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way she leaned into him. Was it really all just part of the act?
    Christ, he had told himself, told everybody, that he was through with women. Been there. Done that.
    But from the moment she had walked in out of the rain he was a goner.
    As the first days of spring bloomed across the city, Bob Wells alternated between wild hope and total despair. On some nights, after playing with Jesse at the Lodge, he knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she loved him. Wasn’t it obvious in her every stare, the way she worked with him onstage, pouting her sensual lips at him, touching him as she danced by. And how about afterward, at the late-night party with Dave McClane and Lou Anne, and Ray Wade and his wild mom, Dorsey? All of them drinking shots and laughing until two or three in the morning like they were young again. It was obvious to everyone there that she was crazy about him.
    And yet, when he finally screwed up his courage and asked her out to dinner, on a proper adult date, she made up some lame excuse about having a cold.
    It drove him crazy. Bob couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, even with Ambien.
    He was so turned on by her, just saying her name over and over, “Jesse, Jesse,” made his heart beat faster. He was alive again, really alive, in a way he hadn’t been for years.
    Meanwhile, the chemistry between them wasn’t lost on the public, either. Their gigs had grown to three times a week, one at the Lodge and two other nights at the Horsemen Lounge and the Chesapeake Grill. Here they were, in middle age, and they were a local sensation. Hanging out, having real fun, even making a little money … why, it would have all been perfect, except for Bob’s increasing romantic desperation.
    His nerves were so ragged, he’d started matching drinks with Dave again, in the warm afternoons at American Joe’s.
    “Christ, David,” he said as they downed their shots. “I’m crazy about her. What the hell am I going to do?”
    Dave laughed and shook his head. “It’s going to be all right, Bob. I think she just wants to be sure. She’s letting you chase her until she catches you.”
    “But what’s the point of that?” Bob said. “She already knows how I feel about her. Maybe I’m just wrong about the whole deal.”
    “No way,” Dave said, grabbing a handful of peanuts. “I’m telling you, she’s crazy about you. Lou Anne says so, too.”
    Bob managed a tortured smile. He was jealous of Dave’s relationship with Lou Anne, which seemed perfect in every way. The lucky bastard.
    “That’s great about you two,” Bob said, as his stomach twisted and turned. “It’s really working?”
    “Oh yeah,” Dave said. “So far, I mean. We stay up late watching old movies, and she makes these great waffles. You have to bring Jesse over one morning and have breakfast with us. Maybe this weekend.”
    “That would be great,” Bob said.
    Except maybe he’d ask her and she wouldn’t want to. The past two days she hadn’t even returned his phone calls. It made him sick … dizzy … being in love … it was awful. And all the insight he brought to other people’s love affairs did him absolutely no good at all.
    “You know what, Bobby,” Dave said, grabbing another handful of peanuts. “I’m thinking about asking Lou to move in with me.”
    “You’re kidding?” Bob said. “Isn’t it a little soon?”
    “Maybe,” Dave said. “But what the hell, when you know, you know, right?”
    “I guess so,” Bob said, feeling his stomach flip again.
    He felt like he knew. He wanted her but she kept saying he’d get tired of her, that she needed time, time for what? To find some other guy?
    “I mean, none of us are getting any younger,” Dave said. “If not now, when?”
    “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Bob said. “It’s just that I’d be careful. You don’t want to make a wrong move.”
    Dave smiled and ran his hand through his hair.
    “The only wrong move, as far as I’m concerned, is losing Lou Anne to