Are you going to tell me the plan each week when I call you?”

“No, and please don’t ask. I want it to be a surprise.”

“No problem. I like surprises.”

“But if my plan is something you don’t feel like doing, you can say no. But that would probably set our relationship back instead of moving it forward.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want that to happen. Um…just to be clear, we’re not talking about bondage, are we? Or domination?”

“Omigod, no! Is that okay?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good, because I’m totally not into those sorts of things.”

“Me either!”

“Let’s move on. Is there anything else you’d like to ask or talk about, as far as the ground rules?”

“Not really. I think you’ve covered everything.”

“Nothing more on Michael?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, then let’s talk about Alison. Your turn to start.”

14.

I TOOK A minute to think about how to condense a twenty-five-year marital relationship into a couple of sentences, and came up with: “I do love Alison, but we sleep in separate beds when you guys aren’t visiting. She’s not a romantic person, and I think she probably loves me in general, but certainly not like she used to. We’ve never cheated on each other, but I’ve come close a couple of times.”

“What stopped you?”

“I never met anyone I’d be willing to lose my marriage over. At least, not until you came along.”

“You’re willing to lose Alison over me?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. That’s quite a compliment.”

“You’re welcome. So anyway, we’ve done a lot of settling in our marriage over the years and probably would have divorced by now, had it not been for Jessie. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when she goes off to college.”

“How often do you make love?”

Before I can answer, she says, “Remember, you have to tell the truth.”

“I will. Let me think a minute. It varies. She’s really weird about sex.”

“How so?”

“She only wants to do it when we’re out of town, which is rare. But over the past few years she hasn’t even wanted to do it then.”

“When was the last time you made love to her?”

“This is going to sound weird, but…we did it last week.”

“What?”

“Before that it’s been at least two years.”

“What happened last week?”

“You came to visit. Alison told me you were going to call me. I guilted her into having sex.”

“Did she know you were thinking about me the whole time?”

“I think so. She certainly accused me of it afterward.”

Nicki giggled. “Poor Alison. Tell me more about her.”

“There’s really not much to tell. We’re coexisting. We’re roommates, not lovers.”

“She’s very pretty.”

“She is.”

“What does she look like naked?”

“Excuse me?”

“Remember our agreement? We can ask anything. And the other person has to answer truthfully.”

“She looks good.”

“Details.”

“You’ve seen her.”

“Not naked.”

“Right. Well, her breasts are average, I’d say, and they’re spread a little wider than average.” I looked at her and laughed. “You want more details?”

She nodded.

“You mean like her nipples?”

“Tell me everything.”

“Well, they’re average, I guess. More pink than brown, and they’re surprisingly long when erect. Her tits don’t really sag, like you’d expect.”

“She’s only forty, David.”

“Right.