Biting the Bride Read Online Free

turn away, as most people did when Sunni antagonized them, she just kept looking at her with an open, inviting expression. For some reason, perhaps because she had just been admitted to a psych hospital and didn’t have much to protect anymore, she decided to tell Isabel the truth.
    “They say I’m depressed, but that’s not really it. I’m not like other people,” she said. “I have these weird abilities. But they keep getting me into trouble.”
    Isabel nodded as if she was familiar with this problem, as if Sunni had said she was bulimic or had a drug problem.
    “What do your parents say? ”
    “I don’t have any parents.”
    To Sunni’s surprise, Isabel reached across the suitcases and grabbed Sunni’s hand. “That must be so hard for you,” she whispered.
    At that point the girl who had prided herself since the age of eight on having a heart of stone, had started to cry.
    Sunni looked up at the bar. “Let’s get a drink first. I need it.”
    A waiter approached, his eyes fixed on Sunni. He was a handsome young white guy with short black hair, gold hoop earrings, and a tattoo on his neck that looked like a hand strangling him. From a distance he had looked thirty. Close up he appeared closer to twenty.
    “That’s a righteous tat,” he said. “Did you have it done in the city?” Sunni saw a flash of gold in his tongue when he smiled.
    Sunni reached a finger to the rose tattoo just under her left collarbone. Many times she’d picked up the phone to call a dermatologist and have the tattoo removed, but had never been able to go through with it. So it remained, an ambivalent memento of turbulent times, and of people, and things now lost. She pulled her blouse to cover it. “I don’t really remember where I got it,” she lied.
    He chuckled. “Hell, I don’t remember getting half of mine.”
    “Can we just get a drink, buddy?” Sunni said abruptly.
    The waiter lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry. Didn’t realize you were shy about it.”
    “I’m shy, believe me.”
    Isabel snorted with laughter.
    “What can I get you, ma’am?” he asked Isabel.
    “A glass of Hess chardonnay. ”
    He turned silently to Sunni.
    “I’ll have a margarita, lots of salt,” Sunni said.
    “Certainly. I’ll just need to see some ID.” He smiled apologetically.
    “Oh, really? From whom?” Isabel said.
    “From you both,” he replied, but he was still looking at Sunni. “I’m sorry, ladies, it’s my job. My boss is right over there behind the bar. Otherwise it would be totally cool, you know. ”
    “Will it be totally cool when you figure out that I’m thirty-two?” Sunni said as she pulled out her wallet. She gave the waiter exactly five seconds to look at her ID before she snatched it back. Isabel took longer to get hers out, but she let him stare at it for as long as he wanted.
    “I’ll get your drinks.” He smiled and walked away.
    Isabel turned to Sunni, a quizzical eyebrow raised.
    “What? “ Sunni asked.
    She inclined her head toward the waiter, who was watching their table while the bartender worked the blender. “You still get these young guys hitting on you. How do you do that?”
    Sunni rolled her eyes. “He was hardly hitting on me.”
    “Until he saw your license he was. ”
    Sunni squinted at her friend. “You want teenage boys hitting on you, Izzy? ”
    “I’d like anybody hitting on me, Sunni.” Her eyelids flickered. “Seems like men think that if you have a disability you don’t have a vagina.”
    Sunni looked at the table, chastened. She tried to recall the last time Isabel had been out with a man. She remembered their prom night all too well, but surely Isabel had been out with someone since then? Maybe not. Sunni rarely thought about Isabel’s multiple sclerosis, but it was probably the first thing a potential date would consider.
    “It’s just because I look so young,” Sunni grumbled.
    “You should be happy. When you’re fifty you’ll look like