Free A Man After Midnight by Beth D. Carter

woman who slept with a man on her first date.  Wait!  It wasn’t even a date!”  Aldy stuck her tongue out and then started laughing so hard she had to wipe the tears that leaked from her eyes.  “God, Caro, I miss you.  When are you moving back to Los Angeles?”
    Caroline looked at her friend. They had met years ago when they had been working in the same building, she on the third floor and Aldy on the second.  One morning the elevator had gotten stuck somewhere between the first and second, which wouldn’t have been so bad except they had both been on the damn thing when it malfunctioned.  It took the fire department more than half the day to rescue them.
    They were almost night and day, in appearance and in attitude, but something between them clicked.  Aldy had been born in India and adopted by an American couple as a baby, while Caroline had grown up as a blonde southern cheerleader in a devout Christian home.  Yet regardless of their backgrounds, Caroline counted herself very lucky to have found Aldrin Crenshaw.
    “I don’t know, Aldy.  L.A. is a little expensive for living on my own.”
    “So move in with me,” her friend said.
    Caroline thought for a moment, gathering her thoughts.  “L.A. is the place people go to chase their dreams of showbiz.”  She shook her head.  “I was never into that scene.  It was all about Greg.”
    “Well then, how about New York?  I could transfer to our studio here, and we could get an apartment in Manhattan.” Aldy grabbed Caroline’s hand.  “It would be so awesome!”
    “One, there’s nine million people living on an island, which makes rent about a hundred times worse than L.A.  Two, you hate the cold.”
    Aldy cocked her head.  “Cold?”
    Caroline nodded.  “They have winter here, you know.  December.  January.  Snow and lots of it.”
    Aldy actually shivered, letting go of Caroline’s hand to hold it up, as if warding away what she said.  “Okay, so I’m going back to California.  Nice, always sunny California.  And you’re going back to Baton Rouge, to what?  Rusticate?  Become a cat lady?”
    “No!” Caroline laughed.  “I’m allergic to cats.”
    “Thank God for the little things.  You should totally find a good man and fall in love, but do it properly this time.”
    Caroline’s eyebrows shot straight up.  “Properly?  What does that mean?”
    “Find a career-minded working man, date him an appropriate amount of time, and eventually graduate to sex, marriage and two point five kids … instead of marrying a dreamer and supporting him for years.”
    Caroline sighed. “I now realize that Greg was a schoolgirl love, and once I came to terms with that then it was easier to understand: no matter what I would’ve done, my marriage never could have survived.”
    “So you’re over Greg.  Does that mean you’re in love with my boss?”
    “No, of course not,” Caroline replied.  “I’ve known him only two days.”
    “Sometimes falling in love only takes an instant.”
    “Insta-love doesn’t exist.”
    “Of course it does,” Aldy stated emphatically. 
    “Oh yeah?  When have you ever experienced insta-love?”
    A sad darkness passed over Aldy’s face.  “When I was twenty years old, I met a man.  His name was Eric.  As soon as he said hi to me, I was hopelessly in love.”
    Shock poured through Caroline.  She’d known Aldy for years and had never heard of a man named Eric.  “What happened?”
    “He died.  Car accident.”  Aldy shook her head.  “You never know how long you have on this earth, Caro.  If you can find a way to be happy then you have to grab onto it and not let go.”
    The words shook Caroline to her core. They brought back all the things she’d thought about last night.
    “For a long time after I found out about Greg’s affair, I hated the entire male population,” Caroline said. 
    “Honey, any girl would hate a penis after being cheated on.”
    “Crude, but effectively