Three Little Words

I looked at my watch and decided I had time for another call, so I dialed Sara’s number. She answered on the fifth ring, out of breath.

“Hey,” I said, “it’s Paul. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Yes. No! Hold on.” She set down the phone, and I heard muffled bumps and scrapes. “Sorry about that,” she said when she returned. “I just got home.

I have to run back out, but I can talk for a while. How’re you?”

“Good. You?”

“Busy, but that’s good. Sorry I missed you after New Year’s. I got your note. What happened?”

I told her about the problems with the flights and our unscheduled layover in San Francisco.

“But you made it home okay?”

“Yeah. Been busy since, though. Picking up schedules, paying fees, first days of class, that sort of thing.”

“I don’t miss it a bit.”

“I won’t either.”

“You still have another year, though, right?”

“Two.”

“Oh, that’s right, Architecture’s a five-year program. What’s Christy gonna do while you’re still in school? She graduates in June, doesn’t she?”

“She’s going to stay here and get an MFA.”

“I thought about doing that, but it just doesn’t make sense for photography.”

“No, especially when you can start work almost immediately. Not much demand for sculptors.”

“No, but Christy’s really good. She could get a lot of commissions out here.”

“Still trying to get into her panties?” I joked.

“Can you blame me? Besides, I still owe you.”

“Speaking of which,” I said, “I’m sorry to hear about you and Daphne.”

“Yeah, me too. Thanks. I finally worked up the courage after Christmas.

It was a lot less drama than I expected. We both knew it was coming. I’m pretty sure she was going to leave anyway, after the start of the year. So the timing was right.”

“And now you can still be friends.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if we will. I mean, it’s possible, but her life with her guy is going a completely different direction than mine. I’m getting more

into the lesbian and gay scene here, while she’s running away as fast as she can.”

“You know she was never a real lesbian, right?”

“I know.” All of a sudden she laughed.

“What?”

“This conversation. It’s so strange. Are you sure you aren’t gay?”

“Pretty sure,” I said seriously.

“Jamie’s friend Andy has a serious crush on you. You know that, don’t you?”

“Crap, I completely forgot! I need to call him.”

“You are gay,” she crowed. “Or at least curious.”

“Nah, I’m just a lot more open-minded these days. Besides, ‘judge not, lest ye be judged.’”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just teasing,” she said with more fondness than I’d ever heard from her. Then she sighed and said, “I’ve missed talking to you.

You always make me feel better.”

“The feeling’s mutual. Even if you do tease me all the time.”

“I tease you ’cause I like you. If I didn’t, I’d tell you to fuck off.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed. “So, what’s going on in your life? How’s Max?

Work? The new submissive girlfriend?”

“Tasha. Her name’s Tasha. And things’re going well. We’ve been on a couple of double dates with her husband an—”

“Hold on. Double dates?”

“Yeah, it’s… complicated. Her husband has a serious boyfriend, and they like to eat out. I’ve been his ‘date’ in case his parents run into us. The husband’s parents, that is. They’re city council types and Carnegie-rich.

They’ll cut him off if they find out he’s gay.”

“Gee, talk about loving parents,” I muttered.

“Not everyone’s as lucky as you and the little princess,” she said peevishly. Then almost immediately, “Sorry. I guess I’m still bitter about my own parents. Fucking drunks.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“Anyway, let’s get back to the happy stuff. So, Tasha. We’ve been on a couple of double dates, and things are moving along. I like her, and she likes me, but we have to be careful. So… it’s complicated. Good, but complicated.”

“Makes my life with Christy seem downright ordinary.”

“Well, you still have to tell her about your deep, dark secrets. How’s that going?”

“Fine on the nudist front. She isn’t ready to know about the swinging.”

“But you think she will be?”

“Yeah. She’s a lot… wilder than I ever imagined. Like, my kind of wild.”

“No shit?”

“No shit,” I said. “Not exactly the same, but she has some deep, dark secrets too.”

“That’s probably why she isn’t freaked out by some of yours.”

“I hope so. Now I just have to find the right time to tell her about the swinging.”

“Yeah, about that…”

“Oh?”

“So… um… Tasha likes guys occasionally.”

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she snapped.

“You. You always seem to find women who’re bi instead of pure lesbian.”

“Tell me about it!”

“So,” I ventured, “what’re you thinking?”

“Well, I asked if toys’ll do, but she says she likes the real thing. Not all the time, but every once in a while.”

“That explains why she has a husband.”

“Not really. He’s a hundred percent gay. He can’t even get it up for her.

They’ve tried. That’s where you come in.”

“Ah. You need a stand-in guy who won’t cause problems.”

“Right.”

“And lemme guess,” I laughed, “while this stand-in guy is fucking your girlfriend, you’ll be fucking his girlfriend.”