I got off the bike. I told her Nevada’s theory about not naming things you didn’t want to get attached to.
“They’re just guard dogs,” I said. “Do you always get up this early?”
“This isn’t early. I’ve already been to town.”
“What’s there to do in town at this hour?” Nothing much was open before nine.
“What do you care? First you think I’m going to buy you a shirt, and next you want to know all my business.”
She was smiling, though; she seemed to have this game in her.
So I blurted out, “Next I wonder if you want to go to a movie Sunday night.”
“Oh, you do? How come you do now? Uncle Ben said you might have other things to do than show me the sights.”
“You could come with me and a friend.”
“The rock thrower?”
“No. It’s a male friend.”
“What movie?”
“I don’t know what’s playing.”
“So you just want my company?”
“Yes.”
“How are we going to get there, on your bicycle?”
“It’s your Uncle Ben’s bicycle.”
“Am I going to go there on the handlebars?”
“What does it matter how we go there?”
“Uncle Ben said maybe you were embarrassed because you don’t have a car to take me in, and that’s why you might not ask me places.”
“Uncle Ben might not know we can walk from here to town.”
“Or Franklin can take us.”
“Or Franklin can take us.”
“I accept,” she said.
“What kind of movies do you like?”
“I don’t like guns going off and people bleeding.”
“Do you like comedies?”
“Some comedies…. Look! C’s eating now.”
I got back on my bike. “Then all is well…. When the local paper comes out tomorrow, it’ll list the movies. You can pick the one we’ll see.”
“Where are you off to?” she asked.
“First you want to buy me a shirt, and next you want to know all my business,” I said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
FOURTEEN
“I SEE YOU CHANGED your mind, Lang.”
“You mean about Huguette?”
I hadn’t heard him coming. I was chopping wood, helping the groundsman clear away the old trees that had fallen down near the road. Nevada was paying me twenty dollars an hour.
“She said you’re taking her to a movie Sunday.”
I leaned on the axe and wiped my brow with the back of my hand. There was no sweat on him. He was all in black, per usual, a Gitane hanging from his lips.
“Yes. My friend’s joining us.”
“So she said. Does he live out here?”
I told him Alex’s name, and that he was playing in Hamlet, so he would come out late Saturday night and go back Monday morning.
“How old is he?”
“Nineteen.”
“Does he drink?”
“Neither of us drinks.”
“You can take the Aurora. You might want to go someplace after for dinner.”
“Thanks anyway, Mr. Nevada. We’d prefer to walk.”
I didn’t want to be indebted to him, or want him to think it was the beginning of “the deal” he’d set forth that Monday.
He reached into his pocket. “Since you’re walking, you might want to eat at The Palm. It’s down the street from the theaters. They’re known for their steaks, and their lobsters.” He pulled out a leather wallet.
I shook my head. “It’ll be our treat,” I said. “It won’t be a regular thing. Just this once.”
“That would be an expensive treat.”
“I was thinking we could come back to the cottage after. I’d pick up some pizza. She might like to try our food.”
“They have pizza all over France, even in the sticks,” he said. “I think she’d enjoy going out.” He took several hundred-dollar bills from his wallet. “Just this once.”
He held out the money.
“No thanks. Maybe we’ll pick up Chinese food.”
“Or Lucy could make a light supper for you.”
“My mother has Sundays off,” I said.
He said, “I see…. You won’t let anyone help you, is that it?”
“I figured she’d do what we do normally.”
“The cottage is very small for the three of you and your mother,”
“My mother has a date,” I said. He looked as surprised as I’d felt when she told me about it. But she’d waved her hands as though she was shooing away a fly and mumbled something about not that kind of date. The only place she ever went was to the Presbyterian Church on Main Street. I figured she’d met a friend there, maybe several people. Maybe she was going out with a group. I doubted that she’d be dating a man. Not so soon. She’d just said good-bye to one; she’d said she always found Mr. Not Quite Right, instead of Right himself.
Nevada said, “I have a dinner date too. I’m renewing old acquaintances to introduce to Huguette, so I appreciate this.”
“It’s just this one time, though.”
“I heard you…. If you want to come back to Roundelay, you may. But please leave by eleven thirty.”
Alex would be ecstatic. I couldn’t refuse that offer.
“Thanks,” I said. “We might.” We would. I was sure of that.
I started to pick up the axe and he said, “One more thing, Lang.”
“Sir?”
“I know what Huguette’s up to.” He pronounced her name the way she said you’d get nothing pronouncing it that way. “She took over the feeding of the rottweilers so she could leave the house early mornings. She goes into town. To call him, I suspect.”
I thought of the $320 blue shirt.
“I don’t know anything about it,” I said.
He took a long drag from his cigarette and looked back toward Roundelay. “I can control things on this end. I have her passport. But if you should hear anything, or observe anything, I’d appreciate the information.”
“I’ll only be seeing her this one Sunday night,” I said.
“I heard you,” he said, “and you heard me.”
FIFTEEN
AFTER A LOUSY MOVIE starring Al Pacino and a lot of guns, we hiked down the street to a place called Sam’s for pizza. Nevada was right. They did have pizza all over France, even in the sticks. She said it was her favorite food.
“Either that,” Alex said, “or she’s giving us a break. Pizza’s the only cheap thing in this town!”
She’d gone into the women’s. We sat across from each other, grinning. Alex in the same
