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listened, hopeful that Maritess had finally come to her senses. Before she even continued, Maritess was shaking her head to let Cassandra know she was on the wrong track. The disappointed confusion was evident in Cassandra’s face as she stirred their coffee cups and handed one to Maritess. “No, it’s not like that,” she assured Cassandra, “Trust me.”
                Maritess began to tell Cassandra about Markus and his quest for true love. She told him about his answer on her questionnaire, and how shocked he was when she showed up as his trainer. Maritess told her all about how much fun it was to push Markus to the point where he finally gave, both with weight and with insult. Cassandra rolled her eyes, having never quite understood why Maritess liked to torture people so much. Maritess assured her, though, that she made sure never to actually hurt him, but she had never been kind to his feelings. She told her about the women she’d set him up with, and about how he ended up at her apartment the other night. When Maritess finished her confession, Cassandra had a world of things to say.
                “So, you’re telling me, that after all of that, you don’t feel the slightest spark at all for him?” Cassandra asked, incredulously. Maritess shook her head to answer ‘no’. Then she shrugged her shoulders. Cassandra beckoned her to answer by tapping her hand on the table.
                “Well, you know,” Maritess said, searching for the right words, “It’s not that I don’t feel anything for him. He’s great in bed, and he’s funny. He’s smart, and he puts up with my personality. He’s a great client. I guess I enjoy his company, but it’s not like I couldn’t find another man to fulfill the same things that he does… could...,” she paused, then definitively said, “might.”
                “Okay,” Cassandra said, sarcastically. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe that’s fine, and totally beside the point? Who cares if you could replace him with someone else? What should matter is how you feel about him now. So, how do you feel about him now?”
                “Mildly amused,” Maritess replied. Cassandra continued to press her further by asking if she thought he could be a good partner. Maritess shrugged a single shoulder in the air. “I guess he could be, if he were with someone actually looking for a partner. I, however, am not looking for a partner. I think that is the bottom line. I don’t want to be with anyone. I just don’t want to be in love.” Maritess felt like that sealed the issue in her mind, but Cassandra pried a little bit more.
                “But, why not? Why wouldn’t you want someone else in your life?” Cassandra asked. Maritess replied that she simply didn’t. She did not want to share her life with anyone else. She felt no need to do so. In fact, Maritess liked her life. What she didn’t like were people who tried to tell her that she was wrong. At this point, Maritess was willing to agree with all these crazy people about their stupid ideas on love, if only they would let her abstain from it without further comment, judgment or insult.
                Cassandra continued to prod at Maritess about her decision to remain loveless. She told Maritess that a dog was not the same as a human companion. She told her that, eventually, she would be old one day. Cassandra warned that she needed some type of family, and even though she would always be there for Maritess, she hoped to have her own family, too. A couple of hours flew by quicker than heartbeats as Maritess further explained herself. At last, she finally had to defend why she would not at least try things with Markus.
                “Markus is a great man,” Maritess said, “He deserves a wonderful woman. I’m not saying that I’m not wonderful, but he has a more romantic view of life than I do. I think there are