A Silver Lining by Christine Murray Read Free Book Online

She’d already transported most of her stuff over to her new apartment. This was the last run. She took the last item out of her chest of drawers, a stack of around two dozen letters held together with an elastic band. The stamps were varied, mostly commemorating some event in either American history or culture. The postmarks showed the dates that they had been sent. A cluster had been sent around twenty years or so, but they’d gotten less frequent as time went on. Some of the ones that had been sent in the last couple of years hadn’t even been opened. Rose preferred it that way. The letters arriving at her mother’s house were a big enough reminder of the man she’d like to erase completely from her memory. She hesitated for a second, thinking about throwing the whole lot of them in the bin. At the last minute she wavered and threw them into the top of a box.
    Rose picked up the last few cardboard boxes and brought them one by one to the car. The January air was cold, and she shivered. The night sky was clear and the stars twinkled dimly down at her.
    On her way to the apartment building she’d soon be calling home, a wind blew up, sending grey and navy blue clouds hurtling across the sky. Rose groaned as a few peremptory raindrops landed on her windscreen. The downpour gradually got heavier, and by the time she pulled into the car park the sky was throwing greedy handfuls of raindrops down to earth so fast that puddles had started to form on the tarmac. There was no way she could get into the building without getting drenched. Her arms were covered in goose bumps despite her warm coat and she wrapped her arms tight around herself to try and conserve what little body heat she had. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the steering wheel.
    She was exhausted. Thank God the four boxes on the back seat were the last ones. It was amazing how twenty eight years of living managed to fit neatly into just into just fourteen boxes.
    Rose jumped as the passenger door opened and Daniel swung into the seat beside her. He leaned over and kissed her soundly on the lips.
    She laughed as she pulled away, hitting him gently on the shoulder. ‘You scared the life out of me!’
    He grinned back. ‘You should be grateful I came down when I did. Otherwise you’d have the Volkswagen logo imprinted on your head. I’ve unpacked some of your stuff. The place looks less like a bachelor pad now. Come on.’ He opened the door to get out of the car.
    ‘Are you insane?!’ she protested. ‘We should wait until the rain lets up.’
    ‘The rain is down for the night, Rose. Come on, there’s only four boxes left. You take two and I’ll take two. We’ll be done in no time. Come on, I’ll race you!
    ‘We’ll get soaked!’ she protested. But she was talking to thin air. Daniel had already jumped out of the car and opened the back door. He picked up one box. ‘Come on, I’ll take the heavy ones to make it fair.’
    Rose sighed and unbuckled her seatbelt. She got out of the car and gasped as the cold water hit her skin. Ruing Ireland’s changeable weather, she picked up a box and hurried over to the front door of their new apartment block. She ran up the two flights of stairs and down the corridor to their apartment. Daniel was coming back out the door. She handed him the box which he took on reflex. She spun around and started running back down to the car.
    ‘That’s cheating Rose!’ he called running behind her. Thank God she was wearing flats, she thought as she pumped her legs faster. He had longer legs though, and was gaining on her fast. They reached the car together and picked up the last two boxes. Daniel nipped ahead of her, and Rose grabbed his sweatshirt from behind and pulled him back. She sprinted ahead, eager to win.
    Daniel caught up with her at the doorway. He pushed his shoulder against hers preventing Rose from entering the building. She tickled him in the side and tried to get in the door but Daniel put an arm