A Carol for Kent

Chapter 1

Personal journal entry.

April 16

He won’t leave me alone about her. She consumes his every waking thought, he says. It’s been years since I last gave in to his demands, but he scares me, now. If I gave in and just let him do whatever he wanted he would go on a killing spree and burn the world down. I have to appease him.

The day to day contact drains me. He saps my energy and threatens and cajoles and promises and won’t just SHUT UP! I’ve lost the strength to fight.

We got in so much trouble last time. I don’t want to move again. Maybe if I give in just once, maybe I can make him pretend to be normal, again. Throw him a bone, so he’ll just let me have some peace. I just want peace.

DARLA Cody shifted aside to keep the big guy in the smelly flannel shirt from bumping into her arm and spilling the drinks she carried. He drunkenly shouted an apology in her direction as she shifted through the crowd.

As she approached the table in the corner, she grinned at her friends. Melissa, Rachel, and Saundra took up three of the four chairs, and Melissa had her foot on the seat of the fourth. As crowded as this place was, Darla was surprised no one had tried to wrestle away the chair from her by now. Maybe someone had?

“What a madhouse,” she exclaimed over the percussive music.

“I’m sure not everyone here are CPA’s like us, but it’s nice to be in this kind of celebratory atmosphere in the wake of the most recent tax season,” Saundra declared.

Darla snorted. “You couldn’t possibly be a bigger nerd, could you?”

They laughed because blonde and beautiful Saundra’s exterior revealed nothing of the computer-like brain in her stunning head.

“What did I say?” Saundra asked.

As her friends laughed, Darla rolled her head on her shoulders. She felt drained, on the edge of complete exhaustion. She’d thought this night out would be just the ticket after fifteen-hour days over the last three months, but what she really wanted was a hot bath and maybe a good book. Unfortunately, she couldn’t abandon her friends ten minutes after getting here, so she’d give it another hour, tops, then make a graceful exit.

“Ooh, hot guy at your six o’clock,” Melissa said, gesturing with her head.

Trying her best to be casual, Darla turned and looked, immediately spotting the man in the shirt and tie. He had dark hair, a goatee, and black framed glasses. He was looking right at her.

As soon as their eyes met, he looked away, as if scanning the crowd. It didn’t take long for him to look back at her again.

“He looks like a younger and better shaved Trent Scott,” Rachel said. Trent Scott was the latest Hollywood heartthrob, thin and lean with a slender, wiry build and hollow cheeks that framed deep blue soulful eyes. In addition to securing a role opposite Julianne McNeill in the latest blockbuster, he had just been nominated as People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

“You think any thin guy with dark hair looks like Trent Scott,” Melissa accused.

Darla looked away. She wasn’t here to pick up some random guy, no matter how good looking. She took a sip of her Cosmopolitan, flinching a bit at the strong alcohol taste. “He’s shorter than me,” she said.

“Most are, love,” Rachel said. She grinned at the guy, and Darla thought she’d groan out loud when her friend said, “Here he comes.”

He came up to their table and put his hand on the back of Melissa’s chair. Darla wished she’d sat down when she’d had the chance because now she stood next to him.

“Evening, ladies,” he said, looking at each one of them. When he looked at her, she thought that she’d never seen eyes so shockingly blue before. “I’m Rob.”

Melissa took it upon herself to introduce all of them. When she finished, he turned to Darla and held his hand out. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, looking into her eyes.

“Likewise,” she said, rather breathlessly. She felt her heart flutter at his flirting.

“I noticed you from over by the bar. Would you like to dance?”

Feeling pulled into his eyes, she shook her head and said, “I—”

“She’d love to,” Rachel said enthusiastically.

“Darla is our dancing queen,” Saundra added.

“Well—”

Rob grinned and stepped backward, tugging on her hand. “Come on. Dance with me. I promise I won’t bite. What can it hurt?”

Helpless, Darla looked at her friends then back to him. “Okay, one dance.” She took three long pulls of her drink and set the nearly empty glass on the table. Feeling the heat from the alcohol spread down her chest, she tossed a wave at her friends. “See ya!”