Distant Shores

Elizabeth didnt know which part to answer. Of course Allison assumed that the separation was Jacks idea. Women like Elizabeth didnt leave men like Jack.

"So, what are you going to do?" Allison asked.

"I thought Id look for a job. "

"In Echo Beach?" Allison laughed. "Doing what?"

"I dont know yet. Anyway, Im still here and I wanted you to know that. Maybe we can have lunch together next Wednesday, after the site committee meeting?"

"Sure. "

"And tonight is the library auction. I guess Ill see you there. "

This time, when Allison paused, Elizabeth tensed up.

"Its a dance," Allison said. "Who will you bring?"

Elizabeth had forgotten how paired up the world was. "I didnt think about that. "

"Youd have to sit by yourself at our table. Wouldnt that be weird?"

"I guess I have to learn how to go places alone," Elizabeth said, hearing the little catch in her voice.

"Yeah," Allison said on a sigh. "I guess you do. Should Chuck and I pick you up?"

"No," she said quietly, knowing that she wouldnt go now. Couldnt go. She stumbled through a few more moments of awkward small talk, then pleaded a headache and hung up. She slumped down onto the sofa.

This damned separation was a never-ending series of late hits.

She was single now. A woman alone, one whod blundered daringly into some unfamiliar country without a map or compass.

She st

arted to get that sorry-for-herself feeling and refused to give in to it. Shed been hiding out long enough.

It was time to merge back into the traffic of her old life. So what that there would be no car-pool lane this time. Such was life. What mattered was conquering fear.

She got up and went into the kitchen for a glass of water. It was there, by the fridge, that she noticed the calendar. Today had two things listed.

Library auction: 6:30

Passionless: 7:00

Shed forgotten all about the meeting, which was odd, since shed actually intended to go.

But tonight, she was going to the auction.

She went upstairs, showered, dyed her hair, and then poured her more-than-healthy body into the elegant DKNY red knit dress shed bought last month. She put on her makeup with exquisite care, trying to look her very best. At last, she added a single piece of jewelry, an intricate butterfly necklace, handcrafted of sterling silver and onyx.

When she stood back and looked in the full-length mirror, she saw a slightly overweight woman in a clingingly sexy dress. Not a "new" Elizabeth at all.

She paused, debating the whole question again, then reached in her closet for a black pashmina shawl, and left the house.

She drove past several small seaside towns. At Manzanita, she turned off the main highway and followed the twisting, treelined road down to the beach. Here and there, houses glowed against the falling darkness. Finally, the road spit her out in the parking lot of one of the coasts few glittering four-star hotels. As she neared her destination, nerves fluttered in her stomach.

What was she doing? She couldnt go in there alone--

"Yes, you can. "