Wingman

"Peggy called me a couple of times, starting weeks ago. She was worried about what would happen with you after she went to school. She suggested that I visit before school starts. I was supposed to come tomorrow, but she called me the other day to tell me that I had to hurry because you did not look like you were having a lot of fun at the orgy."

She paused for a moment and then continued, "I must say that I never imagined I would ever hear or say a sentence like that."

"Me neither."

"Is it true?"

I shrugged.

"Yes."

"Why?"

That was a good question.

"The sex is nice, but there's nothing more. For me, at least. Peggy seems to be having a great time, and good for her. As for me, I need to be with someone I really like. Like you."

I thought I might be taking a chance with that kind of candor, especially if she wanted to go more slowly. Oh, who the hell was I kidding? She came to visit because I was bored at the orgy. Maybe I was going too slowly.

"You must always tell me lies like that," she said.

"I'm not lying," I said as I smiled.

"You want me to believe that you would rather be with me instead of three girls who want to have sex with you?" she asked with a smirk.

"Yes."

"That's exactly what I want to hear you say to me. Tell me more lies."

OK. Game on.

"You want to know what part of your body I like best?"

"Yes."

"Your smiling face."

She looked at me for a moment.

"You are very good at this."

"And I'm not lying," I said as I showed her my phone. "I was trying to find the earliest train I could to go to Madrid. I have your contact information open so I can see where to find a hotel or Airbnb close by."

She took my phone and looked.

"My face is really your favorite part of my body?"

"Yes. Although there are lots of other pretty good parts, too."

She pretended to frown.

"I thought you were a gentleman. But I think Peggy was right."

"Right about what?"

"She said the beach would be a good place for me to see you again because then I could wear a tiny bikini to make sure you were really interested."

She pursed her lips and waited for me to respond.

"How tiny a bikini?"

She leaned forward, locking eyes with me, "Nearly naked."

That sounded very promising.

But I answered, "Being a gentleman is overrated. And Peggy really seems to understand me. I think I'd like to see you wearing this tiny bikini you're talking about."

"I'd like to show you."

We leaned close to each other to kiss but heard a voice to the side, "Back off from my man, bitch."

Peggy threw herself into my lap and put her arms around me, interrupting my kiss. Joanna and Alexandra sat down, smiling.

Verónica said, "He's mine now. Remember?"

"You want him, you have to tag in," Peggy said, holding her hand up.

Verónica looked confused, so Peggy clarified.

"Like in lucha libre? You know?"

Verónica smiled as she came to understand the reference. She leaned over and looked at me.

"Do you want me to?"

I smiled. Then I frowned.

"That might be okay, but I'm still not single yet."

"It's okay, Esteban," Peggy said. "She's lowering her standards as a favor to me. Your bad mood is ruining my orgy. And I told her that high standards are wasted on you."

Verónica shrugged.

"I might not be lowering them that much," she said as she slapped Peggy's hand, and Peggy got up, kissed me on the cheek, and took a seat at the table.

Verónica then sat on my lap. She had to get off when the coffee and snacks arrived, but Verónica was otherwise locked onto me as we wandered around town. We made it back to the apartment for drinks before dinner, and I could see a change in how Peggy interacted with Joanna and Alexandra. It was all very relaxed. She looked like she was getting done her sexual experimenting because Joanna and Alexandra were coupled together more. Peggy just spent her time watching Verónica and me with a big smile on her face. That night, Peggy made sure that Verónica and I were together in one of the spare bedrooms. She was finally doing her wingman job.

Verónica looked at me after Peggy left the room.

"You don't mind being with one girl instead of three?"

"I'm greedy. I don't really like to share."

"Me neither."

That night, we decided that the best way to start to get to know each other in a short amount of time was for Verónica to model her indecently tiny bikini for me. It turned out to be an absolute outrage to public morality. There was no way in Hell that I would agree to let her wear it in public. She did not argue but instead made me close my eyes as she changed into more modest swimwear, which I reluctantly approved. I think she liked that I got that possessive about her.

While she sat on my lap dressed in her more tolerable bathing suit, we decided to take turns kissing and tasting every square inch of each other's bodies that was uncovered. When we ran out of those, we uncovered more. Admittedly, some areas got more attention than others.

Resting after a second performance, Verónica was running her fingers slowly through my chest hair.

"When do you think you'll be divorced?"

"The hearing is in late November, according to my lawyer. I don't even have to go. I should be a free man sometime after that, unless she does something crazy."

"Good. As soon as you get that paper, you can meet my parents."

I kept silent, and she got up on an elbow to look at me.

"You are planning to stay, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what I am going to do," I admitted. "I have to find a job somewhere."

"If you wanted to stay, I'm sure we could figure something out," she said, "but I would have to know whether you were staying because of me or because Peggy is going to be here."

The look on her face was severe and surprising.

"What are you fussing about with Peggy? You're the one who told me that she had a nice ass. You're also the one who told her she could sleep with me. And she's the one who invited you here."

She pursed her lips.

"I did that because when I saw you two together, I knew it was going to happen anyway. And I knew I would not be around to stop it. What I want to know is what are you going to do now?"

"Peggy is an amazing friend," I said, but then started to whisper, "but there is this other girl I kind of like."

"Oh, really? What's she like?"

I pulled her over on top of me. Her legs straddled my thighs.

"She's a passionate Latin beauty with a beautiful smile. I'm skipping a perfectly good lesbian orgy because of her. Maybe I could introduce you."

We kissed.

"I don't think I'd like her."

"Besides," I asked, "how do I know you don't want to try something freaky with these girls here?"

She wrinkled her nose.

"That does not interest me."

"Good. Seeing you having sex with all of them would make my brain explode anyway."

That is how it came to be that I was on a sunny Mediterranean beach with four beautiful women, three of whom were nearly naked while one was slightly less naked, when I heard a voice call, "Steve?"

As I turned around to look, all four girls together called out, "It's not Steve; it's Esteban!" and fell back onto the beach towels, howling with laughter. They had been drinking sangria for a while.

The woman who called me was the wife of the guy I used to work for. He came right up behind her. Turns out that they were on vacation, too, and strolling on the beach. To their credit, they both tried to act like they did not notice that I was not depressed or that I seemed to have a female fan club.

As his wife sat down on a chair under the beach umbrella to talk with the girls, I got up to talk to my ex-boss, Fred.

"I was a bit pissed when you quit with so little notice but, after everything exploded, I understood why."

"Sorry. There were a lot of things I did then that I could have handled better."

A big smile came over his face.

"Did you really fill your house with homeless people?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He shook his head and laughed silently. Then, he looked like he was thinking about something. He looked at me as he chewed his lips.

Then, he said, "You know, the company has a Madrid office..."

He looked at me expectantly. When I did not answer, he continued.

"... we did like you, you know, and were sorry to see you go..."

I was going to make him work for it. After all, I had a four-girl fan club. Why did I need to go anywhere?

"What I am saying is that, if you decided that you wanted to stay around here for some reason," and here he gestured to the girls, "then we could probably work out a job in Madrid."

That was enough groveling, I thought.

"It sounds like a great opportunity, but my Spanish is horrible. And I don't have a work visa. I don't see how I could swing it."

That is when Fred explained that part of the reason he was in Spain, besides taking a vacation trip, was that he had to go to the Madrid office to deal with some personnel issues. The result was that the company needed someone who could be a liaison with the American offices. They could pay for language training and arrange a visa. Was I interested in talking to the folks in the Madrid office about it?

I looked over at Verónica. She did not notice me looking at her at first, but then sensed it. She returned my look and smiled. I looked back at Fred. He had followed my gaze and met my eyes with a grin.

"There are worse reasons for doing anything," Fred said.

I laughed. There sure were.

"Yes, Fred. I'd love to talk to the folks in Madrid."

"I'll call them and tell them to expect to hear from you. I'll e-mail you the number."

He looked at Verónica again and then back at me.

"Sorry about what happened with Lori, but it looks like you're landing on your feet. Hope it works out. Seems like you have a bunch of options however it goes."

We shook hands as Fred collected his wife and left to continue their walk. I came over and sat under the umbrella.

"I might be staying in Spain a little longer with a new job at my old company."

"What a Dickensian coincidence!" Peggy exclaimed.

I shrugged. I was calling it dumb luck.

Verónica hugged me hard. Then Peggy asked for permission from her to hug me and, when granted, did.

Joanna asked, "What do you do?"

"My old job was to leverage synergies into value-added solutions for companies to manage disruptive transformations."

She frowned.

"I don't understand that, but what would you do now?"

"The same thing, I think, except in Spanish."

I turned to Verónica.

"You'll help me learn the language, right, Roni?"

It was the first time I had used that nickname with her. She seemed to like it and nodded.

"Good. I want to learn the dirty words first."

Right then, Roni used some Spanish words to answer me. I do not think they were the type meant for polite conversation, so she was doing what I asked, but she said them too quickly for me to remember them. Peggy just laughed.

Fast forward a few weeks into September. Peggy was settled into an apartment with a very cute Ukrainian girl, had started classes, and was having the time of her life. We still got together to go out to eat or drink or both with Roni. The two of them were thick as thieves, and Olga, the Ukrainian, was lots of fun, too, and often tagged along.

The divorce was granted in December, right before Christmas. I finally met Roni's family, who turned out to be wonderful people. After getting the family's approval, Roni and I got more serious.

As the semester had worn on, Peggy and I occasionally met up by ourselves when Roni was studying for something, but Peggy and I never slept together again. Not really. We did sleep together a handful of times; we just never "slept" together. The few times it happened were the diminishing number of times when we got drunk and then stumbled to the closest home and passed out together in bed, always fully clothed. I always confessed these lapses to Roni who just shook her head and laughed. She had decided, probably back at Oliva, that Peggy was no threat anymore.

I never needed to be Peggy's wingman. She found guys very easily, just like I predicted. My job, however, was to evaluate them. She never went out with any guy more than once or twice unless I approved. She wound up having a bunch of short-term boyfriends, none of whom were very serious. She was having too much fun for me to feel bad for her.

In June of the following year, Peggy was back in the States, and Roni was living in my apartment. Three years after we met, and after she got her medical degree, we got married in Miami in a civil ceremony at city hall. It was just too complicated to deal with the paperwork in Madrid. Peggy flew down and insisted on being a witness.

My parents and sister came, too. During our few days together, it became obvious that my family really liked Peggy, but they LOVED Roni.

"You're batting.500, Little Brother," my sister told me after too much champagne. "Pretty good for baseball, but not so hot for marriages. Don't fuck this one up. This one is a keeper."

Now, about two years after that, Peggy was the one getting married, so Roni and I flew in from Madrid. By chance, the groom, who was the former best friend of Peggy's old cheating college boyfriend, lived in my old hometown. As Peggy's wingman, my job was to keep anyone from standing up at that part where they say the speak-now-or-forever-hold-your-peace bit. I told her I was not sure I could do it because anyone doing that might have a really good story to tell. Hearing that, Roni just shook her head and told Peggy that I would be honored to support her in any way I could.

**********

Back at the café, Peggy brought Roni up to speed.

"Malibu Barbie was just telling us that she has twins, a son and a daughter, who are four and a half."

"Really? Congratulations!" she said to Lori and offered her hand.

Lori was surprised and reluctantly shook it. Roni turned to me.

"It's a shame. That's too young to ask them to do any babysitting," she said as she rubbed her abdomen and shrugged.

She turned back to Lori.

"I'm Verónica, Steve's wife," she announced, marking her territory.

Yeah, Roni never went for calling me Esteban, not after Oliva. To her, I was Steve. Or Steven when she was mad, which was rare. When I tried to argue about it, she just looked at me and said, "Don't be silly," and that was that.

And to Roni, Peggy became Margarita after Oliva. Peggy loved that and adopted it as the new version of her name. I alone was allowed to call her Peggy when we were in an intimate group.

Roni continued with Lori, "I've heard so much about you."

She smiled as she said it, without any trace of malice. The girl had manners. Peggy, not so much. She looked like she was going to rip into Lori with a nasty remark, but she first looked at me and then Roni, read our moods, and decided to let it go. Lori just looked defeated.

Peggy looked at her watch and suddenly had to leave.

"I'm late! Got to dash! See you two tomorrow at the rehearsal dinner," she said with a wave as she left the café without giving Lori another look.

After a moment, Lori looked up.

"Congratulations. I didn't know you had gotten married, Steve."

She finished her drink.

"None of your friends or family talk to me, and you dropped off social media. I wondered if you were still in Norway, but I guess you never actually went."

She fiddled with the napkin on the table in front of her.

"Just so you know, I always knew we were getting divorced. I may be blonde, but I'm not that dumb," she said as she looked at me again.

"I had talked to a lawyer. He told me that there was no way to stop it and that, because you weren't asking for anything, other than the money you already took, there wasn't any point in fighting. Not even about what you did to the house. I only tore up all those papers because I knew I had messed up and never could think of any way to fix it. I guess I just hoped that you would see that I didn't want a divorce and would talk to me again. I was mad and scared and confused. I was more scared when I found out I was pregnant. That's when I realized that I needed you. But I knew you were never coming back. I guess I thought I could use the kids to get you to talk to me until you figured out that they weren't yours. I guess I thought that maybe that would give me a chance to at least see you again. I missed you. And the guys I've dated since have all just been interested in my body. Or my money. Or the fact that I'm on TV. Not interested in me as a person. Not like you used to be."

She had tears in her eyes as she got up.

"Good luck with the baby," she said to Roni as she hurried away.

Roni and I sat quietly for a few moments.

"She does have a nice body," she said.

I kept my mouth shut, but that did not deter her.

"How do you think it compares to mine?"

I squeezed her tightly, holding her hands under her swollen belly.

"Your body got me excited enough to put my baby in you. And always remember that I left a lesbian orgy for you. And I promise you that I will never, ever let you wear that Oliva bikini in public."

Roni relaxed and smiled. She was quiet for a moment.

"30 Euro," she finally said.

I was enjoying holding her and nuzzling her neck and was not paying attention.

"Hmm?"

"You owe me 30 Euro. Pay up."

"How do you figure that, amor?" I asked.

Roni counted on her fingers: "She showed up to meet you today, when you said she probably wouldn't. She didn't know you were married. She really thought that you went to Norway. She really did know that you were going to get divorced no matter what she did. She wanted you to think the children were yours. And she wanted to get back together with you. I got six right. 5 Euro each. That's 30 Euro total."

"25 Euros. Lloyd is the father, not D'Sean. I get 5 Euros credit."

She twisted in my lap to look at me.

"Really? The fat cameraman? I thought you were joking."

"Yes, but I also happened to be correct. That's one right for me."

"Wow. He's hideous. She really is--how does your sister say it? Oh, yes--'as dumb as a sack of hammers.' OK. You can pay me later. Now buy me French fries. Your child is making me hungry."

She rubbed her belly as she said to it, "Wait a few minutes in there."

I did as my beloved commanded and flagged down the waiter to order French fries. That was when I found out that Lori had stiffed me for the cost of her $20 drink, even though she still earned way more than I did. At that moment, upon reflection, I realized that I had no regret over having invited the homeless people to live in our house all those years ago.