The Cooling Walls

Here’s a (unedited & raw) sneak peek at my new story, The Cooling Walls. It’s a sequel to last year’s Ice Cream Castles (a tale I based off of Glenn Savan’s White Palace). I’ve actually started a reworking of ICC, changing some key factors about the main characters but maintaining the raw emotion of it all. In the following snippet, you’ll get a peek into where I left off with the story.

I hope you enjoy! As always, thank you for reading and feedback is highly encouraged and appreciated.

Nora leaned against the diner’s front window, chuckling to herself as she took a long pull off the Malboro stuck between her unsteady fingers. It was ironic when she thought about how she had complained and pushed Max away—now she spent her evenings worried that he wouldn’t stay. She exhaled, watching cigarette smoke and winter’s breath co-mingling in the brisk December air. If all went well it would be the last nicotine fix of her life. Yeah right, she thought while looking down at the tops of her snow dusted new boots; she tapped them against the diner wall, thinking back to a time soon after she reunited with Max.

Cancer–the shock of it all prompted her to make promises she never intended to keep; like telling Max she would stop smoking. Now he was late again; she sighed—serves him right—anyway, what was it really? A few after work liberties was the only thing she could do to occupy her overwrought mind and jittery hands. She closed her eyes, taking in the flavor.

Mmm hmm, that’s what ya get for dating a man from Ladue, her inner voice chided.

She knew he would kill her heart eventually and if not him then the cigarettes would—do it faster than the rednecks that used the street by her house as a drag strip—but she couldn’t quit either of them; they were her current vices. And if she was going to lose one, wasn’t she allowed the other? She glanced over at her red suitcase resting on its wheels nearby. She shrugged her shoulders, drawing curious glances from a couple that walked by; both huddled together like a force of one against the night chill. She gathered the collar of her coat close to her chin then followed them to the snow packed corner. She stepped off the curb, looking in the direction she knew Max’s car would come from; what she found was an empty street. Her eyes lowered to the burnt down cigarette between her frost nipped fingers. They ‘are’ bad for you and there ‘was’ that…she considered chucking it into the snow but instead returned to her spot by the window.

Bullshit.

It wasn’t because of the scare…headaches nor the happy pills she took to get through the rough patches; she had stopped for him because he wanted her to and whatever he wanted he got, although if you asked him, it was the other way around. That was, until Chicago happened and everything she had allowed herself to hope for them got tossed right out the window.

She was losing someone again. First her sister, then her son and now Max. Why did everything and everyone leave her?

She took another drag, her anger rising with each passing moment. Waiting was hardly her favorite pastime—in the cold on a Friday night her least. Fed up, she dug into her over-sized purse and pulled out her cellphone. She punched the dial pad, then paused as she heard the familiar sound of an engine pulling up to the curb. She finished off her cigarette, in no hurry to give in to the relief she felt wash over her by his arrival. Satisfied he had waited long enough, her eyes swept upward and there he was—apologetic and at the ready, standing dapper and erect like a chauffeur by the passenger side door. Better late than never she thought but steeled herself to his chivalrous efforts. She marched over to the car, dragging her suitcase behind her and along the way flicking her cigarette butt onto the iced-over sidewalk.

She slipped inside before he could embrace her. “Sorry I’m late,” Max said grabbing the handle of her suitcase and bending to peck her cheek but she pushed him away. “Where were you?!” Nora snapped, struggling to ignore the woodsy aroma emanating from his jacket collar, that threatened to send her into overdrive.

Before he could answer she continued her tirade. “I could have caught the bus and been at my own house by now. Instead of here freezing all night waitin’ on you.”

“You told me to pick you up at nine o’ clock, it’s only nine thirty,” Max replied, arching his brow.

“Excuse me?” Nora shot back.

“Look, I said I’m sorry–” said Max, frustration piercing his mild-mannered veneer.

“You sorry alright! Is it so hard to make a phone call if you’re gonna be late?” Nora asked, glancing longingly out the window to the sign for the bus stop stationed at the corner.

Max started the car, sighing as he reached for his seat belt. “I’m not going anywhere, Nora,” he replied, his voice heavy with sincerity.

Nora shook her head in disbelief. She knew this tactic well and this time, she would not be placated by his attempts to shut her down, “I took time off work for this. I can’t afford to just up and leave whenever I want,” she said, turning back toward him her eyes brimming with tears. Max reached over, popping open the glove compartment to retrieve his spare pack of Kleenex. She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry but it was that time of year again and it was all she could do to keep from curling into a ball and saying the hell with everything. It seemed that lately she found it harder to get past the memories of what happened with her son–something she could not grasp her mind around before. Still, she thought, Max had to know that she wouldn’t tolerate being treated like a doormat.

“It won’t happen again, I promise…” He said with little energy.

She wiped her nose. “It better not…” she mumbled under her breath. “…and why do you always do that?” Nora asked, her tears nearly dried but her voice still wavering.

“Do what?”

Nora noticed his jaw clench but she didn’t back off. Instead, she turned away from him, dabbing the corners of her puffy eyes with a crumpled tissue as she felt the car pull away from the curb. “Make promises you know you can’t keep,” she replied.

“I got held up at my mother’s and ran a little behind—you know how she is. There’s one thing and then another…it’s not like I did this on purpose and I did try calling you at the diner but they said you were gone. And your cell phone…I wish you would let me buy you another one,” he said, focusing on the road ahead.

Great, his mother again. The—you’ll never be as good as his first wife—woman who hates my guts.

Nora cut her eyes in his direction then looked down at her mobile phone, realizing her minute counter read zero. Guilt swept over her but her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit she may have been wrong. “It’s been a long night—let’s just get to where we’re going. We can talk about it later,” she sighed, shoving the useless phone into her bag. She faced him again; now it was her turn to apologize. They rolled to a stop at the traffic light. His blue eyes twinkled with mischief as he leaned in for another kiss; this time she moved closer allowing him to tilt her chin to meet his lips. She softened, the tension from before lifting off her shoulders as he gently threaded his fingers through her hair.

“Are we okay now?” he whispered against her lips.

“Yes,” she softly replied.

“So, is it my place or yours?” he asked.

She thought a moment. “Chicago,” Nora said, smiling in return but secretly longing for the familiar comfort of her cluttered St. Louis home.

Max grinned as he pulled away from their embrace and grasped the steering wheel again. Nora laughed at the sound of a motorist’s angry car horn blaring behind them. She leaned her forehead against the window, watching the light spattering of snowflakes that had begun to fall on the other side of the glass. Fatigue setting in, she closed her eyes, relaxing against the seat, her thoughts tangled in hopes that they would get to their destination before her doubts took hold again.

July 1, 2010

Posted in Max and Nora.