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Maybe she did need to be more brutal if she wanted to get her hands on her own little victory.

Maybe Jade was wrong, and all Franny really wanted was a bit of payback for her own pain and suffering.

Or maybe… maybe Franny was just too wounded and sad to do anything but turn away.

“You were right,” Franny said.

She and the old gals took up two tables at the little food court in the bowling alley, and Franny had just bowled a strong 120, so she was celebrating her success with a bacon double cheeseburger. “I do like her.”

Beside her, picking at a veggie burger, Charlie’s eyes went sparkly. “The girl you work with?”

Franny nodded. “Yeah, I…” She trailed off. The truth was that even through her pain, she couldn’t stop thinking about Jade. All she could see were possibilities. Lives they could have with each other ifthings were different. But she wasn’t ready to say all that yet. Saying it out loud would cement it in her head, and she needed this to be a safe delusion right now. So she cleared her throat and just said, “I really, really like her is all.”

The women seemed to catch her drift, nodding.

“I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but there’s just something about working with somebody that helps you get to the nitty-gritty.” Stella seemed completely ecstatic to have been right.

Barb grunted, just as unconvinced as she had been when they’d discussed this previously. “That nitty-gritty don’t lead to nothing good. Trust me.”

“Um…” Franny eyed the older woman. “Is there a story here I’m missing? Because it already sounds like one I want to hear.”

“Oh boy, is there.” Stella chuckled around her straw.

“Hush, you,” Barb softly scolded her wife before pointing a finger at Franny, all businesslike. “I’m telling you, nothing good comes from shitting where you eat. That’s how I ended up miserable and married to some man for fifteen years.”

“I think that might have just been a delayed lesbian awakening, honey,” Charlie said with a giggle.

“Well, that too,” Barb agreed, sitting back and crossing her arms over her chest. “When I was twenty, I was the only woman welder at a factory in Georgia. There was one guy in the whole place who was decent to me. It started out innocent, we’d eat our lunches together, then we started getting together outside of work. When he asked me to be his damn girlfriend, I figured it made sense because I damn near already was. He was a miserable sod. I worked with him for over a decade and went home with him every day. It was awful. I was already miserable, and I could never get a break from it either. I think it ends up like that more times than not.”

Janet sighed. “I’m not discounting Barb’s experience, but for adifferent perspective, my Connie and I worked at the bank right there next to each other for three years after we got together. We moved in quick, you know how it goes, but I loved being able to spend all my time with her. When she got hired on somewhere else, I missed her every day.”

“My experience is tainted because I did it with somebody I didn’t love,” Barb said. “But I do think you should consider how messy it can get if the shit hits the fan.”

“You sure are cursing a lot tonight,” Stella scolded her wife jokingly.

“Trust me, I’ve thought about it.” Franny groaned. “I can hardly think about anything else these days.”

Barb nodded. “That’s all I’m saying. Don’t jump into something fool-headed and forget yourself.”

“So tell us how it all happened, then!” Janet clapped excitedly. “Are you going to bring her to bowling?”

“Oh, we aren’t together,” Franny said. She took a sip of her Sprite. “Actually, she still kind of hates me.”

Charlie shook her head. “I don’t understand you young people at all. She hates you. You love her. How in the hell is that supposed to work out?”

“Well, she doesn’tactuallyhate me. She’s just trying to convince herself that she does. I think she likes me too. In fact, I know she does.”

Five pairs of eyes squinted in her direction, and Franny purposely kept hers on her food.

“You slept with her, didn’t you?” Carmella choked the words out between chuckles.

Franny groaned, leaning in to knock her forehead against the table a few times. It was gross and sticky, but it felt almost deserved. “Yes.”

“They refuse to learn,” Barb tossed in with her grumbly voice.

“Ohhh,” Stella admonished her wife. “Don’t you remember being all young and horny?”

“I sure do,” Carmella said. “As far as sex mistakes go, this one feels pretty mild compared to the ones I’ve got under my belt.”