Chapter One hundred and ten

The day was cold and windy, steadily announcing the near arrival of winter and its children. Settling for a fully furred sweater with a turtle neck, Kathy came out of the convenience store, bags in hand, breezing through to the sedan parked on the other side of the mall.

She walked to the car, almost tripping over on the interlocked tile floor twice. After successfully navigating to the car, she settled in, rolling down her window to look for her way out.

The lights on the cell phone sitting on the dashboard blinked repeatedly, and the phone rang out, sending Kathy jolting back. She picked it up and found a strange number; she had been wary of picking unsaved contacts ever since she left Andre, but something kept picking at her to pick it. She held the phone, measuring the weight of the decisions in her mind.

She picked it up, and the familiar raspy voice of Andre came over the phone, booming loud and clear with an ever-authoritative tone. “Hey, where are you?”

“I guessed you di