Autumn Leaves by Barbara Winkes Page B

different. Rebecca is not Nicole.”
    “No, but she can break your heart just the same.”
    This was getting too complicated. Nicole did more than that, but it was nothing Callie wanted to discuss at the moment.
    “You don’t die from a broken heart.”
    Asha waited for a few heartbeats before she said, “Okay. Have fun.”
    “Thanks.”
    * * * *
    Irrationally, Rebecca was mad at David as if he set her up this way on purpose. Roz and her niece were in the theater, the owners of the local pub with their young boy, and a few other familiar faces. If David had chosen to accompany his family, no one would be staring at them. Rebecca couldn’t say if it was because of Callie, that people saw her with Asha, or simply because they were suspecting anything more going on.
    Maggie enjoyed herself, in any case, for once not fighting with Dina. Her older sister had surprisingly not put up an argument when David had presented them with the tickets. What did it say about their family that the girls were so used to David being in and out of their lives, just like that? Rebecca watched Callie listening once more to Dina’s woes of the sciences, the two of them laughing.
    Callie looked so young, she thought, feeling incredibly foolish. Then again, she seemed to like older women. Asha Malik was a professional, and she hadn’t started out on the job at sixteen, so… God. She had to stop it. Not that her curiosity would ever lead to anything, but those thoughts were dangerous enough. She couldn’t tell Callie how to live her life or protect her from any possible downsides, but she sure as hell could get herself together eventually.
    However, Rebecca realized that the fate of some lost toys wasn’t enough to distract her when she could barely listen. Callie sat to her left, Maggie to her right, and Dina next to her little sister. She reached into the small bowl of popcorn, more from nervous habit than hunger, her hand touching Callie’s.
    “Sorry,” she whispered, but neither of them moved their fingers. This seemed like such a cliché. Callie would think she’d done it on purpose. The seconds ticked by. Rebecca finally let go, of the warmth of the touch and the illusion that would have been so easy to slip into.
    An hour later, she drove home three girls with red-rimmed eyes. It made Rebecca feel rather coldhearted, then again, she hadn’t paid that much attention to the movie. Callie talked to the girls on the way, but she kept stealing glances at Rebecca. It’s all good. We’re good. We’re friends. She didn’t ask Callie to come inside when they said good-bye. She needed space, time to think. It wouldn’t be easy to make that happen.
    David returned just the moment she was done with dinner dishes. Obviously, he’d enjoyed the great outdoors with Charles and his brother.
    “You girls had a great time too, I hope.”
    “Of course. Awesome movie.” Rebecca smiled tiredly. It wasn’t right that sitting in a movie theater for less than two hours had exhausted her more than his adventure did for him. She couldn’t possibly go on like this.
    “Good. Sorry to say this, I know she’s your friend, but Betty is getting on my nerves. Did you ever read any of Callie’s books?”
    Rebecca felt caught, wondering why he was asking this question now. “Yes. They didn’t seem like the work of the devil to me.”
    “That’s what I thought. Anyway…You have any plans for the rest of the evening?” he asked suggestively. Rebecca held on to him like her life depended on it. Just for a moment, she was ready to make believe, but it wasn’t much later when she realized that make believe was all she could do. She returned David’s smile, effectively hiding the fact that inside, she was terrified. Pretending wasn’t cheating, but it was nearly as bad.
    Friends helped each other out in times of crisis. For this, however, there was no one Rebecca could call, she realized as she lay awake hours later. She didn’t want to think of