Tall, Dark And Difficult. Patricia Coughlin

      “Did you?”

      He nodded. “But not very well, I’m afraid. It didn’t matter. The next week it was back on the table, and she never said another word about it. It was not the reaction I’d expected.”

      They were driving through a neighborhood of large, older homes. Rose stopped at a crossroads to glance at the map she had prepared, then turned left.

      “What did you expect?”

      “For all hell to break loose. My mother was…” He hesitated. “I guess Devora put it most delicately. She used to say my mother was high-strung. That’s why I started coming to Wickford in the first place. To give Mom a break. And because Devora said Manhattan was no place for a rambunctious young boy to spend the summer.”

      “Your family lived in the city?”

      “Central Park West.”

      She whistled softly. “Very Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Griffin.”

      “Lifestyles of the Ruthless and Neurotic is more like it,” he retorted. “And with no fishing, no sand crabs, no blueberry pancakes on Saturday mornings. I liked Devora’s place a lot better.”