Mindy

“I’ll go talk to her,” Mindy says.

“That’s good,” Izzi replies. “You two have always been close.”

Mindy bounds out of the room. You sit in your chair, feeling despicable. You had this moment playing in your head for a while. While you knew it could go sideways, you had hoped that Sara would see you three making each other happy and understand. You realize you’ve been a fool.

Izzi slips onto your lap and runs her hand through your hair. She brings your head up to look her in the eyes. “Don’t worry, John. We’ll work it out. Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see.” She kisses you. You try to lose yourself in the moment. You breathe in Izzi’s scent and nibble on her lip. You sit like that for a few minutes. When you hear the sound of footsteps in the hall, Izzi unhurriedly gets off of your lap. Mindy and Sara come into the room. It’s obvious they’ve both been crying.

“Let’s move to the living room,” you suggest. “Make ourselves comfortable.”

You sit down on the sectional. Sara sits as far from you as possible. Izzi seats herself next to you. Mindy sits next to Sara, stroking her hair.

“Sara,” you begin, “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Save it, you pervert. You’re just trying to fuck me, too!”

“What? No!” Well, unless she wants to… You banish that thought from your mind. “No, Sara, look. We know this is weird, but this whole thing kinda happened. We didn’t want to deceive you.”

Sara looks up, finally. “I should call the cops on you.”

Izzi shakes her head. “Honey, no one is doing anything illegal.”

“But it’s so… gross!”

Mindy looks up at Sara. “It was a little weird at first, but now it’s so much fun! If you want to join -“

“I knew it! I knew you were just trying to make a sick little sex ring!”

“That’s not true. No one is going to ask you to do anything.” You stare down Mindy, mind-willing her to make that true.

Izzi chimes in. “Sara, you know us. You know John. We would never ask you to do something that would make you uncomfortable.”

“Do I? I thought I knew you. Then I come back to find you’ve all gone off the fucking rails.”

“Please, Sara,” Izzi cajoles. “I know it’s weird, but we make each other happy. Can’t you see that?”

“I… I don’t know, Izzi.”

You step in, thinking you’ve gotten the best you can today. “Sleep on it, Sara. We just want to all be comfortable.”

She shakes her head in disgust, gets up, and leaves. You, Mindy, and Izzi sit in silence for a little while. Finally, Mindy speaks. “I guess I’ll head to bed.”

You give her a kiss goodnight, then go to the kitchen and fix a couple of whiskeys for you and Izzi. You hand one to her and continue to sit in the dark.

Finally, Izzi gets up. “Come on, John, let’s go to bed.”

You lie in your bed, staring up at the ceiling. Neither you nor Isabelle feel like fooling around, so she just sidles up to you and offers you the comfort of her closeness. It’s a while before you finally drift off to sleep.