“Yes, because that just makes it better, doesn’t it?“

“Hey, we’re in public. You don’t need to make a scene,” she said.

“I’m sorry. I thought I was entitled.”

“Don’t be like that.”

He turned to stare at the window. “I’m going to be how I want. It’s not like you‘ll have to put up with it.”

“If there was any other way, I would. You know I would.”

He put his hand in his suit jacket pocket. It seemed to cradle something.

She leaned over the table, trying to catch his gaze with hers.

“And there’s no way you could’ve avoided this? What am I saying. I’m an idiot.”

“Can you look at me?”

“Can you answer my question?”

“No. She just needs me.”

“Even better.”

“I don’t feel good about this. Any of this.”

He stood from the chair. “I’d kiss you goodbye, but public displays aren’t your thing. I’ll get the bill. Get lost.”

He left her at the table and walked to the register. The man at the register said, “You with the lady?”

He replied, “I’m paying for her.” He gave the man dollars. The change came back in pesos.

After the change, he walked out to the street. The sidewalk led him to an alleyway with a dumpster. Down the alley, the dumpster kept him just out of sight. He pulled a brown-handled revolver out of his suit pocket. The barrel felt cool on his temple.

He pushed himself and yelled, but nothing. He kept trying, but he just couldn’t. “Coward! Coward!” He put it back in his pocket and walked back out to the street.

On his way home, he dropped the gun in a garbage can outside his apartment. Inside, he went upstairs, then down the third floor corridor. The keys fell to the ground the first time he tried to put them in the knob. Once inside, he fell onto the bed and slept.

He woke up in the middle of the night. Nothing was on TV other than telenovellas. He tried going back to sleep, but failed until sunrise.