"What's wrong with him?" Luna demanded indignantly. "Doesn't he have any idea how lucky he is to have you?" T.J. smiled. "Thanks for the vote. I'm not giving up, you know. We might be able to work this out, but I'm not going to let it destroy me if we don't. I did some heavy thinking last night, and this isn't all Galan's fault. I'm not Mrs. Perfect any more than he's Mr. Perfect."
"You haven't been seeing another man," Jaine said pointedly.
"I didn't say we were equally at fault. If he's interested in keeping our marriage going, he has a lot of making up to do. But I have some things to make up to him, too."
"Like what?" Marci asked.
"Oh… I haven't exactly let myself go, but neither have I made any special effort to attract him. I've also been caving in to everything he says in an effort to please him, and let's face it, on the surface that sounds good for him, but if he wants an equal partner, then it must be maddening. I bounce ideas off you guys the way I used to do with him, but now it's as if I keep all the interesting parts of myself away from him. I give him the cook and housekeeper instead of the lover and partner, and that isn't good for a marriage. No wonder he got bored."
"Do you know how typical that is?" Jaine said, her tone shaded with indignation. "Whatever happens, women take the blame for it." She stirred her coffee, glaring into the cup. "I know, I know, sometimes we need to. I hate being wrong, damn it."
"That's a quarter," said three voices.
She dug in her purse for the change, but came up with only forty-six cents. She laid a dollar on the table instead. "One of you can make change for the other two. I need to stock up on change again. Sam wiped me out." There was a long pause, with three pairs of eyes trained on her. Finally Luna said delicately, "Sam? Who's Sam?"
"You know. Sam. My neighbor."
Marci pursed her lips. "Would this be the same neighbor who turned out to be a cop but whom you've described at various times as a jerk, a drunk, a drug dealer, a bottom- feeding son of a bitch, a hulk who hasn't seen a razor or a shower in this millennium – "
"Okay, okay," Jaine said. "Yeah, it's the same guy."
"And you're now on a first-name basis with him?" T.J. asked, amazed.
Jaine's face heated. "Kind of."
"Oh my god." Luna's eyes were huge. "She's blushing."
"This is scary," Marci said, and the three pairs of eyes blinked in astonishment.
Jaine squirmed in the booth, feeling her face get even hotter. "It isn't my fault," she blurted defensively. "He has a red truck. A four-wheel drive."
"I can see where that would make a big difference," T.J. said, studying the ceiling.
"So he isn't that big a jerk," Jaine muttered. "So what? Actually, he is a jerk, but he has his good points."
"And the best one is in his pants, right?" quipped Marci, who, like a honey badger, always went straight for the groin.
Luna displayed a shocking lack of decorum by making a whooping sound and saying, "Dive! Dive! Dive!" just like in a submarine war movie.
"Stop it!" Jaine hissed. "I haven't done that!"
"Oh-ho!" T.J. leaned closer. "Just what have you done?"
"Exactly one kiss, smarty and that's all."
"One kiss does not a blush make," Marci said, grinning. "Especially not on your face."
Jaine sniffed. "Obviously you've never been kissed by Sam, or you wouldn't make such an erroneous statement."
"That good, huh?"
She couldn't help the sigh that heaved out of her lungs, or the way her lips curved. "Yeah. That good."
"So how long did it last?"
"I told you, we haven't had sex! It was just a kiss." Like the Viper was just a car, and Mount Everest was just a hill. "I meant the kiss," Marci said impatiently. "How long did it last?"
Jaine drew a blank on that. She hadn't exactly timed it, and besides, there had been a lot of other stuff going on, like an impending but ultimately denied climax, that had occupied most of her attention. "I don't know. Five minutes or so, I guess."
They all sat there blinking at her. "Five minutes?" T.J. asked weakly. "One kiss lasted five minutes?" There went that damn blush again; she could feel it creeping up her face.
Luna slowly shook her head in disbelief. "I hope you're on birth control pills, because you're definitely in the red zone. He could score at any time."
"That's what he thinks, too," Jaine said, and scowled. "As it happens, I renewed my prescription yesterday."
"Evidently he isn't the only one who thinks it," T.J. cracked, and broke into a big grin. "Hey, this is something to celebrate!"
"You're all acting as if I was a lost cause."
"Let's just say that your social life sucked," Marci said. "It did not."
"When was the last time you had a date?"
She had her there, because Jaine knew it had been a long time, so long she couldn't say exactly when. "So I don't date much. It's by choice, not necessity. My track record in picking men isn't exactly outstanding, remember."
"So what's different about this Sam cop person?"
"A lot," Jaine said vaguely, remembering him naked. After a moment of reverie she shook herself back to reality. "Half the time I want to strangle him."
"And the other half?"
She grinned. "I want to tear his clothes off."
"Sounds like the basis of a good relationship to me," Marci said. "That's certainly more than I had with Brick, and I kept him around for a year."