Townies

"No, I won't do anything with anyone but you. Then, after this weekend, you get to decide if we ever do it again."

"I studied her face, so I get to decide?"

"Yes, I'll do whatever you say. If you say NO, I promise I will never come up here without you."

Tom was still pissed, but he could see Mary was seriously trying to appease him. He looked at his wife of five years. Until a short while ago he was certain she loved him just as he loved her. Now he saw her as somehow diminished in his eyes. He was no prude, but the fact that she had so easily slipped back into the party scene worried him.

Would he ever be able to fully trust her, knowing she craved the sexual variety the old gang offered? Would she be satisfied with just him as her only partner? If he did as Mary suggested and sampled the other wives, would it just be revenge or would it change his views on fidelity?

"Mary, I am deeply hurt by what you've done. You and your old friends have betrayed me. You should have told me long ago about your past with them. You decided I would not be able to handle it so you all worked to conceal the truth from me. Then you all did the same thing after you cheated last summer. How can I ever trust any of you to be honest with me?"

Mary sobbed, "You're right, Baby, I was just so worried about losing you, I should have told you then it would have all been out in the open long ago. Last summer was a stupid, selfish, mistake. I should not have been partying that way without you. It is not an excuse, but I was drunk and very high. I swear I'll never do that again unless you're with me."

Tom shook his head, "You're right, being drunk is not an excuse. It just allowed you to do what you wanted to do and what you truly wanted was to fuck all your friends again."

Mary cried harder, "Please baby, I don't need them, I need you. I promise I'll never do anything with them again. Please, baby, I'm so sorry."

Tom's heart ached as he looked at his wife's desperate, pleading face. "I know, I'm sure you're sorry and I'm sure you mean what you're saying. We can leave here in the morning and agree never to come back here. ... BUT, what happens a few years from now? What happens when your friends whisper in your ear and those old urges return?"

"No, no, no! I would never do that!"

"But, baby, you already HAVE done that. It's exactly what happened last summer."

"Oh god, oh god, what have I done? Please, honey, please give us another chance."

Mary clung desperately to her husband as she was racked with sobs. Tom was exhausted, the pain he felt crushed the energy from his body. They clung to each other as the night closed in on them and sleep slowly took them.

Mary awoke momentarily disoriented, and then she panicked when she realized Tom was not beside her. She screamed his name, "TOM!"

"Right here, I'm right here," Tom said from a chair next to the window.

Mary's heart pounded as she fought to calm herself. "I was afraid you'd left."

"I AM leaving. I need to finish packing and then I'm leaving. The question is, do you want to come with me or stay here with your friends?"

Mary climbed off the bed and crawled over to his chair. "You are my husband, of course, I want to go with you."

"Not so fast, there is more for you to consider. Two weeks ago John asked me if I'd consider a transfer to Atlanta. It would mean a small raise, but the Department Manager is retiring next year and John said it was not guaranteed, but he thought I'd be first in line for that job. I told him I'd consider it, but then I decided it was unfair to ask you to leave your job, your family, and your old friends for a promotion I may never receive. But now? ... I think I need a fresh start."

"Oh my god, Atlanta?" I'd probably have to get a new State Certification, but I'm sure I could get a job there. My mom will have a fit, but Dad will understand. When would we go? There's so much I'd need to do."

"Are you sure? Are you willing to give up your friends and just move away?"

She grabbed him in a fierce hug, "Of course, I love you! I want to spend the rest of my life loving you."

She stood and pulled him back to the bed. They made love and held each other without talking. After a long while, Tom spoke, "We need to pack and get going. You need to tell them why we are leaving."

Mary found the wives in the kitchen and she told them she was leaving.

"Why," Annie asked. "Is he forcing you to go?"

"No, Annie. He forced me to look at what I'd done and how we all treated him. I begged him to give me another chance. He's been offered a transfer to Atlanta and we're going to move there."

"Atlanta? What the fuck, Mary? How could you agree to that? We'll never see you! I thought we were going to restart everything! I want you with us, I want Tom with us. Atlanta? Jesus, Mary, you can't be serious about this!"

Mary sighed, she was beginning to understand that maybe her friends cared more about the fun they could have and less about what was best for Mary and her marriage. She looked at the shocked faces of her friends.

"Look, Tom is my husband, I love him and want to be with him forever. I love you guys, but not like I love him. I had fun with you, but I will never again risk my marriage for a little fun. I hope you all have a good life, but I will not be a part of it."

Annie was angry, but Sarah stepped forward and embraced Mary. "Honey, we want you to be happy. If you need to go to Atlanta, so be it. We will miss you and I hope we can stay in touch online." She kissed Mary's cheek.

Annie's frustration boiled over, "I can't believe you're letting him take you away from all of us. You know you love what we have, how can you just give that up?"

"Annie, I know you're angry, but please try to understand. Tom means everything to me. I want to have his children. I'll never do anything to hurt him again. I'm sorry that is not what you want, but that's the way it has to be."

Tears leaked from Annie's eyes, and she turned and stormed away. Sam put a hand on Mary's arm. "Mary, she loves you. She loves being with you, but in time she'll understand. We know you have to do what you need to do and we wish you luck."

Mary hugged her two girlfriends and then headed back to her room. Tom had everything packed and ready to go.

"How'd it go?"

"About like I expected. Annie is mad, but she'll get over it. Sam and Sarah seemed to understand and I think they'll work to help Annie to understand as well."

"Are you sure you want to do this? I want you to go see your parents when we get back. I'll text John and let him know I want to see him on Monday to discuss the timing of the transfer."

"I'm sure!" Mary said firmly. She said it with conviction but knew she still had some doubts to overcome. Deep down she would always have fond memories of making love with all her friends. They were all special to her and they were all part of her early sexual development. She knew Tom was right to have concerns about the future, but she was determined to be the best wife she could be.

Two months later Mary was excited to tell Tom she had landed a new position at a nice suburban school near their apartment. The move had been stressful, but they got settled in. Now with her new job, things were progressing nicely. Tom was still secretly checking up on Mary via the GPS devices he'd put in her car and her two favorite purses. He also had the passcode for her phone and checked it from time to time. It wasn't foolproof, but it did help to reassure him.

Not quite two years later their first child was born and 14 months after that their second child was born. Life for them was hectic as they were busy raising children and handling demanding jobs.

Tom had stopped checking up on Mary until she received an invitation to her High School reunion. It was like a reminder of his worst nightmare. All of his old fears and concerns came rushing back as Mary expressed an interest in making a weekend of her return home for the reunion.

"I know you're working that Saturday and can't go, but I thought I'd fly out early Friday and take the kids to my parents. Then, because Monday is a holiday, I thought we'd stay and fly back on Monday afternoon."

"So you'd be gone from Friday morning until Monday evening?"

"Yeah, that way my folks would have a nice visit with the kids. I just wish you could come with us."

As the reunion weekend approached, Tom began checking Mary's phone. Her texts showed she planned to spend all day Friday at her parent's house. Saturday evening was her reunion event and she told her parents to expect her home late that night, but not much past midnight.

A few days later he discovered a text from Annie telling Mary that she and John were hosting a cookout at their lake house on Sunday afternoon. They invited Mary and said she was welcome to spend the night if she wished.

The text was two days old and Mary had not said anything to Tom about it. He wanted to quiz her about it, but then she'd know he'd been checking her phone. His anxiety grew as the next few days passed and her departure date approached.

Friday morning, just before heading to work, Tom hugged his wife. "Babe, I hope you have a great time at the reunion. Please give my apologies to your parents. I'll call the kids each evening to say good night."

"Oh sweetie, I wish you were coming. I really enjoyed last night and hope we can have a repeat performance on Monday night." She hugged him and kissed him deeply, but she said nothing about Sunday night.

As promised, Tom called and spoke with the kids on Friday night. He spent several minutes talking with Mary and again she said nothing about Sunday.

He talked to his in-laws and his kids on Saturday night. He tried not to let his worry show in his voice as he left a voicemail for Mary at about 11 PM. The next day, Sunday, he was full of worry and fearful of what the evening may bring. Around the kid's bedtime, he screwed up enough courage to call his in-laws.

His kids were all excited to hear from him and talked a mile a minute. Tom was so depressed he barely paid any attention. His mother-in-law came back on the line to tell him she was throwing the dirty little critters into a warm tub.

"Okay June, thank you for taking such good care of the kids. You and Harold are wonderful grandparents and the kids obviously love you."

"Thank you, Tom. We love these kids and we love their Daddy too! I'm sorry you couldn't be with us this weekend."

Tom could hear the kids yelling in the background. "Well, I better let you get to it, good night, June."

"Good night, Tom."

Tom put his phone down and turned to sit heavily in a chair. His mind raced as he imagined what was happening at the lake house. His phone chirped and he picked it up without looking at it.

"Hello," he said in a flat, dead, voice.

"Why'd you hang up on us?" Tom instantly recognized his wife's voice. "I was pulling out clean jammies for the kids. You could've waited a few more seconds."

It sounded as if she was walking and then Tom could hear the kids talking loudly and laughing. "Hey! DO NOT splash your grandmother!" Mary chuckled.

She must have stepped back out of the bathroom as the background noises faded. "I miss you! I wish you were here with us right now."

"I wish I was there too. So, what did you do today?"

"I took the kids out to the lake house. John and Annie hosted a family cookout. The old gang was there with all their kids. It was a lot of fun, but the kids wore me out!"

"Oh, you took the kids? I guess I didn't know what your plans for today were."

"Really? I forwarded the last email Annie sent me, it had all the details. I just assumed you read it, I guess I should have said something."

"No, no, it's my fault, I need to do a better job of keeping up with my emails, besides, I should have just asked, but I was afraid."

Mary was silent on the phone for a few heartbeats then she gasped, "Oh my god! Baby, I'm so sorry. You were afraid to say anything because the texts didn't mention the kids! That was all in the group emails. If you didn't read the emails, you must have thought I was going out there alone."

"Yes, I ... Wait! You knew I was reading your texts?"

"Babe, you're not very subtle. Sometimes you didn't even put the phone back where you found it," she said and laughed.

"I'm sorry. When you got the invitation and I knew I couldn't go, I began to worry. I started reading your text and when I saw the one from Annie, asking you to come to the lake house, I got flashbacks about the Townies."

"It's fine, I guess I thought we were past that, but, you know what? I fucked up and almost lost you, so you can look at my phone anytime you want. I want you to do whatever you need to feel secure."

Tom had no doubt his wife meant what she was saying. "I love you."

Mary chuckled softly into the phone. "Hold on," Tom heard some rustling around, and a door closing, then his phone chimed for FaceTime. He hit the accept button and his lovely, naked wife appeared. She smiled and waved a hand over her body. "This is yours and yours ONLY, for as long as you want it."

He smiled at her as she brought the camera closer to her loving face. "Oh, I want it, and I think I will want it a lot when you get home tomorrow night!"

That weekend had stirred some old concerns in Tom, but his wife had remained true to her word. Maybe it was just maturity but the carefree fun she had enjoyed with the Townies as a young adult no longer held the allure she'd once felt. Tom and her children were the most important thing in Mary's life and she was never going to risk losing them.

End

Authors Note,

While writing this, I gave some thought to having Tom just lie to his wife that night at the lake house. He could have agreed to fuck all of the Townie wives while Mary watched and then he could have dumped her after getting his revenge. I think he may have been justified in doing that, but felt it might be a bit hypocritical if he did. How do you think he should have handled the Townies?