BACKSTORY Ch. 10:  After Hours (page 3) by Emmet

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Charlotte noticed a heart-shaped pendant dangling from a chain Amber wore around her neck. Amber saw Charlotte’s gaze and fingered the silver wire, smiling down at it. “Pretty, isn’t it?” she asked. Charlotte murmured what she thought sounded like an affirmation. “Your dad gave it to me for Valentine’s Day. He can be such a sweetie. So. Are you staying for supper?” Valentine’s Day? Charlotte froze. Her parents had separated in May. What was her father doing giving hearts to bimbos three months before that? Suddenly, the thought of her father sharing their table at Thanksgiving seemed hopelessly naive. She felt stupid, bitter, angry, deceived. And respectful, a new respect for her mother, an appreciation for a strength she never suspected existed in her mother’s prom-girl body. She looked at Amber’s young, grinning face and felt pity, mixed again with anger. She said, simply, “Dinner? No… I just wanted to tell my Dad something, but I’ll tell him another time. Happy Thanksgiving.” She left, and walked, feeling the cold November wind whip through her, letting her body match the coldness in her heart, till heart and flesh and mind felt equally numb.

Continue to Ch. 11:  Poetic License