The Trouble & Magic by Alt Madelyn

Author:Alt, Madelyn [Alt, Madelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2007-10-12T05:00:00+00:00

I ended up spending the night at Steff's.

Calling myself a coward didn't change my mind. Neither did repeated self-affirmations. I'd psyched myself up for the eventual return to my place for hours while we talked well into the night. Every time I thought about it, the great black maw of my apartment opened wide in my mind's eye, jeering at me from the darkness and goading me to come down and play. Trouble is, I wasn't quite sure what I was dealing with, and until I knew by whose rules I was playing, the game was going to have to go on without me.

After all, a sleeping bag on a friend's sofa was eminently more inviting than a sleepover date with something dark and unnatural.

I woke up around eight after a long restless night of tossing and turning with the feeling there was something I had to do.

I sat up amid the bulky confines of the half-zipped sleeping bag and blinked away the sleep from my eyes. Steff was already up-I could hear the shower running, and from the kitchen wafted the scent of fresh-brewed coffee. Kicking my way free of the sleeping bag, I stumbled in the direction of the tiny galley kitchen. Not much bigger than my own, it was little more than a sink, a stove, a row of cupboards-up and down-and a small table. What it did have that mine did not was a killer cappuccino machine, a gift from a former boyfriend.

Like I said, Dr. Ruth had nothing on Steff. The woman was legend.

I found two cups set out on the counter, just waiting for someone to fill them. I was only too happy to oblige. The cappuccino machine made a lovely, foamy, sputtering sound as it shot the steaming liquid into first one cup, then the other. I had just buried my nose behind the rim of mine when Steff emerged from the bathroom, wrapped from head to toe in baby pink bath towels.

"Ahhh," she sighed as she accepted the cup I held out to her, "there's nothing like a hot shower to make a tired woman feel human again."

"Oh, good. There's still hope for me, then."

"Didn't you sleep well?"

I shrugged and ducked her question. "What do you have on your calendar for today?"

"The usual stuff this morning." Setting down her cup, Steff unraveled the towel from her head. Her auburn hair fell heavily to just below her shoulders. As she talked, she used her fingers to tousle it into curls. "You know. Cleaning the toilet. Laundry. Tonight I have a date with Danny."

"Danny?" I asked. She must have moved on. The last boyfriend I remembered her talking about was some guy named Paul.

Her lips curved in a secret little smile. "Dr. Daniel Tucker."

"Someone new?" And a doctor, too. Impressive.

She snugged her towel tighter around herself and then reached into a cupboard for a bowl. "Very new. Danny is a new intern at the hospital, fresh from med school in Massachusetts. How he ended up interning waaaay out here is beyond me.

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