It seemed to Sam that Saturday would never come, but, as always, it came right on schedule, just after Friday. Sam, of course, was early picking Toby up, but Toby was ready, and they arrived at Tyler's in time to find two tables left. They took the one by the railing even though the view was only of the parking lot. They had hamburgers, French fries and shared a chocolate milkshake.

"Thank you," Sam said, after Toby had paid and they were walking to the car. "I really enjoyed that," he grinned, "even if you did hog the milkshake."

Toby smiled and reached over and patted Sam's belly. "Just saving you from yourself, that's all."

"No fair," Sam whined. "I take care of myself. I go to the gym most every day."

Toby laughed. "Yeah, to play grab-ass in the showers. I know about that place."

Sam stopped and looked Toby in the eye. "I may play a little," he said in a very serious tone of voice, "but no one grabs my ass, and I don't grab anyone else's. I..." his tone softened. "I have to love a guy to do that."

Toby held his eyes. "I'm the same way, Sam." He shrugged. "Let's just leave it at that for now, okay?"

Sam nodded and unlocked the car.

At the house, the first thing they noticed was the wall. The workmen had started chipping the plaster off, and it looked terrible. Sam wondered if they were going to have to replace the whole thing. Toby was of the opinion that they wouldn't; they'd just give it a new coat of stucco.

If the wall looked bad, the inside of the house looked worse. There was debris everywhere, all of it covered in a thick layer of dust. The new windows and doors had arrived but hadn't been installed; they were stacked against one of the living-room walls. Much of the sheetrock was missing and what remained was broken or had holes punched in it..

"Kind of a mess, don't you think? Maybe we should come back after they get the place cleaned up."

Toby shrugged. "A job like this is messy, especially when they're just tearing stuff out. It'll be better when they start putting it back together. Come on, let's look around."

When they got to the master bedroom, Sam took in the space with a wave of his arm. "I kind of wish this was bigger," he said. "I want a king-sized bed, but I think that's going to make it kind of crowded in here. I'd also like space for a chair so I could sit in front of the fireplace and read."

"Why don't you tell that to the contractor?"

"Well..." Sam hesitated, thinking, "he seems so intent on restoring the place, making it the way it was when it was built. It might spoil it to change stuff around."

"Not if it's done right. For example, if you pushed that wall out six or eight feet, but did it the whole length of the house and then did it across the back, too, you wouldn't change the aspect ratio of the house. It'd be just like it was-only bigger."

He took Sam by the hand and led him through a large hole in a wall where doors would eventually go. "See here? You wouldn't loose anything, there's nothing but empty space out here anyway." Sam cocked his head, listening to Toby. He's really getting excited about this, he thought. Maybe...

His thoughts were cut off when Toby started describing how the bathroom could be enlarged too. "It'd give you room for a huge shower," he said. "You could have one bigger than Sam and Harry's and have one out here, as well. You'd love having an outdoor shower in the summer time."

He went on, leading Sam back into the house, showing him how the space created could be used to make the rooms bigger and more usable. Finally Sam said, "Enough! Enough already. You've convinced me. Do you suppose you could convince Bill?"

"The contractor? Oh, no. That's your job. After all, it is your house and your money. And doing what I suggested would not be cheap!"

"Okay, okay. But if it's possible and if he'll do it, will you talk to him? I won't be able to explain it the way you can. Please?"

Before Toby could say anything a shout came from the front door. "Sam? That you?"

Sam recognized the voice. "Yeah, it's me. Come on in, Andy."

Officer Andy, in uniform, picked his way through the living room. "Hi. I'm on patrol today and thought I'd stop in and see how things are coming along."

"As you see, things are a bit of a mess." He grinned. "We weren't expecting company." He turned to Toby. "Toby, Andy Koyle. Andy, my friend Toby."

The two men shook hands and looked each other up and down. Toby smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, I've heard about you. Didn't you arrest Sam for draining the pool?"

Andy laughed. "Well, not quite, but almost. Just trying to teach him to respect the law."

"Good luck!" Toby said.

"Toby's here to give me some ideas on the house," Sam said, ignoring both Andy's and Toby's comments. "And he's got some good ones, too."

Andy looked at Toby. "What sort of ideas?"

Toby briefly described what he and Sam had been talking about. Andy nodded thoughtfully and turned to Sam. "Sounds like he's onto something, Sam. He talked to your contractor?"

"Not yet. But he's promised to."

Toby gave Sam a sharp look, but let it go.

The men took a quick walk around the place before Andy said he had to go. He was, after all, 'on patrol,' "Protecting some of the other folks around here, too."

As soon as Andy was gone, there was another shout at the front door. It was Tom

"Saw the police car out front. Anything wrong?"

"No. Just Officer Andy checking on how things are going. How're you, Tom?"

"Good. Say, why don't you and your young friend come on over and have a drink with us. I know Dan would like to see you, and he's probably looking for an excuse for an afternoon cocktail."

"Oh, sorry, Tom. This is my friend Toby. Toby, Tom, my next-door neighbor." He turned to Toby. "Okay? You have time for a drink with the neighbors?"

Toby nodded, and they went next door after locking the gate. When Tom opened the front door, Tige came bounding out, greeting everyone with sniffs and requests for ear scratches.

They went through the house to the patio by the pool, where Dan was dozing in the shade with a book open on his lap. After a wake-up kiss from Tom, introductions were made. Dan stretched and said, "Gin and tonic, I think." He looked up at the sky. "It's close enough to summer, isn't it, men?"

While Dan was making the drinks Toby went over to the pool and put his hand in the water. "Oh, man, that's wonderful. You run the heater all winter?"

Tom shook his head. "Not on your life, young man. Couldn't afford that. No, we have solar heat, so it's up to around eighty what with this warm weather. Dan's been in it already but not me. Not until it gets up around eighty-five or ninety."

Toby tested the water again. "You going to have solar heat, Sam? I mean, if they ever finish your pool."

Sam laughed. "I never thought about it, but seeing this, I guess I will. Have to talk to Bill about it."

After the drinks were served, they sat in the shade, enjoying lazy conversation. Tige, who had fallen in love with Toby, spent much of the time with his head in Toby's lap. Dan said Tige thought of himself as a lapdog but couldn't figure out how to actually get in somebody's lap. Toby scratched the dog's ears and said he was thankful for that.

Around five it began to grow cool, so they went inside where Tom put out some snack mix. At six, Sam suggested they all go to Boscoso for dinner.

Later, after he had taken Toby home, he thought that this had been one of the most pleasant days he'd had so far in Palm Springs. He also thought that maybe being with Toby had had something to do with his enjoyment.

Sunday, after lunch, Sam went to the gym for an hour and then sat by the pool with a book. He hadn't read much before Pete Addison joined him. "Pretty dull in the locker room this afternoon," Pete said, letting himself down on the lounge chair next to Sam. "No one to play with and no one to watch." He sighed. "Guess I'll have to go spend some time on OlderAndBetter and see if I can dig someone up to play with." He looked pointedly at Sam's dick. "Unless maybe you..."

Sam smiled. "Sorry Pete. I have to go in pretty quick and clean up. Got invited to dinner."

"Lucky you. I've got no plans and a horny dick."

"Hey, what's this 'Older And Better' place you're talking about? New bar in town?"

Pete laughed. "The Internet, Sam. It's an Internet site. OlderAndBetter. You should check it out. There are lots of guys our age-and some young ones looking for guys our age."

"Really? Poor me, I'm not the least bit Internet literate. Don't even have a computer."

Pete looked surprised. "Guy horny as you? Without a computer? Sam, you need to come into the twenty-first century."

"So what goes on there?"

"You look at pictures of guys, talk to them maybe, and if they're from around here and you like them, you make a date. Martin told me about it. He put his profile and some pictures on it and bingo! He had more tricks than he knew what to do with. And that's saying something about Martin. But even a guy like me, looking for maybe more than a trick, can still get a date or two out of it and meet some new guys."

"Well, good luck with it, Pete. I don't know that I'd ever get the hang of using a computer."

Later, while Sam was dressing for his dinner with Duane and Howard, he began to wonder if Toby knew about "OlderAndBetter" and if he'd ever looked at it or... He put the thought out of his mind.

Duane answered the door when Sam rang the bell. Giving Sam a hug he said, "Howard's in the kitchen working his magic on some stuffed pork chops. Let's go keep him company."

Howard greeted Sam with another hug and waved him over to a couch set in what in Sam's condo was a breakfast nook. Duane made drinks for them and then sat next to Sam.

"Hey, this is really good, having a couch in the kitchen."

"It was Duane's idea, Sam. He wanted to keep me company while I cooked, and he wanted a comfortable place to sit. We never used the table and whatnot there, so it made a perfect place for that sofa."

Duane looked up and grinned. "I once thought I might learn to cook by watching Howard, but nothing much happened, except that Howard got watched a lot, and I got horny. Sometimes so horny that dinner got burned."

"Duane! You don't have to give away all our secrets."

Duane winked at him. "Well, didn't dinner get burned a few times?"

Howard nodded. "Yes, but we don't want Sam here to think we're perverted or anything."

"Not on your life," Sam said. "I think it's wonderful. I wish I had someone who'd burn dinner for me once in a while."

The dinner-unburned-was wonderful and the conversation lively. Both Howard and Duane were interesting people and had interesting stories to tell-Howard about teaching and Duane about the emergency room. They drew Sam out, asking about his life with Harry and what it was like knowing a lot of important people in Hollywood. Sam said that it was mostly dull, but he did manage a few entertaining stories.

Over dessert and coffee, Duane looked at Sam and said, "Howard said you might be interested in how we handle sex in our relationship. Right?"

"Uh...well... Look, I don't want to pry or know anything... uh... that I shouldn't, but yeah. I guess I am interested in how you guys handle the sex thing. I mean... Oh hell, look, I'm interested in a guy, a young guy, about your age Duane, and I haven't a clue what he thinks about it, what anyone your age thinks about it."

Duane laughed. "What does a guy my age think about sex? The same thing you think about it. It's fun, it's sometimes serious, and it always feels really good."

"Well, yeah, that's what I think, too, but how..."

Duane interrupted. "I'm sorry, Sam. That was kind of flip but it actually does summarize how we deal with it. You know, everyone thinks an older man like Howard somehow doesn't need-or want-sex as much as a guy my age. Not true, Sam. Not at all. Think about yourself. We have sex a lot more than lots of guys my age." He laughed. "We talk a lot down at the E.R. when we're not busy. Mostly about sex."

"But what do you do about other men? Guys who come on to you, like over in the gym. What do you do about them?"

Duane chuckled. "So that's your worry. Well, I tell you Sam, we have a philosophy about that. First of all, neither of us was a virgin when we got together, even though my experience was fairly sparse compared to Howard's. But high school boys do get around, and I had had probably more than my share of it. In our first year together, Howard and I realized that there are three kinds of sex. Well, actually five or six kinds, I guess, but we don't have anything to do with the more violent kinds or with sex as punishment."

"Thank God," Howard said quietly.

"Anyway, there's sex for fun, sex for relief and sex for making love. And we do all three."

Howard spoke up. "They're all kind of intertwined, Sam. For example, jerking off in the shower brings relief, but it's fun as well. Making love is often all three rolled up into one."

"But what do you do about other guys. Like Mike Armstrong who always wants to blow guys in the shower?"

"Our rule," Howard said, "is once with anybody, twice maybe and three times you have to be pretty special. Mike falls into the last category."

"And one other thing," Duane said, "and this is probably the most important part. It's always a package deal."

"What do you mean, package deal?" Sam asked.

"Just that. Sweet Mike is out of luck if one of us is in the showers alone. If he wants to blow one of us he blows both of us. If I meet up with someone at the hospital and we're hot for each other, he comes home with me to Howard. We're a team, and we always play as a team."

Howard grinned. "It keeps life interesting, Sam. Neither one of us wanted to give up playing, and this solves the problem for us. Don't get me wrong, it won't work for everyone. Take Clark and Jeff for instance. They are all they need. Oh, they look, but I've never heard of them touching. That's what works for them. It probably wouldn't work for us."

"The most important part?" Duane said. "The most important part is talking about it. Figuring out what works for you and your partner."

"And things change," Howard added. "Never be afraid of things changing. Just make damn sure your partner knows they're changing and can agree with the change."

"Okay, that's enough philosophy for one night," Duane said, getting up from the table. "Bring your wine glasses, gentlemen, and keep me company while I do the dishes." He grinned at Sam. "That's another one of our compromises: he cooks, I wash."

Later, in bed, Sam wondered if he could work out a relationship as good as Howard's and Duane's. With Harry he'd never had to worry about such things. To start with he'd been just an employee of Harry's and he did what Harry wanted. Later... well, later he did pretty much as he wanted. He guessed Harry had trained him well, and he wondered how it would have worked, putting passion into the mix.