The following morning Jeff is awakened by the sound and smell of bacon sizzling in the frying pan. For his entire life, Jeff has prided himself on his ability to sleep on the horns of a yak. He's slept through thunderstorms and seismic tremors. But bacon? Bacon is a force too powerful for even Jeff.

To Jeff's delight, he finds Niko alone in the kitchen cooking enough food for either a small army or large religious cult. This is the first time he's seen Niko after Niko's mysterious disappearance at Beth's parents' party. When things get weird Niko tends to clam up, so extracting any information as to what happened would require a deft touch.

"What the hell happened to you last night?" he asks.

Okay, what it lacked in subtlety, it made up for in directness.

"Just had to get out of there," Niko says, tending to his scrambled eggs.

"Did something happen with Beth?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

The thought occurs to Jeff that it doesn't seem that long ago when Jeff was fleeing an uncomfortable situation at his high school reunion and Niko was the first one to try to get him to talk about it. Now Niko is in full flight from whatever happened at that party and, at the risk of enraging Niko even further, Jeff needs to be there for him.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I can help," Jeff offers in a calm, soothing voice.

Niko drops his spatula and spins on his heel. "Oh really! Okay then, 'Sage-of-the-mountain', tell me what I should do about Beth's husband asking me to have sex with his wife?"

Jeff just stares at Niko, mouth agape. He thought he had heard it all when it came to girl-trouble but that is one he was not expecting. "Wait, Beth is into the orgy scene?"

"We prefer to call it The Lifestyle," Beth's voice drifts in through the screen door. Neither Jeff nor Niko had noticed her arrival about a minute earlier.

"And it's not an orgy scene...well at least not most times."

Flailing his arms, Jeff tries to dig himself out of it. "No, no, of course. I didn't mean to suggest th-"

"It's okay, Jeff. It's weird for most people at first. It takes some--hey, is that freshly cooked bacon?" Walking in, Beth grabs a piece right out of the pan. "Mmmmmm. Niko, you always made the best hangover breakfast."

"Did you come over just to steal my breakfast?" Niko asks.

"Not just that. You seemed pretty freaked out so I thought I'd come by and see if you wanted to go for a sail around the harbour. It would give us a little privacy so I could explain about last night."

Niko considers it for a few moments. "Okay."

"Great, now let's go prep the vessel," she says with a wink. "And I mean actually prepping the sailboat so don't get any ideas, Perv."

"You're taking cottagers three at a time and I'm the Perv?" Niko mutters to himself.

***********************************************************************

No matter how stressed they got, or how many troubles seemed to be weighing on their shoulders, for Niko and Beth, a day on the water made it all melt away. If the weirdness of the previous night was the ultimate test of the magical soothing powers of the water, the first 15 minutes of this adventure has left no room for doubt – Niko was back in his happy place.

Despite the awkward conversation and the fact that Beth is now a married woman, being in the boat with her one more time makes him feel 23 again. He forgot how much he missed that feeling.

But is it any different than it was before? There always seems to be something standing in the way.

Beth must have been reading his mind at that exact moment. "It's never simple for us, is it?"

"So how long?" Niko asks, impatient to get into the conversation that can no longer be avoided. "How long have you been in "the lifestyle?"

"About five years. He's been wanting to get into it for the last 10 or 12 but I resisted."

"So why did you finally give in?"

"Two reasons. Our marriage had been struggling and we were drifting further and further apart with each passing month. I didn't know if we were going to make it. Odd as it sounds, I honestly thought it might be something that could bring us back together."

"I'm sure saving his marriage was his big motivation too," Niko says with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"No, he just wants to have sex with a lot of strangers. He is what we call 'spicy'; I am more vanilla."

"You don't want to be a part of it?"

Beth smiles as she ponders the answer to that question. "Maybe I should say, I'm vanilla with sprinkles."

"So what was the other reason you agreed to it?"

"I found you on Facebook." This is the second time in less than 24 hours that Beth has rocked Niko with one simple sentence.  She lets it hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "Everybody has a different way to practice "the lifestyle." Some couples like to go to clubs, meet another fun couple, drink, dance, then go upstairs and swap. Others prefer house parties with a trusted group of like-minded adults and have fun that way. Matt just wants to fuck as many different women as he possibly can."

"And you?"

"I don't want to sleep with a bunch of men outside my marriage. I want to sleep with one man outside my marriage."

"If it's not me, this is a serious dick move on your part," Niko says.

"Of course, it's you, you massive tool! The only reason I agreed to let him explore the lifestyle the way he wants is so one day I could get a chance to explore it the way I want to."

Niko doesn't say anything right away. This is a lot for him to take in and process.

"Matt has the kids tomorrow night, let's sneak away for that overnight trip to Kennedy Island."

Niko's head turns swiftly. That has struck a nerve. "Kennedy Island? You really want to bring that up?"

*********************************************************************

July 2004

When they parted ways at the end of the summer of 2000, Niko was genuine when he said they would pick up where they left off. That following summer he could hardly wait for Beth to come back to Honey Harbour and tell him all about her first year at university. But as one of the star athletes in the swim program, she was selected to run one of the elite swim camps for high school kids throughout the summer.

Beth never made it back at all that summer or in any of the subsequent summers during her time as a Wisconsin Badger. Niko had given up on seeing her again entirely until one day in the summer of 2004, when he saw a familiar face getting ice cream down by the waterfront.

"Do you go to university around here?" Niko asked before she could see him. Beth was startled but her eyes grew wide and she couldn't fight back a smile.

"I just graduated actually," she said.

"From university? You graduated from University?"

"Yes, I graduated from University."

"I had to clarify that. You may find this hard to believe but some young women can be quite sneaky."

Beth had decided to spend the summer at her parents' cottage and it didn't take long for Niko and Beth to fall back into blissful familiar patterns. If there were ever a concern that it wouldn't be as good as that magical first summer together, that notion was quickly dismissed.

In fact, Niko felt like it was even better now. For one thing, he was now 27 and she was 22. He had five years of teaching under his belt and dating the Superintendent's 22-year-old college graduate daughter seemed far less scandalous.

One weekend they decided to camp overnight on Kennedy Island. Their last visit there was less than joyous and they wanted to create more beautiful memories in their favorite secret getaway spot.

The evening they were supposed to leave, Niko was on the Pier loading up the boat and waiting for Beth to arrive. He waited...and waited...and...waited. This was still two years before Beth got her first cell phone so he had no way to reach her.

She never showed.

******************************************************************

Present Day on the Boat

"The next time I saw you, you were engaged to Matt," Niko says.

"I explained what happened!" Beth insists.

"I don't think you did."

"Because you wouldn't let me. But we can sit here and rehash that all again or we can enjoy ourselves and finally take that trip."

"Your husband is really okay with this?"

"It's the cost of doing business for him to get what he wants. And he gets off on it. Part of the deal is I have to give him a full account, blow-by-blow...so to speak."

Niko thinks about it for a while. But if there were any true doubt, it evaporated the second he looks deep into her eyes.

"Okay."

"Great. There's just one thing you have to do first," she says.

********************************

The Niko-Beth afternoon boat cruise was sure to be the talk of the cottage upon his return. One person who is completely out of the loop however, is Louie, who is totally oblivious to the day's drama.

About an hour before Jeff woke up and Beth arrived at Niko's cottage, Louie set out on an amorous adventure of his own. Ever since he overheard the conversation referencing Mermaid Island, Louie has been obsessed with going there.

Today he woke up feeling like a kid on Christmas morning. Assuming that kid is a balding, middle-aged man with chronic back pain, hoping to have group sex with a yet-to-be-proven, semi-mythical band of lake nymphs.

Regardless, he couldn't wait to head out on Niko's speedboat and be the one to find the Honey Harbour Honeys. Louie himself would be the first to admit he could be, if not gullible, highly impressionable. When Louie was a kid, he was certain he found Gremlins in his basement, only to discover he had been playing in a rat's nest. And years later, before the scam became cliché, Louie truly believed he had just bought in to a Nigerian Prince's frozen fortune.

But this time, it's different. He can feel it. He knows it to be true. There are Honey Harbour Honeys and he's going to find them on Mermaid Island.

Louie's early attempts prove unsuccessful, but he chalks that up to failings in his approach. It turns out the high school bible camp tour doesn't react well to the question "Hey, does anyone know where I can find the whores?"

He got a better response when he asked locals if he could find "entertainment" on the island. Better doesn't mean any actual information, just fewer people attempting to perform an exorcism on him.

Little did Louie know that like parable of the good farmer who carefully planted seeds, his queries were about to bear fruit.

"Are you the guy looking for local entertainment?" a female voice asks.

The question instantly brought life to a previously sullen Louie who has been holding his head in his hands on a park bench. "Yes! Yes, I am."

"Would I be correct in assuming you are a gentleman interested in some group entertainment?"

"Yes."

"You'll have to speak to our leader but I think you've found what you are looking for."

Louie is thrilled beyond belief. He isn't sure if it is because he was about to be proven right when everyone told him he was being foolish, or because he finally gets to utter his next sentence.

"Take me to your leader."

Louie follows the woman on a ten-minute walk inland. Eventually they come to a residence where Louie is escorted inside, so to speak. When he looks up, his eyes grow wide.

"No fucking way!"

*****************************************************

Niko finds it slightly amusing that Matt wanted to meet on the same pub patio where Niko first met Beth almost twenty years earlier. He finds it downright eerie when he found Matt sitting at the same table. Of course, he would soon find out that 'weird' would be the operative word for what was about to happen.

The two men shake hands and sit across from each other. They order a round of beers and wait for the server to leave.

"I'll bet you thought I was messing with you," Matt says with a sly grin.

"I hadn't ruled out a hidden camera practical joke show."

"This is no joke, I assure you," Matt says. "I understand Beth has told you about our marital arrangement."

"Yes, I heard all about 'the lifestyle'. But there's one thing I don't get."

"What's that?"

"If it's a longstanding arrangement, what am I doing here? Surely I don't need to ask your permission."

"Not ask permission. To provide an assurance. The lifestyle works because it's about physical intimacy, not emotional intimacy. When the night is over, everyone goes back to their own spouse in their own house. No happy homes are disrupted. But you and Beth have a past. And I get that she's more comfortable exploring this with someone she trusts.  But I need to trust that you have no ulterior motives here."

For someone who loves irony as much as he does, the sweetness of this moment is about to send Niko into a diabetic coma. This is the bizarro world version of a conversation he's had a million times before. Normally he has to give assurances that he's not trying to sleep with someone's wife. Of course, most of the time, he's lying.

If you did an actuary table for Niko's most likely cause of death given his pattern of behavior, despite the long and steady history of heart disease in the Stassinopoulos family, it would still lag miles behind the number one likelihood – shot by a jealous husband.

So just as Louie got to say one of his all-time favorite sentences, Niko was about to utter one of his.

"I assure you, on my honor, I just want to fuck your wife."

Matt smiles. "Glad to hear it."

Niko starts to get up but Matt puts his hand on Niko's arm. "Just one more thing, and I hate to do this but it is a deal-breaker."

Please don't want to watch. Please don't want to watch. Please don't want to watch. Niko kept repeating it in his head. He was terrified to ask. "And what is that?"

"Tell me about your friend Ashley."

************************************************************

"Boys, I'm throwing a party!" Louie is so excited, he doesn't really notice that Jeff, Ashley, and Niko seemed preoccupied and don't really react to his announcement. "Tomorrow night the Honey Harbour Honeys will be showing up here."

This is enough to somewhat grab their attention.

"What?" Jeff asks.

"I can't say who I talked to or why I know as I was sworn to secrecy but...don't be surprised when I am bathed in honey all night long."

The three reacted with understandable disgust. The image was distasteful by any objective standard. Ashley suddenly stands and heads for the door. "I have to go for a walk."

"Geez, what's with Miss Priss all of a sudden?" Louie asks.

If he were significantly less self-absorbed and better equipped to read the room, Louie would have suspected that he had arrived back at the cottage at an inopportune time.

Just twenty minutes earlier Niko briefed Jeff and Ashley on his meeting with Matt and how Ashley's participation is conditional to it all happening.

Ashley was trying to sort out how she felt about being thrown into the mix. On the one hand she was flattered to be the object of affection of such a handsome man. And while she wanted to be able to help Niko and Beth rekindle their spark, the quid pro quo aspect made her feel a bit like a prostitute. And not the 'never-kiss-on-the-mouth elegant Pretty Woman' kind. More like the 'truck stop $15 BJ' kind.

Matt suspected she might feel that way, and told Niko to stress that he only wants a date - as in, the pleasure of her company, with no demand or expectation of sex. This of course begs the question which is the more mythical character – The Honey Harbour Honey or the chaste swinger?

****************************************************************

Whether or not he knew why, Jeff found himself running out the door after Ashley. It could have been as simple as making sure a friend was okay or there may have been something more to it. His first question may have been more revealing than he expected.

"You're not going to go through with it, are you?" He said, half out of breath after jogging to catch up.

Ashley just looks at Jeff before responding to his seemingly abrupt question. She looks at him like they were head to head at the final table of the World Series of Poker. She is looking for a tell before she plays her hand.

"You don't think I should help out Niko?"

It was a trick question and Jeff could sense the trap. Of course one should help out a friend, but not if it means...not if it just doesn't feel right. "It's not that."

Ashley takes a few steps towards him. "Well then what is it, Jeff? What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know."

"Don't think about it. Tell me what your gut says. Deep down, can you come up with a reason why I shouldn't go on a date with Matt?"

Jeff is speechless.

"It just doesn't feel right in my gut."

That wasn't exactly the answer she was looking for but it wasn't the wrong answer either. It was a definite maybe which doesn't make anything clearer for her.

"But I'm torn because I hated the way Niko and Beth ended it." Jeff adds.

"How did they end it?"

*************************************************************

August 2004

A week had passed since Beth left Niko standing on the pier when they were supposed to get away to Kennedy Island. Niko was now coming in from an evening boat cruise around the harbour and when he pulled up to the dock, he found Beth standing there waiting for him.

Two things were immediately noticeable upon first glance: first, she looked contrite. You could tell she was unsure how he would receive her.

The other was the sparkle of the diamond ring catching the reflection of the setting sun. She didn't even have to utter a word and Niko had all he needed to know about what happened. He didn't need the gory details.

He killed the engine, tied up the boat and stepped onto the dock. "So it looks like congratulations are in order," he offered with mock enthusiasm. 

"I guess so."

"You know you could have told me."

"I didn't know."

"You didn't know you got engaged to be married?"

"I didn't know this was happening at all. Matt planned it all with my parents. He had the whole thing set up for the night we were supposed to go to the island. I didn't even know he was coming up. He said he wanted it to be a surprise."

"Surprise!"

"I wanted to tell you right away. I needed you to know I would never knowingly leave you hanging like this. But I also wanted to give you time to cool off."

He looks at her for a few moments. "So that's it then?"

"That's it," she says matter-of-factly.

"Well Mazel Tov then. I wish you both the very best."

Niko walks off and casts one last glance over his shoulder where he sees Beth shaking her head, laughing. She had always said she finds it funny when Niko gets in one of his huffs.

This one she must have found hilarious.

**************************************************

Present Day

"That was the last time he saw her before this weekend," Jeff says.

"That does explain why he was so pissed at me when I invited us all to her place that night," Ashley says, as they both sit on lawn chairs looking out over the water. "It's like they could just never the get the timing right."

"Yeah, timing's everything it seems."

"Still, it's amazing how those feelings stay strong all those years later," Ashley says.

"I like to think when it's right, those feelings will always be there, no matter how much time has gone by. Don't you?" Jeff says.

Ashley is speechless. Was Jeff trying to say something?  She replies with a simple "I do."

Then a thought strikes her, and a smile creeps across her face.

"Do you think it would still count for Niko and Beth if I agreed to a lunch date? He might think there is more but it would be just lunch. What do you think of that idea?"

Jeff smiles. "I think that would work...for everyone."

***************************************************************

The following night while Louie is taking care of the final touches for his big party, Niko is getting the boat ready for the trip to the island when he sees Beth making her way towards the boat.

"Scale of one to ten, how shocked are you to see that I showed up," she says.

"One," he says without a moment's hesitation.

"One? You didn't have any doubt at all?"

"You're already married. He can't propose again." She laughs. "Come on, let's grab the rest of the supplies from the place before Louie infests it with his Louieness."

Niko's arm is around Beth's waist as they walk up to the cottage. To the casual observer, their past is all water under the bridge. But as they near the cottage, Niko looks up and sees something that gives him a reaction not unlike Jeff's reaction upon first laying eyes on Beth.

"Oh shit!"

"What?" Beth asks.

There, on the front deck talking and laughing with Louie is Jeff's ex, Ellen.

"Beth, I can't go to the Island."