‘These, and Fifteen on nine, please.’ The girl looked up at him as though she were a zombie. ‘No problem,’ she muttered. Brian chuckled as he ...anded her the money and walked out back to his car. He opened his tank and started to pump gas as a scene down the street caught his eye. The phone building (as he’d grown to know it as) had its lights on in one room, with a figure looking at papers of some sort. The figure kept dropping them and frantically picking them up, as though it were nervous or. "That's very sweet of you." I like your dress," he said, putting a hand on my thigh. "Do you mind? I love the feel of expensive fabric."His touch caused my body to tense up, and I could only watch as the hem of my black baby doll dress moved up my leg, revealing the soft flesh of my thigh. This was my best friend's dad, and he was too old for my taste, but the way he looked and smiled at me was hypnotising. "What about Emma?" I asked, dropping my head and looking at his hand.He grabbed my chin. She admitted that she had gone about it in thewrong way but now that it was all out in the open maybe we could worktogether to find a way to make it work for both of us."So you're not looking to leave me then," I said more as a statement thana question."Of course not you idiot," she said with a laugh. "I love you and justwant us to be happy."I was so relieved I almost started crying too. We hugged each other andlaughed for a while before I told her I was still not certain where Bradfit in. I. JoJo could make just about anything into a planter. "Forget it," he said good- naturedly.Next was a table of knickknacks and odds and ends. "Hey," said JoJo, stopping. "Hey," Joe echoed. They stood in front of the knickknack table staring at the alarm clock radio."A Snoozer," JoJo whispered."I know," Joe whispered back.On their honeymoon twenty years ago, Joe and JoJo had spent six nights in the city in a not-quite- seedy hotel convenient to the theater district. The idea was that the money.