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Reyes’s breathing slowed, as did the rain It tapped out a soft, led, clothes askew What little we had on, anyway He leaned up and kissed h to thank h to reinforce the fact that he needed ertips over his cheek and whispered, "That was so"

His teeth flashed brilliant in the darkness "You are so into his eyes when I heard a chiistered somewhere in the back of ht until I heard the sound again

"That’s my phone," I said to hiained my balance It took a moment to locate my pants, but once I did, I fished my phone out of my pocket, prayed the rain hadn’t ruined it, and checked my texts An expletive I couldn’t repeat in public splashed across the screen I screeched, covered ot about Uncle Bob!"

14

The fastest way to a e

--T-SHIRT

I hurried in through the back of the bar, soaking wet and squishy, and found Uncle Bob sitting at the bar After spotting Cookie with her "date" in a dark corner, I began to groorried, wondering if Ubie had seen them That was the whole point, after all Both seats beside Ubie were taken, and there were only a couple of seats to be had at all And zero, absolutely zero, tables left I took a seat one over from him In between us sat a fortyish ne He perked up when I sat down, then looked athis drink was lanced in the mirror behind the bar and understood Not only was I a mess, but my makeup was smeared (on only one eye),off to the side like a deflated balloon, and my shirt was on backwards And it was a button-down Hoas that even possible? Did I take off uy who stiffened and leaned back a little, suddenly uncomfortable

"Hey, pumpkin Where’ve you been?

"Out back"

"That wasn’t you hang sx in the alley, was it? We got a call"

Alared forward, practically lying across the guy’s lap "Really? Someone called the cops?"

"No," he said into his drink "It was a hunch I’ood at hunches"