Yui with Lucy.

I quickly open the door and am greeted by the sight of Yui talking to Lucy, my next-door neighbour and Barry’s wife.

“Please come and have dinner with us,” Yui is saying as I arrive on the scene.

“Oh, I couldn’t intrude,” Lucy counters.

“No, I insist,” Yui continues, holding up a plastic shopping bag filled with numerous takeaway containers, “it’s the least we can do after saving us the other night.”

“Well if it will make you happy. It does sound a lot nicer than a cheese sandwich,” Lucy agrees at last.

“Hi Lucy, come on in,” I say holding the door open for the pair and stepping aside to let them in. Lucy passes and I stop to give Yui a kiss on the lips as she too makes her way inside.

Our little dinner party convenes at the circular glass dinner table I have in my apartment as I fetch out a number of plates and dining utensils.

“I wasn’t sure what you like and I wanted to make sure you had something nice to eat for the next few days,” Yui explains the abundance of dishes she’s bought. Opening up the containers are a selection of Thai salads, stir-fries and a green curry.

“Barry rang and said you were borrowing the boat so I thought I’d drop the keys round to you when I ran into this one,” Lucy explains her presence at my front door also.

“Thank you, the pair of you,” I tell them both as we sit down to eat.

“So, you two are going on a little cruise?” Lucy asks making conversation.

“I’m actually going with another friend of mine Piya,” I begin to explain.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought Barry had mentioned you taking your girlfriend. I mustn’t have understood.” Lucy apologies thinking she’s said the wrong thing in front of Yui.

“He is,” Yui says for me, “Piya is his girlfriend also, just the same as I am.”

“There’s two of you? And you know about all this?”

“Oh yes. Piya is my best friend. We’ve known each other ever since we were little.”

Encountering the exact same blank look as I had seen on Barry earlier today when I had tried to explain the situation to him I try and steer the conversation away to a much safer territory.

“How did you and Barry meet?” I ask Lucy.

“Oh, we were partners together in the police ****.”

“You were a police officer?” Yui exclaims at my diminutive neighbour. I have to admit I’m struggling to picture it as well. Lucy is just a few inches over five foot and looks about as intimidating as a 50-year-old housewife would be.

“Oh yes. I was a real ball buster back then before I had our kids.”

“How many children do you and Barry have?” Yui asks, always interested to hear about anyone’s life.

“We have the two. A boy and a girl. Our son is in the police also but he’s over in Canberra with the Federal police. Our daughter is a journalist, a crime reporter so I guess you could say it runs in the family.”

“Aww, one of my friends just had a baby. A little boy, he’s adorable,” Yui says mentioning Aor baby.

“As was our Caleb,” Lucy concurs, happy to gush over her child.

Dinner is more than any of us could hope to finish. Each of the dishes Yui pick equally delicious if a little spicy for Lucy. Lucy offers to do the dishes but I refuse, happy to play the host and take care of them myself. Lucy heads back to her own apartment after further interrogating Yui about the details of our arrangement while I do the washing up. Finished I join Yui on the couch and cuddle up with her as she gets heavily involved in the latest episode of The Bachelor. It’s an individual dates episode and Yui picks out various things I should do with Piya on our date as it goes along.

With the rose ceremony completed, Yui is more than happy that her favourite girls made it through with roses and turns back into me as we lay out on the couch.

“I hope Piya and I get roses after the pool party,” she begins.

“Of course, you do,” I say hugging her close to me, our bodies entwining.

“Good, now are you going to make love to me before I go or not?”