Free Love in E Flat by Kate Sweeney

tell Ron I won’t be in tomorrow at all. I’ll email my article on the football game. And the story on the St. Xavier basketball game is already on his desk, so we’re good until next week.”
    “I’ll tell him. Don’t worry.”
    Lou felt the hesitation from Edie. “Was there something else?”
    “What’s she really like?”
    Lou laughed through her yawn. “She’s actually nice. I can see where she’d appear standoffish. And I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.”
    “Which given the opportunity, I’m sure you’d find.”
    Lou heard the motherly tone and smiled. “I’m behaving.”
    Edie laughed. “I doubt it, but thanks for trying anyway. Go to sleep, it’s late.”
    “Spoke onyna nochi,” Lou said with a deep accent.
    There was silence for a moment. “And that means?”
    “I can’t remember. I think good night, but I was too busy staring at her lips.”
    “Lou…”
    There was silence on the line for a long moment.
    “Did you?”
    “Did I what?” Lou asked, grinning like a fool.
    “Lou…”
    “Aggie is a very nice woman, and I had a wonderful time with her. She kissed my cheek.”
    “You sound like a little kid,” Edie said with a laugh. “But she kissed you?”
    “Don’t get excited. She kissed Nick, too. But we did go, um…”
    “Where did you take her?”
    Lou heard the firm motherly voice. “Hey, I was prepared to take her back to the hotel after dinner. It was Madam Karetnikov’s idea to go out. So I took her to Scarlet on Halsted.”
    “Hmm. That’s actually a nice place. Good choice.”
    “Thank you. We had a drink and continued our conversation.” Lou then laughed softly.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “She got me to talk a little about myself.”
    “You’re kidding. What did you tell her?”
    “Just the basics. I’m too much of a coward to tell her anything else.”
    “You’re not a coward.”
    “It was just such a good night I didn’t want to ruin it with…”
    “I know. But you’ve worked hard to get over it. It might do you a little good to talk more about it.”
    “Why? As you say, I’m over it. It’s in the past where it belongs.”
    “Have you talked to Charlene recently?”
    “Yes, matter of fact. Just a couple weeks ago. She met a guy.”
    “No kidding? That’s wonderful.”
    Lou smiled. “Yeah, it is. I hope it works for her. She deserves it after…”
    “I know,” Edie said softly. “It’s late. Go to bed. I’m glad you had a good time.”
    “Me too. Good night. Hey, wait.” Lou sat up. “How did John’s doctor’s appointment go?”
    Edie was silent for a moment.
    “What is it?”
    “It’s his sperm. The poor guy has everything going against him. He has a very low sperm count and low quality. Do you want to hear this?”
    “Of course I do,” Lou said. “I love you guys.”
    “We love you, too.” Edie sniffed. “They don’t know if it’s from his playing football and the groin injury when he was a senior. You remember.”
    “I do. I felt so bad for him. I joke about him being a lousy middle linebacker, but I think he had a good shot at the NFL.”
    “Yes, he did. Remember how long it took to get over that fact? Even after he recuperated.”
    “Yeah.” Lou’s heart sank. She knew Edie had all the tests possible to ascertain if she was the reason they had not conceived. All her tests came back fine. So it was John. Lou felt so bad for that big lug.
    “We never thought there would be a problem having children. And we wanted so many. Well, that’s that.”
    “What about adoption?” Lou asked.
    “We’ve talked about it for the past year. And now, we’ll talk about it more—seriously. John suggested we have a donor. I said no. If I can’t have his baby…”
    “I totally understand. I’m so sorry.”
    “Thanks. There’s a reason for this, I know. God has some plan for us.” Edie laughed softly. “John said he wished he knew what it was. But we have faith. There’s a reason.”
    They were silent for a