A Time to Move On by Karolyn James Page B

me.”
    “What are you going to do about it
then?”
    “I’m going to find out what you’re
doing maybe later, maybe tomorrow. Maybe you’d like to see where rockstars hang
out. Maybe you’d like to meet the band.”
    “That would make my sister insanely
jealous.”
    “Isn’t that the point of having a
sister?”
    “Yeah, maybe,” Laura said, smiling.
    Mack gently touched Laura’s side.
His fingers were tempted to pull at her shirt. His other hand wanted to reach
behind her head, touch her soft hair, and pull her in for a single kiss.
    Just one kiss… because that could
change everything.
    Christ, that’s what Kelly used
to tell me… one kiss could change everything.
    It had worked with him and Kelly
all those years ago, so why couldn't it work now? Then again, if he had just
given Kelly one last kiss, she'd probably still be here.
    Laura sensed the hesitation from
Mack, so just like the day before, she planted her soft lips to his cheek. She
touched his arm and then waved the bag of chips in the air, laughing.
    “See you later, Mack,” she said.
    “Laura,” Mack said. “If I wanted to
see you again…”
    “Our spot?” she asked.
    Mack’s heart tightened and his
hands curled into fists.
    Our spot?
    They had a spot now. But it wasn’t
a good spot. It was a bad spot. It was a really bad spot. But Mack caught
himself nodding.
    Laura got into her car and drove
away, glancing in the rearview mirror just once.
    Mack turned back to the bench and
picked up the bag of plain chips. He shook his head and sighed.
    “Barbecue,” he whispered. “You have
to get the barbecue ones. Always.”
     
    *
     
    Laura kept looking every few
seconds to the bag of barbecue chips on the seat next to her. Did she actually
just have lunch with a famous person? She was sure that the secluded location
was for his own protection, but she couldn't help but feel that it was also so
they could talk privately. She wouldn't call it a date, but it was awfully
close. Rockstars probably didn't date. They had too much going on for that. Mack
had already made it clear that Fallen Tuesday was busy getting ready to release
their album, and then go on tour.
    On tour.
    Something always different. Always
changing. Seeing different places, meeting different people, and experiencing
the world. All while doing something that mattered to people. That was the
dream life.
    Laura wished she had something like
that to offer. She had a nice resume, lots of name tags, some impressive titles
that went with jobs she purposely sabotaged, but now all she had was a beat up
car and a heart that matched. Today, though, Laura’s heart felt in a little
better shape than yesterday.
    Thanks to the random kindness of a
complete stranger.
    “Sexy,” Laura whispered to herself.
She felt her face burning and smiled.
    Near her apartment, Laura stopped
at a red light and let the day flow through her mind. If she hadn’t quit her
job, none of this would have happened. That was the part of life that Steph
sometimes didn’t understand. Laura tried hard to make Steph see her perspective.
There had been a moment in Steph’s life that she made a decision that led to
another and another that led her to Jeff. No matter how small those decisions
were, they had the biggest impact on her life.
    Laura lived a little differently.
She made the biggest and scariest decisions, hoping for even the smallest
outcome. All to somehow make the truth hurt less.
    Looking out her window, Laura
spotted a young woman pushing a stroller. The woman had earbuds in her ears,
sunglasses that covered a lot of her face, and she was power walking. The baby
in the stroller was sitting up, taking in the world. Big, bright eyes absorbed
the surroundings. Big, bright eyes that didn’t understand pain and tragedy. It
was the innocence that should never be taken from a child…
    Laura touched the window and
blinked as tears filled her eyes.
    A car behind her beeped their horn.
Laura looked up and saw the