You have done well since I last saw you ten years ago," Jamal told me."I'm surprised. I realize that we had become a bit friendly, but to pay that muc... attention to me?" I said with some surprise."Come, Alex. You were an officer in Special Operations! Of course we would pay attention to you. Don't worry, we know you are not active, and that you have had no more than cursory contact with anyone of interest," he said."You do? Well, it's nice to know that I was important at one time anyway," I. Amy's car was a piece of junk. I texted her back - "your car is a piece of shit! oh well, i'll just watch these b-movies with bf and his friend. c u later". The first movie was pretty amusing at least, a typical rubbishy 70's sci fi piece about an experiment going wrong and giant ants terrorizing a town. Chris and James were loving it, laughing their heads off. I grabbed my third beer as Chris came back from the kitchen with the next six-pack. I was starting to get nicely tipsy, and was. We were seated next to the window, and watched the sun go down as we ate.I tried ouzo for the first time, which is a Greek wine. It's really good, but really strong. I went to sleep almost as soon as we got back to the hotel.I spent the next day on the beach again and met Alex at a restaurant right on the beach. My parents had decided to go out for a romantic dinner themselves, and Clay was who knows where.We were seated at a very private booth."So, Alex asked, where are you from?" California.". I don’t know what this would have cost me – I’d guess around eight grand – but Hiram had never married and I was his only nephew so I got it for an affordable price considering my salary. Anyway, Cindy was staring at the picture for what must have been a full minute. She was shaking her head, slowly, and I could see her shoulders slump. Then she turned abruptly, decisively away from the picture with her posture firmed. I knew at that instant our marriage was over. She was leaving me. BEGINNINGS.