The Bridge
Clara dropped her bag on the coffee table in the café and flopped down in her favorite wing back chair nearest to the rear wall. She didn’t go to work today. She didn’t even call in to tell her boss she wouldn’t be there. This was not something she would normally do, but today, she didn’t care. Would her boss be mad? Probably not . He barely noticed her presence at all until a deadline approached. She was exhausted by her workload and was not the least bit sorry for her absence. Gazing outside the window of the shop, she could see the light of the day was fading. It was pretty late to be in a coffee shop, and there were few people to be seen. She liked it this way. Her daily life was so chaotic that the peace was welcome. The only sound was the intermittent whirring of the espresso machine and the quiet murmur of a couple spotty conversations. She took a big breath in and followed it up with a long sigh . Her coffee was still too hot to drink, so she would take a minu