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Seven-of-Nine is pretty cool… and that’s a killer uniform she has (sorry!).
I think that’s so awesome that you’ve been (or go) to conventions, too. I went to GenCon three years ago and wouldn’t have expected you to recognize me, even if you knew me back then. I was dressed as the Tenth Doctor, complete with the spiky hair and sonic screwdriver. Maybe I can find a photo around here and send it to you.
This is so cool having someone I can talk about this to!
Chicago pizza is the best – especially straight from the oven… but true Italian pizza, in the spring air, sitting at a café on the side of the road? That is a thing of beauty! I went with another pilot friend a few years ago for a vacation before getting stationed here.
What do you do for a living? Tell me some more about yourself and spare no details.
I’m glad you liked the books and I’d be happy to send more. I read on a very small Kindle, because I have no place to store books. You don’t have to send me a book.
(But thank you for thinking of me!)
I’m actually going to be flying into town for a week to see some friends next month, so maybe we can get coffee or find a pizza place nearby?
Jax
* * *
Mary hesitated.
What happened to ‘friendship with some stranger on the other side of the world’? Why was he coming here?
Because she wrote him?
No!
Alarms were going off inside of her immediately, and the small square of space that she’d found solace in was getting significantly smaller, closing in around her painfully.
She couldn’t be seen with a friend that was male because of Joe – nor did she even want to go down a road where there was some sort of feelings involved. This was supposed to be friendship and that was it.
This nice guy that had so much in common with her… well, it was time to nip this in the bud and say goodbye.
She was just picking up her life after her divorce and still reeling, even if it had been almost two years since she moved out. The three years she’d been married to Joe were some of the worst ones in her entire life. She’d seen on movies where the victim would say that ‘he changed after marriage’ and she always thought that was a load of hooey… but it was true.
Joe was everything she was supposed to want in a guy. Handsome, great job, financially stable, owned a home already, and very attentive.
Turns out ‘attentive’could mean ‘clingy’or ‘suspicious’… or even ‘stalker’.
They shared a bank account, because that is what couples did according to Joe. Then they had a shared email account… then their phones were linked – only to learn that linking their phones meant he could track her, question her.
Those red flags began to spring up slowly, like flowers emerging from a garden.
Her credit card was being monitored for purchases, he checked her mileage on her car to see if she was going where she told him… and then he started to pick out her clothing for her, throwing away some of her favorite t-shirts and outfits because he’d bought something better.
… And when she spoke up?
It only resulted in being degraded verbally, or worse yet… hit.
Joe told her it was her fault, that she made him so mad, and that it was breaking his heart. The swamping guilt, the blame, the gas-lighting was so bad that last year of marriage that she almost didn’t go through with the divorce until she was at the store and her credit card was declined.
Mortified, she had left the building – calling them on the way out to the car, only to find out that he’d shut it off to punish her for not wearing the dress he’d bought her.
She drove home, beside herself and furious, only to end up in the emergency room not long afterwards… and she was done.
Everything was falling apart around her… and she drew in allies where she could. Mary told her boss what was going on because she’d missed so much work. She couldn’t get fired, because she now she needed the steady income – and found an apartment that she could afford.
Taking her next check, she opened her own bank account and slowly began extracting herself from her marriage, as Joe was constantly there, over her shoulder, berating her mentally… and was still doing it.
