Read Online The Life I Now Live by Marilyn Grey - Free Book Online Page A

morning. Tiny flakes of snow gathered on her red hat as she forced me to run a few city blocks with her.
    Out of breath, we stopped at an outdoor ice skating place. Only a few kids messing around. Other than that, just us.
    “Ready?” she said.
    “For?”
    “We’re gonna race across the ice. Whoever makes it to the other side first gets to ask the other person a question and they have to answer honestly.”
    “Nah.”
    “Come on.” She hit my chest. “You’re doing it.”
    Couldn’t tell you why I decided to give in. Maybe I needed some adventure too. Maybe I liked her. Maybe, I don’t know. I didn’t want to think about it, or anything. So I raced her across the ice, slipping and laughing the entire way. We both fell several times before landing safely on the other side. At the exact same time.
    “I guess we both get a question.” She pulled a blanket from her bag and wrapped it around herself.
    “Are we staying outside?”
    “For a little.”
    “But it’s freezing. We’ll turn into ice sculptures.”
    She opened up the blanket. “I’ll share.”
    Tempting. “No, thanks. You keep it.”
    “Okay,” she said. “My question first. Describe your heart in three words and then describe why you chose each one.”
    I thought about it, but the frosty air distracted me. “Can we go back to the coffee shop?”
    “Will you answer there?”
    I nodded. We stood and made our way back to warmth. I couldn’t help but notice her graceful walk. She glazed the city streets with her presence as I walked beside her, hands in my pockets. Her red hat accenting the grey world, a perfect painting in a not-so-perfect world.
    We ordered hot chocolates and sat by the window again. A few other people congratulated her on her performance, then she finally asked me to answer her question.
    I had some time to think, so I answered quickly. “Lonely, broken, and ready.”
    She stopped smiling. “Sounds depressing. Why those three?”
    Well, why not pour my heart out? Not like I’d ever see the girl again.
    “You don’t have to answer,” she said.
    “Lonely because my wife died before she ever learned to love me. Broken because the only other woman I allowed myself to love is sleeping with another man. And ready because I’m more than ready to move on with life and be happy again, without the help of a woman.”
    She thought for a minute. “Well, it was a tie. So what do you want to ask me?”
    “Same thing, I guess.”
    “Broken, artificial, and hopeful.”
    “Okay. Why?”
    “Like you, unrequited love has a way of breaking hearts. Artificial because I’m pretty and people have always focused too much on my looks and not enough on who I am. Which means men want only my body and women hate me. Hopeful because I’m exhausted. I give myself constantly to others either on stage or in life, and well, it can only get better from here, right?”
    “I know a few guys back home who wouldn’t look at you that way. In fact, I also know a guy who proposed to a gorgeous girl. Right after that they had a campfire accident and I doubt she will ever be physically gorgeous again.”
    “Wow.” She picked apart a straw wrapper and played with the pieces on the table. “Did he stay with her?”
    “Barely leaves her side to eat.”
    “So why is the woman you fell in love with sleeping with another man?”
    “I definitely don’t want to talk about that right now.” I wrapped my hands around my cold hot chocolate mug, wishing it were still warm. “Why don’t you tell me all about your depressing love story instead?”
    “I’m an open book. Just a few pages glued together here and there.”
    “So what happened?”
    “Not sure. Greyson isn’t ready for marriage. I am. Different ideals and dreams, I guess. He is more into money and having a nice looking girl around his arm. I’m not like that.”
    “Then why do you love him?”
    “We’ve known each other since elementary school. Best friends through fifth grade. We never