and he stepped away. Paul waved to Marse and blew her a kiss, and Dennis waved to me. When Marse and I turned back toward the house, there was a figure standing on the deck in a yellow shirtdress, holding a brown leather purse. It was Gloria. She waved, and we waved, and in a moment we were beside her. “What’s this?” she said, pointing with one sandaled foot at the ramp. “This is not pretty,” she said.
“Marse’s boyfriend installed it this morning,” I said. “For Dennis.”
“Of course it’s for Dennis,” said Gloria. She sighed. “Grady is on my last nerve.”
“I think it’s going around,” said Marse.
We drove in Gloria’s sedan to a café on Miracle Mile. We sat outside in wrought iron chairs and ordered salads and iced teas, then Gloria spotted Eleanor Everest, and went off to say hello. Marse took off her floppy pink hat and tilted back to show her face to the sunlight. “I’m beat,” she said. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“All this being together all the time. I need a break.”
For a moment I thought she meant a break from Dennis. I said, “Marse, you aren’t obligated to—” but then I realized she meant a break from Paul. “You get used to it,” I said. “It becomes like being alone.”
“Sometimes it’s a little like work,” she said. “I shouldn’t complain. I’m really very happy.”
“I know you are. Growing pains.”
Our salads arrived. Marse said, “I wanted to ask. Tell me if it’s too early—but have you thought about what happens next?”
“Next?”
She spoke tentatively. “As Dennis declines.”
I speared some greens, then put down the fork without taking a bite. We were in the heart of Coral Gables, and half a block away cars buzzed down Le Jeune Road in a loud, colorful blur. At the table next to us a family of four spoke Spanish, and the mother wore a ring with a diamond the size of a corn kernel. It sparkled in the sunlight. “You’re asking if I’ll stay? In the house? In Miami?”
“I’m afraid you’re going to leave,” she said.
Gloria reappeared at the table. “Leave where?” She sat down and put her napkin on her lap.
“Nowhere,” I said.
She looked from me to Marse. Marse said, “I asked Frances if she was planning to make any changes . . . once Dennis’s condition worsens.”
“I’m not planning any changes,” I said.
For a long moment, Gloria seemed frozen. She had ordered a salad, but I knew she wouldn’t eat it, and at the end of the meal would have it boxed to take home. She pushed her tortoiseshell sunglasses up on her head. “It’s a good question.”
“It’s not a good question. It’s not time yet,” I said. “We’ll discuss it in six months.”
Gloria touched her neck. “Six months,” she said. She patted my hand. “That’s what we’ll do.”
“All right,” I said.
“All right,” said Marse. “Let’s talk about sex, then.”
And over the course of the meal, we did discuss sex—apparently Paul wanted a little more than Marse, and Gloria said that she thought sex in her seventies might be the best she’d ever had. “There’s no pressure,” she said. “It’s just fun. I guess I’m looser.” She shrugged her birdlike shoulders.
Marse laughed. “I’ve never thought of you as loose.”
Gloria blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
It seemed to be my turn to divulge. Both women looked at me expectantly, but when I didn’t say anything, they looked away. We don’t sleep in the same bed, I wanted to say—though in fact we’d had sex the evening before, on the living room couch. Dennis had been taking longer and longer to orgasm, and afterward his muscles were sore from the exertion. Soon, I knew, it would be too much of a chore for him. I didn’t mind terribly, except sometimes.
The boaters were still out when we arrived home. Gloria got into her car and left, but Marse followed me inside to wait for Paul. The house was quiet and still. We slouched on the sofas in the living room, our purses in our laps. “You should take a nap,” said Marse.
“What have I done to deserve a nap? I made iced tea and went to water aerobics. I’m fine.”
“You’re a little overwhelmed, I think.”
“Do you think I’m handling things badly?”
She paused. “I think these days it’s easier to be me than you. I’ve never thought that before.” The afternoon light swept the room through the gauzy curtains, creating a smoky shadow around her. She placed her