Snow Blind Read Online Free Page B

Everyone thinks this a cool place to spend some time.
    The sound of a plastic boy band covering a U2 favourite fills me with distaste. Bepe bounces on his knees in acknowledgement of the Muzak. Before today I would probably have stopped him moving to this monstrosity but I don’t feel able to deny him any little enjoyment as he starts a new chapter of his life.
    My iPhone flashes Juliet back into my life. I hastily pick it up from the table accidentally nudging my green tea-filled cup. After wobbling twice on its bottom rim, it settles back to terra firma but discharges a splash of scalding water onto my knee. This minor pain is nothing to what I have felt already today.
    â€œYes, Cosa Nostra, opposite the self service check-in desks,” I guide her to me.
    â€œJuliet has just got off her Heathrow flight and is on her way up.” I throw this information to the group but no one reacts. They are the crew of a pirate ship waiting to spit their disdain at the woman coming aboard; muttering under their breath that the captain has cursed the trip.
    â€œI’ll just pop to the loo,” I leave them to get used to the idea.
    I wait for the unisex cubicle to be free. Just after I hear the clicking noise of the lock, the warm stench of excrement flushed by a wizenedlooking old man in a hoody greets me. I am not deterred from running in and slumping fully clothed on the covered toilet seat. What if the toy had dropped in the road? What if he had taken one step less? Why can’t I look after him properly? When was the last time I cried like this? Am I crying for Bepe or me? The rush of emotion subsides quickly when I remember Juliet’s impending arrival.
    I exit with clammy hands to see Juliet and Sophia in an overgenerous embrace, which I know betrays a needlepoint tension. I tense my facial muscles to remove any remnants of my despair. My combined service to womanhood squeezes itself together in one square metre. I cross the coffee shop desperate to hold this fragile alliance together.
    There is an aura of serenity around Juliet; she is perpetual grace in motion, warmth emanating from her that all can see. The immaculate girl is now an immaculate lady, a skilled presentation of accessory and cloth to simultaneously suggest control and fashion. Her face is like a fine line drawing, pale blue eye shadow, and lipstick-perfect lips adorn her fine jaw line. I want to watch her from afar before I exit the years of silence. We are starting a new history when the last one was unfulfilled. Our last words, apart from a brief phone call two weeks ago, were in a flat in the Isle of Dogs, in London’s old docklands. Her platitudes of friendship were thrown as an inadequate lifebelt to a drowning man. I blush to remember my former access-all-areas pass to her body, which has been long withdrawn. I imagine being able to stroke her chalk-white thighs with my member, but a rising sickness prevents further mental invasion. She constantly replaces her hair behind her ear signalling that she is troubled, although this time I am able to guess what. Was this just a really bad idea? I want to explode towards her with an unbounded embrace.
    â€œHi babe, so great you could make it.” I move slowly towards her with arms down low. Sophia reaches high alert immediately, checking for any residual sign of feeling towards her. My awkward sideways asexual shoulder hug causes Juliet’s shoulder bag to finally spill the remaining contents of my teacup. I still feel love so strong.
    â€œGreat you’re here,” I sigh. Everyone’s face questions her presence.
    â€œThe sexiest looking stag I’ve ever seen. Come here.” Robert returns with his coffee and seizes the etiquette opportunity to impose himself on a woman.
    â€œWhat are you doing on a stag weekend anyway?” Robert has the balls to ask the question everyone is simultaneously thinking.
    â€œJust wanted to give Dan a good send off like