A Wife of Noble Character by Yvonne Georgina Puig

Author:Yvonne Georgina Puig
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627795562
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

V

Preston stood at the curb, wondering what the hell had just happened. He went searching for Blad.

Back inside, he passed the ballroom and caught sight of Vivienne talking to Bracken and Sissy. She was all put together again, as if nothing had happened, which bothered him. He hastened to the courtyard and found Blad chatting with a pair of older men. To Preston, they looked like the contented fathers of girls who’d rejected him over the years. Heavy-lidded, half-smiling, waiting for you to cut to the chase. Preston could hear Blad explaining the merits of high-density building in a city like Houston, where sprawl was out of control, and dangerous, and no longer economically sound, and they appeared on the verge of interrupting. Preston called his name.

They got two beers from the bar and walked to Preston’s car, parked along Memorial Drive to avoid the twenty-dollar valet charge. The bored, oversize men in the security box watched as they passed. Blad waved. The wooded recesses of the Bayouside Club seemed miles away in the empty concrete street flooded with buzzing streetlights.

“So this must be the VIP parking,” Blad said.

Preston twisted open his beer and flicked the cap into the street.

“Don’t mess with Texas,” Blad said.

“I just asked Vivienne to go to Paris with me,” Preston said.

“Really?”

“She said no.”

Blad sat on the trunk of Preston’s old Civic. “I didn’t know you felt that way about her.”

Preston felt relieved of an emotional burden he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying, but dread crept in to fill the space. Blad’s phrasing made him fumble his good feeling. “Should I not have asked?”

“I have no idea,” Blad said. “Are you really going?”

“I found out yesterday.” He drank his beer with the slow force of lament. “Maybe I shouldn’t even go—I don’t know. I didn’t realize that I wanted her to go until I asked. Obviously I hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking about it.”

He stared at the cursive metalwork sign—THE BAYOUSIDE CLUB—staring back at him from across the street. “I think I freaked her out. I think I blew it.”

Suddenly Blad pulled the beer from his coat pocket and catapulted it into a swan dive. It spun and dropped onto the club drive, shattering.

They were both quiet for a moment. Then Preston said, “Why did you do that?”

Blad shrugged. “Oops.”

Preston knew Blad wished he could leave Houston too. Maybe it was insensitive of him to go on about moving to Paris. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to be flippant about leaving.”

“No, I’m happy for you. It’s amazing.” Blad nodded hastily, exhaled a little burp, then pressed one hand to his chest.

“Are you okay?” Preston asked.

“Of course. I’m fine.”

Preston turned his back on the street and went over to Blad. He leaned his elbows on the trunk. “Did you know she’s working for Bracken Blank? That’s why she said she can’t go.”

“She told me,” Blad said.

“Is that a good idea?” The memory of Vivienne encompassed by Bracken and the big bolo-tie guy made him push off the trunk and brood.

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