Free Wait (Beloved Bloody Time) by Tracy Cooper-Posey Page B

told him?”
    “He didn’t believe me.”
    “After you made him believe, then what?”
    Tally grimaced. “It didn’t go well. Not for a long while. But he came around, in the end.”
    “Imagine that, multiplied across the earth, with not just good men like your Kyle, but with power-holders like generals and presidents, world leaders and activists, and every street gang ever formed.”
    Tally sighed.
    * * * * *
    Tally asked Christian to wait for her in the lobby, while she went back to her room to change and pack for the flight. He had agreed with some reluctance, the heavy mood he had fallen into since she had told him about Kyle making him glower.
    They had both taken rooms at the Waldorf Astoria, and the coincidence had surprised neither of them.
    She dressed carefully but quickly. These days she had to take greater pains over her appearance – not to look as young as possible, but to look the age she was supposed to be. Kyle had turned fifty-four last month. She had to look like a matching wife.
    Nervously, she packed her bag and headed down to the lobby. It was fully daylight now, although the light was dim and the clouds were heavy and low, promising more snow. There were still plenty of people about, even though this was New Year’s Day and a holiday.
    She looked about the lobby, searching for Christian. He was straightening up from his lean against one of the big columns, his eyes widening. Her appearance had shocked him.
    He walked over to where she stood waiting and took the handle of the case from her. “You look….” He shook his head. “It’s very effective.”
    She touched her hand to the silver grey wig, which was styled in a chin length bob. She wore makeup that subtly shaded her skin to make it look like it was the fine, thin flesh of an older woman, downplayed the accentuation of her eyes and wore no lipstick. She also wore mommy jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers, underneath her sensible fur-lined parka. “Thanks,” she told Christian. “But you must have dozens of strategies for this sort of thing, too.”
    “Nothing like what you’re doing.” He pulled out his phone, flipped it open and thumbed the buttons. “Do you have an email address, Tally?”
    “I…um…yes.”
    He looked at her and raised a brow.
    “The family has an address…but I also opened up my own Hotmail account.”
    Christian waited.
    “Kyle doesn’t know about it. No one does, except those I give the address to.” She told him the address and he loaded it into his contacts and closed the phone.
    “I have a Hotmail account, too,” he told her. “Who is it you talk to that you don’t want your husband to know about?”
    Tally smiled. “Others like us,” she said, mindful of the people standing nearby that could overhear them. “Just like you do, too, I imagine.” She pulled a notepad out of her bag and scribbled down the address he gave her and stuffed the sheet into her jeans pocket.
    “You’re getting a cab to the airport?”
    She nodded.
    Christian caught her arm with his hand and guided her toward the big glass doors. “You’ll email, won’t you?”
    “When I can.”
    He pushed the doors open and the wheels of the case crunched across grit and slush. He had his arm up, ready to push the outer doors open, but it was suddenly going too fast. The moment was here and she didn’t want to move into it yet.
    She halted, pulling him back from the door. The doormen in their huge greatcoats were standing on the other side of the doors, watching them curiously, and waiting for them to emerge outside so they could do their jobs.
    Christian looked down at her expectantly.
    “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “About the timing. About, well, all of it.”
    He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He reached for the door again.
    “No, wait,” she begged.
    He turned back with a soft curse and kissed her. Tally caught her breath as his lips met hers and his tongue swept into her mouth. She was moving