A Life Beyond Us novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Brewer's on Main

Brewer's was empty except for a man with a laptop and a girl behind the counter wiping the espresso machine.

Darcy had taken the corner booth under the window, in a cream blazer, with a latte in front of her and her phone face-up on the table.

She did not look like a woman who had been parked outside my house twenty minutes ago.

"Maura," she said warmly. "I'm so glad you came."

Bridget slid into the next booth behind me and opened a magazine.

Darcy glanced at her, smiled and said nothing.

I sat down and did not order.

"First, I want to apologize for last night," Darcy said. "I'd had too much. I never meant for you to hear that."

"You looked straight at me when you said it."

"Did I? Oh God. The lighting up there is terrible."

"You lifted your glass."

She laughed lightly, and it was the same sound she had made on the roof.

"All right," she said. "I'll be honest. I've been waiting a long time to tell someone that story, and I wanted to see your face."

"Why?"

"Because you've always had the thing everyone wanted." She turned her cup in its saucer. "The one man who never looked at anybody else. Do you know what it's like to be second place to a girl who folds towels?"

"You were never second place to me. You weren't in the race."

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