Salvador

Charlene, my old friend from another life called last night. She had something to get off her chest. We had both cheated on our college boyfriends a decade ago and shared each other's sordid details, so I had some idea what this might be about. I'll tell her story in first person, as usual, and fill in more than a few details, LOL.

Snow, ice and disappearing mercury gripped our home in Texas last Monday morning. Our neighborhood in suburban Fort Worth lost power and the temperatures dropped way below freezing. The wind blew through every crack bringing the chill indoors. Pulling the generator out into six inches of snow was a grueling task, but I managed. Too bad my husband, Howard, was on the East Coast with his son from an earlier marriage. The generator wasn't set up to power the entire house, but he had rigged a way to plug in the gas furnace's blower to the generator. Power failures are common here. The generator worked until the power came back on. But the second time that the power went off, I couldn't, for the life of me, get the darn thing started.

Our next-door neighbor, a fellow by the name of Salvador, is some kind of mechanical engineer, so I went over and asked if he could help. And would you know it, he got the darn thing started one time, but after the next round of power back on and then off, it just flat-out refused. Salvador and Claudia, his wife, were very sweet and invited me to warm up in their home, where the generator was working just fine. Howard figured out how to cut off my water and drain the pipes, so I wouldn't have a leak.

Their generator couldn't power their electric stove. So we arranged for me to cook on my gas stove and bring dinner back to their house. Their TV worked intermittently so we steadily realized we were in for the long haul, outage wise. Other than the heat, the TV and one or two lights, they kept the house dark. They had my 5 gallon gas container to help. Cell phones were being charged in the cars, but they weren't much use because service was out. I was going to sleep in their spare bedroom. After dinner, we settled into an evening of conversation, snacks and wine. We had by now given up on trying to keep masks on in the house. I was part of the family now, and shockingly, that took on new meaning as my visit progressed.

Claudia even offered me one of her nighties and a robe so I wouldn't have to cross over to my now-dark house for something to wear. I was amused how sexy the gown was. I changed in the guest room and came back out. They had also changed into night garments and robes. It did seem to me that Claudia was being especially nice to me, but it still came as a shock when she asked, "Charlene, have you and Howard ever tried swinging?"

I stammered, "You mean, like, ... wife swapping ... oh my God! Howard would never ... Oh My God!"

I guess I revealed my inner conflict the way I said that. I hadn't exactly been the faithful wife in my first marriage, but my husbands were none the wiser. Howard's first wife had gone out on him after ten years of marriage and that led to their divorce, but as far as I knew he had always been a straight arrow.

Claudia crossed the room and sat close to me on the sofa. She purred into my ear, "You said, Howard would never ...." She put a hand into the robe and touched my breast through the nightie. It dawned in that second why she gave me that very sexy nighty. "What about Charlene?" she asked as she kissed me on the neck. I felt a surge of moisture between my legs and glanced over at Salvador in terror. I could only shrug.

"And I can tell you've had fun with other girls, too," her hand slid down to my waist. It was true, but it had been an awfully long time. I froze, my body begging for me to let things happen.

Claudia is a wholesome beauty. Not a fashion model but the kind of approachable beauty that appeals to other women like me. Shoulder length black hair, dark Latin eyes, skin tones that reflect her Mexican heritage, and a well-proportioned figure that had filled out a bit.

But I didn't want to cheat. Somehow, I mustered the self-control to stand up. "No. No. I can't. I've been true to him. I'm so sorry. Maybe I should go."

"No. No. It's OK, we shouldn't have been so bold," Claudia replied. "I'm the one who should be sorry. And you can't go back to that cold place,"

I stood there staring at her with tears and desire in my eyes. "Well I guess I'd better go to bed, OK?"