Memories Read Free Page B

loathing she gave him, he made no further attempt to touch her.
     Cathy watched the scene before her, confused. She walked up to Dani, fearful of the look of complete hatred she saw in her eyes. "Dani, are you all right? What's wrong?" Looking from Dani to Michael she asked, "Do you two know each other?"
     The concern in Cathy's voice broke Dani from her reverie. This was no longer her Miguel; this was Cathy's Michael, the man who had made her friend so happy. What had happened to Dani in the past had nothing to do with Cathy's life today. With great effort, she forced herself to calm down, a curtain closing off the hatred in her eyes and softening her expression.
     "I'm sorry, Cathy," Dani began, choosing her words carefully. "I was just shocked to see someone I knew from long ago. Miguel, I mean Michael and I met a long time ago when I still lived in California."
     "Oh." Cathy gave Michael a puzzled look. "You never mentioned California before."
     "That was another lifetime," Michael told her. "One I rarely think about anymore."
     Cathy watched as another strange look passed between Michael and Dani. The emotions in the room were strong and the tension between the two was so powerful it sent a chill down Cathy’s spine.
     "Well," Cathy began hesitantly. "We can talk over lunch. Everything is ready. Michael, please, sit down while Dani and I bring the food in from the kitchen." Cathy quickly headed to the kitchen's swinging door with Dani close behind. Dani took the farthest path possible around Michael.
     "Dani," Cathy whispered once they were alone. "Are you okay? I mean, really?"
     "I'm sorry, Cathy," Dani said, doing her best to control her emotions. "I didn't mean to worry you. It was such a shock to see someone from those days, that's all." She smiled at her friend. "I'm okay." Cathy wasn't completely convinced, but decided to drop the subject.
     Lunch began with a delicious shrimp cocktail followed by a Chef salad and French bread warm out of the oven. The food tasted wonderful but Dani hardly noticed. She was too busy trying to ignore her lunch companion, yet at the same time act pleasant for Cathy's sake.
     She listened to the conversation between Michael and Cathy while picking at her food, not hearing a word, not tasting a bite, trying to ignore the memories that threatened to surface. A faint scent of cologne drifted past her, opening the door to memories of the past. He had always worn the same cologne; one that smelled spicy and masculine. It didn’t matter if they were spending a day on the beach, at the playground with Vanessa or eating burgers at the coffee shop where she waitressed, he wore that masculine, enticing scent. She rarely detected it on any other man but sometimes, she’d catch a scent of it in the air on the street or in an elevator and she instinctively looked for him. And now he sat in the same room as she, that same cologne she knew so well drifting faintly toward her.
    Dani grew angrier by the minute as the past replayed in her mind. How could she sit here, quietly eating lunch only inches away from the man she'd despised for the past nineteen years? Every fiber of her being wanted to stand up and scream. She wanted to tell him how much he’d ruined her life, but he just sat there, smiling, making pleasant conversation in his most eloquent manner, oblivious to Dani and the rage growing inside her.
     "So tell me Dani, since Michael won't, how did the two of you meet?"
     Cathy's question brought Dani back to the conversation at hand. Dani sent a frigid look in Michael's direction before answering her friend.
     "I waitressed at a small coffee shop the summer after I graduated high school," Dani explained without expression. "Michael used to be a regular customer there." He came there to meet women and ruin their lives, she wanted to say. Instead, she finished in a tart tone. "Except he used to go by the name, Miguel." Dani stared hard at Miguel. Let him explain everything, she