The next few days passed in a glow. I felt great in my body, I felt calm. I was chatting with Alena and Kate in our group chat, and it felt like our usual selves. Maybe a bit closer, maybe some of the jokes were a bit raunchier, but at its core nothing had changed. The day of Alena's ovulation finally came, and they asked if I could come around a bit early to talk about what happened last time and anything we'd like to change for the real deal.

When I arrived they had a basketball game going on the TV, and we made some small talk as we...