“You guys are so good together, you should quit thinking about how to break up and figure out how to make it.” The heavy musk scent of viburnum wafted in on the breeze.

“You promised I’d get bored.”

I did. That’s what I thought, in the beginning. Allie met T.J. over the Internet. He was searching for therapists to learn more about the field and there she was, grinning in her library, her shining eyes looking vibrant and enthusiastic. She must love being a therapist, he had thought as he perused her website. He searched to see if she was on-line and IM’ed her. And Allie, sensing he was looking for more than simply information and in one of her adventurous “why not” moods, answered.

That Friday, they met at the Cavern Club and danced to Lady Sunshine and the X Band. I was with her, and so were Tracy and Silver and Vera and Finn, as we danced to “Hold On, I’m Comin’.” T.J. looked preppy, but danced uninhibitedly. Smoke from the bar clouded the dance floor. They closed down the bar and went to the Fleet-wood for breakfast.

Her son was older than T.J. “Well, I’m not going to call him Dad.”

“Do you think, Mom, that he’s interested in you for your money? That he’s conning you in some way?” one of her daughters asked.

“No, he’s using me for sex. I’m using him for his money,” Allie quipped, but her daughter didn’t laugh.

Yep, T.J. was rich. Inherited money safely tucked away in dividend-paying stocks. At least they were safe then. Who knows now?

T.J. was a neuroscientist trying to figure out if he wanted to continue precise and overly careful surgery into rats’ brains or move to the creative free flow of therapy.

“You’re the more mature one. Don’t let him make any neurotic decisions,” a therapist friend told her.

Her friend was implying that she was the neurotic decision. Obviously, Allie was old enough to be his mother. In fact, she was actually older than his mother, who had him too young to be more than a berserk friend.

But I said, “You’re gonna hurt him. You’ll get bored and leave him.”

So Allie, the one who usually gave the advice, was getting it. From all sides. Don’t hurt him. Protect him from you.

Meanwhile, what started as a two-week fling turned into a full-blown love affair carried out on a road trip to California, and then a trip to New York City, where they dropped off her youngest daughter at college. And then he moved in with her. Allie was happier than I’d ever seen her. A restless agitation was erased.