Dave tucked the duvet around my chin. “You deserve this— you’re my baby. I’ll go to the store. I’ll be there and back in twenty minutes.” He leaned down and kissed me. “You can time me.”

“Okay.” I smiled back mushily. I’d just gotten laid and I’d almost had an orgasm. It was okay.

Dave picked up his keys and cell phone and was gone.

I grinned at his back as I watched him leave. I was smiling partly from the afterglow of our rolling around in bed, but mostly from him making such an effort for me.

He had been thinking of me last night; he just hadn’t been with me.

Alone on the bed, I kicked my legs out of pure glee like an eight-year-old. I rolled over and realized that, even though it was late afternoon, I needed more coffee. Dave hated the taste of coffee and was always trying to get me to give it up, but he had bought a little machine that brewed a single cup for when I stayed over.

I got up, went to the kitchen, let the water boil, and leaned against the countertop. I was still totally naked, and being against the counter with pubies everywhere probably wasn’t that hygienic.

I could see a stack of phone messages from work, next to where he always put his keys and wallet. I picked up the stack and started leafing through them. It never hurt to check and see if there was one girl who called a bunch of times. Or if the message was from a girl and, instead of leaving her number when she called, an assistant had written, “You know it.”

There was nothing at all incriminating; he’d passed the test. “All clear,” I said to myself. “No need for any alarm.” I carefully put the messages back so he wouldn’t know I’d been psycho snooping.

I spied one small sheet of paper that I had missed, lying facedown. Flipping it over to check the message, I saw that it was a receipt for dinner. It was on Dave’s AmEx and it was a big bill, letting me know that it had been dinner for two with a good bottle of wine.

I checked the restaurant: Locanda Veneta. Nice. It was dark and romantic there. When Dave and I would go there, I always saw that guy who used to play Ross on Friends. It was weird that Dave never mentioned he had gone out to dinner last week. I squinted at the faint ink for the date.