Free Beck And Call by Abby Gordon Page A

He…” she
    smiled slightly. “He wants me to feel good. He told me
    that my pleasure comes first for him. He said he would
    do everything he could to make sure I was never hurt.
    No one’s ever said that to me.”
    “Wow,” Claire whispered. “Next time you talk to
    him, definitely ask if he has brothers or cousins you can
    hook us up with.”
    “Hmph!” Debbie snorted. She glanced at Serena
    and winked at her. “Just because I’m happy for Serena
    doesn’t mean I’m ready to settle down and make
    babies.”
    “Wait a second!” Serena gasped, even as she
    understood that Debbie wanted to get Claire’s mind off
    her heartache. “Who said anything about settling down
    and making babies?”
    “Hey, you just turned thirty, remember?” came the
    tease as Debbie pulled a bottle of chardonnay out of the
    fridge. “That clock is ticking louder. Tick. Tock. Tick.
    Tock.”
    “Honestly!” groaned Serena, scraping all the carrots
    into the bowl where lettuce, celery, and scallions were
    waiting. “You’d think I had one foot in the grave!”
    “Claire, where did she put her cane?” Debbie
    grinned as she worked the corkscrew. “She seems to
    have forgotten where it is.”
    “Forgotten it? Give me a cane and I’ll whack you
    with it you, you young whippersnapper!” Serena
    laughed, trying and failing horribly to sound like an old
    woman. All three women giggled hysterically. “Oh,
    Lord, and we haven’t had any wine yet. You are so slow,
    Deb!”
    “I’m working on it,” she laughed.
    “Maybe I should help?” Serena offered. “Even my
    poor, weak muscles should be able to move faster
    than…”
    Pop! Debbie grinned. Chuckling, Claire got the
    glasses.
    “Good thing I stocked up on aspirin,” Serena sighed
    as Debbie poured the wine. And filled all three glasses
    to the brim. “I haven’t done this since I was about six,”
    she muttered, bending down to slurp the wine so it
    wouldn’t spill when she picked it up.
    “And what happened when you did?” Claire asked,
    mimicking her action.
    “My mother swatted my rear,” she said dryly.
    “And what would she do if she knew about your
    phone sex?” Debbie asked archly.
    Serena froze. “She’d do a lot more than swat at me,”
    she whispered. Her hands started shaking. “Oh, God…”
    “No,” Debbie shook her head. “Don’t even think
    about it. I’m sorry I asked.”
    Sighing, Serena picked up the tongs and mixed the
    salad.
    “No, it’s okay. I think we all hear our mothers
    criticizing our actions and choices. It’s not easy
    sometimes, is it?” She glanced at Claire, who shook her
    head. “So, we do what we have to do to live our own
    lives. We order pizza, open however many bottles of
    wine we need to, and hold onto friends who understand
    us more than our own families.”
    “I’ll drink to that,” Claire stated, raising her glass.
    They clinked their glasses and drank.
    There was a knock on the door.
    “Yes! Pizza!” Debbie put her glass down and
    hurried to the door. “I’m starved.”
    Laughing, the other two picked up the salad, forks
    and plates. Putting them on the leather trunk Serena
    used as a coffee table, they listened as Debbie flirted
    with the delivery boy. Retrieving the wine glasses,
    Serena grinned as Claire was pulled into the laughing
    conversation.
    They all needed this, she smiled, pulling another
    bottle out of the fridge. Tucking it under her arm, she
    caught up the corkscrew with her pinkie as she scooped
    up the glasses. This was the perfect night.
    By midnight, the perfect night had disintegrated
    into a wine-filled haze.
    Within minutes of starting the movie, Claire was
    crying about Paul’s interest in a threesome. After
    blowing her nose and splashing cold water on her face,
    she appropriated a bottle and proceeded to drink the
    contents. Exasperated with her roommate, Debbie
    scarfed down two slices and opened another bottle.
    Serena tried to coax them into making their usual
    sarcastic