I’m still half asleep and so confused. Was I just dreaming that Tanner was here? I sit in bed staring at the door where I swear he was just standing. I rub my eyes.

No. I’m awake. He was here. I check the clock on the dresser. It reads nine-forty AM.

Wait. Tanner is supposed to come home around nine-thirty Monday. Is the clock wrong? Did I somehow sleep through an entire day? I know Walter and I polished off a bottle of champagne last night, but could I have possibly lost a full 24 hours?

I’m fully awake now. And now I distinctly remember Tanner yelling at Walter.

“What the hell just happened?” I ask, throwing the covers off.

“I believe your boyfriend tried to surprise you by coming home early. And it worked.” Walter smiles guiltily. “I guess I surprised him, too. By being in bed with his girlfriend. Whoopsie daisy!”

I laugh out loud. Literally. It’s a bursting cackle. Walter is so obviously not straight. Plus I told Tanner I was hanging with my bestie to watch him on live TV.

“Why would he freak out?” I ask Walter. “It doesn’t make sense.” I jump out of bed and peek into the hallway. There’s no one there. The house is silent. Did he leave?

“Well in his defense, we are dressed like the sex scene in a daytime soap opera,” Walter says, stretching.

I look down at my negligee and back over at Walter’s bare chest.

Shit. He’s right. This doesn’t look good, if you don’t know my boy bestie would rather die than touch a woman’s parts for any reason other than draping a new gown.

“But I swear I told Tanner that you weren’t my boyfriend when he asked me during the shoot.” Didn’t I? I try to recall how the conversation went.

“Uh-huh, but did you tell him that I was your gay best friend?”

I’ll be honest, I can’t remember those precise words coming out of my mouth. I don’t normally use Walter’s sexual preference as an identifying quality when talking about him. I should have probably told Tanner, though. And I might have… The whole shoot is now a blur of mixed messages and steamy trailer sessions.

“Okay. This is just a little misunderstanding,” I say, but my stomach is starting to knot. We’re too newly back together to have misunderstandings right so soon. I have to fix this. “Lemme call Tanner and explain. Put some clothes on. Just because his first sighting of you was in your undies, doesn’t mean the official introduction should go the same way.”

“Valid,” Walter says. “But I really hadn’t planned my outfit for this.”

Walter grabs his trusty silk and starts to rummage through his store of clothes in my closet while I grab my cell to call Tanner. My chest is tight with guilt. He rushed home to surprise me--and what a romantic surprise--and he must have been so horrified to find me in bed with another man. And don’t I know how that feels?

I dial.

No answer.

Which is fine. I try not to panic. Maybe his phone is dead. Maybe he’s driving and can’t pick up. Though he didn’t have a car at the airport. Did he go home first and get one? If he just cabbed over, how did he even leave? Did he Uber?

I text and wait.

The message says delivered, so his phone isn’t dead.

But Tanner still doesn’t respond.

I call again. Nothing. I call a third time. Same deal.

And then it hits me. He’s not picking up on purpose.

He’s not going to pick up. He is giving me the total blow-off.

And now I’m pissed.

Five minutes later Walter emerges with beauty products but still in the kimono, apparently unable to find an appropriate meet-the-boyfriend outfit.

“He won’t take my calls! Can you believe this? I mean, it’s the simplest mistake. It’s not even a mistake. It’s a misunderstanding. No one did anything wrong. I will say one sentence to Tanner, and he’ll totally understand what’s going on here.”

“Uh-huh,” Walter says, nodding as he massages oil into his bald head.

“But now I’m not just pissed about that.” I’m still pacing, my arms flying expressively as I talk. “This means Tanner doesn’t trust me! He thinks I would actually cheat on him while he’s in New York working. Literally everything we’ve been building together all these weeks means nothing to him if he thinks that I would be so disloyal, which means we’re right back where we started, and Tanner James is going to break my heart. Again.”

“Did it occur to you that you might deserve this?” Walter says, calmly. Patronizingly. “And could you please stop pacing, you’re giving me motion sickness.”

“My fault? Are you kidding me?”

“Don’t give me that angry face,” he starts, “just hear me out. Ten years ago Tanner made what you now know was a ‘simple mistake’, and you walked away without letting him explain, true or false.”

“True,” I say, as my heart starts to beat a little slower and my stomach sinks a little further.

“And you were so angry because you thought he’d betrayed your trust, true or false.”

“You know the answer.”

“And he called and called and called, but you wouldn’t pick up, true or...”

I cut him off. “Thank you. I got the point.”

“And now you know that Tanner’s number one feeling after that whole charade was how could Jenna not trust me enough to know I wouldn’t hurt her like that? True or false?”

“This is different!” I insist, stomping. “We were young and stupid back then. And we were afraid. And we didn’t communicate. We’re adults now. We talk.”

“Which is why he knew exactly who I was when he saw you in bed with me.”

It takes me a second to respond because I don’t want to give Walter the benefit of being right, yet again. Finally I cave. “You might have a point.”

“Age doesn’t matter. Hurt is hurt,” Walter says.

“Have you ever considered being a therapist?”

“Absolutely not. Other people’s problems make me insane. Yours included.”

“Hey!”

“Bottom line. You have every right to be frustrated, but so does he. So now you’re getting a taste of your own medicine. What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. Keep calling?”

“Don’t look at me,” Walter says. “I don’t know what you’re supposed to do. This is your drama. Now I’m going to go shave so I can get out of here and figure out what I’m wearing once you’ve fixed it.”

Walter heads back into the bathroom. I throw on a robe and slump down on the bed. It is time for some robo-calling.

I dial Tanner over and over and over again. I text at least ten times, too.

Please come back. This is silly.

I can explain but I want to do it in person so you’ll really believe me.

Please, Tanner. Let’s not ruin this all over again.

He doesn’t respond. Karma’s a real bitch, I think to myself.

But I know better this time, and so does he. He’s just upset, but I will not – I repeat, not – let him get away.

“What are you going to do, honey?” Walter asks.

I know exactly what I have to do—reverse history. Maybe I ran away from Tanner last time, but he also didn’t try hard enough to win me back. He knows that now, and I’m not going to repeat the same mistake he made, at the very least. It is Grand Gesture time for this girl, even if that means ignoring the twisting and turning of my stomach…and mustering the courage to do a little ‘face talking.’

“I’m going to get my man back.” I take a deep breath and head for the bedroom door.

“Go get em girl! I’m proud of you,” Walter calls after me “But maybe take off your robe and put on some real clothes?”

“Uh. Yep. Good point.” I turn around and rush to the closet, grab the first item of red clothing I can find – a slip dress – and throw it on for a little added color confidence. Tanner always says red is my color. Here’s hoping it gives me the boost I need right now.

“Wish me luck,” I tell Walter, as I throw my hair in a bun, grab my bag and open the front door.