She taps play and our quiet corner erupts with sounds of...
Oh, god. No.
It’s me and Robbie from this morning, moaning and groaning as the sheets swish beneath us. They rub against the microphone, but not nearly enough to drown out the sounds of pleasure falling out of the two of us.
“Oh, my god,” I say.
Nora’s mouth hasn’t closed yet. “That’s you and Robbie?!” she asks.
“Oh, no, no, no. This is not good.”
Trix raises a brow. “Sounds pretty good to me.”
Dammit.
So much for not talking to the girls about this yet.
“How did this happen?” Nora asks, her eyes burning for gossip. “Did you invite him over? Did he invite you? Are you moving in together? Wait, aren’t you leaving town? Are you still going to New York?”
Trix points at her. “All very valid questions.”
I blink, their voices completely faded beneath the sounds of me having sex echoing through the entire cafe.
“I... don’t know,” is all I can say.
“You don’t know?” Nora repeats.
“We weren’t going to tell you guys about it yet!” I say, panicking. “It’s all very new.”
“You said no more new,” Trix teases.
“Well, I lied. There’s been a lot of new.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” She looks at the phone as Robbie and I louder groan simultaneously. “Okay. So, what exactly is he doing to you here?”
“He’s, uh...” I pause, clearing my throat. “Well, I’m on top.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And he’s...” My cheeks burn. “He’s reaching around me and massaging my asshole with his finger.”
Trix smirks. “Nice.”
I let out a wild grunt on the recording. “And in he goes,” I say. “Can we maybe lower the volume? Please?”
“Wow, Melanie,” Trix says as she obliges. “You’re straight-up blushing right now.”
“Yeah, that happens when your friend broadcasts you having sex within earshot of twenty other people.”
“Since when are you so ashamed of sex?”
“I’m not ashamed, I’m just...”
“Happy?”
“Confused.” I sigh. “Yes, Rob and I are... back together.”
Nora squeals loudly.
“It’s been happening for a while now, actually.”
“How long?” she asks.
“Since, I don’t know...” I think through the timeline for a moment, blissfully reliving the last few weeks. “Since the snowstorm.”
Trix’s jaw falls this time. “What? Really?”
I nod. “We reconnected after I found out he was sober and…” I glare at the phone as we keep going at it. “How much longer is this message?”
“About another twenty seconds,” Trix answers.
“Wow.” I tilt my head, blinking twice. “We do sound good.”
They both nod.
Finally, it stops and I heave a sigh of relief.
“Anyway,” I say. “The night of the snowstorm, I remembered something from the night I got wasted at the bar.”
“When Robbie took you home?” Nora asks.
“Yeah. I, uh...” I swallow hard. “I came onto him and he stopped me. He said he wasn’t that guy anymore.”
“What guy?”
“The kind of guy who would take advantage of me just because he could,” I explain. “Something about that just... shook me, you know?”
She nods, her eyes bleeding sympathy.
“That, along with the snow falling down, reminded me of betters times. I remembered how truly great Robbie could be when he wasn’t blasted out of his mind.” I lick my dry lips once, pressing them together. “Long story short, I went to his place, and we spent three days... well, reconnecting again. In more ways than one.”
“That’s so romantic.”
I chuckle. “I guess.”
Trix pauses. “So, when we staged that intervention, you and Robbie were already back together?” she asks.
“Yeah. Well, no. Not exactly. We were fucking, sure, but at that point we were keeping feelings out of it and just...”
“Reconnecting your parts?”
“Yeah. It was fun and exciting. Work on the book, have sex, work on the book, have sex. It was easy to lose myself in him again, especially since I knew he wouldn’t go through my purse for beer money while I was sleeping. Then, he found out I was planning on leaving Chicago and things got heated and we broke up.”
Nora deflates. “Already?”
“But we worked that out,” I say quickly. “I realized after what happened with Haley the other night that you can’t always trust a man when he says who he is, but you can always trust him to show you. And Robbie...” I sigh. “He’s shown me he’s really changed. He’s willing to keep changing and I really want to see who he’ll be a month from now. A year from now. Five years from now. I’m just so tired of being angry and I want to move forward. If the worst parts of him really are behind us, then I want to do that together.”
“So, are you still moving?” Trix asks.
“No,” I say. “I’m going to stay. I want to try to make it work with this new and improved Robbie.”
Nora swoons. “I’m so thrilled for you guys.”
“Me, too,” Trix says.
I smile.
They gaze at me for a few moments more. I suppose it is a lot to take in. It’ll take a while for me to get used to it myself.
Trix reaches for her phone. “Let’s listen to it again.”
“Okay!” Nora says.
“How about no,” I say.
Nora’s bright expression drops. She shifts backward, making her chair fall over behind her as she stands out of fear. Trix and I follow her eye line as a man approaches the table with wide, purposeful strides. He’s lanky with dirty jeans and an untucked shirt. Not the kind you’d expect at an upscale place like Moira’s.
He glares at Nora. “Where’s Clive?” he asks.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Nora says.
“Where is Clive?”
“Trix, call the police.”
Trix grabs her phone off the table and quickly rises from her chair. “I’ll get the manager, too,” she says as she takes the long way around him.
The man sneers, annoyed. “Don’t call the police!” he says, drawing the attention of neighboring tables. “I just want to speak to my friend.”
“He’s not your friend anymore,” Nora says, her voice shaking. “You can’t be here, Alex. You’re violating our restraining order right now. Please, leave.”
Alex.
The man who broke into her apartment to try to
