Some Like it Hotter

The worst part?

He couldn’t stop thinking about Eva.

Again.

Still.

This was not supposed to happen! More to the point, this never did happen. He either fell in love with women early on and violently, or he didn’t. Nice and simple. If he did fall, he’d pursue and/or date her for a week, a month, a year or several years, until the problems became obvious and the relationship dissolved. Then he’d grieve and move on. One-night stands didn’t bother him if they didn’t bother whoever. Short relationships, long relationships, he’d had them all, and prided himself on pretty much every one ending pleasantly. Yes, he’d like to have something work out forever, get himself settled down and have a family. But that hadn’t happened yet, and he was fine waiting until he found the right woman.

Then along came Eva. He hadn’t fallen in love with her early on and violently. In fact, he’d found her pretty exasperating, slightly embarrassing, utterly charming, but not someone he could ever see himself falling for or dating seriously. After she’d shown up naked in his shower—an image he had not been able to get out of his mind—he figured being up-front about that early on was the smartest thing he could do for both of them.

One night, then draw the line, because what was the point of going further?

The problem was that their one night had only left him feeling as if something was missing, that there was more he wanted, more of her to explore, a lot of unfinished business still between them. Not to mention he’d been walking around half-hard for the past four days thinking about her.

His phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and checked the display. His brother, Mike. “Hey, Mickey.”

“S’up? Where are you?”

“On my way home. Where are you?”

“Walking down Park Avenue.”

Ames rolled his eyes, battling a jolt of annoyance. His brother did this all the time. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming into town?”

“I did tell you. I sent you an email last week. Got any plans tonight?”

Mike was notorious for this, too. He’d meant to email Ames last week, and in his brain that probably counted. But okay, Ames wasn’t doing anything, and seeing his younger brother would cheer him up. Or at least keep him from more useless mooning over a woman totally wrong for him. “I’m free. What are you thinking?”

“I’m meeting Josh for dinner later, but I’m having drinks with you first at that bar we went to last time—Old Town, near union   Square.”

“What time?” He already knew the answer. Now.

“Now. I’m turning onto Eighteenth Street. Get here soon.”

“All right. Be there in twenty.”

Twenty-five minutes later, he was hugging and backslapping his younger brother, Mike, in town on a school break to see friends from college. He’d stayed in New Jersey teaching middle-school science in Hopewell, a pretty little town near Princeton. Ames admired his brother’s dedication and patience, especially given that Mike had grown up with neither, but Ames would rather clean bathrooms for a living than face a class of adolescents every day.

They found stools at the long, elegant bar and ordered draft beers and French fries to share, their favorite snack from childhood—back then substituting Cokes for beer.

“How’s school going?”

Mike broke into a grin. “It’s crazed. These kids are so high on hormones it’s all I can do to keep them sitting still. I’m like their teacher-policeman. At the same time, when they click in, when they get what I’m teaching, what I’m trying to communicate about their bodies, about the earth and how things work, it’s the best.”

“Excellent.” Ames toasted him. “You are braver than I am. Speaking of brave, how is Julie feeling?”

“Much better, or I wouldn’t be here now. She had a terrible first trimester. I can’t believe she managed on a full teaching load. She’ll be a great mom.”

He spoke with adoring pride. Julie was indomitable, the only force known to man who could have gotten Ames’s brother to settle down after a turbulent childhood of self-destructive rebellion. Married four years, they were absolutely crazy about each other and expecting their first child in early March.