The drive home took D about twenty minutes. It was twenty minutes spent struggling to stay focused on the road rather than on the disastrous evening she had just had.Pete had driven her back to her car after she had put on a good show in the dining hall, claiming that she wasn’t feeling good at all
Then she took her electric toothbrush out of the mirror cabinet and squirted toothpaste on it. She pushed the start button and nothing happened. Yeah, right. The battery light had been blinking for at least two days. Now it was definitely dead. Time to finally charge it!She turned to the cup that h
Joe’s bedroom; 1:15 amJoe was pulled out of his sleep by his mobile phone ringing.At first he didn’t really know it was his phone, of course. He was sound asleep and dreaming about being in the flat he had lived in with Liz. He was sleeping on the sofa and from the bedroom he could hear the alarm
D was woken up at 6:25 am by the noise of a message coming in on her mobile phone. Immediately wide awake and with her pulse racing, she grabbed the phone from her bedside table.She could literally feel her heart plummet when it turned out to be a message from Pete.Danielle,I still feel horrible
In one of the last paragraphs Harry said:Ideally one or two of our export staff from Innsbruck would relocate to London for a two-year period and help build up the export department there. We’re going to be hiring at least two additional people, maybe three, depending.Glaring at these words, Joe fe
They had spontaneously met at the pub after Jack had called and suggested it.“How was last night?” Joe asked after telling the young waitress what he wanted to drink.“Not so great, I’m afraid,” Jack said, “I mean, the music was good, of course, but the rest…”“Which rest? Sarah?”“Yeah.” Jack slow
“Dammit!” D slammed the phone on the sofa beside her and briefly closed her eyes.Her pulse was racing and the already familiar “Hi, you’ve reached Joe Reilley…” was still ringing in her ear.This time the call had not gone straight to voice mail. There had been three rings at first and only then hi
It was a little after nine in the morning, the sun was up, the ground was still moist, the birds were singing and Sarah had just reached the steeper part of the path leading up to the viewpoint.She had woken up early and decided to just have a quick, light breakfast and then leave the house before
“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