she said.
He nodded. Didn't speak.
"So you can start with a blank slate," she said. "How you react to me can be about you and me, not about you and me and Joe. He took himself out of the picture. It was his choice. So it's none of his business, even if he was still around."
He nodded again.
"But how blank is your slate?" he asked.
"He was a great guy," she said. "I loved him once. But you're not him. You're a separate person. I know that. I'm not looking to get him back. I don't want a ghost."
She took one step into the room.
"That's good," he said. "Because I'm not like him. Hardly at all. You need to be real clear about that from the start."
"I'm clear about it," she said. "The start of what?"
She took another step into the room and then stood still.
"The start of whatever," he said. "But the end will turn out the same, you know. You need to be real clear about that, too. I'll leave, just like he did. I always do."
She came closer. They were a yard apart.
"Soon?" she asked.
"Maybe," he said. "Maybe not."
"I'll take my chances," she said. "Nothing lasts forever."
"Doesn't feel right," he said.
She glanced at his face. "What doesn't?"
"I'm standing here wearing your ex-lover's clothes."
"Not many of them," she said. "And it's a situation that can be easily remedied."
He paused.
"Is it?" he said. "Want to show me how?"
He stepped forward again and she put her hands on his waist. Slipped her fingers under the elastic waistband of his boxers and remedied the situation. Stepped back a little and raised her arms above her head. Her nightgown slipped off very easily. Fell to the floor. They barely made it to the bed.
They got three hours' sleep and woke up at seven when her alarm started ringing in her own room. It sounded far away and faint through the guest room wall. He was on his back and she was curled under his arm. Her thigh was hooked over his. Her head was resting against his shoulder. Her hair touched his face. He felt comfortable in that position. And warm. Warm and comfortable. And tired. Warm and comfortable and tired enough that he wanted to ignore the noise and stay put. But she struggled free and sat up in the bed, dazed and sleepy.
"Good morning," he said.
There was gray light from the window. She smiled and yawned and pulled her elbows back and stretched. The clock in the next room kept on making noise. Then it went into a new mode and got louder. He slid his hand flat against her stomach. Moved it up to her breasts. She yawned again and smiled again and twisted around and ducked her head and nuzzled into his neck.
"Good morning to you too," she said.
The alarm blared on through the wall. It clearly had a feature that made it get more and more urgent if it was ignored. He pulled her down on top of him. Smoothed her hair away from her face and kissed her. The distant clock started chirping and howling like a cop car. He was glad he wasn't in the same room with it.
"Got to get up," she said.
"We will," he said. "Soon."
He held her. She stopped struggling. They made love breathlessly, like the alarm clock was spurring them on. It sounded like they were in a nuclear bunker with missile sirens ticking off the last moments of their lives. They finished, panting, and she heaved herself out of bed and ran through to her own room and shut the noise off. The silence was deafening. He lay back on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. An oblique bar of gray light from the window showed some imperfections in the plaster. She came back, naked, walking slowly.
"Come back to bed," he said.
"Can't," she said. "Got to go to work."
"He'll be OK for a spell. And if he isn't, they can always get another one. That Twentieth Amendment thing. They'll be lining up around the block."
"And I'll be lining up for a new job. Maybe flipping burgers."
"You ever done that?"
"What, flipped burgers?"
"Been out of work."
She shook her head. "Never."
He smiled. "I haven't really worked for five years."
She smiled back. "I know. I checked the computers. But you're working today. So get your ass out of bed."
She gave him a fine view of her own ass as she walked away to her own bathroom. He lay still for a second longer with