“I think we’re technically still in our honeymoon phase, which negates anyone thinking of us as clingy or codependent. We are pretty weird though, so they’ve got us there,” I joked. She just sighed. “I miss you next to me too, Al. Hence the call.”

“Well, we could always try phone sex,” she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I rolled my eyes.

“Alice, I wasn’t even talking about sex!”

“Oh, because I was,” she replied. “No, I know what you meant. And I didn’t really mean sex…I mean of course I miss that, but I miss falling asleep beside you more.”

“Aww, sweetie, I’ll be home soon. I wish you could come out here though.”

“I wish I could too, but there’s just no way I can swing it right now, Dane. But I tell you what, the next time I go out there to meet with my editor you can come too, okay? We’ll make a little vacation out of it or something,” she replied.

“I guess,” I conceded grumpily. I knew she was right, and there was no way I’d have ever wanted to jeopardize her career. Still, I wanted her there with me, and knowing I’d have to go most of the next week without seeing her was really depressing me. “Did you get anything packed up for the move?” I asked, hoping that by changing the subject I’d be able to improve my mood a little.

“Not really. I tried, I’m just fucking horrible at it. Like, I put the wrong things in with other things. That and I haven’t really had a lot of time to get everything sorted, which I kinda need to do before I start packing it up,” she said, sounding a little peeved at herself.

“Hey, it’s all right, I was just wondering. It’s not like there’s any huge hurry to begin with, we still have to go look for furniture anyway,” I reminded her, dreading the prospect a little bit. While I generally loved the fact that Alice was so creative with her decorating abilities, her furniture could sometimes leave a lot to be desired. What she currently had wasn’t horrible, but that was due mostly to the fact that Bette had helped her refurbish the apartment after it had flooded from a burst water pipe while she’d been away on an assignment for some national lesbian magazine years ago. Bette’s taste was expensive but pretty classy, so Alice’s furniture was pretty neutral looking at the moment.