Best Friends by Thomas Berger

Author:Thomas Berger [Berger, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780743254502
Google: 9AS-pFfX28QC
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2003-04-23T10:00:00+00:00

It was only when he was following Kristin to the Grandy house, where she would leave her car and join him in the Silver Wraith, that Roy remembered Michelle Llewellyn.

Directory Assistance provided him with the numbers of three local Llewellyns, none of them named Michelle, but he heard her voice when he dialed the second of them. He had expected to be vigorously abused when he identified himself, but she expressed more grief than wrath.

“I bought a nice dress. It was expensive.” She was sobbing. “I told my friends.” She took a quavering breath. “Is this the way you get off? Making fun of people?”

“Michelle,” said Roy, “my best friend had a heart attack. I’ve been with him at the hospital until just now. Please forgive me for not getting in touch sooner.”

“Oh, shit. I’m really sorry. I didn’t know.”

“You couldn’t have. Can I get a raincheck on dinner? The dress won’t go to waste. I can’t wait to see it.”

“Great. I hope your friend gets better soon.”

“Thanks a lot. I’ll be calling you soon as I can.”

That had been easier than he thought and employed only existing truths. She sounded like a very nice girl, though he regretted having established a personal connection with her in the first place. If now he never again got in touch, she might reach the wrong conclusion.

He was relieved when the two cars arrived at Kristin’s house and she simply parked hers and joined him without going inside for any reason. Had she done so, he might have been expected to come along and wait. It would have made him uncomfortable to be alone under the same roof as she now that darkness was settling in, whereas when they had eaten lunch there, on a sunny day, he had been almost at ease.

“It seems to me we have two choices,” said he. “Either eat someplace where we, or particularly you, might be recognized, or go to one where that would be unlikely.”

“Huh?”

The car was still sitting in the driveway; they were lighted by the dashboard illumination.

“I’m thinking of how it might look if the new bank manager is seen dining out with someone else while her old man’s in the hospital.”

“Oh, yes. I see. You’re right.”

“You didn’t think of that?”

She smiled. “I probably would have. I should have.”

She seemed to suffer little from self-doubt. He admired that, being of the opposite sort, and therefore he was not sure now whether he should express his admiration and have it misinterpreted. He decided instead to register his own vote on the choice of restaurant. “I think a conspicuous place would be better. If somebody did see us at a hideaway, it would look suspicious.”

“I’m sure you’re right.”

It appeared to Roy that she really was uninterested in the matter. “Okay then. Let’s go to A Quarter to Nine, where they know us well.”

He was an habitué of this place, which was named for its number on Pine Street, 845, and had entertained the Grandys there repeatedly,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.