Net Force - Tom Clancy [36]
She said, Listen, theres something else. Im seeing someone. I wanted you to hear it from me.
The coldness in his belly hardened into shards of liquid oxygen so frigid they stopped his breathing. When he found his voice again, he put everything he had into keeping it level, light, mildly curious.
Anybody I know?
No. Hes a teacher at Susies school. Not her teacher.
Well. Congratulations.
We arent about to get married, Alex, were just seeing each other socially. Youve been dating, havent you?
He waited just a little too long before he replied: Sure.
Jesus, Alex.
And that summed up years of discussions, too. He hadnt been with another woman since he and Megan had split. Hed thought about it a few times. Certainly he still noticed attractive women, even had brief fantasies. But hed never acted on them. Once the fantasy passed, the reality was still out there, the risk. And he still missed Megan, despite all that had happened. Shed been the love of his life. She always would be. If she called and asked him to come home, hed go, even if it cost him everything else-the condo, the car, the job. He hadnt known that before, but he knew it now. Too late, of course. It wasnt going to happen. They were divorced. She was seeing another man. Maybe even sleeping with him.
It further churned his stomach, made him want to throw up, the idea of Megan naked with another man, laughing, making love, doing things he and she had once done. What was worse was knowing that she wanted another man-and not him. Knowing that she would enjoy it
Michaels shook his head. He had to get off this track.
He didnt have the right to feel this way anymore-if hed ever had that right.
I have to go. Tell Susie I love her.
Alex-
Good-bye, Megan. Take care.
He put the phones receiver gently back into the cradle, then looked at the purple car upon which he now spent each spare minute. Usually, he was able to fend off the feelings about Megan. As long as he kept busy, as long as he didnt let himself stop and think about it, he was fine. But when he heard her voice, when her words caused him to paint a picture of her in his mind, it was impossible.
Maybe there was a magic spell somewhere that would erase all the bad between them; maybe there were some magic words that would put them back together as they had been when Susie had still been in their future, or even when shed been a fat and laughing babe toddling around that big old house in Idaho.
Maybe there were such words-but Alex Michaels had not found them.
Sunday, September 19th, 11:15 a.m. Washington, D.C.
Toni Fiorella had just gotten off the phone with her mother, a Sunday morning ritual that usually ran twenty or thirty minutes before Mama began getting antsy: This must be costing you a fortune, baby, Mama would say.
No matter how many times Toni had told her mother she could afford a couple of hours of long-distance charges a month between Washington and the Bronx, it didnt seem to sink in. Mama remembered the days when long-distance phone calls had been a major luxury, reserved for birth or funeral announcements, maybe a quick ring on holidays. And the idea of getting a computer and simply using E-mail or voxtrans was out. Mama did not hold with such things.
For the last fifteen minutes while they visited, Toni had been puttering around the kitchen. Shed rinsed dishes, put them into the washer, wiped the counters and chopping block, even dust-mopped the floor. The apartment was small, but the kitchen was bigger than usual in a place this size, and the vinyl floor looked enough like real wood to fool most people at first glance. A nice place.
As she was putting the dust mop away, the phone rang.
Was that her mother calling back for something?
Hello?
Deputy Commander Fiorella?
Yes? The voice had a familiar sound, but she couldnt place it.
This is Jesse Russell. We, uh, met the other day.
A Southern accent, the voice.