we meet again

So we met
- it had been awhile,
and she was clear
it was a bad time,
but she wanted to
spend it right now.
With me. I said
"???"

She

gave me a look
then took
it back.

She told me a story.
"I couldn't
believe my ex
when I followed 
him to a motel. I knew 
then I was wrong
about whatever
I was thinking about
him. In that exact moment,
I had never been more wrong,
and for the first time I knew it."

She broke off, fixed me with a 
lookful of meaning: "I was right!" 

On she went. "I stood before
the motel door vibrating with
audible wrath

and 

he opened it 
suddenly 
totally unexpect it! 
No knock, no warning!

and I totally changed my 
appearance 

'I can't explain!' he said. 
'I'm in here with women 
of all kinds, and now you 
show up! Aren't you my

ex?' His look of pain
confused with exasperated
triumph, grief and joy was
real. 

'I am now!!' I said,"

"Wait," I said "- do you mean 
she said? It's you in the story 
right? Were you already his 

ex before, or was it the last
straw motel showdown? How
many women were in there?"

"It doesn't matter," she said, 
seeing I was so interested. "My
faith is so important to me that
that moment took a shit in my
soul. I have never believed in
anything since. Not faith, not
belief, not the sky - not even
love."

I looked at her. This woman I knew 
was capable of some of the most 
amazing feats imaginable in bed, 

according to her and who knows 
who else. I started, stopped. Began,
"Are you saying

- what are you saying?" 

She broke out in a grin limp with
exhausted gratitude. "I mean it!
I thank so many things in the world
for you, man. You always hear me out.
I can count on your ears and heart
to add up to three, every time."  

"True," I mused. We half-rose, beaming,
half-hugged, broke and sank back in place.
"That's it," she said. "I think I'm all clear
and clean." 

I nodded
and grinned.
She sat there and 
so did I. We just kept
sitting there forever, 
we still are. 

In some part of us each, 
both, that moment stuck.