. A number of people from the University, including Dr. Morgan and her husband were there. There was a, to me painful, reception at the Inn after the internment. For once, everyone at the Inn, including us, was clothed. Tony did pick that time to tell me, gloatingly I thought, that he and Cheryl had split up and that Caitlyn was living with him.

I was surprised, pleasantly, to see that most of these people, and all of the ones with whom we did business, knew Drew. While I was trying to take care of Cassie, Drew had focused on keeping the Inn going and creating for herself the relationships which Cassie had built; relationships that were essential to the Inn. In many ways, Drew and Cassie were alike. They were both very smart and physically beautiful. They were both extremely personable. They were both relentless in getting what they wanted without being ruthless. Just as had been the case for Cassie, I was discovering that people wanted to give Drew what she wanted.