The Sharing of Other Halves.

“The asparagus is lovely Nicole,” Shirley said, demurely wiping her butter smeared lips with a napkin.
“Isn’t it Richard?” she added, doing her best to keep the conversation flowing.
“Um, yes,” Richard agreed, although he was more interested in the hostess’ lily-like bosom which was almost spilling out of her low cut blue satin dress.

To be honest, he had been very reluctant about dining with a group of strangers whose sole intention was to get off with each other’s partners once the dishes were cleared. You know how it is, he thought to himself. Married for 12 years, all their leisure time taken up by the little ones. Oh, don’t me wrong, he added to the niggling voice at the back of his mind. He, no, they, loved their children. Kylie was ten now and the apple of his eye. Ross was already quite nifty at football at eight.
Still, when Tony from down the road had mentioned these dos, he’d been disgusted at first. I mean, it’s his missus. He would never stand for it. But the idea crept back again and again. You see, if he was there watching, it might not be too bad. But how to tell the wife?

A few nights ago, he’d casually mentioned the conversation with Tony. To be honest, she almost seemed a bit too keen which almost put him off. Now he suddenly worried about whether he’d measure up, so to speak. And what about the etiquette?

Tony and his wife Lisa, on the other end of the table kept smiling at them, as if to reassure them.
“Oh, sorry?” Shirley was tapping his thigh to get his attention.
“Gary is asking about your work,” she repeated.
“Oh, this and that. I have a car show room on the High Street and a garage down the road,” he replied. “What do you do Gary?”
“Early retirement. Nicole and I did all right out of the time share business. We now rent out various properties.”
Richard thought Gary looked a bit too young to have retired. Mind you, his hair was thinning quite a bit whereas he himself still had a thick shock of dark curls.

When dinner was over, they all wandered out into the garden. A couple of the women shed their evening wear and jumped into the pool in their lingerie. Not to be outdone, Tony and Gary followed suit.
“Come on love,” Nicole was calling out to Shirley. “It’s quite warm tonight.”
“Go on Shirl,” Richard added, giving her a little nudge. Let’s see that lovely body of yours.” He was already undoing his belt and slipping off his shoes.

By midnight, the party had moved on to the loungers. At first, tentatively, the couples stuck with their partners. Little by little, they got more daring. Complimenting here and looking there. Tony, Lisa, Richard and Shirly found themselves next to each other.
While admiring each other’s partners, Shirly commented, “He’s big your Tony, isn’t he? You two are as big as each other,” she added, running her hands down her husband’s chest.

As they said their goodbyes, kissing cheeks, mouths and shaking hands, Richard thought it had gone very well. In fact, he now knew Tony, Lisa, Gary and Nicole a lot better. Maybe too well in some aspects. It would be difficult to keep the images out of his mind as they had a drink down the pub, or talked shop at the garage.