It's not an easy decision.

"Why are you giving him a chance?" Nikki asked in response to the offer.

"Because I never wanted to be THAT guy," I explained. "That jerk who swoops in when a couple are fighting to break them up."

"So... you would never be able to hit on me in that case."

"Ouch. That bad, huh?"

"If it ain't about money, it's about de way I dress, or how much I spend on my hair, or my nails, or somethin'."

"So, you said there were some good times... by the way, last chance coming up here in about a mile. That's the Highland's Inn turn off, I think."

"Good times... uhm. Well, we had dis great dinner out downtown on our first date, and we saw the art museum, walked through and then grabbed the L to this hotel with theme rooms that he had picked out." Nikki mused wistfully. "I gotta say de Space room was tacky. When I opened de door, I go... no way, Georgie, I am not losing my virginity in a room dat looks like Captain Kirk's wet dream."

I shook my head at the image, which caused the van to drift a little. I quickly brought my attention back to the road, noting the orange stones that marked the turn off towards her hotel.

"We got our money back. And den tried the boring motel next door." Nikki Ran her fingers across the metal of my wedding band once again, and took a deep breath. "I don't really want to go back right now."

"Well, ok. So... glad you made a decision, because we passed the turn off about half a mile ago." I said brightly. She had been so involved in the story I don't think she had even noticed the small sign. "So go on... you got to the motel."

"What do you think happened?" Nikki rolled her eyes. "And we got married, because when you spend de night with a guy your folks set you up with, it's really hard to ditch him. And it wasn't like I had a lot of choices. He was by far de least annoying of da available options."

"That's it? You got married because your folks set you up?"

"Yeah. What? It's traditional. Shouldn't have slept with him, but once you give dat up, you get tarred with the slut brush if you don't get married, and everybody knew I'd spent the night with him." Nikki sighed. "I guess I just thought I'd learn to love him. That's what mom kept saying."

She paused for a moment, looking out over the ocean. I flicked the small lever indicating a turn, and pulled us onto a small bumpy side road once again.

"What a fukkin liar my mother turned out to be." Nikki sighed. "Course, she spends more time with her sister's husband den her own, so... maybe dat's what she meant, I dunno."

I enjoyed the quiet sounds of the engine as we rolled through the nearly empty woods. We again passed the various dirt turn offs, and I noted the point at which the van had run out of gas, and Charlotte and I had... almost. The thought brought a throb of excitement through my brain, although I had to admit I was still a bit tired from the earlier activities.