Unbroken Pleasures Read Online Free

making me nervous. The waitress returned and set the
iced tea in front of me and I started tearing open packets of Splenda and dumping
it into my tea while I waited for any sort of response. She couldn’t still be
so angry at me for being late that she wasn’t going to say anything at all? I
stirred my tea and finally put down the spoon and tried a different tactic with
Sylvia.
    “Okay,” I said
letting out my breath and sliding my hand along the glass to clear away the
condensation collecting there, “there was a man.”
    There, I’d said
it. I’d put it right out there in the open and she could take it any way that
she liked. She could use the information against me or applaud the fact that I
finally took the steps to consider anyone other than Ed. She turned her head
and looked out the window but she still didn’t say anything. I suddenly felt
like I might vomit if this silent treatment went on much longer. What did she
want me to say?
    I sipped my iced
tea and thought about telling her the details of my encounter with the stranger
but there didn’t seem to be much point in saying anything until she finally
decided to talk to me. One-sided conversations weren’t really much fun. Finally
my burger came and I dived into eating as if I hadn’t eaten in days. Erotic
oblivion apparently worked up quite an appetite in me. I looked at Sylvia
feeling a little embarrassed but much to my surprise, she smiled.
    “You don’t have
to pretend,” she said.
    “Pretend what?”
    “That you were
with a man last night. I forgive you. I know you’ve been going through a tough
time and haven’t been sleeping well and it’s not like you were that late
really. But seriously, Alex, you don’t have to go making up stories.”
    “I’m serious, Sylvia.”
I looked at her in astonishment. I had confessed only because I thought she
would sense the truth the moment she looked in my eyes anyway and after all the
squirming I’d done, she didn’t even believe me. I should have just kept my
mouth shut.
    “Alright, so who
is he then?”
    I looked down at
my food and sighed. I didn’t know. It wasn’t going to help my case much.
    “That’s what I
thought,” she said with a satisfied nod.
    “He didn’t tell
me.”
    Her eyes grew to
the size of saucers and she nearly spit out Coke laughing at me.
    “Okay, what? You
expect me to believe that not only did you have a man in your bed last night
but that it was a one night stand with some stranger? You two were what? Just
so caught up in passion that you couldn’t be bothered to swap names over spit?
Seriously, Alex? I’ve known you since we were kids. You have never done
anything so crazy and let’s face it, you never will.”
    “What makes you
say that? I might.”
    “Yeah, and I’ll
join the convent,” Sylvia joked. We both knew that with Sylvia’s taste for men,
she wouldn’t be able to remain celibate even if she wanted to. She changed her
boyfriend like I changed my socks and didn’t believe that any man warranted
settling down and getting married. The fact that she worked as a divorce
attorney and witnessed one too many marriages gone bad didn’t help matters
either. In my case, I figured the whole marriage idea was still open for debate
but my dating history suggested that it wouldn’t be one I’d have to solve
anytime soon.
    “I can’t stop
thinking about him,” I sighed taking another large mouthful of my burger. Sylvia
frowned at my comment, obviously trying to decide whether or not to entertain
my idea of a joke. I decided to brush aside my infatuation for a man I didn’t
have a hope of seeing again and get to the heart of the real problem, a.k.a.
something that Sylvia could actually relate to. “I need to find a boyfriend.”
    Her face
brightened instantly. I suspect she’d been waiting to hear those words come from
my lips for a very long time. Knowing Sylvia, she’d leave no stone unturned in
helping me find just the right one for me, like trying on