The words drifted off, as thou,1 he had fallen asleep. She touched his cheek, then his forehead. He seemed cooler. She started to move away but his fingers closed on her wrist.

‘I thought you were asleep again,’ she said.

‘No. What I think. I think maybe it was jealousy.’ ‘Sharky, you don’t —,

‘You gotta understand about 1’he Nosh. He shouldn’t have even been —‘

She put her fingertips to his lips.

‘Don’t, please. Arch told me abut him. I’m sorry. I’m so very, very sorry.’

Tears flooded her eyes and she turned her face away from him. Her throat started to close up and she knew it would be difficult to say any more.

‘Point is, gotta stop them, okay?’

‘Oh, yes.’ She leaned back towards him and the tears dribbled down her cheeks and fell on his chest. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. Then he reached up and brushed them away with his thumb.

‘Don’t.’

‘I want to tell you about it. You have a right to know. It was like’ — she swallowed and wanted to stop crying but the tears kept coming — ‘it was like...’

He pulled her gently down until her cheek lay against his chest. The tears poured down over him.

‘He was very good to me. For a long time. And I felt. . . I couldn’t believe he could.. . could. .

‘All I wanted was the name. What happened. . . what was between you.. . none of my business.’

‘But I want it to be.’

‘Baby, I don’t care.’

‘Oh, God,’ she said. ‘I just want it to be over. I want it to be over with them. I don’t want to see Neil again. I —‘

He rubbed her neck with a weak hand.

‘Soon.’

And he fell asleep again.

The room was dark. She had turned out the light. He reached over and felt her beside him and sighed.

‘Do you need anything?’ she said.

‘Feeling better,’ he said. ‘Just pooped. What time is it? He felt her hand cross his chest and she moved close to him. For the first time he realized they were both naked. He put his hand on top of hers.

‘Don’t worry about the time.’

‘You feel good. Soft. And warm.’

He felt her cold hand on his forehead.

‘You’ve still got a little fever,’ she said. ‘But it’s going down.’

‘Yeah.’

She moved her hand on top of his and closed her fingers around it, squeezing it. Her head moved closer to him. He could feel her hair against the side of his face and he moved it closer to her.

‘Thanks for taking care of me,’ he said.

‘Ummm.’

‘Shhh.’

‘No.’

‘Go back to sleep.’

‘I want to tell you. I, uh. . . before I flake out again.

About The Nosh. It’s okay. Everything just got screwed up.’

‘Please. Go to sleep.’

‘Yeah. That time in the market, when I first talked to you, I, uh...’

He moved his head closer to her, and lying there in the lark, he began to drift again and a moment before he fell asleep he said, ‘I love you.’

A light awakened him the next time. It was a thin shaft coming from the bathroom. He held up his wrist, but his watch was gone. Water was running. He stirred, reached out for Domino, but she was gone. Then he saw her, standing naked in the doorway of the bathroom, a washcloth in her hand.

‘Your fever broke,’ she said. ‘I’m just drying you off.’

She came to him, sat beside him, put the cold cloth on his forehead. She leaned over him, her breasts crushed against him. She kissed his throat, then his dry lips. Then she slipped into the bed beside him.

The shot was wearing off. Sharky forgot the pain in his hand, the fever, how tired he was. He put his arm around her and kissed her and she reached around and stroked his back and slid her hand down over his buttocks and drew him against her.

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