We’d had an argument the night before, I forget about what. Went to bed angry and slept facing away from each other. I know, that’s not supposed to be done, but fuck, we were too pissed at each other. The next morning, I got up and went to work while she was still asleep. After work, I went straight to my classes at a local community college and didn’t get home until close to 11. I figured she’d be at her bartending job by then and wondered when we’d have the opportunity to settle the argument.

As I approached our home, I noticed a strange car parked next to hers in the driveway. What the fuck? Dropping the motorcycle into neutral, I killed the engine and headlight to coast silently the rest of the way. I parked on the sidewalk in front of our house and noticed the lights were out inside. Silently, I crept to the front door and let myself in. I’d thought of trying to look through the bedroom window, but the combination of that seeming very creepy if a neighbor saw me plus I’d be backlit by the streetlight stopped me.

Inside, I went quietly to our master bedroom door and gently tried the knob. Locked. I could hear soft sounds, not voices, through the door. Fuck!! Through the kitchen and out the back door, around to the bedroom’s side window. I could faintly see the bed in the glow of the dim red lamp Charlene had on her table. She was on the bed, legs bent up, somebody headfirst in her crotch. That brought back the memory from years ago of me finding her like that. I was in the Air Force and had been sent home early from my grave shift due to lack of work that evening. Found her just like that with some hippy dude chowing down on her snatch. Ended up we both came in her mouth at my direction (she wasn’t swallowing yet) and the dude got us into a swinger group where we had fun for a couple of years. The primary rule for swinging was that we could have other sex partners, just not on the sly. Shit. She just blew that.

I could have unlocked the bedroom doorknob with a little screwdriver and tried to duplicate the years-ago night but decided not to. I was tired and had work the next day, so I crashed on the beanbag chair in the bedroom that served as my mancave.