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“You seem preoccupied Is this really just about your dad and his new girlfriend? Everything at work all right?”

“Work’s good,” she said She sighed and burrowed in closer, bringing his erection back to life

He gritted his teeth and tried to infuse a little humor in the situation “What? Did you lose at Bunco then?”

He felt her hesitate “Not exactly”

He cradled the top of her head with the palers down her wavy auburn hair Like a lot of women, she complained about her hair It was either too curly or didn’t do what she wanted when she wanted it to But he thought it suited her perfectly

“You know…our one year anniversary is co up next week,” she said

A viselike sensation gripped his chest What had he eaten tonight? Cold pizza Not the er It was probably ti more careful about his diet

“Maybe we can do so special?” she added

“How about Hawaii? We can rent the same place we did before” He’d taken her to Hawaii once and she’d loved it They hadn’t taken a trip in a while A week in paradise with nothing to do but lie out on the beach and have soestion ease off

“Sure,” she said without much enthusiasm “If that’s what you want”

“Or, we could do Europe Spain is beautiful this time of year” There were beaches in Spain, too And beds Yep Spain would work

He felt her shrug “That sounds…nice”

Nice The back of his eyelids began to itch

“It doesn’t ether”

The melancholy tone in her voice eance Which made absolutely no sense