"Collette looked at her in surprise. "You think so?" she asked in alarm. When Patty nodded soberly, she exclaimed, "Shit!" Yeah," agreed Patty.Collett... got a determined look on her face. "All right then. If you're sure he wants to talk to me... could we use your room to talk?" Sure, no problem. I'll go get him."Collette moved to Patty and gave her a firm hug."Thanks, Patty. But I think I should go ask him to come up."They headed for the stairs together, Collette nervously holding Patty's. You're amazing.Good, now that that is over, I can start planning for our fun at the mall. I love you....I love you too. Sleep well.He heard her purr back to him, apparently mentally enjoying the thoughts of what she was planning for him in the store. He laughed under his breath, amazed at her audacity and sultriness.Chapter 5 – The Joys of ShoppingThe next day dawned, and they indeed returned to their regular happy selves. They each worked on planning out how to best achieve their goals. In. ”I was actually feeling good. I knew the man would find out that I was not accepting his help. I would almost for sure be all but assaulted by the lot of them. They so wanted to assuage their guilt. And, I so wanted to not let them. Was I still bitter after all this time? Damn straight I was. Oh, yeah!Doctor Metcalf hadn’t really said how low my CD4 level was, but she had essentially said that I had a few months to a year. I had to figure that the numbers were pretty bad.Oddly, I still felt. ‘Mmmm,’ she cooed and her eyebrows lifted in pleased puzzlement. ‘Tuaca,’ the older woman said, feeling the warmth of a pleasant memory. ‘My mamma added a bit to papa’s coffee in the evenings when she was feeling frisky.’ ‘Umm. It’s divine.’ ‘Didn’t know it was her secret signal till last year when she passed.’ She put down her sketch pad and took a sip from her own cup. Wistfully she looked over Markéta’s shoulder and out onto the blanket of lights that formed the view from her St. Germain des.