CHAPTER 2- Coincidence

Susan was outraged.

Even though they'd planned their trip to her family's cabin almost a year in advance, Janet had called a mere half hour before they were set to leave and canceled. Susan had never wanted to scream in frustration more than she did in that moment. Roger was sick? Really? That was the best that Janet could come up with? Right. She had been under the impression that they'd made progress and repaired at least part of their friendship, but apparently they were back to playing games.

Thankfully, and out of sheer coincidence, Tom and Trina just so happened to be standing in the foyer chatting with Bruce when she received the news and, without thinking, Susan invited them along. She had always admired how spontaneous the Deckers were and decided to take a page out of their book. If Janet and Roger weren't going to be there, they may as well still have some fun, right?

They arrived in Wisconsin just before lunch and, after keeping up with the family tradition of newcomers jumping into the lake upon arrival, the four of them were happy to spend the early afternoon hours enjoying the weather. Trina and Susan decided to watch their husbands fish out on the water while tanning and chatting in the lounge chairs that her cousin Anthony and his family had brought up a few summers before. That was where the other woman finally broached the topic of their night spent swinging together and, even though it made her wildly nervous, it eventually led to Susan revealing that she and Bruce had decided to dissolve the pact that they'd made to stay exclusive. She wasn't sure, however, if she was grateful for the men falling into the lake and nearly turning the boat over before they could talk about their most recent kiss, or if she was disappointed. Maybe a bit of both?

What Susan did know, was that it was getting harder to compartmentalize what had happened between them as time went on. In the immediate aftermath though, it had been easy. Despite Trina's promise to her, she and Janet had been at each other's throats nearly the entire evening of the housewarming party. If Susan hadn't reached her boiling point and ripped the deplorable wallpaper that she hated off of her walls, turning the tense party into something much more lighthearted and free spirited, she most likely wouldn't have finally gotten her two friends to have a semi-cordial interaction by the end of the night.

She could only imagine how badly things would have ended the moment that Janet and Roger opened the front door to the cabin, having decided to show up to their planned vacation after all, and stood there with wide eyes and dropped jaws as they fully comprehended the four of them standing there in nothing but swim suits and towels, paired off with each other's spouses. As the afternoon wore on and Susan did her best to smooth over everyone's ruffled feathers though, she wasn't so sure that it really mattered in the grand scheme of things.

Soon, the awkward tension began to peak, and everything finally came to a head over dinner. The ladies were yelling at one another, fighting over Susan as if she were a shiny new toy, and she'd had absolutely enough of it. Something was going to change that weekend, come hell or high water.

Susan huffed angrily and left them to their own devices at the table, on a mission to distract them with dessert. Bruce had followed her into the kitchen, bickering with her as she plated Janet's brownies, and the next thing she knew he dropped an absolute bomb on her. Apparently, at some point in the last week he'd let it slip to Roger that they'd slept with the Deckers on the fourth of July. That was why they'd canceled their trip at the last minute and it was also why Roger couldn't seem to look her in the eye anymore. It certainly didn't help that Trina was trying to stir things up on purpose just to get a rise out of poor, conservative, Janet. Putting pot in her brownies, though? That had been the final straw.

Susan slammed the plate down onto the table with a hollow, satisfying thump, "Here, have some pot brownies. They're delicious."

As expected, Janet had a fit, but Susan told both her and Trina, in no uncertain terms, to get over themselves. It had been so liberating, seeing the stunned looks on their faces as she then turned to Roger and told him that they needed to talk, grabbed a brownie off of the pile, and stormed out into the muggy evening air.

Scanning the dim horizon, Susan set off toward the covered bridge on the other side of the pond. Less than five minutes later she was leaning against the wooden railing, listening to the sound of crickets and water trickling below, when Roger's dark form finally exited the cabin and headed toward her. The closer that he got, the more that her anger began to fade, and by the time that he actually stepped foot onto the bridge she was honestly starting to feel a bit foolish for how she'd handled things. Maybe if Roger had just talked to her, or even if he'd talked to Bruce about it, their weekend would have turned out differently. Sure, Janet and Trina most likely wouldn't have stop fighting, but then again, the Deckers wouldn't have even been invited in the first place.

She was just so over it.

Susan spent the next hour talking with Roger. She asked him questions, an experience far less awkward than she'd imagined it to be, and answered any that he had as honestly and openly as she could. She'd started that conversation thinking that she had a solid understanding of who Roger Thompson was, and somehow walked away from it with a new friend, a friend that she'd already mistakenly thought she'd had.

After that, and she wasn't quite sure how it happened, but one minute Roger had been teasing her and teaching her how to skip rocks on the lake, and the next Janet, Tom, and Trina were quite literally streaking by them.

The look on Roger's face was priceless. She wished that she'd had Trina's camera on hand, ready to snap a photo. Instead, she shrugged and slipped out of her clothes with an impish grin and waited for him do the same so that they could join them. As they slid into the cool water, she watched with rapt attention as Janet hooted and hollered and started a splash fight with Tom. He won, but Susan had never once seen her best friend have so much fun. The twenty minutes that they spent playing and swimming in the water was well worth the tension and nearly all of the fights that she'd had to endure since moving earlier that summer.

At some point though, their collective high began to wear off and her fingers started to prune. Janet seemed relaxed, her radiant smile lessened only by the smallest hint of self-conscious insecurity beginning to creep back in.

"It's getting late. Why don't we had back inside?" Susan suggested, "We can all sit by the fire and dry off."

Tom quickly agreed and ushered the pack out of the water with his trademark playboy grin, "Come on, Jan. Let's get you nice and warm."

A few beats of pregnant silence hung between them all and, despite the free nature that the evening had eventually transformed into, Susan saw Roger's shoulders tense out of the corner of her eye. Interesting. However, not very surprising. Without thinking, she laid a comforting palm on his shoulder, patting a few times with a smile. He seemed to relax, but still continued on toward his wife's side.

Chuckling to herself, she watched as they quickly made their way toward the cabin first. The rest of them content to go at a slower pace.

Trina, whom she hadn't really had a chance to talk to since their explosive dinner, sidled up beside her with playful eyes, "That was unexpected."

Amused, Susan laughed and shook her head, "I still can't believe that she actually ate one of those brownies. I was certain that she'd throw them out and then go home once she realized what you'd done."

"Well," she grinned, looping their arms together, the side of Trina's bare breast brushing against her bicep, "and, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, I'm glad that she didn't. Who knew she could be so much fun?"

Shivering slightly, Susan watched as their husbands climbed the stairs a handful of paces in front of them and disappeared inside, "I did."

"I'm sorry," Trina sighed.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"Yes, you are," she disagreed, moving to stand in front of her, halting their forward progress, "Of course, I'll extend an apology to Janet as well, but you're the one who's been stuck in the middle. That wasn't fair to you. Neither of us should have put you in that position."

A light breeze fluttered by them, causing her to shiver again, and Susan couldn't stop herself from staring as a little strip of raised goosebumps trailed their way down Trina's chest, stopping just above a small but familiar cropping of freckles just below the inner corner of her right breast.

A sudden flare of heat shot through her, quickly spreading up her torso. Susan squeezed her eyes tightly shut and shook her head as if she could exorcise the image from her mind with a simple movement, and hoped that the subtle ache that had suddenly formed between her legs would go away if she just took a few shaky breaths. When she opened her eyes again, however, Trina was standing even closer than she was before and had she not been stoned she probably would have taken a step back out of sheer reflex.

Susan's gaze snapped up to the other woman's face. What she found there wasn't pity, or judgment, it was heated.

Slowly, Trina leaned forward and, before Susan could think to do anything other than just stand there, she kissed her.

Susan gasped, and Trina took the opportunity to slip her tongue deftly between her lips- tasting her, teasing her. It was surprising. Not only the deepening of their kiss, but the fact that she melted into it. She had practically fled from the other woman, without an explanation, the last time it happened. Susan was quickly beginning to learn though, that when she was with Tom and Trina, the latter more often than not, Susan's impulse control completely flew out the window. That had never happened to her before. She'd always been the good girl who stayed out of trouble, with the exception of getting pregnant before marriage of course, and that same good girl part of her hated that she found the odd tension, the invisible string that continued to pull her into the Decker's universe, into Trina's orbit, strangely addicting.

Somewhere, deep inside of the cabin, one of the men laughed loudly, breaking the silence outside. Susan startled and pulled away from Trina with an audible smack of their lips. A nervous laugh bubbled its way out of her before she had a chance to stop it.

"Are you going to be alright?" Trina whispered, as if she were anticipating Susan running again.

She nodded, staying silent, not trusting her voice.

"Do we need to talk about it?"

Susan's lips thinned into a straight line, contemplating the question. Did they? Before swinging with them, she had never even kissed anyone else, let alone kissed a woman. She'd never had cause to think that it would happen, let alone the fact that she might actually enjoy it, and that fact alone had sent her mind reeling.

"Probably?" she queried, unsure.

The corners of Trina's mouth quirked upward and she brought both hands up, cupping Susan's face. She felt herself relax into the touch, but continued to watch her with curious eyes.

"We're okay, though, right?" she asked, one of her thumbs brushing across the apple of Susan's cheek.

Letting out a shaky sigh, Susan nodded again, "Of course we are."

Trina smiled softly and tugged her gently back down to her level, brushing their lips together again- once, twice, and then a third and final time. Though chaste, it still made Susan swoon.

"Good. I'm glad."

Trina pulled away from their embrace with a smirk, and linked their hands together before leading her up onto the porch and then inside.

As they all sat around the fire, each of them paired off with their significant others, Susan felt like she could finally breathe again. Nearly everything was right in her world for the first time since June, or damn close to it, and she wanted to savor every bit of calmness that came with it.

For the first time in a long time, Susan truly felt like she was expanding her mind.

She understood, from her very limited perspective anyway, what Laurie was always going on about- social issues, freedoms, and fighting the good fight. She felt like she was actually doing something for the greater good for a change, something important.

But, Bruce didn't understand it. He didn't understand her. Not one bit.

It was the first time since they were young and dumb and in love, that he'd ever made her feel stupid- just like she'd felt after leaving Trina's earlier that week when she and Sylvia had been busily planning the Deep Throat party. It was stifling and more than a little insulting that he didn't think her capable of, or knowledgeable enough, simply because the topic was associated with pornography. Her husband, of all people, was the last person that she'd ever expected to make her feel that way.

That's exactly why Susan eventually dug her heels in, stood her ground, and decided to go to the fundraiser anyway.

After reading all of the information that Trina had dropped off, going to see the movie itself the night before the party, and even somehow successfully convincing Janet to show up as well, she felt truly smart and worldly. That was something that she wasn't sure she'd ever experienced before. Hell, it was the first time that she'd tasted independence, as if for one night she wasn't just a mother and a wife, she was... Susan. She hadn't been herself, only herself, since high school, and it was an unexpected breath of fresh air.

Then, Bruce ruined it.

He stormed in like he owned the place, or rather, like he owned her. She knew that he didn't want her going to the party by herself, that he was still outraged she'd even gone to see the movie at all, but she hadn't seen him that angry since the kids were little and they were running on no sleep and nothing but caffeine for a few years. His reaction not only upset her, but it was what the first time that she realized they truly might not be on the same page anymore.

Still, Susan stayed.

Bruce stomped out in a storm of bravado and testosterone, and a small part of her regretted it, regretted not going with him. Guilt was a funny, terrible thing that way. The least he could have done was stay with her, or even simply ask her why she went in the first place. But, he still didn't see it. He didn't even try to understand why she cared so deeply about the topic at hand, and he definitely drove it home one more time that he didn't think she, a woman, belonged anywhere near that party.

Her mind raced as they announced a special viewing of Deep Throat and, honestly, the last thing she wanted to do in that moment was sit in another roomful of strangers and watch a porno movie, but she was also far too stubborn to leave. Pushing herself away from the pillar she'd been leaning up against, Susan stealthily weaved her way through the crowd and slipped out back just as the opening credits started. She found an abandoned lounge by the pool and plopped down onto the end of it, defeated and lonely.

Nearly halfway through the movie, the sound of heels clicking on the cement patio interrupted her train of thought. She probably could have guessed that it was Trina, as she was the only woman inside other than Janet who would've possibly noticed her absence, but she still welcomed her with a sad smile.

"Bruce and I aren't-" she paused, struggling to find the right words, "in sync the way you and Tom are. You- you, you always seem to know where the other's coming from and... we don't have that."

Trina frowned, looking down at her lap for a brief moment, "Well, change isn't easy on a couple, no matter how close you are."

Turning toward her friend, Susan nervously clasped her hands together, and finally dared to say what she'd been thinking all evening, "What if I'm the only one who's changing? What if Bruce is... incapable, somehow?"

"Then it's up to you to help him."

Susan nearly followed up with, 'What if I can't?', but stopped herself short. She couldn't bear the thought of actually getting an answer. Not tonight. Not ever, really.

Taking a deep, centering breath, Susan reached out and patted Trina's forearm, but that alone didn't feel like enough. Without thinking, she leaned forward, intent on pecking Trina on the cheek in thanks, but the younger woman shifted slightly at the last second and Susan's lips landed one the corner of her mouth.

Susan was proud of herself for only freezing for a fraction of a second before pulling back.

Trina was already smiling, the corners of her eyes crinkling in the low light.

"You're a good friend, Trina."

"So are you, Susan."

Inside, the sound of loud, over the top, female moans echoed and spilled out into the dewy nighttime air.

Trina chuckled and held out her hand for Susan as she stood, "Come on, it sounds like we're missing all the best parts."

Susan's smile was genuine this time and she allowed herself to be pulled up, leaving her worries temporarily behind. Trina then tugged her inside without another word, not letting her go as they weaved their way back through the lounging, but thoroughly entertained, crowd. There wasn't much free space left, but as Trina sat back down beside her husband she gestured to the open spot on the floor in front of Tom.

It took a moment for Susan to kneel down and sit without flashing or accidentally bumping into anyone, but just when she thought she'd finally gotten comfortable, she startled at the sudden weight of Tom's palm on her shoulder. Turning her head, she looked back at him in question, and was greeted with nothing more than a friendly quirk of his lips as he tugged her backward, offering her the option to lean back against his legs, or, between them really.

Susan reached up and squeezed his hand in thanks and turned back around, taking him up on it. Able to finally fully relax, she sat there for another thirty two minutes, content just to laugh and cheer on every cheesy, naked moment with the rest of the crowd.

She would worry about confronting Bruce when she went home later.

Susan hated being forced into doing things that clearly didn't suit her. For instance? The Ladies Auxiliary and their charity gala.

At first, she was apprehensive, but honestly a little excited about it. Once it became abundantly clear that Rita Pierce and the other women much preferred Janet though, Susan realized that even before the move she wouldn't have fit in at the Ladies Auxiliary anyway. Beneath their carefully crafted exteriors, those women were stuck up and vain, only able to focus on social status and money. That wasn't the type of friends that she wanted to have.

Janet, however, mostly incapable of seeing nothing but the best in people, fit right in. She believed in the cause, and following proper etiquette and playing the social game had always been her best friend's strong suit. So, she followed Janet's lead, because she knew just how much it could possibly have an impact on Bruce's job if she didn't.

She was stuck.

That was a lot of pressure to put on someone and, even though they'd made up after their fight over Harry Reems and the Deep Throat party, something still didn't feel quite right between them. She was hoping that getting through the gala unscathed would help smooth things over, so Susan invited Tom and Trina and, oddly enough, Trina's ex-high-school boyfriend, per the Auxiliary's instruction. At least she had brought in potential donors. That had to count for something, right?

When the night the gala finally arrived, she went into it with high hopes. As the evening wore on though, and she and Bruce had a minor tiff over her lack of trying to fit in with the other wives, followed immediately by him revealing the sick bet that the men at the exchange had about the lovely female trader that she'd met in the bathroom, Susan had lost that hope. She was truly disappointed in him. Again. What if it had been her out on the trade floor? Or, worse, Laurie? Would he have told her about the bet then?

Walking off in a huff, Susan made her way to the auctioneer's table and began the tedious job of collecting all of the checks for the auctioned items. She knew that it was grunt work as far as the rest of the ladies were concerned, but she was glad to have been trusted enough to do that at least. Once all of the auction winners had been tracked down, the whole process only taking her roughly an hour to complete, it was only as she was walking toward Rita Pierce to drop them off with her assistant, that an idea struck her.

"Rita," she greeted warmly, passing the younger, soft spoken woman that followed Mrs Pierce like a shadow, a now full envelope, "what a lovely evening it's been. Here are all of the checks that you asked for. It looks like you raised quite a hefty sum of money for the kids. I find that admirable."

Rita, now somewhat tipsy, looked her over like she was seeing her for the first time, "Thank you, Susan. How very kind of you to say. And, thank you for gathering the donations. I see I put all of that money in the right hands."

Susan chuckled, leaning in a bit closer when the music suddenly got louder so that the older woman could hear her.

"That you did. Speaking of the kids though, I had an idea that I wanted to run by you. I know that you said that you don't do one on one work with the children at the hospital, but I wondered if there might be a few of us that could represent the Ladies there in person a couple of times a year? I hate to admit it, but this world," she gestured around her, "isn't something that I'm quite used to. Children, though? I definitely know how to handle them."

When Rita's mouth dropped open in surprise, clearly speechless, Susan knew that she might actually be able to make it happen. If only she tried a bit harder.

"I just want to be helpful in any way that I can," she carried on, but this time the 'out of her element/lost little flower' demeanor was simply an act, one that she tried to lay on thick, "It was just a silly idea, though..."

Rita immediately reached out as if to grab her, stopping her from turning and walking away, "You know what? You're right. That actually isn't a bad idea. Why don't you meet me at the hospital next Tuesday afternoon and you and I can have a chat with the director."

Nodding, Susan smiled brightly, "Of course, I would love to. Thank you again for such a wonderful evening. You really know how to plan an event."

That seemed to get a genuine laugh out of her, unlike the loaded and condescending snickers that Susan had heard from the woman the majority of the day that they first met at the country club.

Rita lifted her glass and slowly started making her way back toward her friends, peering over her shoulder as she went, "Planning is what I do best, my dear!"

And, with that, she was off.

Susan watched as her blonde hair disappeared into the crowd, her assistant trailing not far behind her, and she was once again left standing alone.

She needed some air.

Heading toward the front entrance, Susan descended the grand staircase, trying not to get dizzy as the busily patterned carpet seemed to move beneath her with every step that she took. What she didn't expect to find at the bottom of the steps though, was Roger. She also wasn't expecting him to tell her that he'd gotten fired earlier that day either.

Susan felt a ball of dread twist inside of her stomach.

"I was miserable at that job," he confessed to her, "I was just too scared to admit it."

Susan shook her head, still in shock, "Roger, I... Janet didn't-"

"Oh, Janet doesn't know. I didn't want to ruin her big night."

Shit. She hated secrets.

"Still," she tried to reason with him, feeling truly awful for both him and her best friend, "you- you shouldn't have to keep this from her."

"It's not about me," he said with a brave face, "And, I can pretend for one night."

Susan nodded. She knew that he was probably right. Hell, if she'd stopped to think about it, she probably would have done the same had she been in his place. Janet definitely deserved to be happy, even if it was just for one night, like he said. Disappointment could wait.

"I'll see what I can do about that check," she promised him.

"Thanks."

Pressing her palm to his chest in a comforting manner, she left him behind and continued to make her way out toward the street. Now, more than ever, she needed that fresh air.

She had a lot to think about.

It was hot.

Chicago was in the middle of a heatwave so disgustingly warm and muggy, despite the fact that it was only 8am, that it actually made Susan look forward to riding back home from the train station with the top of their car down. Normally she didn't mind riding in their convertible, but tried to avoid in on the days that her hair was down, like today, and she didn't have anything to pull it back with. This time though, it would be worth the tangles just to feel anything resembling a cool breeze on her skin.

Before she had a chance to say goodbye to Bruce though, their old neighbors greeted them as they strolled up the sidewalk together. She couldn't say that she wasn't happy to see them, because she was. She was mostly just confused. It all started to make sense though, when Janet proudly proclaimed that her husband, in fact, had not gotten fired, but had gotten promoted instead.

Susan struggled to maintain a straight face, meeting his gaze as Janet went on and on about how proud she was of him.

What was he doing?

She hadn't expected Roger to continue the charade, and it's not like she could just pull him off to the side and ask. Their friendship, while still relatively new, wasn't at a point where she could do something like that in front of their spouses and not draw attention.

So, as both she and Janet stood and watched their husbands board the train, she decided that she needed to come up with a some way to talk to him.

###

Susan thought that she'd have at least a day or two to brainstorm excuses to get herself alone with Roger and was truly surprised when he showed up at her door just past noon that very same day. She was in the middle of teaching herself how to put up wallpaper, wearing her clown overalls as Laurie had so kindly described them, sweaty and quite possibly a little high off of the fumes from the glue. He, however, was soaked from head to toe, his cheeks a bright pink, and he carried his suit jacket over his arm after walking all the way there from the station.

Ushering him inside, Susan got him a cold glass of water, and was grateful when he offered to help her continue her wallpapering project while they chatted. For the first time since they'd eaten pot brownies and skipped rocks on the lake, she felt like they could finally speak freely. With BJ and Rick off at summer camp, the only possible interruptions were Laurie coming home early, which was highly unlikely, or if one of the Decker's needed something.

They were alone.

First, she brought up just how unfair he was being to Janet. Thankfully, he immediately agreed with her, and spoke of just coming from a job interview in the hopes of having a new job lined up to soften the blow, every word completely genuine. She knew that deep down he just had Janet's best interest at heart.

But, still. It had almost been a week.

Roger then went on to reveal that, even if the insurance agency he'd spoken with that morning had offered him a position, he wasn't sure if he would've taken it. Susan knew that he was unhappy at his old job, he'd told her as much, but she didn't know that he was thinking about possibly leaving the field all together. She hated lying to her best friend, and that's exactly what he was asking her to do. Keep secrets. Continue lying.

Eventually, after trying to convince him that Janet was capable of handling a lot more than he gave her credit for and would accept his decision to change careers if that's what he truly wanted, she finally managed to get through to him. Janet was going to find out sooner or later, and it would be best coming from him.

Fate seemed to have other plans.

Janet wasn't home when Roger tried calling and, if she was still out, he reasoned that there was no need to rush back home right away. Susan called him on his bullshit, and only relented when he mentioned that he might be able to fix their broken air conditioner. She didn't think he'd actually manage to get it working again, but it was so hot that she decided it was worth a shot.

After making their way upstairs and grabbing Bruce's toolbox from the hallway closet along the way, Susan immediately felt out of place. Roger didn't seem to notice the change in her demeanor, making his way into their room and over to the window unit without so much as a glance behind him. She busied herself by turning on the small tv that sat on top of the dresser against the opposite wall from her and Bruce's bed and plopped herself down onto the end of it, trying to ignore the fact that she was in her bedroom with her best friend's husband in the middle of the day.

That was a totally normal occurrence. Right?

"Hold on, you- you went to college?" she asked.

Roger smirked, "Don't act so surprised."

"No, I-" Susan protested, "You never mentioned it before."

Turning back around, he started cleaning off the dirty thermostat with a rag, "Eh, it was before I knew Janet... Anyway, I never finished so it's not a whole lot to crow about."

There was something about the way that he said it, a sadness in his voice that she'd never noticed before, that made her suddenly wonder just how much he had given up to be with Janet. She honestly didn't know that much about his life before they got married and she was a bit ashamed that she had never thought to ask. But, before she could ponder on it anymore, he had finished fixing the air conditioner and turned the knob to the on position.

The machine miraculously hummed to life and blessedly cool air began pouring out.

Susan couldn't help herself. She left her spot on the bed and knelt down onto the floor, crawling the last few feet until she was right in front of it and, coincidentally, right next to him. She wasn't sure if she wanted to examine why she felt so vulnerable in that moment, sitting there with her eyes shut, taking in the sweet relief from the blazing summer sun. That was a question better left unanswered, for all of their sakes.

Not even that lasted, though. The power went out almost immediately.

And, that was how, against both of their better judgments, they ended up over at the Decker's.

After taking her swimsuit cover-up off and getting a drink, she spotted Trina sitting on the far edge of the pool and made her way over to her. She could tell almost immediately when they'd arrived that something was going on. There was an odd tension hanging over her and Tom, one that Susan had never seen before.

"What happened?"

Trina seemed to think about it for a moment before sighing, "Tom had sex with someone in Tokyo."

Susan was gobsmacked. That's not what she'd expected at all.

"Yeah," the other woman agreed, and then pointed across the pool, holding her camera up to her eye, "that someone, actually."

Looking over at Tom, Susan spotted a pretty blonde woman standing next to him, the same one who'd asked her if Roger was fair game when they'd first arrived. Things were starting to make a little more sense now.

Trina snapped a photo before continuing, "I called his hotel, she answered."

Susan was confused. She wasn't privy to all of their rules when it came to swinging, but she'd thought that she understood most of it.

"Th- that's... cheating, isn't it?"

Her friend turned to her with a wry, pained smile, "We'll work through it."

Trina didn't have to elaborate. Susan understood. This wasn't the first time that it had happened.

With a simple tilt of her head, Susan hoped that Trina understood just how sorry she was. Marital trouble was never easy, especially, she imagined, when it came to cheating.

Then Roger came out of the house, sporting only a pair of Tom's swim trunks and his white undershirt, and the other woman's resolve seemed to change.

"Maybe honesty is overrated," Trina admitted, referring to both her and Tom's situation and the fact that Janet had no idea that her husband was at a pool party with her best friend's swinging neighbors, "Maybe ignorance is bliss."

Then he took off his shirt, and Trina practically leered, pulling up her camera again, "Well, no wonder Janet keeps Roger under lock and key."

Susan chuckled along with her. She had a point. Roger was extremely good looking, she couldn't deny that.

"Oh," her camera clicked hollowly, and she looked down at it, "I'm gonna need more film."

Trina moved to get up, but before she could, Susan stopped her. The other woman looked back questioningly, and the longer that she remained quiet, the deeper that question became.

Leaning over like she had so many times before, Susan kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm here if you need me," she offered sincerely, before giving Trina's leg a comforting squeeze.

Susan watched as she nodded and got up without another word, heading back toward the house, camera in tow. She watched until Trina nearly made it to the door before getting distracted by the sound of a loud splash directly across from her, looking over just in time to see Roger hopping into the pool.

She kind of hated that he looked good shirtless. It was confusing and made her feel similar, though not quite the same as, the way that her unusual situation with Trina did. Once again, much like she had earlier while kneeling in front of the air conditioner, she resolved to not think about it. Because once she did, she feared that she wouldn't like the answers that she found. But, she wasn't about to say no when he invited her to swim. It was over 100F degrees outside, and despite having her feet dipped in the water for the last five minutes, it hadn't done anything to cool her.

So, she joined him.

Thirty minutes passed, then nearly an hour went by before Susan realized that Trina still hadn't returned. Pulling herself up onto the edge of the pool again, she decided to drip dry in the late afternoon sun before going to look for her. Roger soon joined her, hoisting himself up onto the cement next to her, sitting much closer than she ever would have dared to.

Their arms brushed together. He seemed a bit startled that they were as close as they were as well, but didn't move. Instead, he simply leaned back onto his palms and decided to start talking about the kids like nothing happened. She relaxed into the conversation and soon enough it came to a natural lull. That was when the blonde stewardess that Tom had slept with went swimming by and asked them if they wanted to join her in the basement. They waited until she left, but neither of them could stop themselves from laughing.

"So, this is what I missed on the fourth of July," he asked, "And, the 60s."

There was an awkward pause between them before he continued.

"I think I can see why you and Bruce went for it."

"We got caught up in a moment," Susan explained, almost embarrassed as she shook her head, "Truth is... we hadn't connected in that way in a long time."

That was the first time that she'd ever said it out loud- the first time that she admitted it to herself, really. To make things even more awkward, their gazes met, and a palpable tension built between them. Just as she was about to break the silence he said something profound, though admittedly out of the blue.

"I read somewhere that falling in love happens when someone sees you like you see yourself."

There he was, looking at her with such honest eyes that she couldn't stop herself from asking, "How do you see yourself, Roger?"

He immediately flustered, searching for the right words as he tried to come up with an answer, "Ah, well, I don't even know anymore."

"I'll tell you how I see you," she offered shakily, waiting until she had his full attention to continue, "Loyal. Caring. Smart. Janet sees that, too," she paused again, looking across the pool as she took a deep breath, "I'd bet my life on it."

The battery run radio that had been buzzing away over in the corner all afternoon abruptly switched songs, and a soft breeze finally came in off of the lake to break the oppressing heat. Susan felt twitchy, almost self-conscious, and idly clenched the edge of the pool, kicking her feet in the water to distract herself.

"Wow, you, uh, you got some sun today."

Startled slightly, she looked down at her pink shoulder and huffed in disbelief, "Did I?"

How could she have forgotten to put on sunscreen?

"Yeah," he replied, before reaching out to lightly press his cool hand to her skin, "Does that hurt?"

She shivered, suddenly unable to focus on anything else, "Not too bad."

Thankfully, this time he didn't let another awkward silence linger between them.

"Well, I better- I better go home and face the music," he said regretfully, "Janet would have a stroke if she knew I spent the day here."

Susan chuckled, knowing that her best friend most definitely would, "Maybe you should leave that part out."

Roger laughed with a smile, "Yeah, I think you're right."

What she didn't hear, was the snap of Trina's camera fifteen feet behind them, capturing the moment for exactly what it was.

Intimate.