'And they don't like it.'
'Nope,' Susan said.
'And today you had several such people.'
'Several.'
We were quiet. She drank another swallow of wine and put her head against my shoulder.
'Been here long?' she said.
'No,' I said. 'I just got here. I had a couple beers with Hawk before I came.'
'Pearl been fed?'
'Yep. Back yarded and fed.'
'And a fire built,' Susan said.
'I'd have started supper,' I said, 'but I didn't know whether you wanted your broccoli raw or simmered in Diet Coke.'
'Umm,' she said.
'Gee,' I said, 'Hawk often feels that way too.'
We sat and looked into the fire and were quiet together. I liked it. It wasn't an absence of conversation; it was the presence of quiet.
'Saw your ex-husband this morning,' I said.
Susan lifted her head from my shoulder and shifted slightly on the couch.
'Don't call him that,' she said.
'Okay. I went to see the artist formerly known as Silverman today.'
'And you don't have to be a smartass about it either,' she said.
I nodded. This thing showed even more signs of not working out well for me.
'Shall I call him Brad?' I said.
'I really would rather not talk about him at all,' Susan said.
'Even though you have employed me to save him.'
'I didn't employ you,' she said. 'I asked for a favor.'
It was something she did when she was angry, or frightened, which made her angry; she focused vigorously on the wrong part of the question.
'That's right,' I said, 'you did.'
In front of the fire Pearl got up quite suddenly and turned around three times and lay back down, this time with her back to the fire and her feet stretched out toward us. I wasn't aware that Susan had moved, exactly, but she was no longer in contact with me, and her shoulders were angular again.
'Want some more wine?' I said.
'No thank you.'
We sat silently again. The silence crackled. It wasn't quiet now; it was anger. I got up and walked to the kitchen and looked out of Susan's window at the darkness.
'Suze,' I said, 'what the hell is going on?'
'Am I required to tell you everything about everybody I've ever known?'
'I don't recall asking you to do that,' I said.
'Well, don't keep bringing up my marriage.'
'Suze, for crissake, you came to me.'
'I asked for your help, I didn't ask for your approval,' she said.
She was a little nuts right now. She hadn't been until a moment ago. And she wouldn't be in a while. But right now there was no point talking.
'Okay,' I said. 'Here's the deal. I'll help Brad Sterling and I won't tell you about it unless you ask.'
'Good.'
'And now, I think I'll go home.'
'Fine.'
Pearl followed me with her eyes as I walked from the kitchen, and her tail wagged slowly, but she didn't lift her head. I reached down and patted her and went to the front door.
'Good night,' I said.
'Good night.'
I stopped on my way home to pick up some Chinese food and when I got to my place the message light on my machine was flashing. I put the food, still in cartons, in the oven on low and went and played the message.
