Heartsick by Tracey Richardson

Author:Tracey Richardson [Richardson, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594935640
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2017-11-26T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

The lake, as they drove along beside it to Charlevoix, was gray and roiling angrily, resisting winter’s trespass. Vic was at the wheel, Angie beside her, and she thought about the seasons, the slipping from one to the other. Her heart was still stamped with a winter chill, but she could sense a spring thaw approaching her soul. Karen wasn’t going to leave her in a deep freeze forever, and the realization made her feel light, free, happy for the first time in a long while.

Angie was telling her about her sessions so far with Melanie Scott, cursing her out as a “tough old broad,” but Vic could hear the respect in Angie’s voice.

“Do you think seeing her will help?”

“It already has. And do you know one of the things I’ve finally figured out?”

“What’s that?”

“That I’d gotten comfortable these last three-and-a-half months letting Brooke be the bad guy. She ended our relationship, and not in a nice way, but it needed ending. I should have ended it a long time ago.”

“So why didn’t you?”

An adorably self-deprecating smile. “Because I’m a stubborn S.O.B.”

“Well, cheers to that. Stubborn can be a good thing sometimes. Like when you don’t give up on a patient. Something we both know a little bit about, right?”

“Right. But not so good when you’re in a shitty relationship.”

They drove in silence, Vic sensing that if she was going to wait on Angie to bring up their kiss at Thanksgiving, it was going to be an awfully long wait. There was a strip of parkland up ahead, between the lake and the highway. Vic pulled off into it, Angie giving her a mild look of surprise.

She pointed the car toward the lake, parked it, shut off the engine. They were the only ones around.

“You want to go for a walk?” Angie asked.

“Not particularly.” It was cold, barely above freezing, and the wind snapped like a wet towel. “But I would like to talk.”

“Vic.” Angie turned to her. “I’m so sorry. About the kiss.”

“It was a mistake that we kissed, or it was a mistake that we kissed at that moment?” It was uncomfortable, but Vic pressed. She needed to get at exactly what Angie wanted to say, how she felt about it. “What, exactly, are you sorry about?”

“I’m not sure.” Angie stared out the passenger window. “Except I feel like I should apologize, like we might have done something wrong.” She turned suddenly. “What about you…do you feel it was a mistake?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure either.” It should be a mistake. Kissing the woman whose partner had run off with her wife. Ex-partner, ex-wife. But still.

“Vic? I don’t want it to be. A mistake, I mean. Do you?”

Vic felt the hard inquiry of her eyes. “But you did. Right after it happened.”

“I know. I was scared. I was…confused.”

“Confused?”

“Because I didn’t know if what I was feeling—doing—was appropriate. Given the circumstances. And I was scared because I felt like I was kind of going out on a limb and—”

“And I wasn’t?”

Through the windshield, Angie’s eyes followed the heavy surf.

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