CHAPTER 7- Balance
It was almost Christmas when they asked her to move in with them.
Nearly two weeks had gone by, minus her weekend with BJ, since Susan had spent any significant amount of time in her home across the street and apparently that had been the deciding factor for them.
She'd protested at first. After all, it had taken a lot of convincing before Susan had finally grown used to their kindness and gift giving ways without feeling like she had to always return the favor, but asking her to move in with them? That was a grand gesture on a whole other level that she wasn't sure she was entirely comfortable with.
"Half of the closet in the guest room is already full of your clothes," Trina pointed out, "and you know your way around the kitchen better than either of us do-"
"And, we kind of hate it when you're not with us at night," Tom added, his gaze dipping to the floor in the way that he only did when he was feeling particularly vulnerable.
Susan sighed, her heart fluttering in her chest.
The three of them had only been discovering the new aspect of their relationship for a little over a month and, during the first few weeks, any time that she'd attempted to use the guest bedroom to give them space they would always come to get her. In fact, after they'd dragged her out of bed and into theirs for the fourth time, one or both of them had taken to making a big scene of going to sleep early, before she could slip off on her own, and taken her by the hand to lead her toward their bedroom.
Up until then, as the two of them stood across from her in the kitchen, the wooden spoon that she'd been using to mix a batch of cookie dough forgotten in her hand, they'd hadn't discussed anything explicitly. They hadn't defined whatever it was that they were doing. The only thing that they'd talked about, albeit briefly, was to discuss hard limits in the bedroom. Though the name of the concept was new to Susan, the idea hadn't been, and the conversation had lasted less than five minutes.
Trina stepped forward, stopping in front of her so that she could pry the spoon from her fingers and take a hold of both of her hands.
"We also know that you won't be able to keep the house much longer," she admitted, her grip on Susan tightening slightly, "Not with the type of mortgage payments you'd have to pay. So, why delay the inevitable? We love you. We want you here."
Susan's mouth dropped open. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.
"Y-you love me?"
Trina's tense posture softened and Tom slid up beside them, cupping the side of her face with an achingly sweet caress.
"Of course we do, Susan."
"We didn't want to scare you away," Trina admitted softly, "In retrospect, we may have gone about it the wrong way, but it's not like we've done anything like this before."
Her brow rose in disbelief, which made both Tom and Trina chuckle, "We met each other once before we slept together."
"Okay, guilty as charged," Trina shrugged sheepishly, "But, we've never asked someone to stay before."
Tom brushed Susan's hair back before dropping his steady palm to her shoulder, almost encouraging her to listen as his wife continued.
"Neither of us went into swinging with the hopes of adding someone to our relationship. In fact, we desperately tried to avoid it. We were happy to have our fun, sow our wild oats, and then go back to being a couple the next morning," Trina squeezed her hands once again, looking up at her with absolute sincerity, "But you, Susan, are so easy to love."
The growing well of emotion, the one that had been tightening steadily in the back of her throat, broke and Susan began to tear up. Ten minutes ago, she'd been humming along to holiday music while baking sugar cookies in their kitchen, and now she was surrounded by the two people, outside of her children, that she cared about most in the world and they were telling her that they loved her and wanted her to move in with them. It was so much to process all at once. Almost too much.
Without her permission, a stray tear slid down her cheek and both Tom and Trina pulled her into their arms. She rested her head against his shoulder and held Trina's waist tightly, relaxing into the younger woman's embrace.
"I swear, I'm happy," she sniffled, "Overwhelmed, and a little confused, but happy."
Susan felt Tom's chuckle rumble through his chest, "Happy is good. We can work with that."
Before they knew it, the holidays were upon them.
BJ and Laurie were visiting for Christmas Eve and part of Christmas morning with her at the Decker's. It was a bit uncomfortable at times, all of them trying to adjust to the new dynamic, especially with their old house and bedrooms right across the street. There were a lot of questions, but her son had been pretty accepting right away. Was he skeptical? Sure. But, it was Laurie, who still didn't understand the swinging or non-traditional lifestyle that Tom and Trina, and now her own mother, led, that she'd had to pull her aside roughly an hour before Christmas Eve dinner was set to be served.
"Are you living here, now?" Laurie asked, "Is that why you refuse to let us go home tonight?"
Susan took a deep breath and nodded, glad that she'd managed to get her daughter into the office that Trina had only ever used as a dark room, and away from everyone else.
"Yes."
"You've got to be kidding," she exclaimed.
"No," Susan replied, wringing her hands together, "We just started packing everything up last week."
"Why would they ask you to move in when you have your own place right across the street?"
She met her daughter's eyes with a growing blush on her cheeks.
"Oh," she replied, her eyes widening, "You mean you're- together? All of you?"
"We are."
"First Mr Thompson and now the Deckers," Laurie started, "Are you sleeping with all of your friends?"
Susan nearly growled, "That's enough, Laurie! I made a mistake, one that had consequences. Serious ones. And, I get that it completely turned you and your brother's lives upside down. That's the one regret that I have. I never wanted you kids to have to go through that, and you can judge me all you want for that, but you will not condemn me for who I love, especially when they've done nothing but take care of me."
Taking a deep breath, she ran a frustrated hand through her hair and turned her back on her daughter for a moment, trying to find any little bit of serenity that she could as she peered out of the frosted window in the corner of the room.
"You love them?" Laurie asked her with a quiet voice.
"I do," Susan confessed as she turned back toward her, "I haven't told them yet, but they know. It's all still so new, Laurie, and we're going to stumble as we try to navigate our way through it. We're not perfect- I'm not perfect. So if you need to be mad at someone, be mad at me. Leave them out of it. Tom and Trina don't deserve that."
That seemed to take the wind out of her daughter's sails.
"I'm happy, Laurie," she whispered, "Isn't that enough for now?"
"I suppose," she finally relented, "I'm sorry I implied that you were a slut."
Susan walked over to her, crossing the small distance in only a few steps, and rubbed her hands down her daughter's upper arms with a barely there smile, "Apology accepted."
Laurie rolled her eyes and practically wiggled away from her touch, just like she used to when she was a child, "I draw the line at hugging them. And, I'm sleeping in the guest room tonight."
"Laurie," Susan admonished with a chuckle, trailing after her as she opened the door and spilled back out into the hallway, "BJ already said that he'd take the couch."
"I'm just saying," she reiterated, turning to walk backwards as they re-entered the living room, "I'm going across the street to call Doug. I'll be back in a little while."
Susan nodded, letting out an inward sigh of relief, "Please tell him Merry Christmas for me, will you? And, try to be back by six? Dinner will be finished soon."
Laurie saluted her and disappeared around the wall that separated the entryway from the living area, followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing not long afterward.
Truly taking in the scene before her for the first time, Susan smiled. The Christmas tree, decked with tinsel and all kinds of ornaments, and lights, sat over in the corner near one of the front windows, a few gifts already waiting to be opened underneath it. There were stockings hanging from the rock mantle over the fireplace, five in total, the three that she pulled out of storage a few days before quaintly mismatching with Tom and Trina's. The television was playing a black and white holiday movie, the volume just high enough that she couldn't quite hear the conversation that Tom and BJ were having on one of the nearby couches. She had no idea what they were talking about, it was probably school or Samantha if the way that her son was smiling was any indication, but it warmed her heart just the same.
Off to her right, she heard Trina's soft footsteps enter from the kitchen, and looked up just in time to take the warm drink that she held out to her.
"Everything okay?" the other woman asked, turning to watch the boys on the sofa as well.
Susan nodded and wrapped her free arm around Trina's waist, "It will be."
By the end of January they'd managed to pack up the rest of Susan's home, the majority of the boxes moved temporarily into the Decker's basement, and one of Sylvia's friends helped her put it back onto the market.
Much to her relief, the house sold within a few weeks.
The loan that Bruce had taken out was easily paid off and, per their divorce agreement, Susan gave half of what was leftover to her ex-husband and then deposited the other half into a savings account. She wouldn't lie and say that she hadn't been worried about the house not selling, or that it would sell but for under the amount that they still owed, because she had been. But, with the last symbolic part of her and Bruce's relationship gone, she felt like she could finally relax.
"Are we celebrating?" Trina asked from her spot straddling her on the bed, her face hovering just above hers.
Susan grinned up at her and arched up to capture her lips. They both moaned.
"We are," she replied, tightening her grip on the other woman's hips.
Trina brushed their mouths together again, teasing her, "Oh? Whatever for?"
Right on cue, they both heard the motor for the garage door start, and knew that Tom would be in at any moment. It was his third time piloting the new Phoenix route and just like clockwork, unless there was a delay of some kind, he was home by six each night. All three of them, him most of all, were happy to put the Tokyo days behind them.
"No reason," Susan whispered with a cheeky smirk, "Can't we just celebrate?"
Trina leaned back, sitting upright on her lap, and pulled the heavy sweater that she'd been wearing over her head. She was nude from the waist up, her belly still riding high but much larger now that she was in her seventh month, and wore nothing else but a pair of her husband's sweatpants slung low on her hips. Susan pushed herself up onto her elbows and felt no shame in letting her eyes trace over every inch of her.
"You're gorgeous."
The other woman steadied herself by leaning onto Susan's stomach with one hand and tucked her hair behind her ear with the other. Not only had she let it grow out a few inches, but when she knew they weren't going anywhere, she'd stopped blow drying and styling it, letting it air dry instead. It was a much different look from the well put together one she'd gotten used to seeing on her over the summer and fall, but Susan loved it. She really was beautiful.
"You've already got me half-naked and in bed, Susan," she tsked with a pout, "there's no need to butter me up."
"What if I want to?"
Susan sat up and cupped the other woman's cheek, tipping her head down slightly to meet hers. It was a meaningful kiss to start with, but the longer it went on, the more heated things became. Their hands migrated and skimmed over every part of each other's bodies that they could reach, and Trina had just removed Susan's top, leaving her in a plain, tan bra and thermal pajama bottoms, when Tom called out to them and came walking down the hall.
"Anyone home?" he asked, rounding the corner and it sounded as though he nearly tripped once he entered the bedroom and found them entwined in each other's arms, "There you two are."
Susan looked up breathlessly, tipping her head back with a happy smile as Trina nipped and sucked her way down her neck, "Tom! Welcome home."
He set his briefcase down by the dresser and slid his blazer off, tossing it over the arm of the chair in the corner.
"You ladies mind if I join?" he asked, watching them intently, already unbuttoning his dress shirt.
Trina moaned and playfully pushed Susan back onto the bed, rocking her hips down against her in a sensual, grinding, rhythm, "I think we'd be offended if you didn't, dear."
With an almost pained groan, Tom knelt onto the bed and pulled Trina into an open mouthed kiss. The sway of the other woman's hips barely faltered, and the combination of seeing and feeling both of them up close had Susan rubbing her thighs together to try and relieve the the growing tension between them. Soon though, Tom pulled away from her with a pleased hum, and leaned down to do the same to Susan. It was a habit that he'd gotten into not long after the holidays, both in and out of the bedroom, one that she and Trina had not only come to love but anticipate.
An additional wave of heat pooled between her legs and, without realizing it, she began matching Trina's deliberate grind down against her hips as Tom deepened their kiss. His mustache tickled her upper lip, their mouths opening almost lazily to each other. At the same time, Susan could feel smaller hands press down onto her stomach again, carefully manicured nails digging into her rib cage. It was such a stark contrast to Tom and his sensual kiss, one that made her gasp and clench the other woman's legs, and she felt him smirk when she moaned into it.
"I should jump in the shower real quick and wash off the trip," he said as he broke their kiss and leaned back, hovering over her, "Warm her up for me?"
Susan bit her lip and looked up at him through lowered lashes.
"I think I can do that," she told him with a smirk, tugging Trina down against her hard enough to make the other woman gasp.
Tom groaned, looking like he immediately regretted leaving them even for a second, but stood up and quickly shucked off his pants, before making his way toward the en suite bathroom. Susan watched him go with a chuckle, amused that he didn't even bother to close the door before she heard the shower turn on, and turned back to the woman above her.
Susan smirked and deftly flipped Trina over onto her back, gazing down at her with heat in her eyes, "Now, where were we?"