Jane Bites Back_ A Novel - Michael Thomas Ford [37]
“I was wondering if you might be free for lunch,” said Walter. “I haven’t seen you in a few days.”
Jane hesitated. She really didn’t want to see either Walter or Byron at the moment. But she knew she couldn’t put it off much longer. “I’d like that,” she said. “Why don’t you come by around one? We can get something at the Soup Kitchen.”
“Wonderful,” Walter said. “It’s a date.”
No sooner had she hung up than the phone rang again. “One o’clock,” she said, assuming it was Walter, who almost always had to call back because he couldn’t remember what they’d decided. “The Soup Kitchen.”
“How did you know I was calling to ask you to lunch?”
Byron’s voice practically purred through the line. Hearing it, Jane felt her pulse quicken. “I-I-I thought you were someone else,” she stammered.
“I could pretend to be,” Byron suggested. “I’ve been many different men since you last knew me.”
“I’m sure you have,” said Jane. “And I can’t have lunch with any of you. I have an appointment.”
Byron sighed as if he was deeply disappointed. “I see I’ve lost your heart to another man,” he said.
“You never had it to lose,” Jane snapped.
“We’ll see,” said Byron. “Perhaps dinner, then?”
“No,” Jane told him.
“I’m just going to keep asking until you agree,” said Byron. “Besides, I’m sure we can find something much nicer to eat than what you had the other night.”
Jane bristled. “You followed me,” she said.
“You weren’t the only one out hunting,” said Byron. “But really, being a blonde doesn’t suit you. And that fellow you chose. What was his name? Paul? I bet he tasted of acne cream and too much sugar. I’m surprised you could stomach him.”
“I feed to survive,” Jane hissed, afraid that if she spoke any louder Lucy would hear her. “Not for pleasure.”
“That’s a difference between us,” said Byron. “I find that I quite like American food.”
“I’m hanging up now,” Jane told him. “Please don’t call me here again.”
“Wait,” Byron said, stopping her. “You haven’t said when we can meet again.”
Jane shut her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth. He’d already said that he wouldn’t cease bothering her until she agreed to see him, and she knew he was serious about it. She was going to have to do it. But she couldn’t give in so easily.
“I’ll have to let you know,” she said.
She could hear Byron laughing softly. “Very well,” he said. “But remember, I’m not a patient man.”
“Goodbye,” Jane said curtly, and hung up.
She couldn’t believe what a roller coaster the morning had been. First there’d been the high of Kelly’s fantastic news, and now she felt deflated by the tiny matter of her life being turned upside down by Byron’s arrival. Standing in the middle was Walter. Good, sweet Walter, who only wanted her to love him.
Men, she thought. The downfall of women since Adam blamed Eve for that stupid apple. She wondered briefly if it was too late to become a lesbian. “I’m sure they have just as difficult a time of it,” she said to the empty room. “Love is dangerous for everyone.”
For the rest of the morning she stayed in the office, catching up on the endless paperwork, poring over publishers’ catalogs to see what books she might want to order, and generally trying to avoid interacting with anyone. She was feeling pulled in too many directions to think properly, and her thoughts raced from one thing to another as she attempted to sort out her thoughts about her book, Walter, Byron, and pretty much her entire life. She had half a mind to just disappear, run off to another town and start all over again. But that would be only a temporary solution, she reminded herself. Also, it would be rude.
Precisely at one Walter knocked on the office door. “Ready?” he asked.
“I just have to get my coat,” said Jane, doing just that.
Five minutes later they were seated at a table in the Soup Kitchen, looking at the menu.
“I’m thinking clam chowder,” Walter said. “How about you?”
Jane picked something at random, not really