She pressed up against me and looked into my eyes. “What is real about you?”

I kissed the bridge of her nose and pulled back. “Nothing and everything. A little and a lot.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the best I’ve got.”

She kissed my bearded chin and I smiled. “Kissing you is like kissing a puppy.”

“Are you saying I have dog breath?”

She laughed and her long eyelashes swept across her eyes. “No, you have beer breath.”

“It’s my tooth whitening strips. Crest beer strips. You should try them you get a buzz as you whiten your teeth.”

She hid behind her bangs and all I could see was her smile. I pushed her hair aside. She was beautiful and I knew this was only a moment but I didn’t care. I kissed her for the last time.

I take what I can get when I can get it because I know how unpredictable people are. And when she said goodbye I knew it was goodbye for good because nothing good ever comes my way for long. It’s just the way my life has been. She drove off and I ran my keys down the side of my new car and I felt nothing because things mean nothing but she meant everything.