shouted Doug. “Doogie!” shouted Patty. They swept each other up into a gleeful bear hug. After more than 20 years, the first thing they did was revert back to their dumb nicknames. Tina was not impressed. So, of course, I was delighted. Truly, it was nice to see them get back together. Doug and Patty had been better friends than Doug and I had ever been. When Doug dumped me, Patty was in high school. She was just blooming into a pretty, talented, confident young woman. She didn’t take crap from anyone, certainly not Doug, and he respected that. He had told me, the one time we’d talked after our breakup, that he missed his “little sis” Patty. Patty had a gift for keeping in touch with everyone who’d ever been part of her life, so my guess was that they stayed in loose contact, especially with the advent of emails and Facebook. I never did ask her, because I didn’t want to put her on the spot or make her choose her loyalties. Still, I couldn’t help contrasting this greeting with the less than cordial one Doug and I had given each other at the start of this everlasting night. A spoiled romance nearly always ruins any hope of friendship. But I had to say, Doug had been here and back a couple times now, and each time, he’d returned in jeans and the signature tank top which he apparently still wore for showing off his muscles and chest hair. Guess he never got the memo that body hair for men had gone out of fashion, and that beer guts were best hidden in less stretchy shirts. But at least Patty hadn’t seen him in boxers and white teeshirt, clutching my bedspread and trying not to heave. Patty embraced me next. “I remember the backstory, Dannie. Guess the clock hasn’t reset yet.”
What do You think about The Devil And Danielle Webster?
