The furniture, what there was of it, was now in an intimate little grouping, and the lights were as low as they could go. I’d set the dining room table in the window by the balcony, where you could see the river.
I was wearing the kind of smile you might expect from a person who’d gotten everything done, right on schedule, and then soaked in a tub fragrant with Watermelon Foam Bath while sipping a glass of chilled Pouilly Fumé.
I was also wearing my red jersey dress.
I buzzed Richard through and waited by the door, my breathing a bit uneven. I was doing an excellent job of keeping my conscience quiet.
As I let Richard in, he stopped and stared. “You don’t look like you need too much comfort,” he said, handing me a bouquet of short-stemmed, peach roses.
“Try me,” I said.
Behind him in the hallway, from Mrs. Parnell’s open door, the red end of a cigarette glowed. I shut the door and forgot about her.
“You look great,” Richard said. “Getting hit on the head is obviously good for you.”
“I do like seeing those stars.”
He hugged me. The old-fashioned kind of hug you don’t plan, it just happens. Full of affection. Just like Paul used to do.
“You’re funny,” he said.
“And you haven’t even had dinner yet.”
I liked that hug. It reminded me there weren’t enough hugs in my life. I didn’t pull back until he did. We looked at each other for a long time, smiling.
“Mousse?” I asked.
We sat on the sofa, munching the mousse and crackers, talking, our thighs close enough to feel the heat from each other. Cats watched us from freshly vacuumed chairs, from the newspaper basket and from under the dining table. When the sunset turned the sky over the Ottawa River into a wall of flame, I remembered about dinner.
I got the salmon from the microwave to the table, turning down Richard’s offer to help.
When I raced by Richard to put the first casserole on the table, I noticed he was trying to entice one of the cats to join him.
“Don’t bother,” I said, when I swung back into the room with the rice and veg. “Cats will only come to you when you don’t want them to.”
When I trotted out the salad, I added, “You’re trying too hard.”
“I think you’re right.”
Three cats had left the room. The fourth, the black and white one, had turned its back on Richard and was watching the wall with great interest. The fat little calico was following me.
“This is it,” I said as I made my last trip into the room with rolls and the wine.
“Kitty, kitty, kitty,” said Richard.
The black and white cat jumped from the chair and stalked into the bedroom, tail twitching.
“They’re all in there now,” Richard said.
“Not true, the calico’s still in the kitchen. And don’t feel bad about it. It’s the nature of the cat to be in charge.”
“I suppose.”
“Trust me. When it becomes inconvenient to have cats around, they’ll be all over you.”
“If you say so. I’ve always had dogs, myself.”
“And who can blame you?” I said, fluffing the tulips and lighting the candles.
In the course of our dinner, the last traces of raging sunset disappeared. Not that we were paying attention.
By the time we were through our chocolate cake, the sky was dark and starry. We took our coffee and Armagnac on to the balcony and sipped it in the dark.
“You can see the dippers,” said Richard.
I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the dippers, because our knees were touching. Richard watched the stars, and I watched Richard. I didn’t think about his wife. I didn’t even know her name.
The night was mild, with a sensuous little breeze. A taste of summer to come.
We talked. About the Harmony, about Justice for Victims, about his hobbies, about why I didn’t have any, about the Tulip Festival, about the weather. About my friends. About my family. About what it’s like to relocate in middle age.
I don’t know when we stopped talking. The silence that replaced the talking was intense, almost noisy. It was full of watching and tentative touching.
I need this, I thought, as we moved back into the living room, wrapped around each other. I need to feel together. I was tracing the outline of Richard’s ear as we sank onto the sofa. Two cats exploded off the cushions. We didn’t care.
I felt a bit catlike myself, stretching and purring.
“We might be more comfortable elsewhere,” Richard whispered in my ear after a long time.
“The cats are, um, elsewhere.”
“We could ask them to stay and that should get rid of 213 them.”
I was enjoying the sensation of laughing when a blast from the phone knifed through our mood.
“Don’t answer it,” he said, very close to me.
“It’ll just take a second. It could be Robin.”
He nodded, leaning back.
“Yes,” I breathed.
Squeaking sounds surged through the receiver. Richard leaned forward again when I gasped. His face creased with concern.
“Arrested? Where? For what?” But, of course, I knew. “Okay, calm down. I’ll be there. I said I will be there.”
“What is it? Has Robin been arrested?”
“Not Robin. Alvin.”
“Alvin?”
I nodded. It was going to get worse.
“What was it, drugs or something?”
I took a long, assessing look at Richard before I told him.
“He was prowling around the back corridors of the Harmony, and someone called the police.”
Richard nodded, approving. “We don’t take any chances with theft or attacks on guests.”
“He was just asking a few questions. But I guess someone had seen him there before, and he looked suspicious.”
“Well, I don’t know what the hell made him decide to do that, but I’ll bet he’s in hot water now.”
“Right. And I have to get him out.”
“Why? He’s not your responsibility.”
I took a deep breath before I started in on my explanation.
* * *
I hadn’t thought that Alvin could get any paler, but he managed it. I hadn’t thought he could get any snippier, but he managed that too.
We were crossing the Portage Bridge to Hull at the time. Close enough to the Peace Tower to see the time was 11:30 p.m.
“Okay,” I said, turning around to face Alvin in the back seat. “May I remind you that I was prepared to post bail for you? If necessary. But the charges have been dropped, haven’t they? You can thank Richard for that.” I pointed to Richard, who was driving.
Richard seemed a little on the stiff side to me.
Alvin sniffed. “I guess you should have been prepared to post bail for me, since you were the one who sent me on a criminal expedition in the first place.”