Page 49 of The Hangman's Rope

“I’m fine,”I lied.

“You don’t look fine,”he said.

I didn’t know the man, but he was dressed expensively enough in a tailored suit and he was, by all appearances, around my age. Still, as polite as he was being by unhanding me quickly and taking a step back out of my space, I felt uneasy.

“Just a stupid argument with one of my friends,”I said, figuring that wasn’t too much information.

“Where are you heading?”he asked and I looked to the side and said,“I’m already here, thank you, though.”

I moved off in the direction of the doors to the upscale hotel lobby.

“I’m staying here, too,”he called, shutting the back of the town car he’d arrived in’s door.“Let me buy you a drink? You can lament all you want. What do you girls call it? Venting? I think that’s it. You can vent.”

“No, thank you,” I said shakily. “I’d rather just go upstairs.”

“One drink, come on, doesn’t even have to be alcohol. Just have a drink with me. I’ve had a pretty rotten night, too. I just… it would be a nice way to end the evening. A drink with a pretty woman and some light conversation. What do you say? Please don’t say ‘no.’”

I swallowed hard and looked him over. He was clean cut and dressed sharp. I could swear I had seen him somewhere before but I couldn’t place where.

“Alright,”I agreed reluctantly.

“Cal Pierce,”he said, holding out his hand.

“Lorelai,”I returned his handshake.

“An even prettier name for a pretty girl,”he said with a charming smile.

I smirked and gave a little chuckle.

“Nice to meet you,”I said out of sheer politeness.

I felt like I shifted uneasily, but I didn’t so much as twitch and it was a strange sort of sensation. I told my body to stop, to head for the elevators instead of the hotel’s bar, but it didn’t listen. I was vaguely aware of shifting uncomfortably as I watched from first person perspective the girl that was me, slip up onto a stool at the bar and set her broken shoes on its top, after opening up and laying down a napkin first.

“Ah, I think I’m starting to get a clearer picture here,”Cal said, giving a small chin thrust at the heel that was broken off and separated from the elegant shoe.

I remember giving an indelicate snort at that, and spilling the entire story of my shoe breaking, of Julie sending me along on my own, and of feeling both hurt and betrayed by my supposedly childhood best friend.

Cal listened and sighed, leaning back, and said precisely what I’d been thinking.“With friends like that, who needs enemies?”

“Precisely,”I said as the bartender set down a pair of drinks that we’d stopped long enough in our chat to order.

I turned at a touch on my back and an older gentleman apologized,“Sorry about that,”as he slid up onto the bar stool directly behind mine. The bar was fairly crowded, so it wasn’t out of place. I turned back to Cal and our drinks.

“So is Cal short for Calvin?”I asked casually.

He broke into a wide grin and dipped his chin almost shyly as he chuckled and said,“Calrose, actually. Some weird family name passed down for generations. I’m something like Calrose Pierce the Seventh. It’s a little ridiculous if you ask me.”

I smiled and shook my head, frowning at the bitter tang of my drink which should have been sweeter. I swallowed and coughed lightly at the burn of the alcohol going down and he frowned slightly.

“Everything alright?”he asked.

“Yeah,”I said.“It’s just bitter. Has a funny taste like the fruit juice has gone off or something.”

He picked up my glass, sniffed it, and frowned a little harder.

“Let me get you another,”he said, and I shook my head.

“No, it’s fine.”

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