I wait in the kitchen with a bouquet of red roses snaking their sickening sweet stench up my nose. Liesa and her friend, Margot, drink white wine on the other side of the door. Margot invited Liesa over so they can bitch about their rotten boyfriends and commiserate about broken hearts. Or so Margot told Liesa.

I’ve been hiding here for an hour, getting an earful of whining while watching them on a closed circuit monitor.

Margot, one of the highest paid of Liesa’s friends, steers the conversation. “I know Brandon can be thoughtless, but I can’t help loving him. I think maybe I’ve made him suffer long enough.”

Liesa sounds irritated. “Does that mean you’re going to forgive him?”

A coy smile curls Margot’s words. “It’s been almost a week and I’m getting that itch, you know?”

Now Liesa sounds amused. “You mean you’re horny?”

Margot laughs. “Well, yeah. Don’t you ever just want it?”

This conversation is lame. I glance at Jeri, whose attention is riveted to her iPad. She seemed as bored as I feel.

Liesa answers Margot. “I miss him. We haven’t been together that long, but it feels like he’s such a big part of my life.”

Margot sounds conspiratorial. “So, when are you going to do it?”

“You mean sex?”

Someone slaps the other, probably on the arm. “Of course I mean sex.”

I guess the demographic for this story line must be tween girls. Talk about sappy.

“Soon.” Liesa sighs. “I want it to be special for our first time. My first time.”

“You’re sure he’s the one?” Margot is reeling her in. Does Liesa know I’m waiting? I’m always sketchy on who knows what and when. Jeri likes to keep as many secrets as possible to get honest reactions.

“Absolutely.” Liesa’s voice has a dreamy quality.

“I’ll grab us another bottle,” Margot says. “I’ll be right back.”

Finally, I perk up.

In a second the door swings in. Margot high-fives me like a tag team wrestler. She doesn’t slow on her way toward the door. “I’m outta here.” She swats Jeri on the butt as she passes.

Jeri scowls at Margot, then points to me in a go motion, like we’re on a military operation.

As if it were a life and death mission, I square my shoulders, lift my weapon (the roses) and brace for battle. The doors swing behind me and I enter the living room. The sixth floor condo has a full ocean view from a bank of sliding doors onto the patio. Soft light from recessed bulbs highlights the moon over the sea.

Liesa sips white wine on a sofa facing the windows.

I steal into the room, stand close, and wait.

“I hope you have a bottle of the same wine. This is great.” She swivels on the couch to talk to Margot and freezes when she sees me.

I hold the roses by my chest and look over them. “Hi.”

She flops back and stares out the window. “What are you doing here?”

She’s pretty. Maybe the world would rank her above Kylie. But she doesn’t stir me the way Kylie does. She doesn’t make my cock swell and strain with the smallest smile. She doesn’t have that soft, citrus scent.

She isn’t Kylie.

I move into the room. “I begged Margot to help me. I had to see you. Not being with you is killing me.” The words coming out of my mouth make me want to puke.

She sets her glass on the coffee table and pouts. “It didn’t seem like I was all that important to you the other night.”

Bob slips around me. He doesn’t shine the spotlight on us. Jeri must want that intimate mood lighting. The ambience is ruined by Lurch’s stretching the boom mic above us.

I slide the roses next to the glass and lower myself close to her. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that you’re not important to me.”

She tilts her head slightly toward me. How she tunes out Bob and Lurch is nothing short of mastery.

I reach for her hand, hating that it isn’t Kylie’s hand, that these words I want to say to Kylie I have to say to Liesa. “You’re the most important person in the world to me. I know I hurt you and I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I can’t stand you being mad at me.”

She turns her blue eyes to me. They shimmer with tears. She earns every penny they pay her for this crap. “Oh, Zach. I missed you, too.”

I run a thumb along her jaw and lean in for a soft kiss. When our lips touch, I fight not to pull away.

Close your eyes. Pretend it’s Kylie.

We cuddle and kiss for the next fifteen minutes. My stomach growing more sour with every murmured endearment. I tally the cost of finishing my undergraduate degree. Triple it for post graduate work. I match that up to the total of Liesa kisses I have to endure and try to divide it up to calculate how much I’m being paid for each kiss. Whatever it is, it’s not enough.

Finally, she draws back. “Is there another bottle of wine, or did Margot lie about that, too?”

I retrieve the wine from the kitchen and pour us a glass. I down it quickly and pour myself another.

Liesa snuggles next to me. “When we first met, I have to admit, I wasn’t all that interested in you.”

Where is this going? “Really? The first time I laid eyes on you I was a goner.”

She swats at my leg. “Liar. But now, I can’t imagine not being with you.”

She’s buttering it up nice and thick for the camera. Isn’t she? With Liesa, it’s hard to tell. “You don’t have to. I’m not planning on going anywhere.”

She sits up and looks me square in the face, her expression as genuine as I’ve ever seen. “Honestly, Zach. I think I’m falling for you.”

My stomach flips over about three times and ends upside down in a lethal crash. I swear she is serious. And here I am, the biggest shit on the planet, leading her on.

For Kylie.

I give her full-frontal dimples. “Then my plan is working.” I gulp the rest of my wine.

Liesa sipped hers. “I’m really happy we made up.”

I put my arm around her shoulder. “Me, too.”

“Because I’m going to need you.”

Uh-oh. “What’s going on?”

She sips. Hesitates.

I figure this was a calculated dramatic pause that could be used for a commercial break, episode cliffhanger, or simply for effect.

She turns to me as if hoping to gauge my response. “Mother arrived in Cayman today.”