Remembering one of the rules we set for ourselves was no texts or calls past noon. Whose idea was that anyway? Seemed like a good idea at the time… ...o make it feel more like we were separate individuals and not deeply in love. Ok, so no texting to “see where you are” type of stuff. This was supposed to play out like a real event, right? You are supposed to be Mr Joe Nobody in a random bar on a random evening after working all day and just winding down with a couple drinks like everyone else. Less than a minute after the illusion had beenput in place, another man came up to him and began to hit on him ratheroutrageously. Several seconds after that, apparent biker punched the onehitting on him and then a real brawl broke out, spreading to two othermen nearby. The illusion had vanished when the punch was thrown, so theman who'd been hit was probably feeling pretty confused."Dude," Bro exclaimed, staring at the fight and then shaking his head."That was totally wrong." He paused for. " Oh? I always thought you were kind of exciting too, Betty." That's why I could never call you mom, or mother, or even Mother Betty. You're too-- pretty and young to be motherly."She laughed in her throat, growing more certain of her prey, feeling catlike and female. "Oh, I don't know. Sometimes being a mother is a good thing-- a real good thing. You have no idea how thrilling it can be. Linda knows now, but you don't; not yet, Glenn."He sounded puzzled. "Betty, I don't know what in hell. My last night there, my family threw a huge dinner, and Seth was there. We sat next to each other holding hands throughout it. Finally, it was time to go back to Maryland. My truck was now fixed, and in better shape than ever, thanks to Seth’s mechanical abilities. I stood by the driver side door and faced Seth, dread in my heart. I had to leave him. And he was already SO important to me. He reached out to me and I burst into tears. God how was I gonna leave him? We embraced for a long while.