Six Weeks With You by Janet Koops

Author:Janet Koops [Janet Koops]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brown House Books
Published: 2022-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

We head out into the cold crisp night. Traffic is unusually light, and often the roads are silent. We are too, but it is comfortable. He lets me hold his arm for stability, and it is reassuring to not walk the street alone for the first time since I’ve moved here.

The ballet is magical. I lose myself in the artistry of it all, appreciating how a story can be conveyed through music, movement, and costume. I become inspired, already sketching a dancer in motion in my head.

As the lights come on and we prepare to leave, I give Daniel a quick little hug. “Thank you. I enjoyed that. It is something I would never have done on my own.” Or could have afforded.

“You’re welcome. I’ll tell Mom you liked it.”

Outside, Daniel takes my hand and leads me to a small, cozy-looking restaurant, almost hidden away down an alley, like a secret. An expensive secret.

“Daniel,” I whisper, swallowing my pride, “I can’t afford this place. I need to eat next week.”

“Don’t worry,” he whispers back, “My parents are paying. Part of the deal for using their tickets.”

“I don’t know. I feel kind of awkward.”

“Vicki, I invited you. I’m happy you came, now please let my parents buy you dinner.”

We sit near the back. The restaurant is dimly lit, primarily by candlelight and small tabletop lanterns. A fireplace dominates the center of the restaurant, and the walls are exposed brick. No, not brick. Stone. Very old stone.

Daniel smiles at me from across the flickering light of our lantern, making my insides tingle. So handsome and sweet. And now single. Nope. Not going there. And yet, his invitation out is the only one I accepted—Darcy’s, Isabelle’s, I always declined. That must mean something.

He takes a sip of water. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, this time with no jokes, how come you’re here all alone? Did you go anywhere for Christmas?”

“No, I was indeed alone. It was okay, though. It’s not the first one.”

His eyebrows bunch together. “No family? Friends?”

“No family. No friends close enough to invite me over for Christmas.”

“I’m sorry, Vicki.”

“Don’t be.” I lean forward, my hands clasped together on the table. “My mother is a junkie, and I haven’t seen her for five years. I came to Montreal to get away from my ex. Our relationship was, um, toxic.”

“He didn’t hit you, did he?”

“Jesus Daniel, you get straight to the point, don’t you?”

“Sorry. I just...I don’t know... I’m comfortable with you. Like we’ve been friends for a long time. Never mind, you don’t have to answer.”

“It’s okay. I like talking to you too, but I don’t want to scare you off.”

“I’m a big boy.”

I take a long drink of water as a stall tactic while I think of how to sum up my relationship with Kent. “To answer your question, no, he never hit me. His angle was psychological. He was controlling. He preyed upon my insecurities, and I let him—I let him because I believed the horrible things he said.

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