Breakfast and after

Veevee looked at Kathryn, "So who is Jasmine's idol?"

"She has a couple actually. Inara from Firefly, the TV show, she's sort of an expert courtesan and therapist." Kathryn paused to take another sip of the mimosa.

"Not the one who wrote the book, then," Veevee said.

Kathryn swallowed. "Right, it was a book by Joyce Bernstein, she wrote..."

"Joyce Bernstein?" Veevee asked, looking at Hank.

Kathryn paused, "Uh...yeah. She wrote "Free to Masturbate". What's with that look?"

"Our son Gary is dating her daughter." Hank said with a smile.

"Are you serious? You know her? Oh my I have to tell Jas!" Kathryn said.

"I'm sure Joyce would love to hear from your friend," Veevee said.
"What is it that Jas wants to do?"

"She wants to be what Inara is, only legal. She figured the closest she can get is a sex therapist. Like Dr. Ruth." Bryan answered.

Veevee laughed. "Doctor Ruth is more of a sex educator than a therapist," she said.

Sally raised her eyebrows. "Well, so is Joyce Bernstein. 'Free to Masturbate' made the high school health curriculum. For the abstinence requirement, if you can believe it."

Jim and Hank laughed.

"Okay, she's officially a sex educator," Veevee said. "But Joyce believes in education by experience and demonstration."

"By demonstration?" Kathryn asked.

"Joyce runs women's sex education circles where the women masturbate in each other's presence," Veevee said. "They compare techniques and sometimes she gives suggestions."

"Oh my God, Jasmine would love that," Kathryn said.

Bryan nodded. "I could totally see Jas doing masturbation education," he said. He laughed and his face turned pink.

"Freshen up anyone's drink?" Jim asked. He held up the pitcher of champagne-and-orange juice mimosas. Veevee and Kathryn took refills. Jim topped up Hank's glass and his own. Bryan covered his glass to decline a refill, as did Peter.

Sally waved him off and held up a mug. "Coffee?" she asked.

"Here, Sal," Hank said. He poured a cup for Jim's wife.

Hank and Veevee had had many post-swinging breakfasts with Jim and Sally, but it was new to have their son Peter and the other young people along. He looked at Jim, who met his eyes. He figured that Jim was doing as he was, feeling out the new dynamic and how comfortable people were with each other. Because it could easily happen that his son Gary might want to join the circle as Peter and Sandy had. And now Veevee, bless her hot tail, had brought in Kathryn and Bryan and was chatting away like they were old friends.

"Penny for 'em, Hank," Sally said.

"Oh," Hank said, "Woolgathering. Hoping that having the younger folks in the group will keep us young, rather than the other way around."

Kathryn smiled brightly at him. Sandy tossed back her streaked blonde hair and gave him a smile.

Jim laughed. "There's every hope," he said. "Emmeline Standish-Bean told me her daughter-in-law was a 'fast' girl who got her into swinging when she was fifty."

Sally laughed. "And I must say it's done rather well by her."

"She wore out three men and two women at her seventy-first birthday party. Sal and I were two of them, so I have to agree," Jim said.

The six people chatted as they filled up on the sumptuous room-service breakfast. The light through the stateroom's balcony door slanted toward mid-morning. Kathryn and Bryan filled in more details of how they'd met and gotten to know each other. Jim and Sally's son Peter shared how he and Sandy had met at a beach party he'd gone to with Hank and Veevee's son Gary. Sandy described how her big sister Peggy had introduced her to sex parties, and how she and Peter had worked out what their "playtime" rules would be.

Hank looked at Veevee, since it seemed like the couples were going round talking about how they had met.

Veevee cleared her throat. "I won't go into all the details, but let me just say that Hank was a far better ride than my boyfriend at the time. And he treated me like a lady."

The others laughed.

Jim and Sally looked at each other.

"We were high school sweethearts," Jim said.

"Until I dumped him," Sally said.

"And then we ran into each other again about eight years later," Jim said.

"At a swingers' party," Sally said. "I was coming down from an orgasm and opened my eyes and there he was."

Jim laughed. "And at the end of the night, we ditched our dates and took each other home," he said.

Veevee clapped her hands in applause, and the others joined in.

Jim looked around at the wreckage of breakfast, the sucked mango seeds and pineapple rinds, the coffee dregs and particles of egg, the pastry crumbs and the droplets of champagne-and-orange juice. "Well, we've done a good job of breakfast," he said. "What's up next? I could use some fresh air."

"Let's take a few laps of the deck," Hank said. "Maybe a swim and steam after that."

"I was thinking it might be time for a little girl talk," Veevee said, looking at Kathryn. "Of course you boys would have to clear out for a while."

Sally smiled. "Perhaps I can join you?" she said to Veevee and Kathryn. She looked at Peter and Bryan. "Fresh air will do you two good, too."

Peter looked at Bryan. "They've got a pretty good arcade here," he said. "Plus stuff like foosball and air hockey. You like that sort of stuff?"

"Sure, let's take a look," Bryan said.

"I'll play the winner," Sandy said. She tucked her hair through a white sun visor. "But let's take our suits in case we want to go swimming."

They agreed to meet back together for lunch around one-thirty in the afternoon.

Jim and Hank took off to walk round the deck together. Bryan and Peter headed for the amusement center with Sandy. Kathryn, Veevee, and Sally tidied up breakfast and pulled up chairs on the stateroom's little balcony to watch the sea.