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up worse, Abe thought she looked like a good dream. “Thanks for the coffee.” With that, he sidled away down the sidewalk, checking his phone as casually as if he hadn’t just pushed her up against the glass at her job and made her melt in his arms.
    The other waitresses gave her hell for bringing her new man around the restaurant. One of them wanted to bite his biceps; another one teased her about hiring him to make it look like she had a new boyfriend. Still, their ribbing was a lot easier to take than their pity would have been.
    As she dumped salad ingredients into a bowl for a customer, Becca thought about what a favor Abe had done for her. Then she promised herself she wouldn’t sleep with him tomorrow night. After all, Hannah was sort of right about how she rushed into things with men. This time, she’d do it right. He was clearly interested, just a little gun-shy, so she wasn’t going to give him the full court press just yet. They’d keep it light, have fun and not put any pressure on for commitment. She wrinkled her nose. The whole idea of taking it slow was very unnatural. He was obviously a real sweetheart—forget bandaging the doll; he’d gotten her ice for a burned tongue, had protected her from annoying gossip at work by walking her to the restaurant and then kissing her where everyone could see. She found that out when Chris pulled her aside as she returned a tray to the drinks station.
    “What was that stunt with the guy at my door?”
    “What guy?” Becca asked innocently.
    “You just moved out of my place last night and already you’re banging someone else.” He shook his head in disgust.
    “Christ, Chris, you moved Aria in so fast she used my shampoo!” Becca hissed. “It doesn’t even matter. We’re over. I have to go to the bar. Table six wants another mojito.” She brushed past him.
    It made her feel simultaneously proud and ashamed that Chris was a little bit jealous over her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that gloating was bad for her karma. As she delivered food, took orders and chatted sweetly with customers, Becca made good tips that night. It was probably because she was in a better mood than she’d been in days, she thought. She couldn’t wait to tell Hannah that she had a real actual date with the ER doctor for tomorrow night. Not that she’d slept with him or she was engaged or any of the other antics that had given her sister such low expectations of her common sense. She couldn’t help being just a little proud of herself for taking things slowly with Abe.
    By the time she got home, it was too late to call her sister. She showered and shoved her clothes in the laundry hamper, resolving to go to the laundromat the next day. As she curled up in bed, she heard a siren. It was the second one since she’d gotten home. For the dozenth time, she checked the deadbolt and chain to make sure she was securely locked in.
    To tell the truth, Becca had never lived alone before. She’d gone from living at home to sharing a dorm room for the year she went to college to splitting rent on a studio apartment in the city with several other girls. As time went on, she lived with a couple of different boyfriends and one short-lived fiancé.  Then she’d found a roommate before moving in with Chris. Being alone freaked her out. She hated it. Every noise scared her. Every ding of the elevator, every scrape of a box outside in the hallway left her jittery. It didn’t help that lying on the bed gave her a clear view of the door. She would close her eyes, start to drift off, and then sit straight up and stare at the doorknob, convinced she’d heard someone try to turn it. Either the noise or the loneliness was making her wacko, she decided.
    After a couple of hours of trying to convince herself she was being silly, she dragged the mattress into the recording studio and shut and locked herself in. The studio was soundproofed, so she didn’t catch the outside sirens and noises thanks to