“Welcome back to the City.” Doctor McCain set her glass of wine down and standing, she extended a hand.

“Oh gosh. Colva...” Mitzy dropped her colorful shopping bags to the floor and, knocking Colva McCain’s hand aside, she stepped between her arms and entwined herself about the older woman’s shoulders. “Damn, I’ve missed you.” And she planted a kiss, long and rather wet, onto the side of Colva’s neck.

“Easy girl,” Colva laughed, looking about the restaurant. “People are watching.”

“That’s what I love about this place. I can kiss you full on the lips, in front of a room full of strangers, and no one looks twice.” And as if to prove her point, Mitzy leaned in and placed a luxurious kiss on Colva’s mouth.

Colva saw a few heads turn but lingered a moment anyway, enjoying the kiss, then pulled back to catch her breath. “I don’t know about strange, but queer for sure.”

Mitz looked. There were a few young men waiting on tables but the clientele were women, some with carefully trimmed hair, dressed in shirts and tie, but definitely women, none the less. “My home away from home,” Colva added. “Come. Sit ... Someone has to help me with these Apalachicola oysters.

“My pleasure,” Mitz settled onto the bolster, eyeing the iced morsels. She selected a dry biscuit.

You know,” Colva continued, “if you had packed these buggers in your carry-on, you could have saved me a ton of money. How are things in Florida, anyway?”

“Hot and sticky.”

Colva grinned. “Yeah, sure ... But how’s the weather?”

“Bitch,” Mitz responded, sliding a fork under a plump bivalve. “I wish you’d never left.”

“Yeah, I guess ... but things are different here in New York. And the City is Keith’s primary focus.”

Mitz sipped wine and selected another oyster. “And how’s married life suit you?”

“Surprisingly good. Keith’s away quite a lot, what with business and his horse, so I’ve got my special circle of friends, and this place of course.”

“Yeah. This place...” Mitz took in her surroundings. “Only in New York...”

“Move to the City and I’ll sponsor you for a membership.”

“It wouldn’t be that easy. Having a business is like being mother to a bunch of neurotic children.” Mitz munched thoughtfully on a celery stick. “You’re on call twenty-four, seven.”

“So the PR business is good?”

“Better than I expected, really. I got the book publishing and that led to contracts with a couple of magazine publishers. One of those is a fashion magazine so now I represent a large photographic studio in Miami and a modeling agency as well. I’m at the point of hiring some help with the day-to-day stuff. How about your Practice?”

“Oh, tons of schizos in New York. I get to pick and choose. Keith wants me to retire but you know me ... I’m a nosy old bird– just love listening to other people’s problems.”

“And get paid for the privileged.” Mitz nodded. “I sent you Jo-Anne. Did that work out?”

Colva sat back and studied the surface of her wine a moment. “The novelist, yes. Jo-Anne Wiley. You represent her?”

Mitz shook her head. “No. Not personally. Just her books, through the publishing firm.”

“But you are sleeping with her...”

Mitz set her fork down. “She tell you that?”

“No ... just a guess. She seems your type.”

“I feel like I’m back on your couch.”

Colva laughed. “You know I never asked you to lay on a couch. If I had, I’d have ended up on top and we would have accomplished nothing.”

“Except maybe an earth-shattering orgasm or two.” Mitzy’s eyes glistened.

“I don’t remember a couch being a necessity for that.”

“Yeah. It was pretty wild, doing my therapist. On top of her desk. With the receptionist right outside the door. Always wondered if she knew what was going on.”

“Stella has excellent hearing ... But back to Jo-Anne. You know she doesn’t like it?”

“The sex?”

“Mmm. I hope it’s not serious.”

Mitz picked up the menu but didn’t open it. “I’m not in a relationship with Jo. I mean, I like her. But she’s straight.”

“Look. I know that’s not stopping you. Tell me how it started?”

Mitz felt Colva was poking around inside her head. “It was at a photo-shoot for one of her first books. We had the shot we needed but the photographer, well, he wanted to see a little more. Jo-Anne resisted at first, but she was only nineteen and completely overwhelmed, by the studio, the cameras and lights. And the photographer and his staff. Anyway, after some needling, she took off her clothes.”

“She allowed herself to be photographed naked.”

“Yeah. And I found the whole thing so, I dunno, wicked, I guess– what we did to her. I remember seeing her naked for the first time. She was trembling like an aspen and I know she felt beaten and betrayed. I mean we ganged-up on her, might as well have striped her naked with our own hands, but by-god, was I horny for the little bitch. I got her alone in the dressing room and forced her up onto the makeup counter. I got between her legs and used her and after, I felt as guilty as hell. But by-christ, it was the best.”

“So you still see her.”

“I find an excuse to stop around her place every few weeks. In the beginning, I had to talk her into it. But she’s like a obedient puppy now.”

“But it’s not the same thrill, is it? You miss having to hold her down and the abuse.”

The guilt was evident in Mitzy’s eyes. “It was wild, holding her head and forcing her to do those things. I knew she hated it– the smell– the taste– the feel of it. But god, for me anyway, the sex was over the top. I could cum just thinking about it, even now.”

Colva took the menu from Mitzy’s hands and ran a manicured nail down the list. “What do you fancy?”

Mitz appeared exhausted and slumped back against the cushions. “Everything’s good. Order for me.”

Colva caught the waiter’s eye. “Hello Bobby. We’ll split the braised salmon. Asparagus, baby carrots and sauteed mushrooms. And please, take the bread tray home to your kids.”

Bobby grinned. “My kids? No chance of that...”

Colva looked at his slim hips. “No. I suppose not...”

Mitz watched him go. “Nice looking boy...”

“Yeah. The possibilities are endless.”

“Speaking of endless possibilities, we were discussing Jo-Anne...”

“Mmm. Yes you were ... Jo-Anne has that vulnerable sense about her. Like her self-esteem and body have no intrinsic value anymore. And that she has no say in the circumstances that overwhelm her, or the outcome. People can smell it about her. Are quick to take advantage.”

Mitz sat up. “So you feel it too?”

“Yes. It’s hard to miss. You know she was sexually abused at school.”

“She mentioned it, one time. But I didn’t want to get into it with her. Felt unqualified to open that Pandora’s Box. I thought it best left to someone like you ... a professional. So she talked about what happened?”

“Yes. But this has to be confidential. I’m only telling you because, like it or not, you are in a relationship with her. Promise?”

“Sure. Cross my heart.”

“Okay,” Colva began, “she was taking a shortcut across the high-school football field. Six older boys cut her off, pulled her under the bleachers and got her across a picnic table.”

“Oh Christ. Don’t tell me...”

“Yes. They took turns. They held her for almost an hour. They got her jeans down and Jo-Anne was forced to have sex with four of them while the others stood watching and making lewd comments. She lost her virginity in the most cruel, vile way possible and it just about killed her, physically and emotionally. And it turned her off men.”

“She was cluster-fucked ... Jesus. She never told me that part ... How old was she?”

“Just fourteen. After the assault, she chose to deal with the pain quietly on her own. Never told anyone what had happened. And never trusted anyone with her emotions. Especially men. So you can see where her feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability stem from. She’s as much a victim today as when she was being held down on that picnic table under the bleachers. Only today, no one’s holding her down.”

“No one except her, by her own hand.”

“Exactly.”

Mitz ran fingers through her hair. “And I didn’t help any by pushing her across that makeup table. She must have been re-living the whole sordid incident with those boys, from five years before.”

“Yes. Undoubtedly.”

“I know this sounds bad, but yuh know? I like her that way. Have you gone to bed with her yet?”

Colva blew out a breath. “No. But god it’s tempting.”

“Hey, don’t you guys have some sort of oath about fooling with patients?”

Colva nodded. “But I’m doing this one pro bono.”

“Oh. So you’ve decided to pay yourself a little something on the side ... to make up?”