The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides [195]
She pulled her head back in and called Leonard’s name. When he didn’t answer, she called again, already moving down the hall.
Leonard was in the bedroom with Kelly. The window was closed.
She hid her relief by examining the bedroom closet. “This closet’s mine,” she said. “I’ve got more clothes than you do. But you can have the office.”
Leonard said nothing.
“Did you see the office?”
“I saw it,” he said.
“And?”
“It’s fine.”
“Not to pressure you or anything,” Kelly said, “but you guys need to decide in the next, say, half hour. The other agent in my office wants to start showing this place tonight.”
“Tonight?” Madeleine said, unprepared for this. “I thought you said tomorrow?”
“That’s what he said. But now he changed his mind. People are desperate for this place.”
Madeleine looked at Leonard, trying to read his thoughts. Then she crossed her arms decisively. Absent moving to a prairie state, she was going to have to accept the inherent risks of living with him in Manhattan. “O.K., I want it,” she said. “It’s perfect. Leonard, we want it, right?”
Leonard turned to Kelly. “Can we have a minute?” he said.
“Sure! No problem. I’ll be in the living room.”
When she was gone, Leonard went to the window. “How much is this place?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about that.”
“I could never afford an apartment like this. I’m worried how it’s going to make me feel.”
This was a reasonable conversation to have once or twice. But they’d had it about a hundred times. They’d had a version of it that morning. The sad truth was that any place that Leonard could afford would be a place that Madeleine would refuse to live in.
“Sweetie,” she said. “Don’t worry about the rent. Pay as much as you can. I just want us to be happy.”
“I’m saying I’m not sure I could be happy here.”
“If I were the man, we wouldn’t even be talking about this. It would be normal for the husband to pay more rent.”
“The fact that I feel like the wife here is sort of the problem.”
“Why did you come to see it, then?” Madeleine said, growing frustrated. “What did you expect we were going to do? We can’t live with my parents forever. How does that make you feel? Living with my parents?”
Leonard’s shoulders slumped. “I know,” he said, sounding truly sorrowful. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just hard for me. Do you see how it could be hard for me?”
It seemed best to nod yes.
Leonard stared out the window for what seemed like a half minute. Finally, taking a breath, he said, “O.K. Let’s take it.”
Madeleine wasted no time. She told Kelly they were taking the apartment and offered to write a check for the deposit. Kelly had a better idea, however. She suggested that they go ahead and sign the lease today, which would save them from making another trip to the city. “You can go have coffee while I draw up the lease. It’ll take me about fifteen minutes.”
This plan made sense, and so the three of them took the elevator back down to the lobby and reentered the sweltering streets.
As they made their way to Broadway, Kelly pointed out the local services, the dry cleaners, the locksmith, and the corner diner, which was air-conditioned.
“You guys wait in there,” Kelly said, pointing at the diner. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Half hour tops.”
Madeleine and Leonard took a booth by the front window. The diner had Hellenic murals and a twelve-page menu. “This’ll be our diner,” Madeleine said, looking around approvingly. “We can come here every morning.”
The waiter walked over to take their order.
“You know what you like, my friends?”
“Two coffees, please,” Madeleine said, smiling. “And my husband would like some apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese on top.”
“You want it, you got it,” the waiter said, moving off.
Madeleine expected Leonard to be amused.