Seven Women: An Erotic Private Investigation

Chapter 11…

“But I wasn’t really sure what I meant by all that,” Amelia says, finishing her beer.

“So what happened then?” Cara asks. “Did Nick start a fight?”

“No. He just stood there, like a statue. And David and I left.”

“Just like that?” Tasha asks. “Nothing else? Nothing bad happened?”

“No. I had to take David back to his car. We didn’t say anything much on the way. He asked if I would be okay and I said yes. We promised to get together soon, but it seemed meaningless — as if we never would, as if this would be the end of it. He got into his car and went back home to his wife.”

“Was it the end of it?” Lisa says.

“No, no, there’s always more,” Amelia says. “Things don’t end as neatly as they do in TV shows. But anyway — that was it, that’s what started it all, that’s how I came to meet The Astronaut. I couldn’t go back to the apartment. I wanted to get away, I wanted to leave forever. I wasn’t thinking. I started to drive, I got on the freeway. I had to get as far away as possible because I knew right then and there that no matter how much I needed or wanted someone to be a part of my life, to be in my life, no matter what, maybe it was best that I just went it alone. The loner: moi. The drifter. The old maid. I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had to get the hell away, far away.

“And so I did. I never thought I’d ever be able to do something like that, but there I was, in my car, driving away. I was taking the highway east, out of the city. I was going into the mountains, the desert, I was just driving and driving — and I need another beer,” she says, holding her bottle up.

I turn to wave for the waitress because I see that we all pretty much need new drinks, and that’s when I see Frederick Slater.