If It Was Your Husband 17 and 18 of 20

By Patricia Marie Allen

Chapter 17
Outfitting Mike
   “Hi Ann,” I said as Mike and I entered her shop.

  Ann did a double take.

   “Alex? Oh yes, it is you. My, you look great. I knew you would.

  “It’s been some time since you’ve been in. What can I do for you this evening?”

  “I’ve brought a new customer.”

  Mike had stopped just inside the door. His eyes were roaming the shop. I suspect he’d never actually been in a lingerie shop.

  Ann looked at Mike and smiled.

  “Is this … your friend?”

  “Yes, Ann, this is Mike; Mike, Ann Murdock, Carrie’s friend.”

  Suddenly Mike looked nervous. Ann walked over to him and put out her hand.

  “Any friend of Alex is a friend of mine.”

  Mike looked at her hand numbly. After a noticeable pause, he shook her hand.

  “So, you’re the customer today.”

  “Ah, yeah.”

  Ann picked up on Mike’s nervousness.

  “Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly,” she said as she put a hand on Mike’s back and guided him farther into the shop. “No need to be nervous. This shop is known for our Transgender friendly policy. As you can see, we carry every piece of lingerie imaginable.”

  Mike swiveled his head around. Then he tried to make light of the situation.

  “And, it seems a few that are unimaginable,” he said, looking at a complex back brace on a mannequin.

  “Unless you have some back problems, I doubt you’ll need anything like that. However, if you think you’d like to try a corset, we do have a full line of them.”

  “I think Mike would like to start off with just the basics. Panties, camisoles, slips and bras. I told him about my special-order bras that I wear to work and other times when I’m not totally en femme.”

  “So, a bra fitting is in order. Let’s get that out of the way and then you can peruse the rest of the shop.”

  With that she maneuvered him to the fitting rooms. He looked at me and I just nodded my head. When they had disappeared down the short hall, I looked around. In the times I’d been here, I never really got any idea of what her inventory actually consisted of. The first time, when I thought we were just going to slip in, buy a nightgown and slip out, Carrie and Ann kind of railroaded me into the bra I had on and the breast forms I’d come to love. The next time in was to pick up the special-order bras. I’d been in drab then and was self-conscious about being in such a feminine place so it was in and out as quickly as possible.

  She had racks and racks of every kind of panties you could ever want. I was familiar with the full coverage briefs that Carrie had bought me, but they were only one of upwards of a dozen styles on display. Beyond them was a plethora of girdles, or as the sign indicated, “Shapewear.” I was wearing a padded panty girdle, but again, only a ripple in a large pond. That was the section I was drawn to. The padded panty girdle gave me a little more butt than I had naturally, but looking in the mirror, when I was wearing anything even remotely figure-hugging, my waist was too thick. Natural women worried about their butt and hips. I had the opposite problem. My stomach was too big and my hips were too small. I found the waist nipper section and began browsing. A lot of them were just stretchy spandex and I couldn’t see how that could even begin to trim my waist. The one that caught my eye was quite heavy. It would extend from the bottom of the ribcage to the top of the hip bone. Speaking of bone, there was some heavy boning. I’m sure it wasn’t real “bone” as in whalebone, which is, I’m told, what was originally used in such garments, but probably some sort of flexible metal or plastic. Down the front, was a row of hook and eye closures, like on a bra. I checked the back. There weren’t any laces, so I didn’t think it qualified as a corset, per se, but it looked like it would do the job. I doubted that it would be all that comfortable. I’d have to think about it before buying it. ‘Maybe I should ask Ann how to contact Drew’s cross-dressing group. I’m sure some of that group has tried this kind of thing.’

  Just then, Ann and Mike came out of the fitting rooms.

  “I’ll put in an order for three of them and call you when they come in,” Ann said.

  “Ah, could you just hold on to the measurements? I think I need to talk to Lisa before I buy them. I promised no secrets and, well I don’t think she’ll be up for me underdressing, at least around her,” Mike said.

  I turned and met them as they walked into the panty displays.

  “Do you have any idea of what type of panty you would like?”

  Mike scanned the displays and settled on some hip huggers.

  “I think I’d like these. That stretch lace waistband calls to me.

  “How many pairs did you say you have, Alex?”

  “Twelve.”

  Mike thought for a moment.

  “Twelve… that’s a good number.”

  “Lisa, left about a half an hour ago,” Carrie informed us as we came in carrying four bags from Ann’s Lingerie and More. “She said she was on overload and that it was better if she didn’t see what or how much Mike bought.”

  “Did she seem upset?” Mike asked nervously.

  “No, not really. She … well she was just overwhelmed by all of this. You know Mike, she’s really stepping outside off her comfort zone in the concessions she’s making for you.

  “She and I talked for about half an hour and I told her about what kind of arrangement that Alex and I have. I showed her the pictures that I’ve taken and Alex’s wardrobe.

  “I think that’s what put her over the top. She asked me why he had so much and I told her that Alex changes into something feminine when he comes home from work. She noticed that one pair of his slacks had a short zipper and that it was right over left, marking them as women’s slacks. After that, she looked over his shirts and asked if they were all really women’s shirts. I admitted that all of Alex’s clothes for work were women’s. She then said that right now Alex is a role model for you. Then she said, ‘I guess I will need to come to grips with Mike wanting to do the same.’ It was then she decided that she needed to go home before you got back.”

  I put my hand on Mike’s shoulder.

  “Take the small victories and tread lightly. Don’t push her; let her come around on her own at her own speed.”

  “God, I hope we didn’t blow this whole thing out of the water,” Mike said.

  “My advice is to put your stuff away and go home. When you get there don’t bring this up. If she wants to talk about it, let her bring it up. If and when she does, just take what little she’ll give you. If she rescinds her offer to come over and dress sometimes, take it stoically. Remind her that you love her and that you are really trying to keep this in check for her sake,” I told him.

  It was about fifteen minutes later that Mike bid us farewell and headed home.

  Things went back to normal for Carrie and me. We just kept on exploring just what would work for us as a cross-dressing couple. I have to admit that going with Mike to buy his lingerie while fully en femme whet my appetite. I worked really hard at trying to work up the courage to go out of the house in a dress or skirt and blouse with full make-up and all.

  I went to the site where the authors post fiction about cross-dressing and trans stories. I managed to work up the courage to open an account. They did want an email; I balked at the idea of having my email account stored on a cross-dressing website. After a few moments of consideration, I opened a new window and opened a Gmail account and used it as the email. I could attach that account to my actual email and that way I could see if there was email there.

  I had poked around on the site before and knew that one of the features was blog posting and that when you posted a blog, a teaser of it appeared in a column on the front page and many of the site’s users read and commented on other people’s blog entries. I had read a few of those myself.

  I figured out how to make a blog entry and did an introduction. I gave a thumbnail sketch of how I came to be a cross-dresser. The next day, there were several comments welcoming me to the site, or as a lot of them referred to it, the community. It took several days of poking around the site to discover the forum. I hoped to find some discussion of clothing there, but nothing. So it was back to the blog. I posted my question about the heavily boned waist nipper.

  Coming back the next day I found some comments. More than I expected. Some of them were relevant, but a lot kind of went off topic. In the end, it devolved into a discussion about passing and whether it was even desirable to pass. So no real help there.

  It was two weeks after Mike and I bought his things at Ann’s when I came home from work on a Friday and saw Lisa’s car parked out front. Since Carrie doesn’t work on Friday, I wasn’t too surprised about that, though it was a bit early for Lisa, since she works on Friday. To be there at that time, she’d have had to come right from work. She only gets off about a half an hour earlier than I do and if she’d gone home first I’d have beat her here.

  “Hi Hon,” I told Carrie, giving her a quick kiss. “Lisa, how you doing?”

  “Fine, thank you.” There was pregnant pause; each of us expecting the other to continue or maybe for Carrie to say something. Finally, Lisa continued, “You’re probably wondering why I’m here.”

  “Not really, though I did notice that it’s a bit early for you.”

  “Well there is that. I’m early because I arranged to take off work a bit early. I needed to talk to Carrie and I wanted to get through the bulk of the subject before you got home.”

  I smiled as I poured myself a cup of coffee. “Girl talk, huh?”

  “Actually, it’s more like ‘cross-dresser’s wife’ talk. Now that I’m trying to deal with Mike’s compulsion I need some guidance. I’m fairly sure that he hasn’t been over here since you two went shopping for his feminine side.”

  “No, he hasn’t.”

  “He’s been a bit moody of late. Not rude or anything; just in a funk. I suspected that it probably had to do with the fact he hasn’t taken advantage of his newly acquired items. What do you think?”

  “That very well could be. If I were to hazard a guess, it may be that he hasn’t come over because all he has is underwear. If he had a dress or two, he might have come over. Then again, it might be that while you are making an effort to allow him a little freedom, he may be making an effort to curb his desires so as not to appear to be running rampant with the newly granted freedom.”

  “Carrie and I have been discussing the underdressing thing. As you’ve pointed out, he only has underwear. I suppose I should call it ‘lingerie’, but somehow discussing my husband’s lingerie, seems a bit much.”

  I smiled a bit broader as I sipped my coffee.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “I wanted Carrie’s take on the underdressing thing. She tells me that you underdress 100% of the time. Is that right?”

  “Well, yeah. Having the freedom to indulge as much as I want, I simply have come to prefer the feel and fit of the lingerie over men’s underwear.”

  “That brings us to the second reason I’m here. I wanted to see just how that worked out in real life. That is, what you really looked like when you went to work. Would mind if I gave you a critical look over?”

  “Critical?”

  “I mean a serious examination. I’d like to judge the chances that people might notice that your choice of underwear is unconventional.”

  “You mean what’s the likelihood that I might get some flack about wearing women’s underwear?” She nodded. I stepped away from the counter and held my arms out. “Look away. It’s not like I’ve got to hide anything from you.”

  She stood and walked around me looking me up and down.

  “Would you mind taking off your jacket?”

  I complied and she did another circuit around me.

  “What all are you wearing today? Ah, if you don’t mind telling me.”

  “Not at all. Starting from the bottom; the shoes, they’re women’s flats, trouser socks, panties, cami and my special-order bra with some small inserts.”

  Lisa blinked. “Small inserts?”

  “Yes, something like a ‘tween girl might use to enhance her bust line.”

  She studied my chest.

  “I’m not sure, there seems to be something there, but it doesn’t seem to be any more than usual.”

  “That may be because every time you’ve seen me since January, I’ve been wearing some breast enhancement. Either these booblettes or the full-sized ones.”

  She looked a little shocked. “Really? I… I never noticed.”

  “That’s because you didn’t expect there to be anything to notice,” Carrie put in. “You already knew Alex and what he looked like and you expected him to look like he always did so that’s what you saw when you looked at him.”

  “People do that you know. In the first thirty seconds of meeting you, they decide if you’re male or female, and if they’re going to like you. After that, whatever their preconceived notion of what and who you are, is what they see from then on.”

  Lisa looked thoughtful. “Well, I guess I’m a little taken aback. I came to catch you off guard so I could see you as you present yourself to work, assuming I’d find some evidence of what you had on underneath, but even though I know, I find it difficult to say what you’re wearing for underwear isn’t what every other man is wearing.”

  “It’s nice to have an objective opinion.”

  “Now comes the hard part.”

  “Hard part?”

  “Yeah, where I have to step a little farther outside my comfort zone. Carrie seems to think that it’s crucial that cross-dressers at least underdress on a regular basis. … Could you put together enough of Mike’s under… lingerie for him to underdress for say four or five days before he needs to wash them?”

  I blinked at her.

  “I’m going to take them home and set aside a place in his dresser for them and tell him he can wear them even if I’m there. I hope that he’s as adept at not letting it show as you are. He and I did finally talk and I know he has ordered those custom fit bras like you have. It’ll be a stretch for me, but I guess I’ll just have to suck it up and see if I can deal with Mike wearing a bra.”

  I went to Mike’s stash and got together five sets of panties and camis for him. I found a grocery bag to put them in. I hoped that Lisa could really handle the idea of Mike underdressing.

  I’d just joined Lisa and Carrie in the kitchen when my phone rang. I checked the caller ID.

  “It’s Mike,” I informed them.

  “Hey buddy, what’s up?”

  “I’m at Ann’s Lingerie and More. My bras came in today. She tells me that you have some silicone inserts that you wear. I think I want to get some as well. Anyway, I want to stop by and drop off the bras and possibly the pads. Are you going to be home for a while?”

  “Yeah, I just got home a little bit ago. Lisa’s here.”

  “Oh, ah, I guess I’ll just hide them in with the spare tire and come by another time to drop them off.”

  “Doesn’t Lisa know about them already?”

  “Ah, yeah, she asked me what all I bought and I told her about them as well as all the lingerie."

  “There’s a new development. It looks like Lisa is going to loosen up a bit more. Hang on.” I muted my phone. “Mike; he’s picking up his bras from Ann’s. He was going to bring them over and put them with his stash. If I’m reading this right, shouldn’t he just take them home?”

  “He might as well. If his are as imperceptible as yours, then there’s no reason not to.”

  I unmuted my phone.

  “Lisa came over today to talk about underdressing and since you only have lingerie, that’s about all you can do at the moment. She had me pick out some things from your stash and… well, look, why don’t I let her tell you?” Before he could object, I handed my phone to Lisa.

  “Hi Mike. I’ve been talking with Carrie and Alex and well, it’s kind of a consensus that you need a regular outlet for this … thing. So you might just as well bring your new … purchases home; I’ll be bringing some of your other things. I’m willing to let you underdress around the house even if I’m there. I’ve seen how Alex looks when he’s at work and if you can do it as stealthfully, then I think I can handle it. The only thing is you will need to work out a way that I don’t have to include them in the wash. I’m envisioning our own version of ‘don’t ask; don’t tell,’ … Oh! Thanks for telling me. Yes, go ahead and get them and bring them home as well. I’ve seen what Alex looks like with his in place; so again, if you look as natural as he does it’ll be OK. We’ll clean out that junk drawer in your dresser and you can keep all this stuff in there. … See you at home then.”

Chapter 18
Helping Mike

  Lisa made her goodbyes. After she left, I looked at Carrie.

  “What do you think? The way I see it, this can be the start of some good things for Mike, or it can all go south because Lisa’s overstepped her tolerance level.”

  “She admits she’s still uncomfortable with this all, but she seems determined to get over her prejudice. She really does love Mike and wants the best for him. This funk he seems to be in really has her concerned.”

  “Maybe you and Lisa could find something to do for a day so I could invite Mike over for some girl time. I’m sure some of my clothes would fit him.”

  “His hair is pretty short. Too bad he doesn’t have a wig.”

  “I’m not sure that Mike buying a wig wouldn’t push Lisa over the edge.”

  “Hmm, I’ll have to see what I can do. Let’s give it a few weeks and see if Lisa is really OK with the underdressing. If she’s all copacetic, I’ll talk to her about that day trip thing to give you guys some girl time. But I’d better tread softly there, given her initial thought about Mike being gay. If I caught innuendo correctly, I think she wondered if Mike was gay; what did that say about you as his lifelong friend.”

  I took her in my arms, gave her a real kiss and said, “I think I’ve proven to you I’m not gay,” and I wiggled my hips against her.

  “Bad boy,” she said. “Get changed while I get dinner. If you’re lucky, I may allow you to prove again tonight.”

  I got a call from Mike Saturday morning about ten.

  “Hey Mike, how’s it going?”

  “To tell the truth, I’m a little scared.”

  “Scared? Scared of what?”

  “Well, you know that Lisa brought some panties and camis home for me and about my bras and all. Well, I took a chance and wore the bra and inserts home. My shirt was heavy enough that you couldn’t see it.

  “When I got home, I cleaned out the junk drawer that Lisa talked about and put the other bras in there. When Lisa came in she handed me the sack and went into the kitchen to start dinner without saying anything. I tried to act normal, but I’m not sure that I managed it. Lisa just acted as if everything was just as always.”

  “Have you gone full Monty with the underdressing yet?”

  “Yeah, Lisa was up ahead of me today, so I decided that I’d go for it. That’s what has me scared. I’ve got everything on. I’m hyper-aware of my underwear and that there’s more to my chest than normal. I’m waiting for her to tell me it was a mistake to allow this. I don’t even know if she’s noticed. I’m torn about that. Part of me is wishing she did notice, just to get it over with and the other part of me is dreading the reaction. I’m nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

  “Why don’t you find someplace to go? Worrying about some stranger noticing is bound to be a lot less stressful than worrying about Lisa.”

  “I don’t know how Lisa will feel about me heading out. It’s been a long time since I’ve been allowed out without a keeper.”

  I chuckled a little at his turn of phrase. Then an idea hit me. “Do you have anything on the honey-do list that you might like to have some help with?”

  “Well, not really, why do you ask?”

  “I was thinking if I had an excuse, I could come over and act as a buffer to your feelings.”

  “I have been meaning to clear out the shed. Most of what’s in there really should be hauled to Goodwill or the dump, and what little there is that’s worth keeping could easily go up in the loft in the garage. I’ve really wanted to turn the shed into a woodworking shop. I’ve got that table saw and have never really done anything with it since we put that loft in the garage. With the saw out of there, there should be enough room.”

  “OK. There you have it. Ask me to come help you. I’ll see if Carrie wants to come along.”

  “But isn’t the weekend your girl time?”

  “I get so much of it I can stand to miss a day now and then. Besides, all my clothes are really women’s clothes anyway. So I won’t really be missing out on girl time, just on the girlie-girl aspect of it. I’ll bring my utility trailer and we can load it up with the junk and swing by Home Depot on the way back and pick up some stuff to upgrade the electrical in the shed.”

  Leaving Carrie in the house with Lisa, Mike and I tackled the shed. It wasn’t as bad as it might have been, but when we finally sorted what should be hauled away it filled my trailer about halfway. The shed already had a 110 circuit to it with a single light fixture. But we decided that it would need more to it if he was going to run any power tools out there. The shed had been built by the previous owner, who had run a ¾ inch underground conduit out there. My uncle had been an electrician and had moved several times; each time he remodeled a little and in his last move, he had the house built from the ground up. He had done his own wiring. My dad had volunteered with each job to help his brother and when I got old enough to help with the grunt work, he volunteered me as well. This, as it turned out, was a godsend. I learned something about framing walls and electrical circuitry. As a result, I was a pretty good handyman and the only time I really needed to hire a professional was when we replaced the roof. It was just too big a job for me to handle by myself in a timely manner so the pros got the job.

  Anyway, after the trailer was loaded, we kind of worked out just where he would need outlets and light fixtures. We spent some time on YouTube and decided we’d need a subpanel in the shed. After working out a list of things we needed from Home Depot we headed out.

  When we got back, the girls had a late lunch ready and insisted we take a break and eat.

  “From the look of the stuff you guys brought back from the big box store, it looks like you really did some male bonding,” Lisa observed.

  I had to suppress my urge to chuckle out loud. I was fully dressed in women’s clothes and Mike was fully underdressed. I’d seen plenty of women dressed exactly as he was, given his underwear.

  “Well, a big box store full of building material and tools is a place where men do just that.” That was true, but any male bonding that Mike and I had done was done while we were in school. We were actually doing something akin to that now. Is there such a thing as feminine bonding? …for men?

  After lunch, Mike and I started to work in the shed. The first order of business was to mount the subpanel and the outlets. Then the boxes for the lighting, followed by the fixtures. Once all the wiring in the shed was complete, it was time to bring in the service to the subpanel. One of the things we got at the big box store was a fifty-foot length of paracord. We turned off the breaker and disconnected the wire from the light switch. Tying and then taping one end of the paracord to it, I had Mike feed it back into the conduit while I pulled the wire back from the main panel in the house. Once that was done, I tied and taped the paracord to the three wires that would bring power to the subpanel. With the spools of wire on a length of pipe and Mike holding it, I went to the shed and pulled the wire out there. It was a lot harder to pull the new wire than the old. I guess the extra conductor plus the step up in wire gauge made a big difference but we did it. We left the wire uncut on the floor by the main panel and hooked up the subpanel. After checking everything was done as we wanted it, we installed the 220 breaker in the main panel and switched it on. Back at the subpanel, we turned on the two breakers the one for the outlets and one for the lights. Flipping the light switch gave cause for a high five when the lights came on. A quick check of the outlets confirmed that they were all hot.

  As we came in to clean up the mess by the main breaker panel, Carrie poked her head into the room.

  “It’s getting late. Finish up here and get washed up. You’re taking us out to dinner.

  Dinner was at a little Italian place not far from their house. We’d all been there many times. The atmosphere at the table during dinner was anything but remarkable. Conversation flowed; everything from the latest television offering to the project that Mike and I had just completed. It devolved into two separate topics: with the women debating which of the new shows were worth watching and Mike and I speculating about what else would be needed for him to get a functional woodworking shop going.

  As the meal drew to a close, we ordered dessert and Carrie and Lisa did the herd instinct thing that women have for going to the restroom.

  “Ah, Alex? What do you do about draining the bladder? It’s a bit obvious that you’re not wearing anything with a fly. That must make it difficult standing to cut loose.”

  “I’ve gotten into the habit of sitting for everything. Carrie likes it because there’s less mess around the commode and I think the bladder drains better. In a public restroom, it blocks anyone from seeing your underwear providing you don’t drop your pants to your ankles. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, I’m trying to decide if I can hold it until I get home or if I’m going to have to brave the restroom here.”

  The ladies returned about then.

  “About time,” I told them. “Mike and I are both about to burst. Come on Mike; if women can make the restroom a group event so can we.”

  Luckily, there were two stalls and both were empty. We found ourselves alone in the restroom as we were washing our hands.

  “I want to thank you for coming over today. Getting involved with that project allowed me to forget about my underwear. I really hadn’t thought about it until I needed the restroom.”

  “When you do it as often as I do, the feel of the underwear becomes natural and you don’t think about it all that much. How often do you think you’ll do it?”

  “Well, that will depend on how well I’m able get ready for bed without Lisa noticing my underwear.”

  “Ummm, I see. That’s one thing I never had to worry about. I don’t know your bedroom routine. I know you have a dual-sink vanity. Do you both do your nightly bathroom routine together or separately?”

  “No, the only time we really use the dual sink is when we are getting ready to go out. She does her make up while I comb my hair and determine if my shave is holding up OK.”

  “Well then, you have two options. Let her go first and while she’s in the bathroom, you get into your night clothes; or, you go first and take your jammies in with you and change in the bathroom.

  “What are you doing about the laundry situation? I remember one of the conditions was that you do your own laundry so she doesn’t have to deal with what kind of underwear you wear.”

  “That’s another problem.”

  “Here’s a suggestion. Get a tall kitchen bag and keep it in your lingerie drawer. Put your worn things in there. If you need to, you can bring it by our place and we’ll just put them in with our wash and you can rotate some of your unused stuff.”

  “I hate to burden you with my laundry, but thanks for the offer. I’ll keep it in mind if I can’t work anything else out. Maybe I could wash it by hand while I’m there and devise some sort of drying rack in that closet, that Carrie’s letting me use.”

  Back at Mike and Lisa’s, we were sitting out on the patio after Mike and I moved his table saw out to the shed and gave it a little tryout. The women were drinking white wine coolers while Mike and I were having a beer.

  Lisa lifted her drink and said, “Here’s to you guys. Thanks to your efforts Mike and I have restored a sense of normality to our marriage.”

  “We didn’t do all that much. Our part was easy compared to the effort you had to go through in order to make our effort pay off,” Carrie insisted.

  “Your part may have been easy, Carrie, but I’ve done my homework. Alex had to totally change his lifestyle to make me see that what I was dealing with was trivial. I still have to remind myself that it’s just clothes.

  “Yes, I did change my lifestyle. But here’s one thing I’ve learned from my research. You can’t make someone become transgender. They either are or they’re not. What Carrie did unlocked something inside of me. Something I buried when I was about eight or nine… the big boys don’t cry thing. I’ve always been a sensitive guy. Carrie tells me that’s one of the big reasons she was attracted to me.”

  “Be that as it may, Alex. I only noticed your clothes because I know, but your manner of dress and the time we’ve spent in public, like tonight, has gone a long way in relieving my concerns about how people will accept it. I watched everybody at the restaurant tonight and no one, and I mean no one, even blinked at what you’re wearing.” She turned to Mike. “I suppose that you would like to expand your wardrobe to include something like Alex is wearing?”

  Mike looked me over as if he were noticing for the first time that I was wearing women’s things.

  “Alex tells me that what he’s wearing does a lot toward relieving the stress of needing to wear something. But I understand that even accepting as much as you have is a great effort on your part and I don’t want to make waves.”

  “I thank you for that. Maybe if we keep socializing with Carrie and Alex, I’ll come around to accepting masculine-looking women’s clothes on you. But I think you may be right to think that it would be pushing it right now. But I’ll make this concession. When you get a chance, buy some outerwear so you can go over to Alex’s on a weekend and get your feminine fix. Include some of the kind of things that Alex has on. That way, when I get brave enough for the next step, you’ll have it at the ready.”

  Lisa told Carrie that she wanted to go shopping on Sunday and invited her to come along. “Mike, why don’t you go over to hang out with Alex? Maybe he has a project you could help him with.”

  Carrie liked the idea. “I know,” she said, “why don’t you give Mike a ride over to our house and then we can go shopping. I’m sure Mike and Alex can find something to do.”

  “Ah…, I don’t want to infringe on Alex’s weekend any more than I already have.”

  “No problem, Mike. You know you’ve been invited to expand your wardrobe so why don’t we go shopping as well. I’ve got a list of places that have the kind of things you need.”

  Lisa looked a little alarmed.

  “If the ladies will be kind enough to tell us what mall they are going to, we can be sure to not run into them. It’s not likely anyway. These shops are all small shops not in any malls.”

  “Ah…, Lisa, is that OK with you? I mean you’ve already made a lot of concessions and I’m willing to let you set limits on how much and when I indulge.”

  Lisa looked a little flustered.

  “Well, Alex is right. I did invite you to expand your wardrobe. If you can be sure to not be anywhere near where Carrie and I go… I mean I know that it’s been decided that you can do the thing at Alex’s place, and to do that you need something to wear. Oh God, I can’t believe that I’m having this conversation. Less than a year ago, I was debating throwing you out of the house over this and now I’m sitting on my inhibitions and making concessions to allow you to do the very thing that upset me.”

  Mike put his beer down and went over to Lisa. Taking her hands, he stood her up and wrapped her in a hug. I couldn’t hear it, but I saw his lips move. I know he said, “I love you.”

  Then out loud, he said. “We don’t have to go shopping. I can just hang out.”

  Lisa pulled him close for a long time. I began to feel like we were intruding on a private moment.

  “Maybe we should be heading home, Carrie.”

  “No, that’s OK,” Lisa said. “You guys are part of this. Carrie keeps me grounded regarding this thing. I hope we aren’t making you uncomfortable.”

  They were still holding each other tightly. Mike looked at me and gave a slight shrug. Carrie walked over to them and put her hand on Lisa’s shoulder. They looked each other in the eye for a time.

  “Look,” Carrie said, “Let’s change the subject. You two hash it out after we leave. I’m sure with what just transpired; you don’t need us to referee your conversation. It’s evident that you still love each other. I’m proud of you two for how well you are taking each other’s needs and feelings into account. When you guys get to our place tomorrow, you can let us know what you’ve decided.”

  Lisa turned loose of Mike and hugged Carrie. As she turned, I could see tears in her eyes, but her expression said she was touched by either what Mike did, or by Carrie, or even both. Mike turned and looked at me and I gave him a thumbs up.