He’s stopped coming around. At all.

You didn’t do anything, right?

She might as well have walked in and poured some gas on the embers of my fire. I just got myself down to a simmer, and now this. Damn it.

I toss off the covers, startling Melody. Storm into the bathroom to deal with my situation alone.

What do I have to do? Jennica says she wants away from him, but it’s like some weird obsession. He fucks with her, and she’s pissed one minute and the next it’s like Come fuck with me some more. It’s messed up.

Melody’s sitting up in the bed when I return. Her shirt is off and the covers are pulled up right underneath her excellent rack.

Damn it. I have no resolve. She’s right there, and willing, and it feels good. I got nothing to apologize for.

Afterward, she says, “I have to get to work. Can we meet for lunch, maybe?” She strokes my cheek. “I want to see you.”

“I’ve got some things to do today,” I tell her. “You wanna come by tonight instead?”

“Dinner again?” she asks.

Right. Last night I took her out for dinner. Two nights in a row? I’m really slipping.

“Come over to my place. I can make you my paella.”

“Why don’t we do it here?” I suggest. “Leave me a list and I’ll send someone out for the groceries. I got pots and pans I never use. Gotta break them in sometime.”

And I’ve got a party to throw after that. Gotta get back to business as usual.

“Sure,” she says. When she kisses me, it is good and easy. Comforting. Not even confusing, in the moment. Not confusing until after.

The diner’s not crowded. I’m not sure I’m glad. Jennica’s face perks up when she sees me. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I lean across the counter and she pushes her cheek forward. I kiss it. She smells good, and I don’t know how, after swimming in this grease pit all day.

“It’s been a few days,” she says. “You okay?”

I settle into my usual stool. “I been busy, that’s all.” Has it been a few days? Really? I didn’t mean for that to happen. Time is slipping away.

“How about you? You doing okay?”

She smiles. “Same old, same old. You wanna eat?” She hands me the menu, as if I don’t know everything already.

“Patty melt. Gimme some of that broccoli on the side.”

“It’s good today.” She scrawls my order onto the pad.

Her smile is a world unto itself. Jennica is gorgeous through and through. That night we kissed, everything came alive. But she was in a bad place. She didn’t really mean it. In the light of day, in the warmth of the diner, it’s a kiss on the cheek, a touch of the hand. The rest is in my head. A fantasy, that we could ever be more than that.