We went to dinner or the movies, we sat in little clubs and listened to live music, we made out in the parking lot and had breakfast in a diner at three in the morning. Charlie called me five minutes after I left them, and we talked for another hour on the phone. Meredith came into the coffee shop and sent me naughty texts while she sat only a few feet away. Me and Charlie, Charlie and Meredith (though never me and Meredith)—we kissed and touched and stroked and sucked and fucked.We glutted ourselves with each other.I’d had a crush on Meredith since the first time I saw her, but Charlie…oh, he was something else. Generous, amiable and not easily ruffled, unlike his wife, who tended to go off on tangents and get worked up about things that left me and Charlie sitting back, silent and watchful, until she turned to us and broke into laughter. He was kind. Thoughtful. Polite. He had a dry but exquisitely tuned sense of humor. Two weeks isn’t a long time in terms of a relationship, but it didn’t take me long to feel like I knew Charlie.Meredith was out at one of her home parties, this time for Jangle Bangles, but had told me to go to their house after work and wait for her to get home, since she planned on being back by early evening.
