Window on Yesterday by Joan Hohl Read Free Book Online

“Karla’s first rule of survival is,” she continued instructively, “watch all male action and reaction and proceed accordingly.” Lifting her cup, she tilted it, as if in a mocking toast to males everywhere. “Down with male supremacy,” she intoned.
    “You really do hate men, don’t you?” Andrea said, shaking her head in wonder.
    Karla’s eyebrows flew into a startled arch. “Not at all,” she repeated Alycia’s denial of the previous morning. “I disdain men; I don’t actively hate them.” Her lips curved into a chiding smile. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” she went on in a dry tone. “But for the last four years, I’ve been living with the impression that you two aren’t all that crazy about those frustrating creatures we call men, either.” She wiggled her still-raised eyebrows.
    Alycia laughed and sighed at the same time. “With reason,” she admitted to Karla’s charge.
    “Right.” Andrea’s lips tightened. “With good reason.”
    Having made her point, Karla settled back in her chair to enjoy her cooling coffee. “Then would it be crass of me to inquire why you are both in transports over Sean Halloran?”
    “Who’s in transports?” Andrea demanded. “T simply said I thought the man was charming. I never said I was infatuated with him.” Even as she protested, she followed Karla’s gaze to Alycia’s flushed face. True to the epithet “innocent one” so affectionately bestowed upon her by Karla, Andrea blurted out, “Are you infatuated with him, Alycia?”
    Warm with embarrassment, Alycia longed to pull open a window and bathe her hot cheeks in the snow that had collected on the outside sill. The single word “infatuation” bounced around inside her head. Having at one time been a victim of that insidious, demoralizing condition, Alycia hated the word with a passion. Yet, as impossible as she would have believed it to be, Alycia was very much afraid she was once again becoming entangled in infatuation’s sticky web.
    “Alycia?” Andrea’s tone was soft with concern.
    Karla didn’t speak, but the eyes that watched Alycia over the rim of her cup spoke eloquently.
    “He interests me. He excites me.” Alycia failed in an attempt to smile. “And it scares me silly.”
    “Are you sure your response to him isn’t because of who he is?” Andrea asked hopefully.
    Alycia lifted her shoulders in a half-shrug. “At this point, I’m not sure of anything but my response to him.”
    “Uh-oh.” Grimacing, Karla broke her silence. “I think we’ve got a problem here.”
    “It’s really none of our business, Karla,” Andrea interjected, a worry line marring her smooth brow as she studied Alycia’s pained expression.
    “Are you kidding?” Karla’s sharp-eyed glance shot to Andrea. “Or have you forgotten that we’re a three-member support group?”
    It was obvious from her expression that Andrea hadn’t forgotten a thing. Alycia hadn’t forgotten, either. “It’s all right,” she told Andrea. “I need some support right now.” She shifted her gaze to Karla. “As usual, you’re right. I think I might have a problem.”
    “I’d say it’s got you tied up in knots inside,” Andrea murmured sympathetically, staring pointedly at Alycia’s hand.
    Alycia lowered her gaze and bit her lip. Unconsciously, as she always did when she was extremely nervous or upset, she was twisting and plucking at the fine chain circling her wrist. The agitated motion of her fingers ceased abruptly, and she expelled a long sigh. “I feel divided, torn inside,” she admitted. Though true, the admission was an understatement.
    In actuality, Alycia had spent a very rough night. While she tossed and turned in bed, her feelings had swung from quaking dread of any involvement with Sean to quivering anticipation of being with him again. Still torn by conflicting emotions, she looked to her support group for help.
    Recognizing the silent cry for assistance, Karla, being Karla, sliced