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By Root 294 0

be watching the concert on closed-circuit televisions in the second-floor press room along with the other parents. On Sunday, they'd take in an afternoon performance of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra doing Vivaldi Sharon's favorite-at Carnegie Hall, after which, at Ann Farris's recommendation, they'd head up to Serendipity III for frozen hot chocolates. Sharon wasn't happy about that, but Hood pointed out that this was a vacation, and the kids were looking forward to the dessert stop. Hood was sure she was also unhappy about the fact that Ann had suggested it. On Monday, they'd drive out to Old Saybrook to visit Sharon's parents-this time as a family. That had been Hood's idea. He liked Sharon's folks, and they liked him. He wanted to regain that stability for the family. Because it was a Friday, traffic thickened going into and out of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Newark. They finally reached New York at five-thirty and checked into the hotel on Seventh Avenue and Fifty-first Street. The tall, busy hotel was a Sheraton now; Hood remembered when it was the Americana years before. They arrived just in time to join the other families for dinner up the street at the Carnegie Deli. The meal was rich with pastrami, roast beef, and hot dogs. The only couple the Hoods knew was the Mathises, whose daughter Barbara was one of Harleigh's closest friends. Barbara's parents both worked for the Washington police 4partment. There were also a few mothers-two of them attractive, single parents-who recognized Paul from his tenure as mayor of Los Angeles. They treated him with celebrity-worthy smiles and asked what it was like to "run" Hollywood. He said he wouldn't know. They'd have to ask the Screen Actors Guild and the other motion picture unions.

All of it, the food and the attention, made Sharon uneasy. Or at least it brought out whatever discomfort she had been feeling since they set out. Hood decided to try to talk to her about it when the kids went to bed.

There was one thing Sharon had been right about, though. Paul had been away from home too much. As he watched Harleigh interact with the other teenagers and their parents, he realized he was observing a young woman and not a girl. He didn't know when the change had happened, but it had. And he was proud of Harleigh in a different way than he was of Alexander. She had her mother's charm along with the acquired poise of a musician.

Alexander was focused on his plate of well-done potato pancakes. He would press the back of his fork on them, wait for the grease to rise from the top, and then watch to see how long it took for the grease to soak back. His mother told him to stop playing with his food. Hood had reserved a suite on an upper floor. After Alexander had a look around the city with his binoculars-marveling at what he could see on the street and in other windows-the kids went to sleep on cots in the living room, giving him and Sharon some privacy, Privacy and a hotel room. There was a time when that would automatically have meant lovemaking, not talk or uncomfortable silence. Hood found it disturbing how much time and passion over the last few years went to other things, like guilt or holding their individual ground instead of holding each other. How had things gotten to that point? And how did a couple get them back to where they should be? Hood had an idea, though it would be tough convincing his wife.

Sharon slid into bed. She curled on her side, facing him. "I'm a mess," she said.

"I know." He touched her cheek and smiled lightly. "But we'll get through this."

"Not when everything is pissing me off," she said. "Apart from the food, what else bothered you?" Hood asked. "I was angry at the parents we were with, at the table manners of their kids, at the way the cars raced through red lights or stopped in the crosswalks. Everything got to me. Everything."

"We've all had days like that," he said.

"Paul, I can't remember when I wasn't like that," Sharon said. "It's just been building and building, and I don't want to spoil things for Harleigh or Alexander this week."