“Yeah…” With a weak smile she nodded. “Hurts either way.” The waitress came with the main course and took the soup bowl away. Surprisingly, Christine hadn’t lost her appetite over the unhappy conversation. Joe was amazed at how she was digging into the mashed potatoes and the duck she had ordered.
“I would have never thought of leaving him, though,” Christine said. “Being content that we mix up with being happy is still a lot better than the unknown, I guess.” She bit down on her lip and looked at him, obviously not sure how he would deal with so much personal information. “That sounds prett
D nodded a little absent-mindedly. “Yeah, that’s this weekend…” Unintentionally it had come out so strikingly non-enthusiastic that it made Robert falter. “What’s wrong?” he asked, a plate for the dishwasher in his hand. “I thought you were looking forward to that.” D swallowed. Robert sometimes ha
Robert nodded, not looking very convinced. “Is it even such a big deal then if he comes?” he asked. “I mean… it might not be real relaxing with him around, but…you’ve seen him at the funeral, haven’t you? And that was okay…” He turned back to the dishwasher. Chewing on her lip, D stared at her brot
D thought about that for a moment. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She grabbed a towel and joined Ann at the sink. There were two pots already washed and waiting to be dried. Ann looked over at her. “What happened? With that guy. Or should I not ask?” “His name is Joe, by the way,” Robert threw in.
“How come you never told me about this?” D wanted to know. “I’m awfully sorry, but, at the time, I really didn’t see any reason to inform you of all people, if that’s what you mean. The only one that probably would have had a certain interest and even a right to know was Jack. And I didn’t really t
“What did you think about her the one time you’ve met her?” he asked. Suddenly Christine looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know,” she shrugged, avoiding eye-contact. “It was just for one dinner. And it’s kind of hard to judge someone after spending just a few hours with them. She’s probably a lot dif
“So, Danielle, why didn’t you bring your friend tonight? What’s his name again?” It was almost nine, the birthday cake had been diminished to only a quarter of its size and everyone seemed tired and slightly paralyzed from all the food. Only Aunt Sauvie had just come back to life. She was a friendl
“Let’s try,” she whispered and moved her hand down to his stomach.“Okay,” he put his hand back ontop of hers and slid his fingers between hers.It took only minutes until her breathing slowed down and a slight twitching of her hand told him that she was asleep again.Listening to her breathing and
Joe woke up around three, feeling really thirsty.It took him a second to grasp where he was (not in the cabin anymore) and that he was not alone.The realization caused a flash of excitement.D was sleeping far on her side of the bed.He remembered how she had always used to do that. No matter how
He was going for a mind-sweeping kiss here – one that would swipe her mind of any reservations there might still be. Even if, right now, she didn’t seem very reserved anyway. But he’d rather be absolutely sure…His own reservations were all gone by now. And having her so close just confirmed that ke
Three minutes later Joe returned, a chocolate bar in his left hand and a glass of milk in his right.“I see chocolate,” D chirped with a greedy grin. She had sat up and was leaning against the headboard. “Come here…” Like a lazy princess she waved for him to come over.Stopping at his desk, Joe set
“I don’t wanna mess this up…” he said, his gaze on the bedcover beside her head, his hand tracing one of the lines in the pattern.“Didn’t exactly feel like you were in the process of messing things up,” she said softly and reached out to touch his face.“You don’t think so, huh?” He leaned into her
Joe pushed himself away from the windowsill.“Guess I’ve really earned a jerk medal,” he contemplated as he stepped around the bed to her. “I’m sorry I didn’t pick up.”“Mhmm,” D growled, trying hard to unwaveringly hold his gaze as he came closer. “And you’re hopefully also sorry that you didn’t ca
He shrugged and kept glaring out the window. This had become kind of a habit - turning his back on people and staring into space. It was a bad habit he had developed thanks to Liz. It just helped him focus or stay composed, and it made it easier to get through situations he would rather avoid altoge
What she had before her, was part of the job ads from Saturday’s paper. One of the ads had her company’s swan logo on it. It was the ad for one of the jobs in London.Joe had gotten up from the bed again and returned to his desk. He pulled out the chair and sat down on it backwards so he was facing
D was rising from the bed with the intention to follow him. Only that she was momentarily strangely overwhelmed by something. Something indefinable that affected her more deeply than anything had in a long time.When it only got worse once she stepped out on the landing, a moist wave from the bathro