Okay, a bit longer between newsletters than I'd planned, but here we are.

This time out, I'm asking you all to provide some feedback on what I've written as the first chapter of my new project, still provisionally titled "Daddy's Loophole". Please respond either at Twitter, Facebook, on my blog's comment section or via the email link below.

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Nov. 1, 2019

I showed up at Haven Café 10 minutes before our scheduled date. After getting myself a cinnamon latte, I looked around the coffee shop and spotted her already at a table, looking down at her phone, then she made eye contact when I was 10 feet away. Gloria Almirez, 30, software developer. The latest of a series of first dates since I’d rejoined the dating pool. I walked up to her and asked, “Hi, are you Gloria?”

I noticed her phone had my own profile picture on the screen when she set it down before blanking the screen. She answered with her own question: “Scott Thompson, right?”

“Yup.” I sat down and asked, “How has your day been?”

“Fair. And yours?”

“Pretty good. Usual first date nerves, you know.”

“Had a lot of those lately, have you?”

“Pretty much all of them, since I started dating again. You’re like the 10th in a row.”

She raised her eyebrows at that. “No second dates at all? Why do you think that is?”

Crap. I’d hoped for once that I could avoid telling the story.

“Usually goes downhill with the ‘Why did you get divorced?’ question.”

Gloria countered, “Okay, so why don’t we start with that, since these other women seem to have had a problem with your answer? Is it that bad?”

“It’s an unusual story, but bear with me. My ex-wife Katie is bisexual. When we were dating, she asked if she could still have female lovers from time to time. I wasn't so sure, so I put a condition on it. She could have her lovers, so long as it was in a threesome with me.”

“That’s a bit possessive, don’t you think?” Gloria asked.

“Yeah, I know, but she consented to it and it worked for us for 20 years. At least it did until she asked me for a divorce so she could marry Ashley, who’d been our regular threesome partner for the preceding three years. Katie felt she now loved her more than she loved me. I didn’t argue and consented to the divorce.”

Most of the other women had frowned by now or attacked Katie as a cheater or accused me of being a cuckold, but Gloria was still listening with a slight smile on her face, so I continued, “Ashley bought out my half of the house so she could move in with Katie and our kids. I used those proceeds to buy a small three bedroom not far from here, so my kids could have their own rooms when they visited.”

“Josh and Samantha, right?” Gloria asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. They were 16 at the time and had known about Ashley for the whole time she'd been our lover, so switching from thinking of her as “Aunt Ash” to being their stepmom officially wasn't a big deal for them. Josh acted as Katie’s Best Man and Samantha was Ashley’s Maid of Honor at the wedding. I attended, but just as a guest, thankfully spared from being asked to give Katie away.”

“That would have been awkward,” Gloria said, chuckling a little. Good sign.

“Anyway, after their honeymoon, Katie, Ashley and I resumed having threesomes for a bit, now with me as the guest in their marriage, but those became less and less frequent and ceased altogether after two more years. Just in time for Samantha and Josh to start college 800 miles away from here, so I didn't even have their weekend visits to anticipate, until they have Thanksgiving break in a few weeks. It took ‘empty nesting’ to an extreme and left me feeling so alone that I decided to start dating again online and here I am today with you.”

Gloria had smiled shyly as I told my story and when I was done, she was beaming. "That sounds lovely, Scott, except for how it ended for you. Would you be open to doing that again? Threesomes, that is, not getting divorced?"

“You're… bisexual?" I asked.

She nodded. “There are a couple women I already know who I think would love to join in with us. Or am I presuming too much on a first date, to think that we’re definitely going to wind up in bed together?”

“Women you’ve already had sex with?”

That brought a small frown. “Yes, of course. Scott, are you afraid that I’ll do to you what Katie did? Decide that you’re second place in my heart and ask you to leave? Do I need to promise that I’’ll be your woman first and having another woman in my life — in our life -- will never change that?”

I answered, “Gloria, Katie made me that promise and then couldn’t keep it, because her heart made its own decision. If you’re going to fall for someone else, I can’t prevent that. Being sexually intimate increases those chances, but I wouldn’t want to deny you that, either. So, I’d be caught between wanting your happiness and wanting to protect my own. My concern is more that I would hold my heart in reserve, thinking that events will repeat, when you deserve my commitment as much as I desire yours.”

She pondered that. “If I commit to you, Scott — and it’s too soon to say that -- you’ll be my man and any woman I want to take to bed will need to promise that she’ll let me share her with you. That much I can promise. If she and I also fall in love, I promise to pursue that in the framework of a polyamorous triad with you, not to leave you for her. Did you, Katie and Ashley ever discuss polyamory and group marriage?

I answered, “A little bit, but it turns out Katie is much more of a monogamist than I expected or maybe more than she used to be. Ashley was more accepting of the idea. But, Katie thinks one person should be your primary. For her, that became Ashley, which left me out, in the long run. I really think she convinced herself that she couldn’t love us both, so she forced her feelings for me to fade, so her feelings for Ashley could be stronger, until we were just friends with benefits. And then no benefits at all. We haven’t even talked with each other since the kids started school.”

“Huh. That’s not how I look at relationships. I really believe in the potential for polyamory, even if feelings are not entirely equal. If you hadn’t brought threesomes up today, I would have, either today or on our next date. I do feel I need both male and female energy in my life in general and my sex life in particular and a triad is a way to accomplish that, whether that’s just for one night of sex together or for something more enduring.”

“So, you’re open to a second date? Maybe before Thanksgiving, when my kids come home and I’ll be spending as much time with them as I can? Maybe even be ready to introduce you to them?”

She leaned in closer and asked, “And maybe introduce you to one of my girlfriends before that?”

~~~~~

I don't think it should be too hard to guess who Scott finds Gloria in bed with, right? Or would you rather that be a surprise as a reader? Anyway, what do you think of it so far?

M.R. Leenysman