It was late. Shirley was tired and wanted to go right to sleep. I was hoping she would go home, but she opted to stay over and I didn’t want to seem weird. So she stayed. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to stay. It was just that...well, I wanted to make a phone call to Betsy. I wanted to know what the hell was going on with her! She couldn’t have enjoyed sex with Mike, so what the hell was she doing? My paranoid mind thought that maybe it had something to do with me. In fact, perhaps that’s what I was hoping for.

Shirley has soft teeth and therefore has to brush, pick, and floss for twenty minutes.

So when she closed the bathroom door, I sat on the far side of my bed and dragged the phone next to me. Miraculously, Betsy’s number came to my fingers correctly and I pushed the buttons. “Hello,” said Betsy, lively and demur.

“Betsy, it’s Fran.”

We listened to each other for a moment, then she said, “I was hoping you’d call.”

“You’ve been hoping anybody would call.”

“That’s not true.”

I waited a quick moment, “So did you leave me and go for Mike?”

“It wasn’t quite like that Fran. I’ve been looking for someone, the right someone that is, for a long time.”

“So where did you two meet?”

“The personals.”

I thought I’d laugh, but I couldn’t. It was actually quite touching.

She continued, “I just was tired of the club scene. I thought I’d meet someone really nice.”

“Who could take care of you?” That came out wrong.

“Maybe,” Betsy said, “There’s something wrong with that?”

“No,” I said.

“I’d like to see you Fran. Will you meet me?”

“No.”

“So why’d you call?”

“Just…curious that’s all. I wanted to see if you really switched to men but you haven’t.”

“You think you know me so well and maybe you do. Perhaps somebody like me is a bore to you. I know I’m not the smartest person in the world Fran, but I know when I’m drawn to someone.”

“Oh please, if you were so drawn to me, you wouldn’t be boinkin’ Mike.”

“I like Mike but Mike isn’t any of your business. Please meet me tomorrow. I just think we should talk more about this. What’s wrong with that?”

I heard garbling behind me and I knew Shirley was asking me something. “One second please,” I said into the phone, turning to see Shirley standing in her underwear, a foaming toothbrush in her hand.

“I hope that’s not your boss Ellen. I’d have to get jealous.”

I laughed a singular syllable and said back into the phone, “Greg, I’ll call you tomorrow, it’s late, we’re going to bed.”

Betsy spit out, “With me? I wish.” Then very quickly she added, knowing I was about to hang up, “Tomorrow at the Sunset Stable, 5:30.”

“Whatever,” I said as I hung up the phone, trying to throw Shirley off, but saying to Betsy a clear maybe.

Shirley didn’t catch a thing. She slept close to me. I sleep on my stomach and woke up with her on half my back. The next morning was no different. After coffee, on her way out, she yelled from the doorway, “Don’t go changing Fran, I love you just the way you are.” I could see her from the kitchen. She quietly paused and said, “I do Fran, I love you.”

Nothing will ever be greater than having someone you love say I love you. “I love you more,” I quipped and she left.