“Thank you for your frankness.”
“It’s really a shame.”
“What is?”
“Off the record, she’s generally a pain in the ass. But I somehow believe she’s not a bad girl at heart. Were I a psychiatrist, I might even suggest that she’s acting out a desperate need for attention.”
“Is she a good student?”
“Heavens, no.”
“Does she socialize?”
“Meaning?”
“Does she have many friends? Any boyfriends?”
“Again, I’m not really at liberty to say. Off the record, however, she does get along with a number of the other girls, but not the truly popular ones. No boyfriends that I know of.”
“Thank you again for your candor,” Jesse said, standing.
“I do hope you can help this child,” Dr. Pike said.
“I do hope this child can be helped,” Jesse said.
19
Molly handed Jesse his phone messages as he walked by her desk.
“Frankie Greenberg called,” she said.
He nodded and went into his office.
He returned her call first.
“Help,” she said.
“‘Help’?”
“Marisol Hinton arrives tomorrow. I need a respite.”
“‘A respite’?”
“Stop repeating everything I say. I need relief. I need to feel the wind in my hair. I need to be lifted off the earth and transported to a magical land where nymphs play and angels sing.”
“I know just the place.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“My house,” he said.
“What time?”
—
This is just what I’d imagined,” Frankie said as she entered the house. Jesse ushered her into the living room, where she dropped her things on a chair.
She looked around. The kitchen caught her attention.
“You’re cooking?”
“No.”
“You’re kidding, right,” she said, inhaling deeply.
“Vito Rezza did the cooking,” Jesse said.
“Who’s Vito Rezza?”
“The owner of Vito’s Ristorante, of course.”
Frankie looked at him questioningly. “On tonight’s menu, we have a Caprese salad, along with freshly baked garlic bread. Our entree is veal piccata served on a bed of linguini
“Wow,” she said. Jesse grabbed a pair of wineglasses and poured an already decanted Lungarotti Rubesco.
“This is fabulous,” she said, after tasting it.
“Respite enough?”
“Pinch me, I’m dreaming.”
Jesse took her wineglass and put it down on the counter. Then he put his arms around her and kissed her.
“Wow again,” she said.
“And we haven’t even gotten to the appetizers.”
He kissed her again, then paused.
“We have a dilemma,” Jesse said, leaning back slightly.
“Oh?”
“Although we have an amazing dinner simmering on the stove, in point of fact, it could benefit from simmering a bit longer.”
“How much longer?”
“If I showed you around upstairs, it’s entirely possible we might become distracted long enough to allow it to simmer to maturity.”
“By all means.”
“By all means what?”
“Take me upstairs.”
“With pleasure,” he said.
—
Frankie was swimming in Jesse’s extra-large white cotton bathrobe, which she wore with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows. Jesse had on a gray PPD sweatshirt and a pair of blue-and-green-checked pajama bottoms.
Having finished the salad, they now eagerly worked on the veal and the pasta. Frankie was sipping the Rubesco. Jesse had switched to Sam Adams Winter Lager.
Saving the tiramisu for later, they retired to the living room, where Jesse settled himself into one of his armchairs. Frankie made herself comfortable on his lap.
Mildred Memory was camped out on the adjacent chair, watching them through half-closed eyes.
Frankie put her arms around Jesse’s neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
“I think I’ve just discovered the meaning of life,” she said.
Jesse kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him and raised her face to his.
“I could get used to this,” she said.
She kissed him once, then again with urgency.
She adjusted herself on the chair until she was straddling him. They stayed that way for some time.
20
Jesse saw Courtney’s Lexus pull into the Wilburforce School parking lot from his spot across the street. She negotiated the left turn while holding her cell phone to her ear.
Jesse stepped out of his cruiser and walked to the lot. Courtney was slowly circling it, looking for a parking space. When she spotted him, she slammed on her brakes and dropped the phone.
Jesse approached the car, and when he was beside it, he motioned for her to get out. She opened the door and stepped out.
“What,” she said.
“Pick up the phone and hand it to me.”
“Pick it up yourself.”
Jesse noticed that they had attracted the attention of a number of students, who milled around, watching.
