The Torch Singer, Book One: An Overnight Sensation by Robert Westbrook

Author:Robert Westbrook [Westbrook, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Noir, Mystery & Detective, Hard-Boiled
ISBN: 9781926499000
Google: 64VcBAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 192649900X
Publisher: Swan's Nest Canada
Published: 2014-08-29T11:00:00+00:00

Three

That night, Sasha tossed restlessly on her bunk as she considered Fred’s proposal and debated the question of the right man—which of her suitors she should encourage, who she might snub, and how to do this all quickly before the woman from Eaton Square destroyed her standing on the ship.

Sasha wasn’t in much of a romantic mood at the moment; she would have preferred to set the whole matter aside and remain independent. But with Julka to care for and eight pounds sixpence to their name, a man seemed the only practical answer to her worries. She knew she couldn’t put off a decision much longer.

But who would it be? Of the lieutenants and captains and majors who were giving her the rush, she knew very well that most of them only wanted a quick tumble, a bit of shipboard frolic before they returned home to their American girlfriends and wives. The only serious candidates, as Sasha saw it, were Fred Landson and Max McCormick, both of whom had pluses in their favor and minuses against.

Fred would be the boring though dependable choice. Fred would protect her, he wouldn’t pimp her to the highest bidder as Julka was wont to do. She believed Fred would certainly be rich one day, even if his little houses didn’t work out. He had the right sort of dogged determination to make his way in the world. He wouldn’t get side tracked by the lure of poetry. He would take care of her. And that would be nice, she thought. To have someone take care of her for a change, rather than the other way around.

Sasha preferred Max, of course. Who wouldn’t? Max was handsome and funny, and he was rich already without the need to turn orange trees into houses. She wasn’t certain that Max knew he was in love with her yet, but Sasha was confident she could fix this problem. She saw the way he looked at her; she believed he could be won easily enough. But Max had several points against him, potentially even more serious drawbacks than Fred. It had alarmed her this afternoon when he had tossed his movie script into the water. She understood very well why he had done it. Sasha herself was prone to grand gestures. But she didn’t need this sort of thing with a man. She couldn’t afford another romantic dreamer.

Then there was the fact that Max was married. Sasha had no moral compunctions about involving herself with a married man; her concerns were entirely practical. Everything Sasha knew about men and women she had learned in the dressing rooms backstage at the Krakow Opera where all the girls in the chorus, her mother included, had affairs with married men. The problem was that these affairs never added up to anything. Oh, one enjoyed champagne suppers, sometimes even in restaurants more expensive than the Café Chopin. Clothes were given to you, pieces of jewelry, occasionally you might even be set up in an apartment.

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