With this new arrangement, Toby didn’t usually get home until nine o’clock at night. And thanks to these new hours, he got to know his neighbor in number forty-four. At first they just nodded and said hello in passing. Toby was used to coming home between six and seven and the hallway was always empty. The person who lived in number forty-four was a middle aged woman with a full figure and short curly blond hair. She reminded him of Ethel Mertz on the oldI Love Lucy Showfrom a distance and she sounded like Burl Ives up close. He figured they didn’t have much in common and it wasn’t worth getting too friendly. Besides that, he wondered if she ever ran into Brad coming or going. This was something Toby wanted to avoid talking about at all cost.
But one night in early November he ran into the woman in number forty-four in the hall and she introduced herself. “I’m Rosemary Stanford. Since we keep running into each other this way I figured we may as well get to know each other a little better.” She spoke in a voice so deep and husky it sounded as if she needed to cough up a gob of phlegm.
Toby smiled and extended his hand. He couldn’t avoid her now. “I’m Toby MacFarlane. It’s nice to meet you.” He wanted to keep this casual; he didn’t want to get to know her better.
“You seem to keep very long hours,” Rosemary said. “Even longer than mine.” She laughed with a deep bellow and sent him a comforting look at the same time.
“Ah well,” he said. He couldn’t tell her the truth. “I work in advertising and I stay late most nights.”
“I’m a doctor at St. Vincent’s in The Village. I know all about working long hours, trust me.”
This was interesting. A woman doctor. Though he’d heard there were women doctors he’d never actually met one in person. The women Toby knew in the medical profession were always nurses. He had two female cousins who were nurses in New Jersey. “I feel guilty now,” he said. “You’re saving lives all day and I’m working on ad campaigns to get people to drink more soda so they can ruin their teeth.”
Rosemary shrugged. “It’s all relative, honey,” she said. “As long as you love what you do, nothing else matters much.”
A week later, they ran into each other in the hallway again and Rosemary asked if he wanted to meet one night after work and have dinner. Toby agreed and they met at a little restaurant not far from St. Vincent’s on Saturday night. When they sat down and ordered drinks, Rosemary made a comment about the noises she sometimes heard coming from Toby’s apartment. But she also made of point of letting him know it didn’t bother her. She laughed and said, “Don’t worry, honey. You’re young and you should be having all the fun you can get. It sounds like you’re knocking them off like flies in there. Ha.”
Toby knew she was referring to what she’d heard when Brad used the apartment, because Toby wasn’t having any fun at all. He hadn’t been with a man since that Friday night in the men’s room with Brad. But he couldn’t let her know this. So he just smiled and said, “If it ever gets too loud, let me know. I’ll put a stop to it.”
The waiter set down the drinks and Rosemary waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I just wish I had a fraction of what you’re getting going on in my apartment. And it’s always someone different.”
When Toby heard this, he started to wonder just what exactly was going on in his apartment. He’d been under the impression Brad was meeting up with one or two guys, a few at the most, not adifferentone every time. Maybe he should have asked more questions. The thought of all kinds of strange men in his apartment made his stomach feel a little queasy. He smiled at Rosemary and picked up his menu. “Do you have any recommendations?” he asked. He decided it was best to change the subject.
While they were having an after dinner drink, Rosemary leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I wasn’t sure about whether or not I should say anything. But I like you. And I know we’re on the same side, if you get my drift, honey.”
Toby blinked. “The same side?”
She frowned. “Don’t play with me. We’re both too old for that.”
“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ha, you know,” she said. “I’ve seen the guys coming and going. It doesn’t take much to put it all together, especially not for me. I was the same way when I was your age. I had a different girl every night. It used to get a little messy sometimes. Some of these women want to move right in after the first date, so to speak.”
Toby almost fell off his seat. Though it probably should have, this hadn’t occurred to him. He leaned forward and gaped at her. “You mean you’re a…”
This time Rosemary blinked. “You really didn’t know? I thought you’d figured it out a week ago when I told you I’d never been married, I played golf on weekends, and my favorite place to vacation is Provincetown.” Then she downed the rest of her port and laughed so hard she had to hold her stomach.
Toby gulped. “I had no idea.”
“Honey, I was in Provincetown for the grand opening of The Ace of Spades, the first lesbian bar in town. I’m sorry. I thought you’d figured it out by now.”
Toby smiled. “Please, there’s no need to be sorry. I’m gladyou said something. I’m a little dense sometimes when it comes to these things. I’m not familiar with everything yet. I only graduated from college last year and this is my first real job. I’m not sure how to meet people or where to go.”
She laughed. “You could have fooled me. From what I’ve seen and heard, you seem like you know exactly what you’re doing. I’m sorry, too. I had this impression you were banging every pretty boy in town.”
Toby sat back and sighed. Then he told her the whole story about his arrangement with Brad Lindsay, why he’d been coming home late, and how terrified he was to tell his boss that he didn’t want to be part of the arrangement anymore. It felt good to get it all out. He emphasized the fact that Brad was married, and how this bothered him the most. There were some nights he couldn’t sleep when he thought about what was going on in his apartment.
When he was finished, Rosemary reached out for his hand and said, “I can’t tell you what to do, but your boss sounds like a first rate asshole to me. I’ve seen it so many times with men and women like us that I’m used to it. I’ve dated more than a few married women. But you’re going to have to figure this out sooner or later. You don’t seem like the type who can fake it for long. There are some people who can live a double life and some who can’t. Personally, I never could.”