No title

Meggie wandered over to the counter and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, no cream, no sugar. She walked back to her desk, wrapping both her hands around the cup for the warmth. Taking a careful sip, she sat back down in front of her computer and set it beside her. She stared into space, thinking, as she placed her fingers in position on the keyboard. Then, slowly and deliberately she clacked out, “A List of 10 Things” at the top of the page. She took another quick sip of coffee, gasping as it scorched her tongue.

Today Cameron had told her he liked her. She’d heard it earlier from Sharon, who had heard it from Steve, who had heard it from Jim, who had heard it from Dana, who’d heard it lord knows where, so Meggie had pretended to herself that she didn’t believe it. Rumors like that were always running in circles around the newspaper where she worked.
Sharon, drumming her scarlet fingernails on the clipboard she was holding, had sidled up to Meggie when she came into work that morning and whispered it in her ear. She turned her malicious smile on Meggie’s expressionless face and watched her glance around for Cameron, but he hadn’t come in yet. All through the day she saw Sharon glancing back and forth between her and Cameron and she tried hard to concentrate on the article she was writing. It was about a murder trial which she hadn’t covered, but Jennifer had quit yesterday. It was due by the end of the day.
The notes Jenn had left on the trial were in a folder beside her and she began to page restlessly through them. She dropped that, opened a new document on her computer, and began reading the minutes of the trial and typing in her own notes. It was a fascinating case. The defendant had an incontrovertible alibi and there was no witness or evidence that could contradict his claim of having no previous contact with the victim, even if he had committed the murder. Yet his fingerprints were all over the murder weapon: a shotgun. The victim, a woman, had been shot twice in the head. Meggie was soon engrossed in her research.
Twenty minutes later she strode back for another cup of coffee. Her last cup had sat forgotten on her desk and grown cold. Cameron came up beside her as she dumped it down the sink. He greeted her with “hey.” Meggie just smiled into her Styrofoam cup. Cameron got out the ground coffee to make a fresh pot; Meggie absentmindedly filled her cup with water from the tap and began swishing it around.
“Listen,” they both started simultaneously.
“Go ahead,” Meggie said quickly. She dumped out the water and set the cup on the counter. Cameron turned the tap on and began filling the pot.
“Well, listen, I… wanted to let you know before you heard it from someone else. It was when I first started working here, before we were friends.” He poured the water into the coffee maker and set the pot in its place. “I made the mistake of telling… well, I said… I told someone…” Meggie picked up the cup again and twirled it around in her fingers a minute. Then she quickly threw it in the wastebasket and took a new one from the stack on the counter.
“See, I used to like you… before we were friends, I used to like you.” He said the last part very fast. Meggie looked up, eyes wide, then looked down again quickly.
“ Before we were friends,” he repeated, when she didn’t say anything.
“Oh,” she said quietly, trying to think. She heard a song playing quietly in the background; it was a song she liked. “Well, um,” she looked around desperately. “Oh, the coffee’s done.” He looked very surprised. And no wonder, could she have come up with a stupider thing to say? He opened his mouth, shut again, and said,
“Well, I… guess I’ll get back to work. See you at lunch?”
“Sure.” He stood there for a second and walked quickly away. Meggie wished she could have thought of an excuse to say no. But she, Cameron, Mel, and Jim always went to lunch together. Always. They’d been doing it every day for years, since all four of them had worked there together.
She abandoned the Styrofoam cup and filled a glass with milk. She remembered she used to drink milk every day before Cameron talked her into trying coffee for the first time.

Sighing, Meggie erased her words and closed the document. Seconds later she opened a new document once again and typed out “Coffee.” She proceeded to type out a long and wordy rant about the bad affects of coffee. Then she went on a tirade on how the so-called nutritional experts were constantly contradicting themselves and changing their minds about whether coffee was good for you or not.
She was on her 4’th page pounding out the words at full speed when the clock struck noon. She slowly finished her sentence, then, after a moments hesitation, she clicked ‘save’ and put her computer to sleep for lunch break. She took her time, straightening her desk, taking her gray suit jacket off the back of her chair and slipping it on, and stopping in the ladies room where she stood and stared at herself in the mirror for a full thirty seconds twirling a lock of dark hair in her fingers.
She glanced at her watch and meandered out back into the office and through the front door. Her three friends were already waiting for her. When she joined them they all started down the street towards their customary restaurant. Jim and Mel had been in conversation when Meggie came out, and continued as they wandered slowly side-by-side ahead of Meggie and Cameron, leaving them to walk together.
A not quite awkward silence prevailed through the walk. They’d been doing this for so long and knew each other so well it couldn’t be awkward now. It would have been more awkward at the moment to try to make conversation. Instead Meggie watched the cars and couples hurrying past, everyone in their own little world, each with their own destination. The trees along the city street were in full bloom, the sky was blue, and the sun was hot. Meggie thought it was a perfect day for a picnic.
That’s exactly the kind of thoughtful thing that Cameron would plan, she thought. Then shook her head and forcefully turned her thoughts in a new direction. She remembered that Kasey had taken her on a picnic once, four years ago. They’d been dating at the time. It had been a day like this and he had kidnapped her from work, which at the time was as a receptionist at an old hotel. She’d nearly gotten fired but she didn’t care. She’d had a miserable time working there, and she had such a wonderful time on that picnic. She and Kasey got engaged about six months later. It was now three and a half years since then and there was no wedding in sight. Kasey was currently abroad on business in Japan.
As they reached the small building, cramped between an apartment building and a Laundromat, Meggie turned to the other three.
“Look, um, I have a lot of work to do, an article due by the end of the day that I haven’t even started yet. I hate to cut it short, but would you mind making it quick today?” Mel frowned at her.
“It’s only half an hour, Meggie. We’ve never cut it short before, not when we had piles of work waiting for us. Finishing an article in half a day is no trouble, for you especially.”
“Of course, silly thought,” Meggie murmured. She wished Mel would stop looking at her like she’d suddenly announced the earth was square. She hurried up the steps into the buildings dim interior. They took a place at one of the tall booths scattered around the room, made their orders to plump blonde waitress, and settled back to wait. Jim made an provoking remark to Mel about politics (a topic of constant disagreement between them) and they set off on one of their typical vigorous but good-humored debates.
Meggie took a gulp of ice-cold water from her plastic cup, then looked intently down, examining her hands.
“So,” Cameron’s voice made her start. “What fascinating phenomenon are you working on at the moment?” He gave her a lofty grin, but she saw right through to the uneasiness behind it. Cameron never could lie to her; there were few people he could lie to. He had a very open, expressive face, and even more expressive eyes when he did manage to control his face. She smiled. She knew her face at least wouldn’t betray a single thought or emotion.
“No mysterious phenomena of the unexplained today. No, just finishing up Jenn’s assignment.” He shook his head, confused.
“Why is Callahan having you finish Jenn’s assignment? Hell, why is he having it finished? It’s just Jenn.”
“Well, ‘just Jenn’ had just gotten promoted, in a manner of speaking. She was covering that murder trial from a couple days ago. Don’t know why she quit after getting to work a story like that for the first time. I at least would have waited till after I’d finished it. It’s quite a fascinating case.” Cameron grimaced.
“I’m sure it is, and quite gruesome too no doubt. Maybe she was afraid she’d be getting a lot more of those kinds of stories. And you know Callahan. You can’t just refuse to do a story you’re assigned. Do it or you’re out. I guess she didn’t want to do it, and she wouldn’t wait to be ‘let go.’” Their food arrived just then and all talk ceased for a few moments.
Then Jim asked Meggie, “So how’s Kasey? Isn’t he in Japan right now?”
Meggie stared at him, fork halfway to her open mouth. She quickly set it down.
“Uh, yes. Japan. Haven’t heard from him in a while, but I think things must be going well. If they weren’t I would have heard from him.” She managed a weak smile.
“So are you two ever going to get married?” Mel asked then. Meggie sighed quietly and dropped her head into her hand for a second, but quickly sat up before anyone could ask if something was wrong.
“I, uh, I don’t know… I mean certainly eventually,” at this point Cameron excused himself. Meggie continued, talking very quickly. “It’s been three and a half years, what are two more, you know? But I mean, we are engaged. Isn’t that what engaged people normally do, get married? It’s just he travels so much, and I’m so busy, and we’ve just never gotten down to planning it…” her voice died, and she snapped her mouth shut. Mel didn’t seem to notice anything. She simply started saying the words that Meggie could practically have recited along with her. This was an old subject for them.
“Well, I think he’s treating you horribly, putting you on hold like this. Three and a half years is far too long for you to wait. And didn’t you date for almost four years before he proposed? You’ve spent almost eight years on the man and you’re not even married yet!”
“I’m sure you right,” she said vaguely. “Would you guys excuse me for a minute?” She slipped off her stool wandered around to the front, looking around for Cameron. She didn’t see him and went out the front door. He was standing on the second step, smoking a cigarette. She snatched it from him.
“You don’t smoke,” she said, but her voice trembled a little. Cameron kept staring straight ahead.
“Are you going to come back inside?” she asked him, tentatively laying a hand on his arm. He shivered ever so slightly.
“Yeah,” he said. “I still do, you know.” He turned to face her. “You do know, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Meggie whispered, not looking at him. Cameron turned and went inside, but Meggie still stood on the step. Cold drizzle began to fall, for the sky was gray where it had been bright and sunshiny before. Meggie’s eyes got blurry, and she noticed that the drops on her cheeks were warm and one that rolled across her lips tasted salty. She turned abruptly and went up the last step and back into the restaurant. She pulled a hand through her damp hair, brushed away the rain and tears from her face, and returned to their table.

“Yes, I’d like to place a collect call to Kyoto, Japan. Kasey Matheson,” Meggie spoke into the receiver of the payphone next to her bus stop.
“One moment please.” The operator on the other end quickly connected her call and in moments she heard Kasey’s voice on the other end.
“Hello?” Meggie breathed in and out slowly. “Hello?” His very deep voice sounded faintly over the phone.
“Hey, Kasey,” Meggie managed after another moment.
“Hon, is that you? Hey honey, what’s up?” Meggie started to reply nothing, but he interrupted, “Look, I’d love to chat, but I’ve got an important meeting to go to, and—”
She cut him off quickly.
“ I just need to ask you a question, Kasey. It’s very important.” She could hear him sighing impatiently, even as he answered, “Well sure darling, anything for—”
“When are we going to get married?” He laughed. He had a strangely high, almost girly laugh for such a deep voice as his and it used to make her laugh. But she was in no mood to laugh right now.
“I’m serious Kasey, when are we getting married?”
“Seriously?” She didn’t answer. “Um, well, you know we’ve talked about this, what with business taking me all over the globe, and your job—”
“This has nothing to do with my job. I’d quit my job right now if you said we were getting married tomorrow.”
“Okay, we’re getting married tomorrow.”
“Really?” She didn’t think she could believe it. She couldn’t tell over the phone whether his voice was honest or not. But then he laughed again.
“Oh lord, you can be so naïve sometimes Maggie!” Maggie. She had never gotten him to say Meggie. “You know perfectly well I can’t just up and leave just to marry you.”
“Just to marry me? No, I don’t know perfectly well. Kasey, you’ve been telling me that for three and half years! And I’m so sick! I am so sick. If you can’t tell me we’ll be married within a week then it’s off.” She was breathing hard, and the suspense, even of a few seconds, was horrible.
“What? Even if I could come back it would take at least a month to pla—”
“I don’t care about planning the perfect wedding. I don’t care about the dress, the reception, anything. I’d get married in jeans if I had to. Can’t you be willing?” she begged.
“Maggie, I simply cannot just walk away from my business associates. We’re in the middle of a huge transaction right now. I can’t leave. Not now. We’ll get married, I promise. But I can’t make it as soon as you want; I won’t, Maggie. It’s not just about you!” His voice had been rising steadily with every word and he was shouting in her ear by the time he was done. Meggie took the receiver from her ear for a moment, then resignedly held it up again.
“You have been saying that to me for over three and a half years. And I’ve been waiting on you for longer. Well, now I’m done. I’m done Kasey. Goodbye.”
“What? No. Maggie!” She hung up.

The rest of that workday, after lunch, had been hard. It had been hard to concentrate, hard not to look at Cameron, hard not to cry, hard not to notice him looking at her. But she’d gotten through, finished her article and turned it in. Despite trying not to, she had done a lot of thinking, and done a lot of looking, a lot of noticing. But she didn’t cry again. She rushed out as soon as she had cleared her desk and turned in her article.
Mel usually walked with her to the bus stop where she took the bus home from. But Meggie knew she would start reproaching her about Kasey again, and she just couldn’t take it. Besides, she knew what she was going to do. So she while waiting for her bus she had stopped in the phone booth and made a long distance phone call.

Mel caught up with her as she came out of the phone booth.
“Meggie, are you all right? You look very pale.” Meggie collapsed onto the bench, and Mel dropped beside her.
“Well?” she asked.
“I did it,” Meggie said. “ I talked to Kasey.” Mel’s eyes widened.
“And are you getting married?” she asked. She was smiley eagerly now, anticipating.
“No,” Meggie answered. “No, we’re not. And no,” she said as Mel opened her mouth, “I’m not waiting anymore. It’s all done.”
“Oh Meggie.” Mel put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “Darling are you quite disappointed?”
“No,” Meggie said wonderingly. “Just very tired.” A long bus pulled up and Mel stood.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow I guess, if you’re really all right?” She looked anxiously at her friends face.
“I’m just as fine as I’ve ever been, or rather better. See you tomorrow Mel.”
When the bus had driven off, Meggie heard another pair of footsteps coming toward her and she sighed. She sincerely hoped it wasn’t Sharon, who sometimes rode the bus home as well. Meggie didn’t feel up to dealing with her.
But it was Cameron who came and stood next to the bench.
“All right there, Meggs?” Only Cameron ever called her that. He asked the question quietly and gently and Meggie came all undone. Tears of exhaustion coursed down her face, and she turned her face away to hide them. But he came up and sat beside and put his arm around her and let her cry into his shoulder. Even as she cried, Meggie thought how rather childish this was, and was going to sit up, when Cameron whispered,
“ Mel told me.” She lifted her face and stared at him. “Personally,” he continued, speaking normally, “I think it’s about time and he never did deserve you. But don’t think about that right now.” Meggie sniffed and sat up, sliding every so slightly away from him. But his arm remained around her, quite comfortably. Suddenly he leaned over and kissed her softly on the forehead. Shocked, she nearly stood up, but he put his other arm around her and held her, and she didn’t fight.
“You said that you know.” He said to her, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. “But know something else? I know too.”



This is the probably the first short story (at least the first modern short story) I have ever finished. I have to admit, I am rather proud of it, if only because it's the first thing I've written that I haven't been completely and totally disgusted with upon re-reading it. But anyway, critique away.

I'm on my way to a performance so no time for an in-depth crit now, but I can tell you that i really, really loved it. It was awesome. Not a whole lot of mistakes...in fact I caught only one.

But he came up and sat beside and put his arm around her and let her cry into his shoulder. Even as she cried, Meggie was though how rather childish this was, and was going to sit up, when Cameron whispered,

Sentence in bold doesn't make sense.

Great job!

Mm, very good. The only things I was suggest would be to definitely space out your paragraphs (it makes it so much easier to read) and there were some grammatical errors that I'm sure you could fix.

Adnamarine wrote:“See, I used to like you… before we were friends, I used to like you.” He said the last part very fast.

That last sentence sounds childish. Maybe something like, "see, I used to like you... before we were friends, I used to like you," he said, his words picking up speed as he finished.

That was the only one that I think needed the most correction.

Other than that, it was very good. You're a very good writer.

Yeah, I fixed that now.
THANKS!!!!!!! I'm glad you liked it:)

pretty good =DD
i like the ending a lot.

any other suggestions?
what about the title? i'm bloody terrible with titles

Well I can't help you much with the title issue (I am really bad at titles myself) but I really enjoyed reading this, its awesome.

I had never come across the word incontrovertible before so I had to look it up to see what it meant But thats just a totally random point.

Also you change the spelling of Kasey halfway through - it goes from Kasey to Kacey.

I liked the ending as well, the whole story is well done

I fixed Kasey, thanks.

Do you think it's a sign I used to big of words that I sent people to the dictionary?

Hello Adnamarine.

You really need to space this out into paragraphs, it would look much better and cleaner, and it is easier for people to read.

Meggie wandered over to the counter and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, no cream, no sugar.

Just put: Meggie walked over to the counter and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, no creme or sugar.

She took another quick sip of coffee, gasping as it scorched her tongue.

Two things:
1. She wouldn't gasp at that, she would probably just bite her tongue.
2. She didn't react the last time she took a sip, why would she now?

It was about a murder trial which she hadn’t covered, but Jennifer had quit yesterday.

When people read this, they don't understand where this Jennifer person comes in.

“hey.”

Make the H a capital, and put this a line down.

“ Before we were friends,”

Remove the space after the first quotation mark.

“Of course, silly thought,”

Remove the last coma and put a period.

They took a place at one of the tall booths scattered around the room, made their orders to plump blonde waitress, and settled back to wait.

To the plump blonde waitress

It’s been three and a half years, what are two more, you know? But I mean, we are engaged. Isn’t that what engaged people normally do, get married? It’s just he travels so much, and I’m so busy, and we’ve just never gotten down to planning it…”

Put this a line down.

“Hello?”

Put this a line down.

“ I just need to ask you a question, Kasey. It’s very important.”

Take away the space after the first quotation mark.

But he came up and sat beside and put his arm around her and let her cry into his shoulder.

Put 'her' after the word Beside. Also, I think you should re-write this sentence to make it more clear and so it will sound better.

“ Mel told me.”

Two things:
1. Take the space away from after the first quotation mark.
2. Also, how could Mel tell him that fast?








Like I said above, space this out! Also, you have lots of plot holes in this piece that I pointed out. Another problem I noticed is that about half of it is info-dumps while the other half doesn't have enough info. Make these changes to fix it up, then post it again. Another idea is to read it out loud.



I liked the idea of this story; it has a few parts that seem sad but it has a happy ending. I don't have any ideas for the title though, but if I do come up with one, I will PM you!!!



Make the changes and good luck with this. If you post this again after the changes are made, then let me know and I will look at it again and point out anything else wrong.



Hope this helps!




Firearris

I loved it! Especially the ending.
Only one thing.. Somewhere in the middle her name went from Meggie to Maggie and back again.. Haha you should fix that . But great work otherwise.

Meggie wandered over to the counter and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, no cream or sugar. She walked back to her desk, wrapping both her hands around the cup for the warmth. Taking a quick sip of coffee, she gasped as the liquid scorched her tongue. She went and sat back down in front of her computer, setting her cup beside her. She stared into space, thinking, as she placed her fingers in position on the keyboard. Then, slowly and deliberately she clacked out, “A List of 10 Things” at the top of the page. She took another careful swallow of coffee.




Today Cameron had told her he liked her. She’d heard it earlier from Sharon, who had heard it from Steve, who had heard it from Jim, who had heard it from Dana, who’d heard it lord knows where, so Meggie had pretended to herself that she didn’t believe it. Rumors like that were always running in circles around the newspaper where she worked.

Sharon, drumming her scarlet fingernails on the clipboard she was holding, had sidled up to Meggie when she came into work that morning and whispered it in her ear. She turned her malicious smile on Meggie’s expressionless face and watched her glance around for Cameron, but he hadn’t come in yet.

All through the day she saw Sharon glancing back and forth between her and Cameron and she tried hard to concentrate on the article she was writing. It was about a murder trial which she hadn’t covered. It had been assigned to her after Jennifer quit yesterday and it was due by the end of the day.

The notes Jenn had left on the trial were in a folder beside her and she began to page restlessly through them. After a few moments she laid them aside, opened a new document on her computer, and began reading the minutes of the trial and typing in her own notes.

It was a fascinating case. The defendant had an incontrovertible alibi and there was no witness or evidence that could contradict his claim of having no previous contact with the victim, even if he had committed the murder. Yet his fingerprints were all over the murder weapon: a shotgun. The victim, a woman, had been shot twice in the head. Meggie was soon engrossed in her research.

Twenty minutes later she strode back for another cup of coffee. Her last cup had sat forgotten on her desk and grown cold. Cameron came up beside her as she dumped it down the sink. He greeted her with,

“Hey.”

Meggie just smiled into her Styrofoam cup. Cameron got out the ground coffee to make a fresh pot; Meggie absentmindedly filled her cup with water from the tap and began swishing it around.

“Listen,” they both started simultaneously.

“Go ahead,” Meggie said quickly. She dumped out the water and set the cup on the counter. Cameron turned on the tap and began filling the pot.

“Well, listen, I… wanted to let you know before you heard it from someone else. It was when I first started working here, before we were friends.” He poured the water into the coffee maker and set the pot in its place. “I made the mistake of telling… well, I said… I told someone…”

Meggie picked up the cup again and twirled it around in her fingers a minute. Then she quickly threw it in the wastebasket and took a new one from the stack on the counter.

“See, I used to like you… before we were friends, I used to like you.” He said the last part very fast. Meggie looked up, eyes wide, then looked down again quickly.

“Before we were friends,” he repeated, when she didn’t say anything.

“Oh,” she said quietly, trying to think. She heard a song playing quietly in the background; it was a song she liked. “Well, um,” she looked around desperately. “Oh, the coffee’s done.” He looked very surprised. And no wonder, could she have come up with a stupider thing to say? He opened his mouth, shut again, and said,

“Well, I… guess I’ll get back to work. See you at lunch?”

“Sure.” He stood there for a second and walked quickly away without refilling his own cup. Meggie wished she could have thought of an excuse to say no. But she, Cameron, Mel, and Jim always went to lunch together. Always. They’d been doing it every day for years, since all four of them had worked here together.

She abandoned the Styrofoam cup and filled a glass with milk. She remembered that she used to drink milk every day before Cameron talked her into trying coffee for the first time.




Sighing, Meggie erased her words and closed the document. Seconds later she opened a new document once again and typed out “Coffee.” She proceeded to type out a long and wordy rant about the bad affects of coffee. Then she went on a tirade on how the so-called nutritional experts were constantly contradicting themselves and changing their minds about whether coffee was good for you or not.

She was on her 4’th page pounding out the words at full speed when the clock struck noon. She slowly finished her sentence, then, after a moments hesitation, she clicked ‘save’ and put her computer to sleep for lunch break. She took her time, straightening her desk, taking her gray suit jacket off the back of her chair and slipping it on, and stopping in the ladies room where she stood and stared at herself in the mirror for a full minute, twirling a lock of dark hair in her fingers.

She glanced at her watch and meandered out back into the office and through the front door. Her three friends were already waiting for her. When she joined them they all started down the street towards their customary lunch spot. Jim and Mel had been in conversation when Meggie came out, and they continued, wandering slowly down the street side-by-side, leaving Meggie and Cameron to walk together.

A not quite awkward silence prevailed through the walk. They’d been doing this for so long and knew each other so well it couldn’t be awkward now. It would have been more awkward at the moment to try to make conversation. Instead Meggie watched the cars and couples hurrying past, everyone in their own little world, each with their own destination. The trees along the city street were in full bloom, the sky was blue, and the sun was hot. Meggie thought absentmindedly that it was a perfect day for a picnic.

That’s exactly the kind of thoughtful thing Cameron would plan, she thought. Then she shook her head and forcefully turned her thoughts in a new direction. She remembered that Kasey had taken her on a picnic once, four years ago. They’d been dating at the time. It had been a day like this and he had kidnapped her from work, which at the time was as a receptionist at an old hotel. She’d nearly gotten fired but she didn’t care. She’d had a miserable time working there, and she had such a wonderful time on that picnic.

She and Kasey got engaged about six months later. It was now three and a half years since then and there was no wedding in sight. Kasey was currently abroad on business in Japan.

As they reached the small building, cramped between an apartment complex and a Laundromat, Meggie turned to the other three.

“Look, er, I have a lot of work to do, an article due by the end of the day that I haven’t even started yet. I hate to cut it short, but would you mind making it quick today?” Mel frowned at her.

“It’s only half an hour, Meggie. We’ve never cut it short before, not when we had piles of work waiting for us. Finishing an article in half a day is no trouble, 'specially for you.”

“Of course, silly thought.” Meggie murmured. She wished Mel would stop looking at her as though she’d suddenly announced the earth was square. She hurried up the steps into the building's dim interior. They took a place at one of the tall booths scattered around the room, made their orders to the plump blonde waitress, and settled back to wait. Jim made a provoking remark to Mel about politics (a topic of constant disagreement between them) and they set off on one of their typical vigorous but good-humored debates.

Meggie took a gulp of ice-cold water from her glass, then looked intently down, examining her hands.

“So.” Cameron’s voice made her start. “What fascinating phenomenon are you working on at the moment?” He gave her a lofty grin, but she saw right through to the uneasiness behind it. Cameron never had been able to lie to her; there were few people he could lie to. She smiled. She knew her face at least wouldn’t betray a single thought or emotion.

“No mysterious phenomena of the unexplained today. No, just finishing up Jenn’s assignment.” He shook his head, confused.

“Why is Callahan having you finish Jenn’s assignment? Hell, why is he having it finished? It’s just Jenn.”

“Well, ‘just Jenn’ had just gotten promoted, in a manner of speaking. She was covering that murder trial from a couple of days ago. Don’t know why she quit after getting to work a story like that for the first time. I at least would have waited till after I’d finished it. It’s quite a fascinating case.”

Cameron grimaced.

“I’m sure it is, and quite gruesome too, no doubt. Maybe she was afraid she’d be getting a lot more of those kinds of stories. And you know Callahan: you can’t just refuse to do a story you’re assigned. Do it or you’re out. I guess she didn’t want to do it, and she wouldn’t wait to be ‘let go’ either.”

Their food arrived just then and all talk ceased for a few moments.

Then Jim asked Meggie, “So how’s Kasey? Isn’t he in Japan right now?”

Meggie stared at him, fork halfway to her open mouth. She quickly set it down.

“Uh, yes. Japan. Haven’t heard from him in a while, but I think things must be going well. If they weren’t I would have heard from him.” She managed a weak smile.

“So are you two ever going to get married?” Mel asked then. Meggie dropped her head into her hand for a fraction of a second, but quickly sat up before anyone could ask if something was wrong.

“I, uh, I don’t know… I mean certainly eventually.” At this point Cameron excused himself. Meggie continued, talking very quickly.

“It’s been three and a half years, what are two more, you know? But I mean, we are engaged. Isn’t that what engaged people normally do, get married? It’s just he travels so much, and I’m so busy, and we’ve just never gotten down to planning it…” her voice died, and she snapped her mouth shut. Mel didn’t seem to notice anything. She simply started saying the words that Meggie could practically have recited along with her. This was an old subject for them.

“Well, I think he’s treating you horribly, putting you on hold like this. Three and a half years is far too long for you to wait. And didn’t you date for almost four years before he proposed? You’ve spent almost eight years on the man and you’re not even married!”

“I’m sure you right,” she said vaguely. “Would you guys excuse me for a minute?” She slipped off her stool and wandered around to the front, looking for Cameron. She didn’t see him, so she went out the front door. He was standing on the second step, smoking a cigarette. She snatched it away.

“You don’t smoke,” she said, but her voice trembled a little. Cameron kept staring straight ahead.

“Are you going to come back inside?” she asked him, tentatively laying a hand on his arm. He shivered ever so slightly.

“Yeah,” he said. He took a deep breath. “I still do, you know.” He turned to face her. “You do know, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Meggie whispered, not looking at him. Cameron turned and went inside, but Meggie still stood on the step.

Cold drizzle began to fall, for the sky was gray where it had been bright and sunshiny before. Meggie’s eyes were blurry, and she noticed that the drops on her cheeks were warm and one that rolled across her lips tasted salty. She turned abruptly and going up the last step, went back inside. She pulled a hand through her damp hair, brushed away the rain and tears from her face, and returned to their table.




“Yes, I’d like to place a collect call to Kyoto, Japan. Kasey Matheson,” Meggie spoke into the receiver of the payphone next to her bus stop.

“One moment please.” The operator on the other end quickly connected her call and in moments she heard Kasey’s voice on the other end.

“Hello?”

Meggie breathed in and out slowly. “Hello?” His very deep voice sounded faintly over the phone.

“Hey, Kasey,” Meggie managed after another moment.

“Hon, is that you? Hey honey, what’s up?” Meggie started to reply nothing, but he interrupted, “Look, I’d love to chat, but I’ve got an important meeting to go to, and—”

She cut him off quickly.

“I just need to ask you a question, Kasey. It’s very important.” She could hear him sigh impatiently, even as he answered, “Well sure darling, anything for—”

“When are we going to get married?” He laughed. He had a strangely high, almost girly laugh for such a deep voice as his and it used to make her laugh. Now she didn't even smile.

“I’m serious Kasey, when are we getting married?”

“Seriously?” She didn’t answer. “Come on, you know we’ve talked about this, what with business taking me all over the globe, and your job—”

“This has nothing to do with my job. I’d quit my job right now if you said we were getting married tomorrow.”

“Okay, we’re getting married tomorrow.”

“Really?” She didn’t think she could believe it. She couldn’t tell over the phone whether his voice was honest or not. But then he laughed again.

“Oh lord, you can be so naïve sometimes Maggie!” Maggie. She had never gotten him to say Meggie. “You know perfectly well I can’t just up and leave just to marry you.”

“Just to marry me? No, I don’t know perfectly well. Kasey, you’ve been telling me that for three and half years! And I’m so sick! I am so sick. If you can’t tell me we’ll be married within a month then it’s off.”

She was breathing hard, and the suspense, even of a few seconds, was horrible.

“What? Even if I could come back it would take at least two months to plan”

“I don’t care about planning the perfect wedding. I don’t care about the dress, the reception, anything. I'm willing to marry in jeans if I have to. Can’t you be willing?” she begged.

“Maggie, I simply cannot just walk away from my business associates. We’re in the middle of a huge transaction right now. I can’t leave. Not now. We’ll get married, I promise. But I can’t make it as soon as you want; I won’t, Maggie. It’s not just about you!” His voice had been rising steadily with every word and he was shouting in her ear by the time he was done.

Meggie took the receiver from her ear for a moment, then resignedly held it up again.

“You have been saying that to me for over three and a half years. And I’ve been waiting on you for longer. Well, now I’m done. I’m done Kasey. Goodbye.”

“What? No. Maggie!” She hung up.




The rest of that workday, after lunch, had been hard. It had been hard to concentrate, hard not to look at Cameron, hard not to cry, hard not to notice him looking at her. But she’d gotten through, finished her article and turned it in. Despite trying not to, she had done a lot of thinking, and done a lot of looking, a lot of noticing. But she didn’t cry again. She rushed out of the office as soon as she had cleared her desk and turned in the article.

Mel usually walked with her to the bus stop where she took the bus home from. But Meggie knew she would start reproaching her about Kasey again, and she just couldn’t take it. Besides, she knew what she was going to do. So she while waiting for her bus she had stopped in the phone booth and made a long distance phone call.




Mel caught up with her as she came out of the phone booth.

“Meggie, are you all right? You look awfully pale.” Meggie collapsed onto the bench, and Mel dropped beside her.

“Well?” she asked.

“I did it,” Meggie said. “ I talked to Kasey.” Mel’s eyes widened.

“And are you getting married?” she asked. She was smiley eagerly now, anticipating.

“No,” Meggie answered. “No, we’re not. And no,” she said as Mel opened her mouth, “I’m not waiting anymore. I'm done.”

“Oh Meggie.” Mel put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “Deary are you quite disappointed?”

“No,” Meggie said, almost wonderingly. “Just tired.” A long bus pulled up and Mel stood.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow I guess, if you’re all right?” She looked anxiously at her friends face.

“I’m just as fine as I’ve ever been, or rather better. See you tomorrow Mel.”

Meggie sat on the bench for another five minutes after the bus had driven off, then prepared to go. Then she heard another pair of footsteps coming toward her and she sighed. She sincerely hoped it wasn’t Sharon, who sometimes rode the bus home as well. Meggie didn’t feel up to dealing with her.

But it was Cameron who came and stood next to the bench.

“All right there, Meggs?” Only Cameron ever called her that. He asked the question quietly and gently and Meggie came all undone. Tears of exhaustion coursed down her face, and she turned her face away to hide them. But he came up and sat beside her, put his arm around her, and let her cry into his shoulder.

Even as she cried, Meggie thought how rather childish this was, and was going to sit up, when Cameron whispered,

“Mel called and told me.” She lifted her face and stared at him. “Personally,” he continued, speaking normally, “I think it’s about time and he never did deserve you. But don’t think about that right now.”

Meggie sniffed and sat up, sliding every so slightly away from him. But his arm remained around her, quite comfortably. Suddenly he leaned over and kissed her softly on the forehead. Shocked, she nearly stood up, but he put his other arm around her and held her, and she didn’t fight.

“You said that you know.” He said to her, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. “But know something else? I know too.”