21
Gia cradled the phone and thought about what
Jack had said about all this being over tonight.
She fervently hoped so. If only Jack weren’t
so evasive about everything. What was he hiding? Was there
something he was afraid to tell her? God, she hated this! She
wanted to be home in her own little apartment in her own bed with
Vicky down the hall in hers.
Gia started back for the bedroom and then
stopped. She was wide awake. No use trying to go back to sleep just
yet. She pulled the bedroom door closed, then searched through the
kitchen for something to drink. The liberal amounts of MSG
routinely used in Chinese cooking never failed to make her thirsty.
When she came across the box of tea bags she grabbed them. With the
kettle on to boil, she spun the television dial looking for
something to watch. Nothing but old movies…
The water started to boil. Gia made a cup of
tea and sugared it, filled a tall glass with ice, and poured the
tea over the ice. There: iced tea. Needed some lemon, but it would
do.
As she approached the couch with her drink
she caught an odor—something rotten. Just a whiff and it was gone.
There was an odd familiarity about it. If she could catch it again
she was sure she could identify it. She waited but it didn’t
return.
Gia turned her attention to the television.
Citizen Kane was on. She hadn’t seen that
one in ages. It made her think of Jack… how he’d go on and on about
Wells’ use of light and shadow throughout the film. He could be a
real pain when you just wanted to sit and watch the movie.
She sat down and sipped her tea.