Free The Ferryman by Christopher Golden

There’s a special place in heaven for teachers, I believe.
    â€œI really do.”
    As though trying to determine if they had understood, he eyed them one last time.Then he nodded once and turned to go. With the second step, he paused and faced them again. He went to Annette, touched her gently on the shoulder. Then he took David’s hand and leaned in to whisper to him.
    â€œHe knew,” Father Charles told him, his words hushed and intimate. “Despite your sparring, Ralph knew you still respected him, David, and he respected you as well.”
    Then he walked off, leaving David to stare after him mutely. He felt the warm sting of another tear slipping down his cheek.
    This time, however, he did not pretend to be surprised.
    â€œYou’re not going to rub it in, are you?” Annette asked. “That she made a mistake leaving you?”
    With an embarrassing snort of laughter, David turned to stare at her in shock and amazement.
    â€œJesus, Annette, no!” he said, snickering a bit. “You’re unbelievable.”
    â€œWell, she did dump you, after all.”
    He adopted a hurt expression that was only half-feigned. “It was a mutual decision.”
    â€œYeah, mutual ’cause she wanted to give Spencer another shot at the brass ring,” Annette replied.
    David had no response for that. He stared at Annette for a moment. She sat behind the wheel of her aging SAAB and sipped at her coffee as she waited for the red light to change. Medford Square traffic was arrayed all around them, creating an illusion that they were jammed up. But David knew from experience that as soon as the light turned green, it would flow. Annette pushed a lock of her bobbed blond hair over her left ear and turned to gaze back at him.
    â€œThat wasn’t meant to hurt you,” she said, studying him. “I’m just saying there’s nothing wrong with being a little angry at her.You guys had a good thing going and she fucked it up.”
    David nodded. He remembered the night Janine had revealed to him that Spencer wanted to be back in her life, and that she intended to let him. Her perfume had a cinnamon scent that insinuated itself into his nostrils and his brain, sparking instincts both romantic and lustful. Even now he could never inhale the aroma of cinnamon without forming illicit pictures of their lovemaking in his mind.
    A tiny smile flickered across his lips as he thought of that scent now. But it was a fleeting thing, that smile. For his mind was on their words that night, her telling him it did not mean that she did not care for him, and him declaring that he believed, wholeheartedly, that a day would come when she would regret it, regret abandoning what they’d shared.
    That day had most assuredly come. Yet David found only sadness for Janine now that it had. He certainly had never imagined something like this when he had spoken those words.
    â€œI’d never do anything to hurt her, Elf,” he said.
    â€œYou still love her?”
    David glanced at Annette. She cradled her coffee between her thighs and rested both hands on the wheel.
    â€œYou know I do,” he said. “But I’ve moved on.You don’t just freeze in place when a relationship ends. Or, okay, you do, but not for long. Life happens when you’re trying your best to wallow in your misery.”
    Annette chuckled at that. “Now, there’s a bumper sticker slogan.” She shook her head.“It’s going to be fine. Really. No pressure.You care about her. She’s had a rough time. Anything else is just subtext.”
    The light turned green and Annette accelerated, nosing her way through other cars until she was headed up Winthrop Street toward Janine’s apartment. David watched the familiar storefronts and houses ticking by, the sweet spring breeze in his face.Though he was a teacher in a Catholic school, he was not in the habit of praying.Yet in that moment he silently