Lost in the Forest: A Novel by Sue Miller

Author:Sue Miller [Miller, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2006-07-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

THE DAY AFTER her birthday party, Eva had called Mark and arranged to meet him. She thought they ought to talk about what had happened between them, about the kiss—though she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. And she wanted to tell him how things had gone in her talk with Daisy. They agreed on an evening in the following week. She suggested the place: the bar at the Auberge de Soleil. Her thought was that it was so touristy there that they weren’t likely to run into anyone they knew.

As soon as she hung up she realized how ridiculous that concern was. Mark had been over at her house so often in the last year, they’d done so many things together, that anyone interested could have made note of all of that long since if he wanted to. There was already plenty to gossip about, if gossip was what you were after.

It occurred to her then that she might have chosen the Auberge for herself—that perhaps she wanted a public place. Because this meeting felt different to Eva from all the others—and the reason for this was, of course, that he had kissed her. On the other hand, it certainly wasn’t the case that she thought anything was going to happen between them. That was an impossibility, which is what she had assured Daisy the night of the party.

Then what, exactly, was different? She didn’t know.

She got there first and sat outside, on the balcony that ran around the outside of the circular bar. It had a spectacular view down the wide, darkening valley—this was why the tourists came. Thick stems of an old wisteria vine twined up the posts from the ground below and reached for the roof. From the guest cottages hidden among the trees down the hill, you could hear a party—the voices and music rose muted; there was laughter and the odd loud squawk. Below Eva and to the left in the blue-lighted pool, someone was slowly doing laps.

She ordered wine and sparkling water. She was, she realized, excited to be out, excited to be meeting Mark. This was the difference, she understood abruptly: it was in her. And it came, she acknowledged to herself now, because when he had touched her the night of her birthday party, she had been aroused. It had confused her and saddened her at the moment—this arousal—but she’d had to explain it to Daisy just afterward, and as she’d spoken she’d realized she was explaining herself to herself as much as to Daisy; and what she said made sense to her.

She had told Daisy that quite naturally there was an old, deep bond between Mark and her. They had been married, after all. They’d had children together, whom they both loved. (Daisy’s face had registered contempt at this. She was backed up into a corner of her bed, hugging a pillow. She hadn’t wanted Eva to talk to her, even to come into her room. She’d screamed

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.