Free Six Years by Stephanie Witter Page B

smile on my lips. “I was with my mother for a bit. I’m sorry, babe. I told you it’d be challenging to be back here.’’
    “Maybe you should come back home. I don’t know why you’re putting so much pressure on yourself when it’s obvious you’re not happy in Riverdale. And you have a book to write. You can’t let yourself be sidetracked.’’
    “I know ok!’’ I let slip some of my frustration, my voice harsher than it should have been. Damn, I was a dumb-ass. She’s a great girl, patient and sweet with me and all I was doing was brushing her off. What the fuck was wrong with me these days? “I’m not going to stay for long.’’
    She sighed softly in the phone. “I don’t get why you keep me out of this.’’ Her voice sounded small all of a sudden, almost a whisper.
    I cringed and my guilt increased. “I…I don’t want…’’ I cursed under my breath, not really sure how to simply end that sentence. “My past has nothing to do with my life in Manhattan. That’s all.’’
    “But you left to visit your mom. It’s important, isn’t it?’’
    I swallowed uneasily as a lump formed in my throat. “Lena…’’
    “I’m your girlfriend, Nolan. Doesn’t that mean something?’’
    I pulled over in front of the only diner in Riverdale, an old rundown establishment passed down from generation to generation of the Finley family. I stared at the peeling cream paint and the washed out letters over the door saying “Finley’s Food’’. “Of course it does. Please, just give me a few more days. We’ll talk when I get back, okay?’’
    She’s quiet for a few moments, making me wonder if she’s even listening to me. Oddly, the idea that she’s somehow detaching herself from me wasn’t as difficult as I thought it should be. Finally, her soft voice, pitched a little bit higher than usual breaks the silence. “I guess so. Call me later?’’
    “I’ll call. I’m stopping at the diner here to write for a little while.’’
    “That’s good, really good.’’ She’s smiling now, I was sure of it. Her words weren’t laced with disappointment and sadness anymore. At least, I managed in reassuring her. If only I could convince myself that not everything was crashing around me, that’d be wonderful. “Talk to you later. Love you!’’ She chirped.
    “You too,’’ I mumbled automatically and turned off my phone. I grabbed my laptop case from my trunk and walked to the diner. There were very few patrons; a few old ladies holding court and gossiping, and a teenager boy flirting with the girl behind the counter.
    Without a word I settled at a small table and turned on my laptop, trying to stave off the doubts, the emotions swirling inside me. I was too far behind schedule to put this off any longer. I was supposed to send the first fifty pages to my agent and publisher before I left for Riverdale. I hadn’t even written thirty pages yet. It had never happened to me but for the first time in as long as I could remember I was afraid of the writer’s block.
    I closed my eyes for a minute, trying to settle my nerves and find the calm I needed to write efficiently. But there’s only one image behind my closed eyelids. Brooklyn and her sassy smile.
    I growled and rubbed my eyes.
     
     
    * * *
     
    BROOKLYN
     
    "Two beers on tap, please Elena," I asked the bartender, a woman of few words. She was new in town and I didn't even know where she was from. Whenever I asked her a question, she answered evasively and I found it quite strange. But aside from her closed off persona, she looked quite average with her wavy brown hair, brown eyes and barely there make up.
    She nodded and gave me the beers. I walked back to the table and gave the men their beers. I winked at them and when I turned around, Nolan was there, looking expectantly at me.
    "Do you have a minute?" he asked me with a soft smile I couldn't say no to, not when everything in me was warming at his presence.
    "Take a table and I'll