Read Savage Lane for Free Online Page A

experiences had been positive. She’d had several relationships that had lasted a few months and several that had petered out. After being in a long marriage, it was fun to have new adventures. Karen was always honest and upfront with guys. She wasn’t looking for anything serious from the get-go, but if she stumbled upon the right guy and the right situation she’d happily settle down.
    Between the time she’d met Steven, and before she’d deactivated her account, about thirty guys had written to her. The most frustrating thing about online dating was how hard it had been to meet a nice guy around her age; it seemed as if all the seventy-year-old guys were looking for Lolita, and all the twenty-year-old guys wanted Mrs. Robinson. In this batch of notes, two—“Richard” and “Dave”—seemed like possibilities. Richard was a forty-four-year-old dentist from Scarsdale, which was less than a half hour away. Dave, a forty-year-old, never-been-married-before ad exec from Manhattan, had sent her a nice note about a couple of Broadway musicals he’d seen recently because Karen had mentioned in her profile that she likes Broadway musicals.
    After reading both profiles again, she decided to write to Richard first because he had kids and because his location was more convenient. She was tapping out a note to him when her phone chimed, and then she glanced at the text from Mark: Great seeing you tonight! Hope you got home safe, sweetie. She was going to text back, but got distracted by the main profile photo of Richard the dentist. He was actually really attractive—thick dark hair with streaks of gray, bright blue eyes—and in another photo he was in a lotus position. Hmm, a dentist who was into yoga—Karen liked that. She wrote back to him, thanking him for getting in touch and—because he’d asked her what type of teaching she did—added that she was a speech pathologist, and she loved what she did. Lastly, for a flirty touch she included a P.S.— Nice lotus pic. You seem very flexible! with a smiley face emoticon.
    After she texted Mark back a quick thanks, she went upstairs to get ready for bed.
    Although she’d gotten used to not having a man around full-time, sleeping alone still felt weird. As usual, when she didn’t have a guy over, she piled the extra pillows on Joe’s old side to make the bed seem fuller. It didn’t really help, but she got under the covers on her side and managed to fall asleep quickly anyway.
     
    I T WAS a perfect morning for a run—sunny and cool and the dense, misty air smelled like spring. As Karen was stretching in front of her house, she saw Mark jogging down the road toward her in sweat-shorts and a T-shirt. This had happened a few times lately—when she was getting ready for a run, Mark would suddenly show up. She liked his company, he was a good guy, but she preferred to run alone, listening to her iPod.
    “Hey,” Mark said, smiling.
    “Hey,” Karen said, trying to think of a way out of this without being too rude.
    “Good timing, huh?” Mark said, stopping in front of her and jogging in place.
    “Yeah,” Karen said. “Great.”
    “I was hoping I’d run into you,” he said. “Beautiful day today, huh?”
    “Yep,” she said, leaning against a tree, stretching out her left calf.
    “You look nice and rested,” he said. “Want to hear something funny? I dreamt about you last night.”
    “Really?” she asked, still trying to think up an excuse. Maybe she could tell him she wanted to go for a longer-than-usual run today, but she didn’t think that would deter him.
    “I don’t really remember it all,” he said. “I mean some of the details were fuzzy. But we were in some exotic place—maybe Hawaii. We were on the beach, hanging out. Then I think we were swimming together, scuba diving. The water was really clear. We could see all the fish.”
    “Sounds nice,” she said. “I really need to get away. It’s been ages since I’ve been