He closed his eyes and put his forehead on hers. Neither of them moved. “It was all my fault.” The mood shifted but somehow became more intimate than the previous five minutes.
She knew exactly what he was referring to and remained silent. She’d let him say what he needed to say. He laid his head on her bare chest, and like a mother soothing a distraught child, she stroked his hair, slowly and softly. All thoughts of sex had fled, and the only thing on her mind now was comforting him.
“I was in front of him. It should have been me. Why wasn’t it me?”
Her tears fell silently in the dark. She shook her head. “Don’t do this to yourself, Mitch. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Goddammit, Jimmy. I don’t understand. Why’d you fucking leave me?” There was no anger in his words. He sounded tired and resigned. After a few minutes of silence, she thought he’d fallen asleep. Then she felt his tears, sliding down her breast and pooling over her heart. She barely heard him as he whispered over and over, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, man.”
She choked back a sob. What had started as an unexpected opportunity for quick, passionate sex had rapidly turned into something much more profound. Even if he didn’t remember it—and she was reasonably sure he wouldn’t—she would.
The tears stopped, and his breathing evened out to a slow, steady rhythm. He’d either fallen asleep or passed out, his full weight now squishing her to the floor. As she tried to wiggle out from under him, he rolled to his side, hugging her to him. She should leave, but his arms around her felt so good. Since he wasn’t going to remember anything anyway, she figured a few minutes in his arms couldn’t hurt. She pulled a blanket from the couch to cover them and within minutes was also asleep.
***
He woke alone and confused. Where was he? Why did his entire body ache? His head was throbbing, and his back hurt like hell. Slowly, he came to his senses and realized he was on the floor at Jenny’s and very hungover. He cracked open his eyes and stared at a blue bucket with a Post-it stuck in the middle. “Just in case” was written in neat, feminine handwriting.Oh, shit. Maggie.
He sat carefully and silently thanked her as he grabbed the bucket just in time to empty his stomach into it. It reeked of alcohol. Dammit. He hadn’t been this hungover in a long time. Last night was coming back in pieces, but he couldn’t remember the most important part. Did they have sex? Hewas naked under the blanket, but that wasn’t proof positive.
The smell of chlorine brought back a faint memory of being in the hot tub with her. He remembered her pink bikini top lying on the ground and kissing the hell out of her, but then things got murky.
Maggie didn’t seem like the type to have random, meaningless sex, so that boded well for a no. Although, she hadn’t seemed too bothered by him kissing her. In fact, she seemed pretty into it. God, who knew? Trying to figure out how or what a woman thought was something he’d given up on years ago.
Emptying his stomach helped, but he needed some aspirin, stat. He was too old to be sleeping on hard floors. He used the couch to help himself up and noticed his clothes, folded neatly and placed where he could find them. Grabbing the clothes, he made his way to the medicine cabinet in Jenny’s bathroom and downed four tiny pills that he hoped would kick in soon. After a quick shower, he felt marginally better. He called a cab, cleaned up his mess, and sat on the porch to wait.
How was he going to tell Jenny? Did hehaveto tell her? Who was he kidding? Maggie had probably already told her everything, and an ass-kicking was imminent. Well, what else was new?
He put it out of his mind and made his way back into the city for his appointment with Dr. Patrick. He’d put in for this day off months ago, anticipating he wouldn’t be in any shape to work, but couldn’t put off the doctor’s visit.
“So, how’d last night go?” Dr. Patrick asked. She sat in her usual chair while he paced back and forth between the window and the other chair.
“Fine. Had a few drinks and then went to bed.” He knew she wouldn’t buy it but thought it was worth a shot. She stared at him and waited.
“You can’t tell anyone anything I tell you, right?”
“That’s correct. What’s on your mind, Mitch?”
He sighed heavily and sat, running his hand through his hair. “Well, after I drank myself stupid, I somehow ended up at Jenny’s. Luckily, she and the boys are out of town, but her best friend was there, and I may or may not have slept with her.”
“Would that be a bad thing?” she asked.
“Of course. I mean, probably. Jenny’s going to kill me.”
“Do you like this woman?”
“Her name’s Maggie, and I don’t really know her. She’s hot but a bit of a goody two shoes. She’s the one who fell walking the dogs—I think I told you about that?”
“Yes, when you were trying to convince me you still had a sense of humor because you laughedather,” she said. “As you recall, I didn’t buy it.”
“Well, it did make me laugh,” he said, knowing full well laughing at a woman falling in no way equated to a sense of humor. “Anyway, she’s Jenny’s friend, but also her niece. It’s all very complicated, but whatever she is to Jenny, I don’t think Jenny’s going to appreciate me sleeping with her.”
“Well, you don’t even know if you slept with her, so maybe you’re worried about nothing. How’s your search for a pet going?” He was becoming accustomed to her frequent and abrupt topic changes.
“That’s true. Um, okay, I guess. I haven’t actually started, but I’ll talk to Maggie about one this week. She owns a pet store.” The doctor made a quick note, and he wondered what it could be about. He’d only mentioned Maggie. Again. Was she keeping track of how often he made mention of her?
“Are you ready for more homework?”
“Will it get me out of more sessions?” he asked hopefully.
