Escape by Francine Pascal Page B

the room, ready to rip someone’s head off his spine. But once she’d stepped inside, she nearly tripped over her own feet.
    Sam was couched deep in the comfy chair in nothing but a thin T-shirt and a pair of boxers. Tatiana was leaned back comfortably in his bed. In nothing but a stretchy white cotton nightie.
    Somewhere between shock and confusion, Gaia suddenly found herself in a purely paralytic state. Frozen solid. The only thing she felt capable of moving was her eyes, which continued to shift from one side of the roomto the other, taking in this vision that she could only describe in understated terms as most unpleasant .
    â€œYou’re home early,” Tatiana said with a smile.
    â€œI’m. . .” Gaia was still at a loss for words as she tried to accept the jolting sight of the two of them sitting happily (and damn near nakedly ) together in the room.
    Sam’s eyes brightened with what looked like relief. “You’re back,” he said, a gentle smile spreading across his face.
    â€œHow was your date with Ed?” Tatiana asked. Sam’s eyes instantly darkened again.
    Thank you, Tatiana, Gaia thought. Thank you so much for asking. You’re making this incomprehensible moment so much easier. The silence in the room felt as thick as glue.
    â€œWhy didn’t you stay over?” Tatiana added, tilting her head quizzically. “I hope there were no troubles of paradise. . . .”
    â€œ In paradise ,” Sam corrected her, turning his bitter eyes to Gaia. “I hope there were no troubles in paradise. . . .”
    Gaia would have paid any sum of money for another chair in this godforsaken room. She needed to sit down.
    â€œWell. . . ?” Tatiana pushed. “Okay, what grade would you give the date?”
    Was she trying to make this the most disturbing, unexpected, and uncomfortable moment of Gaia’slife? If so, she was doing a damn good job. Gaia hadn’t even managed to form a sentence about this situation, and Tatiana already had her tangled into a painful knot and praying for a seat.
    â€œI’m . . .” Yes, it was official. Gaia was now a mute. If she couldn’t form a sentence soon, she was sure this tragically awkward tableau might just be seared into her brain for all eternity. “I’m sorry,” she finally uttered. “But what’s. . . what’s going on here ?”
    For a moment there was no response. But Tatiana finally came up with an answer. “I met Sam,” she explained.
    â€œYes, I see that,” Gaia replied sharply as fury began to bubble up from her chest and into her throat. “And exactly how did you meet him?”
    Gaia realized that she was giving Tatiana the most ridiculous 90210 scowl. She had suddenly entered her very own nighttime soap, and she hadn’t even realized it.
    This was all so uncalled for. She should have just been elated that Sam was all right. She should have given him a hug and started in on their plans for the morning. She should have just accepted that Tatiana had somehow discovered Sam, as was bound to happen at some point in one’s own house, for God’s sake. And she shouldn’t have cared about Tatiana’s wardrobe. Why wouldn’t Tatiana be in her nightie? She always went to bed early, and she’d worn that thing to sleep at least twenty times before. Tatiana certainlyhadn’t done anything to deserve the melodramatic feline scowl Gaia was shooting at her.
    Yet the scowl only deepened as Gaia compulsively scanned Tatiana and Sam’s scantily clad bodies again and again, watching their bizarrely friendly smiles flash on and off. That was the thing about jealousy. No amount of rationality could possibly. . .
    Wait . . .
    Jealousy? Is that why I’m glaring at her like a rich bitch heiress to an oil fortune?
    Yes, of course it was. It wasn’t the concern or frustration over