A few years back, when the rocketship to stardom known as Employee of the Month was just lifting off, Jessica Simpson was rumored to be involved with her co-star Dane Cook. Now that her relationship with John Mayer is really, really over, thanks to that “sexual napalm” comment (and Mayer is… What? Sexual itching powder? Staked-out-on-a-nest-of-fire-ants sexy? I’m looking for an apt simile here, but it’s eluding me), Jessica might be going back to the old reliable. Or so it would appear. If she can force herself to sit through the guy’s show, it sounds pretty serious:

“[W]e hear Dane was happy to have old flame Jess there and even sent over a round of drinks to her table. He then invited her backstage after the show, natch. “After the first round of drinks, the waitress went over and said, ‘This round is on Dane,’” dishes our source. “Jessica seemed so excited.”

It’s all very repetitive and inane and a little bit sad, like a Dane Cook comedy routine. But on the plus side, this job will get a lot easier if we can just start recycling material from 2007. And somewhere, Nick Lachey is either laughing maniacally or praying for Vanessa Minillo to get her act together and hook back up with him stat.