Goodbye John

Luka called me tonight. I was still heady from my kiss.

"Peter," his accent was so soothing. I figured he was going to give me hell about kissing Julianne. I was wrong.

"Do you remember when you and Anna met in the film business?"

"Uh, yes...?" I stammered, wondering if this was part of his plan to get Anna and Sam to remember us.

"Do you remember the show "The West Wing" that she wound up working on?"

""Yes..." I was still confused.

"Well, John Spencer, the man who played Leo, died of a heart attack today," he said briskly. '"He was only fifty-eight," he added, his voice trailing off.

""What? Why are you telling me this?" I felt as if I could not take another loss.

"I was thinking that perhaps if we showed her his picture, told her that he was dead, it might spark a memory...."

"You mercenary fuck!" I screamed

""It's a mercenary time, Peter. I know you liked the man. So did she. I am from Croatia, remember? You do what you have to do."

I slammed the phone down and rocked back and forth for a long, long time.