Elizabeth looked at the faces of these women who knew exactly how she felt right now. "Ive been dragging myself down lately. "
"Really? You look happier," Kim said.
Before Elizabeth could answer, Sarah started the meeting. "Who would like to begin tonight?"
To her own amazement, Elizabeth raised her hand. She felt a flash of fear when everyone looked at her. "My husband and I separated. "
"And how do you feel about that?" Sarah asked gently.
Once Elizabeth started talking, she found that she couldnt stop. The whole story came tumbling out. She ended with, "Tonight I tried to go back to my old life, but thats not right, either. I need a new life, but I dont quite know how to start. So I came here. "
Mina leaned forward. "I was thinking about you this week. Maybe Im psychic. " She gave Elizabeth a sad smile. "Anyhoo, yesterday, I was reading the college catalog, looking for classes I could take now that I can drive, and I noticed that a painting class is starting soon. "
Elizabeth felt a little spark of something. Hope, maybe. "Really?"
Mina reached into her leather-patchwork handbag and pulled out a floppy catalog. "I saved it for you. " She walked through the middle of the circle and handed the catalog to Elizabeth.
"Thanks," Elizabeth said, surprised to realize that she meant it.
After that, the discussion moved around the circle, dipping time and again into the kind of intimacy that was marked by sudden emotion--tears or laughter.
The only one who didnt speak was Kim. Throughout the whole meeting, she sat stiffly beside Elizabeth, fiddling with a half-empty cigarette pack, snorting derisively every now and then.
Finally, the meeting broke up. Elizabeth stood around for a few minutes, talking to the women; then she went back to her car.
She was almost to the parking lot when she noticed Kim, standing off by herself, smoking a cigarette.
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment. In her previous life, she would never have ventured into another persons pain. She would have kept her distance, been respectful.
Across the darkness, in the blue-white glare of a streetlamp, she looked at Kim. Their gazes met.
Elizabeth went to her. When she was closer, she saw tear tracks on Kims pale face. "You want a cigarette?"
"No, thanks. "
They stood there, silent, each one staring out toward the parking lot. Smoke scented the cool air.
"You ever go to the sand castle competition on Cannon Beach?" Kim asked, exhaling smoke.
"Sure. " She knew the competition well; every local did. People came from miles around to build exquisite, intricate sculptures. Everything from castles to mermaids. Each entry looked beautiful and permanent, but by morning, the sea had taken them all back.
She understood. Kim had thought, as Elizabeth once had, that marriage was solid ground. But it was all sand. Here one minute, shaped into magical forms, and gone the next.
Kim looked at her. "Sarah thinks Im scared. That Im afraid to hope. "
"Were all afraid. "
"I guess. " Kim tossed her cigarette down and stomped it out with her boot heel. "Well. See you next week. "
"Ill be here. "
Kim walked away, got in a pretty blue Miata, and drove away.
Elizabeth followed her. Out on the highway, their paths diverged.
Elizabeth drove down the highway. On Stormwatch Lane, she stopped, pulled her mail out of the box, and then continued down the road for home.
By the time she parked, it was raining again.