Indulge Me

“I’m a changed man. Lost ten pounds this month and going for forty more.”

“Forty! You’re kidding. I’ve only seen you exercise your beer muscle.”

“I know, I know.” He laughed the big Bruce laugh everyone knew him by. “I met this woman. Whoa, you should see her. Personal trainer. She says no pain no gain. I’m telling you, looking at her I don’t care what she makes me do. I feel no pain at all.”

“Um…well.” Tyler leaned back, slightly uncomfortable. Maybe when he was married he’d understand that the whole ogle-other-women thing was harmless, but this wasn’t like Bruce at all and he felt immediate loyalty to Molly. “Wow.”

“Get this. She’s not only a knockout, she’s got a degree in philosophy. Can you beat that? Brains, biceps and boobs. The holy trinity.”

Tyler winced. “That’s…great. So, uh, how’s Molly doing?”

“Fine, fine. Same as usual. She’s why I’m calling. She’s got this friend, uh…Darcy.”

Tyler narrowly avoided spilling beer down his shirt. He had no idea how to respond to that, so he said, “Ugnhya?”

“Yeah, uh, she and Darcy are really close. They tell each other pretty much…everything.”

Tyler sat up, then stood. “Everything.”

“Sorry, man. Look, I wouldn’t have called, but Moll said—”

Molly’s irritated voice interrupted him from the background. Tyler paced off the patio onto his yard and down to the back fence, then realized his back fence was also Darcy’s and beat a hasty retreat around to the front, not sure whether he was flattered or furious. Darcy had told Molly about their night together? Already? Had she discussed the size of his dick, too? He hadn’t thought he could feel stupider for thinking they’d shared something special, but apparently he could. He’d like to have a word or two with her about privacy and integrity and good taste.

“Okay, Moll, if you’re so gung-ho worried about her and I’m doing it wrong, then you tell him.” Bruce’s booming voice came clearly over the line. Tyler rolled his eyes. Whatever Molly had to say about Darcy’s version of their night together, he wasn’t interested.

“Tyler, hi, it’s Molly.”

“Listen, what happened between Darcy and me is between Darcy and—”

“I know. It’s really tacky of me, and if I wasn’t so worried about her and sure she was about to make a big mistake, I’d stay way out of it, I promise.”

Tyler closed his eyes. Darcy was nothing to him. More to the point, he was nothing to Darcy. He owed her nothing at all. Not one thing. And if she was in trouble in some way and needed help, well, that was just too bad for her. She had the chance to…She could have…She…

Damn.

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

“She got this crazy idea after…” She cleared her throat.

“After things went so, uh, well last night. With you.”

He rolled his eyes. Great. He got a good review. Call the New York Times and put it on the front page. “Yeah?”

“So she wants to do it again.”

Tyler stopped dead on the sidewalk in front of his house and realized he was staring at Annika, the cranky eighty-year-old woman who walked her Scottie—named Scotty—around the block four times a day every day at the exact same hours. If you made eye contact she’d haul you into conversation extremely tough to escape from. He whirled around and walked back down the driveway, still stunned by what Molly had said. Darcy wanted him again? “She has a damn strange way of showing it.”

“No, not with you.”

Tyler closed his eyes. God give him strength to face this humiliation. “Thanks.”

“I mean, she does want to be with you but she doesn’t think she does.”

He lifted his face to the sky. “Molly, you want to start this one over?”

“Yes. Sorry. Here it is. She’s coming off a rough few years and she has this crazy idea of fulfilling all her fantasies before she leaves town.”

“Leaves?” He couldn’t stop the thump in his chest. “You’re still ahead of me. Where is she going?”

“She’s moving. To Seattle. Then L.A. Then Miami. Then Boston.”

“For her job?” He didn’t even know where she worked. He knew next to nothing about her. Why did he care this much whether she stayed or went or whether he ever saw her again?

“For fun. She’s always wanted to live in the four corners of the country.”

“Okay…”

“So I’m worried about her.”

“She strikes me as someone who can take care of herself.” And how. He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his tone.

“She’s planning to walk into a bar dressed in some complete slut outfit and seduce whatever guy she comes across. On Saturday.”

Tyler actually flinched, the pain was that real and that immediate. “Why the hell are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to stop her.”

“Me? You’re worried about her, you stop her. Jeez, Molly, this is really over the—”

“She wants you, Tyler. She’s totally fighting how she feels about you.”

His mouth dropped open. He became aware that he had turned around and was staring at Annika again, who had planted her white-haired, blue-running-suit-clad self firmly at the end of his driveway and was beckoning. He shook his head and pointed to the phone. “Could you repeat that please, Molly?”

“I think she’s really into you.”

He frowned. Annika beckoned harder. “You only think?”

“I know she is. And I’m scared she’s doing this second seduction out of some stupid fear she’ll fall in love with you and won’t be able to get away like she’s planned.”

Tyler couldn’t move. Fall in love? What the hell? Had Molly lost her mind? “Uh, can I talk to Bruce?”

“Why?”

“Just…can I, please?”

Molly sighed and said, “Okay,” in a tone that told him she thought he was exactly as insane as he thought she was.

Bruce came on with a cheerful, “What’s up?” Annika stopped beckoning and pointed frantically to something in his front yard. Tyler felt like roaring at her.