Martin Marten (9781466843691) by Doyle Brian

Author:Doyle, Brian [Doyle, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466843691
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

40

IT HAD BEEN A LONG WINTER for Emma Jackson Beaton also. In December she had finally accepted the ninth invitation of the third chef for dinner, as long as no one uttered the loaded and freighted word date, inasmuch as she was a married woman, and they had dinner and really enjoyed each other’s company, although Emma insisted on driving herself to the restaurant so that she could drive home alone and not get into the whole chess match of who drives whom and who paid for what and who expects or hopes for what because of who is driving or paying. But that was that, undatewise, with the third chef, although he several times afterwards suggested with honest genuine interest and no agenda that they have coffee or go for a walk or catch a movie or snowboard together or drive east up onto the high sage desert where there was occasionally sunlight just to see what sunlight might feel like in winter. Probably we will get burnt a shade of red not invented yet, he said with a smile. But she declined politely each time, and after a while he got the message and went back to watching her from the window sometimes, dreaming.

Emma Jackson Beaton had also accepted the invitation of the morning waitress to go snowboarding together, and the shimmering implications of this event were a lot of the reason why she had had such a long winter, as she explained to Dave’s mother one afternoon outside the doors of the laundry service. It was actually a sunny day, almost balmy, but so much snow had fallen at the lodge and been shepherded into towering walls to clear paths and trails for guests and visitors and employees that they sat between walls of snow fully twelve feet high, each woman wrapped in a thick coat, although the light was so bright off the vast fields of snow on the mountain that they both wore sunglasses.

Was it fun?

It was a ball, which is sort of the problem, said Emma.

Which means?

I’d like to do it again.

Snowboarding?

Having such easy relaxed fun with … her.

Isn’t that easy? You just go snowboarding or have tea or whatever. What’s the problem?

I have the feeling she wants us to be more than friends, said Emma.

* * *

Hardly ever does a story just stop, right in the middle of the crucial moment like this one, but we had better do so now, because this is a huge moment, and Dave’s mother knows it, and she also knows she has about eight seconds to craft a gentle remark, the exact right thing to say to get Emma Jackson Beaton talking. She can’t be blunt here, not yet, because Emma will just clam up and erect heat shields and draw her curtains shut. Nor can Dave’s mom leap to conclusions or say anything wise or give cogent advice; she has to say something that will draw Emma out, let her walk into what she clearly wants to talk about but is very afraid of talking about.

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