Alien Tango

married!”
    “He never goes home!”
    I pressed my lips together, counted to ten. Went to twenty. Could talk at thirty. “He goes home at night. We go to bed, he goes home. If you’d care to recall, we installed a gate in his house, just like at my parents’, since he’s now the official P.T.C.U. Liaison to Centaurion Division.”
    “And I see that means he’s assigned to spend every waking moment with you.” Martini glared at me. Still wasn’t up to Christopher’s standards, but he was working at it.
    I forced myself to go sit on the couch next to him. He shifted away from me. I folded my hands and looked at them. Maybe I could keep it together if I didn’t think about what was slipping away. “Why are you doing this?” I kept my voice low.
    “Doing what? Catching you cheating on me?”
    “Jeff, I’m not cheating on you. Not with Kevin, not with Christopher, not with anyone.” I took a deep breath. “Why don’t you just tell me the truth?”
    “What would that be?”
    “That you want to break up with me.”
    The sentence hung on the air. My eyes filled with tears, but I refused to let them fall. I batted my lashes until I got the tears to go back. He still hadn’t said anything. I thought about all the times he’d said he loved me—apparently he was a great liar, I just hadn’t wanted to see it. I was clenching my hands together so tightly my knuckles were white.
    He still hadn’t spoken. I didn’t look at him, I just got up and went into the bedroom. My rolling suitcase was there, and I packed for the reunion. The temptation to not wear the dresses he’d wanted me to was high, but he had great taste, and I might as well look good since I was now going stag.
    I finished packing, but he hadn’t come into the room. Went back to the little living room, and he was still on the couch. I risked a look at him in case he was passed out or something, but, no, he was still breathing and still glaring. At nothing, as far as I could see.
    “I’m going to go to the resort.”
    “Why?” Oh, so he was still able to speak.
    “Because you registered us for my reunion and I’m going to go.”
    “Thought you didn’t want to go.”
    “I didn’t. I still don’t. But clearly I can’t sleep here any more, and I just don’t want to explain this to my parents . . . since I don’t understand it.”
    He looked at me, and his eyes were cold. Even when he’d been furious with me for my time in the elevator with Christopher—and he’d looked cold and angry then—it was nothing compared to now. I backed away. “You understand exactly what you’ve done.” He was snarling at me.
    “No, Jeff, I don’t. I don’t know what’s happened since we got back from Florida. But I do have a guess.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You’ve had a lot of fun being with a human, a good time complaining about the system, but that was because you didn’t believe Richard would ever condone interspecies marriage. Now that it looks like it’s coming, you feel trapped, and you don’t love me, so you’re being a total asshole to drive me away.”
    I turned around and went to the door. “It’s worked. I’ll get the rest of my things sometime after the reunion weekend’s over. I’ll make sure you’re not here.”
    “Kitty.” I froze, hoping for a miracle. “The reservation’s under both our names. The hotel’s already paid for. Consider it a . . . paid vacation.”
    “Thanks so much.”
    I got out of the room and into the hall. I couldn’t see, my vision was blurred with tears. I didn’t want anyone I didn’t know well to see me, I couldn’t handle trying to explain what I didn’t want to believe. I went down the hall and bumped into someone.
    “Kitty, are you okay?” Christopher grabbed my upper arms to keep me from falling down. I was still trying not to cry, so that meant I couldn’t talk. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” I shook my head. “Let’s get you back to your room.”
    “No.” One word, but the floodgates opened. I started sobbing, and Christopher pulled me into his arms.
    “Kitty, what happened? Where’s Jeff?”
    “We broke up.”
    “ What ?” He moved me to look at my face. “Did I hear that right? You and Jeff broke up?” I nodded, tears still running down my face. “Why?”
    “He doesn’t love me. He just wanted to play around, and he’s angry and accusing me of having an affair with Kevin.”
    “With Kevin?” Christopher looked confused. “I know you think