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place like this. I like upscale dining, too, but now and then I get a hankering for cheap tacos or a sloppy burger.”
    “Lila didn’t let you have them?”
    “She did, but she let me know that she didn’t approve. I had to sneak around like a drug addict every time I wanted a slice of pizza.”
    “It was the opposite with Billy,” Janet sighed. “He’d go for cheap food, he just wouldn’t take me along. Places like this were for him and his buddies, like watching sports on Sunday. I mean, I want you guys to bond, but if your friends can’t come over that Sunday, then why can’t I watch sports with you? I like to watch sports.”
    “He didn’t want you there at all?” Roy felt a pang.
    “All he’d ever do is complain. ‘The chips are stale!’“ she mimicked an annoyed male voice. “‘Hey, there’re no pickles on this sandwich! The beer isn’t cold enough!’“ She sucked on her soda. “I bet he doesn’t notice if Tiffany leaves the pickles off his sandwich. That’s who he dumped me for. A girl named ‘Tiffany.’ Can you believe it?”
    “You brought him sandwiches and beer?” Roy almost moaned aloud. “Jesus. I couldn’t get Lila to fetch me a cola.” He went falsetto: “‘I’m on the phone!’ Get it yourself during the commercial!’ Bitch! She used to call my requests ‘obnoxious demands.’ Can you believe that? Bet she pours Mr. Moneybags a cola. No, wait, he probably has someone to pour it for him so neither of them has to be bothered.”
    “Mr. Moneybags?”
    “I refuse to say his name.”
    “How long were you and Lila together?”
    “Year-and-a-half,” Roy muttered, “Give or take.” He finished his chilidog and grabbed paper napkins to wipe at his face. Janet snatched a handful and did the same.
    “This would really bug Billy, seeing me use all these napkins,” she observed. “He had this weird idea that it was unladylike for a woman to use more than one. I think it had something to do with dainty eating. Maybe that’s why he went for Tiffany. She doesn’t look like she eats at all. Is that what men really want? To believe that women never eat?”
    “Never eat or fart or take a piss,” Roy agreed. “Air brushed girls in men’s magazines never do. Busty girls in raunchy male comedies never do. Our fantasy women never do.”
    “Our dream men do eat,” Janet said, “But they never take a shit or belch.” She burped loudly.
    Roy gave his own belch. “There. I’m not your dream guy.”
    “I’m convinced,” Janet laughed. “Please don’t think you have to show me anything else to prove it.”
    Roy chuckled along. It was an honest laughter, not patronizing like Billy’s, Janet thought, leaning back in her chair. God she felt good, and more at ease than she had in weeks. Like herself, too, she realized. “Shall we move on to the next part of our agenda?”
    An eager gleam came to Roy’s eyes. “I can’t wait!”
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Roy sat in his underwear on the hotel room bed, clipping at his toenails. He made sure to let the clippings fall onto the rug. “There. I’m getting them all over,” he shouted into the bathroom. “This used to annoy the fuck out of Lila.”
     
”I can hear the clicking,” Janet acknowledged, then said something more he couldn’t hear. Roy put the clipper on the nightstand and crossed to the bathroom door.
    “What?”
    Janet was up to her neck in a tub of bubbles, painting her fingernails. The stink of polish mingled with the floral of the bubblebath.
    “I asked,” she said, “if you left your clothes all over the floor.”
    “Shit. I hung up my shirt. Bad habit I got into with Lila.”
    “Well get it down.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He took in the lipstick and make-up containers on the bathroom sink, the pink razors and hotel-provided blow-dryer. Lingerie was draped about. “I see you’ve cluttered up the bathroom good and proper.”
    “Exactly as you suggested.” Janet smiled blissfully. “When I was with