Which Way To Happiness? by Laura Danks

Author:Laura Danks [Danks, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913942069
Published: 2021-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

She passed the phone back to the driver. “Thank you,” she said, and clambered out of the car, looking around, unsettled by the deserted road.

“Hey, lady,” the driver called out from the window. “This’s a safe hood. You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks.” She waved, slightly relieved, and he sped away.

She walked to the bus stop a few feet away and after cleaning up the bench with her palm, she sat down, hoping that Hudson had got her message and was on his way to her. She had no way of knowing that, so all she could do was wait. She kept looking in all directions, time went by painfully slowly. The evening was balmy and the air smelled of sizzling sausages and fireworks. She heard laughter coming from one of the houses on the opposite side of the road and there was jazz music lingering in the air. Still, she was tense. She played with a sticking up cuticle on her finger, trying to concentrate on that funny feeling rather than the anxiety growing in her chest.

Bad memories were resurfacing, turning her sense of unease into fear. She hadn’t thought about it in a long time but now, sitting alone in an empty road, in a part of town she didn’t know brought to the surface a memory from a night in Dublin sixteen years earlier when she was followed home by someone who wanted to mug her, or maybe worse. She was lucky she never found out.

It was the graduation party of her best friend Louise whose parents had splashed out on it with a grand town-center venue and even an open bar. Liz, already a little tipsy, had mingled through the crowd to get another drink stopping to say a few words to friends keen to hear about her engagement to Sean, and the details about her apprenticeship in Boston. When she finally reached the counter there were lots of people waiting to be served.

While she waited for her turn, she gazed about her. The venue was a magnificent old building, a great example of late Victorian architecture. The walls were paneled with oak, the ceiling had beams across a perfect vault and two magnificent chandeliers were shining above her head.

A waiter who was making cocktails looked at her with a flirty smile, flattering her. She had had just the one boyfriend for most of her teens and the unexpected male attention gave her a strange boost, especially when added to the alcohol in her bloodstream. “Hello,” she said in a friendly tone.

“Hello back,” he answered with a wink, and she had giggled. This seemed silly behavior now, but then it felt like innocent fun.

“It’s going to be a long wait to be served: why don’t you take one of these?” he said, plucking one of the cocktails from the tray in front of him.

“As long as it’s no trouble,” she said, trying to look cool.

“No trouble. For pretty girls, this is allowed, one final touch,” he answered with a smile and lowering the glass behind the counter, he sprinkled a few drops of something on it.

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