” I actually pushed her hand away.“This is my fault.”To my surprise I heard myself answer.“It's your fault. It's my fault. It's our fault. I d...n't know.” What the hell was I saying?!“I thought I could stay cool. I can't. I thought I could keep it mutual. I can't. But now? Today? Here? Like this? Somehow in these last few hours it's all so...real.”“Don't you feel it?” I heard myself dare ask. She didn't answer she just looked at me with a mixture of emotions, sitting up more now with her hands. Don’t ask me why, but I ducked around the corner, then peered around the doorway. I could see Pete with his head buried in the fridge, no doubt looking for something to eat.“Hey big boy, want to play?” Mom asked!From what I could figure she thought Pete was me, since all she could see from the open refrigerator door was his but and legs.“Huh?” Pete replied, standing upright and looking at Mom.“Oh….Pete! I….I..thought you were someone else!” she explained.To make matters worse she had changed. But he could not resist the smile of her, while thinking also of both his ex and his new girlfriend. “Wonder,” he thought for himself, “how many other guys can come up with this kind of planning!”Out loud, but softly, he said to his girlfriend: “I and you should have a little cuddle with the three of them, and that waitress could be part of it, too!”His girlfriend said: “OK, let's take the three of them up to my bedroom, and you can come with us, and take that waitress too, if you dare!”He. "Ooh, I'd love to see it! Morgan told me you have a great spooky attic!"That's when the light bulb went on in my head. Perfect. No one would think to look in the attic."Oh yeah, you have to see it!" I grabbed her arm and pulled her along, out into the hallway and up the stairs, through a creaky old door, and up more stairs. Both of us still with a beer bottle in hand.I flicked a light switch at the top of the stairs. Through windows the streetlights offered some reprieve from the dark, but not.