Lynn looked at me and smiled as she spoke."Let me guess, it's your boss John," she said loudly above the music."Who else?" I answered somewhat nonchal...ntly.It was not unusual for John to call me at night. He is a workaholic who typically works 14 hours a day. The fact that it was after ten did not surprise me. I told Lynn I would be back in a bit. I had to leave the room since there was no way I could call him back and hear anything he had to say over the noise of the band and the people.I left. I pulled her into my arms as she got out of the car, and kissed her thoroughly.“I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you Paulie,” Clarice said.We walked up to the door, and Jarvis said, “I’m happy to see you made it home alive Miss.”“JarJar, you need to get used to seeing me hanging all over Paulie. Besides my being crazy in love with the guy, he is my Knight in Shining Armor. He’s going to help me get out of my current FINANCIAL mess. If you insist on being snarky with him, I’ll give. Now he was going to get to find out.He was supported by the rest of the group (except Susan and Kyle). Even if Dean had cheated, now that my princess was about ready to reveal the last covered shred of her body for their viewing pleasure, there was no way they were going to let the opportunity get away from them. Arguing further was pointless. My wife knew it. She was really only arguing as a way to distract her thoughts from the inevitable shame she was about to experience anyway.“Stand up”. I splashed back, then quickly closed in on her, grabbing her wrists so she was powerless. We stood there in the water staring at each other for a moment. Her big, blue eyes glistened smartly up at me.“Skinny dipping with my handsome stepson. Now I really feel naughty,” Mom said softly, catching her breath. “It’s not skinny dipping if you’re not naked Mom,” I replied. There was a long pause. It was dead quiet except for the tinkling of chimes coming from the back porch. I was about to pull.