* * * *
It was the Friday before Thanksgiving, the evening Toby and Bruce were invited for their rescheduled supper. They arrived with a big potted hydrangea covered with grapefruit-sized blue blossoms.
“Guys, that’s beautiful! Whatever made you think of something like that?” Ben asked, taking the plant from Bruce. “I won’t say anything insincere like you shouldn’t have because I love it!”
He set the plant next to the fireplace in the living room while the two guests were putting their coats in the closet near the front door.
“Remember Brody Cox, the guy you met at Gridley’s that night?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah.” He looked at Toby and grinned. “A real studmuffin, huh? And he seemed like a nice guy.”
“He is,” they said simultaneously. Then all three laughed.
“I was saying yes to him being
