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She snatched the cookie sheet out of my hand and pretended to bash me over the head with it. I playfully ducked and ran away.
“It’s rude to think about her when you’re with me.”
“It’s impossible not to,” I admitted.
“I know,” she said softly. “She’ll come to see you soon,” she warned.
“I know,” I replied just as softly. I knew Shelly was coming. I just didn’t know when she’d arrive. I’d probably wake up with a knife at my throat one day, and I wouldn’t even see her coming. I shook the errant thoughts away. “What are you doing today?” I took out two bowls and poured us each a bowl of cereal. Ash sat down on a barstool next to me and picked up her spoon.
“I don’t know how you eat this stuff. It’s sugar soaked in milk.”
I shoved a spoonful into my mouth and talked around it. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
She laughed and took a bite. “It sort of is,” she admitted with a smile.
I nudged her shoulder with mine. “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing today?”
She looked everywhere but at me.
I stopped eating, my spoon poised in the air. “What’s wrong?”
“Charlie’s in town,” she said quietly. She laid her spoon down and stared toward the window, but I knew she wasn’t looking out it.
“Charlie’s here?”
She nodded. “She’s on leave. She heard Lynn has been gone, so she came home. Just for the weekend.”
She finally met my eyes. “Are you going to go and see her?”
I shrugged. “I guess. Where is she staying?”
“The hotel on First Street.”
I gently touched her chin and turned her face toward mine. “Hey,” I said. “What’s that face for?”
“I know you fucked her,” she said quietly.
I froze. “Jesus,” I hissed. “Does Lynn know?”
“If she does, she never mentioned it.”
“I don’t think she knows. Charlie wouldn’t have told her.” What Charlie and I did together was not something Charlie would talk about, not with anybody. It was too personal. It wasn’t something she would want anyone to judge. It was mine and hers, and no one else’s.
“You gave her what she needed?” Ash asked.
“I don’t think we should talk about this.” I finished my cereal in two bites and got up to put my bowl in the sink.
“Do you think Lynn would hate me if she knew?” she suddenly blurted out.
“If she knew we sometimes fuck?” She flinched. But I couldn’t help but wonder why she was having a sudden attack of conscience. “Are you worried about that?”
“Can you ever answer a fucking question without asking a different one?”
“Does that bother you?” A grin stole across my face and she shook her head.
“I’m being serious. Do you think that if Lynn knew…”
“You think she’d hate you.”
