Little Death by Jenny Mercer

Author:Jenny Mercer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jenny Mercer
Published: 2021-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

SAM HAD COME TO KNOW the PDX airport all too well in the past couple of months, but as he approached its towers once again, he reflected that this time might well be the very last. He pulled into the long-term parking lot, swung into a space, and slipped the payment ticket onto the dash. As a final gesture, after pulling his keys out of the ignition, he tucked them under the floor mat—the entire ring.

Rose, in the passenger seat beside him, looked at him with bewilderment in her eyes. “You’re really going to do this. Just vanish without a trace.”

“Not without a trace. I told you I’d come visit you.” He reached into the back for his gym bag. “And I’ll text Amy once I’m at the gate.”

“It’s just so strange. It’s your whole life. I mean, I mailed boxes back to my folks’ place, sold my car back to the dealer, put in notice at my job—”

“I put in notice,” Sam said defensively. “A few days,’ but I didn’t just stop showing up. I wouldn’t do that to my boss.”

He got out of the car, circling around to the trunk, and Rose followed. The thing was—and Rose would never understand this—that Portland was not his life. He had grown attached to it, without a doubt, and for a short time even convinced himself that assimilating himself into his human circumstances could be a noble, virtuous thing. But his life—the only one that mattered—was with Tabitha. The fact that it had been stolen from him for the time being did not make that any less true. On Rockledge Street he was nothing more than a child dressing up in a cowboy hat and holsters, so lost in his play that he believed he could hear Indians in the distance.

They sat on the shuttle to the airport beside each other, thigh to thigh, in the familiar way of lovers. In the past few days, with Remy almost entirely distracted by running the shop alone, they had thoroughly exploited the house’s emptiness. It had been fun as hell, physically satisfying, and even cathartic; for beneath all the human tumult his heart had gone through with Amy, there was the demon side of him that wanted revenge. He felt no pride in that, but just like his need to prowl, it was an aspect of him that could not be avoided. Angels took satisfaction in offering mercy, but demons yearned to make things fair.

Their flights were on different airlines, but Sam got off at Rose’s terminal and helped her inside. Past the doors, in the center of the lifted, cavernous space, she turned to him and laid her hands at his waist, tilting her face up toward his.

“Good luck in Nashville,” she said. “I’ll miss you.”

“Thanks. Good luck with that kid. And I’ll see you again before too long.”

She nodded. “Thanks for everything. I mean, the friendship and the talks and all the support about my stupid job. And the really, really good sex.

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