Part 19 (2/2)

Darren returned the buss, smacking his lips loudly on one side of her face, then the other. Sarah began to feel better.

”Moving in on my main squeeze?” thundered a male voice from behind them.

”Sorry.” Sarah moved aside to let Lance slide onto the bar stool beside her.

”Not you,” Lance kidded, squeezing her gently. ”I meant him. Darren, don't make me get up in your face. You may have known her longer, but she's my boss lady tonight.”

”He thinks he's the black Mr. Clean.” Darren rolled his eyes.

Looking at Lance's shaved head, tiny gold earring, and white T-s.h.i.+rt with rolled sleeves, Sarah could definitely see the resemblance. The thought made

her giggle until Lance looked at her from wounded eyes. Then she kissed his cheek, too.

”Don't fight over me, boys,” she said archly. ”There's enough of me to go

around.”

Darren hooted and Lance chuckled. Sarah slid off the bar stool and grabbed each of them by the arm. She was surprised to find herself feeling better.

”C'mon. You promised you'd take me dancing.”

”Have I ever broken a promise to you?”

She shook her head, held out her hands, and let them pull her onto the floor.

”Not yet.”

”And I don't aim to tonight, honey! Let's dance!”

Sarah had never moved so fast for so long. The music went on and on

without stopping; one beat merging with the next so she couldn't even tell where one song ended and the next began. The dance floor was crowded,

bodies crus.h.i.+ng against each other, but everyone moved to the same rhythm. Sweat poured down her face and streaked the careful makeup Darren had applied earlier, but Sarah didn't care. All that mattered was the sound of the drums and guitars gave her no time to think. No chance to let her mind fill with images of Alex.

Closing time came too quickly for Sarah. As the club lights came on and people slowly began filtering out onto the street, Sarah was filled with an exhaustion that, while not quite happy, at least was better than the draining la.s.situde she'd experienced earlier in the day.

The music didn't slow, but she did. At last Sarah had to beg defeat, protesting when Darren and Lance both insisted on buying her yet another drink and taking her for one more twirl around the dance floor.

”I can't. Really. I'm exhausted!”

”You going to be all right?” Darren held the door open for Sarah as they left the club with Lance.

”Fine.” She yawned. ”I'm going home and going straight to bed.”

”We can go with you, if you want.” Lance suddenly looked less like Mr. Clean and more like a very angry Marine. ”In case that jerk is waiting for you.”

Sarah hadn't even thought of that. ”No, that's okay. I'll be fine.”

Darren pulled her close for a hug. ”You call me if you need anything.”

She nodded. ”I will, but I won't.”

Darren shook his head. ”Honey, what's scary is I understood that.”

”Go home,” Sarah urged her friends. ”I'll be fine.”

She got in her car while they watched and drove away with them still looking after her. It was nice to have friends. She was glad she had stopped by Darren's apartment, and even gladder she'd caught him before he went out for the night.

Rivka would be furious Sarah hadn't called her first, of course, but she just hadn't wanted to face her sister. Tomorrow would be soon enough to let Rivka know the romance with Alex had gone the way of the dodo. Extinct. She'd been a fool to think telling him she loved him would make everything work out all right.

Love. How long could it last in the face of the constant attention he received? The never-ending snide looks and catty comments? How long would it be before she started to get suspicious, resentful ... jealous? How long could their relations.h.i.+p last under pressure like that? Not very long. Sarah bit back a sigh and forced her eyes to blink away the tears threatening. She was absolutely exhausted.

When she climbed the stairs to her front porch, however, what she saw made her snap instantly awake. She'd tossed a plastic cover over her porch swing to protect it from the elements. The cover now hung over the railing. Below the swing, in the snow she had not yet had the energy or desire to sweep away, were two man-sized footprints.

What really had her heart hammering, though, was not the boot prints in the snow, but the words traced next to them: SARAH, I LOVE YOU. CALL ME.

Sarah reached for the mangled broom she kept in one corner of the porch. The words were gone in seconds, along with the boot marks. Sarah went inside.

The answering machine was blinking in double-time, an indication the tape was full. She'd had a lot of calls. Her finger hesitated over the b.u.t.ton that would play the messages, but she didn't push it. Maybe Alex had an excuse for what she'd seen tonight, and maybe he didn't. At any rate, Sarah wasn't ready to hear it. When the morning came and bright light with it, maybe this whole d.a.m.n situation wouldn't seem so dark ... but then again, it might. After walking over to the outlet on the wall, Sarah unplugged the machine with a hard jerk of her wrist.

”Oops,” she said without humor. ”Power outage.”

Then she went upstairs and got into bed.

Alex had waited on Sarah's front porch for hours, until he could no longer feel his feet or his hands. He had watched all the lights in the neighboring houses go out, one by one, and still she hadn't come home. d.a.m.n it, where could she be?

Now, lying in his lonely bed, he continued s.h.i.+vering from being outside for so long. Though he'd taken a steaming shower, he still felt as though someone had dumped a truckload of ice cubes around him. Not even the memory of the look on Jennifer's and Wendi's faces when he told them to get lost could warm him ... because the cold was on the inside. He was cold from eyebrows to toenails because of the look on Sarah's face when he'd opened his door.

He cursed aloud for having let the women inside. He knew how it must have looked. He had heard the whole story behind the ”charity case” comment, too, and even though he understood how that must have made Sarah feel, at the same time, anger twisted in his gut. Obviously her trust didn't go too far if she had believed Jennifer's snide remarks. She'd run away from the restaurant, and while she had clearly arrived on his doorstep to talk about what happened, she hadn't given him any chance to explain. She'd just turned around and drove off.

He cursed again, the invectives rolling off his tongue so forcefully he almost bit off the tip. He had left so many messages on her machine he'd filled up the tape. She hadn't returned his calls. He'd written his feelings in the snow, but though he was certain she was home by now, she still hadn't picked up the phone to talk to him.

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