Read Alberta Clipper for Free Online Page B

flushed.
    “Come on, you two.”  Gavan nodded towards the waiter who was holding the door open for them now, evidently bored of being decorous.  Jack put his arm around Emily, and they walked out followed by Gavan and Christine .  The waiter closed the door behind them, making quite a show of bolting the locks on the inside.  For a moment, the four of them stood on the pavement, Emily nervously looking from Christine to Jack and back again. 
    “So.  Great night guys.”  Jack tried to break the awkward silence. 
    “Yes.  Thanks again Gavan .”  Christine knew she had to take control of the situation.  “I’m gonna head home.  I guess you guys are going back to Jack’s?”  She looked at Emily. 
    “Oh yes.”  Emily gushed, and then seemed embarrassed at her own eagerness.  “I mean, I’m certainly not going home.  I can’t have a hangover there.  They’d give me no peace.”  She looked at Christine.  “Unless you want me to come home with you?”
    Christine knew that Emily didn’t mean that, but she played along with the little charade. 
    “No, no.  Not at all.  I’ll be grand.”
    “I can walk Christine home,” Gavan said, looking from Emily to Jack.   “ It’s sort of on my way anyway.”
    Christine felt tingles up her neck .  “Well, okay.  If you’re sure?”
    Jack wasn’t sober enough to play any games.  His sole objective was to get Emily back to his place without delay. 
    “Great,” he said.  “ Well, thanks again Gav .  My round next time.  Bye Chris.”  He kissed her cheek. 
    Emily hugg ed her hard .  “Text me later,” she whispered into Christine’s ear, before being steered off down the road towards the city centre by Jack . 
    “This way, right?”  Gavan pointed in the opposite direction and Christine nodded, and t hey started walking towards her southside apartment. 
    The night was almost balmy.  Christine carried her jacket and bag in folded arms.  Gavan walked with h is hands stuffed into his jeans pockets.  The street was busy with people hailing cabs , heading home .  Others were standing outside bars, smoking.  Christine and Gavan walked in silence.  The realisation that both of them were trying to avoid the holding hands issue made Christine want to laugh.  She would be twenty-nine in ten days, and here she was, walking down the street with a guy, hoping he’d curl his fingers around hers.  It felt a little like the past fifteen years had been a dream, and she was walking home from school next to Alex Mosse, their bags on their backs, arms swinging by their sides, she willing his right hand to touch her left hand by accident on purpose. 
    “What are you grinning at?”  Gavan was looking at her with a smile on his own face.
    “Nothing.  Sorry.  Ever been in there?”  She pointed towards a pulsating bar just ahead.
    “No.  Do you want to get a drink?”  He stopped outside.  A smart looking doorman acknowledged them .
    “No.  No thanks.”  She smiled at the doorman who nodded graciously.  “Unless you do?”
    “Not really.”  He looked down at her.  He was tall.  “Maybe a coffee would be nice though?”
    Christine looked at him.  She was too old for messing about.  She liked Gavan .  She wanted him to come back to her place.  That was all.  There was no need to think further than that.  She did her best to ignore the nagging thoughts rapping on her head, like little old ladies trying to get in.
    You don’t know him well enough.
    You’ve only met him once.
    You’re going to look like a tramp.
    What would your mother think?
    She muffled them all out with the help of the three glasses of chianti. 
    “I have coffee at my place.”
    He smiled.  “Great.  Let’s do that then.”  His voice was distinctly husky.  He took his hands from his pockets and put an arm around her shoulder s .  For a second, Christine thought he was going to kiss her there on the street.  But he just turned and started