Chapter 17: Plans

Plans. Plans are everything.

Actually, I got that wrong. It’s “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”

Don’t quote me on it, but I think it was either Eisenhower or Winston Churchill who said that. Someone dead. Ask Bette; she’d know.

My trouble with the distinction may be half of my problem. If my mother had planned something with my father, like, “You try not to be such an *****; I’ll try not to divorce you,” things might’ve been different.

Mr. and Mrs. Howell planned, I think. It was definitely Mr. Howell who one day was like, “Dear, just in case this ‘three hour tour’ ends up being a bit longer and our ship sets ground on the shore of some uncharted desert isle, I’m going to pack these suitcases full of money.” This is why he and Mrs. Howell were so much more comfortable on that island than Gilligan and everyone else, even though there was nothing they could do with that money.

Anyway, I’m the first to admit that I tend to grow attached to people so seriously that all I can think about sometimes is planning. And Bette and I had been dating for over three weeks and I thought she was pretty amazing.

I mean, she had a drinks meeting at eight and yet she’d come over to my apartment right after work, apologizing about how we never saw each other anymore. I am vulnerable in the face of such adorableness.

Which is how and why I ended up on my couch with my top off and my jeans around my ankles and Bette’s tongue in my ear. I mean, I think that was the natural progression of things.

“Bette,” I said, helping her unbutton her shirt and slide it down her shoulders, kicking my jeans until they untangled themselves from my ankles and landed on the floor. She wasn’t listening; she parted my legs and lowered herself against me and I gasped at the contact.

“Bette,” I tried again.

“Shh…” She ran her tongue over my bottom lip and kissed me, her right hand making contact with my stomach, the thumb dipping into my navel. She braced herself behind my head with her left hand, pressed against me, harder.