I was actually glad it was Beth sitting next to me instead of Claire. It was funny, I didn’t seem to miss Claire like I normally did when I was with Beth. Of course, I hadn’t really spent too much time with Beth. During the play she whispered comments or funny remarks in my ear. Claire would never do that. Claire had a lot of great qualities. Her ability to enjoy a play was not one of them.
“I loved that,” Beth said when the play was over. “I’m so glad you invited me.”
“I’m so glad Annie insisted that I did.”
She laughed. “She’s a great kid.”
“I like her.” I folded my program in half and stuffed it into my back pocket as I stood up. “Would you like to go get some late lunch?” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, turned the ringer back on, and glanced at the time. “It’s…wow, it’s almost two o’clock already. Time flies when you’re having fun. And, Beth, I did have fun. Thank you.”
We shuffled down the narrow section between the seats to the aisle. “Won’t Claire be expecting you back soon?”
I didn’t have to pick Annie up until five, and Andrew got a ride from the Hendersons who lived next door and had a son in lacrosse as well. Claire would be fine without me for another couple of hours. “I have some time before I have to get home. But I don’t want to keep you if you have other plans.” I would have been disappointed if she said she did.
“Nope. Maddie is finally free and not shadowing me. I have to come up with a better punishment. That one is harder on me than it is on her.”
“What’s shadowing?” We worked our way through the thongs of people leaving the theater and headed in the direction of my car parked in the garage across the street.
“She got suspended from school last week for fighting.”
“Ugh.”
“Exactly. I wasn’t going to let her make a vacation out of it, so I made her shadow me. When I went to work, she came with me and I gave her jobs to do. When I went to the store, she had to come with me. Everywhere I went she was my shadow.”
“Oh yeah. I can see why that would be hard on you. How did she feel about it?”
“She hated it of course, but it wouldn’t have been a punishment if she hadn’t.”
I found my car right away on the second level of the garage and pushed the button on the key fob to unlock the doors. It was always my job to keep track of where we parked whenever we went someplace because for some reason Claire had a hard time with that. But I didn’t mind.
“Where is she today, now that she has her freedom back?”
“Believe it or not she opted to help my mom with gardening.”
“Where would you like to go? Late lunch? Early drink? Middle of the day cup of coffee?”
Beth laughed. I liked the sound of it. “So many choices,” she said. “Hmm.” She tapped her finger against her lips that held a hint of red lipstick. “How about coffee? No. A drink. Are you hungry? We could do lunch.”
“That’s what I like. A woman that knows what she wants.” I smiled wide at her, hoping she would get the joke.
She did of course. She slapped my arm playfully. “Hey.”
“Hay is for horses.”
“What are you, twelve?”
I shook my head. “A casualty of having a nine-year-old daughter. I need to stop quoting her.” I backed out of the parking spot and pointed my car in the direction of the exit.
“I think it’s adorable.” I warmed to her bright smile. “If I quoted my daughter more often I would have to add a whole lot more swear words to my vocabulary.”
“No shit?”
“No shit.”
I tried to suppress a giggle, but it bubbled out anyway. It was refreshing having someone to talk to and especially someone who got my humor and played along. We chatted nonstop until I pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant that Beth suggested.
“Tell me more about you,” Beth said once we were seated and had placed our orders. “How did you and Claire meet?”
I knew sometimes Claire didn’t make a good first impression. She was the type of person you had to get to know before you warmed up to her. I wanted Beth to like her. It was important to me that my friends and partner got along.
“It was classic really. I saw her across a crowded room. It was love at first sight.” I paused for effect. “The room was the emergency room. The crowd was made up of people waiting to be seen by a doctor. And the love at first sight statement I made up. It actually took about twenty sights before I fell for her. I really made her work for it.”
Beth laughed. “Why were you in the emergency room?”
“Annie was spiking a fever. Claire was actually ahead of us in line to be seen but insisted we go first. She had sprained her wrist wrestling a bear trying to save a puppy.” I smiled waiting for Beth’s reaction.
“A bear?” She laughed again. “You’re one hell of a storyteller.”
“That’s the story Claire likes to tell. That’s what she told me and Annie that day. She had Annie in stitches, giggling her head off, as Claire described the bear in great detail. The truth is far less interesting. She tripped over a rock. I was so grateful she let us go ahead of her that I gave her my business card and told her if there was any way I could repay her to let me know. She called me the next day and asked me out.”
“Wow. That’s quite a story. So how did you make her work for it?”
“For quite a while, I told her I just wanted to be friends. She pulled out all the stops, flowers, romantic dinners, gifts. I think she fell for me before I fell for her. But when I did, I fell hard.” Claire had been extremely sweet and attentive our first few years together. The business of our everyday lives had taken some of that away. But I knew deep down that sweetness was still there. It surfaced from time to time, and I was sure it would come back around in full force when life calmed down for the both of us. It the meantime it was nice to have a friend to do things with.