12 GOODBYES
Sunlight slants through the trees as I stir, feeling the warmth of two naked females on either side of me.
Blinking as I raise my head, then rest it on the side of one of my lovers, watching Leah and Amy rise.
They walk down the log toward where we left our clothes near the end of the fallen trunk.
The storm of passion sparked around midnight with the meteor storm.
With the sun peeking midway through the treetops, I realize we’ve slept well into the morning hours.
Squeezing Paige beside me, I kiss along her jaw until she stirs. She grins and wraps her arms around me. Another set of arms wraps around my shoulders, and lips kiss behind my ear.
“Morning,” Bea whispers. “Are you ready for a new day?”
“A new life.” I smile, then turn to kiss her.
Ginny stirs behind Bea, then sleepily rises, resting on her elbows and staring around the woods. The quilt slips off her shoulders, exposing her breasts as she shivers in the morning chill. The rest of us twist to sit, the warm blankets falling off of us as Leah and Amy return.
“Here are your clothes,” Leah says as they pass out the folded stacks to each of us. “Let’s get dressed and get breakfast at the lodge. Donna should be open by now.”
I roll out my shorts and reach into the pocket, grabbing my phone. The display lights up, showing me that it’s already past nine.
“How long did we go?” I ask aloud as the fractures of my memories of the night slowly fit together.
“I have no idea,” Amy says, pulling on her panties as she stands next to me. “I slept like a rock.”
“I think we enjoyed a couple of hours,” Leah says, fitting her breasts into her bra. “It was glorious while it lasted.”
“The best thing is, we’re not covered in dust and muck.” Bea laughs but removes some stray pine needles that fell into her hair while we slept. “Or not as bad as before.”
Pulling on my shirt, I hug Ginny and rub her back. “How are you?” I ask after kissing her softly.
“I’m wonderful.” She grins, adjusting her shorts, then bending to tie her shoes. “I’ll remember that night for a long time.”
“Fucking on an ancient altar in the middle of a meteor shower during the full moon is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Paige says, laughing. “I wouldn’t mind having another go when we return to the lodge. But I’m hungry now. Help us with the quilts, then we can hike to Donna’s diner.”
The six of us quickly shake out the quilts, folding and rolling them into bundles, then packing them in the backpacks along with the LED lanterns.
The batteries are all dead, but they served their purpose.
Lining up behind Bea, we follow her back to the trail, waiting and listening to see if there are any early morning hikers before pushing through the foliage.
We fall into pairs: Bea and Ginny in the front, followed by Amy and Leah, as Paige and I hold hands at the back of the line. She’s smiling, but I’m still cycling through the memories of what happened on the stump.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have enough for you the first round,” I say, shrugging.
“Babe.” Paige giggles. “You were terrific. You needed to keep your shots for the three, hoping to give you an heir. I was happy to witness the way you committed to the challenge.”
“It was a fun challenge, but three orgasms in one go is a bit extreme.”
“Well, now you can take your time with each of us.” Paige squeezes my hand. “Kurt, I’m not worried about anything. You focus your attention on each of us. No one is going to feel left out. You’ll find a balance. I’m happy—no delighted—to be yours.”
“Did you talk to Leah?” I ask, remembering our conversation about how our group needed to be balanced rather than consisting of pairs of couples.
“Yeah, a few times.” Paige bites her lip and looks at me. “She feels the same way. We’ll always have our special relationship, but she’s feeling like enjoying a true polyamorous family. I’m cool with her playing with all of us.”
“Will you be satisfied?” I ask before continuing. “You said you’ve both dated outside your marriage. I feel like an ass asking you to stay true to the harem.”
“Babe, that’s exactly what I want.” She waves to the pairs trekking ahead of us. “This seems stable and whole. I’m happy. I’m in love with my four favorite girls. It will take some work, but we’ll find our center.”
“I think so, too.” I squeeze her hand, then lean and kiss her as we stroll. “Tell me about this outdoors store you found.”
As we walk to the diner, Paige tells me about the place.
She explains that it is a small, family-owned store focused on outdoor sports in the nearby mountains.
Although she needs to conduct market research, she is confident she could leverage her years of experience running sporting goods stores in the valley.
Given her regional knowledge and strong business background, Paige believes Bea would be a great assistant to help with bookkeeping and other tasks.
“It’s over in Sisters. That’s a shorter commute from Amy’s lodge than from our house to my store in Eugene.”
“Just so long as I don’t have to fly anywhere again.” I smirk as we hit the parking lot. “I’m done with constant travel.”
The six of us enter the diner and Donna waves at us from the counter.
She’s attending to an older fisherman, settling his check.
She points to the tables we used last time we were here, and we gather around, pulling out chairs.
Our pairings shift around, and I find myself between Bea and Leah while Paige is at the other end with Ginny and Amy beside her.
Donna comes over, and passes out breakfast menus. “Sorry, kids, no cheeseburgers this early.”
“Do you mind if we quickly have a private talk?” I look around at the empty diner, watching the older fisherman wave as he leaves. “I need to tell you something.”
“Sure.” She nods at a table near the door. “Let’s talk over there.”
“I’ll just be a minute,” I tell Leah. She nods like she understands and kicks off a conversation with Bea across the table.
Donna dusts off the table with a towel from her apron, then sits down as I approach. “I take it you had fun last night?” She smiles enigmatically. “I read between the lines of Amy’s call about the park rangers.”
“Well…” I can feel my cheeks heating up. “We wanted to have a small celebration to close our circle.”
“So no more for you?” She arches an eyebrow. “I thought you’d stop at three. But you always were an over-achiever.”
“Donna, I need to tell you about my dream.” Her grin softens when she senses my mood.
“It’s about Stacy, isn’t it?” she asks, then spreads the towel on the table before her. “She’s been in my thoughts since your visit last week. Maybe even in my dreams, but I never remember those.”
“I don’t either, except for this one.” I then relate my dream about eating lunch with Stacy in the diner. “She said in my dream that she was moving on and to tell you she loved you.”
The lower edge of Donna’s eyes well as she looks at me before brushing away a stray tear. “I felt it was getting to be that time.”
I tilt my head and raise a brow, and then Donna continues.
“I’ve … felt her here. She’s always hovered here, ever since her accident. It was one of the reasons I bought this old place.”
She pauses, drawing a circle on the towel with a finger, before focusing back on me.
“Stacy was up here earlier that day. She and her boyfriend finally broke up with her. He was a jerk. It was the snow season, and they’d rented a cabin, but something happened between them.”
“What?” I ask because I’d been gone a few years by then. I’d lost touch with everyone, and I remember feeling tender from my breakup with Stacy.
“No one knows,” she says, shrugging. “Her ex never said, but we know she broke up with him. She wasn’t happy.” Donna reaches for my hand. “Stacy wasn’t happy much after the two of you split.”
“She broke up with me,” I say softly. “It was hard, but it was her decision.”
“I think she changed her mind. But it was too late after you joined the Navy.”
Donna shakes her head. “It’s just a feeling I have. Like I said, she’s been… here… ever since. When you showed up with your three girls, her … presence seemed lighter. Gosh, I sound like one of those 1-800-Dial-a-Psycho operators.”
“Psychic.” I grin.
We look at each other, and an understanding passes between us. “She was happy for you,” Donna says. “I’ve felt it for the past week. She hovered near me this morning. I felt her with me before she popped. I guess moving on to the next place or whatever.”
“I’m sorry.” I don’t have anything else to say.
“It’s fine. She needed to let you go, and now she has.”
“She told me in my dream that she found them for me.” I tilt my chin toward the five women at the table. “That she hoped I was happy.”
Donna smiles, then wipes her eyes with her towel. “Then she’s probably gone on, like you said. She accomplished her quest, I reckon.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Just come around when you can. Bring your family; I like all their smiles. It brings me comfort to think Stacy was looking out for you.”
I swallow a lump in my throat and stand. Donna rises and hugs me tightly. “Go on, now. Let me feed y’all your breakfast.”