Once inthe kitchen, she put the flowers up, placed the candy on the counter andthen turned to me. "I did not say thank you for the gifts," as she took...me by the hand andleaned in for a kiss. Just then the phone rang, so we reluctantly brokeoff the kiss as Jacqui reached for the wall phone."Hi mom, yes we are doing fine. We played some video games today, hadpizza and now Terry is over here and we are going to watch some moviestonight and just hang out. Okay, love you too and we will see. "What can I get ya darlin'?" the bartender asked Donna. "I'm here to see Rachael?" she said. "I was wondering... we don't get a lot of single women coming in here!" he said with a grin. He waved over one of the two waitresses and said something in her ear. The waitress went off in the general direction of the back of the building. "Do you want something to drink while you wait?" the bartender asked. "Oh no thank you. I'm just here to see Rachael," she said. She would have loved something to. I gave her a big hug as she squeezed me back.“Pete, what do we do?”“Why should we do anything? It seems like neither of them is forcing the other, and they’re both happy. They both like boys, so it’s not like they are going to run away together. And at least they can’t get each other pregnant,” I said, which got me a chuckle and a soft kiss. “I say, nobody but us needs to know. I don’t care who she’s seeing, as long as she’s happy. But they have got to be more careful!”Linda nodded and I put. She was a mess. Her lips were cracked and bleeding. Her face was nearly one huge blister and her expensive cocktail dress was in tatters. Tear tracks ran through the sandy dirt on her cheeks.She was curled into a ball in apparent surrender to the elements and her fate. It was impossible not to feel compassion, even though I was still feeling ill toward her for her unsociable, imperious manner.A few more steps brought me close enough to see that she had carved what appeared to be a message into.