He waited for her to put her flat shoes back on before leading her to the back door and out. This time of year the day ended early and it was already...dark outside. The air was chilly and made them both shiver. He went to the first shelter he saw. Henry's truck."No! Not there!" she protested as he opened the door to the old Chevrolet."Yes, here," he said. He pushed her in front of him, determined that she could get in or he'd take her right here. Charlene hesitated, then crawled into the. What kind?" "First, no running off by yourself -- it's too dangerous. I want to be there with you or at least close -- that's hard and fast." ("So I can watch," I admitted to myself.) "Second, no secrets: if I do leave you alone for any reason, I want you to tell me everything that happens - the truth and the whole truth." "And three, if you have sex with anyone other than me, they have to use a condom. We don't need either or both of us to die because of a one night stand. That's hard and. Just got through so much stress with exams, and just did a really hard workout. Some couch Olympics and brewskies sound great.” Bryce popped some typical shoot-‘em-up forgettable action film into the DVD player and started it, while Kyle brought a whole bunch of frosty beers to the living room and passed them around. Basically, the living room had a two-person sofa and, on the right at like a 45 degree angle in front of the sofa, a small love seat that really only fit one person. Kyle. "Theresa," I said, trembling slightly as adozen pair of eyes turned to watch the show. "Will you marry me?"Theresa could say anything. "We hadn?t been dating long enough to getmarried." Or, "I?m not sure, John." Or, worst of all, "No." Mytrembling was evident as I held the engagement ring that had oncebelonged to Abby up to the woman I loved.The chatter in the coffee shop became nothing but a muted,anticipatory whispers. Like me, shoppers and staff alike were waitingfor Theresa to reply.I knew.