No sex scenes in the story. If that's what you want you should find another author.

Constructive comments, critiques, and emails are very welcome and much appreciated.

She walked into our living room like she belonged there; like she hadn't been gone for two days. With a tentative smile she sat down on the sofa across from me as I sat in my easy chair.

Jackie was my fiancée or she was before she took off with her friends for two days. She just didn't know she was about to become my ex.

"John we need to talk," Jackie said in a soft voice.

I guess she thought she would break it to me slowly. But I knew where this talk was headed. I'd heard her conversation with her "special friend" on the answering machine. If you answer our phone after the machine starts to record, it continues to record unless you turn it off. Only then it records both sides of the conversation.

Yesterday as I breezed into my apartment I found Jackie wasn't home. That was unusual because she normally gets home about an hour before me. She hadn't called my cell so I checked the answering machine in the kitchen. The little red light was blinking to tell me someone had left a message. Only it wasn't a message, it was a recording of a phone call she received that morning.

"Hello, I'm here, don't hang up," Jackie said.

"Hey baby. You ready for tonight?" A male voice asked.

"Hi Tommy. I'm ready," Jackie answered. "I'll meet you in the Regency Hotel lounge at 6."

"I'm really looking forward to spending the night with you," Tommy said. "It's been a long time.

"It's been too long for me."

"Are you sure John doesn't know what's going on?" Tommy sounded worried. "I wouldn't want the big guy coming after me."

"No, he doesn't know and he won't. I'll just leave him a message and tell him that I need some time away from 'us'. I'll tell him I'm going to stay at Stella's for a couple of days."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight then," Tommy said and hung up.

At the end of the recording the machine gave the time, 8:01 AM, of the message. The next message was recorded at 3 PM.

"Hi baby, it's me," Jackie's voice said. "I need some time for myself to think for a while. So I'm going to stay with Stella for a couple of days. I'll be home soon. Please let me have this time and don't call me. I love you, Bye."

Very interesting, I thought. But I wasn't totally surprised. Jackie had pulled the same "I need some time" bullshit right after college.

We'd been dating for about three months when she came up with her 'need some time' speech. She said she was concerned because we were getting so serious so fast. I agreed to let her, as she said, have some space. Our time together went from 4 or 5 nights a week to once a week; if she wasn't busy.

I put up with it for a month and gave her an ultimatum. "Either we're a couple together or we're nothing," I told her. "I won't be one of many or even one of a few Jackie. Your decision, but make it quick." I turned and left her in front of her friend Stella's apartment. In less than two days she came back to me and told me she was all mine.