Page 52 of Aperture

I sweep my middle fingers under my eyes to catch the few tears shed, just as the hostess tells us our seats are ready.

We sit down, and she brings us a massive bowl of chips and salsa. I am in heaven. This is precisely what I needed today. I dip a chip in medium-heat salsa and bring it to my mouth. The saltiness and acidity hit the front of my tongue, and the slow heat from the peppers settles in the back of my mouth.

“So,” she starts. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t even know, Gwennie. I’m confused.”

“About what, Sweetie?”

“So, you know how earlier this week Theo went out of town?”

“Uh-huh,” she says, popping a chip in her mouth.

“It was just bad timing, right after the break-in and all.”

“Right,” she nods, listening intently.

“So, I ran into Wyatt at the grocery store. Well, ran into is probably not the right description. He followed me there.”

Gwen’s eyebrows draw together and she’s about to say something, but she recovers and restrains herself. Our server comes to our table to take our order. A gangly man with a crop of disheveled ginger hair and equally red smattering of jaw acne smiles awkwardly knowing he just interrupted our conversation. Gwen smiles coyly at “Steve” with her patented ‘all is forgiven’ smile and Steve becomes even more flustered. Steve takes our lunch order, and both Gwen and I smile cheerfully at him as we hand him back our menus. Our smiles disappear the minute Steve turns his back on our booth.

“I know,” I admit. “He shouldn’t have been following me. It’s creepy and weird. I yelled at him.”

“That’s actually not what I was going to say,” she says. “I mean, yes, those things are true, but it’s kind of romantic if you think about it,” she says with a shrug of her shoulders.

I’m so shocked by her assessment of this situation that my jaw falls open.

“What?” I ask.

“I just mean that he can’t have you for some mysterious reason, but he’s staying close and watching over you. He’s showing you how much he cares about you the only way he can right now.” She shrugs. “It’s kind of romantic.”

“Wow! Just wow. I did not see that coming,” I say, sitting back in my seat.

“Do you disagree?” she asks.

“No, there's an element of truth there. It probably doesn’t speak too highly of me, but I like his devotion to keeping me safe.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” she states. “So what happened after you yelled at him?”

“He asked me if he could teach me some self-defense. He said it would make him feel better if I knew how to protect myself.”

“OK,” she nods.

“So we spent some time at the gym. It was beautiful, grueling torture. We wrestled, we fought, and at one point, we were basically in the 69 position.”

“Now that’s a workout,” she jokes.

“Right?” I laugh. “But it was a great day. I left there feeling amazing. I felt more like myself than I have in a while.”

“So what’s wrong?” she asks.

“Well, I knew I had to tell Theo, which I was not looking forward to, but when he called, he already knew. And he was pissed.”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. Back up. What?”

“Yep. He put an app on my phone to see my location. He knew I was at the gym with Wyatt.”

“Mouse, I know you like to see the best in people, but that is a huge red flag.”