Chapter 6
Boring Party
Gale Fears
“How long are you going to sit here, brooding?” Daniel asked, sipping the whiskey I had poured him.
I took a sip of my scotch, and then a drag of my cigar, before leaning back in my chair.
“As long as I feel like it,” I replied.
“What brought this on? I haven’t seen you mope around like this in a while. I thought you were getting better,” Daniel said.
“I am perfectly fine,” I said.
“If the definition of perfectly fine is to brood and drink and smoke like a chimney while sitting around forlornly, then you are right,” Daniel said. “You are fine.”
“You know about the Durrick case,” I said, taking another puff.
“I do,” he replied. “I also know that something like that wouldn’t put you in such a bad mood. You hardly ever stress over your cases. You didn’t even break a sweat in the Mandly case.”
I sighed as I remembered the matter. It had been one of the riskiest cases I had ever taken on. One that put the firm right into the public eye. No one had been happy when I had made the controversial decision to defend a serial killer. That was the only time I had doubted my own judgment. Until it turned out I was right. Mandly was being made into a scapegoat, and my defense saved an innocent man from being hanged.
“I’m not stressed,” I said. “As I said, I am fine.”
“Something has upset you, my friend,” he said. “You and I have been friends long enough, that now I can feel the shifts of your moods. What is it?”
“I found the ring in my drawer,” I said finally.
“I didn’t know you still had it,” Daniel said softly.
“I couldn’t give it up,” I said. “You know I had it made especially for her? I went to the best jeweler I could find, and I had it made specifically in the shape of an infinity sign. Because our love was supposed to be forever.”
“I see,” Daniel murmured.
“It’s over. I don’t regret what I did, but I can’t help feeling as if something is now missing in my life,” I said. I don’t know why I was telling him all this. I couldn’t understand what made Daniel such a good listener, but I always felt as if I could talk to him.
“Perhaps you need someone new,” he said. “You have been alone for five years, Gale. The heart wants companionship and lo—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off. “I don’t. I have had enough of Love. After what happened between Stella and me, I’ve had enough of it. Love only ever causes misery and pain, nothing else. One’s life would be easier without it. No, Daniel, love is not for me. I am happier the way I am.”
“Everyone needs love, Gale,” Daniel said. “When we were young, we enjoyed drinking and flings, but now I think we are both mature enough to know that life was meaningless for both of us.”
“You’re talking like a teenage girl, Daniel,” I said. “All this talk of love. If I need a woman, then I can easily buy one. If not, there are many willing to be my girlfriend. I have no shortage of women. Regardless, I prefer being single.”
“Well, if you think I’m like a teenage girl,” Daniel said, laughing, “then I really need to change.”
“You either talk like a teenage girl or an old man,” I teased him.
“Then let’s be neither,” Daniel said. “Let’s go do what men our age do. Let’s go and have some fun.”
“Fun?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Let’s go to a club,” he said, downing the last of his drink. “A new one has recently opened up, and I’ve been meaning to visit. I’m friends with the owner. He’ll get us into the VIP room. We can have some drinks, enjoy some women, and have a night filled with enjoyment and fun.”
“You know I don’t do things like that,” I said.
It was true. Going to clubs, and dancing with half-naked, sweaty women grinding around me wasn’t my definition of fun. I rarely ever went.
