KING'S BAY METROPOLITAN
HOTEL
The dark room
swims around Diane,
different angles rolling into sight and then disappearing
again as she tosses and turns in the bed. She tries pulling the soft comforter
more tightly around her body, but that only seems to make it worse. Throwing
the covers off has the exact same effect.
She had hoped
that seeing Samantha
would put her at ease, at least for the night. A few
hours ago, all she wanted was to see her daughter. It was intense, desperate
-- she knew she had to go see her, even if it was a little late.
But still,
now, she cannot sleep. Can't even get her mind to quiet down enough so
that she can feel like she's resting. She might as well be cracking away
at her laptop or downstairs in the gym, because this sure as hell is not
relaxing.
"Look, Diane,
we can get along. When we're both with Samantha, we're fine. There's no
need for us to be arguing all the time."
"You should
remind yourself of that more often."
"How have you
been, anyway? How are things in Los Angeles? How's
Brian doing?"
"Don't try
to make small talk!"
The conversation
with Claire
rushes through Diane's mind once again, and she rolls onto
her back. That nosy bitch. What the hell does she care about
how I'm doing?
She doesn't
even try to answer the question. Her mind is still stuck on Claire's inquiries.
"Dammit," she
mutters finally, again flinging the comforter from her body and sitting
up. She flips on the small lamp on the nightstand and reaches for the phone.
She pauses
over the receiver. Do I really want to do this? Her hand answers
for her, picking up the phone. The other hand starts dialing the familiar
set of numbers.
The first ring
sticks in her ear with an unsettling realness. The silence until it repeats
seems to last forever, but when the second ring comes, Diane feels her
heart rate pick up. It escalates even more with the third.
But then the
fourth comes ... and she hears the click indicating that the answering
machine has picked up. She listens to it for just a moment, hears that
voice again, before she hangs up. She doesn't leave a message, doesn't
even consider doing it.
She has to
hang up.
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