Narrow Escape by Anna Cove

Author:Anna Cove [Cove, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B076JJQ4SW
Publisher: Anna Cove
Published: 2017-10-19T10:44:23+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

JULIA

College students and old men crowded around the square bar at the Toasted Owl. There had to be hundreds of bars in Northampton, but I'd suggested this one because I'd remembered Susan mentioning it once while I was in school. In a time when she had smiled freely and touched readily and took me under her wing.

Was it possible I could take her home tonight? And what about her husband? Was he still around? It seemed silly to make a decision based on the way you felt when someone touched you, but she had lingered in the hug longer than any hug I'd had—even with my best friends. Her eyes had lingered, too, and didn't I catch them dropping to my V-neck where the rise of my breasts shone through?

My mind flashed to us together, surrounded by rose petals in a hotel room. How romantic. That's how it would be with her, and romance wasn't even my thing. But it was Susan. Susan. It didn't even matter if we had sex, our conversation would be good enough. Intimate enough. We could lie together with our clothes on and enjoy the night if she wanted to. I didn't even care.

The door opened, and in came a girl who barely looked legal. I could be going home with her tonight. Or her. Or her. And for them, I could see, sex would be guaranteed. Why would I trade a sexless night for one filled with getting off?

Because it's Susan, my mind answered back.

I checked my watch. 9:32. She was late. Very late. So late I couldn't be sure she would even show. Why would she bother agreeing if she had no intentions of going through with it? It didn't make sense, and it wasn't like her, but perhaps she had felt something between us too and feared it. Maybe she was running far, far away.

That thought took my mind to the dark cave I'd been running from for years. The cave of loneliness, of despair.

I took out my phone and texted Sally.

You didn't see the woman who approached me before the show, did you?

Two seconds later, Sally texted me back.

Nope. And another two seconds. I think she had to leave.

She'd left the show early? Maybe she'd had an emergency.

Did she give you any messages?

Oh, she did give me her number, but... I think I lost it.

So, Susan had tried to reach me. She wasn't just standing me up. If she was, though, it wasn't the first time. On graduation day, she had promised to be there in the first row. All my friends had parents and grandparents and some even had cousins attending, but I'd had no one. She had promised to be there for me, but her chair had remained empty. That day was the last time we had spoken.

I should have known better than to get my hopes up, to hope that she would choose me over whatever else had come up. I wasn't her family. And to Susan, family was everything.

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