Alison drops her latest fling off with her fiancé.

"Bye Alison!" Beth said. "It was great!" She kissed Alison on the cheek and got back out onto the sidewalk where her airport luggage cart waited, loaded with cases for her trip.

"Bye Beth," Alison said. "Have fun!"

Beth waved once more, then pushed her cart along the sidewalk toward the nearest airport door. Before she disappeared inside, she was met by a tall young man in a polo shirt who caught her up in a tight embrace. Beth tilted her lips up and met his. Beth, pulled up and forward, let one foot leave the ground, and her short white sundress swished up in back.

Alison smirked. She remembered that very morning, Beth's head between her legs while Alison held her labia open for Beth's hot little tongue. Beth was whimpering as she nuzzled Alison's cunt and tongue-lashed her inner lips. And Beth had been a tasty morsel herself. Alison loved having the pale-skinned little brunette squirming, squealing, creaming under her tongue.

Beth and Mr. Polo Shirt disappeared inside, off on their "pre-honeymoon" together. They would be coming back to their wedding, and back off again with his family for a month in France. Alison reached for a ledge on the car's dashboard and touched a crumpled pack of cigarettes. She twisted the crumpled pack again and dug out a stick of gum from her pocket. Two weeks ago had been a lousy time to quit. She wasn't really over the habit, but she'd feel like a loser to fall back into it now. Alison chomped down on the gum. A man in a uniform and reflective vest waved to her to move along, and she started the car and drove off.

Alison smiled as she drove. Beth would no doubt be very popular with her tennis club in years to come. And maybe she and her husband would get a live-in lesbian. Or hadn't Beth thought to mention that to Mr. Polo? Raine had told her it was becoming almost fashionable among a certain set of wealthy people.

She missed Raine. She remembered how her face lit up when she got the letter. "Allie, this is IT!" she had said. "I made it, I'm on the tour!" Now Raine was fluffing up hotel rooms for Eva La Diva, making sure every red, pink, and gold knick-knack was in place before the First Lady of Song arrived. Sometimes Alison would get a postcard or a brief phonecall at a strange time of day or night, but Raine was mostly a little bird twittering around her mistress. At least she was happy. Alison sometimes found herself reaching out to the empty side of her bed or patting the passenger seat of her car, not knowing why, then thinking of Raine. She reached out. The seat was still a little warm from Beth.

Alison drove out to the beach and walked out barefoot on the hot sand. She dabbled her toes in the water. She thought of Raine and Beth, then turned back around and walked back to her car. She heard the tones of her mobile phone ringing inside the car.

She fumbled the door open in time and picked up her phone from the seat. The caller's number looked familiar. She snapped open the phone and guessed.

"Bernie?"