The phone rang a third time, giving Dara hope that this
particular inevitable conversation might be postponed.She was not a coward, but the thought of trying to evade Alex’s
questions without hurting him was daunting.
“Hello?”
Dara took a deep breath.“Hello, Alex.”
“Dara?!”His
startled outcry was so loud that she was forced to quickly remove the phone from
her ear.“Where are you?”
“I’m alright.”Skillfully the former A.D.A. evaded the detective’s question.
“What the hell is going on?I went by your place and the super said you didn’t live
there anymore.He wanted to know if
I wanted to lease it.”Alex’s
puzzlement could be heard through the phone.“You own that condominium!”
The former attorney recalled a piece of advice a local
crooked lawyer often
gave those clients he represented – stick as closely to the truth
as possible.It made keeping
one’s story straight an easier task.“Alex,
I have made some life-changing decisions lately.”
“No joke,” he interrupted.
Dara continued as though he hadn’t spoken.“Like I said, my life will be changing quite a bit soon.I’m sorry that I didn’t get a chance to discuss it all with you,
but…” She took a deep breath.“It’s
not like we were anything to each other.Just
two people who enjoyed getting physical sometimes.”
The silence that greeted her statement stretched on
interminably.Though they had
only been on-again, off-again lovers, Dara knew that she had cut Alex to the
quick with her blithe dismissal of their relationship.For quite some time she had been aware that his feelings had grown far
deeper than her own.
“Physical…” he repeated bitterly.“So all this time I was just a good screw to help you let
off tension?”
“Alex, don’t be that way.I never lied to you about…”
The loud crash of the receiver being slammed down made Dara
flinch.Obviously she had succeeded
in putting some distance between herself and Alex.She could only hope, as she thumbed off the phone she held,
that when this endeavor was concluded she would still be able to consider Alex
Garcia her friend.
