Free Point of Attraction by Margaret Van Der Wolf

I’d give anything if I
could trade places with Sam and have struck that black ice instead
of him.”
    “Don’t say that...”
    “I’m trying to make a point here.” He
gave her hands a gentle tug and held her left one up, his thumb and
forefinger toyed with her wedding band. “It’s time, Georgie Girl.
It’s time to let Sam go. It’s time to be you. There’s a life left
ahead of you.”
    She pulled free and stepped back. “What
does this have to do with Mas... Officer Montgomery? If I’m so
ready for a man, what about you?”
    “Me! Oh, good God! That’s incestuous.”
He shuddered and wiggled his fingers that she not touch
him.
    Georgie laughed so hard it brought
tears to her eyes; tears for the humor of it, for the longing for
her Sam, and for what used to be, never to be again. And she
laughed at Nick’s open shudder as though he were trying to escape
from his skin that was suddenly too small for his frame. His mouth
pulled to the side in that silly half grin of his, as he wrapped
his arms around her and patted her head into his chest.
    “You, Cassie and me. All we have is
each other. Don’t you think it was fate that brought us together as
neighbors, giving us the siblings we didn’t have? Cassie on one
side, me on the other. That was us.” His grin was comical and
carried so many memories. “You don’t know what Cassie and I put Sam
through before we let him date you. But he held in there, our Sam
did."
    She opened her mouth wanting to ask
more, to bring up more memories of Sam, but Nick gently urged her
from him and looked at his watch. “Listen, I have to get going
here. Have things to do, people to see.”
    “That is such an over worked
phrase.”
    “I’m not the writer. You are. So I can
use it as many times as I want.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling
with a quick dismissive wave. “What freedom that is.”
    “You can be such a... well, such a you,
I guess.”
    He nudged her chin and nose with his
knuckle, and she reached for his jacket, but he grabbed it first.
So she got the key, led him through the front room and out the
door, Daisy ahead of them. “You coming this Saturday?”
    “Not sure. The company sales rep has
this thing brewing.” He raised his hands, once more fingers
wiggled. “Big doings.” After he put on his helmet, he looked back
over his shoulder. “What time on Saturday?”
    “About six or seven.”
    He zipped up his jacket, put on his
gloves and started the motorcycle. After the roar of the motor went
into idle, he gave her a thumbs-up and roared away. She watched
until his taillights disappeared, then looked down at Daisy. Her
nose too pointed in the direction the motorcycle had gone. Georgie
patted a hand over the loyal head. “At least he’s home, Girl.” The
phone rang in the house and they both ran inside.
    The caller ID indicated
BLOCKED.
    “ Hello? Hello?”
    With no response, she hung up. Slowly,
she went about locking up, then down the hallway remembering those
days how often she spent the night at Cassie’s house or at Nick’s,
or they at her house... until their parents finally gave in and cut
out a section in the fences. They never even bothered to put in
gates. That was how they grew up.
    When she married Sam, they moved in
with her dad. After her father passed away, only her two children
kept the house filled with pieces of her parents. But when the kids
went off to college, she told Sam she couldn’t live there anymore.
It was the first of the three houses to be sold, and they bought
this house; small yet big enough for her writing, kids to come
visit, “and those grandchildren,” Sam had grinned, and hugged her
tight. “We’re going to grow old here, Georgie, old and
wrinkled.”
    Tears welled and rolled down her cheek.
Sam missed the first grandchild by three years. Georgie leaned on
the doorframe and flipped on the light to his small medical room
where he kept his veterinarian emergency supplies. It was empty of
all those things