Free Falling Angel by Clare Tisdale Page B

thought. It was strange that she had Ben had run into each other twice in the space of ten days. What were the odds of that? Certainly, they were high enough to make seem like more than chance.
    She put a hand to her mouth, remembering the feel of Ben’s lips on hers. The way he had whispered to her not to forget him. How could she forget a man who made her feel so cherished? Who caused the whole world to fall away like so much dust the moment he stepped into the room?
    He had seemed so sincere when he promised to call to set up their ‘date.’ Had something caused him to have second thoughts? Had her ambivalence turned him off?
    She knew that if he called her tonight, even if he called tomorrow, she would still go out with him on Saturday. She longed to see him again. But the fact that he hadn’t was starting to fill her with doubt.
    Was he yet another flaky and unreliable artist? Maybe after kissing her he realized that he wasn’t that interested in her. It had been a game for him, to see how easily he could overcome her doubts and charm her into submission.
    She pushed her bowl away, her appetite gone.
    The phone rang and she lunged for it, only to hear it stop mid-ring. A moment later, Ann’s door opened. “It’s for you,” she yelled down the hall.
    Heart pounding, Cara picked it up.
    “Cara, it’s me.”
    Cara sat back down at the table with a sigh. “Hi David.”
    “Did you get my message?”
    “Yes. I’ve been meaning to call.”
    They chit-chatted about work for a minute, and then there was a pause, as though he were summoning his courage. She was not surprised when he asked her to see a movie with him on Saturday night.
    “Saturday? Let me see what’s going on,” she stalled. “Just a minute.” She placed the phone on the table, her mind racing.
    Ben had said he wanted to take her out on Saturday. But he hadn’t said when, he hadn’t called, and it was already Thursday night. It wasn’t as though they had any sort of commitment to each other. She barely knew him. And if his current silence were any indication, he wanted to keep things casual, if indeed he even wanted to see her again. Did she have to keep her entire day open on the off-chance that he still wanted to see her? Cara’s sense of wounded pride won out, and she picked up the receiver.
    “That works,” she said. “What time?”
    They arranged to meet at the Meridian movie theater downtown at seven. They would see an early show, a comedy about which she had heard good things, and then go out for coffee or dessert afterward.
    She replaced the phone and started to clear away the dinner dishes. If Ben called, she could still see him on Saturday during the day, or even on Sunday. He would just have to work around her schedule.
     It would be good to spend more time with David, get to know him a little better. He was a nice guy, exactly the kind of person she’d been hoping to meet. What’s more, he was reliable. He called when he said he would. So what if Ben had kissed her on the balcony at a party? It didn’t mean anything. It was just his way of going with the flow, as he put it. No doubt the flow had since moved him in a different direction. So why did stomach clench painfully as she walked past the silent phone to her room?

Chapter Nine
    Cara woke on Saturday morning to the delicious smell of bacon wafting down the hallway. Bleary-eyed, she padded into the kitchen to see Ann in an uncharacteristically domestic mode, frying up bacon and eggs on the small, two-burner stove top. Coffee percolated in the machine, and the table was set for two. The cozy scene was only slightly marred by the graphic image on Ann’s nightshirt.
    “Are you expecting company?” Cara asked. She had gone to bed early, and had no idea what time Ann had come home, or with whom.
    “No, this is for us,” Ann said. She slathered a slice of toast with butter and plunked it onto a plate. “How do you like your eggs?”
    “Scrambled is fine.” Cara slid