The Trouble With Eden - Lawrence Block [165]
Someplace with a men’s room. If he could get to it first, he could make room for the milk shake.
Karen came down the stairs and pulled up short when she saw her father. He was sitting in the living room with the telephone receiver in one hand, and he looked as though he had been sitting in that position for some time.
She said, “Daddy?”
He looked up, his eyes blank for a moment. “Oh,” he said. “Hello there.”
“Hello. Is something the matter?”
“Just lost in thought. Brown-study time.” He became aware that he was holding the telephone receiver, looked at it, hung it up. “Maybe something is the matter. I don’t know. I was talking to Linda and I didn’t like the way she sounded.”
She listened as he recounted the conversation.
“I’m a little worried about her,” he added. “She didn’t sound right at all. She seemed very troubled. I wonder if I shouldn’t drive over there and make sure she’s all right.”
“From what she said—”
“She said not to, I know, but it might be right for me to ignore that. Sometimes people say things in the hope that they’ll be ignored.”
“I don’t know if I should say anything or not.”
“What do you mean, kitten?”
“I don’t know. If it’s my place to say anything.”
“Please do.”
She hesitated, working things out in her mind first. She said, “Well, I dropped in on Linda awhile ago. I stop in and see her every once in awhile when I’m in the neighborhood. And we got to talking.”
“And?”
“She told me not to say anything. What it is, she likes you very much. But she doesn’t want to get serious. She didn’t say it that way but that was what she was saying, if that makes any sense.”
“It makes a lot of sense.”
“She doesn’t want to be rushed. She isn’t ready for it.”
“She said that when I first started seeing her.”
“And she … well, she’s also seeing somebody else. She didn’t come right out and say it but that’s what’s happening.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t think she’s serious about him or anything. I think she’s seeing him mostly because she doesn’t want to be seeing just one man. I’m just guessing, but … I guess I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Well, I’m glad you did. I’m very buoyant right now because of the book and it’s made it hard for me to judge things properly in other areas.” He picked his pipe off the table. “I’ll be finishing it tomorrow.”
“Hey, that’s terrific!”
He brightened. “It is, isn’t it? I could have been done a long time ago, you know. I usually just get a first draft done and go back to it later. But this time I kept thinking of things I wanted to change and reworking earlier stuff.”
“I can’t wait to read it.”
“You won’t have long to wait. Hey, you know something, kitten? I still feel like a premature celebration. How about if you put on something beautiful and I’ll buy you a fancy dinner?”
“I had a sandwich while you were working.”
“Understandable. So let me have a sandwich myself and we’ll go out and do the town. What there is of it.”
She chewed her lip. “Well, I sort of have a date.”
“Just sort of?”
“There’s this girl, I was going to go over to her house for a few hours. Oh, there’s no reason not to say it. It’s Melanie Jaeger.”
“I didn’t know you were friendly with her.”
“I run into her in town now and then, and lately we’ve gotten to talking. She’s sort of interesting. Now that the summer people are gone there aren’t that many fascinating heads in town.” She hesitated. “I could call her up and tell her to make it some other time, I suppose.”
“No, don’t do that.”
“The thing is, I’d rather celebrate after you finish the book. And after I read it.”
“You may not feel like celebrating then.” He got to his feet. “But I’ll hold you to it,” he said. “You can read the book tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night we’ll go out for dinner. Deal?”
“Will it be done by then?”
“I’m going to finish it tonight,” he said. “I’m not going to be able to unwind unless I drink too much, and I don’t feel like it. The only way I’ll get the book out of my head is by finishing it. Is there arty coffee?”
“I’ll make some. I’ll