Part One: The Parlor
Chapter One
One evening I opened my husband’s laptop to look up a recipe. I had just entered “Re” when the search bar autopopulated an obscure subreddit for swingers. The url was obvious enough to cause my heart to suddenly drop. Our sex life was as vanilla as it could be. My husband had never hinted at an unfulfilled desire… let alone the suggestion of swinging.
I couldn’t help myself. I clicked through the url and found that this thread was more than just a casual discussion of swinging. Rather, the thread was a sophisticated coordination for an elaborate swingers’ party in a nearby Connecticut suburb known for its affluence. It didn’t take long to find my husband’s comment. His username was anything but creative.
Where my heart had dropped before, it now ached as I read his introduction and his desire to attend stag. I couldn’t bear to read any further and abruptly closed the screen before running off to the sink.