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the door.
    “I’ll see you Saturday for coffee though.”
    “Uh, yeah. Coffee Saturday.” Jerry wanted to run for the door, but it might give her the wrong impression. Wait, that was the right impression. He did not need to be dealing with women who were at least sixty and looked twenty anymore than he needed to be dealing with crazy women.
    Crazy women who looked very Arabic, spoke with a faint accent and owned a huge brass lamp. There were nut jobs and then there were people who had really out-there stories.
    But there were out-there stories, and there were flat out fantasies. Genies fell into the same fantasy category as UFOs, Santa Claus and the Loch Ness Monster. Didn’t they?
    He needed to take some vacation days so he could lose his goddamn mind in private.
    “You’re lying. You’re going to stand me up.”
    Jerry turned at the door. “I’m not going to stand you up.”
    “Yes, you are. It’s all over your face.” Melody folded her arms. Her lower lip pooched out and her eyes went watery. “I told you what I was right away. I was honest with you and you’re lying to me.”
    Oh jeez. Even if he did feel like a jerk, he’d gotten good at handling crying women, but Melody was like kryptonite. Every time he got near her, he lost his head. It was as bad as seeing Amanda cry, but this he could fix. “Melody, I promise, I will meet you Saturday for coffee just like I said.”
    “You will? You promise?”
    “I got work to do.”
    “Can I help you?” She crossed the room. “Let me help you.”
    “It’s police business. You can’t just ride along. Not without a good reason and prior approval.” Thank heaven for prior approval. If it weren’t for that he’d have said okay. He cupped her cheek. “I promise you I will see you Saturday at one o’clock at the coffee shop.”
    Melody turned her face and kissed his thumb.
    Jerry pulled his hand away before she could do any more or he would be in dereliction of his duty shortly thereafter. “But I have to go now.”
    “Okay.” Melody stepped back. She pursed her lips. “I’ll see you Saturday at one o’clock.”
    “Thanks.” He was in the parking lot before he realized that she hadn’t called him master once, not even on the phone. At least one of them could keep their head when they were together.
     

 
    Chapter 3
     
    Melody ran her finger around the rim of her coffee cup. She’d spent yesterday morning toting rolled change to the bank. Four trips to take it all, and it totaled over six hundred dollars. She’d spent a little on a cab to the mall and on a sweatshirt to wear for Jerry. Then she’d bought some chicken chow mein in the food court, which she’d hated and thrown it out. The rest of the evening she’d spent in the mall just to be around people. Watching how they acted and wishing she was like them. They all seemed to be able to talk to one another without trouble, but when she bought a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in the middle of the mall and tried to talk to the barista, he’d just stared at her like she was bothering him.
    The only person who never looked at her like that was Jerry. His gaze held warmth and patience, and even when he desired her, it wasn’t the same as her other masters. To them, she’d been an object there to fulfill their fantasies. Jerry’s eyes held kindness. Human kindness. The last man to look at her that way had been her husband. She’d been an object even to Billy. In the early years, she had been a treasure. A jewel on his arm. The charming, lovely girl who’d attracted the attention of bandleaders as much as his playing did. A girl he got to take home each night and have sex with. In later years, she had been less of a mistress and more of a maid or nurse. Not so much a person as a means to an end.
    “Hello, Melody.” Jerry sat down across the table from her. “I’m here just like I promised.”
    “I knew you would come.”
    “You wanted to have coffee.”
    “ You wanted to have coffee.