“No, I haven’t talked to Drew yet. I tried like a million times during Veronica’s soccer game but he kept cutting me off. It’s like he knew I wanted to talk about something serious and wasn’t going for it,” I explain as I pulled a shirt off of the rack and hold it up to me.

“Gavin, get up off of the floor,” Claire scolds.

I turn around where she’s looking and notice Gavin has removed an entire pile of folded sweaters from one of the tables and is currently using them as a pillow while he sprawls out on his stomach on the floor.

“Uuugghhhh, this is horseshit!” Gavin complains loudly.

“Horseshit!” Veronica and Molly shout at the same time before giggling.

“Gavin!” Claire yells angrily while Gavin lets out another groan and finally pulls himself up from the ground.

“Okay, so he didn’t want to talk at the soccer game, what about after?” Liz asks as she reaches in her purse for Molly’s sippy cup and hands it to her.

“He invited Jackson over and the two of them were down in the basement looking at all of Drew’s old football trophies for like five hours. And then he left for work and you know how that goes.”

Seeing as how all of our husbands work for the same automotive plant and were on the night shift together, the girls are well aware of how hard it can be to have any kind of important conversation with them during the week unless you want to do it by phone, which I definitely do not. This is something that needs to be done in person. I finally know what I want and need from him, and I’m pretty sure I have the confidence to actually tell him without screwing it up. But only seeing him for about ten minutes when I get home from work and then he leaves, makes it a little difficult.

“I’m still surprised he warmed up to Jackson so fast and actually went shopping with them today. I thought he would want to kill him when he found out what was going on with you two,” Claire states as she points to the pile of sweaters still on the floor without turning or saying a word when Gavin walks over to us.

“Oh my GOSH! This is the worst day EVER!” Gavin complains before stomping dramatically back to the sweaters to pick them up.

“There wasn’t anything going on with us! Don’t say it like that,” I complain as I shake my head, “No,” when Liz holds up an orange tank top and gives me a questioning look.

“The guy is coming over to your house practically every day and spending time with you and the kids, helping you out with laundry, the dishes, and rearranging furniture. He’s doing all of the things a husband should but without the extra benefits.”

I stare at her a minute wondering what benefits she’s talking about.

“He only helped me move the loveseat to the other side of the living room that one time. And he has a real job so he already gets health benefits. Why would I give him benefits for helping me out and being a good friend? That’s just weird,” I tell her as I pull another shirt from the rack and check the size.

“Sex, Jenny! She’s talking about sex!” Liz says a little too loudly.

“SEX! I WANT SEX!” Veronica yells from the stroller.

“No, no, no. Don’t say that, honey. It’s bad,” I tell her.

“You really haven’t gotten any in a while if you’re saying it’s bad,” Liz laughs from the other side of the clothing rack.

“Oh shut up. We had sex on our date night. Well, kind of. Okay, not really,” I say with an embarrassed shrug.

“What do you mean, ‘not really?' How do you ‘not really, kind of’ have sex?” Claire asks in confusion.

“Well, it started off really hot and awesome. We were in the car in the driveway and going at it. But then he started talking all kinky, and I don’t know, it felt weird. Like, we’re older now and parents of two kids and maybe we shouldn’t be doing it like that anymore. I told him to just do it normally and without the crazy stuff and it didn’t go over so well.”

Liz and Claire stand there staring at me, and I notice Gavin picking up a pair of lacy thongs from one of the tables and putting them on his head like a mask.

“You told Drew to stop being kinky in the middle of sex?” Claire asks in shock.

“Please, don’t ask her anymore questions about that. Words like ‘dirty whore’ and ‘slut’ will be thrown around and my brain can’t take that memory again,” Liz says with a dramatic shiver.

“But, I mean…you guys are the epitome of kinky. That’s like telling me I shouldn’t bake anymore. It’s unnatural.”

Is that true? I mean, I couldn’t imagine Claire never baking again. It’s her life and part of who she is. Is kinky sex part of who Drew and I are? If we don’t have it, are we not being who we really are?

“Tell me this, did it feel normal to you trying to have plain, old regular sex? Did it make you happy?” Claire asks.

“No, not at all. It made me sad. But it just felt like it was something I should do and ever since then, Drew hasn’t even tried to have sex with me again. I think I broke his penis,” I whisper.

“No one thinks my jokes are funny,” Gavin complains, walking over to us with the red, lacy thongs still on his head, the front of the thongs covering his eyes and nose.

“Uhhhhh, why is that on your head?” Claire asks, pulling her cell phone out of her purse and trying to stifle her laugh.

“It’s my mask. It’s my joke telling mask and no one thinks I’m funny,” he complains again.