Triptych
Two
LISSA WAS ASLEEP between Melody and me when I woke up about three in the morning. I thought at first that I woke up because I needed to pee, but I had a painful erection, made more painful by the fact that Lissa had it gripped tightly in her hand. I shifted a little and tried to dislodge her, but I woke her up doing it.
“Oh! Sorry, love,” Lissa whispered. “Was I hurting?”
“A little. It’s okay.”
“You’re really hard.”
“I just woke up that way.”
Her lips closed on mine, then opened to let our tongues dance together, lightly touching and retreating. She never let go of my cock.
“I’m so frightened, Tony,” she whispered. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s okay. We all contributed and we’ll make it back to each other.”
“Love me, Tony. Love me, please.”
I moved over her and she guided me to her opening while we continued to kiss. She rubbed the head of my cock up and down her slit, over her clit, spreading the dampness. She held me ready and I pushed in. Her intensity in this quiet love-making was as fierce as the flare of her anger had been a few hours earlier. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Melody looking at us. She slid closer to us and laid her head on Lissa’s shoulder as we continued to build at an agonizingly slow pace. Lissa pulled her tighter as I bent my head to kiss my second lover. Then Melody raised her head and Lissa kissed her.
I kept up slow long strokes as the three of us held each other. I felt Melody’s hand slide off my shoulder and wedge in between Lissa and me. I raised myself up to give her better access and could feel her fingers moving against Lissa’s clit, brushing up against my cock as I pushed in. Lissa’s pace quickened involuntarily. Her breathing deepened and her breasts rose more sharply, begging to be kissed. Melody and I were inspired at the same time and each sucked one of Lissa’s nipples. I bit lightly and Lissa cried out. Her inner muscles rippled around my cock and I could not stop my climax.
I supported most of my weight on my right elbow so I wouldn’t crush my lovers, but wrapped my left arm around Melody and joined hands there with Lissa, holding our younger wife to us.
Our breathing began to even out as I felt my cock shrink and slide from Lissa’s depths. Her eyes were closed and there was a smile playing lightly on her lips. I let myself sink to the side, lying with my left leg still over hers. When I awoke with the sunrise, we were in the same position.
Melody and the boys dropped me off at the club and headed out for a day at the zoo. After we talked over breakfast, Lissa decided she needed professional advice and went to see Jack. The plan was for her to pick me up at PCAD around noon and we’d meet the rest of the family at the zoo for lunch.
I worked out with my trainer for an hour and then hit the court for another hour before getting showered and walking over to SCU first. Today, I had to decide what I was studying.
“Well, Tony,” Sam said, “I’m not surprised with your choice, but I do wish you’d consider Exercise Science. You’re a natural athlete and it seems a shame to have you wasted on English Literature.”
“I’d consider it,” I laughed, “if it weren’t for the fact that I hate jocks. I could be a great athletic trainer if I didn’t have to deal with athletes.” We both laughed.
I did consider majoring in Exercise Science. Sam had been lobbying pretty hard for it. It was interesting. I just didn’t see a future for myself in that field. I’d enrolled in a Human Anatomy course to fulfill my core science requirement this fall and my one English class was a departmental requirement that didn’t actually count toward my major. The rest of my first year requirements had been fulfilled with my AP classes in English and Math. So I had an easy sophomore standing at both SCU and at PCAD. Next year, I’d have to do some requirements for my major in Art and Literary Criticism and I’d probably have fewer classes at PCAD and more at SCU. It was confusing at best.
The unfortunate part about the schedule was that Anatomy met five days a week at 7:30 a.m. It was going to be hell. I still didn’t know what I’d be able to take at PCAD.
I left Coach Sam’s office and out of the athletic building straight into some kind of campus rally. It was the middle of July and still there were about a hundred people out on the athletic field. I wandered into it to see what was going on. This will be my campus in the fall. I should be aware of what is happening.
Awareness. When it came down to it that was my one goal for the year. When I zone out while I’m painting, that’s one thing. But I couldn’t really remember anything of my first term at PCAD last year—in fact, nothing before Melody reached into my heart and pulled me into life. I knew there were campus events, plays, concerts, politics… all kinds of things happening while I sank deeper into my darkness. This year, I’d be aware of my surroundings and of other people. First and foremost, that meant my family, but it also meant being aware of my environment and taking advantage of the opportunities available to college students.
“…one hundred people in each of four camps in the Seattle area. They live in tents. They don’t have running water and electricity. They’ve had homes foreclosed and cars repossessed. They’ve been ill or injured. Yes, some of them are transients. Our society has all kinds of people. They don’t need handouts, but they do need our help.”
I’d heard about the tent cities in Seattle. Homeless people who camped together for safety. They were moved out of various underpasses and then the local churches got involved and invited them to stay for three months at a time on their property.
“This field where we are standing is empty in the winter months. Who wants to come out and play soccer when it’s raining?” The speaker continued. “The student government has proposed that we invite a Tent City to occupy our sports field for October, November, and December. We want to reach out our hands and help the homeless.”
“Did you get a flyer?” asked a guy next to me. He was maybe an inch or so shorter than me, wearing khaki cargo shorts and a bright blue t-shirt that said ‘Pitch-a-tent’ on it. I took the offered brochure.
“So there’ll be a tent city here this fall?” I asked.
“We passed the resolution at the last student conference in the spring,” he said. “I’m Eric, by the way. Damn fine to meet you.” I laughed. Animal House had been required viewing with my dad.
“Are you recruiting?” I asked.
“Recruiting socially conscious volunteers to help with making a smooth transition when we have 100 homeless people living on the soccer field and using the Athletic Pavilion showers.”
“Aren’t the athletes going to be pissed that their field is being taken over?” I asked.
“This is an intramural field, used entirely for club and pickup sports. The most action we’ve seen on it in the past two years is an occasional cricket match among the Indian students. We aren’t touching the varsity athletic fields,” Eric said.
“Okay,” I said. Cool. Maybe I can do something for this.
I took the flyer and Eric wrote his phone number on it with instructions to call and set up my volunteer time. I signed the volunteer list and wrote in my phone number. I headed for PCAD. I needed to set an appointment with the special adviser for the dual major program. I knew I’d have to attend SCU orientation in September, just as if I was a new freshman.
Of course, there was hardly anyone at the school. PCAD doesn’t have a very big summer program, so campus is just about deserted. Miss Stevenson, I discovered, was handling the appointment schedules for my new adviser.
“Oh, hello, Tony,” she said. “It’s nice to have you back.”
“I got the email that said I need to set an appointment with the program adviser,” I said. “I figured that since I’m back in town I’d better get it over with.”
“Have you registered already?”
“No. I have a schedule, pending approval.”
“Okay. Mr. Randolph is in on Tuesday next week. Will that work for you?”
I got out my Daytimer and checked to see if I’d already committed to anything. After yesterday’s fiasco, I’d decided that this thing was going to be in my hands at all times.
“What time?”
“Let’s say, 10:00 a.m.” she said.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Oh, Tony, I almost forgot.” I turned back to her. “You’ve got mail. There have been some letters arriving for you ever since the gala. Your year-end forwarding information was incomplete.”
“Wow! Look at all these. Thank you.”
I didn’t have time to open anything because I was supposed to meet Lissa in a couple of minutes, so after thanking Miss Stevenson, I stuffed the mail in my backpack and ran out the doors just in time.
If you’ve never been to a zoo with a seven-year-old, don’t miss the opportunity again. I swear, I found out more about baby pygmy marmosets and baby sea otters than I ever hoped to know. And Drew was just as squirrelly. He wanted to hang around the big animals. You’d think a guy that little would be a little nervous around the exhibits of gorillas, elephants, and hippopotami. If one of us hadn’t kept a hand on him the entire time, I think he would have been in the cages with them.
We were eating lunch when Lissa brought up her conversation with Jack.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Jack over for dinner tonight. We can grill something.”
“What’s the occasion?” I asked. “You know we all like Jack and I haven’t seen him to thank him for all he did while the kids were sick.”
“I’ve always depended on him for career advice,” Lissa chuckled. She’d been very quiet all afternoon. “I’ve been talking about a business idea for a few years and never had the courage to do anything about it. Jack thinks maybe this is the right time to discuss it. He thought it might be easier if he was there when I tell you about it.”
“You can tell us about anything, Lissa,” Melody said.
“I know. But this is… I want to do it right and… oh! Please don’t think I asked Jack to come because I can’t talk to you. Oh no!”
“Lissa, take it easy,” I said. “Nobody is suggesting anything. We kind of went overboard on that last night. If it’s easier to discuss with Jack around, then fine.”
We cut the afternoon short, stopped at Whole Foods, got some chicken sausages to grill with fresh vegetables, and went home to prepare. We were practically falling over each other trying to help with the meal preparations and the boys. I was finally relegated to getting the gas grill cleaned and ready for use. Jack got there about six o’clock and we were ready to eat.
After we’d eaten, I got the boys ready for bed and read to them in their bedroom. I looked up from the book, and saw Jack standing in the doorway.
“Hey, look, guys,” I said. “Daddy’s come to say goodnight.” I stood up and kissed Drew on the forehead. “’Night, buddy.” I did the same for Damon and then I slipped out the door to let Jack say goodnight to his sons.
“Love you, Tony,” the boys chorused as I left.
“Love you, too,” I said as I left the room.
“Lissa’s been talking about this business for nearly five years. She went to work for Forever Lilly in order to get experience. Well, she got the experience. She came to me this morning asking me if I thought the time was right,” Jack said as we sat on the deck.
“Gosh, Lissa. What kind of business?” Melody asked.
“Well, I got to thinking that I could sell women’s sports clothes and exercise wear,” Lissa explained. “It’s not all that original. I found a manufacturer in Singapore a couple of years ago with a line of white label sportswear that would simply attach my label. I was just too overwhelmed with the boys to even think about starting a business.”
“I think it’s cool,” I said. “Will you model all the outfits for us?” Okay, I was hoping for a private showing, so to speak.
“The thing is that Lissa’s involvement with the racquetball circuit is heating up with her Open championship last year and now her intercollegiate access through you, Tony. It’s a big step, though,” Jack said.
“What made you think that now was the right time, Lissa?” I asked. I wanted to just jump up and down and scream ‘Yes!’ a million times. I sensed that unbridled enthusiasm wasn’t what was called for just now.
“After my meltdown yesterday, I thought I was at the end of the world. But then, last night you showed me we all were going to support each other, no matter what. I woke up this morning feeling so free and light that the first thing that crossed my mind was that nothing could stop me now.”
“What will be involved?” Melody asked.
“Starting a business is never easy,” Jack said. “There is no way that one person in a family can just go into business and not have it affect everyone else. In fact, the idea of a family business is inherently that the family is involved. Right now—and I know this sounds presumptuous on my part—we are all a family. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be in your household, but Lissa and I share children, and I consider both of you to be the boys’ step-parents. That ties us all together and it will take all of us to make it successful.”
“How would it affect our school work?” I asked.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Lissa said. “I brought that up with Jack this morning. I don’t want you to ever jeopardize your schooling or your scholarships. We should think of your involvement in the business as a kind of work-study so that you have particular tasks and times that you are working on the business and can plan your schedule accordingly. For you, school is top priority. I can treat the business as a full-time job, but you can’t.”
“How about you?” Melody asked. “How involved would you be?”
“That’s a tough one, Melody,” Jack answered. “I’m a retired ex-husband, which means that I have both an advantage and a disadvantage. Retirement gives me more time, but I’m definitely outside your household unit and would be less directly affected. I’d like to help, but only as an adviser. Maybe I can pick up a little extra slack with child-care like I do when Lissa is traveling. I’d be happy to help with preliminary business planning.”
“So, there’s a lot of work, but Melody and I haven’t got summer jobs, so for another month-and-a-half, at least, we could work more on the business. But, it seems like there’s a lot depending on your high profile, Lissa. You know what that means?” I asked.
“What, Tony?”
“It means you have to win the Women’s Open again this fall.”
It was going to take us days to get the business organized. Eventually, we moved to the dining room for coffee and cookies. I finally took the opportunity to grab the mail I’d collected out of my pack.
“What’cha got, lover?” Melody asked.
“I had a bunch of mail at PCAD when I was over there this morning. I haven’t opened it yet. A bunch of it looks like advertising, but there’s some fan-mail, it looks like.” I separated out half a dozen personal-looking letters and tore the first one open while Melody got the letter opener and slit the rest. My face must have given me away as I tore into the next letter.
“Tony? What is it?”
I started dumping the rest of the envelopes on the table. Offers. Requests for proposals. Nude pictures.
“Jack,” I said. “I think I’m going to need that agent you mentioned contacting a couple months ago.”
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