Common Killer by Stacie Penney

Anneliese’s hand snaked across the table to clasp mine. Her fingers were cool, her palm clammy. I wondered what she had to be upset about. It was my husband’s death that brought us together.

“How have you been, Melissa? Are you coping?”

Concern filled my friend’s face. Her eyebrows squeezed together while tears filled the eyelashes beneath them.

I choked back my snort of disgust and Anneliese passed me a tissue from her purse. Anneliese and I had befriended each other during a partner’s dinner. Saved one another from the boredom, we had joked. I remembered, however, that the dinner was exciting to the new “Mrs. Templeton” instead of a night to be endured as it was for the rest of the wives. It was poetic that things would end at the restaurant where our friendship had begun.

To finish the story, click Common Killer. Links to my other writings can be found in the side bar, under Short Stories.