Loosening Up: Growth

by Robert Wolf

©Copyright 2025 Robert Wolf

Chapter 1 - Off the Record

Wednesday evening Ken and Dave sat at the bar in the media room watching a re-run of an old football game. The TV wasn’t that important; the discussion was. Ken had just finished a ninety-minute flight lesson with Alice. Pam was traveling again.

Ken tentatively said, “Last Saturday night blew me away. Thank you for seeing me. I want to be sure there are no ill feelings by you about me because of my relationship with two of your four wives.”

Dave laughed, “I bet the night did blew you away, and I have no animosity or enmity about you in any way. In case you haven’t noticed, we all live in a large open marriage with each other, plus everyone you meet here is most likely a member of our large polyamorous family. Are you all right with the way things turned out? I know the women ganged up on you and you’ve been invited to a more permanent status with us. They’re very open about sharing their thoughts. Alice and Pam are crushing on you, big time.”

“Yeah. I’ve been chewing on things since. I couldn’t concentrate on much else other than what happened. Nancy talked to me by phone yesterday about my housing situation. Tonight’s dinner with everybody that was here also helped me decide. I do want to join the Circle. I’m not sure of the economics and whether I can afford it, but I’m more than willing to try.”

“There were almost bets that you’d decide that way. Why did you hold off?”

“I have this thing about intimacy and sex. I think I should develop intimacy with a woman I like before we have sexual intimacy. I’m a ‘mind, body, and spirit’ guy. First, we meld our minds together, then our bodies, and then, hopefully, we find that our spirits blend together and we find a unique closeness with each other on many planes.”

“And Saturday was putting the cart before the horse?”

“With some of the women. I was in the process of developing that closeness with Alice and Pam, and then we had sex. I’m cool with that, because I think we keep talking together and growing our relationship. Rachel and I started on that path, too, and then I gave into lust and we started to make love.

“But then Wendy, Kat, and Grace … attended to me.”

“You can say fucked. My sensibilities won’t be upset.” Dave chuckled.

“OK. They each came to me that night and we fucked. I didn’t have the emotional attachment with them yet. I found the attachment times a thousand with Grace, but I never had time with the other women.”

“Ken, I think you’ll find that you grow that attachment over time. I’ve had some of the same feelings, especially about the order of things. With some of the new women I meet for the first time, I suddenly have found that we’re fucking moments later with minimal connection. I can tell you that my feelings of intimacy and closeness to each of them has grown over time. I nurture those contacts and don’t treat them cavalierly. Allow yourself to be open to the experience of sexual intimacy first, and then take the steps to pursue the other kind of intimacy. You’ll move between the two as each develops, like putting the weight on alternate feet as you walk.”

Ken thought about that. “I can do that.”

Dave teased, “As a jet jockey, I expect you’ve of had a line of women around the block that you were boffing.”

“Not me. I allowed my ego to take me in that direction a few times when I was younger, but I quickly found that the more meaningful relationships and the ones that made me happiest were with women I could talk about anything with, could confide in, and who were my equal. That’s how I feel about Alice, Pam, and now Grace, and somewhat with Rachel.”

“I heard you kind of fell for Grace.”

“Very hard. I think she likes me as well.”

“She does. I heard about that third hand. Jack, her husband, knows, too, and is supportive.”

Ken looked exceptionally pleased.

Dave asked, “Did Alice or someone talk to you about our … rules, but I hate to use that word. It sounds so authoritarian.”

“Try me,” Ken said.

Dave said, “Where do I start because they’re all interwoven. First off, I guess is our assumption that we live in a world that is loving, kind, and fundamentally spiritual. We aspire to be that way in all our interactions with others. We do not see most things, including relationships as a zero-sum game.”

“Zero-sum game?” Ken asked.

“If I get some, then you don’t. If someone loves me, then they can’t love you. If I give my love to someone then I have to take it away from someone else. Those are examples of a zero-sum game. The opposite is to believe in a life filled with abundance. The more I give away, the more I receive in return. I give my love to each woman in our Circle, and I receive tenfold back to me. That’s hardly a zero-sum game.

“Think about what happened with you, Alice, and Pam. Alice and Pam both fell in love with you. Did their love for me diminish? Not one bit, nor did mine for them. So overall, a surplus of love got generated to share between all of us.”

Ken nodded.

“Accordingly, we are not jealous. That is an unwanted emotion in our Circle. We are not possessive. We treat each other as equals. We share ourselves, but it is all right to say ‘No’ once in a while. ‘No’ means exactly that.” Dave stopped.

Ken waited and then said; “You didn’t say anything about the sex.”

“I don’t know what else to say about it. Maybe ‘consenting adults can do whatever they want about sex.’ That’s a good adage because it puts the emphasis on consent and not based what you do or try to do on assumptions or societal stereotypes. To execute that statement properly calls for some kind of communication between you and your partner or partners. Communications is a hallmark of the Circle.

“If you’re kind, patient, loving, full of compersion - the opposite of jealousy, sharing, non-possessive, and treat people equitably - I guess like the Golden Rule, then everything else in our Circle follows, including the sex.”

Ken said, “I think I’ve been living pretty close to that model, although the bridge to sharing a woman I love with another man is a large one.”

Dave smiled, “Look around you and see whether breaking that model has hurt any of us. If you feel it has, please come to me and talk. I want to know about it, or to try to understand better than I might with superficial knowledge.”

Ken shook his head, “When I first met you, and Alice and Pam were coming on to me, I was really confused. They assured me that you were fine with whatever they did, even having sex. I thought you were a cuckold, but you’re not. I would have expected much different behavior, but you come across as a sane, stable, thoughtful, and brilliant man who is a good leader for the Circle.”

Dave laughed, “Ah, good. My disguise is working and I’m still fooling people.”

Kat and Alice came into the room. They’d been part of the after-dinner cleanup crew. Alice sat is Dave’s lap, and Kat in Ken’s.

Kat said, “We’re feeling deprived.”

“Deprived?” each of the men said in unison.

Alice explained, “It’s been several hours since we had sex, and we were hoping the two of you could fix that situation for us. We’ve talked and we’d like side-by-side repairs to our little pussies, with lots of switching back and forth until we are well and truly lubricated with your rich and valuable internal man oils that you can inject into us.”

Dave laughed, “Sounds like a plan to me. Here or in the house?”

“Oh, here. Others might also get the idea and join us. We need all the help we can get starting with you two handsome devils.”

Before Alice had finished speaking, Ken and Kat were in a deep embrace and French kissing. Dave chuckled to himself, ‘So much for some intimacy and knowing someone well before sex.’ Ken and Kat would become very good friends very soon.

---

Nancy and Jack sat across the table from Dave and Ty in their roles as the vice president and president of the Circle Cohousing Project. They were at the larger dining room table in the core on Saturday afternoon.

Nancy said, “Since I raised my idea, I’ve talked to Ken, Holly, Christie, Roy, Owen, and Jack - basically all of the single people in the Circle plus our architect. Dave, I didn’t treat your wives as single. I also skipped Rachel due to her young age and her admitted lack of funds, but she might be interested in this over time.”

Jack said, “I like the way Nancy thinks, plus there’s precedent for things like this in some other cohousing projects around the country. I grabbed some sketches and photos of multi-unit town houses similar to the architecture style of your homes on the Circle. I also paid more attention to the site, and I think a nice location for something like this would be partway around Circle Drive, kind of opposite Roy and Owen’s homes near where the road down to the runway branches off. There’s a bit of a hollow there the new buildings could sit in, so any edifice would sit lower than they otherwise would be.”

“How many square feet?” Ty asked.

Jack responded, “I’m guessing around fifteen hundred or so for each unit, might suffice for each unit. I don’t think we’d have to go much higher, especially since we assume the residents will be making extensive use of the core facilities.”

“How many units do you think we need? What if more people come and join us? I’m thinking we have something very unique here and people want ‘in’ on it. A small trend has already started. The other thing is that we sold off our guest house to my brother and his wife, so maybe we need space for guest visitors.”

Jack held up his hand. “Hey, I’m the architect. I create buildings and modifications that meet my client’s needs. The Circle is my client in this case, and I am only one opinion. I would need to talk to everybody in the Circle to get their opinions and wishes in order to answer those questions. Nancy has made a start on it. The question about the future of the Circle sounds like the more important one to me.”

Dave said, “One thing is going to create a major disruption to our way of life in the near future, babies. That may not impact the idea of town houses or apartments, but it will sure change our way of life in other ways.”

“Are you trying to tell us something?” Ty teased as he sat back in his chair.

“No, but I can hear a loud synchronized ticking sound every time we’re all together, especially when Matthew is around playing near the pool, for instance. The women look at him with motherly instincts every time he’s here.”

Ty’s statement about the Circle having something very unique and that other people would like to get in on it turned out to be prophetic. On Friday, he called Dave to explain.

“Dave, I got a call from guy named Carl McNally. He works at the Tampa Tribune, and they are affiliated with the Sarasota Herald in some way. He wants to do a story on the Circle Cohousing Project.”

“Shit. How’d he hear about us? We’re not exactly main stream story material or known about that widely.”

“He didn’t say and I was too flummoxed to ask at the time. He wants to meet with you and me - officers of the board, and then also talk to at least two women who are part of the Circle. He didn’t seem to know anything about the sex, but he knew we’d been neighbors back over in Oakwood and had formed this compound instead of living near each other over there. Maybe one of our old neighbors cued him in. Anyway, he’d like to meet with us next week some time.”

“Evening? Weekend? I’m away for a few days during the week. We need to invite a couple of the women, too. Saturday, late morning, or afternoon would work best for me.”

Ty said, “I’ll see whether I can get him to meet with us then. You, the two women, and I should talk about what to say before we talk to him.”

“I agree. Maybe Sunday afternoon, and then we have a week to think about it. I’m thinking that Pam and Wendy should be the two women, and maybe Alice. They’ve been on the project since its conception and are both articulate and not all related to you or me. Any of them could participate, actually.”

Sunday afternoon Ty, Dave, Alice, Pam, and Wendy sat around one of the patio tables. They were nude and working on their all-over tans as they chatted about Carl McNally’s impending visit the following Sunday shortly after lunch.

Wendy laughed, “So, we don’t tell him about our nightly orgies, the wife swapping, and the dens of iniquity that we’ve created? That’s all the really interesting and newsworthy stuff. Everything else rates as boring.”

“Not unless we want several hundred peeping toms and dirty old men slinking around the perimeter of the Circle trying to view it all,” Dave said with a chuckle.

“Oh, I look forward to the guys with raincoats flashing us as we drive in and out of the gate. Maybe we can flash them, too.” Wendy hefted up one of her bulbous tits and oscillated it around seductively.

Ty brought the meeting back to order. “So, if the questions are about the mechanics, structures, and rules of the Cohousing Project, refer them to Dave or me, and if they’re about how we ‘feel’ about the Project and living here, we defer to the women, but also the men can answer as they see fit.”

Alice asked, “What else would we get questions about?”

Wendy speculated, “What’s it like living here? Why cohousing? We can talk about that: committee work assignments, our social life - the public G-rated version, community meals, our library, ride sharing and carpooling, the core library, and the other stuff.”

“Anything else?”

Ty volunteered, “I’d think about joint exercises and yoga, the gym, our meditation sessions, the flying lessons you’re taking, and that kind of stuff, too.”

“Does everybody else know to be on their best behavior?”

Ty nodded, “I think so. I put a sign up on the white board about next Sunday.”

Wendy said, “We should be sure that Matthew is here, maybe even with Heather’s mother. His presence will give the Circle a family atmosphere. The newspaper guy will love that aspect of things. Tell him how Holly taught Matt how to swim and dive. That’ll help tout the benefits of this life style and the Project.”

---

Sunday a week later at one o’clock, Dave buzzed Carl into the Circle property. He went to curbside to welcome the news media reporter. Not only was Carl McNally in the car, but also so was Erin Steckler, another reporter in her twenties. Dave led them through his home towards the core.

“I thought I’d pass you through my home so you’d get a feel for things. Those of us living in the Circle all have homes of this style and architecture, although we chose different square footage homes and layouts for various reasons. Mine happens to be the largest.” Dave kept walking towards the corridor to the core. “All of the homes have a covered walkway to the core facilities. In good weather we open it up. If it’s cold or hot, we can close the sides and have it heated or cooled. Any of the homes can reach the core rooms without needing to go outside - a good option during the monsoon season.”

Dave put in a plug for Suntech, the company for which he’d just become a director. “We may go for solar electric in the near future, at least for some of our power needs. We still need to evaluate things, look at costs and such, but the idea is on our radar screen.”

Dave led them into the core, coming out right between the core building and the pool patio. “All the homes share the patio, large pool, pool house or cabana, pergola, and all the outdoor dining equipment - the grill, tables, chairs, chaises, and so on. Inside the building, come this way, are our common area living room, library, media room, dining area, kitchen, gym, sauna, indoor Jacuzzi, and a few other rooms for special projects and crafts. Many of the walls are temporary so we can move them around inexpensively as our needs change.”

Dave walked them through the interior of the core building, chatting as they went about how the various facilities were used. Eventually, they exited the core building back to the patio near the pergola and joined Ty, Wendy, and Pam. Introductions were made.

Erin asked, “So, you eat most of your meals together here in the core?”

Pam picked up the thread; “We tend to do breakfasts and lunches during the week at home. Everybody is on a slightly different schedule then, and no one wants what would be an onerous duty to keep serving food over a long time period. Dinners are mostly communal. We do a cocktail hour that gives almost everybody a chance to gather together if they want, and then the dinner squad serves up the meal for the evening.”

“How do you account for individual tastes or preferences, such as low salt or gluten free?” Erin asked.

“We know which people have dietary restrictions; there aren’t many. The dinner squad takes those into account in meal planning and food prep. We don’t have any gluten intolerant people right now. One person is lactose intolerant, so any cheese sauces or such are prepared as something that can be added separately or we hold portions aside without the sauces. We note those on the buffet. Two of our residents studied nutrition in college, so they are a permanent part of the meal planning volunteers.”

Erin grinned, “This is such a cool set up. So, weekend lunches and dinners are together?”

“Saturday and Sunday, we do a brunch instead of a lunch, but yes. Anybody can go and scrounge around in the kitchen, too. We save leftovers for twenty-four to forty-eight hours, but there are few left by the end of that time period. Our cooks all seem to compete about preparing really edible meals that will totally disappear.”

Carl noted, “You don’t have common laundry facilities?”

Ty shook his head, “No. We decided there’d be too many people competing for those limited resources, so we put those in the homes instead. It freed up room in the core for the sauna and Jacuzzi. We can always reverse that decision if we want. We built a lot of flexibility into our designs. We have our architect, Jack Anders, to thank for those ideas. He lives on site, and can join us if you want to emphasize that direction in your article. He knows we’re meeting and volunteered to be available.”

The six of them talked sitting around the table. Carl and Erin took notes, and Carl snapped a couple of pictures looking across the pool at the core building. Just after he sat down, Julie strolled out of the far end of the core building and walked to her usual tanning chaise. All would have been well; except she only wore her microscopic G-string bikini bottoms.

Carl’s eyeteeth just about popped out of his head. Julie was as well-endowed as Pam, and while he might have been fantasizing about what Pam looked like under her casual clothing, Julie left nothing to the imagination.

Dave and Ty looked at each other with a touch of panic in their eyes. Dave got up and sauntered over to Julie. “Errr, Julie. Didn’t you see the notice that we have outside guests here? Newspaper people?”

“Oh, shit, I missed it. I was away all week with Owen, as you know. We didn’t get back until late. I forgot to look at the bulletin board.” Dave passed her a towel from the pile of pool towels so she could cover up. Heather raced up a moment later, with Julie’s bikini bra in hand. She slipped it on.

Dave rejoined the speechless reporters. “Sorry about that. She didn’t get the memo.”

Erin said, “So, partial nudity around the pool is permitted?”

Ty quickly said, “We don’t have rules regarding the state of dress. A few of us act very European about their suntans.”

“But they’re part of the city ordinances, aren’t there?” Erin posed.

“Ah, but we’re not part of the city. We kept this land as private property rather than throw in with the city. Our roads and the common areas are private, not public. Since we don’t have to plow snow, it works out better for us. We have a committee that manages that side of things for us.”

Julie took it upon herself to come over to the table in her small bikini but with the towel draped around her shoulders. As she reached the table, she put her hand on Dave’s shoulder in an affectionate gesture. “Please forgive me everybody. I didn’t know we were having guests, so I thought this was a normal Sunday where I could tan without concerns.”

Dave introduced her to Carl and Erin, and a few pleasantries were exchanged. Julie shook hands and almost did a close-up reveal, but knew just how to keep the towel in place.

As she left, Carl observed, “She has the same last name as you?” He looked at Pam and then Dave. “Is she a relative?”

Pam gulped. “She’s … my good friend.”

Erin asked in a puzzled tone, “But you’re married to Dave, are you not?”

“Yes,” Pam said flatly. “It’s complicated.”

Just about that time Matthew raced out from Dave’s house. He was in his swimsuit and brimming with enthusiasm for one of his weekend swims in the pool. He came running by the table, high fived Dave’s available hand, and then yelled, “Watch this, Dad.” He went charging towards the deep end of the pool and did a cannonball into the water, screaming in delight the whole journey.

Erin grinned, “He’s yours?” Everyone at the table chuckled at the five-year-old’s behavior.

Dave said, “Kind of. It’s complicated.”

Heather came out of the house wearing a full bathing suit. She waved at Dave and took a seat nearer to the pool’s edge so she could keep an eye on Matthew and serve as his lifeguard.

Dave pointed, “That’s his mother.”

“She came out of your house, so did Julie Prentiss.”

Just then Alice also came out of the house in her bikini with a towel around her shoulders. She also waved to Dave and Pam, and then joined Heather and the two of them started to talk. Matthew had started doing laps and carrying on, as any five-year-old in a pool would do. Holly appeared from Aaron and Shelby’s house and joined them. She went into the water with Matthew and started to coach him on his swimming skills, trying to harness his haphazard swim strokes into a smoother and more efficient swimming style. Matthew obviously worshipped her.

Erin said, “Is it OK to talk to the women. I wanted to ask about motherhood in this environment.”

Dave nodded and indicated the women with his finger, and Erin went over to Alice and Heather. They talked for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, Carl got into how the finances for the Cohousing Project were managed, and how the place actually operated.

Erin came back and sat down. She waited for a pause in the conversation, and then turned to David. “I have a very important question, that I hope you’ll answer candidly. I have now met four women that live in YOUR house and they all have the last name Prentiss. What gives? What’s going on?”

Dave and Pam looked at each other in a total quandary. He also looked at Ty, but he’d checked out. Dave was on his own.

Wendy blurted out, “That’s easy; they’re married to each other.”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

After a long silence, Dave said, “She’s more or less correct, but please don’t put that in print. We don’t want our family lives made public.”

Carl posed carefully to David, “You mean you have four wives?”

“One legal one and three virtual ones, yes. I am not a bigamist. No laws have been broken.”

Pam jumped in, “We love him. Alice is his legal wife, and the other three of us decided to change our last names to conform to our family name to honor our polyamorous relationship.” She gestured to the circle of women by the pool.

Carl said, “And the youngster really is yours?”

“No. He is Heather’s son from a relationship that turned sour just after she got pregnant at the end of High School. He calls me ‘Dad’ because I am the primary male figure in his upbringing. He lives in our home. His grandmother lives nearby and helps with daycare. She is around here somewhere.”

“What does Heather do? She looks kind of young.”

“She’s going into her sophomore year at the university on a scholarship. She’s motivated and smart. She wants something in computer science for a career.”

Erin laughed in a polite way, “A geek!”

“Pretty much. Several of our group’s population are in that field. She’s used to the term. We tease her about it occasionally to get her used to what the real world will be like when she finishes. She’s a straight-A student as I said, on scholarship.”

“So, you live with Pam, Alice, Julie, and Heather? Intimately?” Erin asked with a sly grin.

“Kind of an improper question, isn’t it?” Dave retorted sharply.

“Yeah, but I’m curious. Answer it off the record.”

“Yes.”

“How do you spread your charms around,” Erin asked. Carl looked interested in the response but was staying out of this part of the discussion.

Pam jumped in, “He’s an amazing man. I think we should leave it at that. I will tell you that every one of us is exceptionally satisfied, even on daily basis. We love him dearly and he loves us.” There was a touch of pride and bravado in her tone. Dave blushed, but nodded slightly to agree. To make matters worse, Wendy was laughing and nodding in agreement to what Pam said.

Dave said, “Why not bring your questions back to the Circle Cohousing Project? I urge you to leave my family life private. Please!”

Carl vocally agreed. “Tell us how this started? Why ten homes and who’s in them at this point?”

Ty and Dave traded off telling Erin and Carl about the genesis of the Project. They carefully kept Owen Bennett’s name out of it, because that alone would make things exceptionally newsworthy, especially if it became public knowledge that he also was a paramour for the Prentiss women. Dave just stated the truth without elaborating about the great imbalance that existed between Circle members in the initial funding to acquire the land and get the buildings underway.

Pam politely ran through the professions of some people owning one of the Circle houses. She tried to gloss over the house that Christie lived in, just referring to her as a burgeoning actress. She referred to Mike and Clarisse as wedding and professional photographers.

Erin bored in on the comment. “Could you elaborate? What kind of plays or movies does the starlet act in?”

Pam did not want to get into this discussion, but she’d boxed herself in. “Well, she works at the Club Ecstasy as the headliner, hoping to be discovered for some more serious roles.”

Carl’s eyebrows nearly rotated over his head to the top of his head, “The strip club?”

Pam said defensively, “It’s an adult entertainment club and a very legitimate business.”

“Yes, but … the dancers take all their clothes off.”

“And so does Christie. She’s beautiful.”

“Is she here?”

“She is filling in for another dancer at the club this afternoon. I’m sorry. You could probably find her down there.”

Erin nodded. “You don’t mind?”

Pam said, “Mind? We love her. She’s the perfect neighbor, and so helpful and caring about the rest of us on the Circle. I don’t know what she’d add to what we’ve already told you, but you could always get her viewpoint.”

“So, you don’t mind having a stripper as a neighbor?” Carl asked to confirm.

Dave burst out laughing, and that triggered Ty’s laughter. They managed to each get a ‘No’ out between guffaws. Pam and Wendy were also laughing.

“What’s the joke?” Erin asked, looking from person to person as they laughed.

Pam looked at Dave and he nodded with a grin. “Just for kicks, all of the women here have been on stage at the Club Ecstasy at one time or another. They have amateur nights and we gave each other some challenges to do that. That’s partly how we met Christie in the first place, when she coached one of us the night they danced there.”

Wendy added in voice full of teasing about her friend, “Pam really distinguished herself as a very accomplished dancer. She’s done several nights there.” Pam blushed.

Erin smiled, “Sounds a bit like it was on a dare.”

Pam smiled, “It was - a dare to help each of us loosen up from being rigid, inflexible, judgmental, fundamentalist, evangelical prigs. Some of us were pretty bad, but over time we made the transition to someone that’s tolerant, resilient, forgiving, curious, experimental, kind, caring, and open about all aspects of life.”

“What about your neighbors?” He gestured around the Circle of home.

Ty said, “Pretty much the same journey, more or less. Consequently, what Christie does or doesn’t do isn’t particularly a relevant topic around here. We all love her and support her as best we can. It’s what we do for each other; it’s a vital part of our ethic. Christie has told us that the job is a temporary one until she matures some more. She’ll probably go back to college at some point and complete her education. She is quite smart and is also interested in computer science or a STEM career, the way Heather is.”

Carl said, “Bringing us back to the Circle and its members. How would you describe your relationships with each other?”

Wendy snorted slightly, but kept her cool and shut up.

Pam picked up the lead, “As best friends.”

Carl posed, “There are, what’d you say earlier, twenty-four people in the Circle? That’s a lot of best friends.” The statement by Carl seemed to be putting doubt on the label.

“Carl, we live in each other’s back pockets because we chose this as our lifestyle instead of buying and building on three-acre lots and landscaping them so we couldn’t see our neighbors, let alone have to talk to them. We like each other, even love each other. There is no topic that is verboten here. There is no prejudice, no racism, no sexism, no possessiveness, and no jealousy. We share our possessions and ourselves with each of the others in every way our friends need and as often as they need. This is the greatest support network any of us could imagine.”

Carl started to say, “That sounds as though you all engage in …”

Ty interrupted him sharply, “CARL! What else do you really need to know in order to write the article about our Cohousing Project? Anything? I think we’ve frequently wandered too far afield from that subject and gotten into personal lives in ways that would violate the privilege we extended to you of this interview. We hope you will remember that as you start to write.”

Ty’s admonition was taken as just that by the reporters and appreciated with nods by the others. Dave amplified, “Please keep our private lives out of any article you write.”

Carl nodded and collected his notes. “Thank you all, and your friends we met for their time and comments. I think we have a rich trove of data for our article. I assume Erin or I could call one of you if I discover I have a hole of some kind when we have a draft.”

“Of course,” Ty said with more of a smile. He pushed two of his business cards across the table to join Dave’s. Erin and Carl each picked up a set. There was a lot of handshaking as Ty led the couple back between two of the houses to their car.

Chapter 2 - More Candidates

Dave arrived home on Wednesday evening and got a boatload of kisses from his four wives. Matthew was also in the welcoming line. Alice said, “You have a message on the home machine. I wrote down the number on the pad by the phone, but listen to it.”

Dave went into the home’s den and hit the ‘Play’ button on the answering machine. ‘Hi Dave, Alice, Pam, Julie, and Heather - and, oh, everyone else. This is Susan. Dale and I were hoping we could join you all for another stay with the Circle starting the Memorial Day weekend for a week. If that’s too much of an imposition, tell us either when would be good or aim us at a motel nearby. We loved our time with all of you and wanted more, more, more; but if we weren’t reading the mood correctly as we left, please someone just let us know. With love, peace, and kindness in our hearts we think of all of you every day. Hugs and kisses. Namasté. Dale and Susan. XXX-XXX-XXXX.’

Dave called them back immediately and got Dale on the phone. “If you don’t get your butts down here, we’ll never forgive you. Yes, come and stay at the house or use it as a base of operations - whatever you need. The guesthouse is gone for now, but we have a guest room with bath in our house, and you’re more than welcome to hang your hats with us. It is no inconvenience at all.”

Dale expressed his thanks and confirmed the dates. He said he’d provide more specific times after they got flight information and arranged for a rental car. Dave offered to get them at the airport and give them a loaner car from the Circle.

One of the side-effects from everyone living together was that there was always a car or two sitting idle every day, but not necessarily the same car. If someone needed a loaner car because of car repair or a visitor, they posted the need on the bulletin board, and quickly got responses.

Dale took him up on the offer of a pick-up and loaner, since it would save them several hundred dollars for the week. He asked whether it was inappropriate to offer that money up to the Cohousing Project’s treasury as a way to say thanks and pay something towards the meals and facilities they were using while they were with us. He knew the benefit from that amount would ripple through the group indirectly. David accepted on behalf of the Circle.

A couple of weeks later, Dave picked up Dale and Susan at curbside at the main airport about forty-five minutes away from home. Susan literally flew into his arms and planted a knock-your-socks-off kiss on him as several dozen people looked on at the passionate reunion. She was squealing with delight at being with her favorite lover. Dale was laughing and waiting a turn to shake his hand and execute a man hug with Dave.

The voluble couple made the drive home seem shorter and full of their news, thoughts, and questions about the Circle and what had been going on with each Circle member. The more they talked the more Dave realized how perfect they would be as new members of their small closed society.

They arrived at the house, and Dale and Dave carried the two suitcases upstairs to the guest bedroom and put them on the bed. Susan said, “What’s everybody wearing out on the patio? The usual?”

Dave grinned, “I suspect the usual; either nude or just about.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll be down. You two guys have to dress that way, too,” she teased.

Dale shrugged. Dave said, “Meet you downstairs.” He left them to attend to his own wardrobe.

Dave had just stripped down to the athletic shorts he usually wore when Dale and Susan appeared in the master bedroom doorway. She decided that naked had the look she wanted and looked really fine that way to Dave. Her breasts with the chocolate areolas and nipples were swollen and erect. She’d trimmed her pubic hair into the shape of a heart since the last time she’d been with the group. Susan was sexy.

The three went through the corridor to the core and out onto the patio.

“MIKE!” Susan yelled as she encountered the person nearest the door. Mike was stretched out reading the manual for a new video camera. The camera itself sat on a small table next to him.

“Susan, how nice - how very nice! I saw on the board that you were arriving today.” He jumped up. The pair hugged and kissed, her bulbous breasts pressing against his bare chest in a sexy way. Susan took the opportunity to grind against him, the result being an immense lump in his shorts that needed some attention.

After that Dave escorted the couple around the rest of the patio, making sure the other Circle members properly welcomed them. When they were through, they came back and joined Mike per his earlier invitation.

Dave went back to his house to fetch his iPad and get the mail. When he came back out Susan was in a deep conversation with Mike. He chuckled to himself; he could guess the subject. As he sat down, he listened rather than interrupt Mike’s pitch.

Mike was building his case as Dave tuned in. “Ask the other women. They’ve each done at least one video. Alice has eight that are posted and selling like hotcakes. Kat has done a few. Clarisse has over a dozen online, and Christie about thirty. Some of the other women’s vids haven’t been up long enough to know how they’ll be received in the market. Heck, if even one person buys a copy, you’re a star.” He grinned broadly.

“I don’t know … it seems like such a big step,” Susan said in an uncertain tone.

Mike pulled his phone out of his pocket, “Take a look at this video. See if you recognize anybody.” He punched at the screen with one of his fingers and then passed the phone to Susan.

Susan studied the video on the screen for over two minutes. Finally, she said, “The video is really hot, but I don’t recognize anybody. Should I?”

Mike turned and said, “Dave?”

He smiled without looking, “The video is Alice. She’s disguised with wig, makeup, and a few other things. You could also just wear a mask, too.”

“WOW! That is so hot. Mike, you were fucking her.”

“I was and we do frequently in any case. She also did a gangbang video with the men in the Circle. We all had a lot of fun doing that one, but she’s waiting to make it public.” Mike paused, “Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you that Kat does almost all my editing now; I do the rest. She’s got a real knack for putting together really erotic videos. She helped me re-edit the one you just looked at and did a much job of it than I did the first time around.”

Dale said to his wife, “I fully support you doing one. Try it. I bet you’d have a lot of fun. Mike could disguise you, if that’s your concern.”

Susan looked him in the eye, “I’d be fucking another man on film. You could watch it any time you wanted. It might come to haunt you.”

Dale chuckled, “In only the nicest of ways. I’d love to have a video celebrating this time in our lives. Think of everything that’s happened in the last three months. We’ve broken out.”

Dave muttered, “Loosened up.” He thought again of his own journey with Alice a couple of years earlier.

Susan turned to Dave, “Should I do a porn video?”

He held his hand up, “Oh, no, you don’t. You can’t push this off on me. I enjoy watching porn and I’d delight having one of you in my library, but I will not accept the burden of advising you. I’m ill equipped to do that. Talk to almost any of the other women. Holly is the Circle member that hasn’t done a video, but I do know that she wants to do one; she’s waiting for the muse to tell her when.”

Mike coughed, “That’s not quite accurate, Dave. The muse, Holly, and I did a vid about a week ago. It’s still in the editing queue.”

“Oh. I didn’t hear that news.” He turned back to Susan, “So, ask any or all of the women about it. Get their input about it, but you have to make the final decision.”

Mike nodded, “He’s right. If you don’t do one this trip, then maybe on your next one.”

Kat came to the table and sat down. Susan didn’t immediately grill her about any videos that she’d done, but she was curious about the editing work she was doing. Kat explained about taking the raw video footage from multiple cameras and synching them as she played them back, picking the best camera angles, even doing overlays or picture-in-a-picture at some points in the edited version. She also talked about sound editing where she could remove instructions Mike gave to his ‘model’ or add appropriate sounds or background music.

The discussion migrated to how Susan used computers in her paralegal work, covering everything from researching obscure cases that might be used as precedents, to simple word processing of huge contracts or legal documents. Dave showed Susan the foundation documents for the Circle Cohousing Project when he heard that part of the discussion occur. She asked whether she could pore over the notebook later, and he told her no problem.

During the afternoon, Alice and Pam each had flying lessons with Ken Toomey. He’d flown the Cessna 172 over to Circle Airport, and each woman spent a little over ninety minutes with him rehearsing for their flight tests, which had been scheduled for the following Friday afternoon at Sky Ranch with an FAA examiner who would test one and then the other of the two women.

Ken rode up to the patio from the Circle’s airport in the golf cart with Alice, who’d had the later lesson that afternoon. He met Dale and Susan, and there was some polite talk about aviation, the airport, the kind of planes he’d flown, and the number of hours he had. Dale knew a little about flying, but was blown away when he learned that Ken had flown F-35s and had over 20,000 flying hours in his logbook. Those kind of hours meant that he’d come face to face with about every flying situation there was to confront, and in Ken’s case, some of them had been entitled ‘combat’.

As expected, Ken stayed for the cocktail hour but stuck with soft drinks, and then joined in the Circle dinner. Susan succeeded in getting the seat next to the handsome pilot for dinner, and then both Dave and Alice noticed they got deep into several conversations.

After dinner, Susan talked to Wendy, Kat, Grace, and Nancy in separate conversations of varying length about Mike’s offer to do a porn video of some kind. To no one’s surprise, she ended up back with Ken when the others in the Circle started to form couples and get romantic.

Dale managed to corral Rachel into an assignation to start the evening. The two had made love on Dale and Susan’s earlier visit to the Circle, so this was a reuniting of friends. Rachel knew she was often desired because of her age and youthful looks, yet she was content to play that role for any of men from time to time. She’d really become a teen that loved older men of any age.

Ken quickly fell for Susan - the cute curly strawberry blonde who’d befriended him at dinner. Apparently, she felt the same urge to merge that he did. He noted that her husband had made up to Rachel, and the two of them were already making out with him often sucking on her bare breasts.

Ken turned back to Susan, “What can I do to bring you pleasure?”

“I hope you like oral sex a lot, because I do.”

“I just happen to hold an advanced university degree in the subject, and I excelled in the laboratory work leading up to my academic achievement - magna cum laude.”

Seconds later, Ken buried his face in Susan’s sex muffin, inhaling not only her feminine aromas, but also the sexy wetness she’d created in anticipation of their being together.

Dave watched the couple as the likely newest male member of the Circle made love to the wife of the friend that he’d met at his leadership seminar in Sedona a few months earlier. Of course, Dale would probably become some kind of member of the Circle, too; at least Dave hoped so. He did wonder what Dale really did for work; that was kind of hazy in his thinking. Dale had ducked every opportunity to fill in that blank in their various discussions.

---

Monday night at the regular board meeting Ty announced that the board was considering a building program elsewhere on the property owned by the Circle Cohousing Project or CCP. He explained about a request from one of the ‘singles’ that lived off campus to be closer to the group, yet not have a full house devoted to them the way Christie did.

Christie was at the meeting and expressed interest in something smaller than she’d bit off with the house. She told the group, “If I had an apartment or townhouse, I think I’d be happier. I’d be able to save money, too. Right now much of what I earn is spent for the monthly CCP fee, and I am NOT complaining one bit. Plus, I don’t need all the space I signed up for.”

Ty reminded her and everyone that if they want to sell their home, they have to comply with the provisions in the CCP foundation documents regarding the acceptability of the buyers to the membership in order for the sale to be completed.

Dave saw a flurry of activity and hand gestures between Susan and Dale at the back of the large core living room where they’d been invited to attend the meeting as observers. He made a guess as to the reason, expecting he’d find out later. He inwardly smiled to himself. The Universe made things work out just right for its citizens.

Jack was invited to say a few remarks regarding the expansion. He pulled an easel to center stage and put up a large artist’s rendition he’d drawn for a cluster of eight townhouses. He spoke, “I recommend something like this two-story building that contains eight apartments. I’d locate this complex where the land rolls off towards our airport. This would lower the profile of the building relative to the existing homes. With landscaping we could make it almost disappear, even from Circle Drive. There is also room for additional units along that road.”

Jack put up a second sketch on the large two-by-three-foot foam board. “This is a typical floor plan for one of the units. As you can see, downstairs we can comfortably have a kitchen and open plan living-dining room, a small den, powder room, utility room, and stairway. The upstairs in this design can be parsed into three bedrooms with baths, and the small hallway. If you were to only do two bedrooms you could make each larger. In this design the unit is around 1,800 square feet. If you cut down on various room sizes here and there, you could get it down to 1,500 square feet without impacting the functionality very much. Lower is also possible, but given our neighborhood I recommend against it.”

Ty asked, “What are next steps?”

Jack smiled, “Another round of interviews, emphasizing the singles this time since they might be the potential occupants. I plan to start those this week, and if all goes well, I’ll finish by Friday. I will be asking each of you what you think of this strawman design as part of the interview, so you can start to form you opinions. I’ll leave these panels here in the core living room so you can examine them more closely at your leisure. I’ll stand them up on the sideboard over there.”

Ken raised his hand and asked, “Will affiliate members be included?”

“Oh, yes, especially since you are likely to be an occupant. By the way, if any of you find other floor plans you like or you’ve lived somewhere and liked that experience and want to see it duplicated here, please tell me and provide as many details as you can.”

“And we could have some input to the room layout and design details?”

“Absolutely, pending overall board approval, of course.”

Ken looked happy and very interested in the process; so did Nancy, Christie, and Holly. Dave noted that Roy and Owen were silent but only modestly interested. He knew from various conversations that they were exceptionally happy with their regular homes on the Circle.

The meeting ended shortly after that exchange. Dave watched Susan pulling Dale behind her as she made a beeline for Christie. When they found the hot little sexpot, they waited until she was free and then the three of them went outside onto the darkened patio to talk.

---

Alice got home from work on Wednesday afternoon; going straight to her bedroom and changing into the monokini she planned to wear for the cocktail hour. At thirty-one, she still had what Dave assured her were the greatest set of tits in the Circle. She had just enough self-assuredness to believe him. She was well endowed but didn’t want to let her physique go to her head. She knew as soon as she got pregnant that her form would likely change forever. Her breasts would fill and then sag, never to return to their pristine and pert condition. Her hips would spread to accommodate the baby and childbirth, never to return to their trim state. Stretch marks would plague her abs and torso in visible places. All that would be true, but she’d have a delightful baby. The first of two she hoped.

As Alice came out onto the patio, she found Susan sitting in the shade of an umbrella right in front of her. She put her towel down and greeting her visitor. “Hi, Susan. What’d you do today that was fun? Where’s Dale?”

Susan laughed, “Dale’s playing golf and you’ll be shocked by what I did. I read through the entire notebook Dave loaned me of the foundation documents for the Circle Cohousing Project and took notes - articles of incorporation, the declaration, the bylaws, and the rules and regs. The lawyer that helped you with those was good and knew his stuff. I found his name in there, so I wanted to get permission to contact him.”

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem. I can also think of better things to read on holiday.”

Susan’s light demeanor, “Well, … I have a question or two for you again. Could you tell me the philosophy that the various women or men have about getting pregnant again?”

“Sure,” Alice said. “Not a problem. Dave and I are at one extreme. We want to know the paternity of our child, and I want it to be Dave. Pam is the same way. Julie and Heather are more relaxed about paternity and we’re content with that as a family. When the time comes, I’ll have the men other than Dave wear a condom when we make love, at least until I get pregnant.

“Sean and Kat are at the other extreme. Someday she’ll just stop birth control and see what happens. If she gets pregnant there’ll likely be no idea which of the men did the deed, at least with some degree of certainty. She might know her peak fertility days and whom she made love with, but she won’t know for sure which man impregnated her.

Wendy and Dev are in the middle someplace. They want to limit the sperm donors to a small circle of men. Dave is one of them and so is Sean. They subscribe to the belief that the sperm from older men makes babies more susceptible to various birth defects, so they plan to avoid Roy, Ty and Jack, for instance. Wendy told me that Ken is borderline since he’s thirty-six. You get the picture.

Of course, Grace has already had Rachel and isn’t going to have any more. She’s even started menopause with hot flashes and such. I don’t think Christie will worry about paternity, when the time comes. I’m not sure about Clarisse, Nancy, Holly, or Shelby. Dori plans to remain childless and be every kid’s special aunt.”

Alice looked at Susan and realized that she’d been hanging on every word. “Is that what you wanted to know?”

“Kind of. I get the sense that no one thinks ill of anybody else’s view on the subject.”

Alice nodded. “I think that’s true. We’re not an overly judgmental group. I’ve never heard a large discussion on the topic. What I know is only because of a couple of casual discussions the women have had. I talked to Dave, of course.”

Alice felt something was off, “Is there a problem of some kind?”

Susan’s eyes got glassy. “Maybe. First, I need to tell you that I want to join the Circle. Dale does, too. We talked extensively about it before we even came on this trip. We don’t know whether we’d be acceptable to you all, but we’d sure like to be considered.” She paused and added, “I want to be involved so badly that I’m willing to beg.”

Alice smiled, “I think you two would fit in well with all of us. You’re both so friendly and helpful, and you blend into our crazy social life with no problem.”

“What if the person that wanted to join was pregnant?” Susan choked up as she posed the question.

“Are you?”

“Yeah, I think so. I haven’t had a period since we were here six weeks ago. This week I’m missing my second one. This is very unusual. I’m not even supposed to be able to get pregnant. I’m all fucked up inside from an accident I had when I was a kid. I worry that I’ll miscarry, too.”

Alice rose and went to Susan and hugged the young woman to her. “Oh, Susan, that’s wonderful. What a great blessing.”

Susan sobbed, “I don’t know who the father is. Dale doesn’t know yet. It was one of the reasons I had to come back this week. I had to talk to you about this. You’re like the leader of all the women and now you’re my best friend. I knew you’d tell me straight what I should do.”

Alice continued to hug Susan and comfort her until the tears dried up. A couple of the other people on the patio glanced at the women, but no one intervened.

Alice finally said, “Come take a walk around the Circle with me.” She pulled Susan out of her chair, and they both put on their flip-flops. Alice led them out to the walkway around the outside of the homes and they headed off in the counter-clockwise direction.

Alice said, “First off, you have to tell Dale. For good or bad, he’s your partner and you have to involve him.”

“But what if he gets mad and leaves me?” Susan said in a tone laced with high anxiety.

“Won’t happen,” Alice assured. “The rest of us will beat him into submission. Think of it this way; he brought you here six weeks ago at his insistence. He WANTED you to do what you did with the other men. He was the one questing after a completely different lifestyle. Well, he has to accept the consequences of what he got. I’m sure he’s already thought about this, but not specifically. He’ll be fine with it. I’ve come to know him, and I trust what I just said about him.”

Alice thought and said, “That sounds like resignation, but I think he’ll be thrilled about what happened. He’s not going to leave you. He’s going to be a daddy and love every minute of it.”

“Oh, I hope so.” Susan sounded so worried.

“When he gets home from golf you dress up all pretty and wait for him. After he’s cleaned up from his golf game, why don’t the two of you go out for dinner. Take my car. I’ll get you reservations at a restaurant that’ll give you a booth away from the other diners. You tell him in your own words that you love him, what happened, and tell him about your worries and anxieties, too. Don’t hold anything back - anything!”

Back at the house Alice helped Susan get ready for an important night out with her husband and called a restaurant named Baci to get them a booth for dinner. Susan looked hot by any standard. When Dave got home, he commented on his friend’s wife in her presence so she knew she presented well. Alice only told Dave they were going out. She’d fill him in later.

Dale arrived home from the golf course a few minutes later and was informed of his dinner out. He beat a hasty retreat to the shower and then dressed nicely in casual clothes and a borrowed blazer. Susan and Dale left for dinner just in time to make their reservation.

After they were gone, Dave and Alice went out to the patio to join the others. She asked him, “Are you ready to be a father?”

Dave gave her a sideways glance, “Got something planned that we should talk about?”

Alice laughed, “Not yet, but Susan might. She’s pretty sure she’s pregnant, and also certain that it happened when she was here last time.”

Dave’s eyes flared, “I think she had sex with all of the men.”

Alice smiled, “Including you, multiple times. So, you might be the father or donor or whatever you want to call it. Susan feels it happened with her first bout of intercourse on her last visit, and that was with you.”

“Shit. What are they going to do?”

“She’s telling Dale over dinner. I guess it’ll be a joint decision. If he doesn’t continue to love and care for her, I want you to beat him up.” She hugged his arm to her.

Dave was not a man of violence. He gave her a peculiar look. He added, “Dev maybe. He’s the dangerous one we’re never sure about.”

“Do any of the others know?” He glanced around the core living area and patio.

“No, I don’t think so. Tonight is the big reveal for her husband. She’s full of anxiety about the whole situation, particularly about not knowing the paternity of the baby.”

Dave shrugged, “You and I care, but most of the others don’t. I don’t care about Matthew’s paternity, but I do love Heather. I could see that they’ll weather this in a positive way. Dale is an okay guy, and he will be about this.”

“Dale may need your help to see the light in that regard once they get back from dinner. She’s praying that he won’t get mad and leave her.”

“I think he’s more laid back than that but I guess we’ll know in two hours.”

---

Dave was cuddled up with Alice and Heather in the core media room watching television when Dale and Susan came back from dinner. They stopped at the door to the room and interrupted the viewing.

Dale said, “Might we have a few minutes of your time in about five minutes? We want to change into casual clothes but need to talk to you.”

The Prentiss family nodded as the Harnetts disappeared. They were back dressed like the others in a monokini and athletic shorts only three minutes later.

Dave turned off the TV. Since they were the only ones in the media room, he thought that was as good a place as any for the talk. He expected what might be said.

Dale said, “I guess you know that we might be pregnant.”

Dave nodded. “Alice told me a little while ago.” He noted that Susan was remaining mute, but also that she was barely holding herself together.

Dale went on, “I’m not sure how to ask, but one thing is clear, namely that we’d like to move into the Circle with you all.”

Dave nodded again, his standard response these days since he’d learned about the Law of Delay. Don’t make decisions or statements until you have to. Wait and gather more information, and maybe even the need to say or do anything controversial will disappear.

Dale visually shifted gears. He said, “With a different perspective, we talked to Christie after Monday’s board meeting that you so nicely let us attend. She’s willing to sell us her house to us, pending our approval as part of the Circle by the members, and when one of the new town houses that were discussed become available for her to move into. In the meanwhile, if we were to get accepted, she’d allow us to move into her house with her, but … well … member approval. What’s involved?”

Dave smiled, “I don’t think that’ll be a problem for you, particularly with the potential father of your child being one of the Circle members.”

“It could also be me,” Dale argued.

“Or me,” Dave replied with a smile. “Another question, though; what about you jobs?”

“Over dinner, Susan told me about reviewing all your cohousing legal documents. She’s a paralegal, as you know. She was hoping to get an introduction to your lawyer that prepared those documents for you, with an eye towards getting a job with him or her. As for me, I guess I’d quit the outfit I work for in D.C. and look for a job down here. In this economy, I think I could get a new job and prove myself quite quickly. I might even start my own company. I think I have what it takes.”

Dave said, “So, your next hurdle seems to be getting member approval. Let me worry about that for now. I assume you do have a reason for wanting to be in the Circle, or do you?”

“Dave, we had our reasons before I knew about Susan’s state. We have felt so welcomed and loved here, and we’ve found an outlet for the friendship and affection that we want to give other people. People accept it here, rather than react with suspicion or distrust. Of course, there’s also the openness about sex, but that’s really a manifestation of the deep friendships - even loving friendships - that I see and hope we could be a part of. We want to give as well as receive. I love the commune or cohousing idea, too; at least as you have it playing out in the Circle. I think you drew the lines in the right places between private quarters and the shared core.”

Dave asked, “Do you have any reservations about any of us? Who we are, our jobs, our avocations, our viewpoints, our political persuasions, how we behave, anything?”

Dale answered firmly, “Not one. You’re not all alike, and that’s important to us. I don’t think we’ll be quite like any of you, either. I think you all revere the diversity among you.”

“Good answer. You got all the Circle philosophy on your last visit. If any of that grinds on you, we should talk about it.”

“Oh, no, quite the opposite. I agree with it to such an extent that we are ready to up-end our lives and move here, even without solid jobs in hand. Forever may be too strong a term, but I can’t see us changing back to the way we were. You know I came to you on a quest, and now I’m sure I’ve found the Holy Grail.”

Later, Dave made love to Susan again, after the conversation about joining the Circle. Only a few feet away, Dale made love with Alice and Heather. To enhance the mood shift from the more business side of things, Alice had put on one of her porn videos.

Chapter 3 - Promotion

Dave made the rounds over the next three days as the opportunity presented itself for him to see every Circle member and affiliate. The question he asked was, ‘What do you think of Dale and Susan Harnett becoming Circle members?’

The response was uniform and enthusiastic, ‘Oh, yes. I’ve been treating them as though they were members, but certainly. They belong with us.’ When Dave had talked to everybody, he suggested to Dale that he and Susan stay over to the following Tuesday before returning to Atlanta.

Thus, at Monday evening’s board and member meeting he presented the motion that they be elected as affiliate members until they could physically buy Christie’s house, and then they would automatically shift to being regular members of the Circle. The vote in the room was unanimously in favor.

The pair had gone out to a movie, but had been nervous because they knew from Dave that he was going to call for the vote on their membership. They were ecstatic about the results, and pledged to be good Circle members from the moment they were around. Susan cried. Dale looked relieved.

The next day, the couple was gone by the time the others in the Circle started to move around to get ready for work. Dave suspected they had a lot to do around their home to get ready to move to the Circle.

Dave took Alice, Heather, and Julie out to dinner on Wednesday evening, and then they went to see the third episode of 50 Shades - a movie called Fifty Shades Freed. Over ice cream after the movie the four discussed the film and book trilogy.

Alice said, “I loved the story. It really was our cup of tea. She was so innocent at the start of the series, and ended up very savvy at the end.”

Dave commented, “And, they had vastly different positions about the BDSM stuff that Christian was into, and they each moved significantly towards each other as the story progressed. Love resulted in them moving.”

Heather asked, “Didn’t the two of you move in your loosening up process?”

“Oh, yes. Tremendously, but we moved from about the same place for each of us to the same new place for each of us. We weren’t coming from different end points.”

Julie followed up, “What would have happened if you hadn’t taken the same journey and ended up in the same place?”

Dave shrugged.

Alice said flatly, “We probably would have separated. It happens to established couples every day. They chalk it up to ‘growing apart,’ or ‘having different goals,’ but the end result is the same. You or your partner are no longer the same person you were when you married them. One of you has changed and the other didn’t keep pace. The gap becomes too large to bridge.”

“Do people ever separate and then get back together?”

“Sure. I’ve heard of lots of remarriage stories five and even ten years after a divorce, although I don’t know anybody that’s been on the journey personally.”

Julie said, “That’s got to be emotional.”

“I suppose. I do hear the term ‘happily divorced’ from some people, but that may be a little one sided or maybe someone was just glad to be out from under another person. I think some people separate but still get together for sex.”

“Why bother to get married?” Julie posed rhetorically.

Dave replied, “These days most people don’t. The number of people getting married shrinks each year, and the number of couples living together without marriage grows. The number has doubled in something like ten years. Moreover, more than forty percent of unmarried households have children. I was reading a report a few days ago, because how people live directly impacts how much electricity they use.”

Julie mused, “And we go through so much trouble to find our soul mate. I got lazy. I let my sister do it for me, and then she found you.” She leaned over and kissed Dave on the cheek.

Dave laughed, “You outsourced the job. The concept of a soul mate is seriously flawed. The phrase suggests that there is only one person for you in the entire universe, and I think that’s incorrect. How many of the other men in our Circle could you be married to?” Dave looked to Alice and Heather as he asked, as well as Julie.

Heather said, “At this point, any of them. I love you and I know I could grow to love any of them in the same way.”

Alice pointed and Heather and said, “What she said. You already know I could be content with Owen and Dev or Sean, but that’s as true for the other men as for them.”

Julie had listened carefully, “I guess you’re right. Of the billions of people on earth, I guess there are a large number of acceptable partners. I never thought of it that way.”

Dave said, “When you’re raised with the ‘Exclusivity Paradigm’ you are also raised with the meme that says you have to get it right the first time. Most people don’t. Alice and I lucked out, but we changed to make that accommodation and lock in our future together.”

Dave shook his head. “That’s kind of dumb the more I think about it. People change; they grow and evolve in their interests, physical abilities, and mental acuity. Moreover, we know that their values and priorities shift over time. There’s a ‘happily divorced’ man at work. He talks about how he had the perfect ten-year marriage with his first wife. At the end of that time, they amicably split up and went in different directions. They’re both remarried to people more compatible with who they became as they grew and evolved.”

“Could that happen to us?” Alice asked.

Dave thought for a little and replied, “Possibly, but here we are in our early thirties feeling pretty compatible. Many of the years prior to this were about change and growth; not so much now. One of us could revert to our old way of thinking, but I think that’s unlikely. The way we were talking isn’t necessarily what the majority do; it’s only a possibility.”

Heather said, “I don’t plan on reverting. I love this lifestyle, and so does everybody in the Circle. You’ve made me realize I’m married to ten men, thirteen women, and the mom to one five-year-old. I love it.”

Dave teased, “Well, then, let’s head home and have some conjugal relations with some of our spouses and partners.”

“Ooooooh, I like that idea,” Alice crooned.

Julie’s grin confirmed that she liked that idea, as well.

---

About ten-thirty on Friday morning, John Thompson, the CFO of Knightsbridge and Roy’s boss, came down from the executive suite, went into Roy’s office and shut the door. Roy rarely shut his door, so something was afoot. Alice watched from her desk with great interest wondering what was happening. Through the narrow window beside the closed door she could see Roy sitting in a chair beside his desk as Thompson sat in the visitor’s chair. Roy didn’t look worried; in fact, he was smiling occasionally almost as though he were getting some good news.

After about forty-five minutes, Abby Walsh, the head of human resources, showed up looking a little perplexed about where to go. Alice said to her from about a dozen feet away, “Mrs. Walsh, can I help you find somebody?”

“Oh, yes. I’m confused about where Roy Goodman’s office is … and it’s Abby. I’m not married.”

“Why right over here. That door there.” She pointed.

Alice got thanked and then watched as the head of HR walk in and shut the door behind her. This meant that whatever was happening was a human resource issue or problem of some kind.

Ten minutes later, Dori’s boss and Roy’s lateral, Jerry Chapman hustled past the desks from his office and went in and joined the three others. He gave her a wave and nod as he went by Alice’s desk. Jerry’s presence likely meant that the issue, whatever it was, was not only in Roy’s area of responsibility. Martin Cowlers, the head of IT, came hustling in from his office and went right into Roy’s office. Thompson was in there with all his direct reports.

Alice worried for a while that somehow the interrelationship between Roy and her had been revealed, and that some kind of discipline was being meted out, but with Jerry and Martin there, she didn’t think that was the case. Besides that, the two of them had never hidden the fact that they lived three houses apart in the cohousing project and saw each other frequently on a social basis because of their proximity. Of course, playing by the old rules, nothing was ever mentioned about the sex they often enjoyed together.

At noon, just as Alice was going to go the cafeteria, the door opened and Roy stuck his head out. “Alice, could you join us for a few minutes? Don’t worry about lunch for now.”

The tone of Roy’s voice strongly suggested that Alice respond positively to his request. She was on her feet, and at the door to his office in seconds. “What’s up?”

Roy made sure she knew everybody, a sop to allow time to pass as Roy went back to his chair. Alice sat in the only vacant chair in the office - a chair not normally there. This had been a meeting planned in advance and not on the spur of the moment.

John Thompson assumed control of the meeting. “Thank you for joining us, Alice. I have a couple of questions, but I’m pretty sure I know the answers. First, are you happy working here at Knightsbridge Manufacturing?”

Alice was taken back by the question. “My God, yes. I love it here. I’ve been here over ten years now, and see this as the cornerstone of my career. I’ve risen from junior clerk to chief analyst, and I love the work, the people, and the ambience of our work environment. Nothing I’ve ever heard of excites me as much as what I’m doing?”

John asked, “And Roy said that you single-handedly created those insightful marketing reports that let us cull our unprofitable customers into a niche that requires less effort to service them, hence making them highly profitable?”

“Yes. I got bothered thinking about how we were treating all of our customers more or less the same, and spending the same effort on each of them, whether they bought a few items from us a year, or hundreds if not thousands. Mitch Rush, the head of marketing, was very pleased with what I showed him and recommended.” Alice recalled talking to him about her observations one day many months earlier when she was trying to flash her tits at some men as she loosened up.

John waxed, “Not only did you show him, but you gave him two ways to deal with those unprofitable customers to make them profitable and not lose them. You also saved the company several million dollars on an annual basis because we didn’t have to hire people to treat them the same way we were treating our A-list customers.”

Alice nodded, and wondered where this discussion was going. She didn’t think the meeting was about her work for Mike Rush. She did feel she was getting applauded for what she’d done.

“Roy also told us that you’ve made some real insights into how we manage both our raw stock and finished goods inventory. I believe you saved the company some money there as well?”

Alice speculated carefully, “My estimate was that we were able to reduce idle assets in the warehouse by about twenty million dollars annually,” Alice replied. “Of course, that’s a ‘what if’ analysis and those aren’t always what they’re cooked up to be. Overall, though, we have been able to reduce both inbound and outbound stock inventories by about thirty percent. There are still some savings to be made there, but I think we’re waiting for their overall systems to absorb those changes first.”

Roy spoke up, “John, barely a month goes by that Alice doesn’t make some marvelous insight into the business that results in the managers making better decisions, more efficiencies, or, as in the warehouse case, some transformations of the business. They just keep rolling off her desk.”

John sized up Alice. “Alice, do you know what the Peter Principle is?”

Alice couldn’t help but laugh, “Of course. Everyone gets promoted to their level of incompetence.” She chuckled.

John nodded and grinned, “Well, what’s going on here is that two of you are being promoted and we hope it’s to just shy of your level of incompetence.”

Alice looked perplexed.

John explained, “Alice, I am retiring as the CFO effective August 31. Roy Goodman is going to assume that role starting on September first. Roy will phase out of his present job and you’ll phase in to his job over the next month. Meanwhile, Roy will be phasing into my job over the next month as I move into retirement.”

Abby Walsh asked, “Alice, do you have someone in mind to replace you?”

Alice was numb. She’d just heard that she’d just been promoted into Roy’s job. She’d be the head of half the financial department in the company, and still reporting to Roy who’d also move up to the top financial post.

Alice slowly nodded, “Meghan McRobb would be an ideal choice. She’s been making great strides in seeing new ways to apply our financial analysis tool kit to the business. I’ve got her working with one of our outside consultants, and that guy’s got some crazy ideas and many of them are innovative and revolutionary enough to help keep us on the edge.”

Abby said, “Come and talk to me early next week about how to move on from here. We can talk more about Meghan at that time. Please don’t say anything to her for now. With all of us in here and about to go to lunch together, I’m sure the rumor mill will be fired up and full of ideas in ten minutes if it’s not already full of stories because of this meeting.”

Alice was quaking she was so excited at her new job responsibilities. She set a time to meet with Abby Walsh.

John said, “I propose that we all take Abby’s suggestion and break for lunch. All of you, please join me as my guests in the executive dining room.” He chuckled, “Roy, you’d better get used to eating in this new place rather than the general cafeteria. Alice, you are also free to use the place from now on, as well. A lot of business gets transacted over lunch. You’ll be a key person in many of our decisions from now on just as Roy has been and will continue to be.”

Alice had never been in the room, and she knew that Roy could only count the times he’d been there on one hand and have a finger or two left over. This was a real treat.

John led the entourage of Roy, Jerry, Abby, Martin, and Alice, down the hall towards the executive wing of the administration building. As they filed out the door to Roy’s office, Dori was watching the group like a hawk studies a vole before swooping. Alice waved a little finger, gave a little nervous smile, and pointed at her watch. She raised one finger, hopefully communicating that she’d be back in an hour.

Lunch was a casual affair and a bonding experience. Alice got to know John for the first time, and on the one hand felt sorry that he was leaving, but on the other was joyful that Roy was getting promoted to his most-senior financial position. Alice had known Abby from a few interactions over the years she’d been with the company and welcomed the opportunity to know her better as well. Abby for the HR function and Marin for the IT function both reported to the CFO.

After lunch, the group broke up and headed in different directions. Roy and John had made a time to meet to discuss the handoff and transition. She and Roy then walked back to the admin area. Jerry had already run ahead.

“When can I fell everyone?” Alice asked.

Roy shrugged. “No one said not to. I’ll call the group together right after we get back and invite Jerry and his staff. We’ll just congregate out in front of the reception area, and keep it informal.”

As soon as they got back, Dori was sitting beside Alice’s desk reading a report. “All right, what was all that about? Something important is happening, right? Everyone was smiling, so there aren’t layoffs or someone getting fired, so that must mean somebody got promoted, right?”

Alice pointed at her computer screen and smiled, “Have you noticed how our financial forecasts take longer to appear after we’ve entered new data than they do if we’re just querying them?”

Dori said, “You can’t talk! You’ve been sworn to secrecy! SHIT! If you tell me, you’d have to kill me! I will find out somehow. I’ll give you an obscene number of orgasms by licking your pussy until you scream out exactly what is going on.”

Just then, Roy and Jerry started going from area to area in the financial department asking people to gather in the department’s reception area, a place where some casual meetings could be held with nice furniture and chairs, and a more relaxed ambience.

Dori looked, “Roy or Jerry is going to tell us, right?”

Alice nodded and grinned. “It’s good - very good. You’ll see.”

When everyone had gathered around, Roy and Jerry moved to the front of the area. Roy spoke, “Ladies and gentlemen, as a complete surprise to me, about two hours ago John Thompson dropped by my office. He told me that he was retiring effective the end of August, and further that I would be replacing him as the Chief Financial Officer of the company. I’m going to need all of your help in my new job, and as we know the pace of business just keeps getting faster and more complex every day. I don’t see that changing.

“Additionally, after a brief discussion, John and I are pleased to announced the promotion of Alice Prentiss to my current position, also effective September first when I’ll assume John’s role. Some of you may know that she has a wonderful staff and is also an insightful person. She and her group have saved the company several million so far just this year, and that’s on a recurring basis.

“I guess that’s all I have to say for now. Jerry, do you want to add anything?”

Jerry made some brief comments pledging support and enthusiasm for the promotions from within, and welcomed Alice to the ranks of senior management. The two men took questions at that point. Several were predictable, such as who would replace Alice, but they were deflected with: ‘the ripples of these two promotions will be dealt with over the next couple of weeks’.

Dori came and gave Alice a huge hug and kiss. “CONGRATULATIONS. We have to celebrate! Oh, this is so great.” Dori then caught Roy and also gave him a big hug and a very loud kiss, much to everyone’s amusement. Alice figured that just about everybody in the department knew that Dori had some kind of ‘special’ relationship with Roy and her. She also figured that a good percentage of those presumed that ‘special’ implied something sexual.

Dori and Meghan disappeared a little later, and they returned about four o’clock. Immediately, the word went out that there was a celebration of the promotions in the reception area again.

Roy and Alice had been talking, and they strolled to the area. John had come down from the executive suite and joined the group as well. Dori and Meghan had somehow bought several bottles of champagne, plastic flutes, and a huge sheet cake that said, ‘Congratulations John, Roy, and Alice on your promotions’. The white icing was wonderful atop the vanilla cake. Everyone had a piece and there was a lot of laughter in the group. Afterwards, most people headed home early.

Dori folded up what was left of the cake, which was a fair amount, and brought it home. It’d be gone by the end of dinner in the Circle. She, Roy, and Alice had carpooled. The promotion received a huge outpouring of love and congratulations for both Roy and Alice. The leftover cake was devoured and gone even before dinner was served. Alice accurately commented that this group had no willpower.

As several of them continued to sit at the dinner table, among them were Holly and Dave. Holly teased Alice, “Maybe you’ll have to go to some Leadership Program just the way Dave did, only you’ll end up fucking all the male members of the class, the way he did all the female members.”

Alice laughed, “Remember, I go both ways.”

Holly teased with laughter, “Oooooh, you’ll do the whole class and all the instructors. Wow! You’re a real slut.”

“Takes one to know one,” Alice plied back as they laughed, “Hey, who fucked my husband about an hour after meeting him out near the Grand Canyon?”

Holly jumped around and raised her hand as though she wanted to get called on in some elementary school class. “I know! I know! The answer is ME! ME! ME!” Everyone got a good laugh of the exchange.

Dave asked, “So, what kind of raise are you getting?”

Alice looked at him dumbfounded. “Errr, I was so shocked to be getting a promotion, I never thought to ask. Besides, I’m a woman so they won’t pay me anywhere near what Roy was getting. Let me find out what he was getting.”

Alice strolled across the patio pondering how to ask the delicate question. Roy had been talking to Jack and Grace, mostly speculating about the new townhouses. He looked up as Alice arrived.

“I need to ask you a delicate question about your compensation.”

Roy laughed, “I wondered when it would dawn on you that a pay raise was likely to go with the promotion. You will be getting a hefty increase, but I don’t know exactly. There’s an executive compensation committee that’ll make that determination.”

“I must have taken a stupid pill this morning. I was so flummoxed by the promotion I didn’t think of anything else about it.”

Roy winked at Jack and continued, “You’re making $76,000 now with no bonus or perquisites, other than those that all employees get. I’ve been in my job for ten years, and I was making $150,000 plus I got a further bonus of up to twenty percent if the company made its numbers, which it has for the past five years; so last year I got a bonus payout in two semi-annual installments of $15,000 each. There’s also a personal bonus the company is starting based on making specific financial contributions to the company’s performance. That’ll be new for both of us. Further, you get a company car or in lieu of that some kind of add-on to your salary. You also go on the executive health plan, the executive pension plan, and a few other things.”

By the time he stopped talking Alice’s mouth had flopped open. “Holy shit. What do you suppose they’ll start me at if you had that after ten years?”

“I’d guess they’ll start you at something like $130,000.”

“What does the CFO make, or is that top secret?”

“Oh, no. It’s published in our 10Q filing with the SEC. I’ll be getting a base of $250,000, plus all sorts of goodies. Total will be about $300K.”

“Geeze. I just started playing with the big boys.”

“Oh, the guys in marketing are pulling down seven figures, even down to your old level. They earn every penny of it in my book. This is rarefied air. Welcome to the club.”

Grace had been listening, “Honey, thank your stars you didn’t go into nursing. I’m making $70,000 with no place to go. At least you can go bang on the glass ceiling where you work. Without going to med school, I have no career track beyond where I am.”

“Thank you.” Alice really was numb.

Alice went back and shared what she learned with Dave and Heather. Heather commented, “When I graduate with my computer science degree, I’ll start at around $63,000, and expect some rapid increases from there for my first decade of work, unless I’m a real slug.”

Alice teased, “Better than the Club Ecstasy?”

Heather shook her head; “I was making $30,000 at the club, when I worked six nights a week and sometimes seven. That schedule will kill you faster than heroin. I also had to do a lot of less than savory things, as you know. They tell you that you could make $60,000 but I’d sure like to know where - Las Vegas maybe, and that would include a lot of escort work.

“What the education guarantees is that I’ll have a sustainable salary even when I get older and start putting on weight and taking my ugly pills. Those earnings at the club are about as good as you can get around here, but you can only do that for about five to seven years at best. The patrons want their girls right around age twenty. Being a hostess, the fallback job, only pays about $18K a year. When I got too pregnant, I had to take a huge pay cut. If I’d been an engineer, I would have kept right on earning my full pay.”

Chapter 4 - Achievement

“November-8-2-4-8-Golf is downwind for runway two-seven at Circle Airport.”

Dave picked up the handheld radio, “4-8-Golf, Circle Airport, no reported traffic.” He heard two clicks indicating that Alice had heard his reply. He walked out onto the front porch of the home on the Circle and looked towards the northwest just in time to see the Cessna 172 make a descending turn onto base leg for runway 27. He noted that the plane’s headlight on the wing was on for increased visibility.

A second later he heard, “4-8-Golf turning final, runway two-seven at Circle Airport. Full stop landing.”

Pam and Ken were waiting at the hangar for Alice and the FAA Flight Examiner to return from the forty-minute flight they’d taken. Pam would then take over control of the plane for her examination.

The plane made a perfect flare and landing, just kissing the runway in a very soft landing. Dave knew enough to note there was a mild crosswind. He wanted to walk down to the hangar and see what was happening, but Alice and Pam had both pleaded with him and the other Circle members not to show up there because they were being tested. The both had a case of severe nervousness at the examinations.

Dave heard the radio squawk about ten minutes later with Pam talking this time. “November-8-2-4-8-Golf is back-taxiing at Circle Airport for takeoff on runway two-seven.”

Again, Dave gave the ‘No known traffic’ response as he surveyed the sky in all directions. Seconds later, he heard the roar of the small engine, and then saw the four-place Cessna hurl down the runway and rise sharply into the air. He’d been schooled to be able to tell Pam must have been asked to do a short-field takeoff. After her sharp rise, she adjusted to a reduced angle of climb and departed the traffic pattern with a wing-up clearing turn and then a procedure turn towards the south.

The golf cart careered up the narrow road from the hangar area. Alice was driving and Ken was holding on for dear life. She came to a screeching halt right in front of where Dave stood.

Alice got out and threw herself into her husband’s arms. She screamed and at the top of her lungs and yelled so everybody could hear, “I’M A PILOT.” She kept repeating the phrase.

Off to the side, Ken was laughing as he dismounted from the cart. Dave looked at the man with a smile. “Thanks for making her achieve her dreams.”

Ken laughed, “Oh, we’ve only started. Now she can carry passengers on good weather days, but we’ve got to make her an all-weather pilot, and get her a commercial rating which will help make her a safer pilot, and then we’ll move on into more and more ratings in higher performance aircraft.”

Dave chuckled, “This is going to cost me a lot, huh?”

Ken smiled. “It’s probably not the most expensive hobby, but it is up there. Just so you know, you will be buying an airplane sometime soon. Nobody said anything, but this is the usual path to ownership.”

“Thanks. I assume we can count on you to help be sure we’re not being ripped off.”

“At your service. I recommend an F-35, but I don’t know what they’re fetching on the used aircraft market; probably around twenty million.”

“Oh, a jet rating!” Alice crooned as she pulled the two men around the side of the house towards the patio.

As soon as she hit the patio, Alice again spread her arms and spun around, “I’M A PILOT.” The assemblage of Circle members on the patio had expected the pronouncement, so rushed to congratulate the accomplishment of their colleague and lover.

Ken excused himself about a half-hour later, and took the golf cart back to the hangar to wait for the return of Pam and the examiner in the single-engine craft. They appeared moments later, and, of course, Pam had passed the flight test with flying colors. She also went through some of the same theatrics that Alice had only an hour earlier.

After Pam reached the patio, a large sheet cake in the shape of a small airplane appeared with Alice and Pam’s names on the wings and a large pronouncement of ‘Congratulations’ across the face of the cake. Despite it being before dinner, most everybody had a piece of cake, especially Matthew who got two.

Matthew kept asking for an airplane ride, and extracted promises from his two ‘moms’ that had just become full-fledged pilots to take him on a ride in the near future. To him that meant tomorrow.”

Alice and Pam’s euphoria from passing their flight tests carried on through dinner, and then into the evening. At bedtime, Dave found himself with two excited and horny new pilots. He’d anticipated their feelings of joy, and did everything in his power to prolong and enhance their experience, by providing a glorious end to the day through his sexual prowess and their desire.

Dave awoke a few minutes before Alice and Pam, who’d slept on either side of him. He studied their beautiful faces still asleep and waiting for the jarring ring of the alarm clock. In anticipation of the clock, he kissed Alice awake and said, “I love you. You’re a pilot.”

Alice broke into a huge grin.

He repeated the exercise with Pam and got a similar response. Everyone was up early, so Dave made a point to feed the two hungry ‘pilots’ before they went off to their duties: Alice to her new job, and Pam to the den to work on a couple of proposals for work at some of the country’s utility companies.

Matthew, of course, had remembered the commitments from Mom 2 and Mom 3 to take him for a ride in the airplane they flew. His interpretation of the remark meant that morning. Alice did some fancy footwork to explain that she had to go to her regular job for the day and that Pam had important work to do as well, and neither would be able to fly him around. She told him, that within the next thirty days he’d get his ride. That commitment meant that she had to help him count to thirty and show him the calendar. He was disappointed but resigned to his fate.

Ken dropped out of the sky during breakfast to again congratulate his students. The three of them had an animated discussion about their instrument ratings and how fast that could be accomplished if they continued on at their present rate. Ken assured them that things could go a little faster, but that there’d be more ‘dual time’ with him as the instructor. He also suggested more night hours for each of them.

Ken then had an idea. “Of course, if you want to accelerate your instrument rating, you could go off and take a condensed course at one of the major flight schools. I know it’ll help a huge amount if you’ve taken the written test before you start the flight training.”

“Where would you go?”

“There are multiple places in just about every state. They each have to comply with certain FAA rules, but the idea is that you concentrate on the flying and skill build up. They usually end with the flight test, just like you have for your private pilot’s certificate yesterday, only the whole thing is under the hood. Most likely more of what you got in your training to date; the examiner puts the plane in unusual attitudes and you are expected to smoothly recover. You’ll also have to show her or him that you understand FAA rules and regs for instrument flight. Check out some on the Internet, tell me what you’re looking at, and I’ll check them out through my back channels. I have some friends in the business, too.”

Later in the day, both Pam and Alice took a few minutes to look at accelerated instrument flight training on the Internet. Unbeknownst to each of them, they each picked their favorite and a backup.

Ken wasn’t teaching in the evening, so he showed up for the cocktail hour and dinner. Increasingly, he was rooming in the Prentiss’ guest bedroom that had originally been designated for Owen until his townhouse got completed. Ken wanted to formalize the arrangement, but Dave just kept telling him to stay and not worry about anything. Ken only went home, which was nearer to Sky Ranch, when he had early morning lessons, charter flights, or an early or late shift at the desk at Sky Ranch.

After dinner, Ken presented Alice and Pam with study kits he’d put together to help them prepare for the instrument written test. He urged them to do it soon since they already had a lot of the basics down having just completed their private pilot’s tests.

Alice told how she’d done a little research and picked a couple of flight schools. Pam looked surprised but said that she had as well. Alice said, “My criteria turned out to be that they had good motel accommodations nearby, an instrumented runway, and a program that looked like it could be completed within twelve days, assuming we’d arrive on a Monday and finish Friday week.”

Pam said, “That’s what I did. I ended up with my first pick at a flight school at the Ashville, North Carolina Regional Airport.”

Alice’s jaw dropped open, “So did I. Smokey Mountain Flight School?”

“Yeah. REALLY. God, the more time we spend together, the more we think alike.”

Alice said, “There’s a place called the Airport Motel right across the street from the flight school, and restaurants within a half-mile. We can walk.”

Pam added, “And their runways are fully rated for Cat 1 approaches as well as GPS and non-precision.”

Ken was laughing, “And Doug Quigley, the guy that runs Smokey Mountain Flight School, just happens to be one of my oldest friends. I’d trust him with anything I had, even you two. I can call him and find out how busy he is.”

The three of them were all laughing at that point. The stars had aligned on this one. Alice said, “We’re being led by some paranormal force on this decision. Let’s do it.”

Ken called his friend who’d also been in the Air Force, and found they did indeed have time for the two of them in a few weeks. He booked them into the program.

The next two weeks Alice and Pam each crammed about a thousand pages of written material related to meteorology, flight rules, and instrument flying in preparation for the FAA’s written test. They both showed up at the test center on a Monday morning, after an intense study weekend and aced the test with grades in the high ninetieth percentile.

Two weeks after that on a Sunday afternoon, Alice and Pam flew together to Ashville in the Cessna 172 they’d been schooled on for their private pilot’s licenses to begin an intensive two weeks of instruction for their instrument ratings.

---

Jack Anders stood in front of the growing membership of the Circle. Behind him stood an easel with a large artist’s rendition of a modern two-story townhouse with the same exterior design as the homes on the Circle. The picture looked like a drone photograph taken looking across the existing circle of homes towards the airport. Jack had sited the eight-unit residential building just after the turn from Circle Drive onto the Airport Road and further on, the airport and the somewhat secret rear entrance to the compound.