AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You need a cab? Uber? What? ”
When she doesn’t offer up an answer, I fill in what happens next. “He isn’t going to take no for an answer. But then you know that.”
The guy glances around the restaurant, toward the bar, and then back at her, as if to say “who is this fucker?”
I raise my brow. “Coming or not?”
She hesitates for a moment before finally slipping her hand in mine.
“I’m sorry,” she says to her friend. “It was a bad idea, coming here.”
She’s had a few; I can tell by the way she stumbles over her feet as she tries to stand. Also, I watched their server deliver three Midori Sours, a couple tumblers of something amber-colored, and one glass of Riesling. Hummingbird food, my father calls it. Emily’s favorite.
“You didn’t have to do this,” the girl assures me. I estimate her blood alcohol level at .16, twice the legal limit. Well past the point in which good decisions are made.
“I know.”
“He’s really a nice guy.”
“I’m sure.”
“You’re such a gentleman,” she says, fidgeting. “Are you a cop?”
I pick up pace. I don’t care for small talk. “A chemist.”
“Oh. I don’t know how to thank you.”
I don’t respond. She’s drunk. And very obviously a hopeless romantic. “You have to make him work harder,” I say. “That’s how you thank me. Make him earn your respect.”
“Yeah…”
Outside at the curb, I pull a fifty from my wallet and hail a cab. She keeps at the small talk thing, most of which is random. Until it isn’t.
“And you? What are you working on, Mr.?…? Chemist.”
“A formula to counter the effects of alcohol.”
Chapter Nine
Vanessa
I don’t expect to meet her when I do. The sitter has texted a question—something about Matthew’s bedtime routine—and it’s easier to call than send the kind of detailed response it would require to explain.
Hearing anything over the noise of dozens of women would be impossible, so I step outside. As I hit the call button, the door opens behind me. When I turn, she’s standing there.
“Sorry,” she says, nodding at the phone in my hand as she closes the door behind her. She’s not exactly quiet about it, and I’m thankful for that. Instinctively, my finger taps the button to end the call. I should be more careful about these things. You never know what can happen if you let your guard down. I check my screen and realize I’m late for my third and final dose of vitamins. Two capsules, three times a day.
“I’m not interrupting, am I?” she asks, lighting a cigarette. So, clearly not as disciplined as it appeared.
“No, you saved me, actually.” Already, I’m at work on the novel-length text. “It’s so much easier to text, isn’t it?”
She takes a pull on the cigarette and inhales like her life depends on it. “Depends on who it is,” she says, exhaling upward into the air.
We both laugh.
She takes another drag and then removes the cigarette from her lips and studies it. “I’m not usually a smoker,” she huffs. “Only when I drink.”
Everyone says that. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
