With an absence of breath,
I asked “Haven’t you a heart?”
She looked me carefully in the eye.
“I am not responsible for where he tosses his affection.
I have not led him on in any way,
given him any sense that I am interested.
If he think otherwise, he is a fool.”
She shifted, and stared even deeper.
“He may be interested.
He may love me.
He has never said so.
Until he does, it is not my concern.
Perhaps not even then.
How does that sit with you, Stanley?”

My name isn’t Stanley. Did she not know my name?
I don’t usually straddle people whom I don’t know.
Of course, I never straddle people named Stanley,
so there are distinct differences between us.
“That sits fine,” I said, kissing her well into the night.
And for some time after.