Her phone buzzed on the table beside her. She looked at the caller display and rolled her eyes. Matt. Of course. She hadn’t contacted him since she last saw him Friday night, other than a quick text on Saturday morning to say she was okay and would call him later. Of course, that was before Saturday melted into a haze of delicious lovemaking and time ceased to have any meaning.

“Well, it’s about time!” snapped Matt when Stephanie swiped to answer.

She giggled.

“Did I wake you?” he asked, his tone still strident.

“No, not at all,” she replied, in her quietest voice, mindful of the gorgeous woman dozing below her.

“Hey, why so quiet, sweet pea? Are you sick or something?”

Stephanie chuckled softly. “No, not sick.” She paused. “I’m just keeping quiet so I don’t wake my girlfriend.”

There was a silence. And then Matt screamed, “Your what?”

Stephanie smiled from ear to ear.

Epilogue

Epilogue

Manchester, present day

Laura took a deep breath as the cab pulled away behind her. Was this the craziest thing she’d done in her life? She looked up at the dark sky above her, blowing out a breath. She brought her head back down slowly and stared at the black door across the street. It had been such a long time since she’d actively done this, and she still couldn’t shake off the thought that surely she was too old for this game now? Back in the day, when she’d had her flat stomach, her fitness, her cocky confidence, all of this would have been so easy. Too easy, really. She’d regularly gone out and pulled some gorgeous chick for a quick fuck in the dark somewhere.

But now, at fifty-one years old, it seemed ridiculous to think of doing the same thing with this older, slightly flabbier, certainly stiffer body. And yet… There was a hunger still deep within her; it was what had brought her here. A hunger that had gone unanswered for four years now. Four years she’d been a widow, working her way through her grief, slowly but surely. Having only done the settling down thing at the age of forty, then to have lost her wife to a heart attack a mere seven years later. They’d barely started on their life together; so many plans that never came to fruition. She shook thoughts of Kelly out of her head. She definitely didn’t need to be thinking of her tonight.

She glanced at her watch; nearly ten. She had no idea what time things warmed up in there, but they’d been open for about an hour now. She doubted she’d be the first through the door on this cool Saturday night. It had been a pleasant enough April day, but the nights were still chilly, and she presumed enough women would seek some…warmth…somewhere like this on such an evening. She hoped, anyway.