"Where were you last night?"

"Home."

"But I called . . . ."

"You did? When?"

"Last night."

"Thank you." She swallowed and tried to drop the sarcasm out of her voice. "I know that or you wouldn't be asking about last night. When last night?"

A waitress came over. "You ready to order?"

She studied her menu, not sure she was hungry any more. Nothing looked particularly appetizing. The waitress shifted.

"I'm not ready yet."

He glanced at her, then turned to the waitress. "I'll take the BLT and a coke. Fries, no chips, easy on the mayo."

The waitress wrote it down. "Want me to wait for your order, miss?"
Before she could answer, he said, "Bring her a raspberry tea. She should be ready when you get back."

She glared at him as the waitress hurried to another a table. Their favorite sandwich shop wasn't busy yet, but she knew they had maybe ten or fifteen minutes to settle this or make a scene.

He seemed to live on scenes. She hated them.

He waited until the waitress was out of earshot. "Why does it matter when? You didn't answer so you weren't home."

"I was home all night and my phone did not ring!" She struggled to keep her voice down. Her jaw felt tight.

"Look, if you were with someone-"

"Why on earth would I have been with anyone? I'm just so lucky to have you!" Her anger unleashed the sarcasm again. This time she didn't try to bring it back under control. She stood up. "I'll call you later, after I cool off."

"Sit down! We have to settle this."

"Sit down? Don't you order me around! You know you won't let it be settled, your stupid insecurities are too important to you and right now I'm not in the mood to deal with them."

She picked up her purse and stalked out of the deli. She was two blocks away when she realized what she had heard as she stormed by the table near the front door.

"Did you call last night?"

"Eh? No, why?"

"Oh, the phone was ringing when I walked in but I didn't pick it up in time. Since you're the only one with the new number I figured it was you. It must have been a wrong number."

"No Connections" was published in the May 2004 issue of DII Flash & Poetry