Written by Jane Bradley, this story is a second person pov, about a woman whose husband has just told her "we have no future, Alice" and covers a very brief period of time as she sits at an airport bar waiting for a connecting flight to go home alone.
God knows why, but this woman responds to a stranger sitting next to her at the bar and he takes her off to an area hidden from view and things go downhill quickly.
The character didn’t get my sympathy because while it’s obvious she’s hurting and the immediate need for validation is natural, to go wandering off between flights with some sleazebag at a bar? And he is a sleazebag:
You glance at the doorway. "Are you sure no one’s there?" "I’m always certain before I make a move," he says. (p. 135)
Note the "always"? Besides, even if he was Mr. Wonderful, there’s this:
"That’s it," he whispers. He grins and kisses, saliva slipping at the corner of your mouth. As he feeds on you, you swallow the wetness that seeps up from his mouth like a spring. (p. 134)
Yuck. ‘Nuff said. (Aside from the sappy sex, the ending was rather tritely tied in to that "no future" statement so it’s really not worth any more words on this one.)
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology