Dinner and a movie with Claire on Friday night. We reminisced about how we'd both experimented (don't you love that word?) with heroin in the early 80s and we talked a lot about our kids. We have 7 between us. Part of why I like being with Claire is that I like the ego boost I get from being with such a gorgeous woman, and especially now that we've had sex (just the once) I feel like I have permission to be more tactile with her. I'm quite reserved physically with people until I feel like I have that permission, and there's nothing like having had sex to break that ice.

Then theater with Iris last night, speaking of tactile people. She's told me on many occassions that she's very touchy-feely and it's emboldened me; I have my arm around her when we walk down the street, we hold hands in the theater and so forth. I'm still not entirely comfortable about it with her - part of me thinks it's just plain wrong, that's it's sending a wrong message. She has hinted fairly strongly a few times that she'd be rather keen on a meat injection so I'm slightly cautious around her.

She's met Claire. One evening I was out for dinner with Iris and as I was walking her to her house it started bucketed down raining. I remembered that Claire was nearby at a function (to which I'd been invited) so Iris and I took shelter. This, readers, was before Claire and I had had our fateful sleepover, and we were actually just friends. Which - technically - is all we are now.

As I walked into the gallery with Iris I ran into Claire and I introduced them to each other. Claire was a little uncomfortable with the fact that I was there with Iris, which pleased me no end. We chatted a bit.

After a couple of minutes the rain cleared (it's subtropical here) and Iris and I left and as we went around the corner she quizzed me very intently about Claire. She'd noticed immediately that there was something going between me and Claire and I was thrilled. Maybe, I thought, she does like me after all!