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Beth quickly shouted into the phone. “Don’t die. I won’t make it there in time to do CPR.”
Beth lived about twenty minutes away with her husband, Guy, and their two kids, Mason and Casey. I was a regular fixture at their house, especially since the arrival of her kids. Beth and I had been attached at the hip since I moved to San Francisco after school. She’d been the unit next door to me, new to the city, and the yin to my yang.
One husband—hers—and two halflings—also hers—later, and we were still as tight as ever, bound together by our inability to keep our opinions to ourselves and the capacity to drink cheap red wine by the bottle without consequence.
I loved her. Even her husband wasn’t so bad. He was a dentist, and I’d spent more than a few nights perched on the porch of their place, drinking and cussing the night away.
I didn’t make friends easily. But I kept them for life. Beth got that.
“I’m good,” I said, my throat finally clear. I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling the heat under my skin. “Damn.”
Beth remained uninterested in my near-death vegetable situation. “How are you doing with the incoming date situation?”
“What do you mean?”
There was a long silence. “Wax appointment? Hair appointment? Lingerie? How far are we going here? Because the picture you sent me…yeah, that man is a whole meal.”
I laughed again. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“I have not. You said things were a little fast and furious last time. And now you are planning dinner at a fancy place, followed by planned sex. That is a very different thing.”
I swallowed hard. “I have lingerie.” For whatever reason, I suddenly felt defensive of my comfortable cotton undies.
“Anything new?”
“Why does it have to be new?”
“I feel like they are a man-by-man accessory. Like, you don’t want Robbie’s thong on while you are all up on Brady?”
My brain stuttered. “Who’s Robbie?”
A groan over the phone. “Cici, focus here. Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Yes, I do.” I tapped my fork against the edge of the plate. “I guess I could go shopping tomorrow.” I put the phone on speaker and began to flip through my calendar app looking at my schedule.
Beth’s voice filled the apartment. “Do it. Do you need me to come with you?”
“Are you bringing the kids?” I smothered my chuckle.
“I guess that’s a little weird.”
“Only a little.”
“But I would do it for you.”
“Not necessary.” I dropped her back out of speaker and raised the phone to my ear, cupping it against me as I snuggled into the couch. “I’m quite capable of picking something out on my own.”
“Send me pictures.”
“No, you creep.”
She sighed. “Whatever. I’m not into you. I’m just a better judge of your boobs than you are.”
“I’ve got to go, you creeper.”
“Red, Cici. Always go for the red.”
Laughing, I punched End and settled into the sofa, my heart light and my stomach thankfully quiet. Wednesday was going to be perfect.
