JК
Bag of Bones :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 183 из 425”
“I thought so, too,” I said, “but maybe I was a little hasty. What’s going on? You sound over the moon.”
“I just got off the phone with John Storrow—”
Really? How long had I been on the second floor, anyway? I looked at my wrist and saw nothing but a pale circle. It was half-past freckles and skin o’clock, as we used to say when we were kids; my watch was downstairs in the north bedroom, probably lying in a puddle of water from my overturned night-glass.
“—his age, and that he can subpoena the other son!”
“Whoa,” I said. “You lost me. Go back and slow down.”
She did. Telling the hard news didn’t take long (it rarely does):
Stor-row was coming up tomorrow. He would land at County Airport and stay at the Lookout Rock Hotel in Castle View. The two of them would spend most of Friday discussing the case. “Oh, and he found a lawyer for you,” she said. “To go with you to your deposition. I think he’s from Lewiston.”
It all sounded good, but what mattered a lot more than the bare facts was that Mattie had recovered her will to fight. Until this morning (if it was still morning; the light coming in the window above the broken air conditioner suggested that if it was, it wouldn’t be much longer) I hadn’t realized how gloomy the young woman in the red sundress and tidy white sneakers had been. How far down the road to believing she would lose her child.
“This is great. I’m so glad, Mattie.”
“And you did it. If you were here, I’d give you the biggest kiss you ever had.”
“He told you you could win, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And you believe him.”
“Yes!” Then her voice dropped a little. “He wasn’t exactly thrilled when I told him I’d had you over to dinner last night, though.”
“No,” I said. “I didn’t think he would be.”
“I told him we ate in the yard and he said we only had to be inside together for sixty seconds to start the gossip.”
“I’d say he’s got an insultingly low opinion of Yankee lovin,” I said, “but of course he’s from New York.” She laughed harder than my little joke warranted, I thought. Out of semi-hysterical relief that she now had a couple of protectors? Because the whole subject of sex was a tender one for her just now? Best not to speculate. “He didn’t paddle me too hard about it, but he made it clear that he would if we did it again. When this is over, though, I’m having you for a real meal. We’ll have everything you like, just the way you like it.” Everything you like, just the way you like it.
“I thought so, too,” I said, “but maybe I was a little hasty. What’s going on? You sound over the moon.”
“I just got off the phone with John Storrow—”
Really? How long had I been on the second floor, anyway? I looked at my wrist and saw nothing but a pale circle. It was half-past freckles and skin o’clock, as we used to say when we were kids; my watch was downstairs in the north bedroom, probably lying in a puddle of water from my overturned night-glass.
“—his age, and that he can subpoena the other son!”
“Whoa,” I said. “You lost me. Go back and slow down.”
She did. Telling the hard news didn’t take long (it rarely does):
Stor-row was coming up tomorrow. He would land at County Airport and stay at the Lookout Rock Hotel in Castle View. The two of them would spend most of Friday discussing the case. “Oh, and he found a lawyer for you,” she said. “To go with you to your deposition. I think he’s from Lewiston.”
It all sounded good, but what mattered a lot more than the bare facts was that Mattie had recovered her will to fight. Until this morning (if it was still morning; the light coming in the window above the broken air conditioner suggested that if it was, it wouldn’t be much longer) I hadn’t realized how gloomy the young woman in the red sundress and tidy white sneakers had been. How far down the road to believing she would lose her child.
“This is great. I’m so glad, Mattie.”
“And you did it. If you were here, I’d give you the biggest kiss you ever had.”
“He told you you could win, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And you believe him.”
“Yes!” Then her voice dropped a little. “He wasn’t exactly thrilled when I told him I’d had you over to dinner last night, though.”
“No,” I said. “I didn’t think he would be.”
“I told him we ate in the yard and he said we only had to be inside together for sixty seconds to start the gossip.”
“I’d say he’s got an insultingly low opinion of Yankee lovin,” I said, “but of course he’s from New York.” She laughed harder than my little joke warranted, I thought. Out of semi-hysterical relief that she now had a couple of protectors? Because the whole subject of sex was a tender one for her just now? Best not to speculate. “He didn’t paddle me too hard about it, but he made it clear that he would if we did it again. When this is over, though, I’m having you for a real meal. We’ll have everything you like, just the way you like it.” Everything you like, just the way you like it.