couch, clutching her phone to her
chest, trying to get her head around what she wanted to talk to him about.
Miss Pris jumped up on the couch, settling between her legs
to stay a while.
“I need to meet him, face to face. He’s here in town; it
shouldn’t be too tough, right?”
The cat rolled over, stretching her paws, showing Rose her
belly.
Rose rolled her eyes, reaching over to pet her for a second.
“Lotta help you are.”
She grabbed her phone, opening his text screen and she typed
the first thing that popped into her head. “Need to meet in person. Need to
talk to you about something. It’s important. I’ll be at the coffee shop at the
corner of Main and Eighth in a half hour. Meet me?”
After she pushed the Send button her stomach dropped. She
wanted to delete it, call it back and have a do-over. He was gonna think her
completely nuts and clingy. Too bad she felt like both of those things.
A ding brought her attention to her phone. The urge to put
the phone aside and not look at it crept up to the base of her skull, knocking
on her noggin. Not wanting to add “chicken shit” to her list of accomplishments
for the day she scrolled to his message and opened it.
“I’ll try.”
She relaxed, finally able to take a deep breath for the
first time all day.
It didn’t take her long to put some makeup on, along with a T-shirt
and jeans. She slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops, grabbed her purse,
and headed out.
The coffee shop was definitely busy for a Saturday
afternoon. She ordered a latte and a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and
grabbed a table for two.
She nibbled her bagel, sipping on her hot drink in between
incessant glances at her phone and the front door.
Every person who walked through the door could have been him
but none of them were.
Her coffee grew cold and her butt fell asleep because she
sat there for so long.
After two hours she finally gave up. She threw out the rest
of her bagel, tossing the to-go cup and napkin. She drove home on auto-pilot,
entering her door as if she’d aged twenty years in just a few hours.
“Too good to be true, kitty. Just like I thought when I
first saw his profile. If he was who he said he was he would have shown up.”
A message dinged on her phone and she didn’t care. Too
little too late…but she couldn’t help herself. She opened his conversation and
read it.
“Sorry, I couldn’t get there. I tried to leave, tried to
meet you but I just couldn’t.”
The screen dimmed on her phone and then went black. She
decided not to answer. “What was the point?” she asked to no one in particular.
She powered off her phone, tossing it on the kitchen table,
cursing herself for being so naïve, thinking she was anything to him. Tears
filled her eyes. She told herself to get a grip, willing them to stay in place
and just disappear but they didn’t listen.
She climbed in bed and cried for the first time since her
parents died.
Hope was a dangerous thing. Once it’s dashed, the rest of
the world loses a bit of its color.
Her eyelids closed sometime later and she slept, thankfully
dream-free.
She woke up just as the sun started to set and took a
shower, washing away the sadness, or at least trying to. Getting disappointed
in people always sucked but she decided while brushing her hair that she wasn’t
going to let it get her down. Making a clean break from him was definitely the
best thing she could do. She vowed to remove him from her friends list on the
dating site and she could delete his contact info from her phone.
Her phone sat on the table, right where she’d left it. She
approached it like it might bite her. It lay so silently there on the wood and
she wondered about just tossing it and getting another one. All the rest of her
contacts were stored in a cloud account. She’d made a backup of them a few days
before uploading her profile to Crossroads . Adding all of them into a
new phone, all except Nico’s, wouldn’t be
chest, trying to get her head around what she wanted to talk to him about.
Miss Pris jumped up on the couch, settling between her legs
to stay a while.
“I need to meet him, face to face. He’s here in town; it
shouldn’t be too tough, right?”
The cat rolled over, stretching her paws, showing Rose her
belly.
Rose rolled her eyes, reaching over to pet her for a second.
“Lotta help you are.”
She grabbed her phone, opening his text screen and she typed
the first thing that popped into her head. “Need to meet in person. Need to
talk to you about something. It’s important. I’ll be at the coffee shop at the
corner of Main and Eighth in a half hour. Meet me?”
After she pushed the Send button her stomach dropped. She
wanted to delete it, call it back and have a do-over. He was gonna think her
completely nuts and clingy. Too bad she felt like both of those things.
A ding brought her attention to her phone. The urge to put
the phone aside and not look at it crept up to the base of her skull, knocking
on her noggin. Not wanting to add “chicken shit” to her list of accomplishments
for the day she scrolled to his message and opened it.
“I’ll try.”
She relaxed, finally able to take a deep breath for the
first time all day.
It didn’t take her long to put some makeup on, along with a T-shirt
and jeans. She slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops, grabbed her purse,
and headed out.
The coffee shop was definitely busy for a Saturday
afternoon. She ordered a latte and a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and
grabbed a table for two.
She nibbled her bagel, sipping on her hot drink in between
incessant glances at her phone and the front door.
Every person who walked through the door could have been him
but none of them were.
Her coffee grew cold and her butt fell asleep because she
sat there for so long.
After two hours she finally gave up. She threw out the rest
of her bagel, tossing the to-go cup and napkin. She drove home on auto-pilot,
entering her door as if she’d aged twenty years in just a few hours.
“Too good to be true, kitty. Just like I thought when I
first saw his profile. If he was who he said he was he would have shown up.”
A message dinged on her phone and she didn’t care. Too
little too late…but she couldn’t help herself. She opened his conversation and
read it.
“Sorry, I couldn’t get there. I tried to leave, tried to
meet you but I just couldn’t.”
The screen dimmed on her phone and then went black. She
decided not to answer. “What was the point?” she asked to no one in particular.
She powered off her phone, tossing it on the kitchen table,
cursing herself for being so naïve, thinking she was anything to him. Tears
filled her eyes. She told herself to get a grip, willing them to stay in place
and just disappear but they didn’t listen.
She climbed in bed and cried for the first time since her
parents died.
Hope was a dangerous thing. Once it’s dashed, the rest of
the world loses a bit of its color.
Her eyelids closed sometime later and she slept, thankfully
dream-free.
She woke up just as the sun started to set and took a
shower, washing away the sadness, or at least trying to. Getting disappointed
in people always sucked but she decided while brushing her hair that she wasn’t
going to let it get her down. Making a clean break from him was definitely the
best thing she could do. She vowed to remove him from her friends list on the
dating site and she could delete his contact info from her phone.
Her phone sat on the table, right where she’d left it. She
approached it like it might bite her. It lay so silently there on the wood and
she wondered about just tossing it and getting another one. All the rest of her
contacts were stored in a cloud account. She’d made a backup of them a few days
before uploading her profile to Crossroads . Adding all of them into a
new phone, all except Nico’s, wouldn’t be
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