A Few More Nights (Slice of Life) Read Online Free PDF Page A

his brother to the airport. He was taking far too long and would miss his flight.  There was someone coming out of the door of Nadine’s building when Rolland slipped inside and marched up to Nadine’s apartment.  He had only been here a few times for small gatherings, but he rang the bell to collect his brother. Marc answered the door looking extremely sated, tired, and like a man in love. He could see his reluctance to leave. Nadine was not making it easy for him, because she was now wrapped around him like a Koala cub.  Her face was tear-soaked as she told him she would Skype him every night, send care packages of fruit along with anything else he needed.  Rolland was shocked to see such a vulnerable side of his partner. “Just once more, before you leave Marc….”
                  He sat her on the table, kissed her eyelids, her cheeks and her lips, “Beauty, you have stolen my heart. All that I have is yours to keep.” He kissed her lips, placed her left hand over his heart before he hugged her tightly and told her with a softness that radiated how much he cared for this woman, “I will be back in six months.”
                  “Six months isn’t that long, right?”
                  “The time will fly by and then you and I will be together again; it has been ordained in the stars.” Marc kissed her just once more before grabbing his bag and heading to the airport.
                  Nadine knew she needed to get ready for work.  First she needed to put fresh linens on the bed.  She pulled back the covers and her breath caught in her throat.  The birth control patch she had gotten yesterday was stuck to the sheets. Panic set in because she had no idea of when or at what point it had detached itself. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she recounted the four times she and Marc had coupled throughout the night.
                  The bed was left unmade as she quickly showered, dressed and headed out to the nearest drug store to get a morning after pill. At seven thirty it was still a tad bit dark for this time of the year and Nadine noticed the stars in the sky. Marc had mentioned the stars several times last night as well as today. What drew her attention was the brightness as well as the alignment of the stars.  Those stars and a few others were the last thing she saw after the pick-up truck t-boned her car and slung her Buick up on the curb.

Chapter Seven
    Marc had missed his flight.  He could take a flight to Anchorage, pick up a charter to Fairbanks and still get there on time to catch the weekly flight to Prudhoe Bay. As he made his way over to the Delta terminal, his phone started to chime.  He was hoping it was Nadine leaving him a sexy message that he could replay over and over during the next six months; instead it was Rolland.
    “Have you boarded the plane?”
    “No, I missed my flight. What’s up?” Marc was getting worried, and stopped to take a seat; he knew something was wrong. 
    “It’s Nadine,” he told him but quickly added, “She is okay—banged up, but okay.” 
    The color had drained from his face, this could not be happening to him again.  Rolland filled him in on the details of the accident and waited his brother’s instructions. “Come get me. I will be on the curb at the Delta terminal!”

                  Selena Jordan was on the satellite phone with her daughter trying to sound as if she wasn’t worried.  Nadine loved that her mother had found her calling later in life and was a very successful travel writer and blogger.  Her current assignment had her in a remote area of Honduras and it would take several days to get back to the U.S.  Sympathy rang through the phone as her daughter told her of the accident, her broken right foot and broken left hand. Selena joked that at least the two casts would counterbalance each other.
                  As an only child, it was moments like