Page 41 of David's Chase

I worked as many hours as I could before asking Maggie for a couple of days off.

And I told Terry I’d spend the weekend at Sandy’s––helping her renovate her place.

And I told Chloe I’d work on my book.

I couldn’t use the same excuse as she would’ve asked me about Sandy. Unlike my mother, she would’ve liked to know more about Sandy––who she was, how she looked, and what her phone number was.

Hopefully, she won’t talk to Terry and compare notes.

The only difficult part about this lie is that she might want to know more about my writing, which could blow my cover.

But I’m hopeful that spending the weekend here will give me the energy to go back to my first draft and write for real this time.

We’ll see.

Other than that, I meant to take my car to the shop and finally use it, but that didn’t happen.

It’s hard to think about my old ride when I have my brand new ride, especially if I go to places where no one knows me.

There is freedom in not having to live my old life every day, and there’s no better representation of that than being dressed up and sailing the streets of Manhattan, exploring the world outside the car window through the lens of anonymity.

Living a double life is like switching coats.

Shrugging one off and putting another one on.

My old life stayed at home while my new life celebrates a cold rainy night in the city that never sleeps.

I never traveled to New York for an adventure like this, and I put all my effort into having a nice time.

Despite saying that I wouldn’t get into his money, I couldn’t help myself and bought some new clothes.

The plan is to put the money back when I get paid.

I didn’t splurge.

I wouldn’t do it anyway since splurging gives me panic attacks.

I trained myself not to need money, which is a virtue in itself.

So, I put some thought and effort into changing my appearance.

Another thing I did after chatting with Rain was to go back to her book and re–read the passages inspired by her affair with David.

It was interesting that she had felt she needed to up her game, not for him but for herself.

She wanted to bring the powerful woman who ended up taming James to life.In a way, she did it for him as well, although unknowingly.

That was her process, and it made sense.

When we are down and have no choice left, we have to reinvent ourselves and tap into our strengths.

That’s what she did.

And that’s what I’m doing now. I feel great in my skin.

What do I have to lose?

I like this man.

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