Page 177 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
Juliet and Louanna were both practising. Susie could hear the violin and the cello as she climbed the stairs to her apartment.
She went in quietly and headed straight for her bedroom.
Staring into the large wooden wardrobe, she looked at the clothes she had hanging there. A pair of jeans, a spare uniform. Some rather boring jumpers and a couple of thick skirts that she wore with boots.
Certainly nothing that matched her mood.
And her mood was...
She examined her feelings for a moment, as if reaching in and feeling the touchstone of her soul, and knew she was happy. Exhilarated...
Grabbing her toiletries bag, she went and brushed her teeth and then reached for her pills.
Today was Sunday...
So why were Friday and Saturday still in their tiny igloos?
Today, she said to herself,is definitely Sunday.
And it would seem her brain had ceased being sensible on Friday.
The moment Dante had stepped into her life.
‘Breathe,’ Susie told herself aloud. ‘It will be fine.’
She changed into fresh clothes—jeans and a lilac jumper—and then Louanna called out.
‘Are you up?’
‘Yes,’ Susie said, realising as she headed out to the lounge that they hadn’t noticed she’d been gone all night.
‘You look nice.’ Juliet smiled. ‘Are you on your way out?’
‘Yes, I’m going to a winery.’ Susie nodded. ‘With a friend.’
‘You should try De Santis,’ Louanna suggested. ‘For cheap wine, it’s pretty good.’
‘We were thinking of Casadio.’
‘Hah!’ Louanna said. She rolled her eyes and offered an Italian saying.‘Costare una fortuna...’A warning that she would pay a very high price.
‘I’ll keep it in mind.’
‘You’re not going to the restaurant there, are you?’ Louanna checked, running her eyes over Susie’s jeans. ‘It’s very elegant.’
‘She looks lovely,’ Juliet jumped in.
‘I’m just saying...’ Louanna shrugged. ‘I’d want someone to tellmeif I wasn’t suitably dressed.’
‘Thanks, I think!’ Susie said, smiling to Juliet, who rolled her gorgeous green eyes. ‘I’d better go shopping...’
There was steady rain, so the shops were quiet. She looked in the beautifully dressed boutique windows, but it was all a bit intimidating.
Susie wasn’t offended by what Louanna had said—well, a touch, maybe—and she did appreciate the heads-up. More than that, it had been for ever since she’d shopped for something nice to wear. She’d been saving for her trip, and before that...
She thought of her ex, who hadn’t ever seemed to notice when she’d gone all out, so in the end she hadn’t bothered.
Everyone had been surprised that she’d ended things between them—even Susie had struggled to justify it to herself. The relationship hadn’t been awful, or terrible, or any of those things, but she had suddenly seen how she’d hidden her true self. She had wanted to be more adventurous—not just in bed, but in everything. But she’d stuffed down the little hurts rather than voice them.