AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Corbin watched as Melanie blushed cutely at the mention of the excessively enthusiastic little creature, and Graziella laughed at her discomfort. “Just a little joke. When you get to my age, my dear, you try to find fun in whatever you do, no?”
Melanie nodded, her shoulders relaxing.
Then Graziella returned her attention to Corbin. “My dear friend, you are so handsome tonight. It’s been too long a time….”
“Thank you.” He braced himself anew.
“And how are you coping?” Her animated face became furrowed with concern, and immediately, he could sense Melanie’s attention perking up. Graziella grasped his hands again, her thin fingers like birds’ claws, encircling his. And there it was in her eyes, the thing he feared most: pity.
“How are you, povero?” she asked again. “Does it get better? The pain?”
No, he wanted to tell her. It never got better. It might back into its lair like a dragon and lurk in the darkness. But pain such as that? No. Never better.
Graziella was stroking his arm, her fingers weightless upon his sleeve, and her voice was sweet and heavy with grief on his behalf. “You poor thing. You poor, poor thing….”
And all the while, Corbin could feel Melanie’s curious eyes upon them.
He backed away. He couldn’t stand another second of this, not even for Melanie’s sake. “If you will excuse us, Graziella,” he began.
Immediately, his hostess understood, and her fixed, pleasant smile was back. “Of course, my dear. Melanie, principessa carina, the pleasure was mine. We will speak once more.” Then she slipped back into the crowd, looking around for guests she had not yet greeted.
The ordeal did not stop there. Waiting in the wings to speak to him was a man who officially dealt in luxury cars, but who unofficially also dealt in large caches of Israeli weaponry. He approached Corbin with a smirk already in place, as if digging his blade under his ribs would be the highlight of the evening. “Durant, my old friend. What a shock to see you here! I had no idea you still rubbed shoulders with the likes of us!” He chortled so hard that both his chins waggled.
Corbin said nothing. Instead, he noted that the vapid-looking 20-something creature wrapped around the man’s chubby arm was most assuredly not his wife. She was staring at him as if planning to vlog about the encounter later, so it was a sure bet that she had been briefed as to Corbin’s situation.
The man continued. “Tell me, friend, how goes it, this new hobby of yours? Are you still enjoying your tinkering, or have you grown tired of the wood chips and sawdust? Are you tired yet of glue and paint under your fingernails? When do we anticipate your return to the real world?”
Corbin felt Melanie bristle on his behalf. His own stomach was curdling in distaste, and he wanted nothing more than to get away from the man. He said curtly, “My work continues to be both satisfying and fulfilling—”
“And your wife? How is she coping with… you know….”
Melanie’s startled eyes immediately swung in Corbin’s direction, and her mouth took on a surprised shape.
“Ex,”he reminded him through gritted teeth, and then, without even excusing himself, grabbed Melanie’s hand and marched away. His chest was tight and his heart pounded, ribs constricting his breathing. He needed air. Fresh air.
There it was: the patio. Guests milled about, but it was certainly less densely packed. Fewer pairs of accusing or pitying eyes.
Here,he thought, here, I can breathe.
