Garbo Towers

Chapter 13

"How are things at work?" Alec lifted his feet onto the edge of his desk and clapped his feet together rhythmically to the tune in his head.

"A lot of nasty gossip and very little remorse. I have become a bit of a celebrity." Darlene asked him to hold while she took a call. He stretched his shoulders and plupped his lips together in an imitation of music. "Hi, still there?"

"Yup."

"What's happening at your end?"

"Well if it's the building you're asking about, nothing much."

"Pig."

"The police came by once to see Molly but that's about it." He grinned, picturing her face with a comfortable pleasure.

"I would like to have dinner like we talked about, but I wonder if we should."

"Why not? We're not under house arrest or anything. We didn't do anything, Darlene."

"Pity."

"Sow."

"Call you later." She rang off and he hung up at his end, knuckling his eyes and smiling very wide.

*****

Sophia took the call at work and pushed the door to the storeroom closed so she could argue without annoying the customers. "It's your own fault, Seb. You run off in the middle of the party right after Wally went inside; you make yourself look guilty acting like that. The police don't know that you're a jerk all the time." She set her jaw and listened to him roar. "Oh really? Well I happen to have Detective White's phone number and if you so much as lay one finger on me again, you're going to be dealing with him."

She looked out the door to make sure nobody was nearby. "Yeah, that's right, Seb. Detective White and I are getting it on. Instead of questioning me that night, we did it in on the kitchen table—you ass." Her boss cracked the door and gave her the high sign. "I have to go. Somebody has to make enough money to pay the bills." She hung up in the middle of a garbled tirade.

Sebastian flung the phone against the couch and snatched up his beer, setting it down again and pounding his fist into the side of his beanbag chair. She was right, the way he'd acted up during the interview with the police was stupid; it did make him look suspect. He paced back and forth growling obscenities and stating aloud his intentions toward his wife when she returned home.

*****

Brenda had cleared a space in her closet for a few of Geena's clothes and had also made some space on the bathroom counter. The folding cot that had traveled with her since university was dragged out of another cupboard and situated alongside her own bed.

Geena unpacked the few items she'd brought and then tested the cot. "It'll be like going back to camp," she smiled.

"Are you okay?" Brenda sat on the cot beside her.

"Not really. I feel like I just woke up from a bad dream." She turned to Brenda and searched her face as if for some resolution. "I think I've wasted the best years of my life, Bren."

"Don't be silly, you've got your best years ahead of you. What are you, thirty-two?" Brenda tried to sound light.

"Hah! I need you around a little more. I'm forty-three."

Brenda's mouth dropped. "Geena, god...you are one great looking forty-three. I never would have guessed."

"Gary's the kid," she said ruefully. "He's only thirty-five." She hunched her shoulders and stared at her clasped hands. "I think it's over with him, I really do."