The problem was how to erase years of what amounted to emotional neglect? I tried all the same things that I had done with the other women. I would ta...ke her out for a romantic meal, and she would talk about the wasted money. If I suggested going dancing, she would say she was too tired. Flowers? They just wilt, and in her eyes lingerie would highlight her flaws instead of her assets. We still had regular sex, but that was all it was, just regular. After five or ten minutes of foreplay it was. He focused back on Stacey, who was now fiddling with his belt, his shirt unbuttoned completely. ‘Stacey,’ he said. She looked up from unzipping his fly. ‘I have to go. I forgot I need to be somewhere.’ ‘And where is that, John John?’ He hated that name, especially when she said it. ‘I just have to leave. Now.’ He wanted to say sorry, but he knew he wasn’t. All he wanted was Haley. He left Stacey’s home, walked in front of her parents buttoning his shirt. Haley needed to walk. Walk a lot. But. Baird was sitting behind.“Dude,” David raised his hands in a defensive position as his voice faltered slightly. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s cool. I, well, we were just wondering.”Tim took a deep breath and counted to ten to calm himself. He tried to force a slight smile to show he was no longer getting upset.“No, it’s fine, but they started talking shit to my little sister, and she was beginning to get upset. See, we were having dinner there to celebrate not only my birthday, but we. The clothes you are wearing will do just fine."To the movies we went, and we had a simple but nice dinner afterwards. We talked about our girls, a bit about her job and a bit about mine. What was interesting was that we didn't talk about our pasts or about what we might be doing after dinner. She made sure that the discussion always moved away from those dangerous topics. After the third time I was sure that she was doing it unconsciously. But despite all of those things we had fun as she was.