We laughed and settled into having our adult beverages and sharing meaningless chatter. Soon, they were out of wine again and turned to me to fill th...ir order. I responded to their demands by telling them that I never had, and didn't intend to start, working for free. They made snide remarks about the service and my attitude, and threatened to report me to management. Then they proceeded to make a suggestive comments about how much such services were worth to them.As I lifted my beer to. I was glad you were on the boat with us. Really.”“Cool, it was fun. I can’t believe I won! I mean, you two fish every morning.”“That’s the way the luck goes sometimes.”“True.” She yawned into my shoulder. “Okay, I’m going to bed.”“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.Lara didn’t want to leave our embrace, so we stood a while longer in the center of the room before she finally pulled away.“Goodnight.”Surprisingly, curiosity about Julie’s message wasn’t enough to keep me awake, so I soon fell asleep.The next. It was very hard juggling working and looking after my son, so my social life was non-existent apart from the rare night here and there. I didn't venture out too often, and when I did I kept meeting idiots or men who thought they were god’s gift to women, and arrogance is not a pretty trait. Friends were pushing me to go out more, to meet someone and start seeing one of these guys but none of them were appealing. What I did find strange was that I found myself actually talking to a few black. I also had a tiny bit of empathy my father did not have. I still had my share of one-night stands and short relationships like my father did, but much fewer and farther between. Looking back, I always felt slightly guilty for the women I had used.When Doug passed away a couple of years back, I just quit cold turkey and decided to stay single. My motivation to do much of anything kind of went out the window after that.After getting ready, I dressed back into some comfortable sweats and stumbled.