I was about to make a smart crack about mothers-in-law, but I had done my bit to promote Jolene's agenda and I didn't want to spoil it by making a joke of it.
Bambi noticed my hesitation. "What?" she said.
"Jolene is very..." I started, but couldn't finish.
"Naïve? Unsophisticated? Immature? Inexperienced? Honey, these are not character flaws. They are part of her charm. I hope she can hang on to her innocence for a long time. It's a rare quality nowadays."
Hearing Bambi defend Jolene told me everything I needed to know about how she felt about her potential daughter-in-law.
A low hum from the kitchen announced that Neeka had finished loading the dishwasher and had turned it on. Bambi and I belatedly went in to help her clean up. As we came in, Neeka was just wiping off the counters with a paper towel and a bottle of spray cleaner.
"My word!" Bambi said. "This is cleaner than I could have gotten it. I'm sorry, honey. We should have been in here helping."
"Not a problem," Neeka said. "Don't forget. When it comes to cleaning up kitchens and tables, I am a professional!"
"So you are. But we still shouldn't have left it all to you."
"Oh, that's all right. Besides, I got my reward," she said, smiling. "I just wish I had more warning. I don't think the flatware was damaged."
"Yes, Sam was just telling me about that. That's fascinating that you two are so connected. I was just getting used to the idea that you can share thoughts. It never occurred to me that you could share orgasms, too. Sam said that you can feel it all the way up the street."
"When I'm over at my house, it's not as strong. More than a few hundred feet away and I'm not usually overwhelmed by them. Only a few feet away and I feel what she feels, exactly."
"And this close," I said, putting my arms around her, "it's like we're one person." I hugged her and bathed her with love in my mind. She responded in kind. We took a moment to hold each other and experience the sort of purity of emotion that only two people as connected as we were could have. Something of what we were doing must have shown on our faces. Bambi watched us with an expression of awe and a little jealously.
"Wow!" Bambi said. "I wish I had a camera. This is beautiful."
We each held out an arm to her and she joined us in a group hug. We tried to extend our sharing to her, and I think we might have succeeded a little bit. She sighed deeply, and then she made a soft cooing sound. We put our heads on either side of hers and stepped up the volume as far as we dared without breaking the mood.
"Oh! I feel so warm and good!" Bambi said. "Is that it? Is that what you're feeling? It feels like... heaven."
We eased off a bit and Bambi took a deep breath. We had fallen below her threshold. "It's possible!" I sent to Neeka. "She's just on a different frequency. She's getting a little bit of it when we focus on her."
"We have to try again later," Neeka sent. "I want to try to reach her. She deserves to be included."
I gave a mental nod. "Yes," I told Bambi, "that's it. That's the feeling of being loved. That's what we both feel for you." I heard Neeka agreeing enthusiastically in my head.
"Thank you," Bambi said. "You're both so wonderful. I love you both so much!"
Neeka and I reaffirmed our decision to try again later to make contact with Bambi. There had to be some way to tune into her or her into us. We both kissed her and then each other and then Neeka and I hung up our aprons and we all went downstairs to see what everyone else was up to.
The others were relaxing on the sofa, reading the paper and talking. Connie, Janice and Bud were wearing baggy t-shirts and Bud had on a pair of cotton shorts as well. Jolene was still naked. I think she was planning on staying that way every second she could from now on. It suited her, too. She could be naked and innocent at the same time, which is a neat trick, but seemed perfectly natural for her. I wondered if she would try to continue the practice at home with her family. If she did, they were in for a shock.
We all piled onto the big L-shaped sofa, which held all of us very comfortably. There was even room to spread out, but we squeezed in together to be as close as we could to each other. After the previous day and night we all felt much closer and were very much at ease with one another. When I looked around, I noticed that everyone had an arm around someone and there was a lot of spontaneous smiling and a friendly kiss being exchanged now and then. It looked like everyone was glowing with happiness and satisfaction. Right then I declared the party a great success.
We spent the rest of the time just being together and chatting about things we found in the paper. One by one, my friends collected their stuff, said their goodbyes and left. Connie had been the first to arrive and she was also the first to leave.
"This has been the best party I have ever been to," she said. "I had a great time. I had more orgasms than I thought was possible and I feel fantastic!" She lowered her voice and said in a confidential tone, "... and I learned a lot about myself, too. Coming here has really helped me get my head together. I'm going back to school next term, for sure. And when I get there, there's going to be a lot more studying and a lot less partying. I hope you will give me some more study tips."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I'll be happy to help you study if you like. Maybe working with you will help me get prepared for when I go to college."
"That'd be great! Thanks!"
"I want to take the most advantage of the opportunities I have to be the best I can be. To tell the truth, High School isn't really challenging me right now. I'm curious to see what college-level material is like."
"Right. Damn, girl, you're unbelievable. OK, you've got a deal. I never had a study-partner. This will probably help me keep my nose in my books a lot better. Well, gotta go." I held the door for her as she walked out to go to her car.
"Connie? Call me. I want us to be close friends, but my schedule is crazy. So give me a call and we'll get together, OK?"
She stopped and looked back at me. She broke into a big smile and said, "I'd like that. I need a friend — a real friend. Thanks! I'll call you later. Bye now!"
When she was ready to leave, Janice kissed everyone goodbye, lingering the longest on Bambi.
"I hope you will decide to stay in town," she told her. "I'd really like to see you again. Last night was great. You are really wonderful."
To me she said, "I'm going to tell Shirlene that she better watch out. She's going to have some serious competition as an adult film star. I won't tell her this, but I liked your version of the film way better."
After seeing Janice to the door, I went back downstairs. I remembered that I might owe Jolene an apology. She was sitting between Bud and Bambi and looked happier than anyone had a right to be.
"Jolene," I said, getting right to the point, "I hope you weren't upset when you woke up this morning and I wasn't there. You looked so peaceful that I couldn't bear to wake you up and drag you away."
"Oh, no! It's OK. At first I was just so happy and excited to wake up with Bud right there that I didn't even think about being alone with him. It wasn't until later, after I realized that you hadn't just gone in the bathroom for a while that I started to get nervous. Then we just got up and came downstairs with everyone else and I was fine. It really helps to have a lot of friends in the house. I feel like there is always someone right close by, so I'm much more comfortable. I think I'm really making progress. Bambi was just volunteering to chaperone us so we could be together more. Isn't that wonderful?"
I grinned from ear to ear to hear this news. It was all I could do not to laugh. My opinion of Jolene went up several points. She was easy to underestimate, because she was just so darling and childlike, but she was an intelligent young woman who had managed to get herself into a win-win-win situation in the Reynolds' house. She wanted Bud. Bud wanted her. I wanted her. I wanted her to get together with Bud. Bambi thought she was too adorable for words and wanted them to be together. Now Bambi was going to get to chaperone them when I wasn't available, which was a win for her and one for me as well, since it meant I could hand the job off to Bambi when I had to go to practice or training, or to work with my faithful and gorgeous red-headed assistant ass-kicker and chauffeur. (Raspberry from the peanut gallery at that one.)