Page 46 of You Can Make Me

She poked me in the side as she pulled away, wiping at her eyes.

“Ow. I didn’t know hugs were supposed to hurt.”

“You love him? For real?”

“How could I not, Sam? He’s…” How did I even describe him, and how I felt about this whole thing? Ididn’ttalk about feelings. It had been hard enough to do it with Cooper, but I did want Sam’s thoughts, so I’d show my tender underbelly.

“I don’t want you to be like his last several boyfriends.”

I tried to be open-minded about all this. I had no room to judge, as I had two ex-wives, but I hated the idea that Cooper had been done wrong before, even more than I hated being compared to men he’d been with. At 52 years old, I was way past judging people for their mistakes. Could Cooper look at me the same way?

“What do you mean? He’s only told me about the fiancé who bought him the Mini Cooper.” I hadn’t asked for more, and he hadn’t offered, just like he hadn’t asked about my wives and what happened. I could tell you his favorite color (racing green), his favorite TV show (Newsroom), and his favorite singer (Madonna when he was sassy, Billy Joel when he was in his feelings), but I didn’t know his first crush, his most embarrassing moment, his biggest fear—actually, I couldimagine that had already come to pass, or perhaps he was most afraid of what was to come.

Sam looked toward the closed bedroom door and leaned in, her voice low. “They were all ‘straight’ before they met him,” she said, using finger quotes.

I sat back on the couch and exhaled.”That makes a lot of sense.”

“It does?”

“Yeah. The reason we split. I kind of fell off the radar right after we’d had a pretty serious conversation. It wasn’t because of him.” Though it was. “It was when my buddy died.”

“Oh, I remember that. You kind of disappeared on everyone. I remember Gene was pissed.”

“Aw, that’s sweet.”

She poked me again.

“Damn, those nails should be registered as lethal weapons.”

“Cut it out, Denny. What happened?”

“He showed up at my place and told me off, said I should have told him that he was a dalliance and he wouldn’t have wasted his time.”

“Was he?”

“God, no. I…Christ,Sam. I had to get a bunch of medical shit done. I had to have a procedure. VA doc said I was headed for a heart attack.”

Her hands flew up to cover her mouth—and then she slugged me.

“Man, you hit hard for a girl!”

I knew that would break the tension. She tackled me, and it was then I remembered she had older brothers and knew how to fight dirty. I tried to cover the important bits and begged for mercy.

“And you didn’t tell us? What thefuck, Denny?” She finally sat back on the couch and scowled at me.

“He tell you about the angioplasty?”

We both looked toward the hallway, where Cooper stood leaning on his cane, shaking his head at us.

“Angioplasty? Oh, you wait until I tell Gene?—”

“Is that necessary?” I knew she would tell him. Why I even asked was ridiculous.

“It is. We shouldallknow, in case you stroke out on us. I’ll have to renew my CPR certification! I can’t believe I let it lapse. Are you taking baby aspirin daily? Carrying nitro pills?”

“Jesus, Sam. First you beat me up and then you bully me? I didn’t need any of those things until you started in on me.” I was laughing before I finished speaking. I tucked Sam under my arm and pinned her there—gently, of course; she might be tough, but she was still my best friend’s wife—until she stopped trying to beat me up.

“Trust me, Sam. I let him have it, too.” But Cooper’s gaze was soft. He moved toward us and sat on the other side of me.