"By the way...I wasn't kidding.
"In all seriousness, not in the prototypical bar-type Gee, you're hot kind of seriousness - I'd date your brains out, rip off your logic and make passionate sense to you. In a heartbeat. Gots my sandals out for playing in the rain and stomping through puddles and everything. I've hidden the umbrellas, ripped up the raincoats and set the galoshes on fire in the sink because, well, there's no point in water pouring from the sky if one doesn't actually get, you know, wet. There's a rubber ducky sitting in a pothole in the street patiently waiting to be floating on its own wee little lake, and if the rain doesn't come there's a fire hydrant down the block just begging for a wrench - Sometimes rain just needs to be, you know, MADE.
"I can do all that, sure...or I can be one of your best friends in the world. I have a preference, 'course I do, but I won't push it. This isn't an ultimatum or anything so immature - I'll be sittin' at the bar on Saturdays one way or another. S'just something to think about.
"Regardless of any of this - fuck 'em. You're lovely. Remember that."
- - -
"I'll be at Odessa tomorrow, like I do. You'd be more than welcome.
Oh, and the puzzle? 'Fructose and others?' 'Ketones.'
"Fucking ketones."
--Jack