Chapter One
"Sarah."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Get a coffeepot from the back, this one just broke."
Blood on her hands, shattered glass in the cuts.
Sarah was a common enough name, she was glad she could keep it.
She got the coffeepot and filled it with water.
"Sarah, your sponsor’s here."
"She's not my sponsor," Sarah responded automatically.
She handed the coffeepot off to the other waitress and went over to the booth where a woman in an inexpensive grey suit sat.
"Sarah, how are you today?"
Her hand was small and disappeared inside of Sarah's- she was a small woman.
"Kaci." It wasn't an answer, just what she said, and she said it with a nod and a small smile. "I missed you."
"No you didn't, but that's beside the point.
One of the waitresses came over with a coffee cup and a glass of water- the coffee was for Kaci.
"How are things? How's the move?"
"Good, most of my stuff is packed." She wiggled her toes in her shoes and clasped her hands around the water glass wet with condensation.
"Good, the timing's just right, isn't it?"
"Just right," Sarah repeated. "so, I guess I won't be your patient anymore."
The silence that followed was filled by a police siren.
"Sarah, you know we can't do that," Kaci said quietly.
"Why not? It's not an ethical issue anymore."
"Not on the surface, but the implication is there." Kaci stared into the steam rising from her eggshell colored mug. "I supposes that now that you are leaving, it's not too much of an ethical stretch to tell you that I've been in trouble before."
"For...a relationship?"
"No, but I'd rather not go into detail."
Sarah got the feeling that people were starting to try to listen in on the conversation. So she dropped the subject.
"Still, will you at least come to my going away party?"
"Yes." She said it rather quickly and lowered her eyes. "Yes, I will."
Sarah smiled. More alarms sounded outside and yellow lights flashed across their faces.
Quite, quite, contrary.