Swapping · Chapter 4

The Number Changed Something

By Reggie · November 7, 2026

The group gathered Saturday evening at Cody and Kayla's place after dinner, with Reggie arriving on foot with Brynn and a fifteen-dollar California red. Early conversation centered on Reggie's week: he had tried amateur radio using a VHF radio and a local repeater, and had begun volunteering at a soup kitchen in addition to his three evenings a week at the library. Brynn acknowledged that she had told Reggie early on not to use the word 'girlfriend,' and walked back that framing somewhat — saying she had been 'trying to be sensible about things I'm not entirely sensible about anymore.' Reggie said openly that Brynn could be dating other men without breaking any promise to him, that she might find someone who fits her life better, and that he would not be angry; Brynn replied that she was not dating anyone else, and told him he could not decide what fit her life — that those conclusions were hers. Reggie said this was the best period of his life, described himself as crazy about Brynn, and called her an excellent two-step dancer before correcting himself to 'pretty good.' Brynn said in front of the room that she was also crazy about him. The group debated whether Reggie was actually fitting in or simply becoming consistent background, and Kayla revealed that Linda at the coffee shop on the Square had described Reggie to her as the most beautiful brown man she had ever seen and said she would have gone home with him — directly contradicting Reggie's reading that Linda found him difficult to look at. Reggie declined to believe this fully. Wade then raised the conversation from the previous week about two different models of intimacy, said he and Tanya had talked about it at length, and proposed a swap: Tanya would spend a night with Reggie, and Brynn would spend a night with Wade, in order to test whether what Reggie had described was real. Cody clarified that he and Kayla had done a similar arrangement with Wade and Tanya twice before, and that the first time had been Kayla's idea. Brynn said no for her half — not as a judgment but as her own answer — and explicitly told Reggie his half remained his own question. Tanya said her answer was yes and had been before that night. Reggie looked at Brynn directly and asked how she felt; Brynn said she was jealous, that she hated how much she meant it, but that she was not forbidding it, was curious what another woman would do with what Reggie offered, and told him she would not break and would rather know he chose it than wonder. Reggie confirmed yes to Tanya. Reggie then proposed they go immediately — leave at roughly eight, return by ten for a debrief — and suggested his apartment, a five-minute walk away, as more private than Cody's guest room. Wade and Tanya agreed. Reggie offered Tanya his hand and they walked to his place. Over approximately ninety minutes, Reggie brought Tanya to three orgasms, holding her close after each; he then took her to his building's courtyard, produced a small Bluetooth speaker from his satchel, and danced with her. They returned to Cody's place after ten, and on the doorstep Tanya began to cry briefly before composing herself and going in. Outside, Tanya privately told Brynn that unlike her experience with Cody, this might be dangerous to her marriage and asked Brynn to help her protect it. Brynn agreed. Inside, Wade asked Reggie directly whether Tanya was okay; Reggie gave his word she had not been harmed. Wade believed him. When Wade pressed for specifics, Tanya said Reggie spent more time at certain things than Wade or Cody did. Wade asked Reggie directly how long he had gone down on Tanya; Reggie said about an hour, possibly longer — confirming what he had described the previous week as literal rather than figurative. Wade said the number had changed something for him that he had not expected; Brynn said the number changed something for everyone in the room. Kayla then said she wanted a turn — Saturday afternoon at five o'clock at Reggie's apartment, with everyone reconvening at Cody's at seven-thirty. Cody said okay after a moment of honest hesitation. Reggie, laughing, said he had never read a group of people as badly — comparing them first to the Amish and then to Gomorrah — and asked Brynn to speak; Brynn said she was not okay in the easy sense but was not forbidding it. Reggie confirmed Saturday at five with Kayla. Cody said he would have something on the grill at seven-thirty. Brynn said she would arrive early to help. Before the chapter ended, Tanya pulled Kayla aside privately and said she wanted to tell her one thing before Saturday.

Reggie

I walk to Cody's place with Brynn. This time I brought a California red.Good evening.

Kayla

She's at the door before they're fully through it, already reaching for the bottle with both hands.California. Okay. We're moving around.She tilts it to read the label and grins up at him.Get in here. Wade and Tanya are already — Wade! They're here!

Brynn

He almost talked himself out of it in the parking lot. For the record.

Reggie

Parking lot? We walked. And they have a driveway. And I didn't make it to Fort Worth this week and the grocery store had five bottles of wine and this one was the most expensive at $15 so I risked it. Back home soda costs $15.Laughs

Cody

He grins, reaching for the bottle to look at the label.Fifteen dollars. That's the cutoff. That's our guy's floor. Wade, you hear that?

Wade

Canadian soda at fifteen dollars a can. That's a real number?

Reggie

No, I was joking about $15 but it costs more than here. Everything does.

Cody

He lets out a short laugh.So the soda's not fifteen dollars. I was ready to feel better about Canadian life and you took it from me.

Reggie

I tried doing amateur radio this week. That was interesting. There's a big community here of amateur radio operators.

Cody

He sits up a little.Wait — ham radio? Like, with the headset and the —He makes a vague antenna gesture with his hand.That's a thing people still do?

Brynn

You found a ham radio club in Granbury. In the last week. While also working a full contract and volunteering at the library. How.

Reggie

Work is easy. I put in a full 8 hours but at the end, I still have energy. The library is three nights a week which are also my three evenings with Brynn. The soup kitchen takes one evening. I started volunteering there. And amateur radio can be done from my balcony. I don't even need to leave home. I have an easy life.

Cody

He looks at Brynn.Three nights a week. Which are also your three evenings.He says it back flat, not making it a thing, just making sure everyone heard it.

Kayla

Wait, who are you actually talking to? Like, who's on the other end of the radio at nine o'clock on a Tuesday?

Reggie

I only have a VHF radio, so I can only talk to people within a few hundred kilometres via the local repeater. And honestly, most of them are older and I have difficulty with their English so I doubt I'll last long with radio here. I was just trying to be a part of the community.

Cody

VHF, repeater — okay, you know what those words mean and I don't, but I got the gist.He leans forward, pointing.Hold on though. You're trying to join the ham radio community because you want to be a part of things. You're at the library three nights a week. You're putting in shifts at the soup kitchen. You're telling me you can't crack into Granbury and you're already more plugged in than half the people who grew up here.

Kayla

You literally have a local girlfriend. That's the most community-member thing there is. You can't say you're not a part of things.

Reggie

Brynn made clear when I first met her that we're not to use the word girlfriend. And I won't give up. I'll still check in to their nets when I'm at home. I may not understand what many of them are saying but it doesn't sound impolite.

Brynn

She opens her mouth — closes it.I said that at the library.A pause. Her voice comes out more careful than she'd like.I think I said a lot of things at the library.

Twenty months. That's still the number. I know that. I'm not — I'm not confused about the number. I just maybe said the library thing when I was trying to be sensible about things I'm not entirely sensible about anymore.

Reggie

Look, I won't make the same mistake I made a couple of weeks ago and make this sound like nothing. But we both know what it is and it's not forever. Brynn may find another guy who actually fits her life and break it off with me and I'll totally get that. She may be dating other men right now without me knowing and if she is, she's not breaking any promises to me. And I wouldn't be mad. Nobody can ask another person to be alone forever.

The room doesn't move. Wade has his beer. Tanya has her glass. Kayla is very still. The California red sits open on the coffee table. Reggie said it quietly and meant every word of it.

Brynn

She's looking at the middle distance for a moment — not at him, not at the room. When she speaks it's measured, and the measuring is visible if you're watching for it.Nobody is.A pause.Dating other men. For the record. I'm not. I'm just telling you so you have accurate information. Not because I'm making a claim on anything.

Kayla

The part that's getting me is 'she may find another guy who actually fits her life.' You said fits. Like you already know you don't. Like you decided that before she got a vote.

Brynn

I heard all of it. I know what you meant and I know why you said it and I'm not going to fight the twenty months. I know the number. But you don't get to decide what fits my life. You can tell me the terms. You can't tell me the conclusions. Those are mine.

Reggie

I will also say that, when I look at my life objectively, this is the best it has been for years. Maybe ever. I've had serious relationships in the past but my life was less stable and I was younger and more insecure. If that latter part is possible.SmilesThese days, I have a girl I'm crazy about who isn't my girlfriend but who spends a lot of time with me, who I think is gorgeous, and who is getting pretty good at dancing. I'm not sure life at 35 gets much better.

Brynn

She looks at her wine glass. Then at him.Getting pretty good. You are never going to just say good, are you.

For the record. I'm also crazy about him. I'm saying it out loud in Wade's — Cody's — living room because apparently that's what we do now. And I'm an excellent dancer. Pretty good is a negotiating position and we both know it.

Reggie

You're excellent at two-step. She taught me a few moves and then I saw us in the mirror and went back to thinking it should be illegal for brown people to two-step.

Brynn

She turns to look at him with an expression that is absolutely not going to let that stand.Two-step. I taught you two-step.A beat.You did not go back to thinking anything. You practiced for twenty minutes and complained the whole time and then did it again.

Cody

He tried two-step. In a mirror. And decided it was a hate crime against himself. That's the best thing I've heard all night.

Reggie

I just wish to note that I will never, ever, ever two-step in public. I'm not sure I'll dance at all in public here. Some things help me fit in. Dancing just showcases my foreignness, here.

Tanya

You said some things help you fit in. I want to know what you think those things are. Because from where I'm sitting, the things you think make you invisible are not the things we notice. And the things you think expose you — the wine, the word pronunciation, the banana cart story — those are the things that made this whole room lean in. You've got the list backwards.

Reggie

Lots of things help me fit in, Tanya. Volunteering at the library and soup kitchen. I don't do anything special there. I have no extraordinary skill at reshelving books or stacking chairs. Checking in to an amateur radio net will be entirely ordinary once I get a US call sign. Just going to work, coming home, buying vegetables at the grocery store, and coffee at the coffee shop all help me to fit in. People are starting to remember me, not for being extraordinary in any way but just for being there, every day.

Tanya

She listens to the whole list — library, soup kitchen, radio, groceries, coffee shop — and when he finishes she tilts her head.You just described every ordinary thing a person does when they're trying to disappear into a place. And you're right that it's working, in a practical sense. People remember you. But that's not fitting in. That's just — showing up consistently until the room adjusts around you. Fitting in is something else. And I'm not sure you actually want the thing you keep saying you want.

Wade

The coffee shop. Which one.

Because if it's the one on the Square, Linda's been telling people about the Canadian for two months. That's not ordinary. That's a story she tells. You're already somebody's regular conversation and you don't even know it.

Reggie

You're right. I could buy coffee at Linda's for twenty years and I still wouldn't fit in like any of you. But I can reach the point where nobody really notices each incident. I mean, sure there's a brown Canadian guy who is in town for a while which is strange, but the fact that he bought coffee today is not strange because he does that every day.

Brynn

She turns that over for a moment, the way she does when something is true but not quite complete.That's the goal, isn't it. Not to belong. Just to become background. I'm not sure that's the same thing as being okay.

Reggie

Wait, you guys are taking this too far. I am different. I know it, and honestly, I like it. I like that I'm in this group of people who have allowed me to come to their homes with their friend and have talked to me despite my differences, and I don't wish I was anything else here. But I don't want to be different 24/7/365. I don't want to be different at work. I don't want to be different buying broccoli or coffee. That would be exhausting.

Wade

He goes still for a second.That's the first time you've put it that way. Not 'I don't fit in.' Not 'I'm trying to disappear.'He sets the beer down.Different on your own terms, in rooms like this one. Not different at the checkout line. That's a real distinction.

Brynn

Partly because I made him. But I think that's right. Here it's — chosen. Out there it just happens to him whether he wants it to or not. Those aren't the same thing.

Kayla

So Linda describing your hair is the exhausting kind and this is the other kind. I think I finally understand the whole thing.

Reggie

Linda describing my hair is fine. I saw her looking at it like I was a zoo animal, but she wasn't unkind, even though I thought she was going to run for a second. Men here don't wear their hair like this. But I don't necessarily want to have a conversation about it every time I buy coffee. And she doesn't ask me to. She looked the first few times and now it's just normal and we chat for a second about the weather and I really enjoy that few seconds of company each day.

Tanya

The look is the tax. The weather is the payoff. And you waited her out instead of avoiding the place entirely. That's patience of a different kind than the hour-long kind you told us about last week, but it's the same instinct. You let people arrive at you on their own schedule.

Reggie

She had this horrified look the first time. It was actually quite funny. Like, I get that I'm not aligned with the male beauty standards of this place but she truly looked like she was trying to unsee me.LaughsAnd it's still pretty obvious she finds me ugly but she's nice about it.

Kayla

She puts her glass down with more force than she meant to.Okay. I have to — no. No, she did not say ugly. That is not what she said to me.She looks around the table like she needs witnesses.She said beautiful. She used that exact word. She told me she saw the most beautiful brown man she had ever seen in her life and she would have gone home with him if he had asked her to.

Brynn

Ugly. You looked at a woman who apparently wanted to take you home and decided she was trying to unsee you. That's an impressive piece of reading.

Reggie

Kayla, there is no way she said that. Or maybe she said it in a joking way, or maybe she's even revising it to make it a good story, but I was there. I know how she looked at me. And it wasn't...appreciation.Laughs

Kayla

She points at him, and there is zero give in it.I'm telling you what she said to me. Word for word. I remember it because I came home and told Cody and we talked about it for ten minutes. She was not joking. She was not revising. She looked a little wistful about it, honestly.

Tanya

You built a whole story around a woman finding you difficult to look at. And the actual story was the opposite. And you've been buying coffee from her for months, reading it completely backwards, and feeling fine about it. I want to know how many other rooms you've misread the same way.

Reggie

You guys are all crazy.LaughsI'm Linda's morning freak show moment. I know it. I'm at peace with it. I even like it a bit.

Kayla

She throws her hands up, and the laugh that comes out is somewhere between delight and desperation.The morning freak show. He has been going in there every single day thinking Linda is tolerating him like a curiosity at a petting zoo, and she has been restraining herself from asking him to leave with her, and he is sitting here calling it peace. That is not peace. That is a man who is completely wrong and very comfortable there.

Brynn

You know what I think? I think the freak show story is the one you're comfortable with. Because if Linda is horrified and politely enduring you, that's simple. That fits the plan. The wistful version is harder. The wistful version means something, and you know it, and you're in here calling it a zoo to stay out of trouble.

Wade

Yeah. So. Reggie. You and me. I want to come back to something.

The conversation we had last week. The approach. I've been thinking about it all week. You said some things that — I'm not gonna pretend they didn't land. I'm not saying you changed my mind. But they landed. And Tanya and I talked about it. A fair amount, actually.

Tanya

We did talk about it.

Cody

He is looking at a specific spot on the coffee table and is extremely interested in it.

Reggie

I thought we exhausted that topic, Wade. You have your way, I have mine. Neither of us is competing with the other. It's fine, no?

Wade

He shakes his head once, slow.Not exactly.He leans forward, elbows on his knees, the way he does when he's settling in for something.I'm not saying we were competing. I know we weren't. But you and I described two completely different models of what the thing is. And I've been sitting with that all week. And I think there's a version of this conversation where we actually — test it. Not theoretically.

Brynn

Test it how.

Wade

He doesn't rush it. He looks at Brynn first, then at Reggie, then back at Brynn — giving each of them a moment of it before he speaks.I was thinking we put the two approaches in the same room and see what happens. Tanya spends a night with Reggie. You spend a night with me. Everybody goes in with open eyes, everybody comes out with more information than they went in with. Cody and Kayla have done it with us once already. It's not — we're not talking about something we haven't thought through.

Cody

He looks up from the coffee table spot he's been studying.Twice.He says it once, flat, because the record should be right.We've done it twice. And we talked about doing it again.

Wade

Twice. Right. Point stands.

Brynn

Okay. I'm going to need a minute with what you just said before I respond to it. So give me a minute.

Reggie

I...uh...Wade, I just want to make sure I understand completely. You're asking me to sleep with your wife?

Wade

He holds Reggie's gaze, steady, the way he holds most things — like the room tilting doesn't require him to adjust his footing.That's right. And you'd spend that night with Brynn. Which — I want to be straight about this — is the part I'm just as interested in as the other part. Not instead of it. Both sides of it.

Cody

For what it's worth — it was Kayla's idea the first time. Not mine. I want that in the record.

Brynn

I'm still in my minute. Don't anybody talk to me for another few seconds.

Reggie

Ok, but surely you realize this isn't a decision for me to make. I mean, I could make one part of it but the other is entirely Brynn's to make.

Wade

He tilts his head once, acknowledging it.That's right. I'm not asking you to decide for Brynn. I'm asking where you land on your half of it.A beat, easy, no pressure in it.Your side of the table is your business. Hers is hers.

Brynn

My minute's up. I appreciate that you're framing it as two separate questions. I do. But I'm going to go ahead and answer mine now so it's not just floating there while everyone talks around it. No. Not because I think there's anything wrong with what you and Tanya do, or what Cody and Kayla do. There isn't. It's just — not where I am. That's the whole of it.

Reggie

That settles it, then. Although I'm flattered you would consider me for this...is experiment the right word?

Wade

He doesn't flinch at the no.It settles Brynn's half, yeah.He looks at Reggie, unhurried.Your half's still its own question. I'm not gonna pretend it isn't.

Tanya

He's right that they're separate. I want you to know I wasn't sitting here silent because I'm undecided. I went in with my eyes open the other two times. This would be the same.

Brynn

I said no for me. I'm not saying it for anyone else and I'm not making it a judgment. So don't let my answer be the reason you give your answer.

Wade

Whether what you described is the thing you say it is. Or whether it's a thing that sounds good when you're talking about it at midnight in somebody's living room and turns out to be something else when it's real. I believe you believe it. I want to know if I'd believe it.

Reggie

Wait...you introduced this as a swap for a night. I get Tanya and you get Brynn. That's off the table. Are you telling me you'd still let me have sex with your wife even though you're not getting the part you had hoped for? Because if that's what you're saying, I'm going to have to adjust some of my preconceived notions about Granbury people.

Wade

He doesn't look away.That's exactly what I'm saying. The swap was the proposal. Brynn's answer changes the shape of it. Doesn't change the other half. I said I wanted to know if what you described is real. That's still true whether Brynn's in it or not. Maybe more true now, actually. Because now it's not a trade. It's just — a question I'm asking Tanya to help me answer.

Tanya

I knew when we started talking about it that Brynn might not be interested. That wasn't the part I was deciding around. You told us something last week. I've been sitting with it all week too. Wade's reasons are his. Mine are mine.

Brynn

Your half of this is still your half. I meant what I said. Don't answer it looking at me.

Reggie

I look right at Tanya, in her eyes.Tanya, do you want to have sex with me?

Tanya

She holds his gaze. Doesn't look at Wade. Doesn't look at her glass. Just looks at him, and the room goes very quiet around it.Yes.A beat — small, clean, no performance in it.That's my answer and it was my answer before tonight.

Wade

Alright.

Brynn

I said don't answer it looking at me. I meant that for both of you.

Reggie

But I am looking at you, now, Brynn. I don't want to mess anything up between us. You're the best thing in my life and I don't want to lose it. How do you feel about this?

Brynn

She sets her glass down. Picks it back up. Sets it down again.Okay.Quietly, and it takes a moment before she finds the rest of it.I'm going to say the thing and then I'm going to need everyone in this room to not make it worse than it already is. I have feelings for you. Real ones. The kind I told myself in September I wasn't going to have for anyone for a very long time, and then you showed up at the library and reshelved philosophy faster than me and somehow that was enough. So yes. I'm jealous. I'm sitting here telling you I'm jealous and I hate how much I mean it, because I said no and I meant no, that part isn't changing, but I'm not going to pretend that the thought of you and Tanya doesn't do something to me that isn't comfortable.

But here's the other thing. And I need you to hear this part because it's also true. What you described last week — the hour, the tucking in — I watched Wade and Cody hear that and I watched Tanya and Kayla hear it, and we all heard something different, and I've been thinking about that all week too. What another woman would do with what you offer. How she'd react to it. Whether it lands the same way for someone who doesn't already know you. I'm curious about that. Not as permission. I'm not giving you permission, and I'm not asking you to do it. But I'm also not — I can't look you in the eye and tell you it's forbidden. Because it isn't. You haven't made me any promises and I haven't made you any and I said those things at the library and I meant them then.

Don't do it because Wade proposed it like a transaction. Don't do it to prove something. But if you decide you want to — I'm not going to break. I'm telling you that so you're not sitting here protecting me from something I can handle. I know what we are. Twenty months, I know the number. And I'd rather know you chose it than wonder. That's all I've got.

Reggie

And if I do this, will you continue seeing me after the library?

Brynn

She looks at him for a long moment.That's a terrible question.A pause. Quieter.Yes. Obviously yes. You know that. Don't use that as — don't make it a condition you're laying at my feet to decide from. That's not fair and you know it isn't.

It landed. Ask what you actually want to ask, Reggie. We both know that wasn't the real question.

Reggie

Looks at BrynnYou've made me no promises. You can break things off with me at any time.Looks at TanyaMy answer is yes. If you want to do this, I want to do this.

Tanya

She holds his gaze for a moment.Okay. We'll figure out the details separately. Not in this room, not tonight.

Wade

Good. That's settled, then.

Brynn

I meant what I said. Both parts of it. Just wanted that in the room before we all pretend everything's normal and start talking about something else.

You're still the best thing in my life. I said that first. That part doesn't move. I just wanted to say it again in the same room where I said the other things so the record's straight.

Reggie

One question. You said "spend the night". Did you mean the whole night? Or just sex? Because if you meant just sex, it's only 8 pm. We could do it now and come back and debrief with the group by 10 pm. I mean, I know it's not romantic but we could do that again another time if you wanted, and I definitely would want that. But right now, we all want the information and I see no reason not to get it.

The room goes silent in the way rooms do when someone says the thing that was only supposed to live in the abstract. Cody stops mid-reach for the wine bottle. Kayla's glass is halfway to her mouth and stays there. Tanya is very still.

Cody

He puts the bottle down.He just said now.

Wade

You said by ten o'clock. You've thought about logistics. That fast.

Tanya

You said it wasn't romantic. You also said you'd want to do it again, another time, with more room in it. So you're not — you're not proposing this as the only version. You're proposing this as the first one.

Brynn

The debrief part. You said debrief with the group by ten. You want to come back here and sit in this room with all of us afterward. Tonight.

Tanya

I said my answer already. The not-romantic part doesn't bother me the way you might think it does. I've had romantic. I've also had useful. Those are different things and both of them are fine. What room were you thinking.

Brynn

He's going to say the guest bedroom.

Kayla

This is actually happening. Like, tonight. In our house. We're actually talking about this as a real thing that is happening at eight o'clock on a Saturday.

Reggie

Wait, hold on, I don't think I can be comfortable with all of you a few feet away downstairs. My place is a five-minute walk from here. Let's go there, be alone, and return when we're done. Roughly 10 pm.

Wade

He holds very still for a second, then nods once, slow.That's actually a better call. More room in it for both of you.He looks at Tanya.

Tanya

Five minutes. Okay. Give me a second.

Brynn

Go. I mean it. And don't rush it on my account. I'll still be here at ten.

Reggie

We go. I offer her my hand and she cautiously takes it and we walk to my place holding hands, which she didn't expect. We talk about nothing but it's nice. When we get to my place, we get right into it. I go down on her for half an hour and she comes, and I hold her close to me for a while. Then I flip her over and do it again. This time her orgasm is extremely intense, which is normal for a second orgasm. Again I hold her close to me but this time she's quiet, trying to process what just happened. Then I fuck her, hard but not painfully and when I get close, I slow down and reach around and give her a third orgasm. Then I hold her close to me for a long time, 15 full minutes. About 90 minutes have passed. She can barely walk but I kiss her deeply and tell her she's mine for another 30 minutes. I take her down to the courtyard, pull a small Bluetooth speaker out of my satchel, and I dance with her for a while. She can't fast dance after what we just did but she can stand there and let me twirl her around a bit. And I do. And we laugh like kids. And then we walk slowly back to Cody's place, and on the doorstep, before we go in, I kiss her deeply one last time. But she starts to cry and I freak out. I don't want Wade to think I mistreated his wife.What's wrong? Are you ok?

Tanya

She presses the back of her hand to her cheek once, quick, and gets there. Looks at him directly.I'm okay.A breath. Then she pushes the door open and walks in.

Reggie

I walk in behind her and smile cautiously.Hey.

Wade

He's off the couch the moment the door opens, not rushing, but not pretending he was relaxed either. He reads Tanya's face first — one long look, the kind that has years of practice behind it — and then looks at Reggie.Hey.A beat. He goes to Tanya, puts his hand on her arm, quiet.You good?

Tanya

I'm good. Pour me some wine.

Brynn

Hey.

Tanya

Brynn, can I speak with you privately?Brynn nods and they step outsideWhy didn't you tell me?

Brynn

Starts to ask "tell you what?" but stopsI did tell you. He told you. You didn't believe it.

Tanya

Ok, look, when I did this with Cody it was nothing. Just fun. This might ruin my marriage if I'm not careful and I need you to help me not let it do that. Just work with me in there, ok?

Brynn

Okay. I'll do my best. Just...is sex with Wade ever going to be the same?

Tanya

Probably not, but I can't let that destroy my marriage and my life. Clear?

Brynn

Clear. Crystal.

The door opens and they're back in the room. Whatever happened on the step outside, Tanya and Brynn have closed it behind them. The California red is still on the coffee table. Wade is on the couch. Cody is leaning forward. Kayla has both hands around her glass like she's been holding it for warmth.

Cody

Okay but —He puts both hands out, can't help it.— what was the — I mean, I have eighteen questions and I don't know which one goes first.

Wade

And how long were you actually gone. Because ten o'clock came and went.

Reggie. I asked you a direct question once before and you gave me a direct answer. I'm asking another one. She okay?

Reggie

Wade, I treated her with total respect and did not harm her in any way, emotionally or physically. You have my word.

Wade

He holds Reggie's gaze for a long moment.I believe you.He says it once, quiet, and lets it sit there. Then he looks at Tanya.

Tanya

I'm fine, Wade.

Wade

No, I want the answer to Cody's question. You told me last week it was a different model. I've been thinking about that all week. So — different room now, different circumstances. Does the model hold.

Tanya

It held. I mean, it was different. It was good.

Wade

He processes that for a moment — two words, three words, whatever she gave him. He turns the beer bottle in his hand.Different how.

The thirty seconds thing. Last week. You said you heard it. Is that — was that different.

I'm asking. It's a fair question. I'm asking.

Tanya

Look, Reggie has a very different way about him and it's his own thing, and Wade, you're your own thing, and Cody is his own thing, and not everyone has to be the same.

Wade

He's quiet for a moment.That's a diplomatic answer.He says it without accusation.I've heard you give diplomatic answers before. I know what they sound like. Different. Okay.

Brynn

Maybe we don't pull that thread tonight. Some threads are fine where they are.

Tanya

Look, Reggie spends more time at some things than Wade does, or Cody, and less time at other things, and it's just...good.

Cody

Is Reggie more different from Wade than I am?

Tanya

Oh my god yes. I mean, Cody, you and Wade are...well...similar. Kayla and I have talked about that. Reggie is...totally different.

Cody

Better?

Tanya

I mean, there's good and bad everywhere. Nothing is perfect.

Cody

That means better.

Reggie

This risks becoming trashy if we go into too much detail. Right now it was a beautiful experience. Let's not sully that.

Wade

He lets Reggie's word sit there for exactly one second, then sets his beer down with a careful click.One thing. And then I'll let it go, I mean that.He looks straight at Tanya.When Reggie went down on you — how long did he actually spend doing that. Specifically.

Tanya

I didn't time it. A long time.

Wade

Don't dodge. About how long?

Tanya

I don't know. Honestly. Longer than I expected.

Wade

Reggie, how long?

Reggie

About an hour. Maybe a little longer.

The room holds it. A full minute, maybe more. Cody studies his cup. Kayla doesn't reach for her glass. Brynn looks at a fixed point on the wall. The California red sits open on the coffee table and nobody touches it.

Cody

An hour.He says it very quietly, to no one in particular.He said an hour last week and I thought he meant — I thought that was an exaggeration for effect. That was not an exaggeration for effect.

Brynn

He told you all last week. He told you exactly. Nobody thought he meant it literally.

Reggie

Brynn, are you angry with me? Or disappointed?

Brynn

She looks at him, straight.No.A pause, and she means it.I knew what I said yes to when I said it. I'm not going to punish you for taking me at my word. I told you I'd still be here. I'm still here.

Wade

He's been quiet since the number landed. He says nothing now either. Just reaches over and refills Tanya's glass without being asked.

Reggie

Wade, it takes a lot of confidence and security to ask another man to have sex with your wife. I don't think I could do that, honestly. Do you...do you get off on it? Or was it really just an experiment.

Wade

He picks up his beer, and there's a pause before he answers.Yeah. The other times — with Cody — yeah. That was part of it. Knowing Tanya was somewhere with somebody else and coming back to me. There's something in that. I won't pretend there isn't. This time I'm — I'm still working out what I feel about this time. The number changed something. I didn't expect the number to change something.

Brynn

The number changed something for everyone in this room. Not just you, Wade.

Kayla

She sets her glass down. Looks at Cody. Looks at Reggie. Looks at her hands. Then looks at Reggie again.Okay. I have to say something and I'm going to say it before I talk myself out of it.A breath.I want a turn.

Cody

Okay.

Kayla

Not tonight. Obviously not tonight. But — Saturday. During the day, before everyone gets here. I could walk over to Reggie's and — Cody, are you actually okay or are you doing the thing where you say okay and then aren't?

Cody

I'm doing the thing. Give me a second. Okay. Now I'm actually okay. I think. Ask him, not me.

Kayla

Reggie. Would you want that? Saturday afternoon. Just — you and me. And then we all debrief here that night the same way. I know it's — I know it's a lot to ask. But I've been sitting here for an hour and a half and I have wanted to ask since before Tanya said yes and I can't not ask anymore.

Cody

I told you the first time was Kayla's idea. Both times. I've never been the one who needed convincing. Yeah. I want it. I think. The number thing is sitting in my chest a little bit right now but that's going to pass and I know it's going to pass and — yeah. I want it.

Kayla

She's looking at Reggie very steadily now, waiting.

Reggie

God, I don't think I have ever read a group of people as badly as I read this group. I thought you were the Amish and instead you're Gomorrah.LaughsBrynn, say something. And if you're not okay with it, say you're not okay.

Brynn

She lets out a breath. She sets her glass down very deliberately and looks at him.The Amish. You walked in two weeks ago carrying French wine and worried about ruffling feathers. I'm not going to tell you no. I told you once already that I won't make your decisions. I'm not okay in the easy sense. But I'm also not going to sit here and pretend I don't know who you are and what you do and why Kayla's been on her second glass since Tanya came back through the door. So. I'm not forbidding it. That's the most honest answer I have.

Kayla

Thank you.She says it to Brynn, not to Reggie. Means it.

Cody

Gomorrah. Man, we invited you to a backyard party with lemonade.

Reggie

Kayla, I would enjoy that very much. 5 pm at my place, and back here to meet the whole group at about 7 or 7:30?

Kayla

She smiles and nods once.Five o'clock. I'll be there.A beat, and then quieter, just for a second.Thank you.

Cody

Seven-thirty then. I'll have something on the grill.

Brynn

Seven-thirty. Fine. I'll be there. I'll probably also be there at seven trying to help Cody not burn whatever he puts on the grill. But I'll be there.

Tanya

Kayla. Come here a minute. Let me tell you one thing before Saturday.

Kayla

Yeah. Okay.