"How did you meet?"

"I used to go to this little whole-in-the-wall diner to study, and she was a half-owner of it. They were short on help one night so she had to cover, and we got to talking." I shrugged. "The rest is history."

"How long did it last?"

"Hmm," I sighed as I ate some green beans, thinking back. "I guess six months?"

"What happened?"


"Well, she got tired of me studying all the time. See, she was already past that part in her life, and had no patience for someone else who was trying to make their mark at school and in life."

"Ah, I see."

"Plus, I think she really just wanted someone who she could play like a puppet; you know, tell what to do, when, where and why." Haley looked at me strangely, her nose wrinkled in distaste.

"How on earth did you end up with someone like that?"

"Hey, I was just trying this whole woman thing out. I was impressed with her knowledge at first."

"Okay. Understandable. Then who?"

"Well, let’s see. Alecia, then I think it was Nina. But that was just a fling. There was no way I was interested in getting sucked into another relationship."

"What, were you two like fuck buddies, or something?" Haley grinned, finishing off the rest of her wine, and sitting back in her chair, an empty plate in front of her. I nodded.

"Essentially."

"How long?"

"Off and on for about a year. It just made things easy with school. No worries, no pressures, just fun when I wanted it. I think we actually only went out on three real dates. We both realized that we liked each other in bed far more than during the day." I chuckled at the thought. "I’m not real proud of that situation, and it definitely wouldn’t be something I’d tell Kendall about." We both smiled.

"Here honey, this is what’s called a fuck buddy." Haley teased, I laughed.

"Her mother would have my ass."

"Okay. So, after that year. And why did it end, anyway?"

"I graduated."

"Oh."

"Then there was Cassandra. The dark meat." I grinned, Haley nodded understanding while pouring herself, and me, some more wine. "She was probably one of the sweetest women I had ever met. We tried a relationship, but her parents hated me because I was white. It was a real mess, and didn’t last long at all. It was also her dog who killed Suki."

"Well, damn her." I chuckled.

"Yeah. After that it was Erin." I put my fork down, finished. I stood, grabbing my plate, and gathering up Haley’s dishes, walking to the kitchen. "How about you?" As I loaded the dishwasher, Haley began to tell her tale.

"Well, I didn’t date much at all for the first little bit that I was in school, actually, I had my first date at the beginning of my junior year."

"Why so long?" I asked as I cut us slices of my cheesecake.

"I don’t know. I think I had had enough of guys from high school, and sex, and the whole nine yards. I wanted to just concentrate on school, my friends and my family."

"That’s honorable." I headed back to the table with our dessert. "Here you go, madam."

"Thank you." I sat down, and glanced over at her. She was looking at the cheesecake, then looked up at me. "So, did you and Sara Lee have fun with this?"

"I’ll have you know, that is homemade from scratch." She pointed her fork at me.

"You made this? All by your lonesome?"

"Just me and Bunsen."

"Well, I’m not so sure I want to eat anything that has Bunsen’s seal of approval on it."

"Yeah, well his only contribution was licking the crumbs off the floor." She chuckled, and bent down to sniff the cheesecake. I watched, fascinated.

"Cyanide doesn’t have a smell,"

"Would you just eat the damn thing?"

Haley grinned, and cut a bite with her fork. With one last sniff, she stuck it in her mouth, her jaw moving as she swished it around in her mouth, as if she were tasting a fine wine. Then, without a breath, she lunged at the cheesecake.

Shaking my head in amusement, I began to eat my own dessert.

"So, continue."

"Oh, yeah. This is excellent, by the way, Andi. Generally I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin anything, but you can make this for me anytime." I laughed.

"Great. I’ll be your personal dessert maker."

"Hey, works for me." She took another bite, chewing slowly before continuing with her list. "So, in my junior year I met Kevin."

"How did that go?"

"It didn’t. I mean, we dated for a while, I’d say maybe a year, but he was really just an ass. I was his token girlfriend, you know? Just some eye candy for his friends to be jealous of. Certainly not a meaningful relationship."

Having finished the cheesecake, Haley licked her finger and began to pick up all the little crumbs left on the plate.

"Um, Haley? There is more cheesecake, you know?" She looked up at me, a smile immediately coming to her face. "Want more?" She nodded, grinning like an adorable little idiot as she did. Chuckling at her antics, I grabbed her plate, and headed to the kitchen.

"Then after graduation, I had no intention of dating for a little while. I think Kevin had ruined that for me. Maybe that’s why I had been so drawn to Lonnie." I set the plate in front of her.

"What do you mean? His pureness of heart?" She nodded.

"Yeah. He was just so nice and sweet, and so completely opposite of Kevin. I really think I had to get the last bit of high school out of my system with him, you know? He was so much like Brad it was scary."

"Ew."

"Tell me about it. Anyway, you know the story behind Lonnie. After that whole fiasco, I met Isaac, who I actually still see from time to time. Well, when I was in California, anyway. Neither of us were looking for anyone to date, but if something comes up and we need a date, like the holidays, or something, we’d give each other a buzz."

I sat back in my chair, completely stuffed now, and wondering how on earth Haley was eating that second piece of dessert.

We talked more about our lives through the years, and then I helped her clean things up. It was late, and I was stuffed and tired.

It was nearly midnight by time I got home. I unlocked the door, a smile of contentment on my face. How was it that I enjoyed my time with Haley no matter what it was that we did? We could sit on the couch, neither of us saying a word, watching TV or a movie or something, and I felt at peace, and happy. Never in my life had I experienced that.

Except with her.

I headed toward Bunsen’s room, opening the door to let him out so I could take him out to go to the bathroom outside.

"Hello, boy. How are you?" I picked up his excited, wiggling body, trying to hug him as he snorted in excitement. "Come on, big guy. You need to poop." I carried him over to the backdoor, and let him out.


As I headed toward my bedroom to get ready for bed, I passed the stereo, seeing a Linda Eder CD laying on top. I turned the power on, and loaded the disk, standing there as her voice came through the speakers, loud and clear, full of beauty and talent. Without a thought, my hand went to the track button, and I pushed it until I got to song number twelve.

The slow, sensual tones of "Unusual Way" began, Linda humming with it.

In a very unusual way, one time I needed you.

In a very unusual way, you were my friend.

Maybe it lasted a day,

Maybe it lasted an hour.

But somehow it will never end.

In a very unusual way, I think I’m in love with you.

In a very unusual way, I want to cry.

Something inside me goes weak,

Something inside me surrenders.

You’re the reason why,

You’re the reason why.

You don’t know what you do to me,

You don’t have a clue.

You can’t tell what it’s like to be me,

Looking at you.

It scares me so,

That I can hardly speak.

In a very unusual way, I owe what I am to you.

When at times it appears I won’t stay,

I’d never go.

Special to me in my life,

Since the first day that I met you.

How could I ever forget you,

Once you had touched my soul.

In a very unusual way,

You made me whole.

My eyes closed, I listened to those words, felt them to my very soul, and for just a moment, I thought I might cry.

Turning the stereo off, I let the dog in, turned out all the lights, and went to bed.

* * *

I pulled on my long leather jacket, knowing I’d need it tonight. It was early December, and winter was upon us with a vengeance. We had thirty-six inches of the white stuff fall within the last week, and I was loving every minute of it.

Pulling my gloves on, I closed the door to my house, and headed toward my Jeep to go pick Haley up.

It was her thirty-first birthday, and I really hoped she’d like what I had planned for her. It wasn’t a big party like she’d done for me, but then this wasn’t a milestone birthday for her, either. Plus, I had to admit selfishly, I wanted tonight just to be us.

The last few weeks had gone so quickly, as holidays tend to do. I had gone to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving, and Haley and her family had had their own dinner that I had helped Haley prepare, at her house. She didn’t want her mother to have to take on that burden when she had so much to go already with her father’s failing health. Tim Corregan was getting worse, but I kept telling Haley to keep hope.