The Story Guy by Rivers Mary Ann

Author:Rivers, Mary Ann [Rivers, Mary Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780345548740
Publisher: Loveswept
Published: 2013-07-08T06:00:00+00:00

Wednesday, 12:11 p.m.

There are so many good reasons not to stand under this pergola in bad weather. But no matter how many of them I gave myself, or how many Shelley added to my list over a long morning shelving, I can’t let go of the image of Brian cutting through the fog and wet on his bike and finding the pergola empty. What his face might look like as he rode away, back into his impossible life. Away from me and my life—wide open and empty.

The moment the minutes have inched far enough away from noon that I decide to leave the shelter and walk back through the drizzle to the library, I stop, because the man getting out of the strangely tall, navy-blue van that just pulled up in the handicap-accessible parking area adjacent to the shelters moves just like Brian does. I squint, and it is him, getting out. Locking the van. Jogging toward me. And now he’s here. I was certain he wouldn’t be.

Neither of us says anything, and the details come to me slowly. He’s wearing jeans and battered Converse sneakers. He’s wearing a T-shirt with some kind of awful stain that streaks from collar to hem. His hair is matted against his skull on one side and sticking straight out on the other. Instead of the elegant wire rims he usually wears, his glasses are an obviously older, clunky pair that emphasize the circles under his eyes. There is enough of a confluence of his dark whiskers that it’s nearly a beard, and now I can see the triangle of gray under his full lower lip.

He looks terrible. Awful. Spectacular.

“I was getting ready to leave.” I should be angry, I think, but tenderness is coming over me again. He looks like he could use the biggest cup of coffee in the world and a sandwich. And a shower. Maybe a whiskey to drink in the shower after he finishes his sandwich.

“I’m surprised you’re here at all, but I hoped.” He shoves his hands into his pockets and his waistband dips below his too-short T-shirt. That little strip of exposed belly unties all my knotted places.

“If you came …” I try to catch his gaze, but it’s somewhere else. I can’t stop looking at him, anyway. At his throat where it dips into his collarbones, right where I’ve had my mouth and tasted, at least a half dozen times. At his surprisingly fine cupid’s bow that fits the tip of my tongue exactly. “I just wanted to see if you were okay. You haven’t returned my other calls, and—”

“I’m sorry.” He pinches his nose and looks away.

“No, look. Obviously something big is going on. How is your sister? I’ve been so worried, Brian. That’s what I’m trying to say.” I wish he would just look at me, but he’s making a serious study of middle distance.

“Stacy’s—sick. The weekend and beginning of the week have kind of devolved into an epic cluster. She’s going to be

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.