Next To You (27 page)

‘You should go home and get some rest. I knew this was a bad idea. I got a little overexcited that my best friend was back.’

‘I’m your best friend?’

She smiled. Her face flushed that lovely pink he liked so much. ‘Yeah. Well, actually you’re still my
only
friend. Pathetic, huh? My social life seems to hinge on you, and who you know. You’ve been very nice about inviting me along to meet your friends.’

‘We all like you, but we’re a little old for you, aren’t we? That’s why you’re so quiet when you’re with us.’

She crossed her arms. ‘You know this
old
thing? It’s bullshit.’

‘Come on, my generation’s touchstone film is
Easy Rider
, yours is …
Sixteen Candles
.’

‘Your generation? You’re too young for
Easy Rider
.’

‘I’m a baby boomer.’

‘And I was eight when you were eighteen. I watched
Bewitched
and the
Wild Wild West
,
The Brady Bunch
, and
The Partridge Family
. So did you.’

He shrugged. ‘I have no taste. I watched everything on TV. I still do. It didn’t matter if I was seventeen when the show premiered, I honestly liked
The Partridge Family
, it was hilarious, but your n—’

‘I’m a baby boomer too, William.’

‘No you’re not. You’re not Gen-X.’

‘Well, maybe I’m in the middle of both.’

‘Okay, you’re in the middle, but you put yourself on the outside.’

‘I’ve always been introverted, and since I was in the hospital I’ve become even more cautious.’ Frowning, she huffed. ‘Are you trying to tell me you don’t want to be friends because we made out, is that what you’re trying to do?’

‘No, I’m not saying that at all.’

‘Then what are you doing? Why does it seem like you’re picking a fight?’

‘I’m being a big cranky baby.’
Leave him Caroline. Leave that shitty, stalking, abusive rat. Don’t go back to him. Leave him for good.

‘Well, let’s get you home and out of those stinky pants.’

Caroline put him a cab and sent him home.

It was nearly two o’clock when the taxi driver woke Will in front of his toast-colored six-flat apartment block. He thanked the man, paid him, and swayed like a drunk as he climbed out of the back seat. Once he’d staggered upstairs, unlocked his door and pulled off his clothes, he had a shower, dried off, and crawled beneath the covers of his bed, his hair wet.

Forgetting to take melatonin tablets again, Will fell asleep in seconds—and began dreaming. He’d replaced the smart-mouthed, wise-cracking Danny on
The Partridge Family.
Instead of the freckly, redheaded Danny Bonaduce trading barbs with David Cassidy and Susan Dey, the sarcastic quips came from a husky, ten-year-old albino boy wearing an eye patch, and young William Murphy had been quite a hit.

There’d been lunch boxes with his likeness smiling beside Shirley Jones, platinum records, personal appearances, talk shows, and a campaign that educated people about albinism, but just after he arrived for a photo shoot with Annie Lebowitz, a droning buzz made him open his eyes to reality.

He looked at the large clock beside the bed. The glowing red face read 18:37, it was dark outside, and he’d been asleep over five hours.

He lurched out of bed, grabbed the towel from the rail on the back of the bathroom door, and wrapped it around himself as he went to answer the door.

‘Yes, who are you?’ he asked through a gaping yawn.

‘Hi, it’s me.’

‘Vonnie. I thought you were coming tomorrow. Where’s your key?’

‘I haven’t found it yet.’

‘Come on up.’ He let Yvonne upstairs and stood by the door, his head resting against the open frame. He yawned and shivered in the cool air.

‘Hello, Willie. I just wanted to drop these off.’ Yvonne came inside with an armload of law books, her briefcase perched on top. ‘Were you sleeping?’

Will adjusted his towel. He gave her a peck on the cheek, took the stack from her arms, and carried it to the study.

‘Oh you
were
sleeping, weren’t you, and I got you out of bed?’

‘M-hm. I got back from a trip to Bombay, I mean Mumbai, this morning.’

‘Sorry about that. You look like an attendant to the snow queen with your hair sticking up in a big swooping drift. You went to bed with it wet, didn’t you?’

‘Uh-huh.’

She waved him off with her fingers. ‘Well, go back to bed. I’ve got to review this case. I’ll swap those books for another pair. I’ll wake you at seven-thirty for dinner.’

‘Use the study, take what ever books you need, cook whatever you want, but I’m not getting up again until tomorrow morning.’

Will lumbered sleepily back to bed, tossing his towel over the bedroom door, falling right back into his
Partridge Family
dream in a matter of seconds.

When he awoke at five the following morning, feeling refreshed and renewed, his eyes opened to find his arm around the curve of Yvonne’s waist, her back pressing into his chest.

Will rolled to his back. Yvonne turned over and slid her leg over his thighs, moving her body on top of his. With a sly little smile she began to kiss him. He shifted their combined weight and rolled her beneath his frame, kissing her familiar, full mouth.

‘It looks like Little Willie’s wide awake,’ she said, her long fingers caressing his body.

For the first time he could ever remember, Will had sex with his ex-wife without feeling any emotional connection to her. The act was straightforward. He kept his eyes closed the entire time. He performed with lazy, mechanical action that simply got the job done with pleasant efficiency.

***

Caroline’s nose dripped as she pushed into the foyer, out of the ice-tinged morning air. She wiped her face on her sleeve and blew her runny nose into the hem of her sweat-stained shirt.

‘Good morning, Caroline!’ Yvonne said from the stairs. She wore a gray double-breasted Alexander McQueen suit with a Prince of Wales check pattern.

‘Hello, Yvonne,’ Caroline said, feeling grubby and smelly. Odds were she was grubbier and smellier than she felt.

Yvonne looked as fresh as a summer morning. ‘I never could get out of bed to exercise first thing in the morning, like you and Willie do, especially on a gray day like today. I guess that’s how you stay so skinny. Is it very cold, Caroline?’

‘In two weeks you’ll need your heavy winter coat, we’ll get snow just after Halloween. I hate Chicago in the winter. Everything’s so bleak.’

A car horn sounded outside. ‘That’s my taxi. Sorry I can’t stay and chat.’ Yvonne opened the door. ‘You know, if Erika throws a Halloween party this year, you’ve given me an idea for costumes for all of us.’

‘What, smelly sweats?’

‘No.
Gone With the Wind
. Willie and I could be Rhett and Scarlett, and you could be sweet li’l Melanie.’ She tossed her head back, laughing. ‘Bye now.’

Feeling grubbier—or maybe she was confused, irritated, disappointed and grubbier—Caroline trudged up the steps. Yvonne had relit that tiny sliver of wood on a mostly-burnt matchstick-torch that William had for her, and William had doused the sparks of a new romance that lived next door.

When she reached the landing between their apartments, Caroline looked at her neighbor’s door, and wondered if he was over his jet lag. She knew he wasn’t over his ex-wife, but why did that matter?

She still struggled with pinpointing how she felt, wondered if what she felt was real or appropriate.

Whatever she’d been thinking when he’d come home yesterday, the knots of excitement, those notions of kissing him, the confusion over the exact kind of friendship she wanted with William—how she
felt
about him—was better left untouched.

She went into her apartment and had morning coffee alone.

Chapter 12

Will took a moment to adjust the knot of his tie before he picked up his ringing phone. ‘Good morning, Quincy,’ he said.

‘No. Sorry Murphy, it’s John Reginaldi. How the hell are you?’

‘I’m doing great, Reg. How are things over at Foxhollow?’

‘Just fine.’

‘Yes, Reg. I saw you on
The Big Valley
this morning.’ Most mornings the radio was churning out the oldies station, but on Tuesdays, Will liked to watch
The Big Valley
on the TV Land channel. He had a thing for Linda Evans, and enjoyed her on
Dynasty
, but he was particularly fond of her work on the old sixties TV Western.

Reg chuckled. ‘Yeah, I was a pretty handsome fella back then, wasn’t I?’

‘You were something, Reg. I liked those chaps they had you in.’

‘I think I was probably the first pro golfer who ever did a guest shot on a western. I tried to get them to let me wear a big white Stetson, but Miss. Stanwyck wouldn’t stand for that. Let me tell you why I’m calling. It’s Puddin’s birthday this Friday.’

Will had shifted the phone to his other ear. ‘Excuse me. It’s her what on Friday?’

‘Her
birthday
, her first since coming back into the world. So it’s like a
birth day
, you know? I thought it would be nice to have a little party for her. I know she likes you, and I was wondering if you might know a few people we could put together for a little cake and ice cream at the club here.’

‘I think I can do that.’

‘Good. I thought you might. Now, I don’t want her to know I’m planning anything so can you be really quiet about it?’ Reg said in a hushed tone. ‘All she knows is we’re having dinner, but it would be nice if there were some other people there besides my buddies. I’ll arrange a cab for you so you don’t have to drive home in the dark.’

‘You let me worry about that.’ Will slipped a pen into the inside pocket of his jacket.

‘Okay. I’ve got a table reserved for up to ten, so invite the boys downstairs and anyone else you think would be happy to help celebrate.’

‘It’s as good as done.’ Will said, fastening his watchband.

‘Thanks for that. I knew I could count on you.’

Will set the phone to speaker and began to make his bed. ‘Reg, can I ask you a couple of questions?’

Reg chuckled. ‘Well, my favorite guest spot was on
Mission Impossible
. I got to be a card player in that episode. I even got to kiss Cinnamon Carter, you know, Barbara Bain.’

Laughing, Will pulled the sheet taut and tucked in the edges like on a hotel bed. ‘I meant I wanted to ask you a few question about Caroline.’

‘You want to get her a birthday present?’

‘Yes, that would be nice, but I was wondering if you could tell me about Alex.’ When the sheets were smooth and the feather duvet was in place, Will fluffed the down pillows and put them at the head of the bed.

Reg went quite for a moment. ‘What is it you want to know?’

‘Has he always been abusive?’

Reg exhaled. ‘He was a nice boy at one time, but he always had a temper, mind you. And that mother of his is some piece of work, isn’t she? Puddin’ told me you had a run in with Bethany. It’s too bad you never had the chance to meet her husband, Gus. He was a good man. Alex
used
to be more like his father than the mother. Anyhow, Alex and Caroline had quite a unique relationship. Reminded me a little of you and Vonnie.’

The comparison made Will a little uncomfortable, but he set that aside. ‘What happened to her?’

Reg made a clicking sound with his tongue. ‘It was that awful car accident, the one that took my brother, Joe and his wife. They died before her little boy, but Drew hung on for a little while longer. His death … well, that was a quite a mess. Death, depression, pregnant lady hormones, sleep deprivation and all that stuff, it sort of makes you understand the suicide attempt, the affair, and why she put it all behind her to start over.’

‘Yeah.’ Will sat on the side of the mattress. ‘So severe postpartum depression then?’

‘That combined with acute stress disorder. I know you know about her stint in the loony bin, I mean the
facility
, and it did her a world of good. So has knowing you. Now, she’s a little tentative, a little unsure of herself, but trust me, she’s a whole person again. I wish I could say the same for Alex. He’s a walking ball of unrelenting piss, and he worries me sometimes. Puddin’ says she knows what she’s doing. She knows how to handle him.’ Reg chuckled. ‘I probably shouldn’t tell you, but she really likes you. Every time I talk to her it’s William this and William that. She’s quite sweet on you, you know.’

‘Is she?’ Will stood and smoothed out the rumples he’d made on the bed.

‘I’ve tried to encourage that.’

‘I like her too.’

‘Well, for God’s sake man, why aren’t you … that poor girl’s scared to death she’s going to betray some sacred oath! Listen, you know she’d wring my neck if she ever found out I was telling you all this, but what my niece needs is a good roll in the hay, a really good night of rumpy-pumpy and I think you’re just the
white
man for the job, Will.’

Will burst out laughing. ‘Oh, do you now, Reg? I’m about to have coffee with your niece. Perhaps I should ask for her opinion on the matter?’

‘You’re such a card, Murphy,’ Reg said.

‘How about I make a few calls, check out a few things about Friday, and get back to you later today?’

‘Yeah. That’d be great. Thanks.’ Reg cleared his throat. ‘You’re not really going to say anything to her about my theory, are you, Will?’

‘Do you remember that car lease you insisted on paying me to look at a few years ago, the one where the dealer had you overpaying?’

‘Yes, it was for that blue Lexus.’

‘You made yourself my client when you wrote me a check. Anything you’ve said in confidence since then falls under attorney-client privilege. At least that’s how I look at it.’

‘Would you at least
think
about my theory, Will?’

‘When you phrased it in such an appealing manner, how can I not?’ A moment later he walked up the hallway, stuffed a hankie in his jacket pocket as he crossed the landing, and let himself into Caroline’s place.

She’d already left for work.

Chapter 13

William came over early, before she’d dressed.