Empty Mile

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Book: Empty Mile by Matthew Stokoe Read Free Book Online
Authors: Matthew Stokoe
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Ebook, Hard-Boiled
to build a road to his cabins.”
    “Of course. Jesus …”
    “Money, ach! That lake is a jewel. It should be protected. First a road, then a thousand people a day, then hot dog stands and the damn Coca-Cola logo. Let’s have a Starbucks too! No, a road would ruin it.”
    She stood up abruptly and held her hand out to Gareth.
    “It’s time you took me to bed. I’m tired of talking about myself. Goodnight, Johnny. Please lock up on your way out.”
    Gareth winked at me. “I’ll call you, dude. Thanks for tonight.”
    After Vivian and Gareth had gone upstairs I sat for a moment feeling the big room around me, listening to the silence and to the short bursts of laughter that came muffled by wood from Vivian’s bedroom. Then I got up and went out to my pickup.
    It was cold outside now and on the drive home I felt empty and alone. It seemed everyone tonight had the solace of a warm body next to them, even if it was mercenary, like Gareth’s hooker and her john, or as mismatched as the pairing of Gareth and Vivian. I fiddled with the controls of the heater, but it wouldn’t work, so I zipped up my jacket and drove faster than I should have to get home.

CHAPTER 8
    I saw Marla the following Saturday. It was a hot day and she’d called and suggested going to the lake for a swim. Tunney Lake was not the first place I would have picked to continue our reunion but I was so relieved she’d finally called I would have said yes to anything.
    When I picked her up she was wearing a tight white T-shirt and denim cutoffs and as she slid into the passenger seat I was suddenly aware of how dreadfully alone I would be if I failed at working her back into my life.
    She seemed preoccupied during the drive and spent most of it staring through the side window and picking at the frayed hem of her shorts. It wasn’t the best of signs for reestablishing a relationship but when we got to the lake and parked and were walking away from the pickup she put her hand in mine and squeezed it.
    We went down to the southern end of the beach where there were fewer kids running around, stripped down to swimsuits, and stretched out. I could feel the heat of the coarse sand through the cotton of my towel. I rolled onto my side and looked at Marla. She was wearing a plain red bikini and I noticed that she had put on a little weight. Her breasts were fuller than I remembered and her waist no longer lay flat between the bones of her pelvis. She saw me looking and sat up and drew her knees up in front of her.
    “You’re very pale, Johnny.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did you think about me in England?”
    “I thought about everyone and everything. It got so I thought I’d go crazy with it.”
    I saw from her face that this wasn’t the answer she wanted.
    “Yes, I thought about you a lot.”
    She looked out across the lake. “I used to come up here after you left. Until the water made me think of you on the other side of the world. Then I stopped.”
    Her arms were folded on her knees. She turned her head and rested it on them and closed her eyes.
    “You know, Johnny, if the past was a forest I’d burn it down.”
    She stayed that way for a while, cradling her head in her arms. The air was hot and heavy around us and I thought she might be falling asleep. I watched her face, the dark lashes that lay against her skin, and wondered why she would say something like that.
    “Were things that bad? I don’t mean me not being here, but life generally.”
    She lifted her head and blinked. “Life generally? Yeah, life generally sucked.”
    “How?
    Marla lay down facing me and sighed. “I don’t want to get into it today, Johnny.”
    She glanced past me and I turned to see what she was looking at. Back up the beach Bill Prentice was sitting on the grassy bank between the sand and the parking area. He was facing our way and though he was busily drinking from a can of soda I was certain that he had been watching us a moment before. I turned back to Marla.
    “Tell

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