Mountains of Dawn

"Was she pretty?" Tanya asked with a slight lack of self-confidence. He smiled at her, touched her face with gentle fingers.

"Yes, Tanya, she was very pretty, blond and golden, slim and sleek. She had that glow, the elegant sheen the wealthy carry like a veil. She expected boys to do things for her, and they did. I did, too."

"And what happened?" Her voice was hushed, almost a whisper.

"She wanted to party all of the time, no time for real life. I had to work. I wanted to work. We had problems." He frowned.

"And your second wife?"

"Milena. She tutored me in the ways of a man and woman. She taught me the fine points of sex." He smiled at her, then glanced down at the bowl of salad. "Look at you! You've eaten most of it!"

Tanya ran her finger along the edge of the bowl, licked once at the dressing, then slid the finger into her mouth, sucking softly. Kevin cleared his throat of a sudden lump. "Milena," she said. "We were talking about Milena."

"Hmm. Yes. Milena. She was very good to me. She brought business to the Shoppe, in fact, she still does after more than ten years."

"So what went wrong? Good sex, good partners…what happened to the marriage?"

Kevin shook his head and looked away from her. "I couldn't accept her ways."

She leaned forward and caught his chin in her hand, then turned his face toward her. "Okay, who's next in line? I mean, who's important, not any of the fluff. I don't have time for all of them."

"Ha!" he said with a laugh. "Look who's talking! But if you mean who meant anything in my life, I guess next in line would be Vanessa. She was my girlfriend until a few months ago."

"And what happened?"

"I don't know. We drifted apart. She found a job as a consultant for a travel agency, and started to travel. Then she found someone else and lost interest in me, someone with an exciting life style, she told me. But I don't have a clue who he is or what he does."

"Well, didn't you ask her?"

"No. Why should I? I have more luck with casual encounters and…ah…experiments." He lifted his beer and drained it, then thumped the can on the table. "Isn't this enough? Haven't you heard as much as you need to hear? I didn't have half as many encounters as you did, at your little sorority parties." He glowered at her. "By the way, how many 'experiments' have you had in your short life?"