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actually allowed that idiot access to all parts of her body.  After that conversation, she brushed her teeth and tongue all over again.  She even gargled and swallowed some mouthwash, but it didn’t make her feel any better, or cleaner, or less of an idiot.  Stomping around the house, Christina started cleaning, stripping the bed and throwing everything on to wash.
    For a brief moment she was tempted to burn the bed too, but decided against it for practical reasons.  She’d already upset Mrs. Gustafson today and wasn’t sure, but couldn’t imagine Mrs. Gustafson would take too kindly to a bonfire on the front lawn.  Christina didn’t want to have the police turn up, as her experiences with the local police force were memorable and deeply unpleasant.
    Instead, she cleaned the bathroom and washed all the floors.  She was going to clean every single bit of Riley away and pretend none of it had happened.  Christina then spied her little blue dress, bra, and panties.  She’d loved that dress when she’d bought it, but now it was tainted.  She could never look at it again without thinking of him, and it would just be an impossible reminder of this disaster.
    All her defenses over the years had been constructed for one sole purpose:  to keep that pig of a man out and he appeared impervious to them.  He could fly in under the radar and strike her, reducing her to the fool teenage girl that had fallen madly in love with him.  It was a sad kind of irony that the barriers she’d erected to keep him out – kept nearly everyone else out, but him.
     
    ********************
     
    Christina put her clothes in the fire and was in the process of lighting it when her two best friends, Bonnie and Mandy, burst in.  Looking up at the clock, Christina saw that it was 10:30 a.m.  Right on cue:  you had to love small towns. 
    The gossip factory never failed.  It was just over an hour ago since Riley had left and already her friends had heard.  Mandy looked at her.  “Dina, what the hell are you doing?”
    Christina struck the match, threw it on her clothes and said.  “What does it look like?” 
    Both her friends looked at each other and then back at her.  Bonnie came and stood beside her.  “Dina – you and Riley – it’s all over the neighborhood.  My parents said you were screaming at each other.” 
    Christina nodded.  “Yep.  We sure were.”
    Groaning, Bonnie asked.  “What happened?” 
    Christina shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Something about hooking up with my ex-husband and it all going horribly wrong?”
    Bonnie sighed.  “Dina.  I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have got the joint off those bikers.  I know it was stupid, but we were having just so much fun.  I’ve asked the bar to get your shoes off the roof too.” 
    Christina had forgotten all about her shoes.  When she got them back, she’d burn those too. 
    Mandy looked at her with all sincerity.  “Yeah.  Like Bonnie says, Dina.  It was a really wild night.  That disco nightclub was fun though, wasn’t it?” 
    One of the things Christina loved and hated about Mandy is that she was ever the optimist even when the reality didn’t fit the situation.  Christina ruined Mandy’s optimism by blurting.  “I slept with Riley.”
    Mandy had deer in the headlight eyes, but Bonnie shrugged.  “It was pretty much Riley or the bikers.  I’d have done the bikers, but that’s just me.” 
    Despite how annoyed she was, Christina burst out laughing.  Bonnie could be harsh, but it was never personal: just her own politically incorrect observations.  “It’s not like you and Riley haven’t done it what?  A million times before?  Sheesh.  Everywhere and I’ll remind you:  in some really nasty places,” Bonnie grimaced.
    Mandy was trying to hide her disquiet and went for perky.  “Come on, Dina.  It can’t have been that bad.  You’ve always said Riley is good in bed.  So this is okay.”  
    “Yes he is,”