The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook Read Free Book Online Page A

least not yet.
    I clicked my car door open and put one hand on my door handle. One row of cars away and off to my right, a man in a suit was walking with his back toward me. He was tall, with dark hair, and I knew that walk. At least I thought I did.
    I walked quickly, closing the distance between us. I’d almost caught up to him when it hit me. What the hell was I going to say to Michael? Not only that, but it would look like I was following him, mostly because, well, technically, I was following him.
    I had to take control of the situation. I wondered if there was a way I could create a disturbance, turn around, and walk the other way. That way he’d be following me, which would put me in the power seat.
    I looked down at the shoe box I was carrying. I held it behind my back, then lobbed it away from me. When I turned around, Rosie’s shoe box was sprawled on the pavement, one shoe in and one shoe out. The top had turned into a Frisbee and was just coming in for a landing on the hood of a shiny silver sports car.
    I twisted my head just enough to assess the situation behind me. The guy had turned around, too, but instead of Michael, it was a perfect stranger who was glaring at me. I didn’t have to know him to tell he was not a happy camper.
    I gave him a little smile.
    He scowled at me for a long moment, then looked in the direction of the shiny car. “There better not be one single scratch,” he said.
    “Ohmigod,” I said. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. But it’s only cardboard, and I’m sure….”
    “You better have good insurance,” he said.
    “Oh, I do,” I said. “I have great insurance, and I even know a terrific auto body shop, if you need a referral. Once, a few years ago…”
    I took a step back as he stormed past me. He picked the box top off his hood with two fingers and flicked it onto the pavement. I scrambled for it and tucked it under my arm. I started rifling in my purse for my license while he ran his finger slowly over the hood of his car. I assumed he was feeling for scratches, but it looked like he was trying to read something in Braille.
    His silver baby must have turned out to be scratch free, because he gave me one more mean look and started walking away.
    “Sorry,” I said to his back.
    “That’s an understatement,” he said, without turning around.
    By the time I got to O’Malley’s, I really needed a drink. Carol had staked out the head of our usual table and was flanked by several Wednesday regulars. I ran my eyes quickly around the table. I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until I started breathing again when I didn’t see Michael.
    “Well,” Carol said perkily. “If it isn’t Reeny, Reeny, Redundancy Queeny.”
    “Hi, everybody,” I said. I sat down, leaving an empty chair on one side, just in case Michael showed up. Not that he would. Not that I cared.
    A waiter was just delivering drinks, so I ordered a glass of wine.
    “So what’s it like to be a free woman?” somebody asked.
    “Great,” I said. “I’m loving it.”
    “You look good,” Beth from Accounting said.
    “Thanks.”
    “I didn’t know you wore dresses,” Lena from Marketing said.
    My wine came and I took a big gulp. The conversation had already moved on. They were talking about a big interdepartmentalmeeting they’d just had, and I suddenly felt like I’d been away for a century instead of a week and a half.
    “You’re awfully quiet, Noreen,” somebody said eventually. “Tell us what you’ve been up to.”
    I took another sip of wine and put the glass down on the table. “Well,” I said. “It turns out I’ve got some nice neighbors. We’ve started walking together. We’re even thinking—”
    “Must be nice,” Josh from Customer Relations said. “Hey, did you hear what happened in IT yesterday?”
    Their conversation floated in one of my ears and right on out the other. It was as if I couldn’t even process the words I was hearing. I hadn’t been myself since