"We had a great time. Silly me, I thought that he was going to take our relationship to another level. Then I get this huge bunch of flowers and a card telling me that it was all over," said Michelle.

She was in a pub with three other women, Marta, Zoe and Celeste. All four of them had dated the same man in recent years. Fate had thrown them all together and, only after they’d become friends had they had found that they had all dated and then been subsequently dumped by the same man, Terrance Morton.

Michelle produced the card that came with the flowers. That prompted the other three to do the same.

All the words said the same but in different ways.

“Just when I was feeling good about moving our relationship to the next level, he dumps me,” complained Zoe.

“Do you mean going to bed with him?” asked Marta.

“Yeah. After that last date, I would have gone to bed with him in a flash. But he was as, usual, always the perfect host and escort. He kissed me goodnight, and that was the last I saw of him."

There were nods all around the table.

"Why? Why does he spend all that time and money wining and dining us only to head for the hills when it is about to get serious?" asked Celeste.

“It seems to me that has something to hide. All men do. It is just a question of what that is and did it cause him to break up with us,” remarked Marta.

“But what? He’s not gay… well, as far as I know, said Michelle.

“Perhaps he can’t get it up?” suggested Zoe.

That resulted in a few titters around the table.

"My cousin Dave is gay, and he's not like him at all. Dave kept it hidden until he was in his fifties. It shocked the family to the core when he came home with his husband Gavin,” replied Celeste.

A brief silence descended over the table.

It was Marta who broke it.

“What do we do next?”

“Nothing. We should move on with our lives,” said Celeste.

“I agree,” said Zoe.

Celeste looked at her watch.
“I have to go. I’ve got an appointment to get my hair done.”

Celeste stood up. Zoe took the opportunity to do the same.

Zoe looked at Michelle and Marta.

"If you do go looking for whatever it is that he's hiding, don't be surprised if it does not end well. Men do not like people prying into their innermost secrets."

What she said rang true with everyone.

---

When Zoe and Celeste had left, neither Michelle nor Marta wanted to be the first to make a move.

Eventually, Michelle said,
“Are we going to do this?”

“Yes. It is not as if either of us is in a relationship at the moment.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

Marta smiled.

“I think that we should go and see him and ask for a proper explanation as to why he dumped us. No pussyfooting about. Put him on the back foot.”

Michelle thought for a moment.

“Yeah. When?”

“Monday evening. He’s more likely to be at home then.”

"Agreed. Lets' meet here first for some Dutch courage. Then we go and ask him directly."

That settled it, but both of them was sure that the other one was starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing.

---

Both of the women had second, third and even fourth thoughts about confronting their former boyfriend Terrance Morton, but they both turned up at the pub as they’d agreed on the following Monday evening.

“You came then?” asked Marta.

"Yeah. I nearly didn't, but I'm here now."

Marta signalled to the barman. He proceeded to make Michelle’s favourite tipple, a G&T with only a little ‘T’. He brought it over to where the two were sitting.

"To the best of endeavours, and may we not fall flat on our faces," toasted Michelle.

They clinked their glasses, and the drinks were drunk in unison. After paying for them, Marta joined Michelle outside the pub. It had come onto rain. Michelle had the foresight to bring an umbrella. Marta joined Michelle under it as the rain got heavier.

“It should pass in a minute,” said Michelle.

“Perhaps he’ll take pity on two wet and bedraggled women?” joked Marta.

Michelle smiled.
"He was always the perfect Gentleman, wasn't he? I think he would. do just that."

“Let's go then? His house is only two hundred metres away.”

They set off, and Michelle's prediction that the rain would pass came true. It had stopped by the time they reached his home.

“There is a light on at the back. That’s where the kitchen is on these properties,” said Marta.

“How do you know that?”

Marta grinned.

“I was the one who sold him the house in the first place. We met about a year after at the local School Fete. He bought some raffle tickets from me.
. We got talking, and then, he asked me to dinner."

They'd reached the front door. Michelle hesitated for a second before pressing the doorbell button.
Some chimes could be heard, from inside the house. That was either a good sign or one that spelt their doom.

They could see a light come on in the hallway. Then the door opened, and there stood Terrence. Both of them did a sharp intake of breath. He was wearing a frilly apron and yellow household gloves.

As soon as he saw who it was, the cheery smile disappeared from his face.

"Hello, Terry,” said Michelle.

“Michelle? Marta? What are you doing here?”

“Can’t you guess?” asked Marta.

She didn’t wait to be asked but marched past Terrence and into his home. Michelle hesitated for a second, but in the end, she followed Marta into the hall.

Marta headed for the kitchen. She heard the front door close, and Terrence joined the two women.

"Come on, Terry," said Michelle, deliberately using the short form name that he hated anyone to use in his presence.
“Why did you dump us? Zoe and Celeste want to know as well. What did we do wrong?”

Terrence didn’t answer.

"Don't you have the guts to answer us? Don't we deserve to know why? To dump four of us just when things seemed to be going well is far too much of a coincidence.”

Michelle wasn’t going to take his silence for an answer.

"Come on, Terry, why? Aren't we good enough for you?"

Finally, he reacted.

“No. It is not you. It is me.”

“Rubbish,” said Marta.

“Why is it rubbish? I am the only common denominator?”

“Or you found the same fault in each of us?” countered Marta.

Terry shook his head.

"I promise you that it is me. I love all of you in different ways, but I had to call it off when I did because…"

His eyes dropped to the floor.

"Come on, Terry, you have us hooked."

Eventually, he looked at us once more.

“It is just hard.”

“What to say that you really are gay?” retorted Marta.

He shook his head.
“The one thing that I am not is gay. I could never ever think of having sex with another man.”

The two women looked at each other.
His words had seemed so true, so sincere. Yet…

Then Michelle said,
“You want to be one of us, don’t you?”

Marta glared at Michelle for a second. Then she began to understand what Michelle had meant by her words.

Slowly, Terry nodded.

“Fuck,” said Marta under her breath.
“Shit,” said Michelle.

“Please understand that I never meant to hurt any of you. You are all such wonderful, beautiful and caring women. That’s why I called off our relationships when I did. Every time I saw you, I felt sad deep down that I could never be anywhere near the women that you all are.”

"I'd like you to please leave. Don't come back. I'll be moving out in a few days, then I won't be an embarrassment to any of you in the future”

Both women were still a little stunned by what had just happened. They let him show them the door without saying another word.

---

Once outside, Michelle said,
“I didn’t see that coming?”

“But you asked him, didn’t you?”

“Only to keep us talking. I didn’t expect him to react like that.”

Marta wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. Eventually, Michelle said,
“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I think that we should keep this between ourselves until we have had a chance to sleep on it.”

"Yeah, we can't go to them and say Terry dumped us because he is a tranny! That would not go down well, especially with Celeste. She is a bit black and white in her outlook on life.”

“Yeah, she is that.”

“Why don’t we meet after work tomorrow and try to work out what to say to them? Suggested Michelle.

“Bridge St Café at half five then?”

“That’s a deal.”

The two women went their separate ways. Neither of them looked back to where Terry was watching them with tears streaming down his eyes. Yet again he’d messed up big time. All the personal promises he’d made to himself about getting involved with women had disappeared the moment he’d seen Zoe.

---

[the following day at the Coffee Shop]

“How was your day?” asked Marta as Michelle sat down with a drink.

“Not good. I kept trying to visualise what he’d look like all dressed up.”

“Same here. The ‘Dragon Lady’ gave me a ticking off just before I left. I’d made a mistake in an important letter that was going to a customer.”

Marta's boss, Bronwyn, was nicknamed the 'Dragon Lady' as she took part in Dragon Boat racing at weekends. She was a hard taskmaster during work hours.

"Then we had better come up with a solution and quick. Celeste tried to get hold of me earlier, but I was in with his Lordship taking notes on a meeting two frankly idiot MP's," said Michelle.

Both women thought about what to do next.

"Are you going to the gym tomorrow after work?" asked Marta.

“Yeah.”

The four women all belonged to the same Gym. That’s how they’d all met and found out that they had one thing in common… They’d all dated Terry.

“Then why don’t we go to that Chinese place around the corner from the gym and update the others,” suggested Marta.

Michelle groaned.
“What’s the problem? Are you doing something else tomorrow night?”

She shook her head.
"Nah. It is just that an hour after I've eaten a Chinese, I get hungry again and, one whiff from the Chippy outside the station on my way home, and I can't resist. Then I can never get comfortable in the night."

Marta laughed.
"Don't you just love your body? We feed it, and then that's what it does by way of payback."

Marta smiled.
“I guess I’d just have to take the long route from the station home.”

Both of them laughed, but they both knew that nothing had been fully resolved.

---

[The following evening in the Chinese Restaurant]
The waited walked away after taking their order.

"Ok, girls, out with it. I know that you two have been sleuthing," said Zoe.

Celeste was sitting next to Zoe on that side of the table, nodded her head in agreement.

“We have been sleuthing as you put it, but we didn’t get the answer we’d hoped for,” said Michelle.

“What? He isn’t dating another woman already?” exclaimed Celeste.

Marta shook her head.
“We went to his place and asked him bluntly what was it that made him dump us.”

“And?” questioned Zoe.

Marta looked at Michelle, who returned a slight nod of the head.

“He wants to be one of us.”

“I don’t get it?” asked Zoe.

“He’s a closet Tranny. He wants to be a woman. That’s what one of us means.”

Silence fell on the table like a blanket that was being used to put out a fire. Eventually, Zoe said,

"I wasn't expecting that. Ok, so he was never a macho man, but that was part of his attraction. I can't imagine him as a woman. Sorry but that's it. I just can't."

“I have tried for the past two days and get the same result,” said Marta.

Michelle and Celeste had remained silent.

"What about you, Michelle? You were there when he told you what was your immediate reaction?" asked Zoe.

“I was a bit stunned. But… after a while… well, on the way to work this morning, I started looking at people. Not just a passing glimpse but really looking at them. I tried putting Terry in their place.”

Then she smiled.
"You know, it would work. Obviously, with a bit of work… well, a lot, but I can't imagine him passing as a woman."

Zoe and Celeste just shook their heads. Marta remained silent.

"Say something, Marta?" asked Celeste.

Marta took a deep breath before replying.
“I have to agree with Michelle. It could be possible.”

“Well, you can count me out,” said Zoe.

“Same here,” said Celeste.

“That’s what we thought you might say,” said Marta.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the first part of their food order.

---

“What are you going to do?” asked Celeste.

"I don't know but, if he is true to his word and, I don't doubt that he is, whatever we do will have to be quick as he said that he'd be moving on," said Marta.

“I’m going to go and see him tomorrow and try to get him to stay,” said Michelle.
"I'd like to see what he looks like after a makeover. Who knows… he might be quite presentable?”

No one objected to that plan, but it was clear that Zoe and Celeste were not going to take part.

---

Michelle did as she promised and went to see Terry the next day after work. A feeling of imminent doom came over her when she saw a 'To Let' sign displayed outside the house, where his flat was.

She knocked on his front door more out of hope than anything.
There was a distinct echo from within the flat. It sounded empty.

Her knocking had alerted a neighbour. Another door opened, and an elderly lady emerged.

“Are you looking for Terrance?”

“Yes. I was here a few days ago.”

"He's moved out, I'm afraid. A van arrived this morning and took everything away. Terry came to say goodbye just before I sat down to lunch. Such a nice young man. I was sad to see him go. Nothing was too much trouble for him."

“Do you know where he went? I borrowed some money from him, and I was due to return it today."

The woman smiled.
“That sounds like Terry. I’m afraid that he didn’t leave an address other than one of those mailbox places like the one on the High Street.”

Michelle sagged. The older woman noticed.

"Don't worry, my dear. If your money was that important to Terry, I'm sure that he'll be in touch."

“I guess he will. Thanks for the help,” said Michelle.

Michelle left the house and made the call that she was dreading.

"Marta? He's gone. His flat is empty, and according to his neighbour, he didn't leave a forwarding address. The bummer is that he only left today. If I had only come over last night.”

“If only… That’s the story of my life. At least he wasn’t a sexual predator and for that, we can count ourselves lucky,” replied Marta.

“Our lives… and yes, we did. He was such a gentleman and that is how I’ll remember him.”

“Will you tell the others that it is all over? I know that Zoe will be relieved.”

“Yeah, I’ll do it. See you at the gym tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I feel like taking it out on the punchbag.”
[The End]
[authors note]

I know that this cries out for more but I felt that just finding out what he was hiding was enough.