Sons and Lovers - Chapter 8
Clara Dawes was different from Miriam in every way. She was older, married, and worked in a lace factory. She was bold and confident, a woman who knew what she wanted and was not afraid to ask for it.
Paul met Clara through work. She was training new workers, and Paul found himself drawn to her immediately. She was unlike anyone he had ever known—direct, passionate, and completely unafraid.
"You are an interesting boy," she said to him one day, looking him up and down. "There is more to you than meets the eye."
Paul felt his face grow hot. He didn't know how to respond to such attention from a woman like Clara.
As they worked together, they talked more and more. Clara told him about her unhappy marriage, about her husband who drank and treated her badly.
"I should have left him years ago," she said, her voice hard. "But I stayed, and now I am stuck."
Paul listened, fascinated by her openness. He had never met a woman who spoke so freely about her life, her desires, her disappointments.
Miriam, when she learned about Clara, was upset. She could see that Paul was attracted to this older, married woman, and it made her jealous.
"She is not right for you," Miriam said. "She will hurt you."
But Paul was already too involved with Clara to listen. The excitement he felt with her was unlike anything he had ever experienced—intense, physical, overwhelming.
He found himself comparing Clara to Miriam. Where Miriam was shy and spiritual, Clara was bold and earthy. Where Miriam held back, Clara pulled forward.
Paul didn't know which one he truly wanted. But he knew that he could no longer be the boy his mother wanted him to be. He was changing, and the changes were happening fast.