Within a few weeks the warm weather would be replaced by the coldness of fall. He loved the dark months, the cold and the festive season all wrapped into one. Even in the cold he’d wait for Emily to finish. He’d drunk his last beer an hour ago, and he was watching the last few people leave. Half an hour later, as Emily always helped with the cleanup, the woman who’d been fucking him up walked out. When he’d heard her talking to Dorothy about him, he’d felt like someone had sucker-punched him in the gut. Then, when he heard the turmoil in her voice, he’d known what he wanted to do. There was no reason for either of them to hide. They’d been close for the last month. In fact, to him it didn’t feel like they’d only known each other a month. To him, he felt like they’d known each other for a lifetime already. Some people just connected, is what his father said. Did he and Emily connect? He thought so. “Hey,” she said. “Thank you for waiting. You know you don’t have to.”“I like waiting.”
