Someplace to Be Flying by Charles De Lint Read Free Book Online Page B

she said. “I should ask him.”
    Rory gave her a considering look. “You know how in fairy tales the princess always falls into the arms of her rescuer?”
    “It’s not like that,” Lily said. “I just didn’t get a chance to thank him properly, that’s all.”
    But Rory wouldn’t let it go. “Are you okay with this?” he asked. She could hear the worry in his voice. “I mean, you’re taking it all pretty well, but getting mugged-it’s pretty serious business. I know I’d have the shakes for weeks.”
    Lily wanted to lie-it would make everything so much easier-but she couldn’t. Not to him.
    “I … I’m not entirely okay,” she said. She stopped and turned to look at him. “But I’m not ready to talk about it yet. You understand, don’t you?”
    She could see him try to hide the hurt that she wouldn’t confide in him, but it didn’t work. They knew each other too well.
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “There’s just a few things I have to work through. I’m not trying to shut you out. Honestly. It’s just … I don’t even know what it is. I guess that’s part of what I have to work out.”
    She gave him a wan smile, hoping he’d understand, hoping this wouldn’t change things between them, but knowing it already had. Oh, why did it even have to have come up?
    “It’s okay,” Rory told her.
    They started walking again, an uncomfortable awkwardness keeping pace with them for blocks as they tried to get past the tension that had crept up and settled in between them. Lily was beginning to feel so miserable that, even though it felt like the wrong time, she was ready to tell him anyway. But they had reached her street by then, turned down it, and had arrived in front of her building. She took a steadying breath and let the moment pass.
    “I’ll drop the color rolls off to be developed first thing in the morning,” she said. “The black and whites should be ready by the afternoon, unless I get to them tonight.”
    Rory shook his head. “Get some rest,” he said. He handed her the camera bag. “And, Kit?”
    She couldn’t find the usual smile that came when he used his pet name for her. Kit, as in Kit Carson, wilderness scout. All she could do was look at him.
    “Don’t let this get you down,” he said. “You need to work something out for yourself, that’s all. I really do understand. Okay?”
    The words reassured her, but the hug he gave her reassured her more.
    “Thanks,” she said into his shoulder.
    “Hey, what’re friends for?”
    * * *
    She meant to go right to bed when she got up to her apartment, but she wasn’t tired. So first she developed the rolls of black-and-white film she’d taken earlier in the evening and hung them up to dry on the clothesline she kept in her bathroom for that purpose, then she went into her study and booted up her computer, logging on to her Web server. When she checked for messages, a little box popped up saying, “You Have New Mail!” and she clicked on “OK.” The box went away and she scrolled through messages from the photography listserver she was on, deleting each one after she’d skimmed its contents.
    The last message was from Donna.
    Lily sighed. She still felt a little wrung out from talking to Rory and now here was Donna who’d be asking all the same questions he had. They weren’t meeting face-to-face, so Donna wouldn’t be able to read her mood the way Rory had, but Donna also wouldn’t let up until she was satisfied that Lily was one hundred percent okay.
    Sighing again, Lily began to read. As usual, Donna used snippets of Lily’s previous message in her own letter. Lily understood how it made replying easier, but it was the one thing she missed about regular mail. She never liked having her own words come back to her this way.
Sender: dgavin3tama.com
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 08:31:09 -0500
From: 'Donna Gavin'
Organization: Tamarack PubLishing
To: Lcarson23cybercare.com
Subject: Tell me more

>I know