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Err… a phrase.

It wasn’t love that she felt for Heath.

That was crazy.

She just missed him.

Missed the sex that she hadn’t had in… forever.

And the world seemed to know it.

Or at least Facebook which had been popping in advertisements for little rose shaped massagers.

Or something to improve the health of her pelvic floor.

Things that look remarkably like sex toys.

Well, ha to them!

She smiled grimly at the words in her head.

She didn’t need those.

She had one.

In her bedside table.

Mari sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest, nodding in satisfaction.

At least for a moment before she realized that she hadn’t used it in so long it was likely broken from neglect.

Her phone rang and she picked it up from the little basket on her desktop.

She kept it facedown with notifications off while she worked, but there were a few phone contacts she’d always answer.

Reiko was one of them and her ringtone was unmistakable.

Mari answered the call and held the phone to her ear. “What’s up?”

“What’s up, my friend,” Reiko’s voice was as clear as a bell, “is that you have a man standing outside your door. He’s been there for the better part of ten minutes.”

Ten minutes?

Mari looked at the clock at the bottom right of her computer screen.

“If it’s a Missionary or Jehovah’s Witness, he’ll keep waiting.” She sighed. “If there’s a Girl Scout with him, we can talk and they can take my money. I really need some Thin Mints right about now.”

“Wrong season,” Reiko groused. “But you know that, we were in Girl Scouts together.”

“Hope springs eternal,” Mari shot back.

“Not if you’re going to leave your man outside, Mari.”

“He’s not my man.” She really hated how angry she sounded. It was only a fraction of how she felt. “Not if he’s going to disappear like that.”

“Look. I’m not saying you have to talk to him, but he’s there. On your front step. And maybe, just maybe, you should hear him out.”

“Ow!”