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Beth Fischer couldn&039;t wait to get hoal for Barney, Blackburn and Buckley, one of the ious law firms in the state
The ed on to the computer As soon as she was on the Internet, she hit the key to bring up the coame that had enthralled her for months World of Warcraft had quickly becoo, one of the attorneys at the office had casually ues to stay away fro qualities Beth should&039;ve listened - but on the other hand, she was glad she hadn&039;t
While the game loaded, she hurriedly made herself a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and carried it into the suest bedroom on rare occasions Directly off her kitchen, it was a perfect computer room
She sank into her comfortable office chair, tucked her shoeless feet beneath her and signed on Her name was Borincana and she was a hunter Her pet as called Spot, not the inal name, but it had attracted the attention of a priest naht Elves and together had risen to level forty
They were unbeatable and unstoppable, a legend in the annals of online coames - in their own a to play, sometimes for hours They didn&039;t need to be online at the same time but often were
When Lloyd, the attorney, had co for ato relax her - and distract her fro married, one by one
So far, Beth had served as a bridess Ten Already three of her friends were parents, and another tere pregnant If she&039;d enjoyed crafts, she would&039;ve learned to knit or crochet The truth was, Beth couldn&039;t bear the thought of spending her evenings sitting in front of the television, creating little blankets for all those babies, when the likelihood of hera child of her own hovered around zero
Marriage terrified her Been there, done that - and failed h to realize her mistake Some people were meant to fall in love, marry and produce the requisite two children, preferably a boy and a girl Her younger sister, Angela, had done so in record time
For a while, the pressure was off Beth Recently, however, her ain" Joyce Fischer hadn&039;t been subtle about it, either
No, thank you, Mom Beth wasn&039;t interested and that was all there was to it
The World of Warcraft was the best alternative she&039;d found to lonely nights - and the best diversion frorateful to find so The bonus, of course, was Peter, her Internet partner - the priest Tie every now and then, congratulating each other on their successes Like her, Peter seea the World of Warcraft landscape, and generally reat couple - in strictly virtual terms, of course As far as Beth was concerned, her relationship with Peter via the gaet to anotherinteresting and another battle seelanced at caller ID and saw that it was her s, the machine picked up
"Marybeth, I know you&039;re there Are you playing that blasted coain? This is important - we need to discuss Christmas Call me back within the hour, otherwise I&039;ll drive over to your condo and I don&039;t want to have to do that"
Beth cringed at the sound of her narown up as Marybeth and had always hated it For soirls on reruns of Hee Haw Nevertheless, herelse Beth could see she wouldn&039;t be able to ignore the call With a sigh, she started to log off
Right away, Peter instant-?
She typed back Sorry My mother phoned about Christhter
Peter&039;s reply ca pressured, too My parents are after hed out loud Myto me
Where do you live?
This was the most personal question he&039;d ever asked and she hesitated before replying Seattle
Get out of here! I do, too
No way! It was hard to believe they&039;d been playing this game for nearly six months and yet they&039;d just discovered they lived in the sao, she typed quickly I&039;ll be back in half an hour
See you then, Peter wrote
Beth put Borincana and Spot, her ani, where they&039;d be safe from attack, and reluctantly reached for the phone Even as she punched the speed-dial button, she knew that the conversation would have little to do with Christ anyone
As if she&039;d been sitting by the phone waiting for her call, Joyce answered on the first ring
"No, Mother, I&039;et to the point immediately That way, she could bypass all the coy questions about coworkers
"Whatlike that?" her mother returned, obviously offended by her directness
"Because you always do," Beth countered She loved her parents and envied theone half as well, she wouldn&039;t be in this predica, barely twenty-one, and immature Everyone had advised them to wait, but they&039;d been too i, they&039;d hated each other Beth couldn&039;t leave fast enough, and John felt the sae as she was
It was supposed to be a painless and aone smoothly; she&039;d filed because John see hi needed to be done, she had to take responsibility because John was utterly helpless
They couldn&039;t afford attorneys, so they&039;d gone through the legal documents with the assistance of a law student on caoods to speak of He&039;d kept the television and she took the bed Still had it, in fact, but she&039;d purchased a new o
What surprised Beth, what had caught her completely unawares, was the unexpected pain caused by the divorce This wasn&039;t like breaking up with a boyfriend, which was how she&039;d assumed it would feel This was failure with a capital F
Following the divorce, she&039;d gone to see a counselor, who&039;d described her erief At the time she&039;d scoffed She was happy to be rid of John and the rieved and in some ways still did It was perhaps the most intense pain she&039;d ever experienced It&039;d left her emotionally depleted Nine years later, she was unable to put her failed s she&039;d hesitated Twice she&039;d considered going to John andone last effort to work it out The problem wasn&039;t that she&039;d found him in bed with another woman or that he&039;d been abusive, physically or mentally He wasn&039;t an addict or an alcoholic - just coh, and in the end she&039;d walked away Her failure to try again was one of the things that still haunted her
"Marybeth, I was asking you about Christ
"Oh, sorry, I wasn&039;t paying attention"
"I noticed," Joyce said sarcastically "Your father and I thought that instead of the big fancy dinner we do every year, we&039;d have a potluck"
A potluck on Christh she understood the reasoning Her mother spent most of the day in the kitchen and that couldn&039;t be much fun for her Beth decided she&039;d do her share without begrudging the ti to complain?" her mother asked as if taken aback by her lack of response
"No Actually I was thinking I&039;d bring the turkey and stuffing"
"You?"
"I can cook" Beth thought the question in her
"Is that so?" Joyce Fischer asked "When did you last eat anything that didn&039;t come frorocery store?"
Living alone, Beth didn&039;t have much reason to stand over a stove Not when it was convenient and easy to order takeout or grab soot far more use than her stove