Sitting on the top step of the back porch, Ada looked across the large back yard, watching a single brown rabbit hopping by along the distant tree line. The rabbit was alone, as was she. Breathing a heavy sigh, she could not truly appreciate the beauty of the snow-covered landscape and the pair of cardinals perched in a nearby tree.
Even though the divorce had been bitter, the house felt very empty without his presence. She was definitely thankful that they had not brought any children into the world, for the nastiness of the divorce would have scared and scarred any children beyond her ability to help them through it. They did split the two cats, however, but that was relatively easy, as the older cat clearly preferred his company while the younger cat, barely more than a cute little kitten, definitely preferred to be in her presence.
With yet another heavy sigh, she slowly stood, feeling the cold deep in her bones despite having just recently celebrated her third twenty-ninth birthday with an iTunes playlist of sad songs and a small bottle of wine. Without question, Ada needed to move on with her life, but after nearly a decade of marriage which ended with his infidelity, she was not particularly keen on truly becoming involved with another man yet, even though her body craved a sexual release - not the kind that could come from herself and not from some random stranger, but the kind that could come only from someone who truly cherished her.
As the wintry sky began to darken along with her overall mood, she decided that she needed to be with people. Having spent most of the previous two weeks alone at home, having shut her friends and her original family out of her life during and after the divorce, she knew that it would take a long time for them to truly open up to her again, that it would likely be easier and perhaps even faster to open up to new people in her life. The only question was where to find these new people.
*****
Braving the icy roads, she drove the old Jetta to the local mall, finding her spirit warming as the parking lot came into view. There were definitely a lot of shoppers at the mall, even for a Friday night, with more vehicles entering than leaving the parking lot.
Ada almost immediately regretted having gone to the mall, however. 2009 had barely begun, and already the Valentine's Day decorations were on display. The card store near a side entrance already proclaimed sales on Valentine's Day cards. The women's clothing in the nearby store windows were either incredibly sexy or set a tone with pink and red colors in great prominence - or both. Candy Hearts stickers blazed a trail deeper into the mall, likely leading to the main candy store near the Food Court.
If anything, the bright lights and the general heat were welcoming. If nothing else, the bookstore would be a good place to find refuge for a while.
Slowly, she trudged through the mall, the winter coat open so she would not be too warm. Only peripherally was she aware of the eyes upon her, an awareness she had cast aside for too long. Ada knew that she was beautiful, she knew that she attracted the attention of most men and even of some women, but she never tried to flaunt her beauty or use it to her advantage to get her way.
Even as she perused the shelves in the bookstore, she could feel eyes upon her - eyes which drank her in, eyes which undressed her, eyes which probed within her. Although she was pointedly ignoring them, she felt one pair of eyes not so much drinking her in or undressing her or probing her, but truly appraising her. The appraisal definitely felt different, but she pointedly tried to ignore that pair of eyes - and all the other eyes befalling her - to instead select a few books to help her through the days and nights of lonely solitude in the seemingly-empty house.
She was squatting to see what was on the lowest shelf when she heard a rustling approaching her, but she paid it no attention, focusing on the description on the back of a medieval fantasy novel from an unfamiliar author. The rustling stopped, and she sensed a presence behind her, but continued to ignore it, selecting another book from the shelf to review its back cover. Ultimately finding nothing of great interest on the lowest shelf, Ada stood to move over to the next set of books.
"Wow. You're tall!"
The voice was soft, and definitely feminine - not what she had anticipated from the intensity of the appraisal she had felt, but that did not truly matter. Turning around, she saw who had addressed her, and was a little surprised to find that the blonde woman before her was just as tall, perhaps an inch taller.
Strangely enough, their common height was enough to begin a meaningful conversation, and they left the bookstore with six books and a friendship between them.
*****
As the weeks passed, the aftertaste of the divorce faded into obscurity, although the house still felt empty. The single cat was good for companionship in general, but she needed Human companionship specifically.
