Just Surrender... Read Free

this chick I met in the hotel bar. She was a chiropractor. They’re married now.”
    He resumed the blind stare out the window. He was either directionally challenged or emotionally numb. She was betting on the latter, which made her try even harder to cheer him up.
    “This weather’s hell. Where’s the girlfriend? Flight delayed?”
    Instead of cooperating, he stayed silent, choosing not to spill his most private thoughts to a complete stranger.
    Since he left her mind to its own creative devices Edie assessed his situation. Girlfriend wasn’t showing and he was crushed. Windsor knots never took rejection well, although he didn’t seem as heartbroken as she thought he should be. She wondered if he liked quiet redheads because Patience needed to meet a guy who didn’t yell. Somebody who knew how to keep his emotions in check, and Mr. Trench Coat was nothing if not repressed.
    “She’s not showing, is she? Tough beans, but hey, the Belvedere’s great for getting to know people. I’ll bet you’ll meet someone new tonight, a leggy blonde, or maybe twins.”
    He chose to ignore her attempt to perk him up, which annoyed her, because she was going out of her way to be nice, and why didn’t he appreciate it? Most of all, Edie didn’t do silence well. Never had.
    “Oh, come on. We’ve got another thirty…fifty…ninety minutes. People bond in long car rides, and I don’t like talking to myself. Let’s try something easy. Like…how long you two been together?”
    “Do we have to talk?” he asked, as the cars behind them started to honk.
    “Yes. I’m trying to give you the full New York cabbie experience, so couldn’t you try to be a sport? It’s an easy question. Just something to keep me going here.”
    She heard the deep indrawn breath, a slow glacial defrosting sound. “Three years. Or maybe five?”
    “You don’t know?” she blurted out, not bothering to hide the horror.
    “Not exactly. Can we drive now?”
    Whoa, boy. No wonder he was getting the cold shoulder. Forget fixing him up with Patience. She deserved better. Gingerly, Edie got the cab moving again. “I can see the problem.”
    “And I’m sure you have advice.”
    “No way, buddy. You dug that hole all by yourself. A grave is a dark, damp place late at night.”
    “If you sleep well, you never know. I always sleep well.”
    She glanced in the mirror, noted the confidence in his eyes, his face, even the rigid posture, all the while enduring a death-defying motor-vehicle experience. A humiliating moment in Edie’s bright cab-driving career that was getting dimmer by the minute.
    “I bet you use meds for sleep,” she muttered, because she didn’t like being a failure at anything. It was a trait inherited from her father—one of the very few that she admitted.
    “No meds. You have to be smart about your life. Control stress, eat healthy, exercise.”
    “Thanks, Mom.”
    “It’s your funeral,” he answered.
    “Hey, I’m not the one sleeping alone tonight,” she shot back. Perhaps it was a petty taunt, but it wasn’t like his ego couldn’t take it.
    “Barnaby?” He sounded shocked. Disapproving.
    Delicious.
    “Nah,” she answered smoothly. “I’ll go out trolling after I drop you off. Premeditation takes all the spontaneity out of it. It’s like walking around with a lightning rod over your head and pretending to be surprised when the storm hits. What fun is that?”
    And he completely bought it. “You’re going to go hook up with some stranger?”
    “Oh, sure,” she gushed, finally discovering which buttons to push. “It’s a lot more exciting that way.”
    “It’s unsafe.”
    “Not if you’re smart.”
    “What if he’s a criminal?”
    He sounded genuinely concerned. It was sweet, but unnecessary since Edie didn’t believe in one-night stands. Sex was part of the biological symbiosis that wove through the earth. You had to follow the strands of karmic DNA that were laid out in front of you, and picking up