The Waiter by Bradleigh Collins (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

No Dalton. Okay, I didn’t sleep with him. I think I would have remembered if I had. At least I hope I would, given the fact that I haven’t had sex in over a month. And sex with Dalton was certainly not something you forget.

I got up and headed for the kitchen to get some aspirin. There in the living room, asleep on my couch, was Dalton. He was laying there wearing nothing but his white Calvin Klein boxer briefs, looking like some kind of Greek statue or anatomy drawing that belonged in a museum. I just stood there in the doorway, staring at him. I had been in love with this man for most of my adult life. My heart ached for him even though he was right there in front of me. That was the essence of our relationship. I really wanted to believe he was sorry, but I’d been here too many times before. I could see the writing on the wall. Hell, I wrote the writing on the wall.

I went to the kitchen and took a couple of aspirin. Then I started the coffeepot. When I walked back into the living room, Dalton was awake.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like a loser that needs a shower.” I walked towards the bathroom.

“Want some company?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I went into the bathroom and locked the door. The last thing I needed was him joining me in the shower. Sex was the slippery slope that always got us back together and always got me another soul crushing.

After I finished my shower, I put on my robe and blow-dried my hair. Then I walked back into the living room.

“Wanna go to Majestic?” Dalton asked.

“Fuck yeah, I do.” The Majestic had the best breakfast in town and I was starving. Plus, I needed to extricate Dalton from my apartment so I could get to work lining up my next job interview.

“I’m gonna jump in the shower first.” He got up and walked past me, stopping to lean down and kiss me on top of my head. “You’re still funny as hell when you’re drunk.”

“You’re still a jerk when I’m drunk.”

“Yeah, but you love me anyway.” He closed the bathroom door.

Asshole. He was right. I did love him anyway. It felt good being out with him last night. Slipping back into our usual couple banter. Sitting on his lap. Having his arms around me. And that kiss. Goddamn that kiss. I kept thinking about it as I got dressed. The greatest thing about my relationship with Dalton was the passion. The spark was always there. But the explosion and the shrapnel that follows was never far behind.

As soon as I finished getting dressed, the bathroom door opened. Dalton stood there with a towel wrapped around his hips, water dripping down his chest from his long wet hair. His chiseled oblique muscles were fully exposed. God, what I wanted to do to that body. What I had done to that body. He caught me staring and smiled vindictively.

“I’m using your toothbrush,” he said.

I wanted him so badly. I missed him so badly. And I knew that all I had to do was walk over to him and give him a look. The towel would drop. He would lift me up onto the sink like he had done so many times before. I would wrap my legs around him and he’d walk me into the bedroom where we’d spend the entire day making up for lost time. And then I’d be right back where I started. I quickly snapped out of it.

“I’ll meet you downstairs. I need to get something at Kroger.” I grabbed my purse and ran out of the apartment. I walked over to Kroger even though I didn’t actually need anything. I bought some Alka-Seltzer and tampons just to cover my hasty exit. I could always use Alka-Seltzer and tampons.

I left the grocery store and walked over to Dalton’s car. It was a fancy red sports car that was way too fast and way too flashy. I used to refer to it as the extension. Not that he needed one.

We arrived at The Majestic around ten and were seated at a booth near the back. I ordered a grilled cheese and fries and he ordered steak and eggs. I was already on my second cup of coffee.

“So, tell me about this New York thing,” he said.

“Not much to tell. I interviewed for a job in corporate last week and I didn’t get it because Bitchy Brenda hates me.”

“You were just going to move to New York and not tell me?”

“I wasn’t speaking to you at the time. I hadn’t been speaking to you for thirty-six days to be exact.”

“Sam, about that night,” he said.

“Yeah, about that night.”

“I fell asleep. Rhonda didn’t wake me up.”

The sound of her name made my jaws clench. “Of course she didn’t.”

“I swear to god nothing happened.”

“Okay.” I didn’t know if I believed him or not.

“Does that mean you forgive me? That I get another chance?”

“You get the chance to have breakfast with me right now.”

“Fair enough.”

We sat there eating our Majestic breakfast like two civilized people. It was nice, actually. He was going to his office afterwards, and I was grateful for that. I needed to get my head back on straight and focus on New York. The sooner I could find a job, the sooner I could escape what was certain to be another round with Dalton.

When I got back to the apartment, I sat down at my desk and logged onto Monster.com. I started submitting for every single writing job I saw based in Manhattan. I figured if I got any interest, I could do another long weekend in the city and schedule a few interviews in one day. I had plenty of vacation saved up and I knew my boss would approve the time off.

Just as I hit the submit button on my third job application, an ICQ message popped up from The