Loosening Up Bk. 03 Ch. 01-04 - Growth

Dave watched the couple as the likely newest male member of the Circle made love to the wife of the friend he'd made at his leadership seminar in Sedona a few months earlier. Of course, Dale would probably become some kind of member of the Circle, too; at least Dave hoped so.

* * * * *

Monday night at the regular board meeting Ty announced that the board was considering a building program elsewhere on the property owned by the Circle Cohousing Project or CCP. He explained about a request from one of the 'singles' that lived off campus to be closer to the group, yet not have a full house devoted to them the way Christie did.

Christie was at the meeting and expressed interest in something smaller than she'd bit off with the house. She told the group, "If I had an apartment or town house I think I'd be happier. I'd be able to save money, too. Right now every penny I earn is spent each month, and a lot of that is for the monthly CCP fee, and I am NOT complaining one bit."

Ty reminded her and everyone that if they want to sell their home, they have to comply with the provisions in the CCP foundation documents regarding the acceptability of the buyers to the membership in order for the sale to be completed.

Dave saw a flurry of activity and hand gestures between Susan and Dale at the back of the large core living room where they'd been invited to attend the meeting as observers. He made a guess as to the reason, expecting he'd find out later. He inwardly smiled to himself.

Jack was invited to say a few remarks regarding the expansion. He pulled an easel to center stage and put up a large artist's rendition he'd drawn for a cluster of town houses. He spoke, "I recommend something like this two story building that contains eight town house apartments. I'd locate this complex where the land rolls off towards our airport. This would lower the profile of the building relative to the existing homes. With landscaping we could make it almost disappear, even from Circle Drive."

Jack put up a second sketch on the large two-by-three foot foam board. "This is a typical floor plan for one of the units. As you can see, downstairs we can comfortably have a kitchen, living-dining room, a small den, powder room, utility room, and stairway. The upstairs in this design can be parsed into three bedrooms with baths, and the small hallway. If you were to only do two bedrooms you could make each larger. In this design the unit is around 1,800 square feet. If you cut down on various room sizes here and there, you could get it down to 1,500 square feet without impacting the functionality very much. Lower is also possible, but given our neighborhood I recommend against it."

Ty asked, "What are next steps?"

Jack smiled, "Another round of interviews, emphasizing the singles this time since they might be the potential occupants. I plan to start those this week, and if all goes well I'll finish by Friday. I will be asking each of you what you think of this strawman design as part of the interview, so you can start to form you opinions. I'll leave these panels here in the core living room so you can examine them more closely at your leisure. I'll stand them up on the sideboard over there."

Ken raised his hand and asked, "Will affiliate members be included?"

"Oh, yes, especially since you are likely to be an occupant. By the way, if any of you find other floor plans you like or you've lived somewhere and liked that experience and want to see it duplicated here, please tell me and provide as many details as you can."

"And we could have some input to the room layout and design details?"

"Absolutely, pending overall board approval, of course."

Ken looked happy and very interested in the process; so did Nancy, Christie, and Holly. Dave noted that Roy and Owen were silent but only modestly interested. He knew from various conversations that they were exceptionally happy with their regular homes on the Circle.

The meeting ended shortly after that exchange. Dave watched Susan pulling Dale behind her as she made a beeline for Christie. When they found the hot little sexpot, they waited until she was free and then the three of them went outside onto the darkened patio to talk.

* * * * *

Alice got home from work on Wednesday afternoon, going straight to her bedroom and changing into the monokini she planned to wear for the cocktail hour. At thirty, she still had what Dave assured her were the greatest set of tits in the Circle. She had just enough self-assuredness to believe him. She was well-endowed but didn't want to let her physique go to her head. She knew as soon as she got pregnant that her form would likely change forever. Her breasts would fill and then sag, never to return to their pristine and pert condition. Her hips would spread to accommodate the baby and childbirth, never to return to their trim state. Stretch marks would plague her abs and torso in visible places. All that would be true, but she'd have a delightful baby. The first of two she hoped.

As Alice came out onto the patio, she found Susan sitting in the shade of an umbrella right in front of her. She put her towel down and greeting her visitor. "Hi, Susan. What'd you do today that was fun? Where's Dale?"

Susan laughed, "Dale's playing golf and you'll be shocked by what I did. I read through the entire notebook Dave loaned me of the foundation documents for the Circle Cohousing Project and took notes -- articles of incorporation, the declaration, the bylaws, and the rules and regs. The lawyer that helped you with those was good and knew his stuff. I found his name in there, so I wanted to get permission to contact him."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem. I can also think of better things to read on holiday."

Susan's light demeanor, "Well, ... I have a question or two for you again. Could you tell me the philosophy that the various women or men have about getting pregnant again?"

"Sure," Alice said. "Not a problem. Dave and I are at one extreme. We want to know the paternity of our child, and I want it to be Dave. Pam is the same way. Julie and Heather are more relaxed about paternity and we're content with that as a family. When the time comes, I'll have the men other than Dave wear a condom when we make love, at least until I get pregnant.

"Sean and Kat are at the other extreme. Someday she'll just stop birth control and see what happens. If she gets pregnant there'll likely be no idea which of the men did the deed, at least with some degree of certainty. She might know her peak fertility days and whom she made love with, but she won't know for sure which man impregnated her.

Wendy and Dev are in the middle someplace. They want to limit the sperm donors to a small circle of men. Dave is one of them and so is Sean. They subscribe to the belief that the sperm from older men makes babies more susceptible to various birth defects, so they plan to avoid Roy, Ty and Jack, for instance. Wendy told me that Ken is borderline since he's thirty six. You get the picture.

Of course, Grace has already had Rachel and isn't going to have any more. She's even started menopause with hot flashes and such. I don't think Christie will worry about paternity, when the time comes. I'm not sure about Clarisse, Nancy, Holly, or Shelby. Dori plans to remain childless and be every kid's special aunt."

Alice looked at Susan and realized that she'd been hanging on every word. "Is that what you wanted to know?"

"Kind of. I get the sense that no one thinks ill of anybody else's view on the subject."

Alice nodded. "I think that's true. We're not an overly judgmental group. I've never heard a large discussion on the topic. What I know is only because of a couple of casual discussions the women have had. I talked to Dave, of course."

Alice felt something was off, "Is there a problem of some kind?"

Susan's eyes got glassy. "Maybe. First, I need to tell you that I want to join the Circle. Dale does, too. We talked extensively about it before we even came on this trip. We don't know whether we'd be acceptable to you all, but we'd sure like to be considered." She paused and added, "I want to be involved so badly that I'm willing to beg."

Alice smiled, "I think you two would fit in well with all of us. You're both so friendly and helpful, and you blend into our crazy social life with no problem."

"What if the person that wanted to join was pregnant?" Susan choked up as she posed the question.

"Are you?"

"Yeah, I think so. I haven't had a period since we were here six weeks ago. This week I'm missing my second one. This is very unusual. I'm not even supposed to be able to get pregnant. I'm all fucked up inside from an accident when I was a kid."

Alice rose and went to Susan and hugged the young woman to her. "Oh, Susan, that's wonderful. What a great blessing."

Susan sobbed, "I don't know who the father is. Dale doesn't know yet. It was one of the reasons I had to come back this week. I had to talk to you about this. You're like the leader of all the women and now you're my best friend. I knew you'd tell me straight what I should do."

Alice continued to hug Susan and comfort her until the tears dried up. A couple of the other people on the patio glanced at the women, but no one intervened.

Alice finally said, "Come take a walk around the Circle with me." She pulled Susan out of her chair, and they both put on their flip-flops. Alice led them out to the walkway around the outside of the homes and they headed off in the counter-clockwise direction.

Alice said, "First off, you have to tell Dale. For good or bad, he's your partner and you have to involve him."

"But what if he gets mad and leaves me?" Susan said in a tone laced with high anxiety.

"Won't happen," Alice assured. "The rest of us will beat him into submission. Think of it this way; he brought you here six weeks ago at his insistence. He WANTED you to do what you did with the other men. He was the one questing after a completely different lifestyle. Well, he has to accept the consequences of what he got. I'm sure he's already thought about this, but not specifically. He'll be fine with it."

Alice thought and said, "That sounds like resignation, but I think he'll be thrilled about what happened. He's not going to leave you. He's going to be a daddy and love every minute of it."

"Oh, I hope so." Susan sounded so worried.

"When we get home, you dress up all pretty and wait for him. After he's cleaned up from his golf game, why don't the two of you go out for dinner. Take my car. I'll get you reservations at a restaurant that'll give you a booth away from the other diners. You tell him in your own words that you love him, what happened, and tell him about your worries and anxieties, too. Don't hold anything back -- anything!"

Back at the house Alice helped Susan get ready for an important night out with her husband and called a restaurant named Baci to get them a booth for dinner. Susan looked hot by any standard. When Dave got home, he commented on his friend's wife in her presence so she knew she'd present well. Alice only told Dave they were going out. She'd fill him in later.

Dale arrived home from the golf course a few minutes later and was informed of his dinner out. He beat a hasty retreat to the shower and then dressed nicely in casual clothes and a borrowed blazer. Susan and Dale left for dinner just in time to make their reservation.

After they were gone, Dave and Alice went out to the patio to join the others. She asked him, "Are you ready to be a father?"

Dave gave her a sideways glance, "Got something planned that we should talk about?"

Alice laughed, "Not yet, but Susan might. She's pretty sure she's pregnant, and also certain that it happened when she was here last time."

Dave's eyes flared, "I think she had sex with all of the men."

Alice smiled, "Including you, multiple times. So, you might be the father or donor or whatever you want to call it."

"Shit. What are they going to do?"

"She's telling Dale over dinner. I guess it'll be a joint decision. If he doesn't continue to love and care for her, I want you to beat him up." She hugged his arm to her.

Dave was not a man of violence. He gave her a peculiar look. He added, "Dev maybe. He's the dangerous one we're never sure about."

"Do any of the others know?" He glanced around the core living area and patio.

"No, I don't think so. Tonight is the big reveal for her husband. She's full of anxiety about the whole situation, particularly about not knowing the paternity of the baby."

Dave shrugged, "You and I care, but most of the others don't. I don't care about Matthew's paternity, but I do love Heather. I could see that they weather this in a positive way."

"Dale may need your help to see the light in that regard once they get back from dinner. She's praying that he won't get mad and leave her."

"I think he's more laid back than that but I guess we'll know in two hours."

* * * * *

Dave was cuddled up with Alice and Heather in the core media room watching television when Dale and Susan came back from dinner. They stopped at the door to the room and interrupted the viewing.

Dale said, "Might we have a few minutes of your time in about five minutes? We want to change into casual clothes but need to talk to you."

The Prentiss family nodded as the Harnetts disappeared. They were back dressed like the others in a monokini and athletic shorts only three minutes later.

Dave turned off the TV. Since they were the only ones in the media room, he thought that was as good a place as any for the talk. He expected what might be said.

Dale said, "I guess you know that we might be pregnant."

Dave nodded. He noted that Susan was remaining mute, but also that she was barely holding herself together.

Dale went on, "I'm not sure what to ask, but one thing is clear, namely that we'd like to move into the Circle with you all."

Dave nodded again, his standard response these days since he'd learned about the Law of Delay. Don't make decisions or statements until you have to. Wait and gather more information, and maybe even the need to say or do anything controversial will disappear.

Dale visually shifted gears. He said, "With a different perspective we talked to Christie after Monday's board meeting that you so nicely let us attend. She's willing to sell us her house to us, pending our approval by the members, when one of the new town houses that were discussed become available for her to move into. In the meanwhile, if we were to get accepted she'd allow us to move into her house with her, but ... well ... member approval. What's involved?"

Dave smiled, "I don't think that'll be a problem for you, particularly with the potential father of your child being one of the Circle members."

"It could also be me," Dale argued.

"Or me," Dave replied. "Another question, though; what about you jobs?"

"Over dinner, Susan told me about reviewing all your cohousing legal documents. She's a paralegal, as you know. She was hoping to get an introduction to your lawyer that prepared those documents for you, with an eye towards getting a job with him or her. As for me, I guess I'd quit the outfit I work for in D.C. and look for a job down here. In this economy, I think I could get a new job and prove myself quite quickly."

Dave said, "So, your next hurdle seems to be getting member approval. Let me worry about that for now. I assume you do have a reason for wanting to be in the Circle, or do you?"

"Dave, we had our reasons before I knew about Susan's state. We have felt so welcomed and loved here, and we've found an outlet for the friendship and affection that we want to give other people. People accept it here, rather than react with suspicion. Of course, there's also the openness about sex, but that's really a manifestation of the deep friendships -- even loving friendships -- that I see and hope we could be a part of. We want to give as well as receive. I love the commune or cohousing idea, too; at least as you have it playing out in the Circle. I think you drew the lines in the right places between private quarters and the shared core."

Dave asked, "Do you have any reservations about any of us? Who we are, our jobs, our avocations, our viewpoints, our political persuasions, how we behave, anything?"

Dale answered firmly, "Not one. You're not all alike, and that's important to us. I don't think we'll be quite like any of you, either. I think you all revere the diversity among you."

"Good answer. You got all the Circle philosophy on your last visit. If any of that grinds on you, we should talk about it."

"Oh, no, quite the opposite. I agree with it to such an extent that we are ready to up-end our lives and move here, even without solid jobs in hand. Forever may be too strong a term, but I can't see us changing back to the way we were. You know I came to you on a quest, and now I'm sure I've found the holy grail."

Later, Dave made love to Susan again, after the conversation about joining the Circle. Only a few feet away, Dale made love with Alice and Heather. To enhance the mood shift from the more business side of things, Alice had put on one of her porn videos.

Chapter 3 -- Promotion

Dave made the rounds over the next three days as the opportunity presented itself for him to see every Circle member and affiliate. The question he asked was, 'What do you think of Dale and Susan Harnett becoming Circle members?'

The response was uniform and enthusiastic, 'Oh, yes. I've been treating them as though they were members, but certainly. They belong with us.' When Dave had talked to everybody, he suggested to Dale that he and Susan stay over to the following Tuesday before returning to Atlanta.

Thus, at Monday evening's board and member meeting he presented the motion that they be elected as affiliate members until they could physically buy Christie's house, and then they would automatically shift to being regular members of the Circle. The vote in the room was unanimously in favor.

The pair had gone out to a movie, but had been nervous because they knew from Dave that he was going to call for the vote on their membership. They were ecstatic about the results, and pledged to be good Circle members from the moment they were around. Susan cried. Dale look relieved.

The next day, the couple was gone by the time the others in the Circle started to move around to get ready for work. Dave suspected they had a lot to do around their home to get ready to move to the Circle.

Dave took Alice, Heather, and Julie out to dinner on Wednesday evening, and then they went to see the third episode of50 Shade -- a movie calledFifty Shades Freed. Over ice cream after the movie the four discussed the film and book trilogy.

Alice said, "I loved the story. It really was our cup of tea. She was so innocent at the start of the series, and ended up very savvy at the end."

Dave commented, "And, they had vastly different positions about the BDSM stuff that Christian was into, and they each moved significantly towards each other as the story progressed. Love resulted in them moving."

Heather asked, "Didn't the two of you move in your loosening up process?"

"Oh, yes. Tremendously, but we moved from about the same place for each of us to the same new place for each of us."

Julie followed up, "What would have happened if you hadn't taken the same journey and ended up in the same place?"

Dave shrugged.

Alice said, "We probably would have separated. It happens to established couples every day. They chalk it up to 'growing apart,' or 'having different goals,' but the end result is the same. You or your partner are no long the same person you were when you married them. One of you has changed and the other didn't keep pace."