Reggie
I walk in with Brynn, carrying another bottle of wine, this time Italian. This time Sicilian. Spicy.Good evening.
Wade
He's at the door before they're fully through it, and he looks at the bottle first, then at Reggie, then grins.You actually brought wine. I said that as a joke.He steps back to let them in.Get in here. Both of you.
Cody
Told you he'd show. Nobody bets against Brynn. Good to see you, man.
Reggie
Thank you for inviting me.
Wade
He waves it off, already turning back toward the living room.Don't thank me. You earned the invite yourself.He gestures with his beer toward the back of the house.Come on. We've got food this time. Tanya made a thing.
Tanya
It's chili. It's not a thing. It's a little bit of a thing.
Reggie
We all sit. We try the chili. I try to refuse but Texan hospitality includes forcing guests to eat. I sit quietly in a corner beside Brynn, not too close, not giving anyone the idea that we're sleeping with each other, and say nothing.
Cody
Corner strategy. Again. Man, you are committed to a bit that doesn't work.
Brynn
Eat the chili, Reggie. This is not a battle you're going to win at this table.
Reggie
It's very good.I'm lying but not unconvincingly.Do you all meet every week?
Tanya
She catches it. The pause before the compliment, the way it came out a little too smooth. She says nothing about it.Pretty much every week, yeah. Sometimes somebody's out of town or there's a thing, but — most Saturdays.She reaches over and refills her own bowl without looking up.It's the chiles. You can taste them if you know they're there.
Brynn
He's lying about it being very good, by the way. You can tell because he said it immediately. He thinks before he says most things.
Reggie
And you alternate houses? Brynn, do you take a turn alternating hosting duties?
Brynn
She doesn't look at him when she answers, just turns her spoon in her bowl.I have a house, so — technically yes. I've done it. It's easier when there are two people hosting. I do it alone so I do it less.
Tanya
You're asking because you're wondering if you're supposed to offer. You're not on the rotation. You live in a studio. Nobody's expecting you to host six people in four hundred square feet.
Reggie
The complex has a social area. But I am just Brynn's plus-one. One day she'll find something on Bumble and you'll meet a new stranger.
Brynn
She goes very still for a second.The Bumble thing.She says it quietly.Can you stop. I'm not — I'm not looking for anything on there right now. That's not where I am.
I made those rules at the library. When I was managing things. I'm not managing things right now. So stop citing them back to me.
An hour in. The chili pot is mostly gone. The wine — the Sicilian — is open and working. The room has gotten looser, the way rooms do when nobody has a car to worry about. Wade's living room holds them all comfortably: boots off, second drinks poured, the kind of easy noise that comes from people who've done this enough times that silence doesn't threaten anything.
Tanya
She waits for a gap in the conversation — not long, just a beat where the room breathes — and then she looks at Brynn across the coffee table, direct enough that it's not casual but not quite a confrontation either.Can I ask something? And I want you to actually answer it. Not the library-parking-lot answer. The real one.
Brynn
She knows exactly where this is going. She turns her glass in her hand and doesn't look at Reggie.You can ask.
Tanya
Are you two sleeping together.
Brynn
That's — Yeah. We were. We are. I don't know what tense we're in right now. And before anyone makes a face — it's not a whole thing. It's just — it's what it is.
Tanya
Okay. Thank you for actually answering.
Wade
Not gonna make a face. You both walked over here tonight. Together. On purpose.
Brynn
You can stop having feelings out loud about it. All of you. It's not — I'm not announcing anything. Tanya asked. I answered. That's the whole of it. And Reggie doesn't get to use the plus-one line anymore. That's done.
Reggie
I am your plus one. We're not on a road that leads anywhere. You're just out of a divorce and aren't looking to rebound just yet. I'm on a two-year contract and have an expiry date. Plus one is the cleanest word for that.
Brynn
She looks at him for a long moment.I know what we are.She says it quietly, and she means it.But you don't get to announce it to the table like you're reading the terms and conditions. The word's fine. Use it if you want. Just — not like that.
Tanya
The word's not the problem. The delivery is. You said it like a disclaimer. People in the room are allowed to notice the difference.
Reggie
I like Brynn a lot. I'm happy to spend time with her when she's able. She has turned this time in Granbury from a chore I was doing for money into the best time I've had in years. I'm not underselling it. I'm just...aware of what it is.
Brynn
She doesn't answer right away. She looks down at her glass.Okay. That's the version I actually wanted.
Tanya
Best time in years is not a disclaimer. That's the part you can't file away under terms and conditions.
Brynn
He does that. Says the real thing and then immediately tries to put a lid on it. I'm learning to hear the thing before the lid. It's there.
Reggie
I'm a bit surprised you asked out loud like that, Tanya. Canadians would have danced around that for weeks before someone sent a self-destructing WhatsApp message privately.
Tanya
She smiles, and it's the unguarded version — the one that shows up when something actually lands.Texans ask the question in the room. If I'd waited for someone to say it quietly, we'd have all spent another month pretending not to notice you two sitting exactly that close to each other and calling it nothing.
Reggie
I like it. It's far better to just ask. And if someone doesn't want to answer, they can say so.
Tanya
I'll take it.She lifts her glass toward Reggie, not quite a toast — just an acknowledgment.And for what it's worth, you both answered. That's all I wanted.
Kayla
I have at least three follow-up questions and I'm being very restrained right now.
Reggie
Ask your questions, Kayla. I'd like to see how far Texans take this. And rest assured I won't ask you any of the things I'm wondering in return because I can't stop being Canadian quite that quickly.
Kayla
She sits up immediately, like she's been waiting for exactly this opening, then catches herself and makes a visible effort to slow down.Okay. Okay.She sets her glass down.First one. And be honest. When you showed up at Cody's that first night — and you had decided you weren't going to make any friends and weren't going to be interesting and were going to sit in the corner — did any part of you actually believe that was going to work? Like. That night. Walking in. Did you think you were pulling it off?
Reggie
Yes, absolutely I thought it was going to work. I'm good at it. I can usually go months without saying anything to anyone other than cashiers. I still don't really know how it went off the rails last week.
Kayla
She points at him.Brynn. Brynn is how it went off the rails. You walked in carrying French wine and standing next to her and the corner never had a chance.
Reggie
And you say I stood beside Brynn. That's not the reason. I was super careful to stand far enough away that nobody could ever assume anything. No touching at all. Not even my hand on her arm. And I didn't even laugh loudly at her jokes. I thought I gave you nothing to work with.
Cody
That's the tell right there. You were careful. You were so deliberate about not touching her, not laughing too loud — man, that's not nothing. That's the whole game. You don't do all that for someone you're just standing next to.
Wade
Careful is its own kind of signal. You think you gave us nothing. You gave us everything.
Kayla
She straightens up, reclaiming the moment with both hands, and there's a flicker of mischief in it she doesn't bother to suppress.Okay. Second question. And I'm going to preface this by saying — Cody, don't you dare tell me to stop.She looks at Reggie directly.Colombia. You were there for years. And you said you had choices there that you don't have here. I want to know what that actually looked like. Not the terms-and-conditions version. The real version.
Reggie
Wait, I think you remember that incorrectly. I said I have more choices in Vancouver than I do here. Although it's also true I had more in Colombia.
Kayla
She tilts her head, conceding the correction without giving up the thread.Vancouver, Colombia — okay, fair. But the point still stands, doesn't it? More choices than here. That's what I'm asking about. What does more actually mean. Specifically.
Reggie
It's...I thought it was obvious. Here in the US, guys like Wade and Cody are the physical ideal for most women. They're over six feet tall, blonde, white, straight jawlines. They're both what women want. And it's no surprise that they each have a beautiful wife to show for it, which is great for all of you. I'm 5'10", brown, ordinary looking. Let's be frank. What I have on offer isn't generally what women in the US are interested in. I'm not complaining. I'm still interesting to some women. Brynn seems to find me worth talking to. But I'm not the prize here.
Wade
He's quiet for a second, and when he speaks it's slower than usual — not quite sure how to take the landing on that one.I'm gonna push back on part of that. Not the part about the physical ideal, because yeah, I know what I look like and I know how this town works. But 'not the prize' — that's you doing the thing you always do. Calling it before anybody else can.
Kayla
And that's not answering what I actually asked. You went sideways into a comparison with Wade and Cody, which — love you both, but that's not the question. Colombia specifically. What were the choices there that you don't have here. I'm not asking about your jawline.
Brynn
You can stop describing yourself like a car with low resale value. And Kayla's right. That wasn't the question.
Reggie
Look, I'm not self-flagellating here. I have my strong points. But they're invisible here. In Colombia, nobody just gets together to talk and drink like we're doing now. Someone would have cranked some music by now and everyone would be dancing. And I'm a pretty good dancer...for everywhere in the world except here. I couldn't two-step if my life depended on it. I'm not sure brown guys should be allowed to two-step anyway.SmilesAnd...on top of that...well...once things...I mean there are other things but let's just say I am an easier sell in Vancouver or Cartagena, and I wouldn't be sitting on the lot depreciating like Brynn wants me to pretend I'm not doing here.
Brynn
She sticks her tongue out at him — quick, deliberate, no attempt to dress it up as anything else.Depreciating. You said depreciating.She points at him with her wine glass.I want that on record.
Wade
What kind of dancing are we talking? Because Colombia and Cartagena — that's salsa, right? Or is that not what it actually is when you're there.
Cody
Also — I'm sorry — brown guys shouldn't be allowed to two-step. You cannot just throw that out there and keep moving.
Reggie
Cody, brown guys look ridiculous two-stepping. I tried it and every time I looked in the mirror at myself I started laughing. It's absurd. And Wade, Cartagena is on the coast and there are a lot of African roots there and people dance FAST there, lots of African-style fast dances. And yes, the tourists do salsa and the locals do a thing called Champeta when they've lost energy for the fast dances. But fast dancing doesn't need a label. The kids shuffle dance. People just move. Fast. And that's something...I mean, I don't mean to generalize at all but it's not something tall white guys with blue eyes are known for.
Cody
He puts a hand on his chest like he's been personally attacked.Okay. Wow. I'm gonna let that land for a second. He's not wrong, by the way. Wade, tell him.
Wade
We don't have to talk about this.
Kayla
Cody tried two-step at our wedding reception. Three times. I love you, babe, but —
Tanya
Wade is worse. Wade is objectively worse than Cody and that is saying something substantial about both of them.
Wade
That is between us and God.
Kayla
The Champeta thing — say more about that. What does that actually look like when people are just doing it. Not performing it for tourists. Actually doing it.
Reggie
Kayla, Champeta...honestly it's something you should only do with someone you're willing to sleep with because it's very, very sensual. It's rhythmic, not ultra slow, but you do it very close to your partner, touching them more than you'd want to be doing with someone you didn't like. And because of that, it's not something you can show strangers because they'll ask you to do it and...yeah.
And the last time I was in Cartagena, some old guy was selling bananas from a cart in a place called Getsemaní. I didn't want any bananas but I bought a few. Figured I might have them with lunch. But I wanted to talk to the guy and ask him how a 70-year-old guy ended up on this street on this day selling bananas from this cart, and he told me his story, how he grew up in Turbaco and his wife left him, so he went back to live with family, pooled his money, and bought a small farm, and now he drives into town every day and sells his bananas and makes more than he's ever made in his life, which is still not much but his family is thrilled with it. And then he asked me my story and then his truly beautiful daughter came over and wanted to know who dad was talking to and I asked her how they dance and she showed me some moves, and then her kids ran up and asked me if I knew Drake and I told them no but they started dancing anyway and I showed them how to dance like we do in Canada and then more pretty girls and handsome men and other kids from the neighbourhood showed up and we just danced all day and into the night. And I'll never forget them until the day that I die and I'd be surprised if they forget me.
That's who I'm able to be when the stars align in Colombia. And that's who I will never, ever be in Granbury.
And the last time I was in Cartagena, some old guy was selling bananas from a cart in a place called Getsemaní. I didn't want any bananas but I bought a few. Figured I might have them with lunch. But I wanted to talk to the guy and ask him how a 70-year-old guy ended up on this street on this day selling bananas from this cart, and he told me his story, how he grew up in Turbaco and his wife left him, so he went back to live with family, pooled his money, and bought a small farm, and now he drives into town every day and sells his bananas and makes more than he's ever made in his life, which is still not much but his family is thrilled with it. And then he asked me my story and then his truly beautiful daughter came over and wanted to know who dad was talking to and I asked her how they dance and she showed me some moves, and then her kids ran up and asked me if I knew Drake and I told them no but they started dancing anyway and I showed them how to dance like we do in Canada and then more pretty girls and handsome men and other kids from the neighbourhood showed up and we just danced all day and into the night. And I'll never forget them until the day that I die and I'd be surprised if they forget me.
That's who I'm able to be when the stars align in Colombia. And that's who I will never, ever be in Granbury.
Kayla
She's very still for a second, and when she speaks it's quieter than her usual register.Champeta I'm filing away for later.She says it almost to herself, then looks up.But the banana cart man. His daughter. The kids asking about Drake. You just — danced all day with strangers in the street and then into the night. That's not a man who doesn't fit in places. That's a man who fits in everywhere except the places that won't let him.
Wade
You said you'll never forget them. And you'd be surprised if they forgot you. You showed up on their street, bought bananas you didn't want, asked an old man how he got there, and by nightfall half the neighbourhood knew your name. And you come here and describe yourself as sitting on the lot depreciating. I'm trying to square those two things and I can't quite do it.
Brynn
You said you'll never be that person here. But you just told that story to six people in a living room in Granbury and nobody moved. I'm not saying it's the same. I know it's not the same. I'm just — noting that you're still the person who bought the bananas. That part came with you.
Reggie
No wait, Granbury is doing nothing wrong. This isn't Granbury not letting me fit in. Granbury has been good to me. Every single person I've met here has been kind to me. But Granbury, the United States, this culture, these people, these GOOD people, just don't have much interest in what Reggie has on offer. And the costeños do. And to some extent, the depressed and angst-filled girls back in Canada do, between Xanax treatments. But not the good people of Granbury. And that's fine. Truly fine.
Tanya
The Xanax line is the one I want to pull on. Depressed girls in Canada. Costeños on a street in Cartagena. And then Granbury — the good people — in a separate category. You built a little taxonomy just now. I'm not sure it holds.
Brynn
The angst-filled girls. I want to make sure I heard that right. Because if there's a taxonomy and that's where I'm filed — say it out loud and we'll deal with it. But don't leave it in there like furniture.
Reggie
Well, of course there's a taxonomy and I mean no value judgment there. I'm just observing that the girls in Vancouver, a notoriously unfriendly city with depressing rainy winters, tend to have certain things that are important to them, and the girls on the Caribbean coast of Colombia have a different set of things that are important to them, and the girls in Granbury have things that are important to them. I didn't mean it in a disparaging or disrespectful way.
Brynn
She watches him for a moment — he means it, that's clear enough.I know you didn't mean it like that.She says it carefully.But there's a difference between a taxonomy that explains what people value and one that explains why you're filing yourself under not for this market. The second one is the part I'm pushing on. Not the first.
Tanya
So what does Granbury have that's important to it. In your taxonomy. Say it out loud and don't soften it.
Reggie
I thought it was obvious. Girls here want successful men, ideally blonde but definitely white, ideally over six feet tall, muscular, strong, football-player types. They really don't care if that guy has travelled anywhere, or if he speaks any other languages, or even if he can do much as long as he's able to make a good living. They certainly don't care if he can dance. They don't care if he can talk. They don't even really care if they can think deeply. And honestly, from what I've been reading, they aren't...well, they don't prioritize their own sexual pleasure according to the studies I've been reading.
And I want to make clear I'm not talking about present company at all. I have no idea if Cody and Wade are the deepest thinkers who have been around the world and speak seven languages and are amazing in bed. This isn't a personal attack.
And I want to make clear I'm not talking about present company at all. I have no idea if Cody and Wade are the deepest thinkers who have been around the world and speak seven languages and are amazing in bed. This isn't a personal attack.
A beat of silence lands on the room. Not hostile — just the kind that follows a stone dropped into still water.
Wade
He sets his beer bottle down on the coffee table with a soft click and looks at Reggie for a long moment.Okay. So.He says it slow, working through something.I'm gonna let the last part go because you said to let it go and I believe you meant it that way. But the first part. You just described every woman in a hundred-mile radius as not caring whether a man can think, talk, or perform in bed, and you're sitting across from two of them right now. I'm just gonna name that out loud.
Tanya
The studies you've been reading. I want to know what studies those are. Because you're using research to describe what women here want out of sex, and you just told six people in a living room that the women in this town don't prioritize their own pleasure. That's a thing you said. About women who are sitting in front of you.
Brynn
You said present company excluded. But you've slept with one person in this room. So you have some data. And then you read studies. And then you made a filing system. I'm just noting the order of operations.
Reggie
Wade, wait, that's not fair. It's true I said that girls here want this and that, but I was obviously speaking generally and skipped the legalistic wording about how there are always exceptions and so on. I felt that was implied. And Tanya, I'm speaking specifically of orgasms. According to research I read just last week from Stanford, American women get a lot out of sex but don't tend to make orgasms the priority that some other western women do. So they enjoy sex but don't always...climax. That's all I meant by that. And Brynn...no I shouldn't make this personal. Forget I mentioned Brynn.
Brynn
She holds very still for exactly one second.No. You don't get to put my name into a sentence about orgasms in front of six people and then say forget I mentioned it. That's not how that works. Say what you were going to say or don't say it. But don't leave it half in the room.
Kayla
I have thoughts about the study. I'm going to hold them.
Wade
I'll say this once. The general observation — some of it lands, some of it doesn't, I've got opinions but that's not the point right now. The point is Brynn told you to finish the sentence. I'd finish the sentence.
Reggie
Okay. I...um...Brynn has told me that she hasn't had a lot of men, very few in fact, and I believe her, but the number isn't zero and she described the few American men she has had experience with tend to be...very vigorous but not very skilled. I realize that's anecdotal and has no statistical value but it aligns with my own understanding of the prevailing trend here.
Brynn
She closes her eyes. Opens them.Vigorous but not very skilled.She says it back to him at a very precise, measured volume — not loud, just extremely clear.You just said that. In front of Cody and Wade. You know I like you. I want you to understand that I'm saying this from a place of genuine affection when I tell you that was the single worst thing you could have done with that sentence.
Cody
Vigorous. He said vigorous.
Brynn
You were going to leave it in the room half-finished and I told you to say it. So I'm not — I'm not angry. I'm just sitting here in Wade's living room while you explain my sex life to people I've known since high school, using the word vigorous, and citing Stanford. That's where we are right now.
Reggie
Brynn, you insisted. It would be ungracious to complain that I complied. Look, this is obviously a bad topic. American women may seek satisfaction however they want, and American men may provide it however they want, and I'm not looking to scold them for not valuing my approach.
Brynn
She looks at him for a long moment.You're right. I insisted. And now I'm living with that decision, which is its own lesson. But 'I'm not looking to scold them' is doing some heavy lifting right now, Reggie. You described a trend, cited a university, named a source, and the source was me. That's not neutral observation. That's a position.
Wade
Your approach. You said your approach. So there's an approach. And the approach is what — better than vigorous. I'm just making sure I followed the thread.
Kayla
I've been holding my thoughts for approximately four minutes and I want to formally register that I have opinions about the study and about the approach and about the word vigorous and I would like, at some point, to be allowed to say them out loud.
Reggie
Yes of course I have an approach. And you have an approach, Wade, and I don't pretend to know what that approach is. Same for you, Cody. And Kayla, please, have the floor. I would very much welcome the opportunity to be quiet.Smiles
Wade
He points at Reggie with the beer bottle, a slow grin working its way onto his face.I appreciate the diplomatic handling of that. Noted.He sits back.Kayla. Floor's yours. God help us all.
Kayla
Okay. So. The study. Stanford. American women and orgasms. I read something like that — different journal, same general finding. And here's what I think is missing from that framing. It's not that women here don't want it. It's that a lot of us were taught, very specifically, not to ask for it. Not to say what we wanted. Not to expect it as a given. So you end up with a data set that looks like women don't prioritize it — but what you're actually measuring is how many women have been told, in a hundred small ways since they were teenagers, that the ending isn't theirs to request. So when you say vigorous but not skilled — I don't think that's a Granbury problem. I think that's a communication problem. And I think the communication problem goes both directions. Which is why the approach matters. What is the approach, specifically? Because I have been waiting this entire conversation to ask that and Brynn's going to have opinions but I'm asking anyway.
Brynn
You are a lot smarter than you let on in group settings. I want that on record. And yes, I have opinions. I'm going to exercise the right to stay quiet for once and let Reggie answer, because this is genuinely the most educational Saturday night I've had in two years and I want to see where it goes.
Reggie
I don't have much of an answer. The study looked for orgasms. The study asked if the women felt satisfied during sex. The study did not ask if the women wished they had had an orgasm. Super interestingly, though, the study DID ask if a woman had an orgasm during sex, was it because of what the guy did or did she stimulate herself while having intercourse and something like 90% said it was what they did themselves. Which implies to me that the intercourse was almost coincidental and it could just as easily have happened solo.Suddenly self-conscious about how explicit I'm beingI just realized that this is reaching a level of explicitness that none of you consented to. I'm sorry. Let's change the subject, yes?
Kayla
She shakes her head immediately, one sharp little shake.No. We absolutely do not change the subject. I consented. Right now, out loud, I'm consenting.She looks around the table.Everyone else?
Wade
Nobody's leaving, man. Continue.
Brynn
Nobody consented to anything in that study and nobody's leaving this room. Stop apologizing and finish the thought. The explicitness is the point. That's what Kayla was actually asking about. The approach. You gave us the data. Now give us the rest of it.
Reggie
Well, ok, I don't really have much more. I believe there's a prevailing idea here of what sex looks like, and whether that's just what's expected or what women truly desire, I have no idea and can't have any idea. But Granbury people of our generation have the idea that this is what good sex looks like. Bang bang bang bang bang, then go see the chiropractor. And when I talk about different approaches which I've done twice in three months at the library with girls who chatted with me, and also with Brynn, the response I got was confusion. That's not how it's done. Then Brynn asked me...we...got close...and she saw value in alternate approaches, or so she told me. But it doesn't change the initial reaction. Girls in Granbury (and presumably throughout the United States) want the football player type who is much stronger and more muscular than I am, and they want him to demonstrate his strength and stamina in bed. They do NOT want...well...me.
Wade
He straightens in his chair, unhurried about it, the easy confidence of a man who has never once questioned this particular subject.I'm gonna stop you right there on one thing.He points the beer bottle.The football player who demonstrates strength and stamina. You say that like it's a consolation prize. That's not a consolation prize, man. That's the whole point. Women want to feel it. They want to know it happened. That's not a design flaw.
Cody
Yeah. I'm not gonna pretend otherwise. Kayla married me. She's still here. I think the methodology holds up.
Kayla
Baby. I love you. Don't use me as a citation right now.
Tanya
Confusion. You said the response was confusion. Not no. Not rejection. Confusion. Like — that's not a category I was aware existed. What specifically were you saying that got that response. At the library. Before we get to the Brynn part of this, which she can weigh in on or not.
Reggie
Look, I'm just saying there are other ways to satisfy a woman than strength and stamina. And the confusion I'm talking about was simply that the introduction of that notion wasn't expected and conflicted with what they had understood good sex to look like. And if you really meant it when you invited me to be explicit, I just think that two people can have amazing sex with no penetration at all. So strength and stamina don't play any role. None.
Wade
He lets out a slow breath through his nose.No penetration. That's what you said.He picks up the beer bottle. Sets it back down.I hear you. I'm not gonna pretend I haven't heard that argument before. I just — I don't buy that's the whole picture. That's a part of the picture. Strength and stamina are also part of the picture. You don't pull one panel out and call it the painting.
Cody
Yeah. Yeah, I'm — okay. I respect the position. I do. I'm just not sure the position is — I mean, Kayla's not filing any complaints.
Kayla
Cody. Sweetheart. I love you more than anything. Do not do that.
Wade
Okay. I'm going to ask this straight because that's apparently what we're doing tonight. You're saying a man can fully — that a woman can be fully satisfied, and strength doesn't enter into it at all. That's your position. Because I'm trying to understand the mechanics of what you're describing and I'm not sure I have the full picture.
Kayla
This is the best Saturday I've had in months.
Reggie
Yes, Wade, that's what I'm saying. And I'm saying that I often have sex without achieving orgasm. At all. Not every time. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy my orgasms. But honestly I think I enjoy giving a woman an orgasm more than I enjoy having my own. So sometimes I just do that. And then other times I get mine and make no effort to satisfy her. But most of the time I want both of us to be satisfied, and that almost always means she has more orgasms than I do when the monthly orgasm ledger is reconciled. Simple physiology. They're good to go again in 15 minutes and most men need a day.
Wade
He goes quiet for a second — long enough that you can see him actually trying to run the math on it.Without.He says the word like it's in a foreign language.Man. I'm gonna be straight with you. That's not — I don't know what to call that if it doesn't end that way for you. That's not sex. That's something else. Something nice, maybe. But it's not sex.
Cody
Yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm with Wade on this one completely. I'm not judging the — the ledger concept, I get the ledger, but if I'm walking away from that without — that's not a win for me. That's not even a draw. That's just a loss I somehow agreed to. How is that a thing you enjoy.
Tanya
The monthly orgasm ledger. You actually track it. Not literally, but — you track it. Which means you already know going in that the number's going to be uneven, and you're okay with that being the uneven direction. I don't think I've ever heard a man say that and mean it. And I think you mean it.
Brynn
He means it. That's the part you're going to have to just take on faith, because I don't know how to make it more convincing than that. He means it.
Reggie
Brynn, how much can I say? Do you want me to stop? I can say more but it might embarrass you.
Brynn
She looks at him for a moment — steady, not flustered, though the room is very much watching her face for signs of either.Say what you're going to say. I'm a grown woman sitting in Wade's living room having already confirmed we sleep together to six people I know. I think we're past the point where embarrassment is a useful category.
Wade
Let the man talk.
Kayla
I'm not breathing. I'm just not breathing right now. Go ahead.
Reggie
Ok, so yesterday Brynn was totally wiped. She almost called out on the library. She had had a shitty day at work and she was just in a bad place mentally. And I walked her home after and invited myself in and just focused on her pleasure and her pleasure only. For about an hour. Almost all of which was spent edging her. And it gave me intense physical pleasure watching her...be satisfied. Twice. And then I knew she would have done anything for me at that point but I just wanted her to have that and then go to sleep, so I tucked her in and went home. And I loved every second of it. And yes, I'll get mine next time we're together. But that was not just a complete sexual event to me, it was amazing sex. And I still think of her...um...being satisfied...intensely...and I smile.
The room goes very quiet. Not the stone-in-water quiet from before — something different. The kind that happens when information lands and everybody feels it in a slightly different place.
Wade
He doesn't say anything for a long moment. He sets the beer bottle down, very carefully.You tucked her in. And went home. That's not a thing I have filed anywhere.
Cody
Edging her. For an hour. And then — And then you left. You just left. That's the part I can't get past. You built the whole thing and then you walked out the door with — nothing. And called it amazing. Man. I respect it. I do not understand it. But I respect it.
Tanya
She had a bad day. And your read of the situation was that what she needed wasn't — the mutual thing. It was just hers. You made that call in the room and acted on it. That's not a technique. That's paying attention.
Kayla
An hour. And you — okay. I need a second. The edging specifically. That's — you knew exactly when to — Okay. I'm just going to sit here and acknowledge that I've been very well behaved all evening and this is testing the limits of that.
Brynn
He didn't tell you the part where I told him to go home three times. He kept saying in a minute. He wasn't wrong to stay.
Wade
She told you to go home and you said in a minute. Three times. Because you were — Okay. The tucking in, I can almost get my head around. The 'in a minute' thing is actually the part that's getting me. That's a whole different kind of patience. I don't have that kind of patience. I'm telling you right now I don't.
Brynn
For the record. It was a very bad day. And it was — I slept for eleven hours. I don't think I've done that since I was seventeen. That's all I'm going to add to this.
Cody
Eleven hours. Okay. I'm not saying anything else. I'm done saying things. I'm just — sitting here with eleven hours.
Wade
He lets the silence hold for one more beat, then shifts in his chair.Okay. I'll give you that. All of it. The hour, the tucking in, the eleven hours — I'll give you every bit of it.He picks the beer back up.But here's what I keep coming back to. When Tanya wants to feel — not comfortable, not cared for, not appreciated — when she wants to feel like she's with a man. My size. My hands. The weight of me. That's not something you get from patience. That's something you feel. And she feels it. And that matters. Don't tell me that doesn't matter.
Cody
Right. Like — what you did for Brynn, I'm not taking that away from you. That's real. That's a real thing you did. But Kayla's told me — not in those words but I know — she likes knowing I could pick her up. That I'm not — careful. There's something that happens when a woman knows the guy she's with is just — bigger and stronger and not holding back. That's not a design flaw either. That's the whole architecture of the thing.
Brynn
You both just described taking over and not asking like those are the same thing. They're not the same thing. The not-asking part is the part that gets complicated.
Wade
Fair. I hear that. But there's a difference between not asking and reading the room. I'm not talking about ignoring what she wants. I'm talking about knowing what she wants before she says it and just — going there. Tanya doesn't want a committee meeting. She wants me to already know.
Tanya
Sometimes. Not always. And the times it's not — you don't always notice the difference. That's the honest answer to that.
Reggie
Everyone, I've really enjoyed this but it is almost midnight and I need to get some sleep. I can walk home alone if you want to stay, Brynn.
Wade
He looks at the clock on the wall, then back at the room, and nods once.Yeah. It's that time.He stands, unhurried, and picks up the empty bottles from the coffee table out of habit.Good call, man.
Kayla
Walk safe. Both of you. And Reggie — Cody's place. Next Saturday. Seven. Don't make me send a calendar invite because I will absolutely do that.
Brynn
I'm walking with you. Don't offer to go alone, it's midnight. Thank you for tonight. All of it.
Cody
Same time. Don't overthink it. And I'm keeping the floor for next week. I have questions about Champeta that didn't get answered tonight.
Reggie
If Brynn still needs a plus one, I'll be happy to join here. Good night.
Cody
He points, grinning.You cannot keep calling yourself the plus one. That ship has sailed. We all watched it sail. It's out to sea.
Brynn
She catches his eye for just a moment.Come on. I'll let you have the last word on that one tonight.