Loosening Up Bk. 03 Ch. 21-23

One of the side celebrations at the party involved Joan Coswell. Her divorce became final two days before the party. She simultaneously changed her name back to what it had been before she got married. Dave kidded her that the Christmas party was her coming out party. Her nametag read Joan Paige.

Many of the executives knew through the grape vine (also including Donna Klaubert) and the open media (aided by Erin Steckler) about Brian's arrest and upcoming trial. He was still living in the old Coswell house, but had to wear an ankle transponder all the time to ensure he stayed in the country.

Seeing Joan and hearing her introduced as Joan Paige was a discontinuity for many who had known Brian, and then Joan instantly put them at ease with some witty comment about leaving a nasty past in the past with the old name, or something to that effect.

Led by Erin, the local news media did a number of specials on abusive behavior, and how emotional, sexual, and financial abuse were just as bad as physical abuse. She was also planning another blitz when the trial of Brian Coswell actually commenced, most likely in March.

Dave smiled as he watched Joan with several of the other wives of utility executives. She was so socially skilled and graceful, always managing to say just the right thing. She was smart, too, and had an innate beauty that he found hard to resist.

Dave had had the only physical interaction with her, and that was one time when he held her right around the time she moved in with his family after returning from two months of intense therapy at a facility outside of Austin, Texas. He'd held her while she watched some of the others in the Circle having sex and jilling off. He knew she'd watched since then, but no one had approached her for any sexual activity since she arrived.

Dave wondered whether she'd ever decide to fully join the Circle. After five months of living in the Prentiss home and being around everyday, she was the best known of anybody that had joined the Circle. She'd had deep and long-lasting discussions with everybody. She'd added herself to the roster of Circle members doing chores to help with meals, cleaning, and anything else of note. He had noted that she'd dressed more conservatively at the Circle get-togethers, but thought that might have been to discourage being hit on by anybody when she wasn't ready. Of course, on the evenings when group sex was on offer, she vanished quickly after dinner.

With the townhouses open, a number of moves had taken place. Christie, Holly, Ken, Donna, Erin, and Nancy had immediately moved into their units, all the same week as soon as the certificates of occupancy had been issued. Dale and Susan completed their purchase of Christie's house on the Circle.

Another unit had been purchased by Paul, Megan, and Ashley Steckler, so that they had a home on both coasts of Florida. That left one remaining unit in the eight-unit townhouse structure.

Dave had a feel about who would ultimately buy that unit, but in the meanwhile, the board of the Circle Cohousing Project took over ownership, and rented the place to members as guest quarters when they had visitors.

* * * * *

On Saturday, two weeks before Christmas, the late morning temperature on the patio of the Circle was eighty-five degrees F. The bathing suits had disappeared around the end of October, not that it got cold in Sarasota it just got relatively chillier after a long hot summer.

The bikinis were back in full force on that unique day. Dave realized he'd made a mistake when he took stock as he sauntered out after serving breakfast. There were no bikinis. There were monokinis and a couple of completely naked women, including two of the six to seven month pregnant women: Susan and Shelby.

Dave then did a double take at one of the nearly nude women only a dozen feet from the table where he usually worked, almost as though she'd chosen that location with purpose.

Joan rolled over and sat us, displaying her beautiful breasts to Dave. He could feel his eyes flare in desire. She held out a plastic bottle of suntan lotion. "Would you, please."

Dave set his books and iPad down. "With greater pleasure than you probably realize." He took the lotion from her and started to rub some into her shoulders and back as she turned away from him.

Joan said, "Actually, I can kind of guess the pleasure you might be realizing. I haven't intentionally teased you over the past five months, but I know you've watched me watching the others have sex and taking care of myself, especially after that first time when you held me. I wanted to have you hold me every time, but decided that was too risky. I want you to know, it's no longer a risk."

"What changed?" Dave questioned.

"Me. I've gotten stronger. I'm back to where I was before I met Brian. I'm back to being a whole person, that knows her mind, that has no illusions about anything, and that has the normal set of urges to which a middle age woman is subject."

"You know that no one in the Circle is exclusive."

"Oh, absolutely. I won't be either. I assume that I could be considered for membership."

Dave smiled and kissed her shoulder. "You already have been."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I did what politicians call a straw poll. I canvased everybody in the Circle, and the vote, as usual was unanimous about you, although unofficial because we didn't do it at an official member meeting. Everyone wants you in the Circle. Some thought you already were a member, although one that had personal issues to work through."

"Ah, that's so sweet. I love everyone here, and I've felt their love and support as I've evolved to where I need to be again. They all helped me in ways I can't enumerate. More specifically, yes, I'm eager to share myself with the others – both men and women. I've never done anything with a woman, but Emily talked to me about the phenomena not too long ago, and the girl-girl sharing sounded wonderful and spiritual the way she talked about it. I can hardly wait."

"What's stopping you now?"

"You!"

"Me? What do you mean?"

"Of the men in the Circle that I have the most affinity for, you may claim the top spot. Oh, I know you're married four times over, plus have another dozen-and-a-half women that also love you, but I do, too. Part of it is how you've taken care of me and treated me. You restored my faith in men, in fact; something I thought couldn't happen after Brian's did his thing with me. If I'm restarting my life by diving into the Circle, I want to be with you first.

"I think if I had to choose a woman it'd be Alice for the same reasons, although Emily and all your wives have been so gracious and respectful and supportive of me. I want them, too; but I hope they'll be tolerant because I'll be learning how to make love with a woman with them.

"So, what's stopping me? You. Stop stalling and make love to me. I love you."

Dave spoke softly after kissing her shoulder again, "I'm deeply flattered. I love you, too. I hope you know that by now."

Joan whirled around to face him. "I do." Their lips met and they shared many long sensuous kisses, that evolved to French kisses, and then just the daring and gentle duel of tongues between the newly committed lovers.

Joan said, "Let's go into the gazebo. I want the others to know we're there and that I've come on the market, so to speak." She chuckled as they stood and walked across the patio to the far end of the pool. Dave drooled; she was ALL delectable woman.

Dave worried for a moment, "Oh, wait. Matthew might arrive?"

Joan shook her head, "Not today. Gone with grandma to some funky circus up in St. Pete. Some of his friends and another parent are going, too."

Dave shut up after that, except to whisper sweet nothings in Joan's ear.

The penetration by him of her body was almost anti-climatic. He realized they'd had months of foreplay. He'd seen her every day, fallen in love, and couldn't culminate their romance until now. On that scale, it was epic.

Philosophers talk about two souls connecting on a spiritual plane, and that's how you know you've found a soul mate and are jointly partaking in the highest form of love. Dave knew they were right. This was one of the most spiritual connections he'd had in a long time.

He'd adopted the posture that the ideal way to become lovers was to experience non-sexual intimacy with someone first. Alice and he had developed their relationship that way in an environment high with strictures and rules of behavior. He'd achieved something like that with Joan over the past months, helping her through the highs and lows of her life as she divorced her husband, discovered that he had a dark side focused on doing her dirt, and then escalating her back to the ranks of normal human being.

They made love. It was simple and sweet. At Joan's request he did the special foreplay with her their second time, delivering to her so much physical pleasure that her circuits overloaded and she passed out from the overabundance of bliss. In her recovery, she pledged her love to him for all time, a not unexpected phenomena. Dave responded in kind, and then they made love again.

And then there was Julie, showing how much fun could be had on the clean up squad. Alice, Pam, and Emily appeared, and then Dale and Roy, Jack and Grace, and Rachel and Kat and others. Joan was surrounded not only in passion, but in love. Joan cried, but not in sadness but in joy at having finally found a home and a place to be loved and cared for like she'd always dreamed about.;

* * * * *

Sunday morning there was the usual buzz of activity in the core dining room for that time of year. Two squads of holiday shoppers were forming with the intent to visit some of the malls for Christmas presents.

There had been a Secret Santa drawing the week before. Circle members had drawn two names from a hat, and those were the people they were gifting in addition to their immediate family members in the Circle. Dave, with four wives, had to shop for six people. He'd been struggling all week thinking about ideas for his Secret Santa recipients.

Joan had been considered one of the Circle members despite not having been actually voted into the clan. She lived with Dave, Alice, and the other women, and not was a full sexual member, although she had yet to be with most of the others. She'd let it be known the night before that such activity would happen soon, if she had her way.

Joan collected her breakfast from Dave and Julie, the main cooks for that day. She sat where she knew he'd sit, and soon he joined her and the others at one of the long dining tables.

He kissed her good morning, and she hugged back in a ferocious way not trying to hide the passion she felt for the man.

Joan whispered to him, "When might my name come forward to be a member, and I think I have a second question?"

Dave smiled, "There's a general membership meeting tomorrow night. I wouldn't worry. I told you, I've talked to most everyone and we all love you and want you with us."

She got all teary. "If ... if I get in, would the Circle consider selling me the last townhouse?"

Dave smiled and looked over his shoulder. He caught Nancy's attention. She was sitting near the sideboard. He gestured until she understood, and she passed him up a large manila envelope that reached him after it passed through six other hands.

Dave handed Joan the envelope. "It's covered in there."

"Huh?" Joan opened the envelope and pulled out the sheaf of legal papers. She squealed in joy. 'REALLY?"

Dave nodded and so did about a dozen others sitting nearby. "We all love you and want you with us. The vote will be a formality. Your living with us was anticipated. That's the real estate contract. After that gets properly signed and some money changes hands, you can start to move in. You should have your lawyer look at it."

Joan started to cry on Dave's shoulder. He gave one his helpless expressions to the others nearby and rubbed her back in a comforting gesture.

Shortly after, Pam came inside from the patio area where she'd been sitting with the handheld aviation radio in her hand. She shouted, "Alice, Rachel, it's here! It's here! Come quick, we can see it land."

Alice and Rachel both shot up from the dining table and raced out the door to the patio. He watched them join Pam in one of the golf carts, and the little electric cart careen away between two of the houses heading for the Circle landing strip.

Dave rose with a few of the others and they moved outside to see what was happening. Alice had tipped him off, but he didn't know all the details. The various Circle members looked up as they strolled towards the landing strip. Two small high wing aircraft were in the pattern about a mile apart. Dave recognized the familiar Cessna 172 that Alice, Pam, and Rachel were taking lessons in, and often renting for trips and work travels.

The second aircraft looked slightly larger, but also belonged to the Cessna family of high wing single-engine craft. The 172 swept in and landed and taxied to the hangar by the time the group reached the edge of the airfield.

The larger aircraft executed a perfect landing and rolled out until it joined its companion in front of the hangar. The group swept down through the gate onto the airport property to see what was happening.

Dave watched Alice and Pam race up and hug the two men who had just emerged from the second aircraft. The kisses were anything but calm and friendly; they were passionate and the kind you see when lovers haven't been with each other for a long time. Dave knew of the expected arrivals but not the details about them or the plane.

Dave sauntered up to the group. Ken was standing there grinning watched the women. Rachel was getting in on the act, too.

Alice enthusiastically spoke, "Dave, this is Doug Quigley and Pete Potter, our flight instructors from outside Ashville, North Carolina. Guys, this is my husband, and Pam's husband." Alice held tightly onto Dave's arm, obviously proud of her husband.

Glad greetings and handshakes were exchanged all around, and a lot more introductions were made.

Ken explained, "We're buying this Cessna 182RG. It was a great deal and the guy that owned it had to let it go for financial reasons. These guys remembered that we were looking. I dropped in and gave it a once over a few days ago. The rest of you have to see it and decide whether to buy it, but it passes all of my tests."

Alice and Pam were already in the pilot and copilot's seats going over every instrument in the plane as Rachel peered in from the open pilot's door. Alice's voice kept crooning out so everyone could hear, "So cool! So cool!"

Dave said, "I think that means they like it." He turned back to Ken and said, "Who's actually purchasing this?"

Ken laughed, "A newly incorporated nonprofit named the Circle Flying Club or CFC. Between Owen, Alice, Pam, Rachel, and me, we've put up enough to pay cash and not need financing. If others want to join, they can gradually buy into the Club and of course rent the plane at prevailing rates for lessons. We already have a few others that are interested in flying."

Joan went over to the plane and peered in. Alice started to describe the various avionics to her. Dave looked over her shoulder with growoing interest. The plane was big and roomy, and he knew enough about the various models to know that this one could carry four passengers and some luggage a good distance and at a good speed. The panel full of avionics also appealed to his engineering nature to tinker with electronics. Yes, this was a good airplane.

Joan turned back to Dave, "I think I want to learn to fly. This all looks so interesting. I love gadgetry and this is right up there near the top of the list."

Dave chuckled, "I was kind of thinking the same thing. This would be like learning to drive in a high performance car, however."

Ken heard the comment, "Well, Sky Ranch, where I work, just bought two new Cessna 152's. They only hold two passengers and not much else. They're ideal as trainers, then you move up to something like this. Alice and Pam are ready for this. Rachel is almost there."

"Well, congratulations to all of you in the Circle Flying Club. I think this is very nice aircraft. Welcome to your new home," Dave stated loudly and patted the side of the substantial plane. Everybody cheered.

Doug and Pete stayed the night at the Circle, being fully welcomed back into friendship and lover status by Pam and Alice. Their prior assignations with the men were remembered from when they took their accelerated instrument training, so no one raised an eyebrow, least of all Dave who cuddled Joan again that night, along with Donna.

Monday night, a unanimous vote welcomed Joan Paige into the Circle and confirmed the offer of the last townhouse to her. Joan had already taken her first flight lesson over the noon hour that day with Ken Toomey at Sky Ranch airport, near where she worked.

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The end of Loosening Up: Book 3

Watch for Book 4, Coming Soon