You'll meet someone else." And then she was gone.Did I say something about things being surreal? Well, I should have. But, at least Darla didn't prete...d to be something she wasn't. I wished her well. And, and in some vague way, I felt relieved. She and I should never even have dated, so I guess I came out ahead in the long run anyway.I'd only been on the job for eight months; but now it, the job, became my surrogate woman. It wasn't that I was down on myself when it came to my lack of success. Or even some evenings, when they were glued in front of the television, I could take a long shower. The beauty of a long shower (and having multiple bathrooms) is that you don’t have to have the water running all the time you are in the bathroom. You could ostensibly be using the toilet before you took your shower. Or you could aim the shower head at the wall, so the water wouldn’t hit you, and turn on just enough cold water (cold so you wouldn’t run out of hot water later) to make some water. A big fat raccoon approached and laid a paw on my shoe. He looked up at me then curled up around my ankle and shivered. I picked him up and cuddled him. He had just had the shit scared out of him. I wasn't much better. The spirits noticed the congruence and a "CHUNG" sounded somewhere in the ether. We became bonded. Rodney was given the ability to go wherever he wished and was now smarter than most humans. I gained the magnificent gift of dexterity above and beyond what any mortal man could. You know what’s going to happen there. And you’re OK if I see the others, and what might happen?”“I told you what I wanted when we made love. I know I’ve changed how I feel, but it’s not fair to you. I’m OK with it now. If I decide I’m not OK with it, I promise I’ll tell you and I promise we will talk it through and figure out what to do.“Jennifer, you’re amazing. I love you.”“And I love you too, Steve.”We rejoined the rest of the gang. I was stewing in my own thoughts. I ignored Kellie’s.