My phone buzzed and softly illuminated the corner of the kitchen where I had left it sitting. It would be my dad asking about the weather.

I initiated a chain reaction of muscle movement that propelled me toward the phone with a not insignificant protest from my spirit.

It was a photo from Kristie. Her lying in my bed wearing nothing but a tank top and lacy panties that were probably black but I hoped were blue. She had cropped it in a way that made me wish she hadn’t cropped it at all. This would have been her intention and thus there was no point in taking the bait.