The Space Between Us Read Free

left hand. She talked sometimes about her husband, but only in the vaguest of ways. I knew his name was Charlie and that he was a teacher at some fancy private school. They had no kids.
    “Yes-s-s,” Meredith hissed with glee. “Sexual. Tell me, Tesla. What’s the wildest sex thing you ever did?”
    I wasn’t surprised she wanted to know my wild sex secrets. She liked to talk about sex a lot. Well. Who doesn’t?
    “Hmmm.” I turned my mug round and round in my palms, the ceramic sliding on the tabletop. “The craziest thing, huh? I’m not sure I can beat old people porn.”
    “Did you know Sadie was married to someone else before Joe?” Meredith said quietly.
    “No. She was? Huh.” I shrugged. “Was that the craziest thing she’d done? Got divorced?”
    Meredith shook her head. “Oh. No. Her first husband died.”
    I frowned, thinking of pretty Sadie with her big belly and gorgeous husband. “Gee, that’s too bad.”
    Meredith shrugged. “It happens.”
    It wasn’t the first time I’d heard her sound a little bored by the pain of others. She liked hearing stories, but mostly only the funny or exciting ones. Sad stories didn’t melt her butter.
    I looked up to the counter, but Darek was busy flirting with one of his favorites. Nobody else was waiting. I still had time—and half a mug of chai. “Fine. Crazy things. You go first.”
    She shook her head and licked her mouth again. I couldn’t help watching her tongue move over her lips. Meredith has a mouth like Angelina Jolie. Full, soft lips. Pillowy, I think some people call them. She has a smile full of teeth, the kind you can’t help but smile back at. Meredith’s mouth is the sort that would break your heart if you saw it frowning.
    “I haven’t done anything crazy. I’m married.”
    I laughed at that. “So? Were you a virgin when you got married? Don’t married people get up to crazy shit?”
    Her eyelids lowered for a moment, as if she was remembering something. “No. Not really.”
    “You must have something crazy to tell me.” I sat back when Eric got up to help himself to a refill from the jugs on the counter next to us.
    “Tesla,” he said, and nodded at Meredith. “Hi.”
    “Hi, Eric.” She didn’t flutter her lashes or anything contrived like that. Meredith didn’t have to. “How’s tricks?”
    “Putting Houdini to shame,” Eric said, though he didn’t have quite the same easy flirting tone with Meredith that he had with me. He looked at her sort of warily, keeping his distance.
    She made sure to ogle his ass as he walked away, then turned back to me. “I would bang that man like a screen door in a hurricane.”
    “If you weren’t married.”
    “And if he didn’t look at me like he was afraid I might bite him instead of kiss him,” Meredith said with a touch of scorn.
    I looked away from where Eric was again looking at his lists. “Oh, c’mon. He didn’t.”
    Her smile lifted a bit. “He never looks at you like that.”
    “Because I’m not a moron and because I give him sugar and caffeine,” I said with a laugh. “Eric’s a good guy.”
    She shot him another glance, then dismissed him with a wave. She lifted her mug and drank, her eyes never leaving mine. She licked her mouth again.
    “I kissed a girl,” Meredith said.
    “And let me guess. You liked it?” I swallowed hot tea.
    She shrugged. “It was okay. It wasn’t much of anything, really. It was in college. We were just fooling around.”
    “To see what it was like,” I offered. I’d heard that story before, too many times.
    “Sure. Lots of people do it. You do it,” she added.
    “Sometimes.” It wasn’t something I considered crazy or wild, and obviously she didn’t, either, since she already knew about it and was still teasing me into telling something else.
    “And you like it.”
    “Well…of course.” I laughed. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it.”
    “See? That’s what I mean. You do what you want to do, what you like