Tequila Sunrise

I knew, or strongly suspected, at least some of what was running through Rachael's mind, almost certainly the same feelings I was trying desperately to push back. There's no way I could act on my attraction; even if their marriage was most likely near its end it wasn't enough reason for me to take a step like that. Neither my conscience, nor my fear of growing too attached to someone else would allow that to happen.

"I just wanted to thank you for confronting Brian. As bad as his words cut, I'm glad they're finally out in the open and I have no more doubt. I think it's safe to say I won't be a Yates for much longer." She concluded.

"Well, you're an admirable woman, Rachael, and Brian's wrong, I don't know what standards he's judging people by but you're one of the most attractive women I've ever known. Don't ever let anyone tell you differently." She seemed to brighten a little, she even smiled weakly. "Holly liked to brag about you, I was always a bit jealous of her. Your affection was so obvious every time you looked at her. You couldn't look at her without smiling and you didn't know anyone else was in the room. I was heart-broken to see you so devastated when you lost her. She was my best friend, but anybody could see that she was your life." I could only nod in response. Rachael picked up her purse and I knew lunch was over.

I motioned for the server to bring our check, objecting when Rachael pulled out her wallet. "I've got this." I assured them.

As we walked out the door into the afternoon sunshine, Casey spoke for the first time since placing her order at the beginning of our meal. "Thank you for lunch and thank you for being someone my sister can feel comfortable enough to talk to. She hasn't said much to anyone the last couple of days." I answered her, saying that I hoped she was able to quickly overcome the anguish she was facing and insisted that she was to feel free to call me if she needed to talk again then we parted ways. I went back to my office, but I didn't accomplish much the rest of the day.

*****

On Wednesday evening, I walked across the street to Noel and Melissa's house for my introduction to the group-within-our-neighborhood-group. Noel met me at the front door and led me through the house to the rear deck where the others were sitting around an umbrella-covered red cedar table discussing random topics.

"Jim, this is Nathan Pittman" Noel began "and of course you know everybody else." I greeted the newcomer and shook his hand when he stood. I pulled a Black and Tan out of the cooler sitting beside the table and found a chair for myself. We spent the next half-hour arguing good-naturedly about whether or not the Braves were going to choke this season and just how bad NASCAR has screwed up stock-car racing until our food was ready to eat.

After we finished eating, Noel brought up the reason for our parley. "Jim, I hope what we discuss tonight doesn't adversely affect our friendships, but we wanted to let you in on a loosely held secret. We're taking a bit of a chance opening up with you about us but we all, well, those of us who know you, trust in your discretion no matter how the evening ends. With one obvious exception, we have a pretty great group of people on the block. But we have a sort of subgroup. We're a close group of friends, a VERY close group. We try to get together at least once a month, but individual couples usually get together more often than that." Tyler added, "Friday's get together will be much more relaxed than any of the other block parties you've been to, but no one will be expected to pair off or feel compelled to do anything they aren't comfortable with. It's just a chance for us all to give you a feel for the group and for everyone to open up to you a bit more than we ever have. It's also for you to get to know Nathan and his wife, Breanna. Ultimately everyone has to, obviously, be fully comfortable with everyone else or bad things can happen." Johnny clarified, "Which is why Brian will never be asked to join us."

I asked "Why me? Why now?"

Noel answered, "You've always been considered; we've wanted to include you for several years, but we could all see how protective you were of Holly, and you never looked at another woman the way you looked at her. And Holly never even glanced at one of us because her attention was always on you. It was obvious, to us at least, that you two would probably never consider being intimate with anyone else. Then when you lost Holly, we knew you weren't interested in any other woman for a long time." Albert stepped in, "Yeah, you caused a minor uprising when Maryanne saw you bring a woman home almost a year later. I think that's when our wives started their campaign to invite you." Tyler smirked, "Yeah, they were thrilled when it looked like you had apparently started dating again. I think we all had to listen to our wives asking when we were going to invite you and your date for three months after that." Light laughter erupted around the table.

"Okay, but again, why now?" I inquired.

Again, it was Noel who responded, "Honestly, it was the way you managed Brian Saturday. We all knew he was a flirt, but nobody thought much about it other than he was more obvious than the rest of us are. I mean, we all flirt with one another, and we've all flirted with Rachael, but it took you to notice that my wife was uncomfortable with the way he was hitting on her and doing something about it. She actually had to come to me and mention it, but you recognized it without having it pointed out to you. By the time she told me how aggressive he was being, and I found him, you had already pulled him away. You made us realize that we were taking a lot for granted and weren't protecting our wives the way you always protected Holly. We trust that you will always respect everybody, and we know you can be trusted to not violate boundaries."

I looked at him, puzzled, "Violate boundaries?"

Noel responded, "Everybody knows how close you and Rachael are, you've lived next door to each other for years, hell, she and Holly were damn near inseparable. We also know that as long as she wears Brian's ring, neither of you are going to do anything questionable, no matter how badly you both obviously want to." I looked at Noel briefly before speaking, "I'm not sure what my feelings might be for Rachael, let alone what hers might be for me." "No shit!" Tyler spouted, "The two of you are the only ones around who don't know!" Laughter erupted from the four block neighbors. I looked at Nathan, who shrugged and said, "Dude, I just met you." Which drew another round of humor.

Tyler continued, "We had a betting pool going on when y'all were finally going to hook up. The only problem was nobody won! Y'all outlasted all our predictions!" This time Nathan joined in the laughter.

"Anyway," Noel took the lead again, "we wanted to reveal our little crowd to you and explain what we do. I know you are single, and that's something we'd have to adjust to for now, but I have a feeling that won't be too difficult an issue to manage. You should know that the decision to invite you was almost unanimous," he then turned and looked at Nathan, who held his gaze for only a couple seconds before nodding his head, "okay, it is unanimous." Nathan looked at me and said, "I'm sure you understand why I wanted to meet you first before making my decision. I'll protect my wife just as fiercely as I gather you stood by yours."

"Absolutely." I answered.

Noel picked up where he left off, "So, Mr. Detective, I'm sure you see why we never approached you and Holly; we like to get together and enjoy spending time with someone other than our own wives occasionally. Usually, it's in a group setting but now and then two couples will either go on a double date or trade wives for individual dates. So far, no one has paired up for more than a single night but a couple of us have discussed a weekend trip somewhere before." We sat silently for a few seconds, everyone watching me intently.

"So, y'all wanted to invite Holly and me into your Swinger group but decided we'd never accept that lifestyle? Were you afraid we'd freak, and it would ruin our friendship or something?"

Johnny nodded slowly, "We aren't exactly swingers; we haven't graduated to full swaps. I think it's called "Soft Swing"; we don't have intercourse with anyone other than our own spouse. Until very recently," Johnny glanced toward Tyler, who contritely dropped his chin to his chest and the rest of the men laughed at his embarrassment, "we've limited our activities to nothing more serious than needing to wash our hands afterward." But yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Nobody wanted to lose you as a friend, so we never asked you."

Nathan offered Tyler an Olive branch, saying, "I have to concede that it wasn't all Tyler, Breanna can get pretty worked up sometimes and when she does, she's not one to take "no" for an answer. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the aggressor. In fact, I'd be more surprised if she wasn't."

I began chuckling and shaking my head slowly. "Wow, all these years and we really didn't know each other quite as well as we thought." I saw the men exchange furtive glances with dawning concern. "No, it's not that." I added, "You've met Holly's college roommate, Cheryl, right? She's visited a few times with her husband, Gavin." Four heads nodded, guardedly. "We were, how did you describe it? VERY close friends." I let the information settle on the men for a few quiet seconds.

Johnny broke the silence, "They're gonna kill us."

Tyler followed up with, "They're gonna kill us? I'm gonna kill us!" He then looked from one of his friends to another before groaning, "We could've invited Holly. No offense, Jim, but... Holly!" I joined the ensuing laughter.

Albert turned and looked at me, "So, you and Cheryl, huh? The Blonde?" "Yep, do you remember when I went out of town for a few days last month? Her husband had to fly to Germany for work and he didn't want her to be alone while he was gone so I spent a few days at their house." Five pairs of eyes studied me closely. "Don't look at me like that, it wasn't a sex-fest. That's not what our relationship is all about, I just kept her company while Gavin was out of town."

"So," Noel suggested "you slept in the guest room then..." "Well, no but..."

"But you didn't have sex with her while you kept her company though, right?" Johnny added. My lack of response was answer enough and laughter rolled across the deck again, nobody was willing to ease my discomfort.

The six of us spent the next twenty minutes cleaning up our trash then I said my goodbyes and started back across the street toward my house. As I walked up my driveway, Tyler and Veronica's Suburban pulled into Noel's driveway and five women poured out, laughing. Four I recognized and I assumed that the fifth was Nathan's wife, Breanna. Carolyn called out my name and I waved to them; they all returned my wave as I opened my garage door to go into the house.

*****

The next day, Thursday, I was having lunch with another Detective, Sean Gilmour, and DFCS worker Mickie Ramsey at the same restaurant I had lunch at three days earlier. Mickie wasn't someone who drew attention, nothing about her really stood out. She wasn't beautiful but she was far from being ugly or even unappealing. She carried about twenty-five or thirty pounds more than she wanted, but she wasn't self-conscious about her appearance. She was comfortable knowing that she'd never win a beauty pageant, but she'd also never have to worry about being lonely because her pleasant demeanor and amiable personality tended to make everybody else forget that she wasn't beautiful. We were strategizing how we planned to conduct a joint surprise interview with a suspect in a Child Abuse case that DFCS uncovered when four Fire Fighters walked in, laughing among themselves. When I looked up and met Brian's gaze, their laughter tapered off and the immediate change in their attitudes revealed obvious tension between us. I ignored them and asked Mickie to continue with the information she had been sharing with Sean and me a half minute before.

Brian said something to his partners, too quiet for us to hear from the distance, then began walking toward our table. "Well, Wheeler, how's Rachael doing since she left home? Has she moved in with you yet?"

I looked up from my chair, "Brian, I don't know what you're talking about any more than you do. Noel mentioned that Casey picked her up Saturday, I assume she's at her mother's if she isn't at home."

"Whatever, once she realizes that no other real man is ever going to give her the time of day, she'll come back home. But hey, if you wanna knock off a piece before then, go ahead. I guess I do owe you that much since I was fucking Holly."

Rage briefly flashed through me like an icy avalanche then instantly passed. I knew Holly, she'd never have let Brian come anywhere near her. I began remembering the way she always acted when he was around, she despised him and pitied Rachael. She often told me she wished Rachael would find someone who treated her the way she deserved to be treated. I knew he was baiting me, and he wanted me to cause a scene in a public place.

Sean looked up at Brian in surprise, "Are you just wanting to have your ass handed to you?"

I just grinned at him and goaded him back, "Well, I hope she gave you her all. I'd hate to think she half-assed something like that. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got an interrogation to get ready for." I dismissed him by turning my attention back to my companions and began talking about our plans again as Brian stood in the aisle with his fists clenching at his side.

I could sense that Brian never looked away from me, but I didn't even glance in his direction.

After several seconds he turned and strode toward the front of the restaurant and the other three stood from their table and followed him out the door.

"What was that about?" asked Mickie.

"He's pissed at me for pulling him out of a party last weekend when he got drunk and started hitting on some of the married women in our neighborhood. Their husbands were forming up to beat the brakes off of him. He got pissed, accused me of having an affair with his wife and said some pretty nasty and vulgar things about her, so I helped him take a little afternoon nap."

Mickie's jaw dropped and her eyes flew wide open in surprise at my admission.

Sean was looking at me with a dark expression, "You don't think he's telling the truth about Holly, do you?"

"Him? And Holly? Oh, hell no. She despised him. His wife was one of her best friends, and she was continually trying to talk her into getting away from him. I know for a fact that Holly would never hide something like that from me, she didn't need to. We both trusted one another implicitly and never did anything behind the other's back. No, he was trying to push me into making a scene and maybe even bring assault charges against me."

Mickie had lost her expression of shock, but she still seemed to be contemplating me or something I'd said. Sean added, "You haven't been messing with his wife, have you?" "No, Rachael is a wonderful person, she and Holly were closer than sisters but I'm not a cheater and I won't participate in cheating. Anyway, I think I've drawn enough attention in here today, y'all ready to go?"

We paid for our meals and started through the exit door then Mickie asked, "Are y'all going to drive together?" "No," Sean replied, "I've got a meeting with the County Commissioners at 1530; I'm giving my proposal for providing the county with surveillance drones." I nodded at him, "So, you're getting close to doing this, then, huh? Have you sold any yet?" Sean said, "Not yet, but I'm working on contracts with two other agencies." "It won't be long before we'll be training a new Detective, you'll retire to build drones. What does Sarah have to say about that?" Sean answered, "I don't think she's too crazy about the idea, she doesn't see the potential that I see; she wishes I was a Lawyer. She got a job selling real estate for one of those offices downtown that she seems to enjoy so she's staying pretty busy." Mickie looked at me, "Do you mind if I ride with you? There's no sense in driving three cars out there." "Sure, you can keep me company." I responded.

We were about five minutes into our ten-minute drive to the address where we hoped to find our possible child abuser and neither of us had spoken since we left the restaurant, but I noticed Mickie kept glancing in my direction with a curious expression. I broke the stalemate, "Okay, let me have it. What's on your mind?" A slight grin crept across her face, "I'm just thinking. Thinking about some of the things you said back there; some of the things you didn't say, really." "Hmmm." Was all I offered by way of response. "Let me ask you something: have you started dating again yet?" "I've gone out with a couple women on occasion."

She turned her gaze to the windshield, "That driveway there, on the right."

When we returned to my car after finding that the man we were looking for was not at the residence and started back toward town Mickie picked up our conversation where we left off. "I'm curious about what you said at lunch and why you said it the way you did." I glanced at her then back to the road in front of us. "You said Holly never had to hide anything from you. Why not? Everybody has something they hide. The two of you never had secrets the other didn't know?" "Well, yeah, I mean, I never shared details of my investigations and things like that and I'm sure she had things she never told me about, but we'd never hide something that serious from each other." Mickie gently smirked as she slowly shook her head left and right, "True, but you weren't talking about work, you were talking about your relationship with Holly and how it interacted with other people. You said she'd never hide what she did from you or go behind your back. You never exactly denied that she'd go a little farther than what most married couples might consider acceptable." I had never spoken about the details of our marriage with someone else, I never had any reason to. When I didn't answer, Mickie continued, "I think, there might have been some circumstances where she might've had permission to play, possibly? Is that why she didn't need to hide something like that from you? As long as she didn't go behind your back, I think you said?" "Actually, I don't think I said anything." "Look, Gilmour's one of the best Detectives I've ever met, and he didn't seem to catch on to what you said, or left unsaid, and I am certainly never going to mention anything you want kept confidential to anyone." After a brief pause where neither of us spoke she continued, "Or do I owe you and Holly an apology?"

I considered how much I wanted to share with her for several seconds; I had no reason to suspect she'd spread rumors or repeat anything we said but what had been Holly's, and my business was nobody else's. But then, I wasn't sure how much she had already sussed out and I hate to lie; my usual alternative is to remain quiet instead of lying to someone. "Holly had a roommate in college she was very close to. They met as Freshmen and lived together the whole time they were in school. A few weeks into their first semester, Cheryl had a very bad experience with a date. Without getting into the details, a Junior wooed her over a couple dates before he slipped her some kind of drug and spent the evening taking what she had refused to give while she lay unconscious. I don't know if they had Plan-B available or if they even thought about it back then but apparently, she was an emotional wreck for the next few weeks until she got her period. The guy was from some prominent family in the Northeast who moved him to another college when she reported the assault so they could try to keep his name out of the news and his ass out of jail. She and Holly didn't want to ever have to deal with that horror again, so they made a pact; while they were in school, they'd room together and they'd take care of one another's physical and emotional needs. Their reasoning was that if they never dated men, they wouldn't have to worry about Date-Rape. They also realized that they could spend more time studying if they weren't juggling the romantic headaches of dating. They grew very close over those years, close enough that when they both began dating and then were married, they included their boyfriends and husbands instead of giving each other up."