The Adjustments by Lineberger Ann;

Author:Lineberger, Ann; [Lineberger, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Le Beau Château: Abby Davis-Powers

It wasn’t until Abby was waiting in the tiny room in the firehouse a few weeks after her conversation with Jack that she began to remember. The familiar scratchiness of the fire department-issued blanket underneath her hands and its faint mildew smell instantly took her back to the night of Colin’s death.

He was tall, and he had large brown eyes, she recalled. He was the one who stopped me as I ran from the club toward the tarp, the garish blue tarp that was positioned half on the sidewalk and half in the street covering Colin. He stopped me and, as I initially struggled to break free, held me tightly. Someone walked up behind me and placed a blanket on my shoulders. The fireman wrapped it securely around me, holding me in what felt like a hug. At some point, I stopped resisting his grip and collapsed against his chest, against his rough Nomex jacket. He held me like that for what must have been several minutes before two female police officers arrived and, shielding my eyes from the tarp, took me to a waiting ambulance.

The moment I deduced that Colin had jumped—that he had taken his own life while I was inside at a party, sipping champagne—I had to go to him. There had been a number of sirens, but that’s common enough in New York. And then an officious-looking man who turned out to be the club manager appeared in the dining room with two security guards and brought the lights up. He spoke gravely with the Brownings and pointed to the roof. Following the Brownings’ lead, many in the room walked to the windows that look out onto Fifth Avenue and stared down in shock. The band was instructed to stop playing. I scanned the room.

No Colin, I thought. How long has he been gone? And then the manager and security guards were on their way over to me. I panicked. I knew, and I knew I would never get to Colin if they got to me first.

What if he’s near death and struggling? I wondered. I ran to the fire exit, down seven flights of stairs, and out into the lobby. It was clear. Everyone in it had moved to the windows—everyone but an ancient doorman, but he was easy enough to dodge. And then I was on the entrance steps and on the 54th Street sidewalk. As I rounded the corner of the club, the bright-blue tarp directed me to him.

I was about ten feet away when the fireman stepped in my path. He couldn’t have known that I was the victim’s wife, but he must have understood it on some level. Later, as the police officers gently pulled me from him, I looked at his face for the first time. I saw his eyes—his kind, big brown eyes.

I should have been smart enough to know that my fantasy had nothing to do with sex. Jack had asked me all

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.