Page 58 of Torn
I didn’t. The words just seemed kind of crude, even if they were meant, I’m sure, to be flattering.
I wanted to hang up, but I needed to say something. “I was just thinking about you. Sorry about your car.”
“Ah, it’s okay. One of those auto body places was in the area—they cruise around looking for accidents—and they were on the scene in, like, minutes. They gave me a sweet deal—towed me right into their shop and said they’d work it so I wouldn’t have to pay my deductible.”
“What about the cars you hit?”
“Minor stuff. They’ll be okay. You park on a busy street like Clark, you gotta expect your car’s gonna get damaged sooner or later.”
“So you didn’t leave a note or anything?”
“Nah. That’s what insurance is for.”
Wow.Now I really didn’t know what to say. We were quiet for several long moments.
“I miss you,” Tom said. “How’s it going in Boston?”
I didn’t want to go into the whole New Hampshire part of the trip. Fortunately for me, and this was so in my favor it made me sort of believe in divine intervention, a recorded voice broke in, telling me I needed to put in more money to continue the call.
“I miss you too. But I gotta go. All out of change!” I had two dollars’ worth of quarters in my pocket.
“Okay. Hurry home, Ricky.”
The words touched me, in spite of all that had gone on before. “I will,” I said, but the connection was already broken.
WHEN Igot back, I hugged Walt, and then he stepped back, hands on my shoulders. He wriggled his nose. “Have you been smoking?”
I moved back a step so that his hands dropped away. “Come on. Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. You want me to go brush my teeth?”
“Yeah, would you mind? Maybe take a shower?”
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes and turned away, then swiveled back to hand him the waxy white paper bag I’d brought. “They had two pieces of the apple crisp left. You’re welcome.”
He took the sack, and his expression crumpled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be an ass. It’s just that I hate to see you harm yourself with those things.”
I looked at him with mock surprise. “Don’t tell me they’re bad for me! I had no idea.”
Walt rolled his eyes. “Look, I’ll just say this. No smoking in the house. Clean up after yourself and promise me you’ll at least think about quitting.”
“Okay.” I thought about kissing him, then realized the smell would be on my breath and embedded in my hair and mustache. “That shower sounds good anyway. Got all dusty on the walk back. But itwaspretty.”
“You should see it in the fall.”
The tension in the air upon my return dissipated pretty quickly. “Well, who knows? Maybe I will.”
Walt grinned, and I was reminded of why I’d fallen for him when we were across the pond. He was sexy, sure, but there was something good about him, an inherent kindness that was there if only one would take a moment to look into his eyes.
“Lawrence, the guy who owns this place?”
I nodded.
“He’s looking for someone to stay in it through the fall and winter because he’ll be in New York and Milan. Not really a caretaker, more of a house sitter. You might want to think about it.”
“I have a job.” But how cool would it be to quit and come and live here? I could finally finish up that horror novel I’d been writing for years, the one about the serial killer who believed he was a vampire and terrorized Chicago. I imagined being snowed in, rattling around the house, a stew simmering on the stove as snow drifted down outside and a fire cackled in the oversize fieldstone fireplace inside.
“Just give notice at your job. Lawrence will pay you, and you won’t have to worry about rent.”
“It sounds really tempting.” I turned toward the stairs. It did sound tempting—and terribly romantic, in its own way—but pursuing such a route would be a mistake. It was making a too-soon commitment to Walt, in a way. Even though he didn’t say it or even hint at, I had a feeling that if I lived here, I’d be isolated, just waiting for him to show up on the weekends.
