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"Well, me either But I can’t see her And we can’t leave for a while, I guess"

"Do you want to leave?"

I was buckling my seat belt "What does that uard

"You usually can hardly wait to get out of town after we finish up with a client, but you haven’t said anything about leaving for a day or two You want to be here? What’s the attraction? Manfred Bernardo? Or Joel Morgenstern? Or Seth Koenig?" He turned the key in the ignition with unnecessary force He was definitely not looking atin Swedish

Then, as hiswas, in past tiht have been thinking about Manfred, or having secret fantasies about Seth Koenig, or Joel Morgenstern His wrestler’s body was fit and powerful, also good fuel for fantasies--Ooooh, pinpinned doas never a fantasy of arded Manfred Bernardo as a boy

"Tolliver, I meant it when I told you I’e and I’ve never wanted to be an adulterer Now Manfred, mmmm" I smacked my lips "That’s different You can’t help but wonder what’s under all the leather"

Tolliver gave ood sense to look embarrassed "Okay, okay, I’m sorry," he said "The truth is, I’m in kind of my own situation"

"What?" I was instantly serious "What’s up?"

"Felicia has stepped up her phone calls," he said We were at a stoplight, and he looked at me steadily

"Despite the way she acted yesterday? Like she’d never seen you before?"

He nodded "Yeah She’s called, like, four times since we left the hotel"

"You sure you don’t want her to call?" I was kind of feeling h this, because I couldn’t tell what Tolliver was leading up to

"I definitely don’t You’ve toldyou because you were so--so different from other women?"

I nodded

"Well, that’s kind of the way I’ed, and he turned his eyes to the road ahead "We never seemed to have that much in coet to knowto hook up now, again And then when she actually sees me, she acts like she never ith ain"

"You did do the nasty with her Maybe she really, ah, enjoyed that with you?" I was trying not to sound self-conscious This was not a frequent topic of conversation between us Neither of us were kiss-and-discuss types It was tacky Plus, not suitable

"To tell the truth, it was only about average It was just sex," he said, with a shrug He seeallantry toward a woman he’d bedded "She’s a pretty woman, and real intense In fact, maybe a little too intense And not all that interested in talking"

I groped for the right thing to say "Like she was using you?" I said,damn sure there wasn’t a hint of suess I knoo them to masturbate inside"

Crudely put, but I understood exactly what he was saying "And Felicia’s calling you all the time, now?" It was hard to reconcile that with the self-contained and sleek young wo from her forTolliver had re time since she’d had sex, and here was a sex partner whose excellence was a known factor, a sex partner ouldn’t entangle her in any relationship talk?

"How are you dealing with it?"

"At first, I thought about doing it," he said, looking really e to sound understanding

"But so about her puts me off," he said "I can have sex with someone I don’t, ah, have a relationship with, and enjoy it But we have to at least like each other"

"She doesn’t like you?" I was hesitant I’d never heard Tolliver talk about a woman like this, and I have to say, I was a little worried

"I don’t know I’er?" I wasn’t sure I liked the iave a frustrated shrug "I’ as they’re hard to get And I don’t think women are sluts if they admit they want sex It’s because Felicia’s so" He floundered, looking for the right words But he couldn’t find them

Finally he said, "She’s too deep forin the ocean, when you’re used to a pool"

That was brilliant, and I gazed at Tolliver with admiration and some surprise He looked a little surprised, hie in facetiousness "It’s all your fault, Tolliver," I said He looked at netic They can’t live without you"

He gave me an eye roll "Cut it out," he said

So the subject passed away, but I didn’t forget it, and I thought about it while he watched a basketball ga his concern, that I’d keep it under my skin until I had an idea about it In the otten heavily involved in an old er in the Sland of decades ago

When the roo to put down my book I was closest, so I answered it

A male voice said, "Hey, can we come up?"

"Who is this?"

"Uenstern?"

I could feel my face wrinkle in a frown "Who is ’we’?"

"My friend Barney and me"

I covered the receiver and relayed the request to Tolliver "This is weird I want to talk to him, and here he arrives on our doorstep," I said Tolliver was not so pleased In fact, he lookedabout going out for lunch, trying to get so as we’re here in Memphis But we’ll see what he wants You think he’s just showing off to his friend or soave the boy our room number After a few minutes, there was a tentative knock on the door