Page 8 of David

“What was it then? They never pull away unless they have someone new.”

“Who said he’d pulled away from me?”

My cheeks burn.

I avoid her stare as much as I can, but I have to face her scrutiny eventually.

“We weren’t a good fit,” I say quietly as more people walk into the shop.

They stop at the counter and order coffee and apple pie. Someone wants a slice of cheesecake.

I pay more attention to them than my mother.

She wants more details, but I’m not comfortable with sharing more with her.

“A good fit for what? You just said it… You weren’t even dating.”

They also order hot chocolate.

“Oh…” she says, and my cheeks are alight. She has an epiphany. “Problems in bed?” she asks.

“Mom?”

She cracks a smile.

“What? They happen.”

“It’s not about having sex problems. We weren’t a good fit. That’s all. Okay? No more talking about this. It’s embarrassing.”

Nothing can stop her, though.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. But I get it, and it’s a valid reason. Okay,” she says in a different voice. “Take your time, breathe deeply, write your book, or don’t write it. Better yet, live it and then write it. And in the meantime, enjoy this beautiful day and think about something nice to wear. You don’t need to borrow a dress if you don’t want to. I’m sure your boss has stocked her store with plenty of cute dresses. Take a look at them and pick something nice. I’ll pay for it.”

“You don’t have to pay for it. I’ll put it on my credit card.”

“That’s my girl.”

She softly rolls her eyes.

“I gotta go,” she says. “Talk to you later.”

I tap my phone and set it down, my focus wandering away, my mind going back to Klaus.

Nothing was wrong with him, except we weren’t great together.

Initially, he wanted to please me so much so that it became a turn-off.

And then, when we got to the sleeping together part, he disconnected from me and pumped me with a vengeance.

Watching porn killed his inspiration.

He couldn’t get a feel of me. And frankly, didn’t want to.

Anyway, it wasn’t only that.

We couldn’t connect, and that ruined it for us.

And then Klaus wasn't a unique experience. Things like that happened before sailing through lies, betrayal, and uncertainty killed it for me.

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