Escaping Life Read Online Free PDF

had cried more at her
funeral than Elizabeth had.  He had become her brother in the time that they
had spent together.  But that’s also exactly why he would think it ludicrous to
continue to entertain these ideas; they were dangerous to him.  Hurtful.  He
had watched as they had interred the empty box, with its shiny brass plate
bearing the name ‘Rebecca Jackson’.  He had supported his wife for a year as
they tried to rebuild their lives in the city with two huge gaping holes, until
eventually it became impossible and they had found a new life and a new peace
in the countryside.  To entertain the thought that his wife’s dead sister was
communicating from the grave, or somehow worse still, had been missing for the
last four years, was tantamount to undoing everything they had rebuilt.  All of
the work they had done would be gone, and behind it nothing but a trail of dust.
    He smiled at
her as she walked in.  He was laying the table for dinner.  He had placed a
single carnation in a vase on the table, cut carefully from the garden so not
to disturb the plant too much.  His smile was one of those open warm smiles,
starting from the eyes, spreading down his cheeks and ending somewhere she had
never yet found the words to describe.  She had met Graham one afternoon whilst
running out for a coffee, in search of ten minutes away from her claustrophobic
office cubicle.  She was twenty-two, newly graduated, and the last thing on her
mind was a man.  Sure, the occasional man was fine, but not the kind that stuck
around for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She wasn’t looking for anything other
than her own path in life.  She had landed the job of her dreams, a junior web
designer for a huge company.  The money was OK, but the prospects were great. 
So when the tall man behind her, dressed smartly in his perfectly fitted blue
suit with a white and blue striped shirt, the open neck the only casual thing
about him, had stood behind her in the queue she couldn’t help but feel his
presence.  She had spotted him as soon as he had walked in through the door. 
Most of the cafe had.  He knew it too, but yet held himself in a way that
didn’t look overtly arrogant, like most of the other guys in here.  Yes, he was
gorgeous, but he had a kind face, intelligent looking behind his dark rimmed
glasses.  Not just another hot guy in a suit.  She became acutely aware of her
breathing as he joined the queue behind her.  She suddenly wondered if her hair
looked good.  She asked herself if she had remembered to apply lip gloss before
she came out of the office.  She looked down at her jeans and converse
trainers, laces tucked in like a teenager.  Damn dress down Friday, s he
had cursed to herself.
    “Hi, what can I
get you?” the barista had asked her.
    “A large
macchiato please,” she replied, trying not to eye up the cakes directly beneath
her.  Before the barista could confirm what she was having in the repetitive
parrot fashion that was always adopted, even though she ordered the same thing
every day, the tower of a man behind her was adding in his own order.
    “Add on to that
a double espresso and two slices of the chocolate cake that she was drooling
at,” as he motioned his thumb towards Elizabeth stood next to him, slightly
speechless, and certainly embarrassed.  “I’ll be paying for these.”  She waited
for a moment, uncertain if she should be annoyed at his presumptuousness, or go
with her instinct and just be glad that this guy, this gorgeous guy, wanted to
buy her a coffee.
    “Thanks,” she
giggled, having quickly made her mind up that going with this unfolding
situation could only be for the best.  He had the friendliest face.  She
couldn’t be angry at him.  Especially as it seemed that after his self-assured
start, he actually looked slightly nervous once he could no longer hide behind
the element of surprise.  They looked at each other for a moment, before he
reached for his wallet