Puzzle it out, continued

We get back to work on our respective sides of the table with fresh margaritas, building out the puzzle steadily. She resists answering most of my questions, and does a good job of making progress with the remaining time of my handicap. I hope the second margarita will lower her guard, but I need to hit her with an unexpected topic.

“So you really haven’t had sex since the divorce?” She eyes me for a moment. I have an opening.

“I never said that,” she corrects, nibbling at the bait.

“Lewis would have told me if you were dating someone.”

“Would he now?”

“Yeah, I ask him about you all the time.”

“Uh-huh...” Mindy leans forward and shifts her shoulders a little. She is watching me, probably to see if I am placing puzzle pieces, or actually interested in the conversation. I keep my hands off the table and wait for more.

“So you did have sex after the divorce?”

She stares a little longer, then sighs. “Once...shortly after. I went on two dates with someone, but it was all wrong. I wasn’t really ready, and he wasn’t into me the way I thought he was... It put me off the whole subject.”

“That’s too bad. Sex with no connection is pretty disappointing.”

“It is...but I didn’t expect to hear that from you with all these ‘dates’ you are having. How much connection can you have on the first date?”

I think about how to answer for a while, while looking at the puzzle pieces. “For a one-night-stand the connection is usually only temporary... Or maybe just illusory... But in the moment, that can be enough. After the fact, I have to be realistic about what transpired.” Snap. “You know, embrace the fact that the moment is ephemeral, but try to create a story can last.”

“Maybe I got both parts of that wrong...illusion was falling apart before we even got to the bedroom, and my expectations were way off. I think he was as disappointed as I was. I felt anxious through everything, of course I was also just discovering the depth of how freaked out I get when I’m alone, too.”

“That sounds like no fun. If he was paying attention, he should have noticed and taken things a lot slower.” Mindy smiles to herself. “What’s the smile about?”

“I was just remembering how ridiculously freaked out I was this morning, and how much better I feel now. He definitely didn’t spend all day doing a puzzle with me.”

I chuckle. “Yes, this is my slow game. Is it working?” Snap.

“It was...until I realized that you are still trying to distract me!” She throws a chip at me.

“Ouch!” I wince as if she had just hit me with a knife. “All is fair in... in...” I drop dead on the table.

“Stay dead, please.”

“I will if we don’t eat dinner soon,” I complain into my limp arm.

“There is soup in the pantry and a pot in that cabinet. Help yourself.”

I sit up. “How about a truce. No one touches the puzzle until food is served.”

“I smell a trick,” Mindy says with narrowed eyes.

I drop my jaw in wide-eyed shock that she could accuse me of anything so nefarious. “How could you say that?”

“Pshhh... Easily, that’s how. But we do need to eat, so truce it is.”

We quickly make a soup and salad then get back to work. The puzzle is more than halfway finished and we get competitive over the dwindling pieces that still have distinctive patterns on them. Mindy finds a match and grins, sipping her second margarita.

I look for another conversational edge. “So who’s bed am I sleeping in tonight?” Mindy coughs.

“Is this how your first dates usually go?”

“They usually don’t put up this much of a fight.”

“Well, the struggle isn’t over. You get Tonya’s room.”

“Are you sure?” Snap. “The storm could go on all night.”

She scowls as we both see another match and I snatch it just as she reaches for it. “Grrr... Quite sure.”