Finding more girl butt for Bernie.

Gary pressed harder, crushing the takeout food bag down into the full trash can until it fit. He wiped his hands on the side of his shorts and headed back to the car.

Gary's own car had given up the ghost a couple months ago, and he and Bernie had gone in together on a replacement. Peter had joked about it. "That's a bigger deal than going steady or moving in together, Gary. You own Serious Property together."

If Serious Property was a ten-year-old silver Honda Civic sedan, that is. They had bought it off Bernie's friend Alison, who had just traded up to a Subaru.

Bernie was sitting behind the wheel, staring out across the edge of the turnout to the ocean, where the horizon was fading from pink toward purple. Gary slid in and buckled his seatbelt. Bernie kept looking out into the distance. There was something in her expression he'd seen before.

Gary closed his eyes and gave her some room. It felt good just to be with her. He didn't need to say anything, to have her say anything. Just to be together.

Bernie let out a sigh, sounding halfway between wistful and impatient.

Gary opened his eyes and looked around. Bernie was still looking out at the horizon. Her lips were pressed together and she was frowning just a little, her dark, thick eyebrows lowered under her wild tangle of dark hair.

Gary said, "Thinking of your old girlfriend? Habiba?" he asked.

Bernie snorted, then chuckled. She looked round at Gary. "Sort of," she said. "I was just thinking about what she and I would have done after coming home from watching a beautiful sunset."

Gary nodded.

Bernie shook her head. "You'd think I'd be missing all the sweetness of being together with her. I do, a little. But after she came back from being sick, seeing her hook up with Raquel, well..." Bernie sighed. "I guess she was easily swayed." She tilted her head up and stared at the ceiling. "So what I'm missing? I'm missing how ridiculously cute she was, squeaking and wiggling when I licked her butthole. And that's what we would have been doing."

Gary laughed out loud, and Bernie laughed along.

"Well, yeah," Gary said. "After that party, when you said how much you missed it. We were going to make sure we found some for you." He took a breath. "Guess we better get on that. Where do we start?"