...

“So, like, I finished grad school and got a job in Fresno. It's the geographical center of California. San Francisco was three hours north and L.A. was four hours to the south. The company I was with transferred me to Portland, Oregon.” Dab took a breath and sipped his beer. Andy feigned interest and tried to send a text while Dab stared into his beer. Andy had hear this story before.

“We were separated for, like, six months before she came up there. That's where she decided to finish her bachelors degree. I was, like, totally in support of her finishing. Well, I got let go in 2010 because of the economy. So, I looked all around the country for a job and just happened to find the one I have now in the corrugated box factory. She stayed behind and thought that we were over. “ Andy thought Dab was going to cry so he nodded, and tried to look supportive.

“So, she was working in this restaurant and totally got caught up in the lifestyle of the people she was hanging out with and ended up sleeping with, like, these two guys and wouldn't even listen to me even though I would tell her how beautiful she was and how much I loved her.”

“And your dad? He was into drugs and hookers?”

“What?”

Andy walked the quarter mile from Dab's place to his apartment. He couldn't wait to tell Jordan the latest installment of how messed up Dab's life was and revel in the safety of her embrace. They shared everything now. It often surprised him how easily he could share the things that he once held close. She seemed to have no compunction whatsoever about her life before him while he was often silently abashed to share even the most benign detail of his history. But, Dab's story was a treat into which they could equally delve. Dab had made enough bad decisions for them to both feel good about the silly things that were important enough to feel bad about before they had met each other at Cathy's wedding last summer. All of that seemed silly now.

Andy realized he misplaced his key so he rang the bell. Jordan answered immediately, “Is that you you babe?”