Wife Wants a Hall Pass Ch. 48

I lay there and thought for a moment about what the morning would bring. I let my mind touch on my meeting with Larry. I didn't really know how to say what I wanted him to know. His last comment to me earlier, made me feel like he wanted to talk to me. I thought, "The meeting will take care of its self." I pushed Larry out of my mind.

I treated myself to happier thoughts. I had a vision of Caroline. She was standing naked in the flicker of firelight at the carriage house. It was cold there. Her nipples were at attention. She gave me her "little-girl-next-door" smile. I imagined that she was blushing but I couldn't tell in that light. I thought, "Athenais, the sexiest bitch on the planet." I knew I would dream about her.

I held Linda a bit tighter and I slept.

XXXXX

Morning came for me early. We had gone to bed early. Not even the glow of predawn was leaking into our bedroom. I looked at the backlit face of the clock on my bedside radio. It wasn't yet five-thirty. I snuggled closer to Linda and lay there another few minutes. I had a lunch appointment with Caroline Bixby's husband. I had to be at the Circle Grill in Dallas at eleven-thirty. I needed to leave here before ten.

Today was a workday for Linda but she didn't need to go in until nine. I could let her sleep for another couple of hours. I thought, "I could wake her up for an early morning quickie."

The monster spoke to me in my mind. He said, "Let her sleep, Luke." I laughed at myself.

I kissed Linda on the back of her neck and slipped out from under the covers. I made sure she was warm and covered properly. Our bedroom is in a separate heating and cooling zone than the rest of the house. We always maintain snuggle weather in there. I adjusted the thermostat to seventy-two degrees so it would be warm when Linda got up. Then I closed the window that had been open just a crack.

I went into the bathroom. It was warm in there and I did my morning routine except for my shower. I saved that for later. I dressed in sweats and running shoes before I went to the kitchen. I set the coffee maker to work, put on a light fleece jacket and walked to the running path around our lake.

One lap is one mile. I do three laps three times a week and I swim laps in our heated pool three times a week. Normally, I stretch and then walk my first lap as a warm-up and then run two six-minute miles back to back. I use my walk back to the house as a cool down period. This morning, I did the first lap in a slow jog. It was a bit cool out. When I got back to the starting line, I had warmed enough that I could leave my jacket on a bench and do my run in sweats only.

Coffee was ready when I returned to the house. I took a cup to the dining room and sat near the picture window that faced east. I drank my coffee and watched the world finish waking-up.

It was almost seven-thirty and I was finishing my second cup when I first heard Linda moving around upstairs. I stayed where I was until she had finished her morning ablutions and I heard the shower come on. There are some things that girls do in the bathroom that I don't want to be a part of. Showering is not one of them. I joined her there. My God, she is beautiful even when she is wet all over like a waterlogged kitten.

We have bathing each other down to a science. I usually get a kiss and a hug or two and sometimes, when we have time, we get downright nasty with one another. Linda didn't have time this morning. I settled for a hug and a kiss.

We dried each other and I went to the kitchen in my robe and slippers. I made a fresh pot of coffee and breakfast sandwiches while Linda dressed for work.

Linda got away on time and I dressed and left about fifteen minutes early. I arrived at my destination about half an hour early. I assumed I had beaten Larry there but I couldn't look for his car in the parking lot. I didn't know what he drove. I decided to wait in my car. I parked where I could see both the entrance to the lot and the front door of the restaurant. Maybe I would see him arrive.

If there were going to be fireworks, I would rather confront him outdoors than inside the restaurant. I really didn't expect trouble but the words, "situational awareness," came to mind. Twenty minutes later, I was about to assume he was already inside when he arrived. He was driving a nice Chevy pick-up.

I watched him park and then got out of my little TR3 and walked toward the front door of the restaurant. When we were close enough for him to hear me, I said his name. He looked up and recognized me. He surprised me by smiling.

He changed direction and walked toward me at a faster than normal clip. He was still smiling. I thought, "That's exactly the way I would approach someone if I wanted to catch them off guard and sucker punch them.

I tried to appear nonchalant but at the same time, I achieved a stable platform under my center of balance. I could defend myself.

He stopped a step or two before he got to me and held out his hand for me to shake. I took it. His shake was firm and honest. I felt myself relax. There was no threat here.

He said, "I made a reservation. Come with me." He demonstrated that he didn't feel I was a threat by turning his back on me and walking toward the door. I followed him in and he said his own name. A cute young girl escorted us to an out of the way booth where we could talk with some expectation of privacy. She handed each of us a menu and asked for our drink order. We both asked for water.

I took a few seconds to recap my impression of him. I had been subconsciously sizing him up since the first second I saw him. He seemed poised, confident and in good humor. His interaction with the pretty, young girl that was waiting on us was courteous and it seemed natural for him. Physically, he seemed to be in much better shape than he was the last time I saw him. He moved and carried himself much better. He definitely wasn't projecting the image of the jerk I had expected to meet this morning.

While we were alone, I said, "Larry, you seem to be in a much better mood than I expected you would be, given our circumstances. I certainly expected more friction between us."

He looked at me and a grin as broad as Texas spread over his face. He leaned in toward me and whispered, "Well, I got laid this morning."

I couldn't help myself. I broke up. I laughed and then he laughed with me.

He calmed down and said, "Okay, let me explain where I have been. I have wanted to talk to you. This is the first time that I've had the opportunity since I regained my mental health enough to feel competent to interact with a man like you."

I tried to butt in and ask a question.

He said, "Please, this is very difficult for me. Let me try to make you understand where I am in all this and if you have any questions, I will answer them. Then you can say whatever you need to say." I nodded and he continued. "I have suffered beyond what you could understand for the past year and a bit more. The worst part of it is, it was entirely my fault. I committed two unpardonable sins. I was stupid enough to cheat on Caroline and then I was stupid enough to let myself get caught."

Our waitress returned with a pitcher of ice water. Larry saw her before I did and he turned his water glass up. I followed suit. She poured and then asked if we were ready to order. I hadn't even looked at the menu.

Larry said, "They have a really nasty chicken fried steak here. You can see the cholesterols falling off the plate."

I chuckled and said to the pretty girl, "Please bring me the Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, cream gravy, Texas toast and green beans. I let her write that down and then continued, "A small cucumber salad in vinegar and oil would be nice."

Larry said, "That all sounds good to me except make my salad lettuce and tomatoes with a drop of the house dressing."

She smiled and said that she would have it right out. Larry had the pleasure of watching her walk away but she was behind me. I had the good manners not to turn around.

Larry continued his story. He said, "Luke I hurt Caroline terribly and she retaliated by hurting me far worse. I don't blame her. She tossed me out and wouldn't even let me see our daughter. The grapevine told me that she had retained a divorce lawyer and she wasn't even going to look back. I checked out her lawyer. It was the devil wearing a suit."

He paused for breath and said, "Let me continue. Finally, she answered the phone after I had left about a hundred messages for her. I spent about two hundred dollars on dinner at a nice restaurant and a whole evening begging her to forgive me. When I took her home, I didn't even get a good-night kiss." He caught his breath again. He said, "Several weeks later she called me and asked me to dinner at our house. She kicked me in the balls again. When I arrived, my little girl wasn't there."

I saw a tear well up in his eye.

He said, "Then the only woman I ever loved, found a way to hurt me even more. She said that I could come home and we would live together for our daughter's sake. Then she told me that she might eventually forgive me but first, she was going to fuck anyone that she wanted to for a year. She told me that if I couldn't accept those conditions that I should get the fuck out right then and she would file for divorce the next day. I agreed to her year of grace."

Our pretty waitress delivered our lunch. It looked very good.

Larry paused while our waitress was at the table and then continued after she left. He said, "That's where you come in, I guess. Caroline wangled an invitation to the club where you and Linda go dancing. She made me take her there and as soon as you walked in she told me she was going to fuck you. She wanted to do it that night and make me watch if she could."

He said, "Later in the evening she found a way to dance with you. I couldn't take my eyes off the two of you. She was extra flirtatious, to say the least. Hell, she got plumb nasty with you and then she brought you to our table and introduced us. I can't describe the pain I felt that night. It was my fault. All I could do was to suffer through it."

"Of course," he said, "You know that you and Linda had other plans so her plot didn't work out. Then she danced with Big Ed Fuller. She developed a relationship with him. She talked about the size of his cock with some of the other women right in front of me. One night while they were dancing together she helped him get an erection and held it in her hand while she showed it to me. She fucked him a week later."

He continued, "Her next lover was a young man that worked at the grocery store where we shopped. She fucked him regularly for a couple of months. He knew who I was and she made me go shopping with her. I would catch him peeking at me. Hell, he was a child, he was fucking my wife and it was my fault, Luke.

He went on, "I was to the point where I couldn't take any more. I considered just packing up and moving on. My baby girl could sense my sadness. She would come to me, sit in my lap and let me hold her. I knew I couldn't leave her. I just had to find a way to suffer through this.

I thought, "Fuck me." I had a tear running down my cheek by this time.

Larry continued, "Caroline had cut me some slack. She told me that I could fuck around too. She wanted me to get it out of my system because after the year was up, the plan was to forgive each other and go back to our old lifestyle." After a short pause, he said, "I decided that some strange pussy might help. I made a date with one of the cuties at the club and took her to a hotel."

He said, "Luke, I couldn't even get it up. My mind was really fucked up." There was another pause for breath. He said, "That story was all over the club by the next time we visited. That fucked my head up even more."

The next thing that happened was you asked Caroline out for a weekend. Believe me, I expected a blow-by-blow description of that weekend in more detail than I needed. She never said a word about it."

I broke in and said, "Take a break. Your food is getting cold."

He did take a few bites and had a sip of water before he continued. He said, "After that weekend with you, the damnedest thing happened when she got home. She sent our baby to spend the night with one of her little friends. She made dinner for us. Then she took me along with a bottle of wine to our den. We sat together, drank wine and talked about everything except our problems."

We went to bed together and she told me that I had been forgiven for my indiscretions and she would not seek to punish me further. I still had an erection problem but she did what she had to do to help me through that and then tried to fuck the brains out of my head. I felt like I had been reborn. I held her close and thanked God for my deliverance."

He went on, "I fucked up the very next day. Instead of just accepting my good fortune, I asked how her change in attitude had happened. She told me that it hadn't happened suddenly but that she had been trying harder to understand what had happened between us and what we could do to fix it. She had stopped fucking around after her interlude with the grocery boy. That is until you called her. She said, that you had explained to her how you and Linda conducted your relationship and she thought that something similar might work for us."

He said, "She told me that she had concluded that we couldn't go back to being monogamous with each other. She said that both of us needed more freedom than that and that an open arrangement would preclude any temptation to cheat on one another in the future."

Larry said, "At first I was just in another pool of turmoil. I wanted Caroline back and that was all I could think of. Some time passed and a flicker of merit appeared in her position. That's where I was when you called yesterday. I need some help, Luke."

I said, "Larry, you know, I thought you might try to take my head off this morning."

He surprised me again. He looked at me and chuckled. He answered, "The night she introduced me to you I wanted to beat you down with a table leg but inside I knew that I deserved the punishment she was dishing out."

Later when I could think rationally, I realized that I had no real quarrel with you. She was in pursuit of you. It wasn't the other way around. I've had several months now to calm down and accept my fate. I knew that eventually, she would wind up in bed with you. I guess I got used to the idea." He paused and then added, "She's not a light bulb, Luke. You can't unscrew her no matter what I do."

I asked, "How did you get yourself into this predicament in the first place? Why did you cheat?"

I could see him considering my question. Finally, he looked at me and said, "I want to answer that question honestly. If I do, I will have to reveal some of the other skeletons in my closet. Would you be able to keep a few of my secrets?"

I assured him I would.

He said, "This explanation will sound like I am trying to shift the blame for what I did. That is not the case. I am the guilty party. I should have been stronger. I damn near lost my wife and daughter to my weakness and stupidity." He took a breath and continued. He said, "Our early marriage was a storybook affair. I thought Caroline was the only woman on Earth that I could ever have an interest in."

He continued, "Then our baby was born. Caroline's whole personality changed. She had been a combination of my favorite party girl and the most perfect wife in the world. She changed. She became a mother and it happened all at once. She devoted all of her time to the baby and I was left out in the cold. She never had time to party and our sex life just became nonexistent."

"There was a young girl that worked with me on occasion," he said. "She was perky and full of enthusiasm. She sensed my problems at home and she expressed an interest in helping me relieve the pressure, so to speak. Of course, I'm sure you can imagine what happened." Then he said, "It was easier for me to cheat the next time. I had another short affair a couple years later."

Larry continued, "Things got better at home. Our baby girl grew into an active child and became quite independent. She needed less of Caroline's time so I got more of it. I thought that everything was going to be all right. It wasn't. I was tempted a third time and by then, cheating was second nature to me. My little head was doing my thinking. I got caught." He paused, and then said, "Here we are. I believe it was fate that had you call me yesterday."

I asked, "Well, how is it that you think I can help?"

He spent a few seconds in thought before he answered, "Caroline tried to explain the "Hall Pass" system that you and Linda use to regulate your relationship. She has it in her head that something similar might work for us." He looked at me with some added intensity. He continued, "Caroline also told me that you and Linda were absolutely exclusive to each other for many years before you became swingers."

He said, "I guess, I want you to help us get to where you and Linda are. Caroline is right. Monogamy won't ever work for us again. We have our little girl to bind us together and believe it or not, we do love each other. The truth is, I don't think that either one of us can stand the thought of only having one sex partner for life.

I asked, "Larry, do you have any idea why I called you?"

He replied, "Yes I think so. Quite honestly, I believe it is as simple as this. You want to nail Caroline again."

I chuckled and answered, "I wouldn't have put it that way. My weekend with your wife was a hell of a lot more and far better than that. I'm not going to apologize for it either. To use your vernacular though, hell yes, I want to nail Caroline again." I hesitated and then said, "At the same time, I don't want to damage her relationship with her family and I damn sure don't want to be responsible for making your daughter suffer." After another pause, I said, "I think I have learned what I came here to find out and I am going to call her and ask her to spend next weekend with me. Now, tell me truthfully, how does that make you feel?"

His eyes told me what he felt. He said, "I've got butterflies in my stomach. I feel impotent. I can't do anything about it. Her year of grace is not up."

I said, "This is what an open marriage is like. If you enter into something like that, you have to accept the fact that the mother of your child and the woman you love is going to be attracted to other men and she is going to have the freedom to fuck them." I used the hard word for its shock effect. I paused for a second and then went on, "You said that Caroline didn't talk to you about our weekend. Let me tell you. We fucked like two teenagers at a drive-in movie. I enjoyed every second of it and she did too."

His eyes narrowed. "He said, "You are trying to shock and provoke me."

I replied, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. You think you want to be a swinger. You haven't accepted it yet. The other thing is, you haven't thought through what it is going to take to let Caroline swing when you are in control again."

He asked, "Do you think I will be in control again?"

I answered, "You have to be. If you don't take control, you will just be a cuckold. I promise you this. If I call her next month after her grace period is up and you aren't in charge. She will come to me. I am not that special. She will be attracted to other men in the future."

I said, "You are both going to have to suffer some more to get to the place where Linda and I are." I went on, "Hell Linda and I still have to help each other over some rough emotional ground sometimes. We can do that. We love each other.