It was a mid-July Saturday night and my wife, Angela, and I were preparing to head out for the evening. Angela, or Angie, and I had only been married about two years, so we were still relatively newlyweds. Both of us had been in a previous marriage that didn’t work out, but neither of us had children. That gave us the rare privilege of starting anew in our early thirties.
We first headed to a local steakhouse. It was a fairly new place and quite modern. The major feature was a huge mesquite grill that was located in the central rear area of the restaurant. Nearly every item on the menu featured at least one ingredient which was cooked to order on the grill, even the desserts.
It was my personal favorite place to eat. One thing that I noticed during our previous visits, was that it was always the same chef manning the grill. He was an absolute maestro with that thing and everything that he cooked was done to perfection. I don’t know how he possibly kept track of everything scattered across that grill on a busy day.
We had a lovely meal. I had the ribeye steak with grilled veggies and a baked potato. Angie had the shrimp and lobster tail combo, with grilled veggies and a salad. As I always do, I walked past the chef and told him how much I enjoyed the meal on the way out. He clearly takes a lot of pride in his work and seems like he genuinely enjoys receiving a compliment.
After dinner, we headed over to the park. The city’s annual summer festival was underway and we were going to check out the featured performer of the week, the soft rock band Chicago.
We didn’t really know much about the band, other than a couple of rock ballads from the nineties. It was a free event, though, so we could always leave at any time if we weren’t enjoying ourselves. Fortunately, by the time we arrived, it was starting to cool down a little bit.
The festival was usually a pretty good time. There were people of all ages and demographics there. It was one of those rare times in life when it was alright to just walk up to a complete stranger and start a conversation. Angie and I liked to pick out people that we were curious about and approach them.
We grabbed a drink and mingled for a bit. The band started to play soon thereafter. I knew their first song, “Saturday In The Park,” although I had no idea that it was by Chicago. If you have a song called “Saturday In The Park,” and you are playing on a Saturday in a park, you definitely have to open with that one!
The music was very good, but the show could have been much tighter. There was a lot of talking between songs and they presented themselves as if they were playing to die-hard fans instead of casual listeners.
They certainly had been around a long time, over fifty years, I believe. Some of the band members looked as if they were well into their seventies. They put on a great show, nonetheless, and I guess I can’t blame them for taking a lot of breaks during the show at that age.
Angie and I decided to leave as the show was winding down. Traffic was sure to be a nightmare if we waited until the very end. Angie suggested that we stop at our favorite bar, The Oaken Barrel, on the way home. That pub was not only our favorite bar, it was also the place where we had first met.
***
It was just after the worst part of Covid had passed and places were starting to open up in our area. I had never been one to go out on my own to restaurants or shows, but wearing a mask everywhere made me feel like nobody would recognize me, even if I bumped into them. I went out to a movie that night and stopped at the bar on the way home. While I was sitting at the bar, sipping on a whiskey sour, I noticed two ladies at a table behind me.
It turned out to be Angie and her friend, Jen. I was far too shy to approach the two women while they were together. Angie and I exchanged looks several times, but I kept my butt parked on the barstool until Jen took a trip to the restroom. I slammed the remainder of my drink, took a deep breath, and strapped on my Covid mask.
I tried to act casual as I approached Angie’s table. As soon as I started to speak, though, my nervousness was quite apparent. I stumbled and stammered before asking her for her phone number. She read it to me and smiled, suspecting that I probably wouldn’t be able to remember it. I kept repeating it in my head until I thought that it finally stuck. Jen returned to the table at about that time and didn’t seem very happy that I was bothering Angie. So, I excused myself and rushed back to grab my phone from my jacket pocket and save Angie’s phone number.
Two days later, I called Angie’s number, not sure if it was the correct number or if she had made it up. Surprisingly, it was Angie. She seemed impressed that I put in a little bit of effort and we made plans to go out the following weekend. The rest, as they say, is history.
***
The Oaken Barrel was an upscale bar. On Friday and Saturday night, there was security at the door to ensure that nobody underage could get inside. The price point, along with the security kept most of the college-age crowd away. I’m pretty sure that was a deliberate tactic since the owners seemed to want to have a laid-back, casual establishment.
We took a seat at one of the tables. They were incredibly busy and the waitresses were running all over the place. After a few minutes, Angie offered to walk up to the bar and get our drinks directly.
I didn’t pay much attention, at first. Mostly because I was checking out the other patrons. After a few minutes passed, I glanced at the bar and saw a young African American gentleman standing behind the bar while talking to Angie. He had my whiskey sour and Angie’s glass of Chardonnay in front of him, but he seemed much more focused on Angie.
The bartender looked like a clean, respectable sort of guy. He looked to be in his late twenties and was fit and handsome.
I watched as he continued to smile at and chat with Angie. His eyes were all over her body and it was obvious that he was coming on to her.
Normally, my response has usually been to feel jealous or angry that another man is stealing my wife’s attention. This time, however, I started to picture the two of them together. I imagined him taking her sexually, his dark skin contrasting starkly against Angie’s pale, white body.
I tried to distract myself by doing some more “people watching” but couldn’t get the image of Angie and the bartender out of my mind. Both of our drinks were poured, and still, the two of them continued to talk. I found myself incredibly curious about what they could have been discussing.
Eventually, Angie returned to the table. I made a casual mention about how long it took for her to return and Angie dismissed it. Instead, she initiated the game we always played while at The Oaken Barrel. We typically enjoyed picking out a couple or group of people sitting together and making up a backstory of who they are, what they are doing together, and so forth.
After analyzing a table, I tried to redirect the conversation back to the bartender. I mentioned to Angie that he was continuing to look in her direction, and she attempted to restart our game. I don’t blame her for doing so. As I mentioned, I am normally the jealous type, so she was certainly trying to avoid an argument.
Back and forth we each tried to control the conversation as if it was a game of tug-of-war, until I finally muttered, “It would be really hot to see the two of you together.”
Angie stared at me for a moment with her mouth agape.
“What in the fuck has gotten into you tonight?” she asked.
I quietly tried to explain to her that I couldn’t stop fantasizing about the two of them together. A brief discussion ensued about whether she was attracted to him and if she would consider having sex with him in front of me.