The Love Sucks Club Read Online Free PDF

a talk show.”
    “I’m a fascinating woman,” I say, dryly.
    She chuckles a bit and stares out the windshield for a couple of minutes.
“You know, I loved Fran, too.”
    “I don’t know you.” This woman is presuming a lot. “I don’t know
anything about you. How do I know you even know Fran?”
    “I know she used to laugh in her sleep. I know she had a tattoo of
a butterfly on her left breast. I know that she thought orange cats were the
best animals in the world.”
    “You could have gotten that from my book,” I grumble.
    “I know she used to stare at the stars and talk about whether or
not her family was ever going to come back for her.”
    Pausing, I stare out the window. That part wasn’t in the book, and
as far as I know, no one except me knew that Fran thought she was from another
planet. I can feel my ears start to buzz and I’m sure an attack is imminent.
Blinking hard, I try to talk myself out of it.
    “So, Esmé ,” I say loudly to combat the
buzz. “What made you move to the Caribbean from Chicago?”
    “There wasn’t anything left for me there. My lover left me for
another woman. We’d been together for seven years. I think she was my rebound
from Fran.”
    “How long were you and Fran together?” I ask, though I’m not sure
I want the answer.
    “Ten years.”
    I look at her, not sure I can believe that she’s old enough to
have had at least seventeen years worth of
relationships. “How old are you?”
    “Thirty-eight.”
    “So you and Fran were pretty young.”
    “We were pretty young.”
    She pulls up in front of The Sands and stops the car. “Are you
going in for lunch?”
    “No, I’m just going to get a ride home from Sam.”
    “I can take you home.”
    “Not in this car, you can’t.”
    Standing outside of the front door of the hotel, I watch her drive
away. She glances back once and I slowly raise my hand. My ears are still
buzzing, so I sit down in the lobby and ask the front desk clerk to page Sam.
The tunnel comes down over my sight and I can see Esmé and Fran, young and troubled, clinging to each other, both of them with tears
in their eyes. I don’t know whether it’s a vision or my imagination, but I’m
drawn to Fran’s young face, her light brown eyes and her pale skin. The shock
of red hair, curly and full, was just as beautiful in this vision as it was
years later when she came into my life. The vision darkens and for a second,
all I can see is Esmé . I’m standing on the edge of a
cliff, looking back at her. Her face is deathly white and there is a trickle of
blood coming out of her mouth. As I slowly become aware that Sam is holding my
shoulders and shaking me gently, the tunnel lifts from my sight. Sam’s face,
full of love and concern is inches from mine.
    “Sam,” I whisper. “I just can’t do it again.”
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Sam takes the cap off a bottle of water and hands it to me. With
my feet hanging in the pool, and a cool breeze coming in off the sea, I’m
feeling refreshed. Leaning back on my hands, I look up at the few clouds in the
clear blue sky. Part of me is avoiding Sam’s gaze, but the other part is
genuinely absorbed by the beauty of the Caribbean. The resort’s in-ground pool
is on a raised area, so people on the deck can look out over the sea. The water
seems to blend seamlessly into the sky and the few sailboats dotted along the
horizon just add a bit of color to the vista. Sam is sitting silently next to
me. When I look at her, she’s gazing at her toes which are wiggling in the
water.
    “So, I suppose you’re wondering why I called you here today.” I
grin, going for a humorous tone.
    Sam isn’t buying it. “Let’s talk about your episode.”
    “Let’s talk about your incredibly shitty taste in women,” I spring
back.
    “That’s a given. I want to talk about this seizure.”
    “It wasn’t a seizure.”
    “Well, what was it?”
    I shrug, staring at the water again. Looking back at her, I open
my mouth to